Earth: Population 2 (Paradise Lost Book 1) (2 page)

Hailey gave me a horrified look. “What are you doing?”

“Experimenting.” Instead of trying to pull the sides apart, I slid the two halves in opposite directions. The rock opened with a soft grating sound, revealing a circular chamber inside.

This is so not happening.

I reached in and pulled out a smooth black stone with symbols like chicken scratches carved on the largest surface.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Hailey peered over my shoulder. “It’s like an alien egg or something.”

“Not an egg.” Nothing alive could have survived that. “More like a message or a totem of some kind.”

Sirens blared in the distance. Of course someone would notice an asteroid the size of a Hummer barreling toward Earth. Soon, police would close off the area. The scientists and news reporters would come next.

Hailey dragged me toward the car. “We’ve got to go. Now.”

“Wait.” My conscience told me to leave the artifact for the scientists to examine. They were way more qualified than me. I turned back to the grass where I’d found it.

“You’re not going to leave it there, are you?”

Hailey surprised me. I didn’t think she’d let me take the rock into her truck. “You said it might have an alien disease.”

“Yeah, but you said yourself it’s too late for that—you already touched it. Besides, you could sell that on eBay for a bazillion dollars. Maybe you could raise enough money to quit your job and go to college?”

The thought tempted me, but something about it didn’t seem right. “It’s not mine.”

“Finders keepers. That thing nearly killed us. I say you deserve it.” Hailey opened the driver’s side door and pulled me into her truck. “You’re driving. I’m too smashed to function.”

Just as I reached the patched-up leather seat, a low, hissing noise came from behind me, followed by a series of strange clicks and beeps.

Busted. I whirled around, expecting a newscaster with a broken microphone or a policeman with a walkie-talkie. Movement from the other side of the clearing caught my eye. A shimmery white arm, so slender it looked emaciated, disappeared into the thick, bushy undergrowth just underneath the nearest stand of trees. A shiver crept up my spine as quiet discomfort sickened my stomach.

“What the hell was that?”

Hailey shoved the keys in my hand. “I don’t see anything. Now, drive!”

I closed the door, still holding the rock. Red and blue lights penetrated the main trail to our campsite, so I turned the wheel and took the smaller trail down the other side of the mountain.

“Where are you going?” Hailey grabbed my arm as the bumps rocked us back and forth like we were in some sort of giant washing machine.

“The only way I can.” I resisted the urge to bite my fingernails, a habit I reverted to whenever the weirdness hit the fan. I needed both hands for driving.

Branches scraped either side of the truck. The pickup was too wide to fit the trail, but we had no other choice. I pushed down the gas pedal, hoping sheer momentum would plow us through the dense foliage.

“My parents are going to kill me.” Hailey gritted her teeth and held onto the armrest.

I tightened my grip as the wheel jerked back and forth with the uneven terrain. “I’m sure they’d prefer a few scratches on their rusty pickup to having their only daughter arrested.”

A large sound thumped in the truck bed. I glanced in the rearview mirror, thinking I’d broken off some overhanging branch. A shimmer of silver slid across the mirror and disappeared. A cold shiver crawled over me. “Do you see anything?”

Hailey turned around, looking through the small window in the back.

She screamed, and I glanced over my shoulder while careening down the side of the hill. Trees obscured the light of the moon, casting the pickup in shadow. Long, white appendages, like giant spider legs, scraped against the glass.

Hailey rolled up her window. “Faster! Get rid of it!”

Fear grabbed hold of my throat, and I couldn’t speak or scream. Was it the thing I’d seen earlier in the woods? My gaze crept toward my wide-open window as dread crawled over me. I needed both hands to drive. I swerved back and forth until we hit trunks on either side.

“What is it?” Hailey scrambled against the dashboard, her arms braced against the seat.

A gut feeling told me it had something to do with the asteroid, but there was no way anything alive could have ridden it down to Earth. Impossible. Even for aliens. My mind cataloged all of the natural wildlife in the area: deer, black bears, frogs, sparrows. Nothing matched the strange, shimmery glow. “A ghost? An alien? I don’t know.”

