Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (4 page)

“The military must have arrived,” Kenneth stated.

Logan
shook his head. “I don’t think so. As tough as the military is, I don’t think it would scare away these creatures, whoever they are.”

“Well, there must be a reason why …” Kenneth paused as the sky was blotted out as the sleek, black aircraft they had seen earlier flew overhead. The side of the aircraft opened and a smaller one emerged.

Unlike the circular ones that had been firing red bolts, this craft was shaped like a glider. It moved much slower than the others as well, and as it descended toward the burning buildings, a computer-generated voice rang out.

“Welcome humans. We are Seods from the planet
Dratimid
. We came to Earth to get something, and when we do, we will leave. If you decide to fight, we will fight back. If you decide to be peaceful, we will be the same. Your fate is in your hands.”

As the glider flew to another part of the city, Kenneth looked at the others in disbelief. “What was all that about?”

“I’m not sure,”
Logan
admitted. “It sounds as though they don’t want to harm us, but why destroy
San Francisco
if that were the case?”

“Maybe they wanted to prove how strong they are,” the pilot said. He slowly got to his feet. He shook hands with the brothers. “Thanks for pulling me out of the helicopter. I’ll be seeing you.”

As the man hurried down the side of the street,
Logan
looked at Kenneth. “Let’s get going as well. I don’t know whether or not I believe these Seods, but I’ll feel a lot better once we’re out of the city.”

“Where are you thinking of going?” Kenneth asked.

“Somewhere remote,”
Logan
replied.

The snow fell steadily as Logan, who looked as though he had aged five years in three weeks, slowly trudged through the wet undergrowth. He paused and looked through the binoculars.

He gazed down at the highway far below and scanned the road for any vehicles. He didn’t expect to see any, he hadn’t for the past two weeks, but he still kept watch.

The sun stood low in the sky, and with no cloud cover, he knew it would be another freezing cold night. He drew his jacket tighter and rubbed his gloved hands together. His thoughts turned to when his world had been turned upside down. After hearing the message from the Seods, he and his brother had made their way to the penthouse suite to collect their stuff. They had then
hightailed
it out of the city as fast as they could.

However, when the fuel tank on their car bled dry, they had to hitchhike until they came across an abandoned vehicle. After examining it and seeing that it was in drivable condition, they continued driving away from civilization. In years gone by, both he and his brother, along with their father, had hiked in
Stanislaus
National Forest
, and so when they reached a sign that announced the turn off, they took it. And as they hiked up to a nearby cabin, they were confident that they’d be safe in this desolate spot for the near future. That was three weeks ago.

Letting the binoculars hang around his neck, he picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. He turned and trudged uphill through the heavy snow, his boots making little impacts in the fresh snow that had fallen earlier that day. After reaching the top of the incline a few minutes later, he reached for the skis he had hidden underneath a clump of thick bushes.

After putting on his skis, he grabbed the poles and started skiing. It was hard work, as the ground was mostly flat, but there were occasional downhill stretches. After fifteen minutes, he unlatched the skis, slung them over his shoulder, and trudged uphill.

Reaching the halfway point, he paused and sat down for a quick rest. He puffed as he gazed out at the beautiful scenery. With the sun going down, it provided the perfect backdrop for a winter holiday postcard. There was even ice on the lake below.

He was sure that Lucy would have liked it. She’d had a passion for ice skating and had taken lessons during the past year. Tears welled in his eyes. A million emotions went through his head as they did every time he thought of her, but he knew that he would have to move on sooner or later.
But how?
The world that he knew no longer existed.

As a shadow flittered across the ice, he gazed up. His breath caught in his throat as he saw four alien crafts. Grabbing the binoculars, he gazed through them, trying to get a better view.

Ever since the invasion, he had tried to make a note of the different types of aircrafts, and as he saw the four machines fly overhead, he realized three of them, the circular ones, were Strikers.

He and Kenneth had come up with the name Striker to describe the craft that had fired the rocket at Lucy’s helicopter three weeks ago, as it was agile, fast, and very deadly.

As for the other one, it was a Destructor, the same craft that had delivered the computer-sounding message. He had only seen it in operation once, a few days later, and that was when it destroyed a town east of
San Francisco
. The explosion had been so massive and mind-numbing that the name Destructor came immediately to his mind. He stared at the glider-type shape of the aircraft. The wings were not as fragile as a normal glider’s, but the way the aircraft flitted about without making a sound resembled a glider in that respect.

