Beyond Falling Stars (Starlight Saga Book 3)

by Sherry Soule

  Zach glares, running his hand over his head. “Not cool, dude.”

  I crouch behind the recliner, my pulse sprinting. Sneaking a peek, I watch the action unfold like a wicked cool Jason Bourne thriller.

  Growling, Zach charges Mitchell, grabbing the gun clutched in his hands before he can fire off another shot. They wrestle over the weapon until Zach uses one fist to punch him square in the face. Then Zach strikes him again in the chin, causing Mitchell to drop the gun and stagger off balance.

  Holy hotcakes, Batman! I imagine little bubbles exploding around the brawl, Bam! Pow! Ouch! Zach gives Mitchell another devastating blow followed by a sharp kick to the gut, then Zach flips the soldier onto his back like a hamburger patty on a BBQ. Mitchell lies there dazed and shaken.

  Three down and one douchebag left…

  When I spot Finley sneaking up behind Hayden through the dining room, I shout a warning, “Look out!”

  As Hayden turns, Finley lands a blow to his jaw. Hayden’s head snaps back, but when he recovers, Hayden punches Finley so violently in the mouth that the soldier’s lip splits, spewing blood all over the floor.

  Ewww! Beyond gross.

  Grunting, Finley smashes an elbow into the side of Hayden’s skull, a spot high on the temple. Hayden stumbles backward into the desk, toppling the computer monitor, and it crashes to the floor.

  “Do not touch my brother!” Zach roars.

  He advances, delivering a series of punches to Finley’s midsection that would make a professional boxer think twice before getting into the ring with him. The gritty, down-and-dirty fighting appears straight out of a Fight Club sequel. With one final strike to the head, Finley collapses to the ground like a sack of dirt with a resounding thwap.

  Hayden leaning against the desk, straightens, and takes a step toward me, then freezes.

  All four soldiers are down now. We won—

  Hands grab me, lift me from behind the recliner, and an arm closes around my neck. The cold barrel of a gun rams against my temple. My body temperature surges like a chicken in a pressure cooker.

  “Hayden!” Mitchell says. “Stand down, or I’ll shoot her in the head.”

  For an instant, everyone is quiet and motionless, like a freaky scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Hayden doesn’t move. His jaw clenches tight and his limbs twitch, as if his nerve endings don’t consent with what his body is doing. Zach stands over the fallen soldier, his shoulders tense and his gaze focused on Mitchell cowering behind me.

  Mitchell tugs me through the living room archway and into the dining room.

  Screw this! I harness some courage and clench my teeth. Lifting my arm, I pitch my elbow back, catching Mitchell hard in the ribs. He loosens his hold, dropping his weapon, and reeling into the kitchen. The gun propels across the floor.

  In a blast of blue light, Hayden teleports beside him. He punches Mitchell so hard, the guy stumbles backward, spinning on his booted heel out the open backdoor.

  So long, sucker!

  A bullet whizzes past me and clips Hayden in the shoulder. Kogan has returned and he stands in the living room with his gun raised. Sneaky bastard.

  Zach jumps behind the side of the bulky china cabinet in the dining room, pressing his back against the wall. Hayden drops, shoves the oak table onto its side like a barricade, and crouches behind it. My pulse pounds in my throat. With one hand, Hayden yanks on my wrist nearly ripping my arm out of its socket, and jerks me down. Bright red stains his shirt and soaks through the fabric.

  “Stay low,” Hayden says to me, then to his brother, “Zach! Get the short dude with the gun.”

  “I’m on it!” Zach shouts, staying low and edging out from the side of the china cabinet.

  Another bullet flies, striking the glass, and sprinkling shards onto the hardwood floor. Zach dives back behind the wooden structure.

  Cursing, Zach steps into view with one hand raised. Kogan’s gun soars into his palm, and although I can’t see Kogan, the thud of boots echoes throughout the first floor. Hayden and I peer over the table.

  “Retreat!” Sergeant Lanter orders from the front door.

  For a second, I worry the men will find Jonah, but Lanter is alone. Mitchell appears in the backdoor and cracks off another round, bullets hitting the wall over our heads. Hayden and I duck back down.

  “Let’s roll out!” Lanter barks. “Now, soldiers!”

