Invasion

by J. Thorn

  The smile never left Maya’s face as she sat and talked to her children, even as she told them about all of the things that had happened to her inside of the dome. She began with the arrival of the aliens, then talked about the situation with the people living in the tunnels, including her close encounter in the warehouse. Maya even briefly described getting out of the dome, saying goodbye to Grandma, and riding there with Cameron. None of it was easy to talk about, and she had to remind herself that they were just kids and didn’t need some of the gorier details. But even through the retelling of the terrible events, she smiled, her children once again sitting beside her on the couch.

  “Jesus, Mom,” Laura said. “How did you make it through?”

  Her teenager and tween had sat practically on her lap the entire time, and she’d taken hold of each child’s hand. Maya smiled, and shook her head.

  “I didn’t have a choice. You’re my babies, and I’ll always do whatever I need to in order to take care of you.”

  Laura smiled, but Aiden looked down at the floor, his grin fading.

  “What’s wrong, Aiden?”

  “Nothing. I’m really happy we’re all together.” Aiden lifted his head and looked at his mother. “All four of us. I just wish grandma was here too.”

  Maya swallowed. She hadn’t considered what this meant for them as a family. She’d been so consumed with getting to Laura and Aiden that she hadn’t thought about the fact that they’d been living with their father this entire time after he stole them from their grandmother. And for the first time in a long time, all four of them were now under the same roof.

  “Are you mad at Dad for bringing us here? For what he did to Grandma? Why isn’t she here?” Aiden asked.

  Maya sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I wanted to bring Grandma, but she refused to leave her home. She said to tell you that she loves you. As far as my feelings about your father, I honestly don’t know how I feel yet. It’s complicated.

  “He thought he was doing the right thing.”

  “I’d really rather not talk about this.” Maya looked at Laura, who avoided eye contact with her. “Especially not before I’ve had the chance to talk to your father about it.”

  “Of course, she’s mad,” Laura said. “He basically kidnapped us. Do you not remember what happened at Grandma’s place?”

  Aiden looked up and narrowed his eyes at his older sister. “I told you to stop saying that. He didn’t kidnap us.”

  “Okay, whatever. Keep telling yourself that, dumbass.”

  Maya let go of their hands and brought her palms together with a slap, getting their attention. She glared back and forth at both of them.

  “Stop this. We aren’t going to talk about this right now, okay? So, Aiden, stop bringing it up. And, Laura, don’t call your dad a kidnapper.”

  “Well, he is.”

  The door opened, shifting Maya’s focus to the other side of the room. Reno appeared, shutting the door behind him. He raised his eyebrows.

  “Not yet. Okay. I’ll come back later.”

  “No, it’s fine. These two were just about to grab some lunch anyway. Weren’t you?”

  “Ugh,” Laura said. “I swear to God if they feed us another MRE I’m gonna puke.”

  All three stood with that, and Maya kissed both of her children on the forehead.

  “I love you guys.”

  Laura smiled at her mom and nodded.

  Aiden said, “We love you, too, Mom.”

  Reno stepped aside as the kids walked past, out the door, and toward the mess hall. Once they left, he shut the door before walking over to the couch where he stood facing Maya.

  They stared at each other for several moments, and then Reno cracked a smile, triggering Maya to do the same. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck so that they embraced, Reno’s arms pulling her to him. Maya planted a kiss on his cheek before taking a step backward. She sat down on the couch and Reno sat down next to her, taking her hand in his.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right,” Maya said. “I felt so bad for—”

  “Don’t. You have no reason to feel guilty. I told you to leave me there. You needed to get to your kids, and I was holding you back.”

  Maya rolled her eyes, which had moistened at the corners again. “Were you? You made it to my kids before I did.”

  Laughing, Reno shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “What happened?” Maya leaned in and dropped her voice. “How did you get here? I saw what happened to so many people inside the dome, and I was sure you were still inside.”

  “I was. And that’s what I want to talk to you about.”

  She waited.

  “Jack didn’t make it. But you gave him the solution, their weakness.”

  Maya turned her head sideways. “Huh?”

  “Your Mustang. You were always complaining about the shitty radiator. Well, that’s what gave Jack the idea. The dome was powered with geothermal heat pumped up to a power generator in the obelisk. We exploded the cooling system, which then dropped the dome. And once the domes come down, those fuckers are vulnerable. The masks, the dome, the ships—it’s all because they’re sensitive to light. That’s our weapon, Maya. That’s how we can turn back this alien invasion.”

  She gawked, her mind racing with the mechanical and technical implications of Jack’s discovery. “Jack. He—”

  “Sacrificed himself to help us with the war. He’s a hero.”

  Maya had only known Jack for a short bit, but his contribution to the human race would be remembered for a long time. Reno continued.

  “I found some buddies of mine. Cops. We found the Guard and attacked the obelisk. Brought it down. That was when we loaded up and got the hell out of Nashville. Ended up here.”

  She struggled to take it all in. First, the emotional reunion with her children, and now Jack and Reno had found a weakness in the obelisks. Plus, finding weapons had become easier once they understood which ones to use. The base had been using spotlights as a defense, but there wasn’t any reason why they could take those on the offensive.