As the aircraft disappeared into a cloud bank,
Logan
stood up and continued the trek up the mountain. They had chosen their residence high up in the mountains of the national forest since it provided a good view of the surrounding area, but it did have its disadvantages, such as trudging forty minutes in the morning and evening to see if there were any other survivors.

At the top, he made his way through the snow-covered pine trees until he came to a log cabin that was hidden from view as much as possible. He and his brother had cut branches from nearby trees and leaned them against the walls to camouflage it.

He made his way to the door of the cabin, and after dusting the snow off his boots, he knocked three times in quick succession.

Kenneth opened the door a few moments later. He looked almost as
disheveled
as
Logan
. “Did you see those Strikers?”

Logan
nodded. “I thought we had seen the last of them, especially after that
rumor
we heard—”

“It was obviously just a
rumor
,” Kenneth interrupted, waiting as
Logan
entered the cabin before he closed the door.

“Maybe.
Let’s just hope we don’t see any more Strikers. Oh, and I saw the tracks of that animal again on my way down the mountain.”

“What do you think it is?
A bear?”
Kenneth asked.

Logan
sat down next to the glowing fireplace, took off his gloves, and warmed his hands.
“Hard to tell.
But whatever it is, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in its sights. Looking at the state we’re in, you can only imagine how he’s feeling. And the worse he is, the worse it’ll be for us if we come face to face with him.”

Kenneth glanced at the corner of the cabin where a rifle and a shotgun were leaning against the wall. “We still have some weapons.”

“If anyone’s going to do any shooting, it’s going to be me,”
Logan
said. “I’m the one that served in
Iraq
and
Syria
, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Kenneth chuckled as he sat down next to the fireplace.

“What’s so funny?”
Logan
asked.

“Everyone was so concerned about the war on terror that the president spent all the money on the wars in
Iraq
and
Syria
, neglecting NASA. Their budget was slashed so much that when the alien invasion came, they didn’t have the resources to see the attack coming until it was upon us.”

Logan
nodded. “Well, everything always looks different in hindsight, but we can’t worry about that now. I’m sure the president, knowing what he knows now, wouldn’t have cut NASA’s budget, but something had to go. Besides, who really believed in aliens before the attack?”

“Only crazy people.
At least, that’s what we thought they were. Turns out we were the crazy ones and they were the smart ones.”

There was silence as the two of them thought things over. Finally, Kenneth stood up and got dinner ready. There wasn’t much to do, just pour beans from a tin into a pot. As he did so, he announced that it was the last tin.

Logan
didn’t say anything. The meal was heated in silence as he retrieved a large map of the surrounding area from his coat pocket. As he did so, something else fell to the ground. He picked it up. It was a key pass, the one that Donald had given him.

“Still carrying it around, eh?” Kenneth said as he saw
Logan
put the item back into the pocket.

Logan
nodded. “It’s just about the only thing left to remind me that I could have been living a very different life right now.”

“Wouldn’t we all.
But there’s no use looking back now.”

“You’re right,”
Logan
replied, turning his attention to the map.

Darkness had enveloped the area by the time
Logan
finished the small meal and put the bowl down. He looked at Kenneth. “We can either head to
Modesto
or
Sacramento
.”

“What about
Carson City
?” Kenneth questioned. “I know it’s across the border, but it might be untouched more so than those two.”

Logan
shook his head. “I know how to get to
Modesto
, and there are a lot more towns on the way than if we went to
Carson City
. There’s a chance we’ll be able to get some gas and food before we get to either town, but if something happens on the way, we might be stranded on an empty highway.”

Kenneth leaned back in his chair as he gazed at the roaring fire. “Nothing can be certain in this new world. For all we know, Seods might be in both those towns.”

Logan
sighed. “I don’t think so. I believe those people we encountered were telling the truth. If so, it looks like the southern part of
California
is free of Seods.”

“But we don’t know about the northern part. Hell, we don’t even know about
New York
,
Washington
,
Miami
—”

“No, but at least they mentioned
Dallas
.”
Logan
stared at the large city on the map. “I don’t know why they would attack
San Francisco
and
Los Angeles
before moving inland, but they can stay in
Texas
for all I care. At least until we find out how to defeat them.”
Logan
folded the map. “But you’re right. It’s a new world out there, and there’s a whole lot of stuff we don’t know, so we have to assume the worst. For all we know, they may have gone back to the coast. The only thing that’s certain is that they’ll do whatever is best for them. Let’s just hope to God that it isn’t anywhere near us.”