Invasion

by J. Thorn

  “What do you mean he’s not here?”

  Cameron threw her arms out and to the side, shaking her head as she spoke. “What do you think it means? Now, are you coming in or not?”

  “I don’t believe this,” Maya said.

  A sound like a jet airplane screaming toward the ground made Maya freeze and look up. The lights of an alien ship soared overhead, the mournful wail receding as it sped to the east. She wasn’t looking when Cameron grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into the house.

  “Hey!”

  Cameron ignored Maya and shut the door. She went to the window and peeked outside, slamming the blinds shut with one pull of the cord. Maya grabbed the woman by the shoulders and shoved her backwards into a chair.

  “You ever touch me like that again, and I swear to God…”

  “Oh, cut the shit.” Cameron pushed a lock of hair from her face and smirked. “I just saved your ass from being seen by those things in the sky. You could thank me.”

  Maya put her hands on her hips and balled her fingers into fists before turning around and walking to the center of the room.

  “Gerald always said you were an ungrateful bitch. No wonder he left you.”

  Turning around, Maya narrowed her eyes at Cameron and crossed her arms. “He’s really got you believing that he left me?” Maya laughed. “You really are as dumb as you look.”

  “He’s special, you know. It’s not my fault you couldn’t see that in him. And that I do.”

  “Yeah, he’s special, all right.”

  “Now look, I told you he’s not here. He went off with my car, and I don’t know where he went to, okay? I haven’t talked to him since before all this shit went down.”

  Maya took a deep breath, refocusing on what really mattered—finding Gerald, who had her children, and not on a verbal joust with this 2-bit skank. “What the hell are you doing up here anyway? I heard Nashville was surrounded by some sort of force field or dome or something.”

  “It was. But, clearly, your pimps don’t give you the most up-to-date information. It’s down now.”

  Cameron tilted her head. “No shit. How?”

  Maya ignored the question because it wasn’t her responsibility to be Cameron’s source of news. But also because Maya wasn’t quite sure. She’d gotten out, but the dome had still been up at that point. And then she’d stood by her mother as it had come down completely. How? Maya wanted that answer, too.

  “Look, don’t act all coy. You know why I’m here.”

  “I don’t. If it’s because you’re having some kind of mid-life crisis after getting trapped in that dome and you want him back, then, honey, you might as well get your ass out of here right now.”

  Maya raised an eyebrow. “If you haven’t talked to him since before the ships showed up, then how did you know I was inside the dome?”

  Looking around the room, Cameron did all she could to ignore Maya’s unblinking stare before she shrugged, and then stood.

  “You want a drink or something?”

  Cameron walked across the living room and headed for the kitchen, but Maya grabbed her arm as she walked by.

  “Hey, let me go!”

  Cameron squirmed, but even though she was several years younger than Maya, she hadn’t learned the martial arts skills Maya had. In a split second, Maya had the woman’s arm pinned behind her back.

  “You lied. Why?”

  “I didn’t lie to you. I just assumed you were inside the dome. That whole damn city was.”

  Maya pushed Cameron’s arm toward the ceiling. Gerald’s girlfriend yelped.

  “You’re hurting me, you fucking bitch!”

  “Keep lying to me, and I swear to God I’ll break your little arm. Now, I want you to tell me where he is.”

  “Let me go and I promise I’ll tell you.”

  “And if you don’t, then I’m gonna give you two black eyes to match that whorish mascara you got on.”

  “My dad beat my ass when I was a little girl. You can’t threaten me into anything. Just let me go.”

  Maya wanted to snap her arm, just to take out her mounting frustration on the skinny little slut. But she resisted, finally letting go and pushing Cameron away.

  Cameron rubbed her arm and turned around.

  “Goddamn, bitch. You got a tight grip.”

  “Tell me where he is.” Maya took a step closer to Cameron. “Tell me where my kids are.”

  Cameron crossed her arms. “All right, listen. He does have your kids. He took my car while I was sleeping and he split town. He left me a note, explaining everything and telling me where he went.”

