Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (23 page)

Darkness closed
in around them as they entered the woods.
Logan
expected the
group to stop and pull out a flashlight, but they didn’t. They just kept on
pushing through the underbrush. Either they were
traveling
a short distance or they knew the way so well they didn’t need the light to
guide them.

Five minutes
later, Hugo stopped beside a tree. Then, with Kumi’s help, they pried up a
trapdoor. Red light shone up through the hole, lighting up the wooden steps. As
the man and woman climbed down,
Logan
whistled. “Just who the hell are you people?”

No one answered.
He assumed they were just some locals who were using the woods as a hiding
place from the Seods, but as he stepped down the steps and trudged from cave to
cave, this was clearly something more organized. Scores of survivors were
huddled on makeshift beds or tilling away in little workshops.

By the looks of
it, there was over a hundred.
Logan
quit counting as Hugo entered a fairly large cave and came to a
stop. “So, boss, you wanted to see me?”

“Yeah, but just you.
Who are these
people?” Quinn replied.

“Some type of
solider who crashed a burning plane into the lake. He claims his fiancée
inhaled the green gas, but she’s in a coma.”

“Hmm, a liar, eh?”

“I’m not a liar!”
Logan
pushed in front of Hugo. Quinn was fairly short and old
looking,
sporting a long, flowing white beard and black
robe, but his eyes darted back and forth like an eagle’s. “I don’t know who you
think you are, but—”

“I am Quinn,
leader of these people.” The man gazed around the crowd watching on with
interest. “I’ve been keeping these people safe and sound ever since the world
turned upside down. And I intend to keep it that way, so I’m wary of any stranger
who comes this way.
Especially ones with pursuers in tow.”

“I wasn’t
planning on coming this way, but my plane got shot down by Seods and the lake
was the only halfway safe place to land.”
Logan
swept his
eyes around the crowd of people. “Look, Lucy and I were on the verge of getting
married when the Seods came. We’ve been fighting the aliens and running for our
lives ever since. The destruction of
Mount
Shasta
was just the latest problem. I
don’t know anything about you people, and honestly, I couldn’t care less. I was
on my way to the coast when the plane crashed. All I ask is that you help me
get some transportation, and we’ll be on our merry way.”

“There’s no
transportation of any kind,” Quinn stated.

“But the nearest
town can’t be more than a few miles from here, right?”

“Once upon a
time, yes. That’s where most of these people came from. But it was destroyed by
Seods two weeks ago.”

Logan
sighed.
“Isn’t there any way to get out of here?”

“Only by
walking,” Quinn replied. “And as you can see, with most of the people who live
here, they are in no condition for a hike. So we survive as best we can by
living off the land and the small stockpile of goods we managed to get before
we had to flee here.”

“What type of
nonsense is that? Are you waiting for the military to come and rescue you? You
can’t tell me you’re content just waiting to die.”
Logan
gazed around
at the faces that were staring back at him. “God knows how long you’ll be
waiting for that happen. Now is the time to rely on each other. I’ve been out
there for a while. Trust
me,
the
United States
government is no more.”

“But President
Stevenson is still alive,” a man yelled out.

“How do you know
that?”
Logan
asked, turning to the man with bushy red hair.

“I was in radio
contact with my ex-wife two weeks after the initial attack,” the man replied.
“She lives in
New York
and told me that the city was untouched.”

“I find that hard
to believe,”
Logan
muttered. “But what does that have to do with the president?”

“Because the
president toured the city the day before I spoke to her, telling everyone to
stay calm and that they have everything under control.”

Logan
laughed
without mirth. “As much as I admire President Stevenson, he’s the one who cut
NASA’s budget. So I wouldn’t take his word at face value. I mean, come on guys,
this is a freaking alien invasion. Who, besides the aliens, knows what’s going
to happen? No one does, which is why we have to fend for ourselves. So who’s
coming with me to the coast? Because if it’s the military you want, I hear that’s
where the survivors are currently based.”

Logan
peered around
the huddled mass, but no one responded. Quinn let the silence simmer for a
moment before locking eyes with
Logan
. “Your wild fantasies aside, these people trust me. I told them I
was going to keep them safe, and that’s what I’ve done, and what I’ll keep
doing.”

“If that’s how
you feel, then so be it. I’ll just find some way to carry Lucy, and then I’ll
be out of your hair.”

Quinn wagged his
finger. “The only way you’ll get your girlfriend out of these woods is if she’s
conscious. Now I’m not going to promise you anything, but I’m a bit of an
expert in the medical field, so if you stay here for a few days, I’ll see what
I can do.”

Logan
pursed his
lips. “I thought you said I was a liar.”

Quinn nodded.
“That I did, but I can see now that you’re a determined young fellow, and I
need someone like you.”

“Why?”

“You appear to be
willing to do almost anything to save the one you love.”

“So what?”

Quinn stood up
from his seat and took his time strolling over to
Logan
. He circled
him once, studying him a stern gaze. “I’ve got someone who is very close to my
heart as well. Unfortunately, that person is currently being held captive by a
number of ruthless and violent men. Two of my best men have failed to bring her
back. If you succeed, I’ll do what I can for Lucy. I’ll probably be able to get
you a truck and a few gallons of gas.”

He snapped his
fingers at Hugo, who grumbled but handed
Logan
his weapon.
“So, what’s it going to be?”

