Invaders' Wrath (The Unstoppable Titans Book 2)

by Jerry Hart

  It started walking toward them.

  * * *

  Curtis looked around for something else to throw at the creature that stood before them. It was at least seven feet tall. Its yellow eyes stood out like headlights on a car in the dark store.

  Looking down, Curtis saw a foot measurer. He picked it up and threw it at the creature’s face. The metal measurer bounced off, causing the monster to stop dead in its tracks.

  Doug and Curtis quickly glanced at each other. The creature was looking down at the measurer. The blond sprouts of hair, sticking out the top of its head like grass, started to grow longer until it reached its shoulders.

  Its skin grew lighter as its body grew shorter. Curtis couldn’t believe his eyes. The seven-foot-tall monster with the long limbs and headlight eyes was no longer there. Now there was a naked blonde. She looked up at them with piercing blue eyes.

  “Why did you throw that at me?” she asked in a severe country drawl, pointing to the measurer.

  Doug and Curtis looked at each other again. The girl was quite beautiful, but they knew this was a trick. They had seen the transformation, but neither of them could bring themselves to harm the girl. They continued to gawk at her.

  “You ain’t never seen a naked girl before?” she asked suddenly. “Help me get some clothes.”

  They didn’t move.

  * * *

  Owen got to his feet and looked around. He needed something sharp. Doug and Curtis were distracting the monster (or was it distracting them?); it had transformed into its last victim. But they couldn’t keep its attention forever.

  Owen’s back hurt from where he landed on the orb in his backpack. He didn’t dwell on it, though. Time was short. There was nothing he could use to pierce the creature’s heart, which was the only way he knew to kill it.

  Suddenly he remembered the Busters he packed earlier. He pulled two of the tiny red bombs out and activated one.

  “Get out of here!” he screamed to the others. The girl-thing turned around, a horribly wrinkled frown on its face. Doug and Curtis ran out of the store. Owen tossed the bomb at the creature and it exploded right in front of it. The blond monster was blown backward, out the large window next to the entrance. Doug and Curtis dove out of the way, just missing being hit by a fraction of a second.

  * * *

  Curtis stared at the creature at his feet. It was no longer the blonde who had mesmerized him and Doug. Nor was it the dark, sinewy monster they first saw. Instead, it was now a cross between the two: It had the body of the monster and the face of the girl. Most of the hair had retreated back into the scalp. There were large chunks of its body missing from the explosion.

  Owen jumped through the window and stood before them.

  “Is it dead?” Doug asked.

  “No,” Owen said. “It would’ve melted if it was dead.”

  Curtis was disgusted. “Are you serious?”

  “What happened in there?” Doug asked. “What caused that explosion?”

  Owen showed them a small red ball with a white button in the middle. “Your brother made it,” he told Doug. “It blows up real good.”

  There was a loud shriek, and the dark monster was suddenly on top of Doug. They fell to the ground. The creature snapped at Doug’s neck. He tried to push it off of him, but the creature was full of so many holes. One of his hands wound up inside its chest. He could feel its warm, slimy entrails.

  There was something else, though. Something beating against his wrist. It was the creature’s heart.

  Holding the monster back with his left elbow, Doug grabbed the heart with his other hand. He squeezed and it exploded in his grip.

  The monster gave a pain-filled moan, then quickly melted into a nasty, thick slush. The slush retained the monster’s form for an instant, then splashed down, completely covering Doug.

  Curtis and Owen stood over him, looking down.

  “Are you all right?” Owen asked.

  “No,” Doug said. “I’m covered in poo.”

  Curtis smiled. “That was so awesome.”

  They helped Doug to his feet. He was covered from head to toe in dark brown slime. It smelled like rotten cabbage.

  “Dude, I’ve got to wash this off,” Doug said, dry-heaving a little. He walked stiffly with his arms raised. They all looked around the plaza, noticing the pet store at the far end.

