by Alex Bratton
Figuring she would meet them later, she retrieved an empty hydration pack from her tent and hiked to the spring down from the hotel. Before returning, she went farther down to the creek. Here, it flowed over large rocks that formed natural dams. Sunlight danced through the trees, causing the water to look like liquid glass. Beyond the pools, a fallen tree created a bridge over the rapids. A barefoot woman walked with perfect balance over the mossy log. At first, the sun playing through the leafy canopy hid her identity from Mina, who shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted. Emily.
Emily sat down in the middle of the bridge, her feet dangling just above the rushing water, and smoothed her dress over dirty, bony knees. Her left shoulder still drooped. She’d refused to let anyone touch it. Afraid to disturb her, Mina turned to go, but the woman caught her eye with the same dispassionate look she’d had the previous evening.
“Name’s Emily,” she stated.
“Yes. Hi, Emily. I’m Mina, remember?” Mina walked to the edge of the fallen trunk, shifting positions to keep the sun out of her eyes.
Emily gazed at the trees above. “The birdsong is beautiful, isn’t it?”
Mina looked. Sparrows fluttered and dove at one another over the water, their snarky twittering hardly a song.
Without waiting for an answer, Emily spoke again in a soft voice. “Fast asleep. Singing birds in their leafy cover cannot wake her.”
Startled out of her reverie, Mina looked back at Emily. “Sorry, what?”
Emily peered at the birds through gaunt eyes glazed over, seeing something else. “Sleeping at last,” she breathed.
“Is that a poem?” Mina asked, intrigued. The lines brought back memories of another life, a life full of words and thoughts and joy.
Emily didn’t answer. Mina sat on the bank and waited, but when the woman didn’t move, she thought it best to leave her with her thoughts. She hiked back up the mountain to the road, wondering again what had happened to Emily.
When Mina reached the hotel, she stowed her water in her tent after carefully storing more in her pack. She could leave at a moment’s notice if needed.
The camp bustled with activity. People hauled firewood to the pile beside the lodge. Others returned from hunting, carrying a deer. Solomon and Evan stood near the edge of the parking lot, talking apart from everyone else. Evan frowned and stared at the ground while his grandfather spoke to him.
Mina steered clear of them and made her way back to the road. Something brown near the rail caught her eye, and she wandered over to check it out. From a distance, it looked like roadkill although there hadn’t been any cars. It was a teddy bear. She picked it up and dusted it off.
The bear was in good condition with soft fur and stuffing just right for cuddling. One eye had fallen off, making it look all the more like a treasured possession. Mina took the toy over to the hotel office and propped it outside against the door frame. A few children lived in the camp, but Mina didn’t know any of them and thought it best to leave the bear in plain sight where its owner could claim it.
On the opposite side of the hotel, an old wooden shed butted up against the mountain. Junk filled it to the ceiling. Mina found Marty rummaging through the impossible clutter inside, pulling parts out a little at a time and sorting them.
“Hi, Mina,” he said when she stood in the doorway. “Look what I found.” He pointed to a large green metal box at the bottom of the pile. US Army had been painted on it in white letters.
“What is it?”
Marty smiled. “An old surplus generator.”
Mina smiled too. “You mean…”
“Yep. Soon as we clear this out, we’ll be able to tell if it’s working.”
“Is that possible after the power surges?”
“It’s very old. There’s nothing electrical here to fry. As long as all the pieces are there, we can make it work, and if parts are missing, we’ll improvise with all this junk in here.”
“And then you can hook it up to the hotel?”
“Exactly. Electricity. Looks like the hotel was built in the fifties. Probably only relied on a generator at first. Some of these places out here in the mountains weren’t even connected to the grid until the seventies. I bet this is the generator they used.”
“Why’d it take so long to find?”
“Well, when we got here a few weeks ago and saw the shed piled with junk, we didn’t get around to clearing it until we’d settled some other things, like finding food and water. All we could think about was deciding whether to stay. As soon as everyone voted yes, I came out here and started digging around. Solomon’s been working on it too. When we get it going, we can get the water pump going.” Marty beamed. “Just think, electricity and running water.”
“How do you know about all this?”
He shrugged. “Grew up around here. It’s common for the area.” He returned to sorting through a pile of metal.
“Marty.”
“Hmm?”
“Who were those people that showed up today?”
