Transmission

by Morgan Rice

  Kevin couldn’t work out how they were going to get past them, but it seemed that Luna had an idea. She was already leading the way out of the institute, heading for the parking lot there.

  “What are you doing?” Kevin asked her.

  “If we’re going to get home in time, we can’t take the bus,” Luna said. “We need a car.”

  “So you’re going to steal one?” Kevin asked. “Can you even drive?”

  It seemed inconceivable to him that anyone their age might be able to, but Luna seemed pretty confident.

  “Not steal, borrow,” Luna said. “And yes, I can drive. Probably. One of my cousins let me drive his truck once. It’s not that hard.”

  They went into the parking lot, staring at all the cars there. Kevin wasn’t sure what it would take to steal one of them, or how long it would take to do it. He wasn’t sure that they had a lot of time. Already, he could see some of those outside the facility’s fence turning toward them.

  “Um… Luna?” he said. “I think we need to hurry.”

  “There!” she said, pointing. Kevin recognized Dr. Levin’s compact city car immediately. “She gave you all her keys, right?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kevin said. He took them out. “She gave me the one to the elevator, but…” One stood out immediately. “Does this one look like a car key?”

  “It does,” Luna said. She snatched it from his hand, moving to the car and opening the doors. Glancing back, Kevin could see the people the aliens controlled advancing now, moving toward them and toward the facility in a single, synchronized group.

  Kevin dove into the car, where Luna was already working with the key, trying to make the thing start.

  “I thought you knew what you were doing,” he said.

  “This is different from my cousin’s truck,” she replied. “Give me a minute.”

  Kevin looked over the dashboard at the advancing horde of scientists. “I’m not sure that we have a minute.”

  “Wait, I think I’ve got it!” The engine didn’t exactly roar to life, given how small the car was, but it started. Luna threw it into gear, and they lurched forward, crunching it against the car in front.

  “Other way,” Kevin said.

  “Do you want to drive?” Luna shot back. She managed to get it into reverse, backing out of the parking space with another scrape of metal on metal. She put the car back into drive and they set off for the gate.

  A protester flung himself in front of the car, bouncing off the hood and then rising to his feet, apparently unharmed. Kevin had seen Ted shoot the controlled scientists without it stopping them though, so he doubted the car had done much. Another flung itself onto the hood, holding on tight, white-pupiled eyes staring straight at them.

  “Get it off! Get it off!” Luna yelled.

  Kevin wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do that, but he did his best. Rolling down the window on his side, he leaned out, wrenching at the protestor’s grip. He yanked, and the protestor fell clear, tumbling to the concrete.

  They were clear then, driving away through the NASA compound, heading for the highway while controlled people trailed after them. The small car burst out onto the roads, and Kevin looked around, hoping that he would see people just going about their business, half hoping that there would be cops there who would stop them for driving so erratically, so that they could warn people about what was happening.

  Instead, people stood by the sides of the road, perfectly still as they stared at the sky.

  “The vapor’s spreading,” Kevin said.

  Luna nodded. “We have to get to our parents. Now.”

  They barreled down the road. Kevin could see Luna’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel as she drove, her face set with concentration. Despite that, they wove and braked as she struggled to get used to it. If there had been other people driving there, Kevin had no doubt that they would have crashed within the first mile. Instead, the only other cars on the roads were stationary ones, abandoned at the sides, or occasionally just in the middle of the highway while their owners got out to stare at the sky.

  This was his fault. If he’d never said anything about what he’d seen, if he’d never led people to the rock, then this wouldn’t have happened. There wouldn’t be people standing there as blankly as mannequins, the effect spreading…

  His mother. She would be out there, not knowing what was happening. Not knowing what to do. Would she be safe? What if she was like them here? No, Kevin couldn’t stand that thought. Kevin got his phone out, trying to call his mother to warn her. He wasn’t surprised to find a half dozen missed calls from her, all the messages wanting to know where he was. He called her back.

  “Kevin?” she said as she picked up. “Kevin, where are you? Where have you been? You weren’t home when I got back. I’ve been going out of my mind!”

  Kevin sighed with relief because, by the sound of it, his mother was still very much occupying her own mind.

  “Mom, I’m with Luna,” he said.

  “Luna? What are you two doing? Where are you? There’s stuff on TV… They’re saying all kinds of things.”

  “It’s hard to explain, Mom,” Kevin said. “We went to the NASA institute to warn people that the aliens had tricked us, but we were too late.”

  “The aliens?” Kevin’s mother said. “Kevin, you went all that way? It wasn’t safe, and—”

  “Mom,” Kevin said, “you have to listen to me. There was a kind of gas or something inside the rock. It changes people, it lets the aliens control them. You have to find a facemask, or a place that isn’t open to the air.”

  “Kevin,” his mother said. “This really doesn’t sound—”

  “I’m not crazy, Mom,” Kevin insisted, before his mother could finish it. “I’m not. Just look at the TV. If you don’t believe me, Luna will tell you.”

  He held out the phone for Luna to speak. He wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea, distracting her like that, but he needed to do something to try to keep his mother safe.

