Invaders' Wrath (The Unstoppable Titans Book 2)

by Jerry Hart

  But Armenus’s anger was so strong. Too strong. Jason was right.

  Owen grabbed the orb from under the bed, picked up D with ease, and went downstairs. Once there, he stood on the front porch, looking up at the night sky. Then he looked into the dark field that surrounded him. But it didn’t stay dark for long. The orb lit up from its core and immediately sent waves of energy in all directions.

  CHAPTER 19

  Lindsay was reloading her gun when one of the “crazies” lunged at her. She backed away and tripped on her own feet, causing her gun to slide under a car. Her attacker, an elderly African-American woman, looked at Lindsay with a blank, gray expression, though her stance showed she was ready to pounce.

  Lindsay crawled under the car to grab her gun, but she was pulled back out just as quickly. She felt rough hands spin her around on to her back and now she was face to face with the old woman. Lindsay thrust her palm up into the woman’s face, sending the white-haired head back with a snap.

  After retrieving her gun, Lindsay got back to her feet and saw a helicopter hovering over the scene. It was a news chopper, and it was shining a spotlight down on them. Lindsay saw at least seven crazies huddled into a group in the middle of the street. They all looked up at the chopper.

  Where were the other officers? Was she the only one left? Who were these people? Where did they come from? They had just appeared out of nowhere. And then they attacked the blue monster and used it to remove the scepters from the ground.

  Yet that wasn’t the weirdest part. That had been reserved for when she’d seen Patrick on the roof of the building behind the giant, firing down into its head where some of the crazies had gone.

  That’s when she and the other officers provided Patrick with cover fire. But now, Lindsay was alone. The building Patrick had been standing on had collapsed and she feared the worst.

  The wind caused by the chopper blew Lindsay’s hair into her face. When she managed to push it away, she saw all of the crazies climbing the two buildings on either side of the street to get to the chopper as it hovered above.

  “Oh, no!” she muttered to herself.

  “Lindsay!”

  Someone was calling her. She looked around and saw someone running toward her. He was perfectly visible in the spotlight. Patrick Fisher. He was alive. Lindsay ran to him and they hugged in the spotlight. It would have been romantic had it not been for the chaos around them.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “Are you?”

  He nodded vigorously. Then he kissed her, and for one fantastic moment, the wind became less vicious, the noise less noisy. It was just the two of them.

  That moment was shattered by the sound of a struggling engine. Patrick and Lindsay looked up to see a couple of crazies hanging on to the helicopter. And then the others leapt on to the landing skids, weighing the helicopter down. It was so low now it was between the buildings, as if it were landing.

  That’s when it happened. The rotor blades clipped one of the buildings and spun the chopper around. The tail struck the same building, and then the entire helicopter exploded as it crashed down to the street.

  Patrick grabbed Lindsay and they dove to the ground. Flames licked his back as he covered her as best he could. After a few seconds, Patrick stood and helped Lindsay up. They surveyed the damage. There was fire everywhere, from the chopper and the squad cars that had been tossed around. The bodies of the crazies who had brought down the helicopter were strewn everywhere. Lindsay put her hand to her mouth. So many dead. Who was responsible for this?

  And then a figure appeared from the helicopter’s debris. He was wearing a dirty white shirt and a black tie with tan khakis. He had a microphone in his hand. It was news reporter Hal Morris.

  “Son of a gun,” Patrick muttered. And then another figure appeared behind Hal. Patrick saw the backward cap and knew it was Hal’s cameraman, though without his camera. The pilot appeared next, right behind them. “That reporter will never die,” Patrick added.

  Hal noticed Patrick and Lindsay and gave them a sheepish grin.

  * * *

  Doug shielded his eyes as a red pickup approached them in the field. He looked nervously at Curtis, who shrugged his shoulders but looked apprehensive nonetheless.

  Holding Doug’s screwdriver up to use as a weapon, Curtis said to the three aliens, “Do you guys have any ray guns or anything?”

  They looked at him and said nothing. They hadn’t said a word since Owen left them. Curtis had tried asking them what planet they were from, but they refused to answer. The two human-looking aliens spoke English—Curtis had heard it himself—but now they were playing dumb. Why?

  The truck stopped a few feet away, the headlights still blinding them. Who was behind the wheel? They had all seen the wave of light come from the house and assumed the orb had been activated again, but none of them felt any different; they were all still in control of their own minds.

  The driver stepped out of the truck and approached them. Doug immediately got to his feet, ran to the newcomer, and hugged him. It was Owen, and he hugged Doug back with one arm. In the other, he held the orb. He also had his backpack slung over one shoulder.

  Curtis could hear the aliens stirring behind him. Calvin got up and limped over to Owen.

  “I believe you were looking for this,” Owen said as he handed over the orb. Calvin took it carefully, as if afraid it might break. He turned and took it to Demetrius, who was still sitting by the escape pod. The captain took it and studied it.

  “Now for the other problem,” Calvin said to Owen.