  “They might have showers in there. You know, for the animals,” Owen said as he handed Doug some of his clothes from his pack. Doug nodded and started for the store. Owen turned back to the cars that sat in the lot.

  “What are you doing?” Curtis asked him. He was clearly torn between staying with Owen and going with Doug.

  “I’m going to get one of these cars started so we can leave. Go with him.”

  Curtis looked at D, who was still standing inside the shoe store. “You know, your robot isn’t really helping us much. We could’ve died, and all it did was stand there and watch.”

  Owen looked at the robot and said, “I know.”

  * * *

  Curtis shook his head and ran after Doug. Owen watched them for a moment, then went to the shoe store and stood before D. The robot’s eyes were lit up, but it stared straight ahead.

  “Daniel, Daniel, Daniel,” Owen said quietly, disappointed. “Why didn’t you help us?”

  He commanded it to follow him out of the store, but it didn’t obey. Owen repeated the command. Nothing.

  D had been working fine until recently. Owen didn’t understand what was wrong. He turned to the girl on the floor. She was still where he’d first seen her. He checked her pockets and found her car keys. He then pulled out his cell phone to call the police. He still didn’t have a signal.

  He went to the phone on the front counter. There was no dial tone. What was going on here? It was like a horror movie or something.

  Owen picked up the robot with little effort and carried it back to the two cars. The key belonged to a Honda. He pressed the door opener on the fob and the yellow car responded. He got into the car and started it up, completely oblivious to the figure coming down the hill from the freeway. It stepped into the lot and made its way quickly toward Owen.

  * * *

  They had to resort to breaking into the pet store. There was just no other way around it. Doug and Curtis smashed through the door. It was dark inside; none of the animals had been disturbed by the sound of breaking glass.

  Doug walked stiffly to the back of the store. Curtis laughed and started to follow, but decided to let Doug handle his own business. He looked around the store. All the animals appeared to be asleep; none were stirring. There was a little pen with a few baby bulldogs. They were sitting up. Curtis leaned over them to get a better look. They were staring straight ahead, not noticing him.

  He asked himself if they were even real. He reached out and touched one of the puppies. It was warm and soft. Curtis jumped back as if burned by the touch. These puppies were real, but they weren’t moving.

  Curtis looked all around him. None of the animals were moving. The rabbits in the cage next to the puppies; the fish in the aquarium; the birds in their cages. The whole store was full of non-responsive animals.

  Doug came back from the rear of the store wearing Owen’s spare clothes—a red shirt and khakis. His hair was wet. “That was refreshing.”

  “We have to get out of here,” Curtis said nervously. “Now!”

  * * *

  Owen had just put D in the backseat when he noticed someone walking toward him from the freeway. His heart lurched.

  The figure appeared to be a man with curly brown hair. He was wearing a black hoodie and jeans. Owen grew more afraid the closer the man got. The stranger was very pale, with dark streaks running down his cheeks from his eyes—

  It was Chris.

  Owen didn’t move. He couldn’t move. He’d been looking for Chris ever since he disappeared from the condo. And now, here he was.

  But something wasn’t right about him. He
still had the blank expression he wore the night he disappeared. His face was gaunt; he looked starved. His clothes were hanging off of his frame. Chris’s hair hung in oily curls over his forehead. Owen couldn’t stand the sight of him; he looked frail.

  For a long moment, they just stared at each other. Owen wanted to say something, but could think of nothing. Even if he could think of something, he knew it would do no good. His best friend was under the spell of the orb.

  Pulling the backpack from his shoulders, Owen took out the orb and held it before him. Chris’s eyes went straight to it, though his blank expression never changed. Owen knew the only way he could control Chris was with the orb, and that he should take Chris with them when they left this plaza.

  And then it struck Owen: Chris must have followed them all the way from San Sebastian, on foot. That was almost too astounding to believe.

  Taking in Chris’s emaciated appearance, Owen realized he should feed him. He looked in the car and saw an open bag of potato chips in the passenger seat. He grabbed it and handed it to Chris.