  “Ms. McKenzie, it’s all true,” Luna said. “You need to listen to me. I saw it. I saw the scientists change… Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it’s true. We’re coming to get you now.”

  She jerked the wheel sharply to avoid another car and Kevin pulled the phone away.

  “Mom? We’ll be there as soon as we can. If anyone tries to get in, look at their eyes. If their pupils are white, don’t let them in. Even us. And Mom? I love you.”

  It probably wasn’t a cool thing to say, but right then, Kevin didn’t care. He wanted his mother to know.

  “I love you too,” his mother said. “Whatever this is, we’ll find a way to sort it all out.”

  Kevin wasn’t so sure it would be that easy. He hung up, calling Luna’s parents next since there was no way she would be able to do it without either stopping or crashing. He called her mom, then her dad, hearing the phone go through to voicemail each time.

  “No answer,” he said.

  Luna looked over at him. “Do you think that means—”

  “Look out!” Kevin said, grabbing the wheel to pull them away from a knot of people who stepped onto the road to look at the sky. Their car skidded briefly, scraping along the side of the road before continuing on.

  Luna fastened her grip on the wheel again, not saying anything now as she drove, faster and faster as her confidence grew. Kevin suspected that she should probably slow down a little, but he wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that right then, especially not when they still needed to get to his own mother.

  It seemed to take forever before they pulled into Walnut Creek, and everything there seemed too quiet; eerily so. As Luna pulled the car up in front of Kevin’s house, it occurred to him that she shouldn’t have been able to. They should have been surrounded by reporters, all eager to photograph him doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

  Instead, the street was empty.

  “Where are they all?” Kevin wondered aloud.

 
“Do you want to be pestered by reporters?” Luna countered. “Probably they’re off covering everything that’s happening, or they decided to take cover. I would.”

  “We will,” Kevin promised. Just as soon as they’d gotten their parents. “My mom should have seen us pull up.”

  He went from the car over to the house, ringing the doorbell, and then banging on the door.

  “Mom,” he shouted, “it’s not a reporter. It’s me, Kevin.”

  He waited there for several seconds, not sure if the quiet was because his mother was hiding, or because it meant something more sinister. He dared to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard the click of the latch and the door started to open.

  “Mom!” Kevin said, throwing his arms wide to hug her, not caring that it was an uncool thing to do. She stood there in front of him, smiling with her own arms open, looking safe, looking happy…

  …Then Kevin saw her eyes, blank white and staring, and realized that his mother was grabbing, not hugging.

  It was too late, he realized, a yawning pit opening up in his stomach.

  The aliens had her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  For a moment, Kevin just stood there, paralyzed by the grief he felt. He could feel tears starting to roll down his cheeks. They’d taken over his mom. They’d controlled her, like they’d controlled so many other people, but this was different, because it was his mom, not someone else. He felt angry, and sad, and guilty, all at once. He’d done this. He’d told them where to find the rock. He’d—

  “Kevin, run!” Luna said, jerking him back from his mom.

  He managed to jump back out of his mother’s grip, but she lurched forward after the two of them, breathing out the vapor that might convert them.

  More figures came from the buildings all around, pouring from them in a way that said they’d been waiting for Kevin and Luna to arrive just so that they could do it. Some of them looked like reporters, with camera gear still strapped to them as they came for them. Kevin could see worse than that. Luna’s parents stood there, as blank-eyed and unseeing as the rest. The most terrifying thing was how normal they looked as they did it.

  It was enough to send Kevin scrambling for the car. He made it as Luna took her place in the driver’s spot.

  “Drive!” he yelled to Luna as he managed to fall into the passenger’s seat.

  “Those… those are my parents,” Luna said, and despite her mask Kevin could see how pale her features were then, how upset she was.

  “I know, Luna, but if we don’t get out of here, we’re going to end up like them, or worse.”

  Luna looked over at him and Kevin could see the tears. Even so, Luna nodded, stepping on the gas pedal so the car lurched forward. Reporters bounced off the hood. Kevin was just grateful that it wasn’t Luna’s parents, even if the reporters got straight back up again.

  They kept going more than a mile before they stopped, in the middle of a deserted lot where there was no sign of anyone. Luna turned off the engine and cried. Right then, Kevin knew how she felt. His mother was gone, taken by the aliens just like that. He’d tried to warn her. Had she not believed him, opened the door to someone? Had it just been too late?

  Kevin didn’t know. Right then, it didn’t matter. His mom was gone, changed, and so were Luna’s parents. So was every adult they’d been able to trust. Dr. Levin. Ted. All of them were gone. The world felt like a much bigger, scarier place without them there to help.

  He felt empty right then, in a way that made all the things he’d felt when he’d learned that he was going to die seem like nothing. Was this what his mother had felt, hearing that he was dying? This sense of loss?

  “Promise me something,” Luna said between the tears. “Promise me that you won’t let me be like that.”

  “We’re safe,” Kevin said. Even to himself, he didn’t sound convincing. “We have masks.”

  “A mask won’t stop them if they pull it away and breathe that stuff on me,” Luna said. She sounded angry now. Not angry at Kevin; angry at the world. “It won’t keep me from being like them. So promise me you won’t let me be like them.”

