Luke grabbed his shotgun and a flashlight, and headed for the other side of the roof. Coming up behind him, Maya looked over the edge and saw the fire escape ladder, the last rung of it about fifteen feet up in the air; it would leaving them dangling ten feet from the pavement.

  Cameron stood next to Maya and leaned over. “That’s a long drop.”

  “Would you rather walk downstairs through the building? Maybe we can ask those guys if they wanna have a picnic.”

  “He’s right,” Maya said. “This is the only way for us to get out of here.” She looked at Luke. “Do you have a car?”

  “It’s out of gas.”

  “Then we’ll have to get to ours.”

  Luke held up a hand to stop them. “If they have six people in their group, they probably left at least one person keeping watch outside.”

  “Well, then, we’ll have to hope your gun is bigger than his.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Cameron said, lowering her head.

  Luke tossed the strap of his shotgun over a shoulder and his leg over the roof’s edge, his right foot landing on the top rung of the ladder. He climbed down first so that he could make a stand in case someone heard them. He reached the bottom of the ladder and looked up at Maya and Cameron. Then he let go, dropping to the ground and landing in a squat. The soles of his Chuck Taylor’s had smacked off the asphalt loudly and Maya hoped the sound hadn’t been enough to draw attention.

  Maya descended next. She reached the bottom of the escape, took one look down, drew a deep breath, and let go. She had a split second of panic in freefall, kicking one leg out too far. When she hit the ground, her momentum pulled her to one side and she rolled over, feeling the asphalt scraping away skin from her elbow.

  “You okay?” Luke offered a hand to help her up.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Maya took Luke’s hand and brushed at the front of her clothes before wiping the blood from her elbow. She then looked up at Cameron, waving her down.

  Cameron hesitated, and Maya saw her disappear as Cameron took a step back from the edge. But, a moment later, the young woman swung one leg onto the ladder and then the other, climbing down while keeping her chin up. Maya understood why Cameron wasn’t looking down, but she held her breath hoping she wouldn’t miss a rung. When she made it to the bottom of the ladder, Maya walked beneath it.

  Come on, Cameron.

  Cameron looked down several times, refusing to let go.

  “Don’t look down,” Maya said. “Just let go.”

  “I can’t.”

  “It’ll be okay.”

  “We don’t have a lot of time.” Luke looked around, the shotgun now back in his hands.

  “It’ll be fine. Just give her a minute.”

  Luke sighed.

  “Come on, girl. You’ve got it.”

  Cameron nodded at Maya before finally letting go. She hit the ground harder than Maya and Luke, but unlike Maya, Cameron stuck the landing. She grinned and pushed her shoulders back, looking at the blood dripping down Maya’s arm.

  “I did it.”

  Luke interrupted the minor celebration. “We have to move.”

  They shuffled along the pavement and over to the corner of the building. Luke stopped there and held up his hand. He was about to peer around the corner when a man stepped out. He had a pistol and a greasy smile on his face, his glassy eyes looking in the other direction. The guy wore black leather and jeans, and had a shaved head and tattoos on his face. Maya could have smelled weed from ten feet away. She thought he was probably one of the gang members who had orchestrated the assassination back on the highway. The man’s eyes went wide when he turned his head and saw them. Luke raised his shotgun and cracked the man’s nose with the butt of it. Blood spewed from the man’s face as he hit the ground with a thud.

  “Everything all right out there, Leon?” came a voice from a walkie-talkie clipped to the man’s belt.

  “Shit,” Luke said.

  Maya grabbed the pistol from the unconscious man on the ground and then the three of them hurried along the side of the building toward the front. Maya leading the group now, she stopped when they reached the corner. She held her hand up to the others, looking around the corner and seeing no other people outside.

  “He must have been the only one guarding the front door. It’s clear.”

  They ran across the parking lot. The Civic sat in the same spot where Maya and Cameron had left it the previous night. The passenger side door was open, the gang likely having searched it before entering the building. Maya and Cameron hadn’t left the key inside. Maya reached into her pocket and pulled it out.

  “Hop in and buckle up. We’ve got to run for it before the others come outside to see why Leon isn’t answering his radio.”

  Maya jumped into the driver’s seat, placing the gun on top of the dashboard while she turned the key. The engine started up as Cameron and Luke shut their doors, and Maya looked up.

  On the roof, a man looked over the side of the building. He then turned and waved. A moment later, four more men were looking down.

  “Get us out of here now!” Luke said.

  Maya threw the car into reverse, the tires skidding. She glanced up at the roof again to see two of the men raising rifles.

  “Get down!” Maya said.

  She put the car into drive and slammed on the gas as she ducked down. The men fired, punching holes in the trunk of the Honda as she pulled away. Maya lifted her head just above the steering wheel, pulling the car onto the road.

  The rear window shattered and Cameron screamed, brushing away the safety glass like they were angry hornets.

  Maya sat all the way up in the seat, looking in the side mirror to see that the men had lowered their guns, their car too far away now for them to get a clean shot and already moving at a high rate of speed.

  With the wind howling through the rear of the car, Maya pounded the steering wheel and hollered. She hit the highway at full speed and then looked over at Luke, whose face had gone white with his hands clutching the dashboard.