  * * *

  On the way to Cullen’s house, Owen came up on dark figures lying in the road. He stopped and told Curtis and Doug to stay in the truck. As he walked cautiously to the figures, Owen noticed they were people. They all shared the pale faces and dark tears of the zombies. The wave he had sent out to undo the call of the orb had definitely done its job, reaching as far as where he stood now, which was ten minutes from the farmhouse.

  And then Owen saw him. Chris Weaver lay among the zombie crowd, as well as Stephanie Polansky. Owen checked Chris’s pulse and was relieved to find one. He checked the other half-dozen people; they were all alive as well.

  Owen picked Chris and Stephanie up and put them in the truck, then pulled the other people off the road. He would call help for them later. It truly was almost over.

  * * *

  Nikki sat on the porch, staring at the sky as the sun rose. It was a beautiful sight. She knew coming here would be risky—it was so close to where Owen said he grew up—but there was no other place she wanted to go.

  She’d needed to come home. She knew it from the moment she found out where Darlington had really come from. Nikki had always known there was more to this world than met the eye. Just look at her: She could read people’s fortunes just by talking to them, hearing their voices. That wasn’t normal, and she’d always known it.

  But she never feared it.

  Her mother and her mother’s boyfriend were asleep now, which gave Nikki time to think. Her mom and the boyfriend spent the whole night “together” as if the world might end at any moment. And it almost did.

  Darlington sat next to Nikki on the porch. Mom hadn’t taken too kindly to his appearance at first, but she quickly came around considering what was going on with the giants. And Nikki had told her how much he meant to her.

  Nikki and Darlington sat in matching rocking chairs like an old married couple. Together they saw him walking down the street toward them, the rising sun casting him in silhouette.

  * * *

  Owen followed the “pull” until it brought him here, to this quiet little neighborhood. It reminded him of Les’s with its old, simple way. Speaking of Les, Owen couldn’t get this tasteless joke out of his head; he knew Les had told Curtis the joke once. Michael must have extracted Les’s thoughts once before.

  Ever since the two halves of the supplement rejoined in his head, Owen had been seeing
images he’d never seen before and having thoughts that weren’t his. He assumed all of them belonged to Jason and Michael.

  Owen was already used to Armenus’s thoughts; he used to see them in his dreams. And now he knew exactly what the supplement was: Armenus, having discovered the benefits of the leech venom, had injected himself with an altered form of it in order to make himself stronger. What better way to take over his world than with superior intelligence and strength?

  What Armenus hadn’t foreseen was that his experiment would take on a life of its own. It was able to alter memories and choose with whom it wanted to be involved, the way it had done with Owen’s dad. It knew Russell Walters had a brain unsuitable for it, so it left.

  Owen had parked a block away from the house he was being drawn to. He’d dropped Chris, Curtis and Doug off at Cullen’s house earlier and promised to come back for them when he was done. He left as quickly as possible after that, not because he was eager to find Armenus, but because Cullen asked what happened to his truck and Owen didn’t want to stick around when Curtis explained.

  And now he was here. Armenus’s experiment was drawing Owen to him like a magnet. Was it eager to rejoin its creator? Owen thought so, though it would never get that chance.

  He saw Nikki and Armenus sitting on a porch of the house in front of him. The house was located directly at the intersection of the two streets. He stepped up to the curb and went no farther.

  “Are you mad?” Nikki asked him. She didn’t need to elaborate.

  “Not really,” Owen answered casually. “I would never have gone back home if you hadn’t lied to me. I should thank you. I like your hair.”

  She smiled and ran her fingers through her long, black hair. “I was trying to hide from you with this pitiful disguise. You found all the answers you were looking for?”

  “And then some.”

  Owen stepped into the yard now. Armenus sat in his rocking chair like a king on his throne. The look he was giving Owen was intimidating. For two years, Armenus hadn’t known who he was, but now that he’d found himself, he was coming off as a different person. Owen tried to figure out what planet Armenus and the others came from, but that knowledge was being blocked from him by the supplement. Owen didn’t see what the big deal was. He made a mental note to ask the twins when he saw them again. They had chosen to stay with the pod until Owen was ready for them. They gave him a beacon to activate once he found the rogue alien. They told Owen they would pick him up when he was ready.

  Nikki continued rocking in her chair. She was staring at him the same way she had when they first met.

  “This is your house?” Owen asked her in order to break the god-awful silence of the early morning.

  “Yep. And I found out some interesting things about myself.”

  “Oh, yeah. And what’s that?”

  She stopped rocking. “I know where my abilities came from.”

  Owen waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. “And?” he asked.

  “I got them from my dad. I had an interesting talk with my mom, from when she first started dating him. She told me a lot of weird things he told her about his past. About how he didn’t feel like he was in the ‘right place,’ and that he needed to ‘go back.’ She also told me about how he always knew things that he shouldn’t know. I’m beginning to think that he already knew my mom was having an affair, which means he didn’t leave because of me. You know, I think your friends probably got their abilities from their parents as well.”

  Owen wasn’t aware that he had stopped breathing. “Which friends?”

  “Daniel and Alyssa,” Nikki said quietly. “And perhaps you, too.”

  “They didn’t have abilities. Neither do I.”

  “Didn’t they?” Nikki stood up and walked over to him. “Chris used to tell me about how perceptive Alyssa was. And didn’t you ever wonder how Daniel was able to create all those gadgets you used? What about your super-strength?”

