I offered him my hand and pulled him to his feet. He wiped his eyes dry with the back of his dirty arm before stumbling back to his big truck. It was big enough to do some serious damage to James’ Jeep. “Watch yourselves. These bastards are here for our blood. I know it.”
He left and James stood there looking at the back of his Jeep. Other vehicles were pulling to the side of the street, passing by the damaged vehicle. Some were honking and yelling from their windows. James flipped a few the bird.
“James, let’s get your Jeep moved to the curb and you can hop in with me. Where were you going, anyway?” I asked.
James climbed in the driver’s seat and drove off the road, onto the grass beside the curb. The back of the Jeep was crushed. “I was heading out of town. I didn’t know what to do. I guess I wanted to head into the city. I figured they would have a better defense in New York than our hick town.”
Most of the traffic I’d seen on the television was cars heading out of the metropolises, not into them. I wondered if James’ logic was sound or crazy. I wasn’t sure at this point.
“Well, I have a couple errands to run. Want to come with me? We may as well stick together.” I looked him in the eye. “We don’t have anyone else around to watch over us.”
James smirked again and hopped out of the Jeep. He sauntered over and put his arm around my shoulders. “You got it, bud. Where are we off to?”
“Word is Happy Hut is open, and I want to get some supplies before things head south and the looting begins.” He gave me a doubtful look. “Seriously. It happens every time in the movies, so I’m not taking any chances. Then I have one more place to hit.”
Soon we were on our way down the side streets, passing by sidewalks full of sky-gawkers. The ships appeared to not have moved at all, still six above our town and holding. The traffic was light heading towards downtown, and ten minutes later, we were pulling up to the Happy Hut. The parking lot was semi-full, but not as bad as I thought it would be. As I pulled into a spot, the radio announcer was talking about Russia firing missiles at the ships as the sun went down overseas; no reaction from the ships. No damage, no retaliation.
The line-up inside the small grocery store was about seven deep.
“You go grab some lighters, toilet paper, a couple newspapers, and a box cutter. I’m going for water, protein bars, and batteries,” I said, and we split up. People were milling around the aisles talking amongst themselves. Are they going to contact us soon? Did the government know they were coming? Should I have gone in to work today? I tried to ignore their conversations, but they were asking some good questions I doubted any of us could answer.
I turned the corner to see two women arguing over a jar of baby food. It appeared it was the last one. They both had their hands clamped tight around it, and soon they would be in an all-out brawl if this didn’t get resolved.
“Ladies, there’s enough going on. Let’s settle this like adults,” I offered.
“Go to hell!” the blonde spat.
“Yeah! Who the hell do you think you are? I was here first!” the other called.
“No you weren’t!”
They pushed each other and the blonde fell to the ground, hitting her head on the floor. The other grabbed the food and left, without so much as a worried glance at her fallen adversary. I couldn’t believe how fast animal instinct took over when a person felt threatened. Any other day and this would never have happened. As the blonde lady came to, I spotted a case of baby food sitting on the shelf below. Classic. I helped her to her feet, and she groggily thanked me as I handed her the case of food.
I grabbed the things I needed, throwing them into a basket, and added some mini-propane tanks and the rest of the D batteries. It surprised me that any of this stuff was still here. My heart sped up when I felt the envelope in my pocket. James had distracted me from my original purpose for leaving my house, and I had to get moving before it was too late.
I found James in the snack aisle and pulled him to the checkout. There were eight people now, and the owner was moving like a snail. Sweat was running down my back as I thought back to my wife’s words, and I grabbed my wallet, estimating the value of my stuff. I figured it was about sixty bucks, so I pulled out eighty and dropped it on the checkout till.
I received a few curse words for my trouble as I headed out the front door but didn’t really care. I had somewhere to get to – and fast.
“What a jerk! At least you paid him for it. I’m sure there’ll be a few looters before this is over.” James waved his hand at the gray ship hovering over town.
“Let’s get out of here. One more stop, then off to home. You want to come stay with me until whatever this is, is over?” I knew James probably wasn’t looking forward to going back to his apartment alone right now, and I could use the company too.
“You got it, buddy. We forgot one thing, then.”
“What’s that?” I asked, seeing that typical mischievous look in his eyes.
“Beer and pizza.” He laughed, and I joined him.
“I’m sure we can scrounge some of that up from my fridge. I’m a single man, after all.” It was more likely I had veggies and fruit at home: one of the many promises I’d made to my wife as she lay on her deathbed.
THREE
The streets on this side of town were quiet, and it only took ten minutes to get to my destination. We pulled up and I stopped at the keypad, truck window open. I could hear sirens blasting across the town: a mixture of fire and ambulance, with a hint of police. I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and opened it. The key slid out, as did a small piece of paper. 3691 was written on it. I punched that sequence into the pad and the gate in front of the truck slid open.
“What could we possibly be doing at a storage facility? There are aliens above us and you’re here looking for what? A dining room chair?” James didn’t hide his annoyance.
“Something important. Something Janine told me was important.” My voice was quiet and James just shrugged.
I drove along the path, passing countless storage units, until I reached the one by the back fence with the light hanging over it. I hadn’t been here since just after she’d died. I felt myself about to lose it and took a deep breath as the memories flooded my mind. I exhaled and threw the truck in park. I could do this.
I twisted the key into the padlock and it turned smoothly, even after being untouched for over two years. James grabbed the handle and lifted the sliding door up; it squeaked from its non-lubricated wheels. Daylight peeked inside the mostly empty space. I’d always intended on getting rid of more of my furniture because it reminded me too much of my wife. After some time, that was the very same reason I couldn’t bear to part with it. A few things from my bachelor days were stacked in the corner on a dark brown couch. I wasn’t here to reminisce about my past. I was here for something else.
I almost felt it calling me from inside one of the large plastic storage containers. James leaned against the wall, watching me through squinted eyes as I walked over to it. I opened the lid and found all of Janine’s mementos from our lives together. There were little notes she’d left me on the fridge; drawings on napkins from Michaels, our favorite little Italian restaurant; and a small jewelry box. I slowly opened the felt-covered box and saw exactly what I’d expected to find. Her wedding ring, and the necklace she’d never taken off for a minute the whole time I’d known her.
Three Years Earlier