The Catalyst: (Book One)

by Devi Mara

  Robin turned off the lights in the café and walked back to the truck. After the warmth of the past hour, the cold made her shiver. She climbed into the truck and rolled up the window. Bad smell or not, she needed every bit of warmth she could get. The old truck clunked when she shifted it into drive, but it rolled out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

  She nearly passed the turn for the road, slamming on the brakes at the last minute. The truck rocked to a stop and she squinted out the side window at the dark gravel road. According to the map, it was the only way to the town without going over half an hour out of the way. Robin took the turn. Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she drove, the fields eventually turning to small houses with neatly trimmed yards.

  The streets were empty, but she had expected that. What she had not anticipated were the lights on in several of the houses. Apparently, the town was far enough from a major city to be left in peace. Or the townspeople had refused to leave. Robin licked her lips nervously. She pulled the truck into an alley a few blocks from the edge of town and turned off the engine.

  She sat in the dark cab for a moment, listening to the tick of the engine. Her gaze moved to the rearview mirror where a handful of houses were visible. Five of the six were dark. Robin frowned at the lights in the front window of the sixth house. A shadow moved behind the closed blinds. She leaned over to slip her arm through one of the straps on the backpack, keeping her gaze on the opening of the alley behind her.

  As she watched, the light in the window winked out. A moment later, a door opened and closed somewhere out of sight. Robin jerked up on the truck’s door handle and slid out of the cab. Her boots crunched on broken glass. She pocketed the keys to the truck and slipped her other arm into the backpack. A shoe scuffed on the pavement.

  Robin glanced at the dark alley behind her. A low, masculine chuckle drifted around the corner, too loud to be unintentional. She turned and crept toward the front of the truck. The first of the townspeople slunk around the corner of the alley and paused. She could not see his face with the faint lamp light behind him, but he held something in his right hand. It caught the light.

  “Not from around here, are you?”

  Robin stared at him silently.

  “What you got there, Jim?” another voice called.

  The man, Jim, took a step toward her. He raised his hand and tapped on the truck’s tailgate with the item in his hand. It made a metallic clang.

  “Girl,” Jim answered.

  Robin quickly calculated the distance to the other end of the alley. Assuming the man was unable to hit a moving target with the knife and did not possess any other weapons, she should be able to outrun him. From his stance, he appeared to be older than her by at least two decades. Robin shifted her weight a split second before she turned and ran.

  “Hey!”

  Robin ignored the man’s yell, sprinting down the alley with only the faint streetlights behind her to light the way. At the end of the alley she took a right, heading deeper into the city. She ran until she found herself in a quaint city square. Red brick buildings rose on either side of the street, edged by white sidewalks and decorative planters. Robin slowed to a stop and leaned against a lamppost to regain her breath.

  The sound of shattering glass echoed down the street. She jerked her head up to look over her shoulder. The truck most likely. Destroying it made no sense to her. She shook her head and straightened. It was a bad idea to stay out on the street. The town was obviously not safe. She would have to find another vehicle and keep moving. Hope to find a better place.

  Robin hurried down the sidewalk to the next alley and stepped into the shadows. She followed the narrow lane for two blocks, crossing two deserted streets, before she found a house with a car parked out front. Robin paused in the house’s side yard to frown at the street. The car was the only one in sight. It could be a trap. Unlikely, but not impossible.

  She crouched down next to the house and slipped the backpack off her back, pulling out a water bottle and taking a few deep gulps. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand, something her mother would never approve of. Robin shook her head at the ridiculous thought, but the reminder had a sobering effect. Her parents could have been in Chicago when it was destroyed.

  With the chaos of the week, she had not spoken to either of her parents. They could have been in Chicago or Boston. There was no way to know and without her cell phone it was impossible to contact them. Her gaze drifted to the house. The side door was only a few feet from her. It would be easy to check it. She shoved the water bottle back in her backpack and walked over to the door.

  The screen door opened without a sound. Robin reached out to test the knob and blinked in surprise when it turned. She pushed open the door and hurried inside, closing it behind her quickly. The inside of the house was a mass of shadows. As she wandered through the dark, she stumbled over a low table. It fell with a crash, something shattering on the wooden floor. Robin froze.

  When several seconds passed without any noise from outside the house, she let out her breath. She worked her way across the living room to the TV stand near the window. The closed blinds let in just enough light for her to find the remote on the coffee table nearby. She flipped on the TV and muted it. The same emergency broadcast screen was on every channel. Robin turned off the TV with a sigh.

  As she stood in the middle of the living room, the floor began to vibrate. The tremors began gently, only causing the dishes in the kitchen to rattle. In less than ten seconds, the ground shook hard enough to send Robin to her knees. Her first thought was that the town was experiencing an earthquake. A moment later, an odd rumble started. It sent a chill down her spine.

  Robin crawled over to the window and peeked between the curtains. The sun was rising in the west. The insane thought shocked her out of her stupor. She shoved herself up from the floor and clung to the window frame. No, not the sun. A series of bright lights. As the lights approached, more became visible until there was a line of them stretched into the distance.