  “So, you know how to take down the domes? All of them”

  Reno nodded. “Yeah, pretty sure they all work the same way. I was thinking about it, and I’ll bet they planted the generators inside the Earth a long time ago. We’ve been living on top of them for thousands of years.”

  “Now you sound like Jack.”

  Reno laughed and then shrugged.

  “Well, have you told whoever’s in command here?”

  “I have.”

  “What did they say?”

  Reno sighed, and looked at the far wall. He hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  He looked back at her. “Gerald. I don’t think he’s the top dog, but he’s definitely high up on the chain of command here. He thinks it’s too risky to go on the offensive, that we should stay here and wait for the ‘government’ to tell us what to do, as if that still exists. But the farther you get from the big cities the less infrastructure remains. I think that’s why some ex-military guy like your ex can be running this place while the Guard was still operating in Nashville.”

  Maya had just arrived and still hadn’t wrapped her mind around things. Her kids. Gerald. Reno. It was all too much, and coming too soon.

  “Gerald in charge of this place? These people? He couldn’t manage to take care of a puppy.” Maya shook her head, feeling overwhelmed and with a desire to hit pause and just think about things for a moment. “I could use a few minutes alone. I’ve got a lot to process.”

  “I understand. But hear me out. Some of the scouts saw you guys coming. They reported back to Gerald and he suspected it could be you. And when he told me what they’d seen, it was the only reason I stuck around. But I really don’t think we’re safe. The aliens know we’re here. We’re a target. And Gerald is happy to stay, living like whatever happens outside the gate doesn’t affect us. We need to leave and get the information I have into
the right hands. Find the real military and fight back.”

  Maya pulled her hand from Reno’s.

  “I just need a night. I’ve got to sleep on it.”

  Reno nodded and stood. “I understand.”

  Maya stood next. “I don’t want you being upset.”

  “I know. I’m not. Just think about what I said.”

  Reno leaned forward to embrace Maya as she reached out for his hand. They met in the middle, eyes averted, and further contact abandoned.

  He cleared his throat, then turned around and went to the door.

  “I’m sorry,” Maya said.

  After opening the door, Reno looked back. “Think about what I said. For the sake of the people here. And your kids.”

  30

  Maya followed the voices of her children as she walked down the hallway. She came to a closed door and pushed it open to reveal a classroom with desks and a whiteboard on the front wall. The smell of copy machine toner and fresh magic markers filled the room, and she wondered what they had been up to before she’d arrived. Aiden and Laura sat in two of the desks and Luke was perched on top of another, facing both kids. He had one of Aiden’s portable gaming machines in his hands.

  “Well, I see you kids met Luke.”

  “Mom, this is so cool,” Aiden said. “Luke said he can hack my 3DS and load it with hundreds of games. For free!”

  “Yeah, it’s called piracy, dumbass,” Laura said.

  “Laura, watch your language.”

  “Yeah, and everyone does it anyway,” Aiden said.

  Maya frowned as she turned to Luke. “It sounds illegal, and I don’t want you guys breaking the law.”

  Luke smiled. “Don’t worry. I can’t really do it until we have some Internet anyway. So, for now, we’ll keep it legal and you can just keep making Mario levels.” He handed the console back to Aiden.

  “Did you kids get something to eat?”

  “Ugh,” Luke said. “Unfortunately.”

  Laura raised her eyebrows at her mom. “Told you the food sucks.”

  “Well, be thankful that you have something. There’s a lot of people struggling out there.”

  “Lucky them,” Aiden said.

  Maya rolled her eyes, ignoring her children’s comments. She took a deep breath and crossed her arms. “I’m going to go lay down for a little while. Are you guys okay?”

  “I’ll look after them,” Luke said.

  Laura rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We’re, like, the same age. I don’t need you looking after me.”

  “Okay, looks like you guys will be fine,” Maya said. “I’ll see y’all in a little while.”

  Maya walked out and hung a right down the hallway. She had only taken a few steps when she heard adult laughter behind her. She turned around to see Gerald and Cameron holding hands and walking toward her. They looked up to see Maya staring back at them, and Cameron’s smile quickly disappeared as they stopped by the door.

  “Hey.” Cameron avoided eye contact with Maya, who raised her eyebrows.

  “Where are you headed?” Gerald asked.

  “I was going to try to rest for a while. Needless to say, it’s been a long few days.”

  “I understand.” Gerald kissed Cameron on the cheek, then gestured toward the door. “You mind if I walk Maya to her room?”

  Cameron glanced at Maya, then back at Gerald. “Uh, yeah, sure.” She flashed Maya a quick smile, then went into the room to join the kids.

  Maya turned around and Gerald stepped up beside her as they walked down the hall. She was the first to break the cold silence.

  “Guess you guys made up. Or, should I say, she forgave you for leaving her to die?”

  “It’s not like that. You think I wanted to leave her? I was planning on going back to get her.”

  “Oh yeah, well, you didn’t exactly give her that impression.”

