“Whoa, Bas. What’s got you all bothered?” Judith held her hands against his heaving chest.
“I just saw some Zooks dragging the Stevens away like prisoners, Mom!” He grabbed her shoulders, giving her big eyes. “There’s been rumors about them stealing humans for slavery. Someone even said they take women for breeding!”
“Don’t be silly,” she said, waving him away. “The Szu’Kara would never hurt us. They love us and take care of us. If they took someone away, it was probably for a good reason. Humans are full of flaws, Sebastian. We can’t help but do bad things sometimes. That’s why the blessed commander brought his angel people to help us. And, for heaven’s sake, stop calling them that horrid name. They don’t like it.”
“Mom, things aren’t right. I don’t think the aliens are as good as they want us to believe. People go missing all the time, and I knew the Stevens. They were good people.”
“Good people still make mistakes—”
“What about Mr. Aubrey?” Bas paced the small living room as his mom sat on their sofa with her arms crossed and her brows deeply furrowed. “They took him away for no good reason.”
“He assaulted a guard, Bas.”
“He was drunk, and they practically jumped him!”
“That’s nonsense, he was always drunk, a menace to our barely civilized society. Besides, Commander Kayn came and settled things down. He even brought extra supplies and goodies to smooth things over. We’re safe here, Bas. Our guardians provide everything we need, and they’re fixing our world so we can have a good future.”
“Come on! Open your eyes! He came here to stop an uprising, Mom. Things are happening that shouldn’t be, and you’re just turning a blind eye because you don’t want to see the bad in them. You always brought home those fucked up men who used you because you always believe everyone is good, no matter what. Now, you’re bringing home Zooks, and doing the same damn thing. What the hell does that teach Jordy? What kind of life is that for him to grow up in?”
“That’s enough,” she hissed, peering over her shoulder to Jordy’s closed bedroom door. “I’ve had enough of this, Bas. We are good people. The Szu’Kara are a good people. They’ve done so much for us, and I won’t forget that just because you heard some rumors, or saw something you didn’t like. Jordan will grow up learning to be kind and generous, just like them.”
“I can’t do this.” Bas growled, and pulled at his shaggy hair to avoid shaking some sense into his delusional mother. “I’m leaving. If I could take Jordy with me, I would.”
“What are you saying?” She glared at him. “Are you leaving us, again?”
“I can’t do this, Mom. I can’t stand being around them. I can’t stand how they try to make us all prim and proper, like them. I can’t stay here and watch them steal people in the night. If I stay here, I’ll end up doing something I regret.”
“Fine. Go. Do whatever you want, but do it before Jordy wakes up. I don’t want him exposed to the hatred you harbor. He’s happy here, and you aren’t going to do anything to change that. When you’ve taken the time to mature and be a better man, you can come back. Until then, just stay away. I can’t have you here causing problems.”
“I’ll be gone within the hour, Mother. You better tell Jordy something nice. Don’t you tell him I abandoned you guys, like last time. Tell him I had to leave for a job. I’ll be back to visit. Promise me, Mom. Promise me you’ll be good to him.”
“I’ve always been a good mother.” Judith scowled, her cheeks dark red.
“Promise. Please.” Sebastian stood his ground, barely holding himself back from grabbing his baby brother and running away with him. “Please, Mom.”
“I promise.”
***
A year and a half later, Bas found himself near Tuff’s beach in Oregon, repairing a little farmhouse on the outskirts of the still nearly-empty ocean town. After finishing the job, he decided to venture south to California. The weather had been warm this summer, and he’d never been to the Golden State. There’d been plenty of work to be had between Washington and Oregon.
Reaching into Lenore’s glovebox, he grabbed the brittle piece of paper Tuff had scribbled directions on and headed south. The drive along the coastline was beautiful. He thought, as he still did on occasion, about Becky and how he wished she were in the seat next to him, but he shook the daydream away, trying to hold onto the good mood he’d had for most of the summer.