  The part of her that was not in shock, immediately supplied the answer. A ship. Like the ones that had destroyed the city of Chicago. Her eyes widened. Just like Chicago. It was there to destroy the town. She spun away from the window and stumbled toward the side door, trying to stay on her feet despite the shaking floor. She nearly fell out of the side door, grabbing the doorframe at the last minute and descending the stairs.

  Over the sound of rattling and breaking glass, shouting rose from just north of her. Robin glanced that way to see a small group of people running across backyards in her direction. Behind them, the city was glowing a bright white that faded to the orange of fire. The line of white light raced toward her, far faster than the group of people.

  Between one heartbeat and the next, the light engulfed them. When it faded, there was only the blackened, skeletal remains left to slowly crumble to the ground. Robin stared, even as the light continued toward her. When it was in the next yard over, the light suddenly vanished and the night was dark again. Robin gasped as a hand grabbed her elbow.

  “Robin!” Addar’s eyes glowed in the light of the nearby fire and Robin stared at him in confusion.

  “How…?” she started, only to break off.

  “You need to leave here. This town is going to be destroyed.”

  “And how do you know that?” she asked.

  He stared at her, his gaze intense.

  “Of course, you would be involved,” she murmured, staring into his eyes. She bit her lip to still its wobbling.

  She would not cry. She was not a crier.

  “Robin.”

  She shook her head.

  “No. No, I don’t want to hear it.”

  She took a step back from him, then another.

  He followed.

  Soon there was a wall behind her, and she had to tip her head back to meet his gaze.

  “Why did you do this to me?”

  The question seemed to take him aback
as he stilled, simply staring at her.

  “To you,” he said softly. “You think I did this to you.”

  “Didn’t you?”

  He leaned in then, so fast she flinched back. His hands hit the wall on either side of her and he stopped with his lips mere inches from hers.

  “No.”

  “Those are your people,” she said. “Your people killing mine. You really expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?”

  “And what about you?” he growled. “You with your foolish machines and good intentions. Did you think you could just recreate life with no consequences?”

  She gasped as his lips brushed hers, a shock of awareness passing between them.

  “You thought you could lie to me. Hide your second creation. But you couldn’t, could you? All of this,” he gestured to the burned town. “All of this is your fault.”

  She shook her head.

  “Yes, Robin. You want to blame me, I know you do. You want to think I did all of this. You want me to be the villain.” His lips skimmed her cheek as he whispered the last few words in her ear.

  “I didn’t know—”

  He lightly kissed her jaw.

  “I know, you didn’t. But the facts remain the same. You recreated Ilan and he called the armada. They will continue as they are until no humans are left alive.”

  Robin let out a shuddering gasp, unable to stop a tear from falling onto her cheek. He gently wiped it away.

  “Help me fix this,” she pleaded. “There has to be something I can do.”

  “There is,” he said, taking a step back from her. “Hide. Hide and don’t let anyone find you.”

  “Hide,” she echoed.

  No. She would not hide. Robin wiped the tear away. She would find a way to fix this, even if he would not help her. It was foolish to think he would.

  “Robin,” he warned.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. He was with them. His loyalty was to them. Robin skirted around him and backed toward the car on the street. He could not be trusted. She would need to get to a base and find someone in charge.

  “What you are thinking will fail. We have done this hundreds of times.”

  We. The word banged around the inside of her head until it was all she could hear. Robin rounded the front end of the car and jerked open the driver’s side door.

  …

  The betrayal in her eyes made him feel physically ill, but he stood tall and watched her drive away in the car. He had watched her from the moment she drove into the small town. He had nearly interfered when two men had approached her.

  They had arrived in the town only a few hours before Robin and had taken over a house. According to Vanor’s reports, the townspeople had all moved to a temporary military base on the border of Illinois and Indiana.

  Addar watched until the car’s taillights faded into the night, before he returned to the ship. The town was deserted.

  “Scout?” a soldier questioned.

  Addar glanced at him, then back at the window. From his place on the ship’s bridge, he could clearly see the burned half of the town. He let a cold smile curl his lips.

  “Finish it.”

  The solder gave him a curt nod.

  As the rest of the town burned, Addar took his seat. The others on the bridge continued their tasks, not even glancing in his direction. Addar pulled up a map of the state and considered future targets. The largest cities had been destroyed. Any town with a population over two thousand had been laid to waste. There were only a few steps left before ground forces would be engaged.

  Robin would need to be far away from that. He sat back in his chair and watched her car head for the base on the state border. If he let her reach it, she would be there when it was destroyed. Addar rubbed his temples. But if he let her wander aimlessly, she could run out of food or water.

  “What ails you, brother?”

  At the sound of Vanor’s voice, Addar cleared the computer screen.

  “You require something?” he asked blandly.

  Vanor’s gaze drifted from his face to the blank screen. “That is what I came to inquire.”

  Addar leaned back in his seat. “I have need of nothing at the moment.”