  “Where’s the note? Where did he go?”

  “Can you stop being so selfish for a minute? I said the bastard left me!”

  Maya chuckled, but it offered the sound of breaking glass instead of laughter. “I’m not being selfish, Cameron. I’m thinking about my children that he stole from me.”

  “Boo-fucking-hoo.”

  Maya stepped into Cameron’s face, moving in so close she could see the layers of foundation covering her adult acne. “Look, I’m giving you one last chance to tell me where he is, or I’m going to beat you senseless and then read the note anyway.”

  “I’ll tell you where he is. But only if you promise to take me with you.”

  “No way,” Maya said, stepping back and shaking her head. “You’re not going anywhere with me.”

  “Well, then sit and spin on this.” Cameron held up her middle finger. “And then get the hell out of my house.”

  She could knock the bitch out and search for the note, but that could take hours. Hours Maya wasn’t sure she had.

  “So, what’s it gonna be? You gonna bring me along, or are you gonna randomly drive around Bowling Green looking for your kids?”

  “I should take my chances on the street.”

  “Yeah, maybe you should.”

  Maya scoffed and gave in. “Fine.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Cameron said. “Now, let’s get—”

  Maya stepped completely into the punch, her fist smacking off the side of Cameron’s head with a dull thunk. Gerald’s girlfriend collapsed to the floor, her arms spread and her eyes closed. She didn’t move.

  Maya shook her hand out, feeling her knuckles beginning to swell. It wasn’t like in the movies. People had hard skulls, and Cameron’s was about as thick as a cinder block wall.

  “Sit and spin on that, bitch.”

  12

  Maya opened her eyes, unsure of what had woken her. She rolled onto her back, her vision blurry as she stared at the ceiling. Then she heard a faint shriek from the basement and remembered that she’d dragged Cameron down there and locked the door. As a single mom and the sole protector of her own house, even the slightest noise would pull her out of a deep sleep.

  She had resisted the urge to tear the house apart in the hopes of finding Gerald’s note, but there was no guarantee it was there anyway—or that he’d written anything. Cameron could have been lying about all of that. Besides, Maya’s body had refused to cooperate. She’d had to rest, even if that meant catching a few hours on Gerald’s couch.

  After stretching her arms and cracking her neck, Maya walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. She poured herself a glass of water, then opened the refrigerator. She scoffed when she saw three beer bottles, a half-finished carton of Chinese food, and a hunk of some unidentified cheese that probably wasn’t supposed to have fuzzy mold growing on the edges.

  “And he wonders why I don’t want the kids staying here.”

  Maya grabbed a beer, shaking her head.

  “Of course. Bud Light.”

  She popped off the cap and took a swig. Light beer tasted like piss compared to what she drank. Maya didn’t trust a beer she could see through—something she’d heard her father say numerous times growing up when they’d be out in the yard working on his Chevy Nova together. But the cold brew would have to do for now as she listened to Cameron yelling in the ba
sement.

  “Good morning, sweetheart.”

  Maya looked at the kitchen’s ceiling fan as she took another swig, closing her eyes and devouring the sudsy, liquid breakfast. Then she opened her eyes up, belched, and looked at the door leading down to the basement.

  From the bottom of the steps, wedged between the washer and dryer, Cameron continued to kick and scream. Maya had locked her down there, dragging the woman’s limp body down the stairs and tying her up before she’d gotten a chance to come around. The laundry area reeked of mold and bleach with a constant drip of water coming from the darkened corners of the basement. It had to be twenty degrees colder down there. Maya hadn’t been trying to knock Cameron out, but it hadn’t been her fault the chick had a glass jaw. For a moment, Maya felt guilty for locking her in the dungeon of a basement. For a moment.

  Before crashing on the couch, Maya had done a quick search looking for the note Gerald had left for Cameron. But she’d come up empty. Maya had rifled through Cameron’s pockets and upended the trash cans sitting in the driveway. Nothing.

