Occupation: A Post-Apocalyptic Alien Invasion Thriller (Rise Book 1)

by Nathan Hystad

  “Not sure,” the boss said, and Dex looked over the big man’s shoulders to see Clark, another Hunter, jump into his Hummer, spin gravel toward the motel, and take off to the west.

  “Who’s the target?” Kate asked.

  “Two of them.” Cleveland pulled out two files and handed them each one. “I’ve sent the details to your tablets too. There’s a prize in this for the winner. Whoever nabs one gets a month off. Nab ‘em both and you get three.”

  Three months off. Dex could finally take that time to recharge he’d been wanting. He’d go hide somewhere quiet, out of sight from prying eyes. He could already feel the constant cloud of oppression lifting from his mind.

  “Done.” He took the file and flipped it open. The first file showed a kid. His age was pegged at twenty-five, but he didn’t look a day over twenty. He was hollow-cheeked, piercing blue eyes showed some spark behind them. “Alec from a Detroit factory? Why do they care so much about this kid?”

  Kate was looking over his shoulder, and she flipped the page. “Patricia Bond. Why does that name sound familiar?” The woman was black, strong-looking. Stronger than a gruel-fed worker should be. This had Dex wondering a few things about her. His finger ran down the page.

  There it was. She was a suspected terrorist. At least she was now. Otherwise, her records were clean. She’d moved around to a few different work sites. Farming, food preparation, and lastly the weapons factories in a few states. She must have been good at doing her job to get shifted so much. If she was instigating trouble, they would have just killed her.

  It made Dex think. Trent James had said he could control where supplies went; scheduling goods, logistics, and likely even people. If the terrorists had access to his software, they’d be able to have their people moved around as needed. He swallowed hard and knew this was information he needed to keep in his back pocket.

  “Why are you so quiet?” Kate asked. Dex glanced away, trying to not appear guilty.

  “I’m reading the files. Nothing special here. I don’t see this being too tough,” he said.

  Cleveland was walking away, and Dex held the door open, seeing the sun begin its descent into the west. “Only one problem,” his boss said.

  “What?” Kate called after him.

  “Neither of their IDs are working. Seekers have been sent out. At least ten. Better hurry if either of you want a piece of the Hunt.” Cleveland let out a low laugh and sauntered to the motel office, leaving Dex and Kate standing in his room’s doorway.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

  “Probably not,” Dex replied.

  “Come on. We split this job. Work together. Let’s call it a practice run,” she urged, and he could almost smell the desperation rise from her skin. His story about the Trackers going rogue had rattled the normally hard woman, but Dex couldn’t do it.

  “Not yet. We can stay in contact, though,” Dex said as he slipped his black leather jacket over his t-shirt. He jammed the Glock into its holster and grabbed his car keys. “May the best man win.” He knew that would ruffle her feathers.

  Instead of the expected barb back, she slowly nodded and looked northeast, to where Detroit lay five hundred miles away.

  Dex waited for her to leave, taking off on the highway to the east toward the city. His car rumbled to life. He’d never grow tired of that sound. With a flipped-down visor, he sped out of the parking lot, heading into the setting sun.

  Chapter 19

  Alec

  Alec thought they might hide out for a day or two in the basement of the old farmhouse, but Monet told him the enemy would be searching hot and heavy, saturating the area as soon as they found out there were two Roamers, three if Crash had escaped.

  It was late evening by the time they reached a small town, and Alec’s legs were burning fiercely. He was used to being on his feet all day, but the perpetual motion was numbing his thighs and calves.

  He tugged on his t-shirt and glanced down at the pair of pants Monet had called jeans. He’d seen them in one of his old magazines, but he’d never expected to wear a pair. It was the first time he hadn’t worn a jumpsuit or uniform in his life, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the attire quite yet.

  The pack he carried was digging into his shoulders and was heavy with food and water. None of this appeared to be bothering Monet in the least. He could tell she was slowing to let him keep up, and she was doing a good job of biting her tongue about it too. Alec assumed the attitude wouldn’t last forever. He tried to move faster, for her sake.

