Earth (The Invasion Trilogy Book 1) (15 page)

“Could you stay with me tonight? I just… I don’t want to feel alone.”

Her vulnerability eats at me, there is no way I’d deny her anything. The fact that I’m desperate not to leave her anyway is just a bonus.

I take my shoes off, deciding to brave taking my pants off
, too. I still have on my briefs and I leave my t-shirt on as well. I close the curtains as I move around the side of the bed, noting the handgun is resting on the dresser beside Mattie. Covered in darkness, I slip under the covers, moving down until my feet hug the edges and my head rests over the pillow. I get one second to calm myself down before Mattie leans into me, placing her head over my chest as her arm snakes over my stomach. Her naked legs rest next to my still body, and I resist the urge that wants me to pull her closer, to have her flush against me and lifting her over me. These are urges I’ve never had before, and I’m embarrassed by the reaction my body is having. I’m completely hard and terrified that Mattie might realise this.

I don’t think friends would have that reaction to each other
, and I don’t want to lose my first and only friend, so I stay completely still, listening to Mattie’s breathing, relaxing a little when I notice it deepens as she falls asleep. I focus on that sound, trying to calm myself down and just enjoy the fact that I have this closeness to her for tonight. I have no doubt tomorrow things will go back to how they’ve been before.

***

The next day, we leave the house.  We’re fully stocked with more food and full bottles of water. Logan appears to be in a better mood and decides to ask Mattie and me questions nonstop. Some I struggle to answer, like my favourite wiggle, my favourite food or even my favourite colour. These are questions that would come naturally for a human, or at least, understanding would be easy. I, however, struggle, thinking it is partly because I have to lie. What makes it even harder is the fact that neither of them appears to be suspicious of my answers. I know Mattie most likely finds my hesitation a response to trying to translate my answers for Logan, yet it eats me up inside to know they trust me enough not to lie.

Mattie appears to be in a better mood
, too, thankfully. I’m even lucky enough to receive a few smiles from her. I’m not sure what last night meant to her, but I think that I did what she needed. I didn’t have to say the right words; I just needed to hold her and be there for her.

We walk along the dirt road, hoping to find more signs of civilization and to stumble on Hank and Lisa. I know how unlikely such a thing will be, and I try to think about how to break this fact to Mattie. She feels like a failure when she sets out
with the goal of finding them each day and isn’t able to manage to do that impossible task. She’s admitted that to me last night, so how do I get her to change her mind?

We don’t even know if Hank, Lisa and the girls are even still on Earth. Perhaps they were taken already? I won’t entertain the thought that the hinema might have harmed them. I don’t see them hurting Lisa and the girls, but I definitely think Hank wo
uldn’t go down without a fight, which will ensure a battle from the hinema.

I’m lost so deeply in these thoughts that it takes me a moment for my ears to register the sound I’m hearing is a child’s laugh in the breeze moving passed us.
We’re getting close to people that are still alive. The voices have carried a long way, and by the time we move through more trees, we find ourselves looking out over a winery. A sign states it is Mount Baker Vineyards and there are long aisles of grape vines between us and a small cottage-like building in the distance.

It would be a beautiful sight if it weren’t for the machines that are descending on the winery in the distance. Thankfully
, they are on the other side and away from us, but they’re heading in our direction. Why? Can they actually track humans? Was my locating chip only a part of how we were being discovered?

“Look, there’s Hank!” Mattie hisses, taking a step towards him, but halting herself when she stares at the
hinema.

“What’s he doing?” I ask her, watching as Hank runs out of the small cottage and sprints into the vines
, causing us to lose sight of him.

“I don’t know, but he needs our help.” She nods at the two hinemas who are clearly moving after him. They’d caught sight of his movement and they’re either determined to catch him or kill him.

“What should we do?” I ask her, knowing she won’t agree to turning and running back the way we’ve come. She’d never leave Hank here in trouble.

“Take Logan and get him to safety
; I’ll go after Hank and try to surprise the machines from behind, take them out with the gun.”

“No, that’s too dangerous.” She wants us to separate? No way
! Not going to happen!

“If we don’t help Hank, then he’s dead. Take Logan,” she demands, pushing Logan to walk in my direction.

“I’ll go after Hank; you stay with Logan,” I suggest.