  Owen didn’t know about Alyssa’s perception, but he did wonder about Daniel a lot. As for Owen himself, it was the supplement that gave him his strength, right?

  Nikki placed her hand on his shoulder. “Even though they’re dead, that doesn’t mean they’re gone. They’ve been helping you all along, Owen. Think of all the weird things that have happened in the past couple of days.”

  “What are you talking about?” Owen asked, though his brain was already working to figure it out on its own. There was the time when he and Chris were racing to the condo to save Daniel from Michael when no cops were around to pull them over for speeding. Owen had thought that strange at the time. Did Alyssa have something to do with that?

  And then there was the discovery of Alyssa’s and Marco’s bodies. Something drew him to the correct house. He told himself it was the familiar-looking car, but was it really? Was that Alyssa again? Or was it Daniel that time?

  The strangest of all, though, came from Doug and Curtis who both told Owen that Jason had killed them “for sure,” and that they both had seen Daniel and Alyssa in their dreams, respectively. They had told the boys it wasn’t their time yet. And then the two came back to life.

  Owen didn’t deny that there was something more to this world, but he never would have thought it would involve his friends.

  “Are you saying they weren’t human?” It was the only question he could think of.

  “Oh, they were human,” Nikki said. “But they were also more. Just like Jason and Michael.”

  Owen started at that. “What about them?”

  “Remember when I told you that if I had them in front of me, I could tell you more about them? Well, I’m getting vibes from them just by talking to you.”

  The supplement, Owen knew, but he said nothing. It had tasted the brothers’ brains, and apparently that was enough for Nikki.

  “They were more, too. And their father isn’t going to be happy when he finds out you killed them.”

  Owen chose this time to activate the beacon discreetly, which was in the pocket of his jeans. “Who’s their father?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’m scared anyway. I can’t get a clear vision of him, which is strange. But I know he is very dangerous, and ancient, like he’s been here since the very beginning.”

  “The beginning of what?”

  “The beginning of time, Owen.” She reached up and pulled the skin tight around her eyes, as if trying to remember something difficult. “He’ll come for you and your friends. If I were you, I wouldn’t re-form the Unstoppable Titans. It’ll only spell doom for all of you. I promise you that. Don’t make the same mistake Chris did.”

  Owen looked at Armenus. It was time to go. “The ‘curse,’ right? I’ll keep that in mind.”

  A dark shadow appeared over them now. Owen looked up and saw the spherical pod as it landed in the street. Calvin, Claude and Demetrius stepped out.

  Armenus stepped down from the porch and turned himself in willingly. There was a brief exchange between him and Demetrius that gave Owen the chills. Father and son reunited. And then Owen remembered the supplement.

  “Wait,” he said to them. “There’s something inside me, something he made.” He pointed to Armenus.

  “Where?” Claude asked.

  Owen pointed to his head. Claude stepped up to him and looked into his eyes.

  “Oh” was all Claude said. He looked back to his brother. “Get the extractor.”

  Calvin went back to the ship and came out with a long, silver rod at least ten inches long.

  “Oh, hell no!” Owen said, backing away.

  Calvin and Claude laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s not what you think,” Claude said, taking the extractor from his brother. “I can draw it out of you just by touching you here.” He tapped Owen gently in the middle of his forehead. Owen gave a sigh of relief.

  “We suspected Armenus had a little ‘help,’ but since you didn’t say anything, we figured it was still with him,” Calvin said.

  “I was afraid,
” Owen said quietly.

  “You don’t have to be afraid anymore,” Claude said warmly. Then he touched Owen’s forehead with the extractor. Owen felt his skull grow warm as the supplement came out in its misty form.

  Just before it was completely extracted, Owen thought of Michael and what he had said right before he died. Owen hadn’t understood at the time because it sounded like gibberish, but now he knew.

  Michael had been speaking the language of the aliens. And he had said, I’m sorry; I didn’t have a choice.

  Owen wished he hadn’t just thought of that. He didn’t want to think of Michael as a victim.

  And then the extraction was complete. The extractor glowed faintly.

  “We want to thank you, Owen, for helping us,” Claude said. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

  Owen nodded. He felt weak and wanted to sit down. The aliens turned back to their ship, Armenus in what looked like handcuffs, when Owen suddenly remembered something.

  “What planet are you from?” he asked.

  They all turned back, Armenus included.

  “We’re not from as far away as you think,” Calvin said.

  “We were born on this planet,” Claude added. “All of us.”

  They boarded the ship. It lifted into the air as Nikki joined Owen on the curb. They watched as the ship lifted higher and higher. And then it was gone. It simply disappeared into thin air.

  And then Owen collapsed.

  CHAPTER 20

  “Where am I?” Owen asked.

  “You’re with us,” a gentle voice answered.

  Owen recognized the voice but he couldn’t see who had spoken. He couldn’t see anything but white light. “Alyssa?”

  “Yes, Owen. It’s me.”

  “But you’re dead.”

  “Not really dead. Just changed into something else.”

  “Don’t forget me,” a male voice chimed in.