  Chris only held the bag and looked into Owen’s eyes.

  “Eat those chips,” Owen commanded.

  Chris tilted his head back and poured the chips into his mouth, never taking his eyes off of Owen. Owen shuddered at the sight of his friend staring at him sideways like that; it was too creepy.

  “Chris,” Owen said carefully, “get in the car.”

  Chris started to get into the backseat when Owen heard yelling from the other side of the plaza. He saw Curtis and Doug running toward him. Chris got back out and stared at them.

  They ran up to Owen and stared at Chris nervously.

  “Who’s this?” Curtis asked.

  “A friend of mine,” Owen said, completely aware of the tear tracks on Chris’s cheeks.

  “He’s one of them,” Curtis said. “He’s one of the zombies.”

  “Where did he come from?” Doug asked, looking around the lot.

  “He followed us. We’re taking him with us,” Owen said and waited for the objections.

  “Bullcrap!” There it was, and it was coming from Curtis. Shocker. “What if he snaps and kills us all?”

  “He won’t,” Owen said, holding the orb. “I can control him with this.”

  Curtis snatched the orb from Owen. “I am getting tired of this damn thing!”

  Owen tried to get it back, but Curtis held it away.

  “Come on, guys,” Doug said helplessly. “Don’t fight. We don’t need this right now.”

  Curtis held the orb high above his head, just out of Owen’s reach. “All the animals in that store are in some kind of trance, and I’ll bet it’s because of this thing.”

  Owen stopped trying to retrieve the orb. It was completely still, not so much as a flicker coming from its core. “It’s not even on,” he said to Curtis.

  “How do you know? It could be in standby mode or something. You’ve fallen on it a bunch of times already.”

  Owen thought about that for a second. With the orb in his backpack, it had taken a few beatings. Maybe, during one of those beatings, another pulse had been sent out. A tiny one that only affected creatures with tiny brains.

  But for now, that didn’t matter. Owen wanted the orb back. Exerting only a little bit of force, he jumped up and knocked it out of Curtis’s hand. Owen tried to grab it, but it slipped through his fingers and landed hard on the ground.

  At the moment of impact, a deep-bass thump erupted from the marble ball. The orb began to glow. A swirling light formed in the center and spread outward.

  Everyone stood around it and gawked.

  “I think we made it mad,” Doug said.

  Owen had seen this before. When he had been captured by Michael and Jason and ordered to activate the mysterious object, it had lit up like this and coated most of downtown with a pulse. Owen was afraid of what would happen now.

  He picked up the orb and ran his fingers across it. He had no idea what he was doing, and it showed. There was a loud humming sound coming from it now. Owen looked back at Chris, whose face started contorting into horrible shapes.

  “Time to go,” Owen said. He hopped into the driver’s seat as Curtis and Doug jumped in on the other side, Curtis riding shotgun.

  Owen put the car into drive and stomped on the gas. He would have to leave Chris behind for now, but would come back for him later—

  The car came to a sudden halt. The tires spun against the asphalt, spewing smoke. Everyone in the car looked out the back windshield to see Chris holding on to the rear bumper.

  He was holding the car in place.

  “Drive!” Curtis screamed.

  “I’m trying!” Owen said. He floored the gas pedal, but that only kicked up more smoke. The smell of burnt rubber stung their noses. Suddenly everyone was forced into the backseat as the car was lifted into the air, the front end facing up. Doug’s face was pressed against the rear windshield as Owen and Curtis fell on top of him. Only D remained seated.

  They were face to face with Chris now. He was holding the car up with his hands. Owen looked him straight in the eyes. They were empty.

  “Where’s the orb?” Owen asked, craning his neck so he could see the others.

  “It’s over here,” Curtis said, grabbing it with his left hand. His head was craned away from it, but he clearly had it in his grasp.

  “Tell him to stop,” Owen ordered, indicating Chris.

  Curtis brought the orb into Chris’s view. “Put us down, you butthole!”

