“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

  Reno looked up. “After what just happened?”

  “That’s exactly why we need to leave.” Maya pointed to the area where she and Reno had met with Nick. “Did you hear how he reacted to all this? He panicked. I was trying to explain to him that I might be able to get the generators going, and he was too disoriented to take me to them. This place isn’t safe, not with him in charge. I’m really beginning to think we’d be much better off on our own.”

  With his hands on his hips, Reno shook his head. “This is crazy. It might be one of the only places on Earth where the aliens can’t get to us.”

  “Maybe not yet.” Maya sighed and softened her voice so that only Reno and the kids could hear her. “I’m not saying we leave tonight, but we need a plan to leave.”

  “Where?” Laura asked.

  Maya sighed. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out.”

  “I don’t want to go outside,” Aiden said.

  “Neither do I. But we don’t have much of a choice.”

  Reno walked away, his hands on his hips and shaking his head again. Maya held up her index finger to her children, and then she followed Reno.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  Reno turned around and narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  Maya sighed. “Let’s talk about this.”

  “Why? You’ve already decided what’s best for us.”

  “I don’t think that this place is safe anymore. We’re nothing but sitting ducks.”

  “And what do you think we’ll be out there?”

  Maya wasn’t sure. But she didn’t have faith in Nick or the people in the stadium. Leaving was a risk she was willing to take.

  “Look, I don’t know where we’re going to go. But I do know that the lights here that are keeping those bastards at bay aren’t going to be working much longer. And when that happens, we’re screwed. I don’t want to be here when that happens.”

  “Maybe we should talk to Nick and see if we can come up with a game plan.”

  “The only thing for us to do is plan an evacuation. But we talked about that before, too. What is that gonna be like, traveling with dozens of people?” Maya shook her head. “I refuse to put my family at risk.”

  Reno sighed. Then he raised his arms to his side, letting them fall and his palms slap his thighs. Finally, he nodded.

  “Alright. We should find Nick soon and let him know what we’re doing.”

  Before Maya could respond, Dave walked across the room, heading toward them. He wiped his forehead with his hand and exhaled a deep breath as he approached.

  “Look, I’m sorry about what happened earlier. With Nick and all. That whole scene was chaotic, and it was something we weren’t ready for.”

  Maya glared at Reno, tilting her head enough for him to understand that this was exactly what she was talking about.

  “It’s alright,” Reno said.

  “I’m really sorry. That was the first time I’ve seen him get that frazzled. But in saying that, I’m hoping that when things calm down a bit, the two of you can meet with me and Nick and we can talk about what we need to do next. Maybe we can get a plan together… you know, how to defend this place if we can’t run the lights any longer.”

  “Well, we wanted to talk to you guys, too,” Maya said. “I think we’re going to leave once the sun comes up.”

  “Oh.” Dave rocked back on to his heels and bit his bottom lip.

  “We’re really sorry,” Reno said. “We need to keep moving. It’s how we’ve survived this long.”

  “No. Yeah. I mean, I get it.” But Dave clearly didn’t.

  “But we can’t thank you enough for all of the help you’ve given us. We wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t taken us in.”

  “Of course,” Dave said. “But do you mind if I ask specifically why you’re leaving? Seems like the odds are better inside the stadium than out there.”

  Please, don’t make this any harder and more awkward than it needs to be.

  “We haven’t told you guys everything,” Reno said.

  Maya looked at Reno, her bottom lip trembling.

  “What do you mean?” Dave asked.

  Reno looked at Maya, then back at Dave. “We’ve got some important information about the aliens. We have to get it to the right people, the government, the military—whoever’s left.”

  Dave raised an eyebrow. “What kind of information?”

  Maya shook her head. “It has to do with defeating them.”

  “Look, before you guys decide to leave, will you meet with Nick and I?”

  Maya shrugged. “We’re leaving, so it won’t change our—”

  “No, it’s not about that,” Dave said, cutting Maya off. “Just trust me. If I get Nick now, can we talk?”

  “Of course,” Reno said.

  “Great.” Dave clapped his hands together. “I’ll go find him; then we can all talk.”

  As he walked away, Maya looked at Reno with narrowed eyes. She punched him on the arm.

  “What?”

  “I thought we weren’t going to mention any of that.”

  “We agreed on that when we weren’t sure they could be trusted. I think it’s safe to say at this point that they’re trustworthy. Besides, it’s a good reason for us to leave, and it’s the truth.”

  Maya shook her head, still frames of the nightmare floating through her head.

  13

  Laura and Aiden hung out with a few other kids while Maya and Reno went to talk to Dave and Nick in Nick’s office.

  This time, when Dave opened the office door, he went inside the office with them instead of leaving.

  Nick was already sitting behind his desk, picking at his fingernails, circles of sweat beneath his arms.

  Maya and Reno sat in the same seats they’d taken the last time they’d visited Nick’s office. Dave walked to the wall to their left and leaned against it.

  “I wanted to apologize about earlier,” Nick said. “I shouldn’t have freaked out the way I did. I was rattled.”

