Yesterday's Gone: Season Six (10 page)

“Are you aware that she’s a telepath?”

“I’ve not talked to her about it — yet. I just started sensing it a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t want to say anything. She’s at that age, you know, where anything I say is met with hostility. If I want to explore this, she has to bring it up.”

While Paul initially thought her having abilities, like him, would protect her from the aliens, he wasn’t so certain now. Maybe it put a target on her back. They had leverage over him. They could control him. But her, not so much. Especially if she came to dislike her father as so many teens did. Why would a disgruntled kid care if they used their dad as leverage?
 

Desmond nodded. “Well, unfortunately, we needed to expedite her development.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Paul bristled, struggling to stifle his anger. Wasterman loomed so close behind Paul, he could imagine the man’s breath, and the gun in his belt holster.

“So far, Luca, and the others under The Light’s influence, have been undetectable to us. We have a general idea where they are but not enough to make a move. We needed to set a trap.”

“What do you mean,
a trap?
”

“Remember what I said. I’m about to anger you. I need you to stay calm. Are you calm, Mr. Roberts?”

Paul nodded, panicked.

“Your daughter is bait. The trip she just took, it’s all part of our plan to bring out our enemy.”

Paul had to force himself not to scream. “What?”

“Tone!” Wasterman barked behind him.

“Don’t worry,” Desmond said. “Your daughter is completely safe.”

“What did you do to her?”

“We’ve staged an
accident
to lure our enemy. When they move in to help, we can follow her back to their lair.”

Paul shook his head. He wanted to murder Desmond. Then he’d grab Wasterman’s gun, shove it in his mouth, and blow a hole through the back of his skull, killing the man and the alien likely riding jockey inside him.

“Why did you do this? If you have a general idea where they are, why not take one of those big fucking laser cannons on your ship and level the damned city like you all did when you arrived?”

“Because it’s not enough to kill the hosts. It’s far harder to kill The Light. So we must contain The Light.”

Paul paced back and forth, fists shoved in his pants pockets. “How are you ensuring her safety? What if they take her and you lose her, too?”

“She has a tracking chip embedded in her, part of the protocol for any trip into The Wastelands.”

“And if that fails?”

“That’s where you come in. You will contact her telepathically.”

Paul hated every part of this but was powerless to do anything. Emily was already out there. Possibly already in the hands of the enemy. He had no choice but to play ball, and they knew it.

“So,” Desmond said, “are we on the same page, Mr. Roberts?”

Paul nodded. What else could he do?

* * * *

CHAPTER 12 — Mary Olson

The shuttle sat in the burned-out shopping center’s parking lot like a silent sentinel. Mary and the group were more than a hundred yards away, but danger seemed to crackle in the air from being so close to the alien ship.

The shopping center was located in a part of The City that had seen the worst of the mothership’s lasers. There wasn’t another building standing within a hundred yards, which made the crash site a prime target for snipers — countless hiding places salted the apartment buildings and storefronts scattered past the blast zone.
 

Mary and her group stood at the edges of a wooded area just south of the shopping center, relatively concealed, though probably not against infrared or alien technology. Fortunately, she couldn’t hear the shuttle’s loud engines.

Mary zoomed in with the binoculars for a closer look and saw two Guardsmen on the ground, torn to shreds. She panned up at the terrified faces of the children.

Three bleakers circled the craft, each taking turns at running into the ship, trying to gain entry.

Mary handed the binoculars back to Keenan.

Boricio looked at them both. “So, we gonna save these little bastards or what?”

Boricio, Lisa, and Jevonne all had rifles trained on the aliens, waiting for Keenan and Mary to make a decision. Until a few months ago, Boricio had been calling most of the shots, but following some group infighting, Boricio decided to be a bit more diplomatic and mine a few other opinions before making any major decisions. It was sorta sweet, as he was obviously doing it to appease her. Mary had grown sick of the arguments among the group’s clashing personalities, with Boricio’s being the most prickly. She’d been ready to declare a general
fuck off
, rather than tolerate any more bullshit.

Boricio looked back at her. She tried reading his face to see if he was as disturbed by this idle shuttle as she was.
 

Something felt off.
 

“Why the hell did they bring a shuttle full of kids into The City?”

Lisa looked through her scope. “They all have uniforms on, like
school uniforms.
”

“They’ve got a Hogwarts on The Island,
and
the little fuckers are in monkey suits? Jesus Stepford Christ! We oughta let the aliens eat ‘em on principle.”

Mary wasn’t surprised that they had a school. Even from the mainland at night, she knew The Island had power, as did certain sections of the mainland where the aliens had their heavily guarded factories and warehouses. Luca was right — they
were
trying to rebuild society with the new
evolved
human alien hybrids. So were these kids human or hybrids? Or puppets controlled by the aliens? Not that there was much distinction. And other than Luca, and briefly Paola, she’d yet to meet a true hybrid, where the humans maintained some, or most, control of themselves.

Mary turned to Keenan. “What do you think?”

He stared at the shuttle for a while. Mary wondered if he was thinking about Jade. Did he think about her as much as Mary thought about Paola —
every fucking day for four years?

Keenan said, “Well, we’ve been waiting to capture someone from the inside for a long time, right?”
 

“But doesn’t this feel convenient to you? And why haven’t they sent backup? I dunno.” She shrugged. “Feels like a trap.”

Lisa looked back. “I agree. This doesn’t feel right. Let’s jet.”

“What?” Boricio turned. “We’re gonna leave Dora’s Explorers to die?”