“I don’t have time to argue. You’re not fast on your feet; your knee is still injured. I can do this. If we get separated for whatever reason, just head back to that first house.”

I don’t like it, and I have no intention of agreeing with her, but she pulls out the handgun, already loaded, and then runs towards the vines before I can get out a word of protest out.

I’m ready to chase after her, but Logan holds out his hands to me, his eyes pleading with me not to leave him. He looks terrified
, and I see his small frame shaking. I can’t take him with me if I go after Mattie, but I also can’t leave him alone out here in the open.

I growl, angry that I feel stuck. I grab hold of him, rushing us back along the trail
as I look for a suitable place to hide him. There is only open space between us and where Mattie has run, and the forest still moving along the side of this area is too far away to get to. Not without leaving Mattie on her own for too long.

“
M’Dude, I’m scared,” Logan whispers to me as I turn back, hearing gunfire going off.

I make a quick decision and sprint towards the forest with Logan in my arms, needing to give him the best head start I can manage. I have no choice but to leave him alone. I need to make sure Mattie is okay; I can’t let her sacrifice herself.

I ignore the twinge in my knee and overlook my lungs that protest as I barely allow myself to breathe in. I put all my strength into getting closer to the distant forest and then I smell the smoke.

I slow down
. Turning back in horror, I realise the vineyard is on fire. Flames engulf the whole area, making it too smoky to see Mattie. I have no idea if she has found her way out of there, but I have a sinking feeling she’s still in there, trapped.

“Logan, I need you to keep running. Get into that forest and wait for me. I promise you I will come back for you, okay?”

I wait for him to nod, tears streaming freely down his face, hating myself for scaring him. I know I’ll fight to come back to him, just as hard as I’m going to fight to make sure Mattie is alive and not trapped in that fire.

I watch him stumble forward for a second before I turn and run back towards the fire, running back to Mattie.

Chapter 14

Mattie

I run after Hank, desperate to find him. I need to hear his voice and know that Lisa is okay. Why is he alone? We heard a child’s laughter; was that one of the girls we’ve saved along with Logan? He wouldn’t have left them alone, which means they must be with Lisa. So why is he running into the vineyard? Is he trying to purposely lead the machines away from the others?

I don’t get to ask him any of these questions because I never actually find him. I’m too far away
, and I can’t see him over the tall grapevines. I can’t even get an angle on the machines to shoot them because they’re moving too fast and my view of them is too fleeting. I follow them, though, knowing they must be tracking Hank.

I hold my breath in fear when I hear gunshots. The machines are shooting at Hank. The sound is too automatic to be a weapon that he is shooting at them.
What if they’ve hit him? What if he’s decided to sacrifice himself to save Lisa and the girls? Lisa will never recover from his loss. All her sanity is built up on Hank being alive.

Shock hits me that I might be losing one of my best friends
, dulling my fear for my own safety. So when I manage to get close enough to the machines to shoot them, my hands don’t shake and I don’t hesitate as I line up my shot. They’ve stopped moving now, and I can’t see Hank anywhere near them, so either he has gotten away, or they’re blocking his view from my angle.

I move to squeeze my finger over the trigger, ready to alert them to where I am, when one decides to do one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen.

It fires out a fireball at the surrounding vines.

Either the machine
has a death wish, or it doesn’t realise how flammable the vineyard is. Within seconds, the area in front flares to life, quickly catching on, moving even quicker with the slight breeze in the air.

I stand in shock, watching the flames consume the machines
; they do not handle the fire at all. They immediately begin to crumble under the heat and both collapse in a heap.

I’m frozen as I watch the flames eat them up, mesmerized by the sight. It’s only the heat that brings me out of my reverie and forces me to reali
se that I’m about to be the next victim of this fire.

I turn and run, heading back the way I came. I don’t know where Hank is, but I have to believe he is okay and making his way through the vineyard to safety. If I start thinking differently
, then I might not get out of here alive.

Thick smoke weighs heavily in the air, slowly suffocating me. I find it harder to breathe, harder to take in any oxygen without coughing
, and then I begin to slow down. It’s the opposite of what I want to do and what I should be doing. I can’t help it, though. My lungs are burning and my eyes sting from the smoke in the air, causing them to water and my vision to blur.

I stumble into the vines now, losing my balance a few times and falling to the ground. I’m not even sure if I’m heading in the right direction anymore, I just need to hope I’m not about to collide with the fire.

