Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (23 page)

Within half an hour, almost everyone had fallen asleep. Ten minutes later, the back door creaked open and a figure stealthily crept out. He silently closed the door behind him and hurried down the garden path.

~*~*~

Fortunately, the Seod in the water started thrashing right away. Within a couple of seconds, the other creatures pulled him out.

Glancing around, Molly saw that the others had also surfaced. Despite the amount of swimming that they had already done, they were smiling. They had evidently seen what she had seen.

The others waited for her as she swam toward them. Once they were all together, everyone tried swimming backstroke.

Molly found that this was easier than freestyle, despite the stinging cold.

As the seconds passed, they got closer to the island. By now, the Seods had stopped using their silencers and were talking to one another.

Molly and Derek soon found themselves in the lead, and looking back, saw that Kenneth was a fair way behind. They didn’t know if the backpack was slowing him down or he was just a really bad swimmer.

Molly glanced at Derek. “We should carry the backpack.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Derek replied. “If we hold it between us, we can still use the other arm to swim.”

They swam back to Kenneth. He smiled, his teeth chattering. “Sorry I’m taking so long. I just can’t swim as fast as you.”

“Let us have the backpack,” Derek said.

“Are you sure?” Kenneth asked.

Molly nodded. “We’ll be fine.”

The teens helped Kenneth get the backpack off and then swam back to the island.

It didn’t take long for the three to arrive at
Fannette
Island
. Breathing heavily, the teens pulled themselves out of the cold water and onto the rocks.

Kenneth joined them a moment later. “Thanks for taking the backpack.”

“You did well for not having swum in years,” Derek said. “Molly and I usually go swimming at the beach when we stay at our grandmother’s. That’s why we’re pretty good.”

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t have wanted to swim any farther than that,” Kenneth said. “I could feel my legs and arms giving up during those last few feet.” He looked at the ice. The Seods were gone. “I wonder where they went.”

“Hopefully they’ve given up,” Molly said. “I saw one of them go into the water, but he didn’t get far before he was pulled back out.”

“So that’s their weakness,” Derek said.

“What?” Molly said.

“They can’t swim,” Derek said. “Judging by what happened to Kenneth at the lake yesterday, I thought it was a good possibility, but at least we know it’s a fact now.”

Kenneth stood up. “I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing in these wet clothes. Let’s see if we can get a fire started.”

“With what?”
Molly asked.

Kenneth reached for the backpack and hunted inside one of the small pockets. A few moments later, he pulled out a box of matches that had been wrapped in plastic. “I found these, along with a first aid kit, in that cabin on the top of the hill. Not knowing what happened to you, I decided to play it safe and take the essentials. Fortunately, I wrapped the flashlight in the plastic as well, so we can use that tonight.”

“Tonight?”
Derek said. “You don’t intend to stay here all day, do you?”

Kenneth nodded as he picked up the backpack. “It’ll be dark in a matter of hours, and with no vehicle waiting for us at the other end of the ice, we’ll be stranded. I don’t intend to walk to
Sparks
, so I’m staying here until I think of something. You’re free to do as you wish but—”

“What about the Seods? What if they send a Striker?” Molly asked.

“Well, that is possible, but what else can we do? If we were to swim to the mainland, the Striker could still find us there. Make no
mistake,
this island isn’t going to be a hundred percent safe from the Seods. No place is. So are you staying with me or not?”

“We’ll stay,” Molly said. “Won’t we, Derek?”

Derek hesitated. “Okay. But Molly and I had a talk the other night and—”

Kenneth put up his hands. “Wait! Let’s get a fire going and then we can have a talk about the future as we get warm, okay?”

Derek nodded.
“Sounds good.”

With Kenneth leading the way, the group climbed up the rocks and past the few trees and bushes that lay scattered across the island.

“Where are we heading?” Molly asked as she wrapped her arms around her body, the cold starting to get to her.

“You’ll see in a moment,” Kenneth replied.

The teens followed him as they walked on what had previously been a path, but was now overgrown. It led all the way to the highest point of the island.

After reaching the top, Kenneth came to a halt.
In front of him stood a small stone building.
“This is all that remains of the tea house.”

“The tea house?”
Molly frowned as she brushed her wet hair away from her eyes. “You’re joking, right?”

“I read something about this in a history book,” Derek said. “It was built a long time ago, wasn’t it?”

Kenneth placed the backpack on the ground and stepped into the small stone building. “Yes, around the 1930s if I remember correctly. As strange as it might seem, this was built as a tea house.
Though the years haven’t been kind to it, as you can tell.”

Molly gazed at the bare walls. There were a few holes where windows should have been. The small, square room didn’t even have a roof. “Not much survived.”

“No, but at least it’ll protect us a bit from the wind.” Kenneth glanced around. “Let’s go hunting for some dry wood and get a fire going.”