  “I didn’t know how dangerous it was going to be out there, or what things were going to be like at this base. I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt.”

  Maya stopped and turned to face him. “Damn straight you don’t. You need to send word to your military pals in White House. They’re holding women in the high school there against their will. You need to report it.”

  “To who? It’s too risky to be out there right now.”

  ”Is that right? But you can risk the safety of our kids?”

  Gerald sighed and ran his hand over his shadow of a beard. “That’s not the same thing. I didn’t trust the kids being in the care of your mother, especially that close to Nashville. I had to come get them. You would have done the same thing.”

  Maya slapped him across the face. Then she stuck her fingertip within an inch of his nose.

  “You don’t have any right to tell me what I would have done. And you sure as hell didn’t have any right to do what you did to my mother.”

  “They’re my kids, too, dammit. I get a say in how to protect them, and you weren’t there. I did what I thought was right by them and not by their grandmother.”

  Maya stood back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fuck what you think is right, Gerald. And fuck you.”

  “Put yourself in my shoes. Really. Can you quit thinking about yourself long enough to do that? You would’ve done the exact same thing if you were in my position.”

  “You really don’t know me anymore, no matter how much you think you do.”

  Gerald turned and leaned back against the wall. He thumped his head against it twice.

  “We’re only going to make things difficult for ourselves if we go back and forth like this. Difficult for the kids, too.”

  “They’re all I care about.”

  “Then at least, while we’re around them, treat me like I’m their dad and not just some deadbeat piece of shit.”

  Maya stared at him and thought about it for a second, then nodded. “Only because I know all of this has been hard on them.”

  “Thank you.”

  Maya started walking again, and Gerald stepped off the wall and caught up with her in a few quick strides.

  “I can get to my room myself. I think we’ve said all we need to say.”

  “You know, I think you’re right when you said I don’t know you. The Maya I knew would never have made friends with someone like Cameron.”

  “She’s a good woman. I don’t really understand how you fooled her into thinking you were worth having her, but you did, somehow.”

  Gerald laughed. “Yeah, trust me. I think about that every day.”

  They didn’t say much to each other the rest of the way to Maya’s room. When they got there, Maya turned to look at him. She thought of her earlier conversation with Reno.

  “So, what happens now? How long were you planning on keeping the kids here?”

  Gerald shrugged. “I hadn’t really planned on leaving. And with you and Cameron here now, there’s really no point. We have enough food and supplies to last a long time.”

  “What about Reno? Did he tell you what he knows?”

  “He did.”

  “And?”

  Gerald shrugged. “Well, I don’t think we’re going to do much about it. No offense to you, Maya, but he’s just an EMT. The guys found him and some cop out in the woods with an injured soldier. We don’t even know if his story holds up.”

  “We’re targets here. Even if you don’t believe Reno’s story, we’ll die if we stay. They’ll eventually destroy the base. Have you seen the dome? The lasers? The fucking spaceships, for god’s sake?”

  He sighed as if he had answers for all those questions, but couldn’t be bothered with telling Maya what they were. Instead, he leaned in and took the conversation in a different direction.

  “Listen, I’m going let you in on something. Something’s not right with Reno. He’s unstable and he’s not thinking clearly. It’s pretty apparent something happened to him inside that dome. You need to be really careful around him.”

  She turned her head to the side, her mouth op
en. Him, of all people.

  Maya stared at her ex, silent and just waiting for Gerald to leave before going into her room. There, she laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

  31

  She wasn’t the only one wandering. Maya had seen several people as she’d walked down countless hallways inside the base, each one looking much like the last. Some of the doors had been left open, others locked, and some were being guarded by soldiers with guns. Drugs or ammo, she thought. There wouldn’t be anything else inside of Fort Campbell that they’d feel was valuable enough to guard—not once the mess hall had been locked.

  She’d passed a few people, but those few had kept their eyes to the floor or given her a quick, plastic smile—the kind you reserved for the family of the deceased in a funeral home.

  Finding her kids. That had been her only goal for so long. Maya had given everything she had, sacrificing herself and others to get back to Laura and Aiden. She had always known they were the most important things in her life, and now there was no doubt. Holding them, and even hearing their voices, brought her a taste of the sense of normalcy that had ended when that damn dome had dropped on Nashville.

  But having her kids nearby didn’t make things easier. In some ways, it made them worse. More complicated.

  The rec room lights were on and Maya walked on past, glancing in at two teenagers playing ping pong. She smiled and paused to listen to them making fun of each other in that good-natured way that teenagers will—rarely. And then she turned away and continued down the corridor.

  How long could this last? Even if they weren’t under attack, what was a realistic expectation for the lights staying on? How much food did they have? Clearly, medication and ammo were already low enough that at least some rooms needed to be guarded.

  No, they couldn’t stay here. Even without the imminent and inevitable return of the aliens, they couldn’t stay. And couldn’t the spaceship train a laser on this base at any moment? Sure, the soldiers had some defenses and had been able to use the big lights to turn back a few attacks, but what if the aliens decided it was time to take out this anthill once and for all? What if an entire fleet showed up, lasers blasting?