Right before he took the job he just finished, Bas had visited Jordy. On his visits, he usually took his little brother for a day trip in the country to avoid the inevitable argument his mother always instigated. She liked to beat him with guilt, which made his visit with Jordy unpleasant and awkward, as the seven-year-old held a fierce loyalty to their mother. Still, when he dropped the boy off, Judith had been waiting, with poisonous accusations of abandonment spoken in harsh whispers away from young ears.
Driving with the windows down, breathing in the warm summer air, Bas shrugged off all the anger he felt towards his mother, and all the sadness he still held for his lost love. At seventeen, he looked and felt much older. War and hard labor aged a person, physically and mentally. There was no escaping the weight that settled on the body after witnessing terrible things, nightmares that prick the memory at odd times.
Pulling into the dirt lot in front of a run-down bar that once probably resembled a log cabin, he glanced around before getting out of the car. Two shiny motorcycles, and a handful of rust-covered cars lined the lot. A wooden rocking chair on the rickety porch held an old biker, smoking a cigar, his long, gray beard covering most of his bulging belly.
With a polite smile and a tip of his head, Bas passed the burly man, feeling eyes follow him from behind dark sunglasses. Upon entering the bar through its flimsy screen door, he blinked hard. His eyes needed a second to adjust to the dim light inside.
A handful of locals eyed him as he sidled up to the gleaming counter. He perched on a worn but sturdy barstool and glanced around. No one seemed hostile, which was always good, and not a single alien sat in the large, open space.
The inside of the place had that same log cabin design the outside tried to have, but it seemed to be in much better condition. Having never been in a real bar, Bas didn’t know what he’d expected, but this place had a cozy feel. If he’d come upon this establishment in the snowy mountains, he would have looked for the roaring fire and fuzzy blankets.
A throat clearing snapped his wandering eyes forward. In front of Bas, wiping the dark wood counter with a holey rag, stood a young Amazon braced against her side of the counter with a large, sturdy hand. Long blonde hair, pulled back in a harsh ponytail, fanned out just enough to frame the hard lines of a square face. Clear blue eyes scanned him, assessing him. Thin, wide lips pinched in a straight line under a long nose and high cheekbones.
“What can I get you?” Her deep, sultry voice raised goosebumps on his arm.
“What do you have?”
“You’re in a bar, in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere. What do you think we have?”
Taken aback, Bas stared at the young woman. “Well, since I’ve never been in a bar, I couldn’t say.”
She narrowed her large eyes, puckering her lips, and leaned forward onto her elbows, arms crossed. “How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?”
Bas mimicked her position against the counter, his face inches from hers, indigo eyes shining with mirth, and a crooked smile forcing its way to his mouth. “Seventeen.”
“No shit?” She straightened up, looking him over again. “I thought for sure you were my age, maybe a little older.”
“Hm, I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted. How old are you?”
“Bah, be flattered, and I’m nineteen.”
“Isn’t that a little young to be tending bar?”
“Bah, not these days. We’re so far from a settlement or compound we live by our own rules.” She turned to look behind him. “Right, ya’ll?”
A c
horus of cheers, hoots, and “you bet!” rang out around the bar.
“We’re like the old west out here. The only time we see them Zooks is when the supply shuttles drop in, and they don’t come out this far from the town center.”
“Huh. This sounds like my kind of place.”
“Oh yeah?” She propped herself up on the counter behind her, rattling a few liquor bottles. “You don’t like the Zooks?”
“Hell, no. They have my mom wrapped around their damn finger, and she’s got my little brother wrapped around hers. Plus… I’ve seen things.”
“For a kid, looking as old as you do, I believe you’ve seen some shit. Did you go to war, like my daddy?”
Bas cleared his throat, swallowing down a lump of emotion. “Your dad? Was he Zach?”
“How the fuck you know that?” The Amazon jumped forward, looking ready to punch his lights out.