  “It’s fine,” Maya said. “What we’re living through isn’t exactly normal.”

  Nick scoffed. “That might be the understatement of the century.”

  “Did Dave tell you that we’re leaving?” Reno asked.

  Nick nodded. “But he also told me that you have some information about the aliens.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why didn’t you tell us before?”

  “It didn’t seem relevant,” Maya said.

  “Not relevant? We’re fighting those things, too.”

  Maya and Reno shared a look. Then Nick waved his hand.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter. The truth is that we haven’t exactly told the two of you everything, either.”

  Maya raised her eyebrow.

  “But you need to come clean with us first. What do you know and how do you know it?” Dave asked.

  Maya nodded at Reno. He sat up and then leaned forward in his chair.

  “When the dome appeared in Nashville, I was there with the team that brought it down. There was this guy, Jack, and he knew how to destroy it. He tried taking it down—and he weakened it, but he was injured in the process. He shared the information with me moments before he died. And then I was able to drop it completely.”

  Nick looked at Dave and then turned back to Reno.

  “Does anyone else know about this?” Nick asked.

  “We shared it with the soldiers at Fort Campbell, but that was useless,” Maya said. “They were too caught up in trying to protect the base and had no communication with the government to get it in the right hands anyway.”

  “Do you two realize how valuable that information is?” Nick asked. “You took down one of the domes! In the right hands, that information could save the world.”

  Maya felt a pang of guilt, realizing that she did have a greater responsibility to fulfill. That she couldn’t only think about her own kids.

  “Yeah, well, we don’t even know if a government still exists,” Reno said. “And if it does, how the hell do we get to officials to set up a meeting? I don’t think we can walk up to the White House and knock, even if we could get there.”

  “And what if we told you that you were looking in the wrong place?” Dave asked.

  Maya sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

  “I need you to stay with us a little bit longer,” Nick said. “There’s something important you need to see.”

  More games. Maya wasn’t sure if this guy was incompetent, deluded, or both.

  “What?” Reno asked.

  “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” Nick said.

  Maya rolled her eyes. “You’re going to have to offer more than that to convince us to stay.”

  Nick smiled. “Come on a short expedition with me. We can leave in the morning and we’ll be back by early afternoon. Then, if you aren’t convinced that we can all help each other, you can pack up your stuff and leave.”

  “We could do that now,” Maya said, making sure the man understood the dynamics of the situation.

  “Of course, you could,” Nick said with a smile. “But you’d be making a big mistake.”

  Maya looked at Reno. He shrugged.

  “This is your call. I’m with you no matter what you decide.”

  Maya thought for a minute, considering her options. What if they stayed and the aliens attacked again, and the lights failed permanently? Would she spend her last moments regretting that she hadn’t followed her instincts and left? On the other hand, everything Nick and Dave had said seemed sincere. Why would these men want to keep Maya and Reno around a little longer, only to deceive them?

  She nodded. “You get the morning to convince us. If you can’t, then we’re gone.”

  Nick grinned. “Fair enough. I suggest you get a few more hours of sleep if you can, because I’m going to blow your mind tomorrow.”

  14

  The door to Nick’s office closed behind them and Maya and Reno found themselves alone. Maya walked away, but halfway to the door leading out into the common area of the locker room, Reno grabbed her shoulder.

  “What the hell do you think he was talking about in there?”

  Maya shook her head. “I haven’t the slightest idea. But if it only takes the morning to find out, it’s not that big of a deal to hang around one more day. We’ll still have time to find some shelter before nightfall.”

  Reno glanced at the door to Nick’s office, then looked back at Maya. “You don’t think he’s messing with us, do you? Like, distracting us so that they can keep us around longer?”

  “I don’t think so. They could find another way to do that without us having to leave the stadium. And the way their eyes lit up when you told them you blew up the obelisk and took down the dome in Nashville…” Maya put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I think there’s something legit they want to show us. The question is how valuable it’s going to be.”

  “Based on what we’ve seen around here, I don’t know what they could show us that could be so important.”

  Maya didn’t either. But she felt like they knew something, something that with their knowledge might be able to turn this thing around and drive the alien bastards off.

  “We need to try and get some more rest,” Reno said.

  “Ha! I don’t think that’ll be happening.”

  Reno shrugged. “Well, maybe the kids were able to at least fall back asleep for a little bit.”

  The kids.

  Maya sighed. She hadn’t considered whether Laura and Aiden should come along. They were old enough to handle themselves while she was away, but she wasn’t sure they were old enough to mentally process Nick’s secret, whatever that happened to be.

  When she followed Reno back into the locker room, no one was sleeping. Apparently, Maya wasn’t the only one jolted by the alien ship above the stadium. People sat on the floor or on the wooden bench surrounding the perimeter of the locker room, talking as if things were normal.

  Laura and Aiden sat on the floor near their belongings. Aiden sat on his own reading a comic book he must have read at least two dozen times. Laura had her knees up, using them as a place to put the spiral notebook she was writing in. She had only started journaling within the last few days, and Maya wondered if it was Laura’s way of coping with everything that had happened.

