“I, um… don’t get to indulge much,” she said diplomatically.
“I can imagine,” said Jack. “Your dad’s strict enough at school. I don’t even want to think about what he’s like at home.”
Anna nodded. “He can be… difficult sometimes.”
“Understate much?” joked Jack.
Anna smiled. “He means well. Besides, he tends to be toughest on the people he cares for the most.”
“Then he must really care for me!” said Jack.
Anna chuckled. “Well, then there are the people he just doesn’t like.”
Jack and Anna both laughed.
“Tell me about it,” said Jack. “Sometimes I think your dad really has it out for me.”
“Yeah, you think he’s bad now? Could you imagine what he’d do if he found out I snuck out to see you?” she said.
Jack suddenly stopped laughing.
“Um… he doesn’t know you’re gone?” he said.
Anna caught herself. “Oh,” she said. “Is that a problem?”
“Pft! No. Of course not!” lied Jack. “I think it’s awesome. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here with me, right?”
“That’s right,” sang Anna.
Images of Mr. Shepherd ripping out Jack’s lungs and gazing into his gaping chest wound flooded into his mind.
“So!” said Anna cheerily. “What do you want to do now?”
Get you home before your dad tracks me down and kills me, thought Jack. It would figure Mr. Shepherd would find some way to ruin his night, even if he were nowhere in sight. Thus was the scope of that man’s fearsome power. Of course, there was always the chance that he didn’t know Anna was gone, but Jack didn’t count on being that lucky.
“Hmmmm…” said Jack, glancing at his watch. “Maybe we should be getting home. It’s kinda late and we’ve got school tomorrow.”
Anna looked a little disappointed. It was obvious she was having fun. Indeed, since the moment she’d shown up at his place, the entire night had flown by. They’d laughed and joked, and Jack had shared all types of stories about the kids at school that Anna couldn’t seem to get enough of. Jack didn’t want it to end either, but he also didn’t want to incur the wrath of Mr. Shepherd, especially now that the two of them seemed to have reached a type of understanding.
“But, we could do something tomorrow,” suggested Jack. “I mean, I’ve got detention and all, but we could do something afterward.”
“I’m… not sure I’ll be able to get away again,” said Anna sadly. “This was kind of a one-time thing.”
Jack and Anna looked at each other. Jack crumpled his face like one does just before doing something that’s going to hurt, like ripping off a band-aid. But if this was his chance, he wasn’t going to let fear spoil it.
“Screw it,” said Jack. “Let’s go catch the midnight show over at the drive-in.”
Anna looked at him quizzically. “The what?” she asked.
“The Cedar Point Drive-In,” said Jack. “I think they’re playing some horror movie from the 70’s or something tonight, but it could be fun.”
“A movie?” said Anna excitedly. “But don’t you need a car to go to a drive-in?”
“Nah,” said Jack, waving away the question like it was an annoying fly. “There’s this hill that overlooks the place. It’s kinda far away, but you can still see the screen. They’ve got this radio station you can tune to so you can listen in your car, but I’ve got a boombox that works just as well.”
“Hmmm. Sitting on a grassy hill, under the stars, at night, snuggled up and watching a movie…” said Anna playfully. “Sounds kind of… romantic, doesn’t it?”
Jack was sure his face chose that exact moment to turn bright red.
“Oh… well, uh… I wasn’t thinking… I mean, um… I guess you could… uh…” he stammered. For some reason, his discomfort made Anna smile.
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
Jack’s heart began racing. Did the girl of his dreams really just agree to a romantic starlit night on a hill… with him?
What are you waiting for, you fool? thought Jack. Let’s get out of here!!!
Without wasting another moment, Jack snatched up the check their waitress had left after delivering Anna’s last milkshake.
“I’m, uh… gonna pay for this,” said Jack.
“Don’t be too long,” Anna smiled, with a hint of playfulness to her voice. “We wouldn’t want to miss the movie.”
Jack giggled (rather stupidly, he thought) and leapt up from their booth. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said. “I’ll be right back…”
Jack left Anna and walked up to the cash register at the counter. Unfortunately, there were two other people waiting in line to pay their bills. Jack twitched anxiously, wondering what the night had in store for him.
Will I get to kiss her? he thought nervously. I’ve never kissed a girl before. How do you do it? It can’t be that hard. Everyone does it, right? I wonder if she’s kissed anyone before. What am I thinking? Look at her! Of course she has. Probably some dude who was way better at it than me. No, don’t think like that. This is your night, Jack! YOUR NIGHT! She’s into you! It’s obvious. You’re the man! Nothing is going to stop you now! Not Mr. Shepherd, not J.C. Rowdey, not some freak act of God – NOTHING!!!
Nothing, that is, except maybe the line to pay. Of course, the universe decided now would be the right time to make the slowest line ever, in the history of lines, appear at the Burger Shack. As some old lady was squabbling with the waitress at the register over an item on her check, Jack looked up behind the counter at the old TV mounted on the wall. It was tuned to some lame news channel. He didn’t know what kind of weird “UFO” story the anchorman was going on about in closed-captions, but it was something to take his mind off the wait.