“Chill, girl!” Bas held his hands up, placating. “I came here looking for Tuff Spence. He said he was coming here to find his friend, Zach. Gave me directions to get here.”
“Don’t call me girl. My name’s Cecily, and old Tuff hasn’t been here in a while. When’d you see him?”
“About two years ago, I guess.”
“Huh. Well, he moved on south, probably somewhere in Mexico. Said he wanted to find a better beach than the one he had in Oregon.”
“Ah, well, doesn’t matter. I just came here on a whim. I only met the guy once, didn’t really know him.” Just another memory I can do without. “My name’s Bas, by the way.”
“Welcome to the wild west, Bas.” Cecily slapped the counter. A round of welcomes echoed his way. “Now, what can I get you?”
***
Bitter and warm, Bas felt like the beer he’d been drinking. His first made him feel all fuzzy and happy. His second made his head heavy and his mood mellow. By his third, he’d become morose and broody. All the while, Cecily chatted away as if they’d know each other for years.
“…some of the ladies in town get together and hang out at the beach—”
“Becky never got to see the beach.” Bas stared down into his mug, swishing the last dregs of flat beer around the bottom.
“Who’s Becky?”
“She was my girlfriend.”
“Where is she now?” Cecily’s hands appeared on either side of his, drawing his eyes away from the depths of sorrow swirling in the beer.
“She’s dead,” he said, blurting the words, oddly anxious for some reaction from the cheery girl.
“How’d she die?” Cecily asked, grabbing her bleach scented rag to wipe up some droplets Bas had spilled on his last swig.
“She was shot by a terrorist.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah, well, that was another time. She’s gone, but I can’t seem to fucking get over her. Every damn day, it still hurts. How could they send us into battle? We were just kids, you know?”
“I don’t know, Bas,” Cecily said, shaking her head. “I just don’t know.”
As the day wore on, and his mind played memories of Becky like a broken record, his thoughts spilled from his mouth unfettered and full of every pain-filled emotion he’d been holding back since her death. At some point, Cecily had wisely switched him from beer to water. Eventually, he just lay his head down on the counter and stared into the depths of his mind where his love bossed him around while whispering secrets just for him.
When the sun set, and the last of the locals went home for the night, Cecily locked the door and hauled a wobbly Bas upstairs to her apartment. She steered him to a long, brown leather sofa, yanked off his over-shirt, stretched him over the cushions, and tossed a blanket over his weary body. As his eyes drooped closed, he watched her switch off a small lamp before turning off the overhead light and disappearing down a dark hallway.
Chapter 10
August 2022
“Oof!” Bas hollered, groaning as he opened his eyes to find a heavy, feather pillow laying on his protesting belly.
“Get your ass up.” Cecily yelled at the top of her lungs, or so it seemed to Bas’ screaming head. “If you’re going to stay here, you’re going to work. I don’t coddle slackers.”
“I’m not a slacker,” he muttered, rubbing his head as he swallowed back bile. “I work. And I have money to pay for a room somewhere. I appreciate you letting me crash here, especially since I couldn’t have driven anywhere, but you can point me in the direction of a hotel or boarding house or whatever, and I’ll get out of your hair.” Although, it is pretty hair… Wait, what?
“No reason for all that. You can stay in my dad’s room. I would’ve put you there last night, but you’re heavier than you look.”
“You calling me fat?” Bas croaked, as he tried to make a terrible joke.
“Seriously, Bas, you got a gym membership somewhere? You’re so tall and thin, but carrying you up those stairs, I got to feel some of that muscle hiding under your clothes.”
“I’m a handyman. When I lived with my mom on the Eastern Washington settlement, I helped build houses and did all the hard work those skinny Zook bastards don’t want to dirty their hands doing.”
“Ugh, I don’t know how you were able to stand living under their heel. Like I told you yesterday, we only see them about once a month in our little town, and I stay here. We have a group of older people meet them, so the aliens think we’re nothing but a bunch of harmless old fogies who don’t need supervision.”
