He didn’t quite expect the welcome he’d received from his brother. His cheek was still a bit swollen from the punch that greeted him, and he was sure his swollen eye would soon turn black and blue. For now, Brad decided to keep his place in the shadows and watch the strange situation he had entered into. Why hadn’t he tried to go home? He shook his head. There was nothing there for him. No food, no people, nothing. What was he going to do—bunker down alone and starve?
When this fool pastor and his wife offered to let him stay with them until they made it to the military base, he decided he’d have been an idiot not to leech off them until he could find something better. How on earth had his brother shown up? It irked Brad that Hugh somehow managed to get in his way every time.
The girl looked up and started around the room with the cookie plate, like a waitress. She approached the woman with the clingy kids first. As she approached him, she smiled wide and leaned the plate toward him. “Cookie?” she asked in the same way she’d offered to the others. Gold-brown hair fell in a soft wavy frame around her round face, and her green-grey eyes betrayed her smile with sadness.
Brad grinned and accepted one of the brown treasures from the plate. “Thanks, Gorgeous.” He couldn’t help himself. It was almost a natural inclination to flirt with the girl who drew his brother’s interest. She flushed immediately, and her smile fell as she pulled her eyes away and blinked hard. She was cute when she was embarrassed.
He smiled wide and lifted his gaze to meet his brother’s fuming one. Yeah. Just as it should be. He bit into the cookie.
Jennie
JENNIE BLUSHED AND WITHDREW FROM the man with the black eye forming. Did that hot guy just called her gorgeous? What a flirt. He probably said it to all the girls. The thought of it made her flush with both embarrassment and a little anger. Better to push those thoughts from her mind and go on with life. She took the cookie plate over to the next person and offered it. “Cookie?”
“Thanks, but there aren’t any?” The woman, who was only a few years older than Jennie’s mom, looked at her with arched eyebrows.
Jennie looked at the plate and grew even more embarrassed. She hadn’t noticed the plate had been emptied. “Sorry,” she said and backed toward the kitchen again.
A little annoyed with herself, she set the plate on the counter with a huff. When she turned back around, the guy in the sweats stood in the doorway. Her emotions were fluctuating wildly, and she couldn’t stand it. She really needed to get things out in the open and deal with them. She was going to start with this guy. “Who are you, and how do I know you?”
He winced at her sudden question. “Uh. I’m Hugh Harris. I’d say you look vaguely familiar, too. Maybe you went to Warwick High?”
She nodded, beginning to piece things together, and looked into his brown eyes. It dawned on her suddenly. She could see past the unshaven face and sweats and imagine the man he would normally have been. “Mr. Harris.”
He smiled. “The same.”
Although she’d taken physics with Mr. Morris instead, she remembered seeing the biology teacher regularly in the hallways. In fact, one of her good friends from school, Terra, had a huge crush on him their senior year. Hot Mr. Harris. She blushed at the thought and looked away.
The rain began again with renewed fervor. Because of the attic space above the kitchen, the noise was muted, unlike in the sanctuary itself. The lights flickered.
"So, is that your little brother?” he asked, stepping out of the doorway into the kitchen. He stood on the other side of the island from her.
Jennie nodded. Suddenly, she felt a little awkward, like she was privy to a teacher’s private life. He just didn’t quite look himself, and she didn’t feel right seeing him like this. Also, his proximity made her uncomfortable. She may have graduated over a year ago, but it seemed inappropriate to her that he showed such an interest. How old was he anyway? He must have been pushing thirty, right?
“Hey! There you are.” The hot guy with the black eye stepped in the kitchen behind Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris’ posture stiffened, and he turned around quickly. He gave the new guy a dirty look and marched out of the kitchen.
Although this one had an unshaven look also, he didn’t quite have the scruffiness about him. He was younger and seemed less affected. With a shrug, the new guy set a well-muscled arm on the counter in the same place where Mr. Harris had stood a moment before. Jennie let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and relaxed her shoulders. “What was that about?” she asked.
His grin grew wide and exposed a dimple on his right cheek. “The guy's got issues. What can I say?”
The charismatic smile was infectious, and Jennie felt instantly comfortable around him. “Do you two know each other?”
“Yeah. He’s my brother.” He grew more serious. “I really didn’t expect to see him here. Bad blood, you know. He stole my girlfriend, and when I confronted him about it, he gave me this.” He pointed at his cheek and swollen eye.
“Really?” Jennie shook her head in disbelief, although the evidence was plain on his face. Mr. Harris was turning out to be nothing like she’d thought of him from high school. She wondered if Terra would still have a crush on him knowing his home life.
“Yeah, but it’s no big deal that my brother’s a jerk.”
Jennie laughed awkwardly.
He noticed and smiled again. “But, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this private junk. Sorry about that. I’m Brad, by the way.” He held out a hand across the counter top.
She put hers in his and said, “Jennie.”
His rough palm wrapped around hers, and he gave a gentle squeeze. “There. Strangers no more.”
Hugh
SERIOUSLY? OF ALL THE SMALL buildings in the world, Hugh had to run into his brother in this one? Ugh.