Marty’s face soured. “You’ll need to ask Solomon about them.”
Sensing she’d overstayed her welcome, Mina walked back around the building. A tall blond-haired man nodded as she approached the lobby door. A few freckles and beard marked his otherwise common face. He carried a rifle over one shoulder.
Mina had thought he would pass by, but he stopped to look at her. “Hello,” he said.
“Hi.”
He extended his hand. “Name’s Iverson. You’ve been here a few days, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” Mina said as she took his hand. His grip was strong. “Mina.”
“Yes, I know.”
Mina frowned and let go.
Iverson smiled. “I asked Solomon. Sorry.”
She nodded, his tone putting her at ease. Of course strangers would know her name. It was easier for the lodgers to learn one name than for her to learn two hundred. “Have you been here long?”
He shook his head. “Just came in a few days before you did. Where you from?”
“Boston… Well, I called it home for a few years. Now, I guess I’m from here. What about you?”
“Arlington. You walked here from Boston?” Iverson’s eyebrows rose into the hair that fell down over his forehead.
“No, from Charlotte. It’s a long story.” Mina smiled.
“You’ll have to tell me sometime.”
She would need to think of a good story to tell him. The truth wasn’t exactly open for discussion. “It’s not too interesting,” she said. “Probably about the same as everyone else here.”
“I wouldn’t know. People don’t seem to talk about it at all.”
“I know.” Mina nodded. “Too painful maybe.”
An unbidden image of her brother Lincoln rose in her mind, alive and scratching out a living somewhere. Mina had every reason to assume he was dead. Even Doyle said so.
Don’t think about them. The feeling of guilt pressed on her chest, guilt that she had abandoned her search for her brother.
Iverson lightly scuffed the gravel underfoot, bringing her back to the present. “Guess so,” he said.
Unwilling for the conversation to move into painful territory, Mina changed the subject to the cloudy weather. They chatted a few minutes and then parted. Mina nodded at Iverson as he left, grateful she wasn’t the only outsider at the lodge.
Calla stood inside the heart of the Nomad. Beads of sweat ran down her body, soaking her clothes until they looked like she had worn them swimming. She glanced around at the lines snaking in and out of the core. Encased in a capsule in the center of the room, the core contained enough energy to level a small city. The cold dark stone in the outer room contained that energy. In the intervening space between the cold wall and the core, the air reached stifling temperatures. Sometimes, Calla enjoyed feeling the heat on her body, the sweat coaxed out of her hybrid skin. The moisture provided relief somehow and frustration. It reminded her of her ties to the humans.
>
Since their argument, Calla had avoided Doyle, not because she feared him but to remind herself to put the mission first and her revenge second. Doyle had meant every word of his threat. He would kill Calla if she became disobedient. She had witnessed his wrath too many times to assume he would treat her differently than any other subordinate. But she struggled to maintain her distance aboard the Nomad. Unable to avoid Doyle in the ship’s close quarters, she had retreated down here to think and sweat.
“Calla.”
Calla turned to Doyle standing in the door. He barely glanced at her as he said, “I have a plan.”
Author Note
Get an email when the next episode releases!
Just go to www.alexbrattonwrites.com and sign up for my updates. When you do, you’ll get a free download of The Mine, set seventy years before the events of Invasion. Find out what happened when the underground Condarri bunker was first discovered, and about a plucky female miner who risks everything.
Best,
Alex
Also by Alex Bratton
The Shadowmark Series:
Invasion, Episode 1
Annihilation, Episode 2
Isolation, Episode 3
Revelation, Episode 4
Shadowmark Origins
The Mine, A Shadowmark Origins Story
Hybrid, A Shadowmark Origins Novel
Acknowledgments
So many people were involved in helping to get this story out there. In its original form, I have to thank Dad, Nicole D., Carina, and Pam for their early feedback.
For this final manuscript, many thanks to the lovely Nicole Z. for editing.
And, as always, I’m thankful for my husband Eric and his faith in me while I pursue this crazy dream of writing.
About the Author
Alex Bratton grew up reading almost every genre of books, anything she could get her hands on. In a former life, she taught Middle and High School English.
Now, Alex lives in Tennessee with her husband, son, and three dogs. She writes alien invasion/post apocalyptic stories and also publishes space adventure under another name.
You can find out more about her at www.alexbrattonwrites.com.