  “How much farther?” he asked.

  “Only about twelve hundred miles,” she said without the hint of a joke behind it.

  Twelve hundred miles. It may as well have been twelve thousand.

  They walked along the tree line on a secondary road, staying away from open ground and the main interstate. Monet seemed to know what she was doing, and Alec was more than happy to let her take the lead. He had no idea where they were heading.

  “Don’t worry. We’re going to get a lift for part of the way,” she told him.

  “A lift?” he asked.

  “There’s a supply warehouse between here and Chicago. Not a big one, but it connects to the Sixty-Five and acts as a hub.” So much of what she said was foreign to him, but he was getting used to that.

  “We sneak onto a truck?” he asked.

  “There you go. Now you’re picking it up.”

  “How far away is the warehouse?” he asked, hoping for a promising reply.

  “It’ll take us a couple days to get there, but I have a plan. We stashed a bike along this way for such an occasion. It’s been sitting idle for a few years, but I’ll make it run,” she said with confidence.

  “Good. That’ll get us there faster?” He scanned the clear blue evening sky and saw no sign of any Seekers.

  She nodded and continued in silence. It was several more hours before she let them stop, heading down a long gravel driveway to another house. This one had fallen into decay, and the house wasn’t useable.

  “We’ll sleep in the barn,” she said, and Alec helped her open the large wooden door. Amazingly, it was less rotten than the house had been, and Alec saw bones piled in the edge of the barn from a long dead animal.

  He climbed the old steps into the barn’s loft and pushed open what Monet had called the hay loft’s door. He sat there, watching as the sun lowered beyond the plush trees at the other end of the overgrown fields.

  He breathed deeply and leaned back as the scents of summer coursed through him. He wished that Beth were there with him to experience it.

  Monet stood there with her arms crossed, and she cleared her throat. “You’re reminding me of things I’d all but forgotten,” she told him.

  “How do you mean?” he asked.

  “Sunsets. The smell of nature. I take so much for granted, and I don’t notice it at all. I’ve been so single-minded, it’s sickening.” Monet came to sit beside him, feet dangling out through the open window.

  “What’s the focus?”

  “Them. Killing them. Taking it all back. That’s the sole focus, Alec. It’s the only way. I’m tired of having to hide in the shadows. It’s almost time.” She was staring into the distance, the sun settled beyond the tree line.

  “Time for what?” Alec asked, thinking he knew the answer.

  “Time to fight.”

  He didn’t press her. Instead, they remained in silence for a while before unrolling sleeping bags from their packs. They stayed close to one another, and Alec realized he’d never slept in the same room as anyone else since he was a little boy. Back then, they’d shared large rooms, with ten kids occupying each space. Five bunk beds. Now it was strange as he listened to Monet’s breathing turn deeper and into a light snore as he stared at the barn’s vaulted ceiling in the near dark.

  Eventually, he fell asleep and dreamed of Beth dying, of the alien pressing so close to him, he could smell its musk, and of his newfound freedom, whi
ch in many ways was more frightening than his captivity.

  He awoke to a gentle shake of his shoulders. His eyes darted open to see a smiling Monet crouching at his side. “Rise and shine. We’ll have a bite and get moving. We have a big day ahead of us,” she said.

  Alec rolled out of his bed, every muscle in his body protesting the movements. He’d thought he was in okay shape before, but now he knew better. Monet didn’t look any worse for the wear, and he decided to keep his complaints to himself.

  Two hours later, they’d made at least six miles according to his companion, and his muscles were loosening up again. The sun was finally coming up, when he heard the familiar whirring sound of the Seeker drone. At first, he thought it was a mosquito in his ear, like the hundreds of others so far that morning. Their trudging through the deep brush was activating the swarms of the bugs, and Alec had angry red welts on his arms where he’d been bitten.