  I peek around the table, noting that the men are withdrawing. Whew.

  Zach stands by the table and tucks the firearm into the back of his waistband. “The cowards are leaving.”

  “We need to move.” Hayden grips his shoulder with one hand, blood leaking between his fingers. “I doubt we have much time before they return—”

  “With reinforcements,” Zach finishes, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a boxer ready to do battle. “Do you have a plan, bro?”

  “Only to get Sloane and Jonah safely out of here. First, check out front,” Hayden orders. “Make sure those jerks are gone. Get Jonah. We’ll worry about the rest once we get to safety.”

  While Zach does a quick sweep of the house, I squeeze my eyes closed and inhale deeply, exhaling slowly until the panic recedes.

  Hayden touches my arm with one hand. “You all right? Did you get shot?”

  Shaking my head, I open my eyes. He’s a bloody mess. “N-no, but you did. Are you okay?”

  “Yup, It’s gonna take more than a bullet to take me down.”

  “Shouldn’t you put a towel over it and apply pressure? Or tie a cloth around your shoulder?”

  “Nah. It’s only a flesh wound. Honest.”

  Jonah and Zach enter through the backdoor and join us in the dining room. I stand and my brother rushes into my arms. I hug him so hard he groans and squirms, but I hold on tight.

  Hayden staggers to his feet. “Where are the soldiers now?”

  “It looks like they retreated,” Zach says. “But they’ll be back with the cavalry. We need to move.”

  From the corner of my eye, I detect movement. Finley stomps inside the living room with a gun aimed at us. He must’ve reloaded and returned to finish us off.

  “Watch out!” I yell, ducking behind the table and tugging my brother down with me.

  Finley fires a shot at Zach, the bullet whooshing past his face and skimming his ear.

  “Son of a bitch!” Zach’s hand flies up to cover the wound.

  “Get out of here, Sloane!” Hayden ducks behind the china cabinet. “Go!”

  Holding hands with my brother and keeping our heads low, we sprint into the kitchen. More gunshots ring out. We need to escape. I have to protect my brother from flying bullets.

  Get to the graveyard. Now. We’ll be safe there—

  My insides sizzle as if an inferno burns within me. Keeping a firm grip on Jonah, I break out in a blistering sweat, but keep moving. Almost to the backdoor. Freedom ahead.

  The heat mounting inside me intensifies to epic proportions, pulsating over my body. A brilliant sphere of bluish light brightens the room and encloses Jonah and me. Then a rocketing noise fills my ears like a racecar at two hundred miles per hour. My body goes weightless, as though it dissolves like water on hot pavement and every cell melts into atoms. As the throbbing light increases, the kitchen vanishes. In a blur of time and space, Jonah and I soar at warp-speed like falling stars through a tunnel of darkness.

  Seconds later, we land, tumbling onto the lawn of the Shadowland Memorial Cemetery beside my grandma’s grave. Jonah collides into a tombstone and I crash-land onto my knees. My stomach leaps into my mouth and bile rises in my throat. The world tilts and spins for several minutes before righting itself.

  Holy alien babies!

  “What the…what happened?” Jonah rasps.

  “I just teleported us from our house to the graveyard, Brainiac Boy. My superpowers have officially activated.”

  “Who were those guys?” Jonah wheezes and clutches onto a headstone. “Zach told me there were men in t
he house and for me to hide in the garage.”

  Sweat drips into my eyes, and I wipe my face with a shaky hand. “It was Sector Thirteen and they took Mom and Dad. Now we have to get them back.”

  It’s up to me to save the ’rents. Time to become the reluctant superhero of my own movie.

  FRIGHT NIGHT BABBLE

  Greetings, Fellow Horrorphilas!

  This horror trope found in movies and books is just all kinds of dumb.

  Why do the characters always split up in a scary movie or a TV show? And why do these allegedly smart people think it’s such a brilliant idea?

  Everybody knows the bad guys are lurking nearby, but still someone stupidly exclaims, “We’re gonna explore that pitch-dark area over there while you guys check out that less dark and creepy place, and then we’ll meet up later.”

  Just rewatch episodes of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and count how many times the group loses each other, or Scooby-Doo where Shaggy and Scooby are split up in every episode.