  As the woman continued to curse in the basement, Maya rubbed her head, trying to block out the noise so that she could think. Cameron may have been immature and trashy, but she wasn’t a pushover. Even after Maya had decked her, the woman still wasn’t going to give in—she was down there launching insults and threats at Maya, not crying or begging to be untied. Maya knew a little about the woman’s past, including how her father had beaten her and sexually abused her, and even about how she’d had an abortion and a miscarriage from previous relationships. In some strange way, she’d admired Gerald for putting up with the woman’s bullshit and caring enough to maybe help her live a stable life. Then again, it could have simply been her nice rack.

  “Damn it.” Maya had to face the reality of the situation. Gerald’s little girlfriend knew where he was, and she was the only way Maya was going to find Laura and Aiden.

  “Bitch! Let me out of here right now!”

  Maya finished emptying the beer bottle, staring at it for a minute before slamming it down on the floor so that it shattered into pieces. Then she eyed a glass of water on the counter, grabbing it before she walked to the basement door.

  13

  As she started down the stairs to the basement, Maya flipped the light switch. Cameron sat where Maya had left her, on the concrete floor with her hands bound to a support beam with laundry-line rope.

  “You fucking whore. Let me go right now!”

  Cameron hurled a long string of profanity at Maya, who walked over to the woman and tossed the water in her face.

  “Shut up for a minute. I mean, my God, I can’t even hear myself think.”

  “Untie me right now and get the hell out of my house.”

  Maya thought the deed was probably in Gerald’s name, but she wasn’t in any mood to debate the semantics of home ownership with Cameron. If she was going to have any chance of finding her kids, she was going to have to figure out some way to work with this woman.

  “Look, I need to have a serious conversation with you. If I untie you, will you chill out and talk to me like an adult?”

  Cameron looked away with a huff and a quick sniffle. She then stared at the cold, concrete floor and nodded.

  Maya walked to a folding table and grabbed a pair of scissors. She reached behind Cameron and slid the blades underneath the rope binding her hands to the beam.

  “Don’t move.”

  Maya cut the rope and then walked back around in front of Cameron. Still sitting on the floor, the woman massaged her wrists.

  “All right,” Maya said. “Now, let’s—”

  The pain shot through Maya’s leg as Cameron kicked her in the shin. Maya cried out and doubled over to grab her leg as Cameron jumped to her feet and took her first step toward the stairs leading up to the kitchen. But Maya reached up and grabbed a handful of Cameron’s hair. The girl screamed as her head snapped backward. Maya dragged her over to a chair and threw her into it. Then she pointed the scissors at Cameron’s throat.

  “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t jam these into your neck right now!”

  “I know where your kids are.” Cameron’s mouth twisted in a lipstick-blurred sneer, her face nearly as red as her dyed hair.

  “But you won’t tell me. I might as well tie you back up and leave you down here to rot.”

  As Maya turned around and began to climb the stairs, the young woman started to cry. Cameron’s makeup already ran down her cheeks in dark trails of tears. She didn’t come at Maya again, and didn’t light up with another string of curse words. Instead, Cameron put her face into her hands and sobbed quietly.

  “Wait,” she said.

  Maya stopped and looked over her shoulder.

  “I wasn’t totally honest with you. There was no note. The bastard just left me here. The whole part about me waking up and him being gone is true, but he didn’t leave me no note. Gerald ditched me, like I was nothing to him.”

  “So, you don’t know where my kids are?” Maya threw her hands up, placing them behind her head as she exhaled.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  Maya stared at her, raising her eyebrows.

  “I don’t want to die here. Alone. Please don’t leave me here with those aliens and their damn laser beams. I’m scared. Don’t leave me.”

  “Why didn’t you take his truck earlier?”

  “Gerald’s been having problems with it. Says it sometimes don’t start and what would happen if I’m deserted on the highway? By myself.”