  “I told you to buckle up, kid.”

  26

  Maya couldn’t help but look in the rearview mirror every few seconds. She assumed those men would stay for at least a few nights, using Luke’s set-up and eating the beer and food he’d stashed in the cooler. But then again, they’d left one of the men unconscious and on the ground. Once the beer ran out, the gang might come for revenge.

  Cameron sobbed in the backseat, her hands over her face and her hair sparkling like diamonds from all the glass she’d yet to shake out. Luke looked from her to Maya.

  “We could all use a few minutes to get out, walk around.”

  “I’ll stop when I can, but for now we’ve gotta keep moving.”

  “There’s no way they’ll follow us. Not with everything I left behind.”

  “Not at first,” Maya said. “But you might have killed that guy.”

  Luke hesitated, and Maya saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

  “You think he’s dead?”

  “I don’t know. My ex-husband was in the military, and he talked about blows to the head that can kill a person. If you hit someone hard enough...”

  “Holy shit. I’m not a killer.”

  Maya glanced at him once more, deciding to drop it. Luke was just a kid and she had the feeling that he hadn’t been in many fights, if any at all. But he’d have to get used to it. Violent death was becoming the norm in this new life.

  The sun broke the horizon and Maya sighed, happy to have evaded the aliens again. She’d take armed stoners on motorcycles over practically indestructible aliens any day of the week.

  A bell chimed, forcing Maya to look down at the dashboard and notice they were almost on Empty. They’d driven for at least half an hour and had seen no sign of the gang members following them, and now the car’s lack of gas was forcing their hand. Maya pulled into the parking lot of a gas station, realizing that, without power, they’d have to come up with a clever way of getting fuel into the Civic.

  “Shouldn’t we keep going?” Cameron asked.

  “We need gas, and I think all of us could use a stretch.” Maya unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the vehicle as Luke headed into the open door of the mechanics garage next to the station’s office. Papers fluttered across the asphalt, showing the office had been ransacked. The kid disappeared into the garage and beneath the lift.

  Maya popped the gas tank door and removed the cap. She grabbed the nozzle from the pump and squeezed the handle, but nothing came out.

  “Shit.”

  Luke came running out of the shop, holding a big red gas can in one hand with a grin splitting his face.

  “Five-gallon jug, and this is pretty full. Found it in the back by the used oil drum. I hope it’s still good.”

  “Probably.” Maya winked at Luke. “Tow truck drivers keep ’em in the garage in case they answer a call from someone who ran out of gas.”

  “Sounds like you know a thing or two about garages.”

  Maya took the can from Luke and shoved the nozzle into the tank. “They got a 65 Mustang in there by any chance?”

  Luke shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed.

  “Never mind..” Maya used her head to point at Cameron. “I should check on her.”

  She had climbed out of the backseat and sat on the curb, her back to Luke and Maya.

  “Is she all right?” Luke asked.

  Maya nodded. “You mind finishing up here?”

  “Not a problem.”

  Luke took hold of the can from Maya. She walked toward Cameron, putting her hair into a ponytail on the way. She sat down next to the woman.

  “How are you feeling?” Maya finally asked.

  “Fine.”

  After several moments of silence, Maya wasn’t sure what to say. She sighed and stood up, deciding that maybe Cameron did just need some time alone. As she started to move over to check on the car and Luke, Cameron spoke.

  “I don’t know how he could do it.”

  Maya eyed the other woman, looking for a clue as to what she was talking about. “How who could do what?”

  “Gerald left me there, all alone. It’s like he didn’t care about me. He could’ve gotten me to safety with the kids. But instead, he just abandoned me.”

  Maya put her hand on Cameron’s shoulder. “You’re going to get to ask him why. I promise.”

  Cameron looked up at Maya, smiling. Then she scoffed and shook her head. “You know, the dumbest shit of all is that I still love that bastard, and I don’t know why.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ll get over that eventually. You’re a pretty girl, and you can do better than him. You’ll be fine.”

  Cameron nodded before asking another question. “Do you still love him?”

  Maya only glanced at Cameron before looking out at the highway.

  “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business.”

  “No, it’s fine. For a long time, I did. You have to understand that he is the father of my children, and he was the first man I ever loved. It took me a long time to get over him.”

  “So, you don’t love him then?”

  Maya looked back at Cameron and shook her head. “No, I don’t. But I can see in your eyes that you do. You should think long and hard about what you’re going to say to him when you see him again, and try to put yourself in his shoes.”

  “Well, he went to your mom’s house and took your children. How much mercy are you going to show him?”

  She turned from the highway and looked down into Cameron’s eyes, searching her brain for the right words to say, but nothing seemed to fit.

  “I guess I have some thinking to do. Like you.”

  Cameron smiled again, standing up next to Maya.

  Maya noticed Luke pointing at the highway in the direction from where they had come.

  About a half-mile down the highway, a van had appeared—the same white panel van they’d seen outside of the office building.

  Luke waved at both women to hurry, shaking the red gas can to get as much into the tank as he could in the next several seconds.

  “We’ve got to go,” Maya said.

