“Check on Matthews!”
John looked over the back of the chair and gave Reno a thumbs-up. “He’s still alive.”
Reno was glad they’d had the time to strap Matthews down, but the erratic and violent shakes of the JLTV under attack would worsen the sergeant’s condition and make it even less likely they’d get the man medical attention in time. Reno pushed himself back up into his seat and looked out the back window to see if the shape in the sky had gotten any closer.
He gazed around, but saw nothing.
“Where did it go?”
John shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Switch seats with me, Reno,” Reynolds said. “I’m going to try and get a visual and unload some fire.”
Reynolds grabbed his rifle from the floorboards before him and unstrapped himself. He squeezed between the seats and sat down before Reno moved up to the front seat. He was sure to strap himself in this time, locking his seatbelt over his lap with a firm click.
Reynolds opened the window and pointed the rifle outside.
“You have a visual?” Braxton asked.
“Negative.”
Reno scanned the sky and tried to find the target. He saw nothing. Then he turned around to John.
“How’s Matthews?”
“Same, man. We’ve just got to get him to the base soon or...”
“Working on it,” Braxton said. “We’re only a few miles from—”
Reno recoiled and ducked down below the dashboard, the glass above him shattering. He felt the JLTV jerk and, when he looked to the driver’s seat, his eyes went wide.
Braxton was gone.
Somehow, Reno had the sense to reach over and take the wheel. Without a foot on the pedal, however, the JLTV had decelerated—the slight incline and gravity slowing it down. Reno unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped over into the driver’s seat. His hands and legs shook as he stomped the gas and straightened the wheel.
“What happened?” John asked.
“I don’t know. Did you see it?” Reno asked.
“Some laser beam came out of nowhere and got Braxton,” Reynolds said.
“Got him?” John pointed at the front seat. “It fucking evaporated him, man!”
“Just keep your foot on the gas,” Reynolds said. “We’re not far from the base.”
“Can you see whatever is shooting at us?” Reno asked.
“Negative. But you’ll know when I do, because I’m gonna pump it full of lead.”
Reno kept his eyes on the road ahead while muffled explosions rolled toward them from every direction, sounding like several summer thunderstorms all firing at once. Laser beam flashes lit the asphalt, vehicles blowing up and catching fire where the concentrated energy hit full gas tanks. Reno kept his foot on the gas and swerved to miss vehicles and debris in the road.
Behind him, Reynolds screamed and fired off the assault rifle. Reno recoiled and clenched the wheel before him, the sound like nothing he’d ever heard. He had been around guns before, but he’d never had an assault weapon fired from such a close range. His ears rang and the smoke burned his eyes, but he managed to keep the JLTV on the road.
He looked over the dashboard and into the sky, trying to locate the alien craft that had attacked them, but he saw nothing.
Reynolds stopped firing.
“Did you get it?” John asked.
Reynolds was silent.
“Did you fucking shoot it?” John asked again, raising his voice this time.
“Shut the fuck up!” Reynolds said.
Reno heard a mechanical whirring noise. He glanced out the side window and saw a light in the distance. The beam grew in intensity as it raced across the ground and headed right for their vehicle.
But it wasn’t a laser. This seemed to be a tracking device, which Reno realized as soon as he saw the object following it. A flying alien.
It swarmed toward the JLTV as Reynolds screamed and fired the rifle again. Reno glanced over to see the bullets bouncing off the alien’s armor like it was rubber. Regardless, Reynolds kept firing.
They came over a hill and Reno saw the exit sign for Fort Campbell.
The alien fired its laser beam before flying back into the sky, missing the JLTV as Reno continued to swerve across the highway while flooring the gas.
Reno followed the signs to the base as he made several quick turns, eventually coming to a long stretch of road with the base at the end of it.
“If you can get to the base before it dives again, the alien won’t be able to see us,” Reynolds said.
“What? How do you know that?”
“Trust me. Just keep the pedal to the metal!”
Reno pushed down harder, feeling as though he might punch his foot right through the floorboards.
Now they were only a quarter of a mile from Fort Campbell’s gate, the alien changed its flight trajectory and came around to the driver’s side. Reno looked up, seeing the creature’s armor-covered body. The hard, green, scaly plates sat beneath tubes that pulsed from within. Before he could blink, a laser beam appeared on the alien’s right side and cut through the darkness, the point of it blinding Reno.
“Hang on!” He slammed on the brakes as the alien fired. The beam missed, blowing away another abandoned vehicle instead. Reno then punched the gas again as the creature circled around for another dive at the vehicle.
Ahead, the front gate to Fort Campbell opened, and the brightest spotlight Reno had ever seen hit him in the face. He covered his eyes with his left arm while keeping his right hand on the wheel, hitting the brakes as soon as they had driven through the gate.
Once stopped, Reno moved his hands from the steering wheel to his ears as the sound from the sky threatened to blow out his eardrums. It had to have come from the alien, the scream sounding like a wounded lion and an alley cat combined. When he looked out the side window, he saw the spotlight following the alien’s now erratic flight pattern. The creature seemed to be writhing in mid-air like a helicopter without the rear blades. He watched it all unfold in the spotlight’s beam, and that’s when it all clicked.
They can’t take the light.
That was why they’d domed Nashville and darkened it from the inside out, to keep out the light.
The alien’s scream faded as it flew into the distance. When it was gone, the spotlight shut off. Reno saw spots in his vision, but he also saw two headlights getting bigger as a vehicle raced toward them.
A JLTV matching their own approached and pulled up beside Reno. A man with black hair and the shadow of a beard sat in the driver’s seat.
“Y’all okay?”
“We’ve got an injured soldier in the back,” Reno said.
“All right. Follow me back into the compund. And welcome to Fort Campbell.”
20
24 hours earlier
Maya turned the nut again with the rusty wrench, but it was no use. Smoke billowed outward from the engine, and despite her mechanical skills, there was no fixing the truck. She stood and sighed, kicking the chrome bumper.
“You can’t fix it?” Cameron asked. “I thought you were good with this kinda stuff.”
“Not unless you’ve got a spare radiator in that overpriced handbag of yours. And Gerald wondered why I didn’t want him picking our kids up in this piece of crap.”
Cameron stuck out her arms and looked around. “What are we supposed to do now? Look where we are!”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should have listened to me and taken the interstate.”
Cameron had insisted on taking back roads. She’d said it was faster, and that they’d be able to stay out of trouble by taking less traveled roads. She’d been right on that, as they hadn’t encountered anyone, human or alien. But Cameron hadn’t accounted for the fact that back roads also put them in the middle of nowhere if something went wrong.