Then, the picture on the TV began to go wavy and give way to salt-and-pepper static. Even the cheesy soft-rock music that had been playing over the diner’s speaker system disintegrated into a dead-air hiss.
Suddenly, Jack felt something – a slight vibration, beneath his feet. That vibration turned into a low rumble, and all the plates and silverware in the diner began to clatter.
The patrons all looked around, some of them voicing concern about what was happening. Jack heard someone mention “earthquake,” but that didn’t make any sense. They were in Ohio. Ohio never had earthquakes… did it?
Then, the shrill scream of an extremely powerful engine rang out from overhead.
The windows all around began to rattle from the force of whatever had flown by. It felt like a fighter jet had just buzzed the top of the Burger Shack. Then it happened again, and a third time.
Jack saw Anna shoot to her feet, her eyes wide. The people around him were rushing to the windows, curious about the noises, but Jack went to Anna’s side.
“Hey, relax,” said Jack, putting his arm around Anna comfortingly. “It’s probably just some military jets doing an exercise. Wright Patterson Air Force Base isn’t too far away.”
“Right, the Air Force…” she said. “Do their jets always sound like that?”
Jack shrugged. “I dunno,” he said. “But what else would it be?”
Anna was tense and looked incredibly frightened. Jack thought it was odd she should be so freaked out. He actually thought the whole thing was kind of cool. Nothing exciting ever happened in River Heights, and it gave him the perfect opportunity to show Anna how brave he could be.
“Hey, maybe your dad found out you were missing and sent the military to track you down,” he joked. “If anyone should be scared, it’s me, right?”
Unfortunately, Anna didn’t respond to his attempt at levity. She still looked worried. Jack tossed some money on the table along with the check. It would mean not getting any much needed change back, but Jack was anxious to get to his romantic rendezvous on the hill.
“C’mon,” he said, taking her hand. “Let’s get outta here.”
Jack made a move to leave, but Ann
a wasn’t following. He looked at her as she stood, unsure, as if she were stuck on some test question in school.
“It would have alerted me if anything were wrong…” she mumbled.
“Hey,” said Jack concerned. “Are you okay?”
Anna looked at him, as though she had just realized he was there. “Um… just give me one second, okay?” she said.
Jack backed off. “Yeah… sure.”
Anna dug into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small, thin, metal pad. It almost looked like a cell phone, but it was a little too big and flat to be one. Jack glanced at it out of curiosity as Anna ran her finger along its screen. Some strange lettering flashed on it for a moment and then disappeared. Anna looked relieved.
“Hey, what is that thing?” asked Jack.
Anna smiled at him. “Nothing,” she said, putting whatever it was back in her pocket. “Let’s go.”
She took him by the hand and began to head toward the exit. Jack was still curious, but he wasn’t going to press the subject. He was holding hands with the girl of his dreams, getting ready to go to a romantic encounter on a hill, and at that moment, that was all he cared about.
Before they reached the exit, however, there was a crackle in the air, almost like the sound of static electricity. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of purple light, and tendrils of purple energy snap-crackled-and-snaked across the diner.
Everyone in the joint stopped and turned to the source of the flash, including Jack and Anna.
There, in the middle of the diner, stood two people who had not been there a moment ago. In fact, to call them “people” wasn’t really accurate. They resembled people in the sense they had a head, two arms, and two legs – but they were also tall, dark, and imposing figures, clad head-to-toe in armor so black, they almost seemed like they were shapes cut out of the fabric of reality itself. The only things exposed were their eyes, which burned hot and fiery red. The rest of their faces were hidden behind an angular helmet, which looked like something one would find in a torture chamber from the Middle Ages.
Their long arms were lithe and muscular – obvious even under the armor – and their hands had talons instead of fingers, which seemed razor-sharp enough to slice through anything – anything, that is, except the long, slender, black rifles they were holding, which looked like they were made from obsidian rock rather than any type of metal.
Everyone in the diner was frozen, staring in shock at the visitors who had just arrived out of thin air. One of them held up a small tablet, made from the same black material as their guns. He held it out and slowly swept it across the room as it made a high pitched beeping sound.
He passed it by the shocked waitress at the counter.
BEEP.
He passed it by a family, frozen in their booth near the exit.
BEEP BEEP.
Finally, his hand came to Anna, standing back by the door with Jack.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP…
The four fiery red eyes of the shadow men focused on her.
The one with the tablet barked something in a voice that sounded like a gong shattering – deep and dark and guttural.
The other one raised its rifle and aimed it at Anna.
“Get DOWN!” she yelled.
Before Jack could react, Anna pushed him away and dove in the opposite direction just as the taloned finger squeezed the trigger. A ball of purple light shot from the rifle and barreled toward the spot where Anna had been not a moment before.
It hit the door to the diner, and in a flash, the door was no longer there.
The blast from the rifle sent the diner into a furor as the shock of the shadowy strangers wore off and unbridled panic set in. Women began to scream, and people began to scuttle about, looking for cover or an exit – whichever was more readily available.