~*~*~

As the sun rose,
Kenneth shook himself awake and hobbled to the barn door. He’d only managed a
few hours of sleep in the time since
Logan
had left, and
even those hours had been interrupted with nightmares that involved
Logan
being
captured by the Seods.
Or, even worse, his plane crashing in
the wilderness, never to be seen again.

He sighed and
plopped down on a patch of grass outside, eager to warm
himself
up. As he sat there thinking, something barked from the nearby bushes. Kenneth
jumped up as a border collie emerged from the woods and bounded over to him.

Kenneth smiled as
he stroked the black fur of the skinny and
disheveled
animal.
“Hey there, little
fella
.
Now where did you come from?” He scratched the animal’s coat and noticed that
the dog appeared to have fleas. While he couldn’t see them, he knew what to
look for since he and Logan had taken care of a dog during the summer holidays
when they were younger. Incidentally, that animal had also been a border
collie, but that dog had been in much better shape than this one.

Something about
the dog’s suffering broke his stone heart. A tear streaked down Kenneth’s
cheek. The animal went rigid and turned its head toward the barn.

Kenneth looked up
as the teenagers exited the barn. They smiled in delight at the dog.

“Where did you
find him?” Molly asked, rushing over.

“I don’t know,”
Kenneth admitted. “He just appeared out of nowhere.”

“Is he hungry?”
Derek questioned.

“What do you
think? Probably hasn’t eaten in days.” Kenneth glanced toward the farmhouse. “I
suppose we could see if there’s any pet food inside.”

“Yes, let’s do
that,” Molly said, always keen to help any animal in need.

The three of them
made their way to the farmhouse, the dog darting in and out between their legs.
It didn’t take long to guess that the owner must have kept a bunch of dogs and
cats. Kenneth slit open a bag of pellets and let the dog wolf them down
straight from the sack.

There was also
plenty of canned food, so the three of them ate at the same time the dog did,
not bothering to even warm them up. Derek had just polished off his second can
of ravioli when the dog spun around and barked. As the
border
collie rushed away and scratched on the wooden door, they peered out of the
kitchen window.

Three Seods were
heading to the barn. At the animal’s wild barking, they fanned out and entered
the building, disappearing from sight.

“Once they’ve had
a look at the barn they’ll search here,” Kenneth muttered, pacing up and down.

Molly knelt down
in front of the dog and tried to calm the terrified creature. Her soothing
voice, accompanied by her gentle patting, halted the yapping.

Derek fidgeted by
the window. “What are we going to do?”

Kenneth stuffed a
bag with all the cans he could. “We’ll disappear into the woods and hope the
Seods don’t pursue us, but the dog will have to stay.”

“No! I’m not
leaving him behind,” Molly hissed.

“It’s the only
option.” Kenneth checked out of the window. “Coast is clear. We’ll leave by the
back door and hide out in the woods until
Logan
comes back.”

“But we don’t
know when that will be,” Derek said.

“No,
which means that we’ll just have to take it one hour at a time.
Come
on,
let’s hurry before the Seods search the
house.” He left the kitchen and cracked open the old wooden back door. No one
was in sight.

He stepped out and
waited for the others to follow him. Derek was right behind him, but Molly
stood her ground.

“I’m not leaving Toby
behind,” Molly said.

“Toby?
You already named him?”
Kenneth shook his head in frustration. “I told you inside. If we take him with
us, he’ll
gives
us away. One bark or yelp and the
Seods will be all over us.”

“But he might
prove to be useful.” Molly patted the
border
collie.
“Besides, his owner is probably dead. It’s us or no one, and I always wanted a
dog.” She began to get teary-eyed. “Mom promised me we’d go to the shelter and
get one when they came home from their trip. It was going to be my birthday
present.”

Kenneth snapped
his head around at the shuffling from the barn. He stayed low to the ground and
leaned around the corner. As the Seods advanced on the farmhouse, weapons high,
he crept back to Molly. “Okay, you can keep the dog, but we need to get out of
here pronto.”

“Thank you!”
Molly grabbed a dog lead off the hook near the door before following the others
into the woods.

Logan
had hardly
slept a wink. Whenever he seemed to nod off, he would hear someone snoring and
realize just where he was. So even though the sun was now up, he was still
lying down on the makeshift bed of grass and blankets. It wasn’t comfy, but that
was all Hugo had offered him. Some people had managed to carry mattresses into
the cave, but most had to suffer like him.

As he closed his
eyes, his thoughts drifted back to his time in
Syria
. He
had hardly slept a wink over there either. As a recon squad leader, there was
always something to do. At times, the stress had been unimaginable. They’d
often camped in rebel territory, hiding in caves during the day and sneaking
around at night.

Even now he
couldn’t wipe out the memories of the people he’d killed. Headquarters had told
him that every insurgent he shot had been worth it. They were terrorists and
deserved what they got.

In the end, the
killing had gotten to him so much that he hung up his uniform and returned to
civilian life. But the nightmares of his previous life had never stopped.

That was, until
the alien invasion.

As he sat up, he
realized that for the first time ever since his army days, he hadn’t had the
nightmares.
At least not the old, familiar ones.
But why?
He’d stopped taking the pills ages ago. He’d only
managed to take enough to last two weeks when he fled
San Francisco
on
his wedding day, and yet he hadn’t even thought about
Tobynard
,
Joshua, or Will.