  She rolled her eyes, wondering if Cameron was really that weak or simply playing the role. Maya was a mother, a paramedic, and a healer. And as much as she wanted to leave this piece of white trash with the other dirty laundry in the basement, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Although, bringing along such a weak person could cost her. Unless…

  “You know where he is? Where he’s taken my kids? No bullshit?”

  “No bullshit.”

  Maya looked into Cameron’s eyes. The woman appeared scared, and maybe it was just an act, but Maya would never find her kids on her own, not without any knowledge of where in this crazy world Gerald had taken them.

  “Okay, then. Let’s pack some stuff we’ll need and get out of here.”

  She turned and climbed the rest of the stairs, and Cameron came up behind her. Maya went to the kitchen for some dry goods and canned food while Cameron packed a few sets of clothes, things either of them could wear. Maya had also told her what she needed to assemble a makeshift first aid kit and the woman did what she was told, not saying a word or even looking Maya in the eye. That badass stripper act had run off with Cameron’s makeup and now Maya saw her for the frightened little girl she really was.

  Once they had Gerald’s pickup truck loaded, Maya walked to the driver’s side and held her hand out.

  “Give me the keys.”

  Cameron crossed her arms. “You can’t be serious.”

  “What?”

  “You’re not driving.”

  “Yes, I am.” Maya put her hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one leg.

  “Once you know where your kids are, how do I know you’re not going to throw me out of the truck in the middle of nowhere or leave me on the side of the road for those disgusting aliens to probe me or whatever?”

  Maya rolled her eyes. “I drive an EMT rig. It’s what I do for a living. I know how to drive under chaotic conditions and extreme pressure. If we get into any kind of trouble, I need to be the one behind the wheel.”

  “Fine.” Cameron slammed the door shut and stepped back from the truck. “Good luck finding your kids on your own.”

  Maya sighed, and looked away. The girl had street smarts, she’d give her that. Cameron knew how to use what little leverage she had to protect her own ass.

  Maya shrugged. “Okay, you win. Let’s go.”

  She walked around the back of the truck to the passenger side while Cameron got in on the driver’s s
ide. They shut the doors at the same time.

  Maya looked down the street as Cameron pulled out of the driveway. Faces appeared at the windows of several houses as they crept along at about ten miles per hour. Cameron turned off Midnight Lane and headed toward the highway. Heading out, Maya had a feeling that the eerily empty neighborhood would be her last respite from the inevitable violence awaiting them. And she was right.

  14

  The first glimpse of sunlight appeared on the horizon, and even though Maya had gotten a few hours of rest, her heavy, red eyes made it difficult for her to stay focused and awake. She’d cracked the window and allowed the cool but moist Tennessee Valley air to fill the cab. Maya could detect the usual rural highway odors—moldy hay and manure. But she could also smell smoke and the unmistakable stench of burnt plastic, and that reminded her that this wasn’t a typical early morning drive.

  Her driver coughed, but Maya wasn’t in the mood to talk to her yet. She didn’t trust Cameron, and that more than the extra-large pot of coffee they’d brewed before leaving Gerald’s house helped to keep her alert.

  Maya looked out her window as they passed through a southern suburb of Bowling Green. Even after seeing what the aliens had done to Nashville, the degree of destruction almost took her breath away. Few of the office buildings or structures along the highway had remained intact. Several continued to burn, orange flames emitting billowing, black smoke filling the sky like a cursed sunrise. Cars and other vehicles sat in twisted heaps of metal as if dropped from the sky, and bodies could be seen everywhere, none of them moving. Maya hadn’t seen any people since they’d left Midnight Avenue, but she heard the distinct pop of gunfire and wondered who, or what, they were shooting at. The scale of the damage didn’t appear to be as severe as what she’d witnessed in Nashville, though, which made Maya wonder if it had been caused by the aliens or by the panicked citizens of Bowling Green.

  Maya grabbed her travel mug from the cupholder and took another sip of her coffee. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Cameron’s expression in the window’s reflection. The woman’s eyes bulged, and her jaw had gone slack. She had both hands on the wheel and was leaned into it, looking from left to right at the damage.