Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (11 page)

“Then what happened
to them?” asking him again, unsure why he didn’t answer the first time.

One side of Wade’s
mouth rises into a sinister smirk. “We tied them to a tree.”

I look back,
expecting to see them coming after us with shotguns and promises of death. “But
they’ll just escape and come after us.”

“I don’t see
them escaping before the aliens come.”

“What? How?”

“We started a
fire in all of the cabins. In no time, those cabins will be up in flames,
attracting every alien in this part to where they are.”

It’s somewhat satisfying
to know the Tanners and Tanner land will be no more. “What about us? What’s to
stop the aliens from coming for us?”

“We’ll be far
away from here by the time that happens.”

“I guess we’re
walking all night then?”

“All night.”

Just inside the Tennessee border

April 20
^th
, 2012: Day 29

We traveled
all night. The guys take turns carrying Ms. Burgess. She isn’t a big person,
but I know it still can’t be easy, since we’re traveling up and down hills and
over rocky terrain. To the guys’ credit, none of them complain or even act like
they don’t want to do it when their turn comes up.

I don’t get to
talk to her, not because anyone stopped me again, but because she has finally
cried herself to sleep. I guessed she was asleep when her soft sniffles faded
to silence.

As we walk, I watch
the sun rising, piercing through the trees and casting an orange light against
the sky. Only then do I allow myself to breathe a sigh of relief. We were away
from the Tanners and hadn’t run into any of the aliens. With the threat of
immediate danger out of the way and adrenalin leaving my veins, I begin to feel
the effects of exhaustion. I’m not the only one whose feet are shuffling along
the ground or who had tripped more than once. My legs are on fire and my eyes
burn. By the time we finally stop, I don’t know what city we’re in and, for the
first time in a long time, I don’t care.

The older man,
Kennedy, or Ken as he told us to call him, stops us at the bottom of a hill
with boulders and trees scattered around. He directs us all to take up spots
under the boulders where we can. I find one just big enough for Mia and me and
I crawl under its wedge with her following. Before I can wrap my arms around
her, I’m asleep.

I’m grateful
that exhaustion frees me from having nightmares of my mother being dead and
that sleep claims me quickly.

The light
sound of Mia snoring is what wakes me up. I stretch my aching muscles, or least
try to. I need out. My bladder is full. With Mia blocking my exit, I wiggle
away from her and down. Free, I search for a secure spot. I can’t see where
anyone else is sleeping, but that’s the idea. After we found our sleeping spots,
I heard leaves being placed around us, hiding us from outsiders and aliens.

“To your
right,” a voice says.

I whirl around.

Jason
.

He sits with
his back propped against one of the boulders. I also didn’t have the chance to
appreciate how handsome he was last night. The threat of fighting off the
Tanners hadn’t allowed for such luxuries.

In the
darkness his hair had appeared darker, but now I notice that it’s actually a
dirty blond. It’s hanging so low over his eyes it’s almost covering them up. Those
eyes are cobalt blue, intense and on me. He’s got a nice amount of stubble on
his face and neck. He’s no longer wearing the “Booty Inspector” t-shirt but, instead,
has on a plain black one. The jeans he has on are worn and dirty, but I can’t
fault him for that. I know I’m more of a mess.

He’s got on
tan hiking boots. One of his legs is pulled up and bent at the knee, while the
other is extended and relaxed. He has the bad boy appeal going on something fierce.
Even without the shotgun lying by his side, I would know he’s trouble and way
out of my league.

He raises a
hand and points to his left. “If you go between those trees you’ll find a spot.
Make sure you cover anything up with dirt. We can’t let the aliens find us.”

Heat rises
across my cheeks. “Umm…okay,” I say, suddenly feeling shy talking to him about
this. I’ve been traveling with a band of people for a while now and never have
we brought up the topic bathroom issues.

Argh.
I
turn away before he can see me blushing.

“I can go with
you if you want.”

“Ugh, no,” I
say in disgust. I thought I was blushing before, but now I’m sure I’m super
red. Like fire-engine-truck red.

