He looked ahead, out to the horizon. Once again, it was flat and devoid of all signs of humanity, save for the road. It gave him a chance to think back on the ambush. The feeling of having done wrong faded with each mile. He knew they were in enemy territory and it was either them or him. The smart play was killing them without a fancy declaration of war. Grim, brutal business.
While moving the dead, they’d talked about ditching the distinctive silver SUV. He’d already proven it was possible to ride the motorbikes into enemy-held strongholds, which might come in handy at NORAD, but they still had a long way to go. Riding bikes in the strong winds would be dangerous and keep them from going as fast as he could go in the truck. Finally, if they traded down to the cycles, they wouldn’t be able to carry all the food and firepower now bouncing around in the back. They’d already spent enough time in Nowheresville; he didn’t want to risk searching for other cars and trucks to steal.
Ted studied the rearview mirror for a moment. Wind whistled through the bullet hole in the long side window behind them. The bullet had been meant for his head…
He tried to refocus on what they needed to do. “You reloaded everything?”
“Shotgun, my AR-15, and yours. I didn’t get your pistol.”
“I did mine,” he replied. “I wanted to check if there were any defects in the mag. To my eye, it looked fine. I hope it was a one-time deal, but now you’ve got me rethinking which pistol I want to use, too.”
“Take whatever you need, including my personal one. You’re the front-line guy. I’m simply the backup.”
He laughed at her lack of politician’s ego. “You were the one who saved both of us back there. If you wouldn’t have fired, the man would have gotten his gun out faster, and it would have gone a whole lot different.” The realization made him feel even better about his choices.
Ted continued, settling more comfortably into his seat. “Looking ahead, we’re going to travel south some more. We’re so far east of NORAD, I don’t think they’d ever suspect where we’re going, even if they do tie those dead men to us. Once we get a few more miles behind us, we’ll head west again. Then we’ll be in a favorable position to sneak up on our target.”
The wind sheared against the right side of the truck, almost suggesting his target to the west was pushing back against his plans. Ted tried to ignore those thoughts, though he constantly returned to the reason he’d left Kyla behind. They were already hip-deep in killing and destruction, and they hadn’t even reached the enemy headquarters. When they got there and did what he intended to do, it was becoming clear their chances of escape were not going to be favorable.
Still, the only thing that mattered was fighting back, while there was still time.
Every nick into the skin of David’s invasion force took them one step closer to stopping him.
The Wrong Place
Deogee had spent a day and a night walking in the place with the strange light. After leaving the warehouse where she’d lost track of her new friend Tabby, she and Biscuit searched for their smells on the ground, but they weren’t there anymore. She didn’t understand how such a thing was possible, but it obviously was.
“Can we play with this fun thing?” Biscuit said, jutting her nose into a floating plastic bag. It was the same type of airy grocery holder often used by her friend Melissa, back before Melissa disappeared, leaving only her yellow sneakers.
The thought made her wonder if her new friends had disappeared in the same way. One second, they were there. The next, poof, gone. It wasn’t even the same as a game of hide-and-seek, because her human friends never reappeared.
She barked once. “Biscuit, tell me one more time if you can smell our friends.”
The black lab had her head completely inside the bag now. She whipped her head from side to side, trying to shake it off, but it was caught behind her ears. To Deogee, it seemed a simple problem to solve, but the other dog couldn’t see the big picture.
It took several more barks, and a quick pounce on top of Biscuit’s head, but the bag finally came loose. The other dog watched it blow away.
“Biscuit!” she barked.
“Yes?” her companion finally replied.
“Do you smell anything…familiar?”
The lab sampled the air. “Now that you mention it, nothing has smelled like home since we left our friends. None of the scents here are good. No trees. No grass. My pee doesn’t smell right, either.”
Even for a dog, it was too much information.
Deogee barked. “We have to go back to a familiar place. Maybe we’ll pick up their scent again.”
“Ooh! Where are we going?”
“Back to your home,” Deogee said grimly. “We’re both going back home.” She took off for the bridge, which was step one in retracing her path.
She’d left her friend Rose’s body back in those woods, then walked a long way and crossed a river before catching up to Tabby’s pack. It was a bit challenging to find the same path in return, since many of the black-wheeled little homes were overturned and flung off the roadways, and most of the buildings were damaged, like they’d been swatted repeatedly with a rolled-up newspaper.
The sun was well across the odd-colored sky by the time they found Rose’s big home. Her feet were sore from being on the hard ground the humans called roads, but as she trotted toward the bushes where she expected to find Melissa’s yellow shoes, she became agitated the instant she didn’t see them.
She whined.
“What did you find?” Biscuit said, fear in her voice.
Deogee ran over, sure it was the bush where they should be. “Melissa! Her skin coverings were here yesterday, but now they aren’t.” She idly thought it might be