The question distracted me from the road. We hit a massive bump, sending us both crashing into the ceiling as the truck became airborne. The world around me slowed, and a sense of numb shock pulled me from the scene as if I watched my demise.

The crash as we hit ground again snapped me out of my haze. Tires squealed as Hailey screamed her lungs out. Somehow the pickup landed all in one piece. I slammed on the gas, and we plowed ahead.

“What are you trying to do, kill us?” Hailey shouted. Her pretty face, already red from the heat burn, grew redder still.

“I’m just trying to get us out of here.” I eyed my open window. “Check again.”

Hailey shook her head. “I’m not looking back there.”

“You have to. I need to focus on the road.”

Hailey breathed in and out then jerked around and peeked through the window. “It’s gone.”

“Are you sure?”

“No. But I don’t see anything.”

The road widened onto pavement, and I breathed with relief. We weren’t dead. Maybe scared out of our minds, but definitely not dead. Or arrested. “Do you think the others made it back?”

“I hope so.” Hailey stared at the windshield with a blank gaze.

Shock could do that to people. I’d seen it on my mother’s face after they amputated her leg. I was only twelve, but I remembered the way she drew within herself, and away from me. She lost part of her mind that day, along with her leg. Part of her mind and part of her heart.

But Hailey would be all right. I kept telling myself that as I drove back to her house. She might have an evil sunburn for the next week, but she still had both legs. And she was still going to UCLA. Endless groceries loomed in my future.

Nothing had changed, yet my world seemed like it would never be the same. In lieu of everything that had happened, I owed Hailey an apology. I’d ridden my anger too far.

I pulled into the driveway and parked next to her barn. Shouts came from inside, so at least we didn’t have to deal with her parents right away. We could make up some story to explain the damage.

I turned the engine off and spoke for the first time since we’d hit the smooth pavement.

“Hell of a night.”

Hailey nodded.

I smoothed my fingers over the runes on the rock. Guilt rolled over me in a thick, murky mess. “I should give this to the scientists.”

“And implicate all of us?” Hailey shook her head, looking more like herself. “No way. Like I said, wait a few weeks then try to sell it on eBay.”

“And what are you going to do?”

She shrugged. “Tell my parents I stayed too long in the tanning bed and try to forget.”

Somehow, I didn’t think I’d forget anytime soon. “Come on. Let’s get out of the truck and see the damage.”

Hailey nodded, and we both got out and circled the vehicle. Both sides had a latticework of scrapes and a few large dents as big as my head.

More guilt spread on top of the guilt already there, like a stack of guilt pancakes. I’d wrecked her paint job, and I had no money to help her pay for it. “What are you going to say?”

She shook her head. “Not much. I’ll let them come to their own conclusions.”

“Will they ground you?”

She gave me a look of resignation. “My dad will have a fit, but I’ll be off to college soon, and they can’t do a thing.”

I leaned on the back of the pickup, feeling awful. “Jeez, Hailey. I ruined your truck.”

“No, you saved our butts.” She put both hands on my shoulders. Her voice fell to a whisper. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, which is why I push you to think outside the box you’ve put yourself in. When the going gets tough, you truly shine. Like tonight. You saved my life.”

She had too much faith in me. So much, it almost gave me hope I’d find way out of my abysmal situation. I smiled as all my anger with her melted away. “It was the least I could do, considering you saved my butt on the English final.”

“That was easy. I just let you borrow my CliffsNotes.” She smiled back, and a warm glow spread through me.

“Listen, I’m sorry I got mad at you back there in the woods. I want you to go to UCLA. I want to you to follow your dream.”

“Really?”

“Really. Go out there and become the best Jane Eyre historian in the world.”

She laughed. “It’s Jane Austen. Jane Eyre was a character in Charlotte Bronte’s book, remember?”

I shook my head. I did not want to relive British Authors class. “If it was a science book, I’d remember.”

“And if it was a science book, I’d toss it.” Hailey put both hands on my shoulders. “That’s why we get along so well. We respect each other’s differences.”