  “What’s the matter?” Cameron asked. She followed Maya’s gaze. “Is that…”

  “The gang from the office.”

  The women hurried to the car. As Maya ran, she watched the van approach, hearing the engine running fast and hot. One of the men lowered the passenger side window and aimed a rifle out of it.

  “Get down!” Maya said, diving behind the Civic.

  She hit the dirt first, and then Cameron landed beside her. When the blast came, though, it wasn’t from a rifle. It was an explosion, shaking the ground.

  “What the hell was that?” Cameron asked.

  Maya raised her head and got to her knees, looking over the back of the vehicle. The van had disappeared, replaced by a rising flame in the middle of the highway. Maya felt her stomach drop and a cold chill run up her spine. Then she saw the ship emerge from the clouds.

  She opened the car’s door and grabbed Cameron by the hand. “Come on.”

  The two women climbed into the backseat. Luke was already in the front and had apparently seen the ship, as well. He was lying across the two front seats.

  “Lay across the floor,” Maya said to Cameron.

  Without asking any questions, the woman did as she was told.

  Maya bit her lip as she sprawled across the backseat that was still covered in glass, keeping low and trying not to move. “Everyone be still.”

  Were the alien ships tracking people or simply making visual identifications? Clearly, they’d seen the van on the highway—not something difficult to notice. Maya thought about the hours they’d spent on the road. They could have been vaporized by the alien lasers at any moment. And once they got back into the car, they could still be vaporized at any moment. But what choice did they have?

  The ship roared overhead, and the little Honda shimmied as if caught in the gales of a hurricane. But after a few moments, the motion subsided, and the ship disappeared.

  Luke sat up first, his face red and sweat plastering his greasy hair to his forehead. “That was a close call.”

  No shit. We need to get to Fort Campbell. Now.

  27

  Maya continued to glance at the sky as she sped down the highway. Although the alien ships hid in the upper atmosphere during the day, she didn’t want to risk everything on that observation after two close calls.

  The day had begun like any other, but without jets flying overhead, truckers using their loud air brakes, or the sound of other cars on the highway. In a way, Maya was getting used to it. Despite the situation, the sound of the rattling engine felt comforting.

  The kid had climbed into the backseat, where he shared a can of mixed nuts with Cameron for breakfast. They’d offered some to Maya, who had declined. She knew she needed to eat, but she wasn’t feeling up to it. She was so close to reuniting with her kids, and it was all she could think about. Hunger was the last thing on her mind.

  She glanced into the rearview mirror and saw Cameron laughing and flirting with the teenager in an innocent way. She had her arm around him, and they’d been trying to sing some country song which was as foreign to Maya as contemporary jazz. She preferred to rock.

  She’s empathic. Kind. Once you get past the stripper attitude.

  Thoughts about Cameron inevitably led to Gerald. Maya couldn’t understand who he was now or what was motivating him. He’d taken the children and abandoned his woman. Why? It didn’t make sense, but she hoped to be able to hear his explanation to Cameron in person, and soon.

  “Up there.”

  In the mirror, Maya saw Cameron pointing straight ahead. She hadn’t noticed what was approaching herself, being so lost in thought.

  We made it.

  The American flag flew high above the main entrance, its gate topped with barbed wire, closed and secured. Maya didn’t see any soldiers out front, but the fact that the gate was closed had to be a good sign that it was protecting whatever lay inside. She hoped that would turn out to include her children.

  Cameron unbuckled her seatbelt and squeezed forward through the space between seats to sit in the passenger seat. She let out an excited laugh and slapped Maya on the shoulder.

  “Does it look like anyone is there?” Luke asked, finishing off the nuts while sliding into the middle of the backseat, pushing his head into the space between the front seats.

  “I don’t know yet,” Maya said.

  She hit the gas, speeding faster toward the base. Gripping the steering wheel, she felt sweat on her palms. Her stomach fluttered and, for a moment, she thought she might pee herself.

  The front gates slid apart. A smile stretched across Maya’s face until three JLTVs came speeding out onto the road. The two in front stopped side by side, blocking the entire width of the road. The vehicles came to a sudden stop fifty yards from the front gates. Maya slowed down, stopping the Civic ten yards from the JLTVs.

  “Something feels off.”

  “Maybe they’re just coming out to greet us,” Luke said.

  Three armed soldiers jumped out of the vehicles, aiming their rifles at Maya’s car.

  “Don’t move!” one of the soldiers shouted. “Remain in your vehicle!”

  Cameron checked her eyes in the mirror with a scoff. “I’m not sure that’s a greeting committee.”

  “Everyone, just stay cool and do what they ask,” Maya said.

  One of the soldiers remained in front of the car while the other two appeared on each side of it. The windows were already down, as they’d been riding with the A/C off to conserve fuel. A female soldier pointed the barrel of her rifle into Maya’s window.

  Maya said, “Hi, I’m here to—”

  “Quiet.”

  Maya raised her hands and sat back in the seat. Did they look like aliens?

  “Have you had any direct contact with them?” the male soldier on the passenger side of the car asked.

  “With who?” Luke asked.

  “Don’t fucking play smart with us, kid,” the female soldier said.