  So, obvs, it’s smarter to stick together and carry flashlights. Or ditch the person who suggests that you each go your separate ways. They’ll eventually get killed, anyway. So why wait?

  Peace, love, and horror flicks,

  Sloane

  EIGHT

  My life is becoming a B-movie cliché. There’s an über evil government faction, complete with danger, and scary mutants that want to use me as a doggie chew toy, along with a malicious plot to capture the helpless heroine.

  But not so helpless. Not anymore—I can teleport!

  “What’re we going to do now?” Jonah asks.

  I pace between the tombstones. A light breeze ruffles the swaying branches on the oaks and the eroded metal gate creaks. Near Grandma’s grave is a patch of clover with buzzing bees. One mourner pays his respects to a loved one across the grassy terrain.

  “I don’t have any grand plan on how to rescue our parents from a secret government lab. You got anything?”

  Jonah scrubs at his face with his palms. “No, but once we save them, I say we blow that place apart.”

  “Great idea. Although this is gonna sound like a bad horror cliché, I think we should split up. Because your computer-like brain is useless in a physical fight.”

  “Valid point, and luckily, we have Hayden and Zack to back us up.”

  Hayden I’m keeping, as for Zack…I’m okay with a recast.

  Some days I just want to lounge on the sofa, eat chicken nachos, and binge-watch horror, filling my brain with spooky, mind-numbing entertainment. But at the moment, I need to silence my inner-couch potato tendencies, and dig deep to find the strength to rescue my parents from ST’s evil clutches and catch that Zeta flight.

  If this were a suspenseful drama, I’d be the cool hero with clever tricks up my sleeve, but at present, I got nothing.

  Where are the kickass Tom Cruise and those Mission Impossible characters when you need them?

  My phone buzzes with a text message bubble.

  Hayden: Where R U? U OK?

  Me: Good. At the graveyard. I teleported!

  Hayden: Saw that. Awesome.

  Me: I know, right??? :-)

  Hayden: B there in 15 mins.

  I slip my phone back into my pocket.

  “Let’s wait until it gets dark so I can grab Jinx. I’ll take him to Viola’s house. Her parents can cat sit, and you should stay there, too.”

  “Sloane, I understand you’re worried. But I read a lot of books, and in most of them, the hero goes on his noble quest, despite the odds, and eventually triumphs.”

  “Well, I watch loads of movies, and in all those horror flicks, even the brainy nerd gets whacked.”

  He frowns. “Whacked? What’re you, a mobster now?”

  “If you get killed because of me, then Mom and Dad will kill me, and then they’ll be childless. And it’ll be all your fault!”

  “I guess I can’t argue with your bizarre logic.” Jonah frowns, leaning against a tombstone. “How are you going to break into a military base?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but you’re Brainiac Boy, so use that super intelligence to help me devise a plan. Find a site with an aerial shot of the facility and a way inside.”

  “That’s a no-brainer.” Jonah tugs his cell from his front pocket and his fingers pound away on the keys. “Good thing the satellite won’t black out the base since it’s technically been closed for over twenty years.”

  While Jonah’s busy searching online, I tell him about the Zeta return journey and how our parents want him to make the trip no matter what. “…and don’t forget the clock is ticking. We have a flight to catch and I doubt the Zetas land at the airport.”

  “Are Hayden and Zach going, too?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Because I like them,” Jonah says quietly.

  “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

  “Well, I don’t have many friends, and when I stand near them, they don’t ask me to go away like the other kids at school.”

  My heart pinches for the little nerd. “Yeah, those guys are cool like that. At least Hayden is, but the jury’s still out on Zach.”

  Hayden teleports in a blast of brilliant blue light. “Hey! Your powers finally kicked in, this is great.”

  “We can celebrate later,” I say, all businesslike. “Sector Thirteen took my parents and they have Delta, so it’s time we planned a break in.”

  Hayden stomps forward. “There’s no way—”

  “Hang on. I don’t want to hear any buts.” I rest both hands on my hips. “We are going to get them out of that lab or die trying. You in or out?”

  For a moment, Hayden stares at me, then huffs out a breath. “Fine, like you’ve said, we’re stronger together than apart.”