Even though Hugh was over Clarissa and their relationship had been on the rocks for months, it still stung that his little brother had been the straw that broke them up. When he looked into his brother’s wide grin and dimpled cheeks, he couldn’t help but want to deck him. Hugh’s knuckles still ached from giving into his emotional drive. He regretted it only a little when he looked at his brother’s black and blue cheek. But only a little.
Jennie Ransom. How did he remember her last name? He only remembered her vaguely as a friend to one of his students the year before last. Somehow, she looked less like the little girl with her nose in a book and a bit more like a woman in the last year and a half. He snickered a little at how he thought she was much older when he saw her through the doors of the tower. There was something about her that seemed so fragile when she’d first come into the church. He only wanted to help her and keep her from harm. If only he could keep her from his brother. That one was harm in a pair of tight jeans.
Speaking of the devil…Brad came out of the kitchen with Jennie. She seemed happier and lighter, as she stepped out with Brad’s hand at the small of her back. When Jennie’s eyes met his, he saw a sudden coldness there he hadn’t seen before, but she looked away before he could form an opinion. He blinked hard. Hugh’s heart fell a little.
Maybe she was better off with Brad. Maybe Clarissa had been, too. He suddenly remembered her random text message on the first day of the attacks. Checking his pockets, he realized his Blackberry was probably dead or on the charger at his apartment. He narrowed his eyes at Brad’s back and wondered if his brother knew where Clarissa might be.
Jennie
JENNIE FELT SUDDENLY DIZZY. RUMBLING grew that sounded neither like thunder nor of alien origin. The unlit candlesticks on the podium at the front of the sanctuary rattled and fell over. A general murmur through the crowd increased, and the lights, which wavered a moment before, went out completely. Darkness narrowed her vision. Only a little light came through the frosted windows close to the ceiling of the church.
The hand which had been set at the small of her back wrapped around her shoulder now. She grabbed the back of a pew to stead
y herself in the blackness, and she couldn’t help but cry out, “Mickey, are you okay?”
His sweet voice answered immediately from just in front of her. “I’m fine.”
A sigh of relief escaped her lips, and she felt her way along the pew to the sound of his voice. She could just see the shine of his eyes in the dim light, and she sat down on the pew next to him, wrapping her arms around him. Brad’s hand released her, but he sat down next to her as well.
Pastor Billy cleared his throat and called out to the crowd. “Everyone, can I have your attention please?”
The murmuring subsided.
“Great. I think that we’ve just experienced a little tremor. An actual earthquake. They’ve been happening a lot since the aliens arrived. All over the world, but here in Virginia, the fault lines are weaker and quakes are less common. In the Bible, they are known as birth pangs…”
Brad leaned in and whispered, “I guess we can’t go to a church without hearing a sermon, huh?”
Jennie nodded but continued to listen.
“…So, we need not worry about this. It was called for. I even have theories that all of this is called for in the book of Revelation. Maybe at some other time we could discuss that as well. For now, let’s all just remain calm, and if I could get a hand from someone whose night vision is better than mine, we’ll see if we can find some candles.”
“I’ll help,” Mr. Harris called from the corner.
Jennie’s eyes were adjusting to the dark also, so she released her brother and leaned forward to stand. Brad’s head shook slightly in the dim light. He called out in his deeper voice, “I’ll help.”
The shadow version of Mr. Harris faltered in his step but continued toward Pastor Billy. There seemed almost to be magnetic poles between the two brothers causing them to repel each other in an obvious way. They stood to opposite sides of the pastor.
After a moment, Brad came back and handed an unlit candle to Jennie. Even in the dim light, she could see his perfect white teeth gleaming. She would even be willing to bet that there was a wink involved that she couldn’t see, as he said, “Here you go, Gorgeous.”
It sent a shiver down her when their fingers touched, and she accepted the long, thin candle. The wax was smooth, and she feared it would slip through her fingers if she didn’t hold it tightly. A bright flash of light filled the room, causing another murmur. It was followed soon after by the rumble of thunder.
“Can I have one?” Mickey asked, his little hands reaching out toward Brad.
“Sorry, Sport. These are for the grown-ups.” He rubbed the top of Mickey’s head and started toward the next set of people.
Mickey whispered in Jennie’s ear, “I don’t like him. He’s not very nice.”
Jennie was taken aback at her little brother’s words. She’d never heard him talk about anyone in such a way. “Give him a chance, Mickey. Little kids can’t hold lit candles because they have fire on them. You know what Mom and Dad say about playing with fire, right?”
In the dark, Mickey nodded and crossed his arms. “I still don’t like him.”
She was about to ask why when she felt the shadow of someone else draw near. “Here you go.” With a long lighter, he lit the candle in Jennie’s hand. The shadows and light played on Mr. Harris’s face, and he forced a small smile at her. She saw a momentary sadness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before and couldn’t help but wonder again what kind of man he was. Before she could say anything in return, he had moved on.