“There’s something wrong about this,” Lisa said. “I feel like they’re trying to draw us out. And besides, we want to capture someone of worth from The Island to interrogate, not a bunch of kids.”

“Then why the fuck did you call us down here in the first place? You knew they were kids when you found the crash site.”

Lisa, ignoring Boricio, walked up to Keenan. “What do you think?”

“I agree. Something’s not right.”

Boricio shook his head. “Hello, Earth to assholes. Do you all not see the same shit I’m seeing? Those kids are making Hersheys in their Underoos! Look at their eyes! There ain’t no ETs in there!”

“They could be acting scared,” Keenan said. “We all know what they’re capable of.”

Mary nodded. She knew more than any of them. She’d slept with Desmond,
almost
had his alien baby. “I don’t wanna take any chances. I say we head back.”

Boricio stared at Mary, slack jawed. “No. Fuck this shit.”

He picked up the rifle and fired one, two, three silenced shots, dropping two of the three aliens before squeezing off another two shots and felling the last one.

“What the fuck?” Lisa got in his face.

“You best step the fuck back.” Boricio didn’t raise his rifle and aim it at Lisa, but he didn’t need to.

“We’re not bringing those kids back,” she said. “It’s too risky.”

“Since when did
I
become the only motherfucker here who gives a shit about a shuttle of munchkins?”

Mary was as surprised as Boricio. Then again, ever since he’d lost Rose to the aliens, just before Paola’s death, something had shifted in Boricio. He was still a stone-cold killer, but there had been a few times when it seemed like more of an act. She thought it was a necessary adjustment to becoming a more balanced person — dangerous enough to be useful rather than a psycho who kept them in danger. But now, Boricio was thinking with emotion rather than logic. The risks of saving these kids far outweighed the rewards. Boricio’s blindness made her afraid that he’d grown
too
soft.

Jevonne, normally quiet like Keenan, spoke up. “I’m with Boricio. Yeah, maybe it’s a trap. But my gut says it isn’t. I think this is an accident, and we need to act fast before they realize their shuttle is missing.”

“That’s just the problem,” Keenan said. “If they realize the kids are missing, and they care enough to search for them, they’ll blanket The City with shuttles.”

Boricio spat on the ground. “Let ‘em. We lie low a while. Maybe go to The Farm. We came out here to pick up high-value targets, right? We haven’t been able to get anyone from The Island to talk yet. This is our chance. And as far as whether or not they’re aliens, we’ll let Luca sort it out. If they are, we kill ‘em. No harm, no foul.”

Boricio looked at Mary.

And then, suddenly, they were all looking at Mary.

“Why the hell are you all looking at
me
to make a decision?”

Keenan smiled. “I guess you’re the voice of reason.”

She didn’t want to own the decision, tired of playing mother to the group. The responsibility was too much. Let someone else call the shots, even if it meant Boricio and the others butting heads more often than agreeing.
 

This was a no-win decision.

Boricio was right: They
did
need to find someone from The Island who would talk, and maybe help them find a way onto The Island to strike at the aliens. On the other hand, this felt like a trap; it was too damned easy.
 

“I dunno,” she said. “I think we head back.”

“And leave the kids to die?” Boricio shook his head, furious.

Mary argued, “You all said it already: The aliens are going to notice they’re missing. They’re gonna send help. You killed the aliens, and they seem pretty damned safe locked in the shuttle. Just leave ‘em. They’ll be fine.”

A girl’s voice cried out behind them.

“Hey! Hey! Can you help us?”

Mary turned and saw that a girl had come out of the shuttle while the other kids cowered inside. She was small, young, maybe twelve or thirteen, with thick shoulder-length brown hair.

Keenan, Lisa, and Jevonne raised their weapons, aiming at the girl.

Boricio waved his hands down. “Would you all calm the fuck down?”

They held their aim.

Mary watched the girl approach and couldn’t help but admire her bravery.

Is it bravery, or is she a clever bleaker with no reason to fear?

Mary started toward the girl, hand on her belt, the blade in a sheath on her right side. Mary walked fast, closing the distance between them. As Mary drew closer, about twenty feet away, she saw the girl’s eyes and the fear inside them.
 

Good. You
should
fear us.

Mary kept moving, waiting for something — maybe a shuttle to descend from the clouds or a sniper to fire from a nearby building to the north.

But as she drew closer, nothing happened.

Could the situation be what it appeared — defenseless kids in need of help? If so, Mary and the group could both help them, and maybe figure out a way to finally get onto The Island.

Fifteen feet away.

Can’t let down our defenses. Something has to be off.

Ten feet away.

The girl looked up at her, eyes wide and full of hope.
 

“Thank you for helping us!”
 

The girl’s youth and wide eyes reminded her too much of Paola.
 

Mary grabbed the girl, spun her around, and put the blade to her throat.

“Show yourselves, or she’s dead!” Mary shouted.

* * * *

CHAPTER 13 — Boricio Wolfe

“What the fuck are you doing?” Boricio yelled at Mary

She took the girl at knifepoint, screaming at the sky, demanding their unseen enemy come out of hiding.

Lisa, Keenan, and Jevonne were turning their rifles, scanning the woods and the buildings in the distance for any sign of a threat.

“I mean it!” Mary screamed. “I’ll slit her throat!”

The girl cried out. Mary pressed the blade hard against her skin. Boricio flinched when he saw she wasn’t bluffing.

Blood trickled from the knife’s tip down her neck.

A part of Boricio felt a nostalgic rush, remembering the feeling of a knife against a soft throat — that sensation when it plunged into his victims, just before the gurgle.