  “We’ll need help,” Jonah says without glancing up from his phone. “More allies.” My brother’s clearly in the zone. He’s nodding and grunting between occasional self-satisfied grins as he works.

  “We can recruit Arcane and my brother for additional backup,” Hayden says, wincing. One side of his shirt is soaked in blood, and a bandage covers his shoulder where he got hit by the bullet.

  I touch his arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good,” Hayden says. “I ate Zeta herbs, so I should heal within hours.”

  “Where’s Zach?” I ask.

  “He went home to gather the weapons we stashed at the cottage,” Hayden replies.

  The hackles on my neck tingle. “You were planning to attack Sector Thirteen without me?”

  “Um, well, yeah,” Hayden admits guiltily.

  “So much for the stronger together anthem,” I mumble. “You were planning on ditching me.”

  “Only to keep you and your brother safe—”

  “You and Zach can’t go after ST alone. That’s stupid and dicey,” I say, my voice sounding shrill. “Not to mention chauvinistic and insulting. Like I haven’t proven myself already.”

  Hayden arches a brow. “I won’t risk your life, Peaches.”

  “And I won’t risk yours,” I reply. “We do it together or not at all, and for the record, you can tell your knuckle-dragging brother I said so.”

  Hayden sighs. “This isn’t a movie! It’s too—”

  “Dangerous?” I shake my head. “You’re not talking me out of this, Hayden. This is my family and I need to help rescue them. I know you’re extra worried and I get that you want to protect me all the time like some white knight, but I’m no damsel in distress. Not anymore.”

  Yet I hate to admit it, but I’ll need both Hayden and Zach’s help. Mostly because I’ve seen enough slasher films to know that a female doesn’t go traipsing through the grounds of a secret military base all on her lonesome. Not if she expects to have a part in the sequel. Plus, I have a major sense of self-preservation since this Final Girl intends on reprising her role.

  We exchange an epic stare down. When it comes to a battle of wills, I’m no match for the last slice of cake. Or when it comes to insisting on resc
uing my loved ones.

  Studying my determined expression, an uneven smile quirks Hayden’s lips. “Fine. I’m on your team and at your disposal.”

  “Good! Let’s work on a plan,” I say/

  “First, we need surveillance on the base. Zach can scout out the perimeter and do a headcount on the soldiers to figure out what we’re up against,” Hayden says.

  “Got that handled.” Jonah waves the phone in front of us.

  “Now you’re talking,” I say to my brother, then face Hayden. “Can you use your superior computer hacking skills to find a weakness in their security?”

  “Sure.” Hayden shrugs. “If your brother doesn’t mind helping me hack into their system.”

  Jonah briefly looks up from the screen. “I’ll put on my black hat! I look forward to uncovering a backdoor in their security to access the central network, but they probably have a fairly intense firewall.”

  Hayden rubs his chin. “I already checked it out and it is one of the toughest security barriers I’ve ever come across. It’s designed to keep out unwanted intruders, I mean hackers like us, outside their computer system.”

  Jonah nods. “Every programmer leaves an escape hatch, and I’ll find it. The Chinese and the Russian’s have enhanced firewalls, but I got through them—”

  “Um, hello.” I wave my hands in the air. “While I like you two teaming up to get your cyber freak-on, I don’t understand a word you’re saying.” I stare at my brother. “Although, I’m in awe of your cool hacker abilities, do Mom and Dad have any idea what you do in your spare time?”

  “Allow me to explain.” Jonah turns to me. “We will search their mainframe for a weakness and crack the system to override it with our commands. It’ll allow us to take control of the alarms and disarm any other security measures.”

  “Now about the Zetas return trip to Earth,” I say. “When do they land? Because I want to rescue our family members and hitch a ride off this rock.”

  “Soon.” Hayden scratches his unshaven cheek. “What we need is an inside man…”

  “I know just who to call,” I say.

  NINE

  I clutch the prepaid cell phone in my hand, gazing at the black screen. Hayden sits beside me in the booth, with Jonah sitting across from us. We’re in a restaurant while Zach stands guard outside in the parking lot. Out the dirty window, a white van rumbles by with tinted windows and an elderly couple gets into their sedan. Three glasses of soda sit on the table, but only Jonah drinks the sugary caffeinated drink in four gulps.