I nodded. Hopefully she’d respect my feelings—or lack thereof—for Mike. “BFFs forever, right?”

“Right.”

Her eyes wandered beyond me, and her sweet smile disappeared into a horrified gape. My chest tightened as I turned my head to the bed of the pickup. A glimmering, clear substance oozed off the back window. Tiny circles had been pressed into the glass, reminding me of the cheap suncatchers I hung on the kitchen window of my apartment. I licked the plastic suction cups and then stuck them on the glass. They always fell off, so I kept sticking them back on, leaving circles on the dusty window.

But, these circles weren’t made by my mom’s suncatchers.

CHAPTER TWO

TONGUE IN CHEEK

June 23, 2013, 11:59 a.m.

A carton of Save ’n Shop orange juice.
Beep.

A bunch of asparagus.
Beep.

Bananas. I typed in the code as they sat on the scale. Four oh one one.
Beep.

Wow, this person is really healthy.
I glanced up at the middle-aged woman in the Nordstrom yoga pants and halter top.
Yup, that made sense.

I know it was wrong and totally judgmental, but I liked to compare the groceries to the customers. A lot of times, what they bought told me more about them than polite conversation would have.

I hit the total button. “Do you have any coupons?”

She gave me a look that said,
Does it look like I have coupons?
I hated asking, but the shift leader insisted. It always made people feel guilty, like they weren’t saving enough money.

She held her card over the swipe machine. “No coupons.”

I nodded. “That will be forty-two dollars and ninety-nine cents.”

I bagged the groceries as the woman swiped her card. Gertrude was the only bagger working today, and she moved like an ancient turtle on Ambien. Not only that, but she stayed at the same lane all day long, leaving me to do both jobs on my own. I swear, Linda, the other cashier, slipped her a dollar bill just to get her to stay.

Mom’s Medicare and disability only went so far. I needed every dollar I had to pay rent and buy groceries and prescriptions. I couldn’t hand out lavish bribes.

A pack of gum bounced on my belt, and I looked up to see Hailey standing in line.

I leaned forward and whispered, “I’m not supposed to ring through family and friends.”

She pushed the gum toward me. “Come on, the shift leader is busy with spilled milk in aisle ten.”

I glanced around. “Use the self-checkout or the ten items or less.”

She crossed her arms. “I’m the customer. I can do whatever I want.”

I sighed, ringing through the gum. You’d be surprised how many people show up at the ten items or less lane with at least twenty items. It’s not like they can’t count.

I stuck the gum in a plastic bag. “Do you have any coupons?”

“WTF, Julie? It’s a pack of gum.”

“I’m supposed to ask.”

“And I’m supposed to eat vegetables five times a day, but I don’t.” She opened her pink-floral Vera Bradley purse and handed me two dollars. “What time do you get off?”

I stared at the clock, which refused to tick faster. Had it been noon for the last hour? “Five. Why?”

“A bunch of us are going to Lookout Point tonight, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with us.”

Last night had been enough for me. Did she want a repeat? Or was she already trying to forget? I handed her the change. “I have to make dinner for my mom.”

She slipped the coins in her purse. “What about after that, like, say, seven?”

I considered her offer. It was either that or watch
Dancing with the Stars
while Mom snored. “Is Mike going to be there?”

She shrugged and gave me her poker face. “Maybe.”

“Hailey, Lookout Point is a make-out place.”

“So?” She took her gum. “You don’t have to make out.”

I checked to make sure the shift leader hadn’t returned yet. “I want to spend time with you, not all these other people.”

“And you will. Tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven.” It wasn’t a question.

Before I could answer, Hailey jogged through the automatic doors.

Five hours and thirty loaves of bread later, I turned the key and opened the door to our apartment. Grocery bags hanging off my arms, I shouted. “Mom, I’m home.”

For the first time in a long time, she didn’t answer me. Panic froze my guts, and I dropped the groceries by the door. “Mom?” I checked the kitchen then the living room.

She sat in her wheelchair in front of the TV. Footage of the asteroid flickered on the screen. “Have you heard about this?” She spoke without looking at me.