Heat surrounds me, the air grows hotter by the second, and I panic that it won’t matter what direction I’m moving in. If the entire field is up in flames, then I won’t have a chance of escape.

It feels like hours later that I fall through the edge of the vines, finally free of it. There is smoke everywhere
, and I can barely see farther than a few feet in front of me.

I think I hear my name being called, but I feel tired. I just want to sleep. Maybe I already am sleeping? Maybe
this is a dream?

I’m on my knees, the cracking of flames growing closer. I should keep moving. I might be out of the aisle of grapevines I ran down, but I’m still very likely to be burned alive staying here.
The smoke is too much, though, and I wonder if maybe that’ll kill me before the fire. Smoke inhalation wouldn’t be an awful way to go, right? It’s better than being burned to death.

Maybe I’m already dead? I feel myself drifting, maybe even floating. Is my spirit leaving my body? Will I be with Hannah, M
um and Dad soon? Will this horror all be over? Can I finally rest?

I consider this way out, wonder
ing where my spirit will end up and if maybe my parents and sister will be there. What if they’re still alive? What if by dying right now, I’m the one leaving them?

A cough builds in my throat, a pain stabs me in my chest and my arm pulls uncomfortably.

Should I be uncomfortable and feeling pain in the afterlife?

“Mattie…”
My name sounds from somewhere distant, almost like a whisper.

I open my eyes, blinking away the tears
to see Marduke’s worried face.

“What…?” I whisper to him, my throat
feeling too raw to get out any other words.

He doesn’t answer me, either because he doesn’t know what I’m trying to ask or because he assumes I’ll figure out what is happening.
He just wraps my arm over his shoulder and crouches down to pick me up. Within seconds I’m in his arms, my head resting over his shoulder. Then he begins jogging.

I can’t see anything around us, the smoke far too thick
, so I move my head and look up at Marduke, noticing his wince every time he places weight on his injured knee. He came back for me even though he’s in pain and he could have been killed. My heart beats faster with this knowledge; grows bigger knowing I have someone who cares about me, that maybe I’m not alone in this.

T
hen my thoughts turn to Logan, and panic takes back over.

“Logan?” I gasp, looking around us for him, even though I already know it’s too misty to see anything.

“He’s safe,” Marduke huffs out. He’s concentrating hard on what is in front of us. His mouth closes, and by the way his jaw is tensed, I imagine he’s biting down hard on his pain. His face glistens with sweat. I feel disgusting myself, knowing I’m sweating all over. I wish we could go back to that place we found and have another swim in the cool water.

Marduke runs with me in his arms for anything from ten minutes to several hours. I lose track of time as my head begins to feel foggy
, and the only thing that shakes me loose of falling deep into the darkness and becoming unconscious is hearing Logan crying in the distance. My eyes snap open as Marduke slows down to a quick pace. The air is clearer here, but there is a fine mist and the smoky smell is enough to make me gag.

He stops us when Logan comes into view
. I look at his tear stained face. He’s just at the edge of the forest, sitting on the ground with his arms hugging his legs. He looks like a tiny ball.

“Logan!” I croak out, my voice still sore from all the smoke. Even just saying his name again causes me to cough and my limbs feel heavy from trying to catch my breath.

He stands at hearing me call his name, and just as Marduke places me down on my feet, Logan wraps his arms around my legs tightly. I feel unstable so I keep one hand holding onto Marduke, the other resting on top of Logan’s head, brushing his hair around.

“It’s okay
; we’re safe now,” I try to soothe him with my croaky voice, but I realise that we might not be safe at all.

The fire continues to blaze in the distance
. I worry that maybe we’ll have attracted more machines to come, if not because they know there are humans around here, then because they’ll need to put out the fire.

Or what if they don’t? What if it spreads to the remaining forest and destroys it all? What if there
are other fires being ignored in other countries and they plan to let all of Earth burn?

“We need to keep moving
,” Marduke says carefully, his eyes gazing intently at me.

I nod, wishing that I could find a bed to collapse on and sleep for a few days instead.

“Will you be okay to walk on your own?”

I stare at him, knowing he’s ready to carry me if he needs to
, but I know his knee must be killing him now and Logan looks exhausted. If anyone needs to be carried, it’s him.