“Smart.” He nodded his head, and instantly regretted the action. “I need an aspirin and a shower. You have any?”
“Sure, I got both. Down the hall, on your right. Aspirins’ in the cabinet. Don’t take too long. Hot water won’t last long, and we got business to attend to.”
Bas threw back some pills ASAP and showered quickly. When he pulled back the curtain, he found his duffle bag laying on the floor, dressing to the smells of soap and frying bacon.
“So, what you got planned for me today?” Bas asked, scarfing down the tasty eggs and bacon. “Like I told you before, I got plenty of experience fixing things. You need some repairs done around here?”
“You’ll see.”
“I can fix your siding if you have the materials.”
“Patience, Bas.”
With a harrumph, Bas gave up and helped her wash the breakfast dishes, waiting to see how the day would play out.
***
“You know,” Bas said, “when you said you were putting me to work, I thought I’d be fixing broken stuff, or cleaning out gutters, or something like that to pay you back.”
“Oh, you’re going to do that too. Don’t worry.” Cecily winked at him, and he cringed at the look in her eye, wondering if he should be worried.
Not in a million years did he think he’d be sitting at a table in a bar in, a state he’d never been to, with a woman he didn’t know, surrounded by a crowd of weathered bikers, tanned farmers, and other people he’d never met, talking about all the evils of the Szu’Kara that he’d assumed, and occasionally witnessed, to be true but never dared speak of.
So far, several people had verified the rumors of slavery to be true, and Bas accepted their word because he’d known deep down these aliens were wolves in sheep’s clothing. Finally, after two years of hiding his suspicions, and arguing with his mother about her Zook lovers, he was among people who understood the truth. For all their efforts to save humanity, the Szu’Kara had a hidden agenda, and these people knew it.
“It’s going to take a lot of careful effort to root out others like us. Everyone is either too scared to speak up, or too far up the Zooks’ asses to know any better. It’s going to take us years to get enough people to fight back.”
A short, gruff, Hispanic man in biker leathers with arms crossed over a barrel chest addressed the crowd. Black hair hung in a long, thick braid down his back and framed his mouth with a mustache and goatee.
“Raul,” Cecily said, “Bas here lived in a settlement in Washington state. He’s
seen some of the shit the aliens do. Maybe he could give us some insight as to what it’s like living with the Zooks, since none of us have spent much time in one of their camps or compounds.”
All eyes zeroed in on Bas, hitting a fear of public speaking he never knew he had. He sputtered through the first few questions, but after a while, his anxiety settled down and he gave up every bit of alien knowledge he had to these people. The more they talked, the more he felt at ease, as if he’d finally found his place in the world.
Throwing in her own questions here and there, Cecily subtly steered the meeting. Her commanding stature and brash attitude garnered a strange respect from the group. By the end of the meeting he didn’t know he’d be attending, Bas had no doubt he could count on these people, talk openly with them, and turn to them, and especially Cecily, whenever he needed a friend.
***
“Well, that was interesting,” Bas said when the crowd cleared out. “It’s kind of late, but this is a bar, so what do you need me to do to help you get this place open?”
“Grab a beer, Bas,” Cecily said as she slid behind the bar to select a bottle of tequila from the top shelf. “We don’t open on meeting days, that’s why we do it mid-week.”
“Oh, okay. What are we doing then?”
“We’re going to watch the sunset.”
“Huh.” Bas edged around the bar to get a beer, bumping into Cecily as she retrieved a couple shot glasses. With drinks in hand, they stared at each other for a moment before quickly turning away, Bas sucking in air to calm his racing pulse.
For the last few minutes of daylight, they sat in lawn chairs outside the bar’s back door, Cecily passing him a shot of tequila every few minutes as he slowly drank his warm beer. Lost in memories of sunsets with Becky, he didn’t talk, and she didn’t push. The loud young woman from the meeting wisely allowed the mourning young man a bit of peace.
New Enemies Page 6
