No, they couldn’t stay here. Even without the imminent and inevitable return of the aliens, they couldn’t stay. And couldn’t the spaceship train a laser on this base at any moment? Sure, the soldiers had some defenses and had been able to use the big lights to turn back a few attacks, but what if the aliens decided it was time to take out this anthill once and for all? What if an entire fleet showed up, lasers blasting?
The questions came faster as Maya’s pace picked up. So much for a restful afternoon before dinner.
She’d been walking through so many corridors that she couldn’t quite tell which ones she’d already been down and which ones she hadn’t. It wasn’t until she recognized the bandana tied to the door handle, the one that had been around Reno’s neck, that she began to realize how few choices remained. He was probably in there resting, like she should have been. Or maybe he was plotting to leave.
If they couldn’t stay here, though, where would they go?
She’d seen what had happened to Nashville, the death and destruction that would take decades to recover from even if the aliens high-tailed it back to their cosmic home tonight. And her city wasn’t the only place with a dome. From what she’d heard, many cities across the globe had been domed, and most of those domes were still in place.
Would she whisk Aiden and Laura away to a cabin in the mountains somewhere? An abandoned farmhouse in southern Ohio? Then what? Maya wasn’t exactly made for country living unless working on a Mustang counted as being a rancher. And even if she could find such a place, and even if the aliens couldn’t, what would come next? She couldn’t imagine the three of them getting her mother and then living the rest of their natural lives milking cows, churning butter, and strumming an acoustic guitar around the campfire at night.
Reno wanted to leave, and she knew he’d take her and the kids with him. But he hadn’t seen what Luke, Cameron, and Maya had seen on the road. It wasn’t just the aliens anymore. Roving gangs of rapists and thieves had filled the space between law and extraterrestrial threats. Just because you left the base and found a secluded place to live didn’t mean you were safe.
It was hard to tell what Gerald wanted, either, and as much as she’d warmed up to Cameron, the girl was still his puppet. Gerald would be loyal to his men, and he’d clearly achieved some level of rank after things had gone south. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, he was still the father of her children, and he had a right to have some input in what was next for them.
At some point, Maya’s feet had brought her back to her room, its door open and the light on. The hard, fluorescent lights and military-grade mattress didn’t inspire visits from the sandman.
She stepped inside, shut the door, and laid down on the bed. Maya had never been much of an afternoon napper, but intellectual strain had brought a fatigue that might fade with a few stolen hours before dinner. She set an alarm to go off in ninety minutes, shut the lights off, and pulled the cover over her head.
32
When Maya arrived in the lounge for dinner, Gerald, Reno, Cameron, Laura, Aiden, and Luke had already sat down at a table. She stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at everyone’s smiling faces as they laughed and joked together. Cameron was the first to notice her, looking her way with a big grin on her face.
“Hey!”
The others waved, greeting her and saying her name.
“We weren’t sure you were ever going to wake up,” Gerald said.
“It was only a few hours.” Maya didn’t go on the attack. That was as friendly as Gerald would get, too, so she decided to let it ride.
Cameron moved her hair out of her face and chuckled. “Been a rough couple of days.”
“You know it,” said Maya.
“Well, come in here and take your mind off it,” Cameron said.
“I even grabbed a plate of this, um, ‘food’ for you.” Aiden pushed the plate to an open spot at the table next to him. Someone had had the idea to put the contents of the MREs and canned goods on plates, but it was still canned food—slightly microwaved.
Maya walked over and kissed her son on the top of his head, and thanked him before sitting down.
As she took the first bite of mashed potatoes that scorched her tongue but had frozen chunks in the middle, Maya looked around the table. “So, what were you guys laughing so much about?”
“Uh, well, Dad was just telling some funny stories,” Laura said.
“Yeah? About what?”
No one replied, and when Maya looked up again, everyone was staring right at her. She swallowed her food, put down her fork, and stared coldly at Gerald.
“What are you telling them?”
Gerald put his hands up. “Nothing.”
“We never knew how good of an ice skater you were, Mom.” Aiden looked at Laura, the siblings exchanging grins.
The group laughed again.
Maya stared at Gerald. She couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head. “You had to tell them that story?”
On their second date, Gerald had suggested they go ice skating. It had surprised her because he hadn’t seemed like the kind who would be into skating, especially being a Southerner. But she had agreed to go, figuring it would be fun and a way to cut loose. And she’d been really into him. The problem was that she had only skated once in her life, at a friend’s birthday party in the 3rd grade. Gerald, on the other hand, had been skating with his buddies every weekend through most of high school. He’d been able to pick her up every time she’d fallen to the ice.
“It was so funny,” Gerald said. “You tried hard, but you weren’t any good. You looked like a drunk duck. And then, on our next date, you were sitting all uncomfortably at dinner and wouldn’t tell me why.”
“Yeah, well, if you had seen the bruises on my backside, you would have understood.” Maya couldn’t help but laugh, and everyone joined in.
“We had some good times,” Gerald said.
In the uncomfortable silence, Maya happened to glance at Reno, who along with Cameron, we’re the only two in the room not smiling. Reno looked down at his plate as soon as Maya looked at him. Aiden reached over and took Maya’s hand.
“I’m really glad you’re here, Mom.”
“Me, too, sweetie.”
Gerald sighed and stood up. “I’ll gladly toast to that.” He held up his plastic cup filled with watered-down tea. “Here’s to my lovely ex-wife, Maya, my beautiful girlfriend, Cameron, and our new friend, Luke.”
Everyone stood and brought their cups up to the center of the table to toast. Reno held up his cup, as well, but his eyes were on the door.
“I guess I should also toast to our new, great life here,” Gerald said with a sarcastic grin on his face.
Reno looked at Gerald then, his face contorting into a snarl. He slammed his cup down on the table, its contents splashing up and onto the others seated around the table. Then Reno moved toward the door.
“Whoa, Reno,” Maya said.
“Yeah, dude, what’s your problem?” Gerald asked.
“What’s my problem? I don’t know, maybe I don’t want to be sitting around pretending everything is cool, waiting for those things to attack us.”
“You’re not going to find a better place to go than here, but if you want to leave, then leave. I’m sure as hell not stopping you.”
Reno crossed his arms over his chest and spun his entire body to face Maya.
“What?” she asked.
“Your kids aren’t safe here, Maya.”
“Those are my kids, too, you bastard. You don’t have a damn right to tell her what to do with them.”
Maya narrowed her eyes as she turned on Gerald. “No, he doesn’t. But neither do you.”