  Monet grabbed his arm and tugged him into the trees. She had a rifle in her hand faster than Alec could believe, and was aiming it upwards as they stood motionless, backs pressed against a thick tree trunk. Bark dug in between his shoulder blades, but he didn’t move. Alec had hidden from them before, but this time, he was almost frozen in place with fear.

  He spotted the Seeker as the glint of the sun’s rays cascaded off its shiny body. He glanced to Monet, who was taking slow, methodical breaths beside him. She was focused, and it helped him calm down.

  The Seeker rose higher, and the sound softened as it left their vicinity.

  “That was close,” Alec said, and she clamped a hand over his mouth, fear in her wide eyes. Their faces were inches apart, and she let go, lifting a finger to her mouth. He got her point.

  The whine of the drone grew louder again, and it hovered twenty yards away. Monet crouched, and Alec joined her. After several anxiety-filled minutes, it lifted and moved away. They remained still for another five minutes, until Monet finally spoke.

  “They’re getting smarter. It was trying to trick us,” she said. Alec wasn’t sure if the robots were that intelligent, but he wasn’t about to argue with the woman. “Let’s keep moving.”

  It was hours later, two snacks, one meal, and at least ten more mosquito bites before Monet led them toward a shack two rural roads north off the main drag.

  “This should be it,” she said.

  The long grass bent over in supplication to the increasing wind as dark clouds blew in behind them. Alec could smell the difference in the air as the sky grew black, and the sun went into hiding. He saw a figure in a field, and he was startled, worried it was one of the Overseers watching intently.

  “Is that one of them?” he asked, pointing at it.

  Monet’s mood was growing foul, but she laughed at him. “That’s a scarecrow,” she said, as if that was supposed to explain anything. If she wasn’t worried about it, neither was he. “It’s in here.” She led him behind another house, this one far larger than the first few they had visited.

  “How do you know all of this?” he asked her.

  “They make us study. A lot. If you’re an agent on the road, you have to know where to acquire food, weapons, transportation. I wish we could just hop in a car and be done with it, but it’s not quite that easy. Once we enter Iowa, we should have an easier time. There isn’t much of the Occupation between Chicago and Las Vegas.” Monet grabbed the lock on the storage shed behind the house and thumbed a series of numbers into it.

  Alec heard it snap open, and she passed the lock to him as she opened the door to reveal an unfamiliar contraption.

  “Not the most stylish way to transport ourselves around, but who’s judging? This is an electric moped. It’s basically a bicycle with a motor on it for cruising. It’s going to be hell to carry both of us, but it’s all we have.” She pulled out a square box and set it on the ground before unfolding some panels. “These are solar panels to charge the motor. It’ll get us where we’re going, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow before we can leave.”

  Alec stepped into the storage shed and set his hand on the strange two-wheeled device. He’d seen similar things lying in the streets back home. “This is a bike?”

  “Sort of. I always forget how little they teach you guys about being human.” Her eyes met his, and they revealed a profound sadness.

  “I read a few books. Tom stashed some outside the facility for me and taught me how to read,” Alec said.

  “I’m impressed. He sure took a shine to you.” Monet fiddled with the connections, and when she seemed satisfied, she grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the shed. “It’s going to rain, and I’d rather not get soaked. Let’s see what’s inside.”

  “Is there another of those secret rooms here?” Alec asked.

  “Unfortunately not. They spread things out better than that. But we might find shelter. The roof looks sturdier than most we’ve passed.”

  She was right. Monet pressed the door open and listened before stepping in. “What are you worried about finding?”

  “Anything. People. Animals.” Monet gripped a hand-held gun and aimed it forward as she passed through the front door.

  “Why are you scared of people?” he asked before remembering almost all of his torment had come from the hands of other humans, not the Overseers. “Never mind. Stupid question.”

  “Wait here,” she said, and left Alec in the big house’s entrance. Several minutes passed before she returned, smiling. “This is better than I thought. Come on.”

  He followed her into a kitchen, and other than some dust, it was immaculate.