  “I’ll let you talk to them,” Reno said.

  Maya thought that was probably best. Even though she and Reno were nothing more than friends, at least as far as she was concerned, the kids had acted strangely around Reno ever since they’d left Gerald behind. Maya took a deep breath as she approached them.

  “How are you guys doing?”

  Aiden looked up over his comic book and Laura stopped writing for a few seconds before beginning to scribble again.

  “I’m good,” Aiden said.

  “Can’t you see that we’re trying to keep our minds off all that shit?” Laura asked.

  Maya took another deep breath. She didn’t want to ignore Laura’s increasing use of profanity, but she also wasn’t going to bring up something so petty at a time like this.

  “That’s fine,” Maya said. “But I need to talk to you guys about something important.”

  Laura finally looked up from her journal. “We’re leaving. We know. We get it.”

  “It’s not that simple, Laura. I’m not sure if we’re leaving or not. Things have changed.”

  “What do you mean?” Laura asked.

  Maya sighed. “The people here want us to stay until tomorrow morning. They have something they want to show us.”

  “What is it?” Aiden asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s not here in the stadium.”

  “We’re coming with you,” Laura said, her words like machine gun fire.

  “You’re not. It’s for the morning. Wherever they’re taking us isn’t too far away.”

  “Then why can’t we come? Stop treating us like little kids.”

  “You might not be little kids, but you’re not adults, either.”

  Laura huffed. “Whatever.”

  Maya understood. She’d been a teenager once, and had been nearly as snarky as Laura was being now. Her mother had always teased Maya, saying she’d have her own daughter one day.

  “We can handle ourselves,” Aiden said. “You should trust us more.”

  “I do. But I don’t trust anyone else but you two and Reno—including Nick. I want you both here in case something goes wrong on our expedition.”

  “Okay.” Aiden stuck his nose back into his comic book.

  Tears welled in Laura’s eyes, but she wiped them away with the back of her hand and stuck her head back into her notebook.

  “Laura?”

  “Okay, Mom. We’ll stay here because we’re babies.”

  Maya then leveled the same curse on Laura that her mom had put on her. But Maya only hoped the world would still be around when her children grew up and were able to have kids of their own.

  15

  Maya and Reno stood by the door, looking across the room at Nick. He was talking to Dave and a couple of other people in their group, using a lot of hand gestures. When he was done, he made his way to Maya and Reno with a smile on his face.

  “All ready to go?”

  Maya nodded, then gestured toward Dave. “He not coming with us?”

  “I’m leaving him in charge. No reason for him to go with us.”

  “Let’s get going then,” Reno said, pulling on the door to open it.

  Maya looked at Laura and Aiden, and mouthed, “I love you.” Aiden mouthed it back while Laura gave her mother a forced half-smile. She knew that her daughter loved her, but she was a teenager. Maya nodded as she smiled at her kids, and then she turned to follow Nick and Reno.

  They went up the stairs and through the winding hallways for the first time since they had arrived at the stadium. At the last door, a man who’d been sitting a stool stood as they approached. He unlocked the chain keeping the door secure.

  “Thanks, Ryan,” Nick said.

  “No problem. We’ll see you when you get back.”

  Ryan opened the door, allowing some natural light inside. They were back on the main concourse beneath the bleachers, which left it mostly in shade.

  They followed Nick, who led them into the sun. Maya shielded her eyes briefly while they adjusted. It hadn’t been that long since they’d seen the sunlight, but it still stung her eyes after spending so much time inside the stadium.

  Nick pulled out a set of keys as he approached a blue metal door. He stuck a key in the padlock and removed it, sliding the door up. A black diesel pickup truck sat inside the space, and Nick walked to the driver’s side.

  Maya ran her hand across the hood. “Good choice, keeping ahold of this baby.”

  “It serves a lot of purposes having a truck like this around, so it’s a no-brainer.”

  Reno opened the passenger side door and hopped into the back seat while Maya took shotgun. She adjusted her bag of supplies to leave some room for her legs, and as she was buckling her seat belt, she looked over at Nick.

  “Ready to give us a clue about where you’re taking us?”

  Nick grinned as his seat belt clicked. “That’d take all the fun out of it, wouldn’t it?”

  “Maybe for you,” Reno said.

  “Patience, brother. You’ll know where we’re heading soon enough.”

  The engine came to life with a powerful roar, making Maya shake in her seat. Then Nick threw the column shift into drive and eased out of the garage. He drove up to a chained fence, different from the one they’d first entered. This one sat at the back of the stadium, with a person manning the gate who had already unlocked it for them.

  Nick lowered his window and said, “Thanks, Will,” as they rode by, then raised the window back up.

  Once they got into the open parking lot, Nick hit the gas. The sudden acceleration pushed Maya back into her chair and Nick reached the end of the parking lot quickly, turning sharp out onto the road. When they got onto the main street, he turned on the stereo.