“And nobody tried to stop you?” I asked.
“We never got close to any of the planes that were active. If we had, it might have been different. I know the plan your Chiefs have put together. Chiefs. I love that.”
I looked at Kent, who shrugged. “I didn’t say anything.”
“It can work, so long as you don’t come upon a plane that’s alive.”
“We know that,” I assured him. “We’ve already crossed paths with a few. They can see.”
“They cannot see,” the old man said sharply. “But they have eyes. They are merely the tools of someone who is not of this earth.”
“You mean, like… aliens?” Kent asked.
“I mean no one from this earth is capable of committing such wicked crimes against their own kind.”
Sobering words, and completely true.
“You must go quickly,” the old man said, suddenly all business. “Who will drive?”
“I’ll drive Olivia,” I said quickly. “Tori, you drive Kent.”
“I’m driving,” Kent said and sat down in the driver’s side of one of the buggies.
It didn’t matter to me who drove. I just didn’t want Kent and Olivia to suddenly disappear.
“I will wait here until you return,” the man said. “If you are not back by midnight, I will assume you will not be coming.”
“We’ll be back,” Kent said cockily. “Once you start hearing the booms, be ready.”
He fired up his buggy while Tori slid next to him and strapped on her safety belt. Olivia and I got into our vehicle and strapped in. The old man passed helmets to each of us.
“Once you reach the other side, you might consider leaving the road. It is wide-open space over there.”
“Thanks,” I said.
The old man reached out his hand and gave me a firm handshake. He tapped Olivia on the shoulder in a grandfatherly gesture.
“Any Indian blessing you can give us?” Kent called out.
“Sure,” the old man said. He raised his arms to the heavens and chanted, “Oh great god of the sky, look over these children and offer them protections so they do not get their asses shot off.”
He looked to Kent and added, “How’s that, Kemosabe?”
Kent gave him a thumbs-up.
With that, I started our engine. It was like being behind the wheel of the go-karts in Denver—times a hundred. These buggies had juice. We were fully encased by a roll bar, though I didn’t plan on doing any driving that might end in a roll.
Kent had said it best. Get in fast, get out even faster.
I hit the gas, spun the wheel, and the buggy lurched forward. I led the way, driving back for the dirt road and the hills beyond. The vehicles were so loud that there was no way we could talk without screaming. Just as well. Olivia wasn’t in the mood for conversation. She was curled up in her seat in the fetal position, hugging the roll bar. I was worried that when it came time for her to move on her own, she’d freeze. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I kept quietand focused on driving..
The old man was right. The moon was full, so the desert was lit up like daytime. Good news was that we didn’t have to use our headlights. Bad news was that it would be easier for us to be seen from the sky. Or the base.
The road gained elevation quickly as it snaked through the hills. A look back showed me that Kent and Tori weren’t following closely. Our tires were kicking up a lot of dust, and they had to hang back or choke on it.
We all had our small packs with the charges between our legs— a vulnerable place to hold explosives, to say the least. I had to keep reminding myself that there was no way they could go off. I envisioned Cutter on that stage dropping the charge and stomping on it. It helped to manage my panic.
We passed a few signs that were difficult to read because of our speed, but the bold headlines were clear enough. I caught the words “Restricted Area” and “No Trespassing.” That meant we were inside the first security boundary that had kept curious alien-seeking tourists away for decades. All it did was amp up my adrenalin.
After ten minutes of twisting, bouncing, and coughing through kicked-up dirt, we crested the ridge and got our first view of the desert floor beyond. I skidded to a stop and killed the engine. Kent drove up right next to us and stopped as well. It was going to take a few minutes to process what we were seeing.
I could understand why the military had chosen this place to test their planes. The desert floor stretched out in front of us for what looked like hundreds of miles in every direction. It was a dead-flat natural airfield surrounded by protective mountains.
Straight ahead, maybe thirty miles away, was the airbase known as Area 51. It was nestled at the base of a small ridge of mountains that loomed up behind it.
The base was lit. It had power.
The buildings were dark, but the lights on the ground outlined the runways. It looked like a medium-sized airport, complete with large hangars and many smaller buildings that could have been for maintenance, or manufacturing, or offices, or vaults to hide aliens, for all I knew. There was nothing about the physical base itself that seemed out of the ordinary.
The stunner was what we saw on the runways.
They were there. The black planes. Hundreds of them. Many hundreds. They were lined up, curved wing to curved wing, looking like a massive school of dark stingrays waiting to wipe out what was left of mankind.
“If we’re primates,” Tori said, stunned, “what are they?”
Olivia was whimpering. I didn’t blame her. The sight of these murderous planes was beyond disturbing. Knowing that they were preparing to set out on another killing spree to wipe out those they missed the first time around was almost too much to comprehend.
Almost.
Seeing these planes may have been sobering, but it also forced me to focus on the job at hand.
“We came here to fight back,” I said. “I never thought we’d make it this far, but here we are. We’ve got the chance to shut this place down, and I believe we’re going to do it.”
“Now you’re talking, commander,” Kent said and clapped me on the back.
“But for how long?” Tori asked. “Are these all the planes they have? Or can they just build more?”
“We aren’t the only survivors,” I said. “There are millions of others. Taking out these planes might buy time for a real counterattack. Who knows? Maybe it’ll come from SYLO. If we knock the Retros off-balance, it might give SYLO a chance to finish them off.”
“SYLO?” Kent said, surprised. “Since when did you start rooting for those jack wagons?”
“We think they were trying to protect Pemberwick Island, Kent,” Tori said.
“By trying to kill us?” Kent asked, incredulous.
I wasn’t about to tell them what Granger had said about one of my friends being an infiltrator.
I said, “All I know is that the planes from this base wiped out three-quarters of the world’s population. Who would you rather side with? Monsters who consider us to be worthless animals? Or the people trying to stop them?”
“I’ll side with the winner,” Olivia said sadly.
“All right,” I declared. “Then let’s win.”
“No!” Tori cried.
“No?” Kent asked, incredulous.
“Shut up!” Tori shouted. “Something’s in the air.”
We heard it before we saw it. It was a helicopter. The sound of the engine was unmistakable, and it was getting louder.
“Let’s go!” I shouted and ran for the dune buggy.
Kent and Tori jumped into theirs, and we all strapped in quickly.
“It has to be SYLO,” Tori called out. “The Retros don’t fly choppers.”
“Let’s hope they really are trying to protect us,” Kent shouted.
“Let’s hope they don’t lure out any Retros,” I called back.