  “How has it been preserved so well?” he asked, but she shook her head without answering.

  She grabbed a rag from inside a cupboard, poured some water from a bottle on it, and threw it to Alec. “Wash that.” She pointed at a heavy-looking wooden table. He wiped it clean and ran a finger across its surface.

  “Do you ever wonder what it used to be like, Alec?” she asked.

  He couldn’t deny it. “I do. All the time. But I have such distorted information to base it on. What was it like for you?” he asked, getting an eye roll in return.

  “I’m not so much older than you are. I was seven when it all happened. A little black girl growing up in a small town north of Portland. My life consisted of school, which I loved, church, playing dolls with my big sister, and watching cartoons. I don’t think anyone was ready for the drastic change. I know I wasn’t.”

  Alec had never heard someone talk so openly about their previous life. He was teeming with questions. “Where’s Portland? What happened to your family?” he asked, instantly regretting the second query.

  “Portland, Oregon, not Maine, which means it’s on the West Coast. It was beautiful. I’d like to go back sometime,” she said. “As for my family, I guess they ended up like everyone else. Dead or taken to a worksite somewhere.”

  “You’ve never seen them again?”

  “Never. Probably for the best if they didn’t make it. Their hearts were too full of love to live in this new world.”

  “And you?”

  “I used to be sweet and innocent. That disappears pretty quickly, doesn’t it?” she asked, and he didn’t know how to answer. She must have noticed his hesitation “Someone lived here long ago. They had hopes and dreams, love, debt, fears, desires. Now it’s empty and unused, like so much of our country. There’s no getting that back, not until we rid ourselves of the Overseers. They call us Vermin, you know.”

  Alec didn’t know that but wasn’t surprised by the vernacular.

  “Not for long, my new friend. Not for long.” Monet had a distant look in her eyes, and for the first time, Alec wondered if she was all there. He’d seen a lot of people go insane over the years, and eventually, they each did something against the rules and were never heard of again. She had the glint of fanaticism in her eyes momentarily, then it was gone, replaced by a kind smile. “Enough about that. Tonight, we can live like we used to. We’ll make a meal, play cards at the
table like friends. How does that sound?”

  It sounded great to him, and he told her so. “I’ve never played cards. I’ve heard the guards talk about a game called poker.”

  “Then you shall learn to play poker. I hope you brought a lot of money.” She laughed.

  “I have some cans of food.” He grinned at her.

  “You’re going to want to hold on to those. Never gamble with anything you’re not prepared to lose. Life advice one,” she said.

  “I have a feeling you’re going to have a lot of advice for me along this trip,” he said. For the first time in forever, his shoulders relaxed, and he wasn’t on the constant lookout. It felt good, like he was safe with Monet around him.

  They ate, played several hours of poker, Alec getting beat nearly every hand, before finding areas to sleep on the living room floor. It was the best night Alec ever had. He knew they had a long road ahead, but he’d hold on to this memory for the tough times.

  Chapter 20

  Lina

  She walked nonstop. Lina didn’t care about driving rain, she didn’t care about her clothes and pack getting soaked through, nor that her clothes chafed and rubbed painfully. She didn’t even care when she fell, grazing her hand so badly that the blood ran, rain-diluted, to drip from her fingertips. She kept going, kept putting one lead-weighted foot in front of the other and walked on until her limbs threatened abandonment. She paused, hearing some far-off noise like laughter, and feeling confused.

  Her mind must have been playing tricks on her, misinterpreting the trickling of the heavy rainfall into the noise of a person to raise her spirits only for them to be crushed down deeper when she found out she was totally alone.

  Only she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. The sound returned, ahead and up the small bluff of a rocky lump in the gloomy distance. Something in her mind triggered again, telling her that the hill was high ground, and that high ground meant a degree of safety against the things that were dangerous to her. People had always been her safety; hunters and builders and fishermen her protectors and providers who, in turn, she fixed whenever they were injured or fell sick.