Splitting up, the three got to work. It took some time to find wood that was dry enough and even longer to get a fire going, but within an hour, the three were sitting around a roaring fire.

They had taken off their shoes, socks, and outer layers and draped them on the bricks near the fire.

“It’s good the sun is still shining,” Molly said, gazing up at the clear blue sky.

Kenneth nodded. “We can’t go anywhere with wet clothes, so hopefully they’ll be dry by tonight. Now, what was it you two wanted to talk to me about?”

The seconds seemed to drag on like minutes while
Logan
waited by the corner of the drugstore. It was almost four, and he hoped that nothing had gone wrong.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t trust Alpha—he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt—but it’d be good to finally put a face to his name. Also, not a whole lot of things had gone right so far, so he was tense.

A gust of wind blew his blond hair into his eyes. It hadn’t been cut for some time. He smiled as he thought about all the times he had looked at himself in the mirror and how long he’d spend grooming himself.

He was proud of his good looks, but as the past three weeks had shown him, there was more to life than looking good. In times like this, it wasn’t if the person was good looking on the outside, but what they were like on the inside.

He glanced over at Peter. Admittedly, he’d judged the young man by his looks, but he was wrong to do so. From the times that he had spent talking to him, he realized that his heart was, in some cases, stronger than his. He’d lost his one true love and was determined to set things right. He was someone whom you could call on in a tough spot, and
Logan
appreciated that.

As for Baldy, he wasn’t sure what to make of him. What with the scars on his face, as well as the ones on his back,
Logan
wasn’t sure what the man had been doing before the alien invasion. He had asked many a time, but he was one of those people who answered a question with another one.

On the surface, Baldy and Muscles seemed firm friends, but
Logan
sensed that there was some tension. Whether or not that had always been there, he had no way or knowing, but the scars on
Baldy’s
back were fresh, probably only two weeks old.

Logan
turned to Muscles, who was engaged in conversation with his son. They were very similar, he thought. However, Jet was one to let his emotions rush him into things, whereas Muscles did not. Jet wasn’t one to back down unless he thought he was truly beat, and
Logan
appreciated that. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the threat Jet had made the other day.

Logan
wasn’t sure if someone was working against them or if it was just bad luck, but he knew that if he didn’t put an end to the reign of Carlos Sanchez, things would not be pleasant with Jet.

A truck rolled around the corner and came chugging down the road.
Logan
hopped to his feet and made his way over to the others. “Is it the one?”

“I can’t tell,” Muscles said. “We’ll know if it stops.”

The group huddled by the corner as the vehicle rumbled closer. Just when it seemed as though it was going to pass them, it screeched to a stop.

“That’s our cue,” Muscles said. “Let’s go.” After walking over to the driver, he handed him an envelope full of cash.

The man took it without uttering a word. He didn’t even smile. He just flicked a thumb toward the back of the truck.

Muscles and the rest of the group opened the back door and climbed in. As soon as it closed, the vehicle continued on its way.

After pulling his flashlight out of his backpack, Muscles searched around. The truck was half filled with an assortment of crates, food, tins, and other essential items.

“There should be six crates by the back that are empty,” Muscles said.

Logan
led the way to the back of the vehicle and soon found the crates. “There’re six here.”

“Are they empty?” Peter said.

“I’ll check.”
Logan
pulled off the top of one of them and nodded. “This one is.”

The group verified that the rest of the crates were also empty.

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief. “Everything’s going well so far.”

“This is the easy part,” Peter said. “It’s when—” He paused as the vehicle suddenly came to a halt.

Everyone became quiet, unsure of what was going on. Hearing the sound of other voices,
Logan
thought that it might be a checkpoint. “We should get into the crates in case someone opens the back.”

“Let’s do it,” Baldy said.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, the six men climbed into separate crates.
Just as
Logan
was putting the top of his back on, the truck rumbled on its way again.

Logan
breathed a sigh of relief. It could’ve been much worse, but they had just started their journey, and he was sure that they’d be stopped again, especially after their antics the previous night.

Logan
was proven right as they were stopped not once, but twice. Both times men opened the back doors and had a quick look around. He hadn’t been able to see what they were looking at as he had been tucked away in his crate, but they hadn’t stayed that long and the truck continued on its way without any trouble.

It wasn’t the most comfortable way of
traveling
, sitting cramped in a wooden box, but
Logan
wasn’t thinking about any of that. He was thinking of the next part of the plan. It all rested on what Alpha had to say. If he could tell them exactly where Lucy was, it’d be a big help.

Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a small item. It was the key pass—the one Mr. Thorn had given him three weeks ago. He didn’t know if it would still work or not, or if they would need it or not, but as long as he had it, that was all that mattered.