  “How can I—” Kevin began.

  “You can kill me,” Luna said. The tears in her eyes made them glisten. “I don’t want to be some mindless thing, trapped in my own body. If I end up like that, I want you to kill me. Say you’ll do it, Kevin.”

  Kevin couldn’t say it. He couldn’t promise to kill Luna. How could anyone promise that? The best he could do was to stay silent while Luna cried, his hand on her shoulder in silent support.

  “Where do we go, Kevin?” Luna asked. She sounded as though she was choking back her sobs now. “Where can we go? What can we do? What if… what if everyone’s like this?”

  Kevin wasn’t sure he had an answer to that.

  “We need to get somewhere safe,” he said. “Ted wanted us to do that.”

  “He wanted us to get to the bunker,” Luna said. “We can’t go there now, can we?”

  Kevin thought about all the scientists who would be in the way, who had come pouring out after them. He shook his head.

  “No. We wouldn’t get through.”

  “Where then?” Luna said. “We have to go somewhere. We can’t take the masks off unless we do.”

  Kevin wasn’t so sure about that. After all, one of the scientists had grabbed his mask. “I think… I think I can,” he said.

  “Well, I can’t,” Luna shot back. “How am I supposed to eat, Kevin? Or drink anything, or—”

  “We’ll think of something,” Kevin said, and then froze, as he realized something. “There are more bunkers.”

  “More bunkers?” Luna said. “But wouldn’t they be hidden?”

  “Phil told me about some of them when he was giving me the tour of the institute,” Kevin said. “He even showed me a map.”

  Behind her mask, Luna looked hopeful. “Can you remember where they are?”

  “I…”

  “Try, Kevin,” Luna insisted.

  Kevin did his best. He could remember one for certain. “Phil said there was one in the state park up on Mount Diablo. He said something about it being a place they used to do military tests.”

  “You’re sure?” Luna asked.

  Kevin nodded. “It would be safer than being outside,” Kevin said. He tried to think about what they would need, and how it would work. “We’d need supplies. Food and stuff.”

  In the end, they took what they needed from a gas station. They didn’t have any money to pay for it, but the clerk was busy standing at the back of the store, staring up at the sky. Kevin left a note anyway, with his mother’s address. It didn’t feel right just stealing stuff, even with everything that was going on.

  They drove on, and now Luna seemed to be getting the hang of it, because the whole journey seemed smoother. There was certainly less crashing into things, although they still had to dodge around cars that had been abandoned in the middle of the highway, the former drivers getting out to look up. There were even a couple of police cars there, and Luna slowed down almost automatically as they drove past. But the police were just as busy staring as everyone else. There was no one to get them into trouble—and no one to help them either.

  “Do you think there’s anything we can do to help our parents?” Luna asked after a while.

  “I don’t know,” Kevin admitted. He’d been thinking about that almost constantly since he’d seen his mother like that. “I guess I should know.”

  He’d had so many messages from the aliens, but none of them had said anything about how to undo all of this. None of them had provided a cure to whatever this was, or even suggested that it could be undone. A horrible thought came to Kevin then: the aliens had burned their own world to stop this from spreading, trying to burn off the threat, and even that hadn’t stopped it.

  “What if there isn’t a way?” Luna said. “What if everyone is stuck like that forever?”

  “If there is something, we’ll find it,”
Kevin said, although he didn’t know how they could even begin to do that. He had to hope, though. He wanted to bring his mother back, and not spend the rest of his life hiding from any group of people he met.

  They drove east, and kept driving. The road twisted and turned as they went up through the foothills, obscuring the mountain for a while, but soon it came back into view. They drove upward, and Kevin did his best to think where the red dot on the map had been marking the bunker. It was hard, because he’d only seen it briefly, and a lot of stuff had happened since.

  “I think it’s near the top,” he said.

  Luna nodded, and kept driving. There were fewer people out here, but even so, they were doing the same things others had been: standing by the road, staring at the sky. A few were walking back toward the city, too, as if there were something there waiting for them.

  There was supposed to be a parking lot at the top of the mountain, but Luna pulled the car off the road a little way before that, hiding it in a stand of trees.

  “So that it will still be here if we need it,” she said. Kevin couldn’t see who might be there to steal it, but even so, it sounded like a good idea. He guessed that there might be people about in the tourist areas, all controlled by the aliens now.

  They took food and supplies from the car, a few cans and packets that didn’t seem like enough now that they were here. They crept forward through the trees, trying not to make a sound.

  “Which way to the bunker from here?” Luna asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Kevin admitted. “I think right at the top.”

  Luna nodded, and they started upward. It was hard, climbing that way, but they kept going. They were almost at the top anyway, and the prospect of safety pulled them on.

  There were people near the top. Kevin could see them as he got closer. Some looked like tourists, but there were others in military uniforms, suggesting that Phil’s talk of a hidden military testing site might be true. All seemed to be as still as everyone else he’d seen, as if waiting for orders. He knew that they couldn’t just walk past them, though. If even one saw him, how many more would come? If there were enough, it wouldn’t matter that they had a bunker to go to.