Eyes Ever to the Sky (A Sci Fi Romance) (The Sky Trilogy) (31 page)

Cece sighed. She and Michelle would never be friends, but they could tolerate each other. That was fine with her.

The screen door screeched open and Abuelo stepped out onto the porch steps. Cece turned and waved. “Abuelo, this if Fer and Travis, the friends I was talking about.”

Fer gave a shy smile and a nod. Travis shook Abuelo's hand. Abuelo turned to Cece. “Not too late,
mi amor
. Moving trucks, they come
mañana
.” 

Cece nodded. “Not too late.”

Abuelo retreated back into the trailer. Cece could see the stacks of packed boxes from here.

Fer stood, shaking her head. “I don't like it. We've been neighbors for seven years.”

Cece threw her arm around Fer, her cast banging on Fer's back. “The house he bought us is, like, three miles away. We've biked farther than that in our sleep. Plus, Abuelo says I can start driver's training this year.”

Travis leaned in. “It'll be sweet having your own room and a backyard. No more trailer trash.”

Cece released Fer and smiled. “I'll always be trailer trash.”

As they walked down the street to meet Shaun, Cece lifted her eyes to the tops of the trailers, then to the treeline beyond, then upward. The puffy white clouds floated delicately across the canvas of blue. Nothing stirred. Nothing darted out towards her, arms stretched wide in invitation.

A shove in her ribs drew her attention back to earth.

“You gotta quit that,” Fer said, taking a drag on a cigarette she'd just lighted. “You can't live your life in the clouds. He might never come back.”

Cece shrugged. “He sent my grandfather back. That's something.”

“Yeah, something to indicate that you need back-up cause his ass ain't coming back.” Fer grabbed Cece's arm and they both stopped, Travis shuffling up behind them. “Whatever those things were, we don't want them back. A dozen craters means a dozen monsters. What if they come here? We'd be the daily special in a monster buffet.”

“
I don't even want to think about it,” Travis said, shivering. “Beasts. Jesus.”

“
There's been no sign of any monsters since. It might've just been a 'geological event,'” Cece said, using air quotes, “like the news said.”

“
We all know it wasn't a frickin 'geological event'. We saw what that thing was.” Fer said.

Travis nodded warily. “It almost killed you.”

“Hugh saved me.”

Fer kicked at a loose piece of sidewalk. It skidded into the weeds that decorated the skirting Garza trailer. Inside, a dog started yapping. “Cece, he saved you by
leaving
. He's not coming back.”

Cece dropped her chin and stared at the tangle of weeds sprouting through the cracks at her feet.

The three friends moved on in silence. Down the street another dog howled. A car with too-loud bass bummed by. Another normal evening in the park. One of Cece's last. Her heart hung heavy.

As they approached Shaun's car, she fought the urge to look up again. She knew what Fer said was true. She'd be better off if she could set her heart aside, broken dejected thing it was, and move forward. Yet, deep down she knew she’d spend many moments like this one: hollow, heart-broken, and with her eyes ever to the sky.

THE END

EPILOG
UE — HUGH

Date and Time Unknown

Hugh lifted his head as a scaly paw slid the food tray through the door slot. The tray scraped across the concrete and the slot closed with a snap. In the gray light of his cell, he could see they'd given him another chunk of raw meat, a t-bone cold and bleeding on the tray. At the sight of it, his stomach roiled. They were trying to break him, trying to force him to
turn
. When they'd shuffled him onto the mothership, away from the girl he loved, he'd seen them, legions of them with their red reptilian eyes and scaly skin. His people. He shuddered at the thought.

They wanted him to
turn
, but he fought it with every ounce of his being. Only yesterday they'd brought in a live goat and left it in the cell with him. He was starving, his stomach convulsing, but there was no way he'd tear into the bleating animal with those large, wet eyes. He wasn't a monster.

In his head he repeated it over and over.
I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster.

The door slid open with a pneumatic hiss and Nomad strode in. In his human form, his sarcastic smile was back, but his eyes looked tired. Whoever was in charge of this place seemed unhappy with Nomad's performance in town. This pleased Hugh to no end.

“Get up,” Nomad commanded.

Hugh stared up at him from his place crumpled on the floor. “Why?” he croaked. “What's the point?”

“The point,” Nomad said, squatting down to look into Hugh's face, “is that if you don't start cooperating, they're going to try some,” Nomad swallowed hard, “drastic measures.”

“
More than starving me? Beating me? Electrocuting me?”

“
Yes,” Nomad said, little expression on his face.

Hugh laughed hollowly. “Why not kill me?” He spread his arms wide. “What's the point of all this? I'm not going to turn. Just put me out of my misery.”

