Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (15 page)

As Molly and Derek went to help Doug, Kenneth headed in the opposite direction. Reaching the road, he leaned against a snow-covered tree and looked around. Time stood so still that any slower and they’d be travelling back in time. In the distance, a shape glided toward him.

Looking closer, he saw that it was a Seod. Kenneth raised his rifle but then paused. It would be better to wait. There was no use giving away his position. Besides, it wasn’t as though the bullets would do anything. It’d just be a distraction.

Suddenly, Molly squealed out, “We’re ready!”

Kenneth froze as the Seod turned toward him. Not waiting a second longer, he turned and twisted as he slipped between one tree and the next.

Cursing to himself, he wondered why Molly had yelled. As he arrived at the cabin and saw her standing by the door, he hurried over to her. “Why didn’t you come and get me? I think the Seod heard you.”

“What? I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” Molly apologized, her face reddening. “Doug just told me to tell you and I just—”

“Don’t worry about that now,” Kenneth interrupted as he hurried to the back of the cabin. He paused when he saw the snowmobile.

A sled was now attached to the end of the snowmobile by two ropes. Derek, with his feet in handmade footholds, was gripping tightly onto another rope that went between the two vehicles. He also saw that a pair of skis had been attached to the runner of the snowmobile.

Kenneth frowned. “Are you sure that’ll hold?”

Doug nodded. “It may look unsafe, but that rope is one of the toughest you can find. As long as we don’t go over any rocks, we’ll be right.” He looked at Derek. “If you keep your feet in those footholds and hold on to that rope, you shouldn’t fall off.”

Molly raced up to them. “I just saw a Seod!”

Kenneth climbed onto the snowmobile. “Let’s hurry then.”

Molly joined Derek as they waited for Doug to start the engine. But he didn’t. Instead, he looked at the two fuel cans that sat nearby.

“What are you waiting for?” Derek said, anxious to get going.

“If we could create a distraction, it would give us more time to escape. How long do you think it will take the Seod to find the snowmobile tracks?” Doug took hold of one of the cans and asked Kenneth to take the other. “Let’s coat the inside of the cabin with this.”

“Are you sure?” Kenneth asked. “You won’t be able to come back to—”

“I’m sure,” Doug interrupted.

The two of them quickly spread the flammable liquid all over the cabin. While they were doing so, Kenneth looked through the window and saw the Seod. “Hey! He’s here.”

As Doug walked over to look, the creature spotted them. Without hesitation, the creature opened fire.

“Let’s get out of here.” Doug flinched as green bolts shattered the glass. Ducking down, he led the way out of the cabin and onto the snowmobile. He started the engine. After Kenneth had climbed on, he gunned it and drove away from the cabin.

Molly, who was holding onto Derek tightly, stared back as the building disappeared from sight. She waited for the Seod to appear, but he didn’t. But still she kept watch.

The snowmobile roared up the mountain just as a loud explosion rang out. She hoped that would keep the Seod distracted for a while.

They arrived at the cabin on top of the hill a short time later. Doug slowed down and came to a stop. He climbed off the machine and gazed down the hill. “There’s a ridge just past those trees where you can see the cabin from, so I’ll just have a look with the binoculars and see if I see anything.”

Kenneth hurried after Doug, glancing over his shoulder as he did so. “We’ll be back in a minute.”

It didn’t take long to walk past the fir trees and scramble up some boulders, and the two of them were soon at the ledge. As soon as Kenneth looked down at the cabin, he saw the smoke. He couldn’t miss it. It billowed high up into the air. “Can you see anyone?”

Doug shook his head. “No. If we’re lucky, he was killed in the blast.”

Suddenly, Derek whooped. “Kenneth!”

“Help!”
Molly’s shout echoed over them.

Kenneth and Doug rushed through the trees and arrived at the snowmobile in seconds.

Kenneth glanced down the hill. His heart caught in his throat as he saw the Seod hurrying up the steep slope toward them. The explosion should have liquefied the creature, but it hadn’t even slowed him down. However, he could see some blue liquid dripping onto the snow as it came toward them, and he realized the Seod was injured.

After climbing back on the snowmobile, Doug gunned the machine as fast as it could go. “I’ll head for the ski slopes.”

Kenneth nodded as he glanced back at the creature. As a green bolt shot from the silencer, he hollered at Doug to head to the left.

He repeated this process several times. Then, luckily, they reached the other side of the mountain. As they roared down one of the ski slopes, Kenneth relaxed a bit. They had a clear run of flat snow for the next few miles or so.

Even though the Seod appeared injured, he seemed to have no trouble running down the hill that was thick with snow—at least, that’s what Kenneth thought as he glanced back every minute. He leaned forward. “How far do these ski runs extend?”

“Quite a few miles in either direction.
We’re approaching
Monument
Peak
so they end there, but they continue west of the peak.”

Kenneth scratched his neck. “I assume you’re heading for that cave you told us about earlier?”

“Where else?”

“Well, why don’t we just go up and down the different ski runs first?” Kenneth suggested. “Once we’ve lost the Seod, we can head for the caves.”