Before Jack knew it, Anna was back on her feet and out the door. He didn’t wait around either. He got up and quickly followed, narrowly dodging yet another ball of purple light that hit the ground and took a chunk of the floor with it. For some reason, these jerks were intent on shooting his girl, and he didn’t like that one bit.
He glanced behind him as he ran and saw the two armored things emerge from the diner and take aim at Anna again. With a burst of speed, he sprinted for her.
“Look out!” Jack yelled as he grabbed Anna and pulled her behind a parked Buick LeSabre in the diner’s lot.
Not a moment too soon either, as two more volleys of purple light whizzed by.
“Holy crap!” said Jack. “Why are those things trying to kill you?”
“They’re not. They’re Dark Soldiers, and they’re trying to capture me,” said Anna as she struggled back to her feet.
Jack grabbed hold of her. “Wait – what?”
“Let go,” hissed Anna. “Save yourself!”
Anna wrenched herself away from Jack and began to run for the cover of a big-rig truck parked close by. Jack glanced over the hood of the car he was hiding behind and saw the two Dark Soldiers marching toward him.
Suddenly, the ground was vibrating again, and above him Jack could make out a twisted black thing in the night sky as it shrieked by. It moved overhead fast, but just as it passed, there were more flashes of purple, all over the parking lot, as more of the Dark Soldiers appeared.
Something clicked in the back of Jack’s brain, and suddenly all that time playing Arena Deathmatch actually paid off. He recognized the positions of the soldiers – they were surrounding them and marching in toward their prey, pulling the net tighter until they captured their target…
Anna.
She was halfway to the cover of the truck, but she was playing right into their trap. Jack could see it. All they needed was to teleport in a few more soldiers at the edge of the parking lot behind the truck, and she’d be trapped.
Immediately he was on his feet and sprinting toward her. He hoped whoever these alien things were, they wouldn’t bother paying any attention to him while Anna was still in play… at least until he could reach her.
More volleys of purple light shot by. He dodged them, but just barely. They weren’t really aimed at him, though; they were directed at Anna, and luckily she was able to evade them as well.
Jack finally caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm.
“Quick!” he said. “Follow me!”
She wrenched her arm away from him. “Jack, get out of here!”
“They’re trying to trap you!” he insisted. “More are showing up, cutting off your escape. We need to head into the fields – now!”
He grabbed her arm again, not waiting for an answer. This time, though, she followed as they turned and made for the relative safety of the nearby cornfields.
More balls of purple light whizzed by. Jack and Anna ducked and weaved to avoid them, but they were starting to get annoyingly close.
Lucky these guys are bad shots, thought Jack.
A cold thought suddenly gripped the back of Jack’s mind. These guys were bad shots, weren’t they? Or were they missing intentionally? He guessed it was possible that a race of shadow soldiers with the ability to appear out of thin air and shoot balls of purple energy were naturally bad at aiming at stuff. For some reason, Jack didn’t believe he was that lucky.
If that were the case, why were they missing? They had surrounded most of the area and were closing in to trap Anna, but why didn’t they have people out by the cornfield already?
Then, Jack remembered how more bad guys had appeared after that thing had flown by overhead, and he thought about how he’d heard three screeches before while in the diner...
Oh, crap… he thought.
Jack abruptly stopped running, jerking Anna to a halt with him. She looked at him like he was crazy.
“Jack, what are you doing?” she shrieked.
“They want us to go into the cornfields,” said Jack. “They sent two into the diner to flush us out, then more to cut off all other escape and herd us into the fields where th
ey have others waiting.”
Anna’s eyes grew wide. “The other shards,” she gasped. “They were hiding more of them for an ambush…”
Jack could only imagine that the “shards” she spoke of were those things that flew by overhead.
“But why?” wondered Jack aloud. “Why this elaborate trap?”
“They didn’t know what kind of resistance they’d be facing,” said Anna grimly.
Jack’s brain was starting to hurt. He had no idea what was going on and how Anna was involved, but he knew things were not good. He glanced behind him and saw the aliens (or whatever they were) forming up into a line and marching toward them.
“How’d they find you?” he asked.
“What?” Anna replied.
“You said you snuck out,” said Jack. “Nobody could have known you were here. How did they?”
A sudden realization washed over Anna. She quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out the small metal tablet she’d used earlier.
“My data tablet,” she said. “They’re tracking its energy signature!”
Jack didn’t know what any of that meant, but he got the gist of it – they were following the cell-phone-thingy. He snatched it away from her.
“As soon as we get into the cornfield, you peel off. I’ll draw them away,” he said.
“No!” cried Anna. “I can’t let you!”
“I’m faster than you,” insisted Jack. “I can outrun them!”
Anna gazed into Jack’s eyes. He could tell she wanted to object, but she could tell it would do no good.
“If you get away,” she said. “Meet me at the school… by the bleachers, where we talked earlier today.”
Jack nodded. He was about to start running again when Anna grabbed him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Good luck,” she said.
Jack had to admit, despite being in the middle of an alien ambush, that kiss made him feel pretty darn good. Of course, the moment was ruined by another volley of purple orbs from the approaching army of death.
Jack and Anna quickly ducked as the orbs shot by them, and with one last look at each other, they dashed into the cornfield.
Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet Page 10