“Can't,” Nomad said, standing. “Unfortunately, you are important to the plan. You'd remember why if you'd cooperate with the transformation.” Nomad leaned against the cell wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Come on, Hugh. This is all so,” he waved his hand in the air, “time consuming.”

Hugh rolled on his back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Tell your bosses I won't cooperate until I'm free. If they want my help with their invasion, or whatever it is they're planning, they'll have to let me out of here first.”

Nomad shook his head. “Not gonna happen. You'll just fly right back to your little sassy love pie.”

Hugh swallowed hard, dropping the smile from his face. “No.” He shook his head. “That's done.”

“Maybe not.” Nomad turned to go. “They'll find a way to make you cooperate and I have a feeling it has to do with that chica you left behind.”

Hugh lifted his head, his fists clenched. “Tell them to stay away from her.” He couldn't keep the fear out of his voice.

“See, that's what I thought. She's really your only motivation. The General will be happy to know I've found a way to,” he lifted his eyebrows, “persuade you.”

Hugh pushed to his feet and ran across the cell. He gripped Nomad's t-shirt in his hands and yanked him forward until they were face to face, inches apart. “I swear to God if you touch her I'll never stop until every single one of you are dead!”

Nomad smiled and pulled out of Hugh's grip. “That's the kind of spunk we need. Okay, I'll see you later.”

Nomad slid out of the cell, the pneumatic door shutting with a decisive click. Hugh tugged at his hair. The cell was impenetrable. He'd tried prying at the door, digging at the cracks in the walls until his fingernails were bloody. Nothing worked. It was empty but for a bathroom pot and the tray of food. He looked down at the tray, the bloody t-bone staring back at him. The bone. He dug the slick white bone out of the meat and stared at it. If he worked at it long enough, it would whittle down into a weapon.

Cece, he thought, as he began to scrape the bone back and forth on the concrete floor. I'm coming back for you.

If you enjoyed this story, please pick up a copy of my other novel,
THE BREEDERS.

Sixteen-year-old Riley Meemick is one of the world's last free girls. When Riley was born, her mother escaped the Breeders, the group of doctors using cruel experiments to bolster the dwindling human race. Her parents do everything possible to keep her from their clutches-- moving from one desolate farm after another to escape the Breeders' long reach. The Breeders control everything- the local war lords, the remaining factories, the fuel. They have unchecked power in this lawless society. And they're hunting Riley.

When the local Sheriff abducts the adult members of her family and hands her mother over to the Breeders, Riley and her eight-year-old brother, Ethan, hiding in a shelter, are left to starve. Then Clay arrives, the handsome gunslinger who seems determined to help to make up for past sins. The problem is Clay thinks Riley is a bender—a genderless mutation, neither male nor female. As Riley's affection for Clay grows she wonders can she trust Clay with her secret and risk her freedom?

The three embark on a journey across the scarred remains of New Mexico— escaping the Riders who use human sacrifice to appease their Good Mother, various men scrambling for luck, and a deranged lone survivor of a plague. When Riley is forced into the Breeder's hospital, she learns the horrible fate of her mother—a fate she'll share unless she can find a way out.

ABOUT TH
E AUTHOR

Katie French imagined herself an author when her poem caught the eye of her second grade teacher. In middle school she spent her free time locked in her room, writing her first young adult novel. Though her social life suffered, her love for literature thrived. She studied English at Eastern Michigan University, where she veered from writing and earned an education degree. She spent nine years teaching high school English. Currently she is a school counselor, doing a job that is both one of the hardest things she's ever done and the most rewarding. In her free time she writes, reads great books and takes care of her two beautiful and crazy children. She is a contributor and co-creator of Underground Book Reviews, a website dedicated to erasing the boundaries between traditional and non-traditional publishing. She lives in Michigan with her husband and two children. You can find her at
www.katiefrenchbooks.com
, at
www.undergroundbookreviews.com
or on
Facebook
.

ACKNOWL
EDGMENTS

When I first decided to publish the summer of 2012, I was terrified. Who would read a self-published book from an unknown author? I fretted late into the night about bad reviews, friends who would lie to me and say they liked it and the shame of selling little. But, I'm not one to let a dose of fear stand in the way of something I want. I held my breath and hit publish. Since that time I've been amazed. To everyone who has supported me on this amazing and strange adventure, thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The out-pouring of love and encouragement has been more than I could have ever dreamed. Friends, family, co-workers, students and strangers, all have patted me on the back and gave me the push forward I needed to keep this crazy publishing dream alive. Words fail when I think of your love and generosity.

Love and respect go out to my first readers, Kimberly Shursen, Amy Trueblood and Ingrid Seymour. A better set of writers and friends does not exist. Thank you for helping shape Cece and Hugh into the characters they are today. Thank you for reading the draft chapters, half formed and lumpy, so that everyone else could enjoy a finished product.