  Chris obliged by throwing the car. Its occupants were tossed around inside as it flew through the air and landed upside down yards away.

  Owen crawled out through the shattered driver’s-side window and looked over to where Chris stood. Someone had joined him. It was the dead man they had seen when they first arrived, and that wasn’t all. The girl from the shoe store was walking toward Owen.

  They all were.

  Owen turned back to the car and flipped it upright. Inside, Curtis and Doug were groaning and bleeding from various cuts on their faces.

  Jumping behind the wheel, Owen tried to restart the car, but it was dead. “We have to get out,” he said to the others.

  They obeyed. All four of them stood around the car, looking for a way to escape. Curtis still had the orb.

  “The other car!” Doug screamed. Owen saw the hatchback sitting on the other side of the approaching zombies.

  “How are we going to get to it?” Curtis asked.

  Suddenly D grabbed their ruined car and lifted it into the air, the same way Chris had done. Owen stared in awe, knowing what was about to happen.

  “Daniel, no!”

  The robot threw the car at the zombies. It fell short and tumbled toward them. Chris dove out of the way, but the others were too late. The car ran them over and continued tumbling toward the hatchback—the only other means of escape.

  “Oh, crap!” Curtis said helplessly.

  The tumbling car rolled up next to the other, giving it the slightest tap on the passenger side.

  “Let’s go,” Owen said, relieved, and they made a break for the undamaged car. Owen went to the middle-aged man and pulled out his keys. He and the blonde were bloody, ruined sacks on the ground now. At that moment, Chris was getting to his feet. Doug ran to the driver’s side and jumped in the back. Curtis was going for the passenger seat but the yellow car was still leaning against theirs.

  Without thinking, Owen picked up the yellow car and tossed it away. Curtis stared, dumbstruck, for a second, then got in the back (D had beaten him to the passenger seat). Owen jumped behind the wheel as everyone got in.

  “He’s coming!” Doug screamed as Chris quickly approached.

  Owen started the car and floored the gas. The car sped out of Birch Plaza, up the hill, and back to the freeway, leaving Chris behind.

  CHAPTER 8

  The tiny car raced down the freeway. Owen took the first exit and was now on a lonely highway.

  “Giv
e me the orb,” he called to the backseat where Doug and Curtis were. Curtis handed it to him. Owen drove with one hand on the wheel, the other rubbing the orb’s surface. It rumbled for a second, then quieted and dimmed. “You were right,” he said to Curtis. “This was on the whole time. It was acting like a beacon or something.”

  “Is that how your friend found us?” Curtis asked.

  “I think so. He can’t follow us now, though.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I turned it off.”

  “Are you sure this time?”

  “Yes.” This time, Owen was certain. He could feel that the orb was turned off.

  They drove for a few minutes in silence. Owen wasn’t sure where he was going, but he recognized the area. There was a mountain on the right, black against the dark blue sky. If he remembered correctly, they were close to Cullen’s house.

  “Hey, man, I think we should stop. Doug is hurt pretty bad.”

  Owen looked back and saw a huge gash on Doug’s forehead. It was bleeding freely. Curtis was trying to stop it by pressing his shirt against the wound. Owen faced the road again. It was nearly four in the morning, and there was only one place he could think to go now.

  * * *

  The neighborhood brought back a flood of memories as Owen drove through it. He remembered all the times he came here as a kid to play kickball in the middle of the street with Cullen and the other kids.

  Owen fondly remembered Andy Harrison who used to live down the street from Cullen. Everyone used to call him Fart Master, though the kid only farted once in their presence. The name just sounded silly and made everyone laugh.

  As he made his way effortlessly through the neighborhood’s winding roads, Owen recognized everything as if he’d last seen it yesterday instead of two years ago. He turned left onto Eagle Mountain Court, which rose upward. At the end of the road was a one-story house on a small hill. The driveway rose upward to the garage on the side of the house. Fake spider webbing was spread over the bushes in front.