“Yes, I’m feeling better now.” I try to smile
in an attempt to at least appear as though I believe my words, but I already know he doesn’t believe me. It doesn’t help that my throat is killing me and my words come out as a croak.

“Mattie, let me help you
,” he pleads, stepping closer to me.

I cough, trying to clear my throat before I begin speaking.
There’s nothing like losing my voice mid-sentence and proving his point. “Logan needs to be carried and I’m still a bit too weak for that I think, do you mind?” I ask him, not wanting to start fighting. Not only do I not have the energy for that, but I know I’m right. Logan needs to be carried more than me.

I look back at the fire, watching as it still blazes high. The breeze might be pushing the smoke in the opposite direction
from us, however it’s thick enough that it’s still travelling towards us.

“Fine, but you tell me if we need to stop.” He stares intently at me, his gaze blazing just as much as the fire.

“I will.”

Marduke scoops Logan up in his arms, holding him just as tightly as I see Logan holding onto him. He’s scared
; tears are still falling down his face. I can’t imagine what he’s going through. He has not only lost his dad, but now he has to rely on two complete strangers, who can’t feed him regularly and his days are filled with endless walking. Add to that the fact that he probably just feared he’d lost us both, and that equals one stressed out, scared kid.

“What happened to Hank?” Marduke asks with a slight
flinch overcoming his face as though he’s preparing for me to become upset. Does he think he’s still in the fire? What if he is?

“I don’t know. I hope he got away.”

It pains me to know he might be hurt or worse. They were so close to us, but now there is a raging fire between us and we have to retreat. Finding them will have to happen another day.

I follow behind the boys, my lungs burning uncomfortably with every breath, my mouth dry and desperate for water. There are moments where I feel dizzy and black spots appear in front of me
; I keep pushing forward, though, knowing we need to put distance between us and that scene. I just wish we could find Lisa and Hank.

I try not to think about what
’s happened to them, needing all my thoughts and focus on taking the next step in front of me. Already my mind has wandered several times, and I immediately trip up. Thankfully, I haven’t landed on my ass yet.

In what feels like days, but what can only be a couple of hours, we finally stop and rest.
I lean against a tree, my legs wobbling and I’m out of breath. I’m thirsty, starving and exhausted.

“We shouldn’t stop
,” I say to Marduke, watching as he places a sleeping Logan down gently on the ground.

“You need to rest, and we need food and water
,” he says, taking one last look at Logan before he steps in front of me. His eyes meet mine and I feel his warm breath lightly touching my hair. His dark green eyes soften as he gazes at me, causing my heartbeat to race in my chest, and this time, not from overexerting myself.

I take in his handsome features, wanting to brush my hand along his strong
, sharp jaw, needing to press my lips against his and desperate to feel his arms around me. It’s an urge that knocks me so strongly I don’t even bother resisting it.

I have
barely any experience in this department and very little in making the first move, so I’m hesitant as I lean forward, placing both my arms over his shoulders, my mouth just inches from his. When I link my arms around him, locking me in place, he finally wraps his arms around me, bringing me flush against him, my light skin shining against his darkened skin.

Passion flares to life inside me, something I
haven’t known I was capable of feeling for another person as I close the distance between our lips, catching his surprised look before I shut my eyes and focus on his lips. His body tenses against me, his arms holding me tight enough against him to possibly bruise, but as soon as he feels my tongue exploring his mouth, his whole demeanour changes.

He
pushes my back against the tree behind me, one hand moving to hold my hips while the other travels up my side, over my jumper and unfortunately, vest covered breast, then over my neck. He grips a hold of my hair, holding me in place as his tongue moves with my own, causing my senses to overload, not just with the taste of his mouth, which is intoxicating me, but  more. His arms hold me, giving me strength. His scent is of woods, sweat and a natural masculine smell that makes me feel safe. I’m suddenly certain I’ve never been kissed properly before—not before this kiss.

I feel when it changes from exploration to desperation. He lifts me up, surprising me and causing me to break our kiss briefly. He lowers me to the grassy area
, and as soon as my back touches the ground, me moves over me. His whole body covers mine while his hands move along my sides, moving my jumper upwards and bumping into the vest underneath. His mouth captures mine again, keeping me from saying anything, though I have a feeling, if I tried to say something, it’d just come out gibberish.