The man who’d been on the porch interrupted her thoughts, storming out of his house holding a shotgun. He loaded the shells and jogged through his yard, heading right for the crater.
He yelled, firing aimlessly into the smoke.
A whirring noise came from inside of the crater, and a yellow beam of light glowed from beneath its rim. The light beam hit the man and he vanished into thin air. Maya watched it all, the instantaneous disintegration of a human being playing out as if in slow motion, the man’s shotgun bouncing off the concrete a moment later. Specks of ash were all that remained of the man’s clothing, floating through the air like fiery pollen.
Maya felt a tug on her arm and turned to see Reno yelling at her. She saw his mouth move, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying, her ears humming at a constant, high volume. Reno pointed ahead, and she then saw six or seven people running for a concrete ramp.
“Maya!”
She shook her head and finally heard his voice, although her ears continued to ring.
“I’m with you,” she said. “Down there.”
They hurried down the concrete ramp and slid fifteen feet into a drainage culvert, joining the others who were already taking cover there. Like World War I troops in trench warfare, Maya and Reno huddled with the others and put their hands over their heads.
Maya closed her eyes, trying to focus on Laura and Aiden. She couldn’t lose sight of what was most important. She would survive this, and she would get to them.
Several gunshots rang out, followed by the hooting of men and a shriek that sounded like a lion roaring through a megaphone. Maya lifted her head and looked up. She crawled forward, but Reno grabbed onto the rear pocket of her pants.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to see it.”
“See what?”
“Them. I have to see what they look like.”
“Maya! No! Stay here.”
“It’ll be okay.” She brushed his hand away and crawled up the cold, wet concrete. Reno called after her again, but she ignored him.
Maya reached the top and peered over, staying low.
Four men stood in the street twenty yards away, each holding a different caliber or type of gun, from a pistol to a semi-automatic rifle. Continuous rifle shots rang out like a string of firecrackers, each round disappearing into the cloud. It looked to Maya as though the men had been firing wildly into the smoke coming from the crater, but apparently, they had visuals on their targets.
Another high-pitched sound pierced the air, and the men hollered again.
“Whooooo!”
“We got that sumbitch!”
Something the size of large bear hit the ground. It was dark, but Maya could see the creature’s translucent skin—the color of light ash. It appeared as if it wore a polymer suit that had been molded to its lean, muscular frame. Boosters the size of soda cans sat on each hip and a protective shell wrapped around the being’s torso, which was ridged like an external ribcage. The thing had a bald head, but with what looked to be black, smooth glass covering its eye sockets. At first, Maya thought she saw steel teeth on it, until she realized that a thin, five-bar protective piece covering the creature’s mouth was part of a helmet or mask.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving.
Maya crawled out of sight and made her way back to Reno. She leaned back as more explosions sounded in the distance.
“What did you see?” Reno asked.
“I saw one of them. One of the aliens.”
“Aliens?” a woman on the other side of Reno repeated.
“What’s she talking about, Mom?” a little boy next to the woman asked.
“Nothing,” the woman said to her son. “Don’t listen to the crazy lady.”
Maya whispered into Reno’s ear. “There were men with guns, and they killed it. I saw them. The thing screamed and hit the ground. If every one of those things we saw flying through the air was one of these creatures, then it won’t matter how many guns we have inside of this dome—it won’t be enough. But at least we know they can be killed.”
“That’s good. But what do we do now? We can’t stay here.”
“No, but it’s as safe a place as any while we try to figure out what to do next.”
Maya thought again of her kids when she heard that guttural growl again. She looked at Reno.
“That sounded close,” he said.
“I have to see.”
Maya climbed up the side of the culvert again, raising her head over the top of it.
She gasped.
The creature the men had shot—and presumably killed—had gotten up. It had its back to her, and stood on two legs, over seven and a half feet tall. The men with guns had scattered.
“What are you?” Maya asked herself.
The creature turned its head to the side, and Maya saw a flicker from beneath the obsidian glass covering its right eye. Then it spun all the way around and faced her.
Maya ducked down quickly, her heart beating against her chest.
It saw me. It had to have seen me.
The creature let out a high-pitched shriek, and Maya heard its footsteps fading.
She took a deep breath and lifted her head to look over the top of the culvert again.
Nothing remained but the bitter tang of smoke and spent gunpowder. The alien creature was gone.
36
Maya slid down next to Reno’s side at the bottom of the culvert.
“Those things,” she said. “They just get right back up.”
“What did you see?” a man asked.
Reno stood, shifting all his weight onto his good ankle. He put his hand on Maya’s shoulder.
“What was it, Maya?” Reno asked.
Maya took a deep breath, her eyes vibrating inside of her skull. Twice, she began to tell Reno what she had seen, but both times she failed to find the words to describe the… alien.
“You all need to find shelter,” she said, deciding this wasn’t the time or place to discuss what they were. Where they were going seemed to be a higher priority. “It’s not safe here.”
“What did you see?” Reno asked, squeezing her shoulder.
Maya pushed his hand away. “That thing didn’t die! Those guys fired dozens of rounds into it, and they thought it was dead. But I watched it stand up and walk away like nothing had happened.”
The child who’d been next to Reno cried and his mother covered his ears. Several families had made it to the culvert along with five or six other random folks looking for cover.
“Get out of here with that talk,” the woman said. “You’re scaring my kids!”
“You’d better get them out of here. As far away as you can. All of you need to leave. Right now!”
The others talked and began to argue, conversations soon turning into a waterfall of angry accusations. Reno took Maya’s hand and gently pulled her away from the others.
“You’ve got to get a hold of yourself,” Reno said gently.
“Those aren’t paratroopers or the 181st Airborne. Those are aliens, and our weapons aren’t hurting them.”
“Okay, okay. But these people are already panicking. I’m not sure having them running off in all directions is the best thing to do, especially for the kids.”
Maya glanced down at the children clutching their mother, faces buried in her legs as she pulled them closer. The woman stared at Maya with narrowed eyes.
She’d only been trying to help, to save them from whatever those things were that had flown out of the ship. The one had looked at her. Right at her.