Brad
BRAD HAD BEEN SITTING IN the dark with a candle in his hand long enough for it to dribble hot wax on his skin. He wiped it away and looked around the room. What was left of the sunlight outside had begun to fade and caused the church to fall into otherwise pitch black with the exception of the occasional point of dancing candlelight. Everyone listened to the continued mechanical voice of the emergency broadcast system over the winding radio. Now and then, Pastor Crawford would pick the radio up and wind it again with successive turns that seemed like more work than the energy returned from it. Definitely an inefficient system if Brad had ever seen one.
Finally, the large pastor stood up at the podium again. He set his two candles in the sticks at both sides and let the light wave over his face. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, he raised his voice over the constant patter on the roof. “Well, folks, we were planning on leaving for one of the military bases by now. But this storm going on outside would make driving and keeping lookout for unmentionables difficult.”
To punctuate his words, another flash of lightning lit the room. “So, it seems we’ll be staying here for now. The good news is that we’ve got enough supplies to feed our small crew here, and the church has a gas stove. My wife would like one or two hands in the kitchen but no more than that, even though I’m sure most of you ladies would like to help.”
The lights in the room flickered back on and the small crowd nearly cheered. Brad blew out his candle and looked around again. His brother still stood at the back of the room with his arms crossed. Hugh’s eyes bore into his when Brad glanced back. He smirked and continued his scan of the room. Mrs. Crawford had already garnered help from two of the older ladies and headed for the kitchen. The small black man had started collecting the candles and placing them in a box, after making sure that the wicks were well snuffed between his calloused fingers.
Jennie’s little brother sat on her lap, talking animatedly with the two other little rugrats sitting in the pew behind them. Brad leaned in over Jennie’s shoulder. “Hey, doesn’t this place have a nursery with toys in it?”
She looked back at him with a smile and nodded. “Yeah, it does.”
When she turned and blew a raspberry on the boy’s cheek, Brad winced. The boy giggled.
“Hey Mickey, want to go show Aaron and Alicia to the nursery?”
The boy finally hopped from Jennie’s lap and said to the other two kids, “Come on. Let’s go!” Like birds taking flight for the first time, the smaller brother and sister released their mother and took off after Mickey down the hallway. Brad returned the mother’s look of gratitude and relief with a wink. Jennie smiled and stood to follow the kids.
Brad stood with her and placed a hand on her back as they walked. He couldn’t help but glance at his brother with a smirk. Hugh narrowed his eyes.
A few small rooms comprised the remainder of the church after the main sanctuary. Mickey’s voice echoed off the walls of the hallway that connected a men’s room, ladies’ room, a nursery, one small classroom, and the kitchen, which was large enough to house a few large tables for dining. Chatter and clanging pots and pans greeted them when they passed the kitchen.
They entered the well-lit nursery where colorful toys were stacked in cubby holes and placed neatly on shelves. Because the ceiling was lower in this area and there was more insulation above, the storm could barely be heard. As self-appointed leader, Jennie’s brother grabbed a board game from a cubby and announced, “Candyland!”
The three kids crowded around the small toddler table in the middle of the room and started calling out colors they wanted to claim. Jennie helped the three set up the game before she returned to the doorway to hang out with Brad while watching the kids.
“There will probably be even more kids at the base when we get there,” he offered.
She nodded. “I hope so.”
“So, what were you doing when the aliens arrived? Were you in school?”
Jennie nodded again. “At Tech. I remember I was in chemistry class at the time. The room had no windows, but someone came rushing in from the hall to yell at another kid in the class that he needed to go outside to see what was going on. Our whole class stepped out on the drill field and looked at the sun. It took a lot to not stare and go blind. The sun was just so huge and weak looking, you know.”
Brad nodded. He was right; she was a college kid. That had to make her at least 19 or so. Too young for Hugh, but not for him.
&n
bsp; “Where were you?” she asked.
“I was working in the shop on a Mustang that came in for a cat-back—” The confusion on Jennie’s face forced Brad to explain, “A muffler job from the catalytic converter back. Anyway, I had the music up loud on my iPod and couldn’t hear what Joe, my foreman was yelling, but I saw him run out of the shop. Confused, I followed him out of the garage and saw the sun, too. Only about a minute later, we saw the huge silver ship pass by on its way for Norfolk. It was the scariest effing thing I’d ever seen.”
Her eyes grew wide. “My friend and I drove out to see it, and I have to agree. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen; I couldn’t get away from it fast enough.”
“Right. The hairs on my arms were standing on end, and you could feel the hum the thing made.”
Jennie nodded again. She had hardly taken her eyes off her brother while they talked, and Brad could respect that. He hadn’t asked yet, but he imagined that the kid was all she had left. When she finally pulled her gaze away from the kids to look at Brad, he felt almost embarrassed by her inspection. “So you work at a garage?”
He smiled and nodded once.
“Your brother is Mr. Harris, and doesn’t he have like a PhD or something? I heard someone say he did when I was in school.”
The girl pulled no punches, but how was she to know the subject was a little touchy? Brad set his jaw for a moment before saying, “He’s still working on the PhD. You can imagine how much I disappoint my parents with what they consider a rebellion.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that.”
“No worries.”
“How much younger than him are you?”
Sanctuary Page 13