“Not to watch.
Gross
. I mean to stand guard.”

If the aliens
get me while I’m peeing then it’ll be better than having Jason nearby. I
suddenly remember Piper, the dog that I used to walk for extra money. She
refused to “do her duty” if I watched her. I now know why she was all worked up
about it.

I turn, going
in the direction that he pointed. “I’ll be fine.”
Please don’t follow me.

Despite my
embarrassment I find a spot, pee and cover it up. As I head back to our area I
hope Jason has crawled back to wherever he had come from and has gone back to
sleep. No luck. He seems to be waiting for me.

If he asks me
if I took care of everything I think I’ll die. So, to avoid that very thing, I
walk quickly past him with my head down.

Don’t look
at him.

“Are you
hungry?”

I stumble at
the thought of eating and my stomach grumbles. We didn’t get the bags of food
from the Tanners or even my bag with my water and crackers. Everything we had
is gone.

Of course I’m
hungry.

He reaches into
his backpack, pulls out dried meat and holds it out to me. I reach for it
hungrily. I tear into it with abandon. Heaven coats my taste buds and wafts
through my nostrils. My mouth waters as I chew, saliva spilling over to the
corners of my mouth. I don’t know what kind of meat it is but it’s the best
thing that I’ve had—ever. He chuckles as he watches me.

I wipe away
the moisture dripping from my chin. “What’s so funny?”
I’m drooling and
making a fool of myself. That’s what’s so funny.

“Nothing…you.”

I should slow
down, at least try to pretend I still have some manners, but hunger makes me
take another large bite. “Nice to know that I amuse you,” I say, after I chew
down the meat some, my mouth still full of food.

He waves a
hand through the air. “It’s not that. I’ve never had anyone moan while eating
my homemade jerky before.”

I was
moaning?

I take another
bite and chew slower, rolling the meat between my teeth with my tongue,
savoring how the juicy goodness is washing over every last taste bud. It’s then
that I realize my eyes are closed and I am moaning. I can’t help but smile. “It’s
so good.”

He laughs
again. “I think you’re starved. My dad thinks my homemade jerky tastes like
dried shit.”

I open my
eyes. He’s assessing me, making me a little uncomfortable, but I stand my
ground. “I haven’t tasted crap, or dried crap for that matter, but this isn’t
what I imagine it would taste like.”

“A girl after
my own heart.” He pulls out another piece. “I have more.”

That’s all it
takes for me to end up sitting next to him, accepting another piece of jerky.

“I never got a
chance to thank you and Ken for saving us,” I say between bites. I’m talking
with my mouth full. My mother would be appalled, but I think she would
understand.

He shakes his
head. “We heard the screams. We thought the aliens were torturing a woman. We
didn’t know…” he looks away.

“Thank you for
coming to investigate. A lot of people would have kept going, trying to get as
far away from the screams as possible.” Suddenly the meat is like a rock in my
stomach and I can’t take another bite. I try to hand what’s left back to him
but he puts up a hand.

“Save it for
later.”

“But someone
else might need some.”

“We have
enough to last for a while. You can keep that.”

“Thank
you…again.” I glance down, searching for somewhere to put my stash. I don’t
have any pockets in my sweats. I can roll the food into my waistband, but it’s
dirty. I can stuff it down my bra, but I haven’t had a bath in ages.

Jason holds
out his hand. “Give it to me. I’ll put it up for you.”

I hand it over
and watch him put it back in his bag.

“So Ken is
your dad?”

“Yeah.”

I nod. I want
to ask him about any other family members but I bite my tongue. I don’t want to
mention or bring it up if they’re dead.

“So what’s the
story here? What are you guys doing?” he asks.

“We were in
Tallahassee for a school trip.”

“Oh? What was
in Tallahassee?”

I don’t want
to tell him, fearing it’ll make me seem like a nerd. I never worried about it
before and I don’t know why I’m suddenly struck with the need to hide it right
now. “A school trip,” I say again.