  Vanor’s burgundy eyes settled on his face. “You are certain.”

  Addar raised an eyebrow at her tone. “Quite sure.”

  “Brother, you seem…different,” she murmured.

  The quiet noise in the room ceased.

  Addar slowly stood from his chair. “Different.”

  Vanor visibly swallowed. “I mean no offense.”

  “No?”

  The room began to empty, as the others moved toward the door. Addar waited until they were alone.

  “Speak.”

  Vanor kept her gaze fastened on the floor.

  “Speak!” Addar growled.

  She sent him a quick glance, but nodded. “You seem preoccupied, brother.”

  “With?”

  Vanor opened her mouth and quickly closed it again.

  “I will not repeat myself,” Addar warned.

  “I have spoken with Ilan.”

  “And?” Addar watched Vanor shiver at his tone.

  “He mentioned a human.”

  Addar slowly raised his hand to touch her throat. “Vanor.”

  “Y-yes, brother?”

  “I will forgive you this.”

  Vanor met his gaze long enough to give him a look full of gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “Now, go.”

  She hurried away, leaving him alone on the bridge. Ilan would need to be dealt with before he told anyone else about Robin.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Rocks plinked off the sides of the car as Robin sped down the gravel road. The cloud of dust behind her was too thick to see the town in the rearview mirror, but the smell of smoke followed her. She scrubbed at her lips with the hand that was not gripping the steering wheel.

  He had kissed her. After everything. Robin jerked the wheel, as the car drifted too close to the edge of the road. He could not possibly think that she would forgive him. And to blame it on her. Robin clutched at the steering wheel with both hands. Preposterous. It was best if she stayed away from him. He was dangerous, delusional.

  Robin touched her lips, again. She shook her head. His timing had been perfect. Too perfect. She frowned at the road ahead. Almost as if he had halted the attack for her. Which would place him in a position of authority. Robin jerked the wheel to the right to skid onto the highway. He could have been the one to order the attack.

  Goosebumps popped up on her arms, as the possibilities raced through her head. He could have been sent to Earth by someone. Robin pushed harder on the accelerator, rocketing down the dark highway. His entire purpose on the planet could have been preparation for an attack of some kind. A siege. And she had treated him like a guest. Even giving him access to the internet.

  Robin slammed on the brakes and skidded onto the shoulder. He had not only been studying her. Addar had been studying her world. And she had given him the means. He was right. She was responsible, but not in the way he thought. He said it was Ilan who called their people, that her mistake had been in recreating Ilan. That was wrong. Her mistake was in recreating Addar.

  He was the beginning. Without him, she would have never known it was possible. Robin slowly accelerated and pulled back onto the highway. She had to end it. Addar was the key. Over the weeks, she had lived with him, studied him. If anyone knew how he thought and behaved it was her. She just had to figure out how to use it against him.

  Her eyes fixed on the road ahead and she pressed down the gas pedal, driving far faster than she would ever have dared before. The trees whizzed by the windows as a green blur, the dotted center line becoming solid as the speedometer pushed past eighty. Robin did not slow until she popped over a small rise and caught sight of the barricade.

  She slammed on the brakes, the tires shrieking as the car fishtailed across both lanes. Still the wall
of sandbags sped toward her. At the last minute, she hit a spike strip. Still going over forty, the tires popped and the car screeched along the pavement for the last fifty feet. The car came to a stop, its front bumper nudged up against the wall of sandbags.

  Robin jerked her eyes away from the barricade when a dozen armed soldiers surrounded the car. Her pounding heart stuttered in her chest at the sight of so many rifles pointed at her.

  “Get out of the car, ma’am!”

  A light blazed to life on the other side of the barricade, bathing the car and highway in daylight brightness. Robin squinted against the light, as she fumbled for her door handle.

  “Keep your hands where we can see them!”

  She popped open her door and raised her hands up near her head. The door was jerked open by a soldier and a firm grip pulled her from the car. Robin took deep breaths to keep herself calm. They had no idea who she was. It was not the same as when the police came to her apartment. She was fine. Safe.

  “Do you have any ID on you, ma’am?”

  She wondered why the female soldier bothered to ask, since she immediately began to pat her down. Robin fought not to move away from the intrusive search.

  “No,” she muttered. “I don’t have anything.”

  The soldier paused and looked up at her from beneath her helmet. “Nothing?”

  Robin shook her head. “No.”

  The soldier finished with Robin’s jeans pockets and moved on to her jacket pockets. Robin started to tell her there was nothing to find, when something crinkled in her right pocket. The soldier met her gaze briefly, before she pulled her hand out of Robin’s pocket and held a scrap of paper up to the light.

  “Do not go into Indiana,” the soldier muttered.

  “What?” Robin asked, frowning at the paper.

  “Note in your pocket. What does it mean?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t know how…” Robin trailed off as a thought entered her mind.

  Her right pocket. Where Addar had stood, before he told her to run. Surely, he would not have given her a warning. He was the enemy, part of the forces trying to destroy her world. Why would he help her?