Doug nodded. “Good idea. There’s plenty of gas in this machine, so we might as well use the slopes to our advantage.”

Kenneth glanced back as the snowmobile slowed and made a left turn. As they did so, green bolts hit the snow around them. Knowing that it probably wouldn’t make a difference, Kenneth took his pistol and aimed it at the Seod.

He missed. Holstering his weapon, he patted Doug’s shoulder. “Speed it up!” Without comment, Doug roared up the hill, spurting snow on either
sides
.

With everyone helping, it didn’t take long to push the old sedan across the intersection. Once it was in place,
Logan
turned to Baldy. “Are you sure they’ll think that you’re with them?”

Baldy glanced down at the army-type uniform he was wearing. “Like I said, this is what they have started to wear. But if they ask me for the password, then we’ll be in trouble.”

“Couldn’t you have gotten the password from the same place that you got that uniform?” Xavier asked.

“They change the password every two days, so no.” Baldy glanced at his watch. “Five minutes to go.”

The group got into position. While Baldy stayed near the motorcycle, which was near the sedan, the others retreated up the road. Logan and Peter hid behind a car on the left side of the street, while Xavier hid behind some trash cans on the right side.

Five minutes passed in no time, and suddenly they heard two vehicles coming toward them.

Logan
frowned. “Baldy didn’t mention anything about a Humvee.”

“Maybe it’s a new addition,” Peter said.

“Either way, we’ll have to continue as planned.”
Logan
released the safety catch on his pistol and waited as the two vehicles approached the intersection.

As soon as they stopped, the person in the Humvee climbed out and started talking to Baldy. As soon as this happened,
Logan
, followed by Peter, raced across to the Humvee and, bending down, tiptoed along the edge of the vehicle, their weapons clutched tightly in their hands.

With the intersection blocked by the sedan, the people in the truck wouldn’t be able to drive away, but
Logan
wasn’t concerned about that. They had to catch the men by surprise because the people in the Humvee had cover.

Logan
could hear raised voices between Baldy and the other man. The driver and passenger door opened, and the men climbed out at the request of Baldy. They needed all the men to move the sedan.

For some reason though, the man who had climbed out of the passenger side door was carrying a shotgun.
A
s his feet touched the ground, he saw them. Swiftly aiming his weapon, the man opened fire.

~*~*~

Derek had enjoyed the sled ride for the first few miles, but now his bottom was starting to get a bit sore. He was glad when the snowmobile came to a stop at the top of a ski run a few moments later. He gingerly climbed off, eager to stretch his legs. He glanced around. “So, did we lose the Seod?”

Kenneth nodded. “I haven’t seen any sign of him for the last five minutes.”

“We’ll head to
Monument
Peak
in a minute or two and hide out there for a bit,” Doug said. “There’s some canned food there. It’s not much, but it’s something. We can head down to
South Lake Tahoe
later and get us a ride to
Sparks
.”

“It’ll be good to get out of all this snow,” Molly said.

Derek frowned as he looked at his sister. “I thought you liked snow.”

“I like having snowball fights, but I don’t like sitting on a sled for half an hour,” Molly explained.

“I see,” Derek said. “Good thing we got these clothes earlier. It’s very cold.”

Doug glanced up at the overcast sky.
“Looks like a storm is building.
Best if we get to the cave as soon as possible.
Wouldn’t want to be stranded out here if a blizzard came our way.”

Kenneth looked at his watch and was surprised at how early it was. “I think you’re right. It does seem pretty dark this early in the day.”

He glanced around once more as the others climbed back on the snowmobile and froze. He had just seen some movement in the trees below. He waited for a moment or two. He wanted to be certain. This time he saw the Seod for a lot longer as he went from one tree to the next. He sighed in annoyance and anger. “We’ve got company.”

“Where?”
Doug asked, standing up.

Kenneth pointed.
“Just behind that tree.”

“You’re certain?” Derek said, also looking back.

Kenneth nodded.
“Looks like we didn’t lose him after all.”

“Let’s get away from here before he sees us.” Doug climbed back on the snowmobile and gunned the engine.

The machine zoomed up the hill. Glancing back, Kenneth saw that the Seod had heard them. It didn’t hesitate as it charged their way.

“Go as fast as you can!”

Doug nodded and cranked up the speed even further. The needle on the speedometer went higher and higher. As Kenneth glanced back and saw the sled bumping around quite a bit, he thought that they’d better slow down. He
signaled
Doug to slow down a bit, and as they rounded a bend, he reduced his speed.

No sooner had they rounded the bend than a green bolt smacked a nearby tree.

“What the …” Doug glanced around and spotted a Seod heading toward them. “How the hell did he get there?”

“No idea, but hit the gas!” Kenneth fired his pistol at the Seod as the snowmobile roared across the snow.

The snowmobile steadily climbed up the mountain as it shot up the longest ski run in the area. Kenneth stared back down the hill, looking for any movement. He saw no one.

He began to relax, and then as they reached the top, he spotted a Seod walking up from the other side of the ski run. Before he could tell the others, Molly hollered, “Oh no!”

Everyone looked where she was pointing and spotted three creatures climbing up the hill that they had just come up.