“Yeah, you
said that. Are you from Florida?”

“No,
Michigan.”

“You’re from
Michigan and you end up in Florida for a school trip. Why Florida? That’s a
long way from Michigan.”

“My, aren’t
you full of questions.”

“My, aren’t
you being cryptic.”

I take a deep
breath. He’s going to find out sooner or later. “We were on a band trip.”

His eyebrows
shoot up and a slow smile spreads across his face. Now all he has to do is cry
out, “Nerd!” and I’d die on the spot.

I lean to the
side, readying to get up and crawl back into my hole; at least there I can hide
in embarrassment.

He puts a hand
on my arm, stopping me. When I look back to him he’s still wearing his smile.
“This one time, at band camp, hostile aliens invaded Earth.”

The laugh that
comes out is much louder than it should be and I cover my mouth up with my
hand.

“Epic,” he
says, as I sit back down. “I played the trumpet in junior high.”

“I’m in high
school,” I say quickly.

“When you said
‘school trip’ I figured that you meant high school.”

“Oh.”

“What
instrument do you play?”

“Clarinet.”

He looks me up
and down. “I took you for the drum line.”

I snort. “Drum
line? You’re kidding right?”

“Female
drummer. I can picture it now.” He closes his eyes and starts banging on his
knees, humming a song I don’t know.

I put my hand
over his, stopping him. My heart skips a beat at the contact. I pull away quickly.
“Well, since I told you that I don’t play the drums then you can give up that idea.”

“Ah, it was a fantasy,
and a very good one I might add.”

I recognize
that he’s teasing me and smile, letting the light mood lift my spirits. “What
about you? Are you and your dad going home?”

“No, we just
left our hunting cabin. Well, what was left of our cabin.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. We
weren’t going to stay there for long anyway. Just long enough to get some
supplies and then off to find my mom and little brother.”

“Oh, God,” I
say covering up my mouth. “They were taken.”

He blew out a
heavy breath. “No and thank God. My mom and Jasper, my little brother, were in
Washington, D.C. when the aliens came. That’s where we’re going now.”

“What are they
doing there?”

“My mom is a part
of the White House Press Corps, she was working.”

“Oh.” I frown
in confusion. “So your mom works in D.C.…and you and your dad were hunting when
the aliens invaded?”

“No. My dad
was at home in Georgia when he had…um…to come to get me from college. While he
was there the invasion happened. We went to our hunting cabin first, to stock
up on weapons and supplies. We thought about going home to Georgia, but decided
against it. We didn’t think it would do any good. There was probably nothing
left, so now we’re on our way to Washington.”

I think I’m
more confused than ever. “So your mom and dad are split up?”

He shakes his
head. “No, my dad is the Senator for Georgia. Our main home is there. He just
happened to be there when he got
the call
and
had to come and get
me from school.”

“Wow.
Senator?”

“Yep,” he says
not elaborating anymore.

“So what’s
the
call
?” I ask intrigued.

He shrugs. “I
was kicked out of the University of Texas.”

I open my eyes
wide. “Wow. Do you care to elaborate?”

“Not really.
None of that matters anymore.”

I want to
press, but I respect his privacy. He’s right, whatever the reason doesn’t matter
anymore. It’s not like anyone will be pulling up his school records. “Where was
your hunting cabin?”

“Randolph,
Alabama.”

“That’s so far
away. How long have you been traveling?”

He tilts his
head in thought. “The President of my school had us on lock down for that first
day, but then, when they started bombing the campus, we left. We made it to Pine
Bluff, Arkansas in about six days. We stayed there with my dad’s friend for two
weeks, making jerky and waiting out the invasion, we didn’t know how this was all
going to play out. Then my dad decided that we had to get to Washington to
where my mom and brother are. So we left Arkansas and headed to our hunting
cabin, got more supplies and rested up and we’ve been traveling ever since.”

“When did you
leave Alabama?” I ask, trying to figure out how fast they are moving.