Vanish (12 page)

Suddenly, both front doors swung open and the occupants slipped out, each one crouching behind a door for cover. Conner glimpsed a flash of steel in the sunlight.

“They got guns!” Mitch shouted and ducked behind the Hummer.

A woman’s voice shouted from behind the driver-side door. “Put your gun down! I swear I’ll shoot you right now. Put it down!”

“Yeah, you first, lady!” Mitch shouted back.

“Whoa, whoa.” Conner positioned himself between Mitch and the Tahoe. “Let’s all keep calm here! We’re not looking for trouble. We’re all in the same boat.”

“Then tell him to drop his gun!”

Conner turned. “Mitch, lower your gun. We don’t want to start a shoot-out here.”

Mitch glared at him from behind the front fender. “I ain’t giving up my gun!”

“I’m not telling you to give it up. Just lower it, okay?”

“I said
drop it
!” The woman’s voice was gruff but hardly authoritative. She wasn’t a cop, Conner guessed, maybe just trying to act like one. Whoever she was, she was obviously as frightened as they were.

Conner cleared his throat. “Look, there’s no way he’s dropping his gun for you. And we don’t expect you to give up your weapons. Let’s just agree not to shoot each other for the moment, okay?”

After a pause the woman spoke. “Who are you?”

Conner nodded. Good, at least she was reasonable. “My name’s Conner.”

The woman pointed in Mitch’s direction. “Who’s that?”

Conner glanced back. “Uh… that’s Mitch. He and I just met a little while ago too. We crossed paths over on 41.”

“Why was he following us and why’d he pull his gun on us?”

Conner had to shrug. “Look, lady, we don’t want to hurt you. We’re just playing it safe. I assume that’s why you both have guns too.”

She didn’t answer. Conner decided to go further.

“I assume you saw that storm last night? And, uh… and you woke up this morning and found that everyone had vanished?”

“Do you know what’s going on?”

Conner shook his head. “I—I don’t know. We’re just out looking for some answers, y’know. We’re just trying to find others.”

“Did you see anyone else?”

“Uhh…” Conner paused, wondering how much to tell her. “Well, we… we had some interesting experiences. We’ve seen, uh… well it’s a little hard to explain.”

“
Aliens
!” The kid on the passenger side finally spoke up. “Aliens, man. They killed my friend!”

Conner turned to the kid. “They
killed
him? What did they do? Did you see them?”

“They attacked us,” the woman said. “They crashed into a store—through plate glass—and grabbed his friend and… and disappeared.”

“What do you mean
disappeared
?”

The woman shook her head. “It pulled him out of the store, out into the street. But then we couldn’t find any sign of them.”

Conner frowned. Mitch’s distrust of the creatures was proving to be accurate. “I’m sorry about your friend,” he said. “But don’t you think we should try to work together?”

No one said anything.

“Look… ,” Conner tried again. “We have to trust each other, okay? Why don’t we all put our guns away and try to figure out what to do next.”

The woman eyed him for a moment. Conner guessed she was still distrustful of Mitch. He turned around. “Hey, Mitch, just put the gun away and come out.”

Mitch muttered something, but Conner couldn’t hear what it was. After a moment, Mitch stuck his gun into his belt and stood, showing his hands.

Conner turned back to the woman. “Okay? Are we agreed?”

She stepped out from behind the door with her gun at her side. She was a brunette. Maybe his own age—midforties—Conner guessed. Maybe a little older.

The black kid came out as well. He was tall and lanky, wearing a Nike T-shirt and baggy jeans. He had a layer of gauze wrapped around his neck. He glared at Conner and Mitch but kept his gun at his side.

“Good.” Conner nodded. “Good. I… uh, I don’t think I got your names.”

“Helen,” she said.

The kid didn’t say anything. After a moment, Helen added, “He told me his name was Devon.”

Conner stuck a thumb over his shoulder, back at the Hummer. “We also found a boy. Just a kid. He’s inside, but I don’t know who he is. I don’t think he understands any English.”

Helen peered into the Hummer and frowned.

“Those things,” she said. “I think they’re going to be coming for us.”

Conner nodded. “You’re probably right.”

“What are they?”

Conner hesitated. “The only thing I can say at this point is that they’re some kind of extraterrestrial species. I tried to communicate with one of them, but…”

“What happened?”

“It grabbed me.” Conner lifted his wrist. “We’re not sure what it wanted, but it left a mark on my wrist. Like a bruise.” He nodded to Devon. “That what happened to you, too?”

Devon rubbed his neck. “I popped eight rounds into one of ’em. Point blank. It didn’t even flinch!”

Conner nodded and cast a glance back at Mitch. “Yeah, it would seem bullets don’t have much of an effect.”

Mitch just shrugged.

“Did it grab you too?” Conner asked, pointing to Devon’s neck.

Devon nodded and lifted the gauze slightly. Conner could see discolored markings around his neck.

He looked at Helen.

“You wouldn’t happen to be a nurse or a doctor or anything?”

Helen shook her head. “They broke through a plate glass window. There wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere. They didn’t even feel the bullets.”

Conner nodded. “We noticed they seem to keep to the shadows. Avoid direct sunlight. We think that may be a weakness. But it’s just a theory.”

Helen seemed to think for a moment. “The store was on the east side of the street. It may have still been in the shade at that time. I guess I didn’t really notice.”

Devon brightened. “Every time we saw them before, though, they were hiding in buildings and alleys. They never came out in the sun.”

Mitch peered at the sky. “This is all well and good, but even if it’s true, those clouds aren’t gonna help us any.”

The front was moving east quickly. They had maybe a half hour or so before the sky completely clouded up. Not to mention what might happen after sundown.

“I think we should find some shelter. Someplace secure maybe.” Conner nodded to the Hummer. “We borrowed some halogen floodlights for tonight. I don’t know if they’ll help any, but it’s the best we got right now.”

Helen shook her head. “I don’t feel safe inside anywhere. Not the way they broke into that store. I don’t want to get trapped.”

Conner shrugged. “I don’t think we’ll be any safer outside. I suppose we could just keep driving.…”

They all fell silent for a moment. Conner felt a growing sense of helplessness seep into his thoughts. Should they hole up somewhere or flee? If they left, where would they go? What direction should they head? There was no guarantee they’d be any safer on the road than in a building somewhere. Maybe a bank vault or…

Then Mitch spoke up. “You think they can swim?”

MITCH NODDED TOWARD THE EAST. “A buddy of mine has a boat. A cabin cruiser, down at the marina. What if we head out on the lake?”

Conner glanced at Helen and rubbed his jaw. There was no guarantee they’d be better off on the water. He shrugged. “I don’t know.… We can’t be sure we’d be any safer. Not without knowing more about these things.”

Mitch frowned. “Well, given the fact that I don’t want to study them up close, I say we risk it. It can’t be any more dangerous than staying on land. We already know what they can do
here
.”

Helen nodded. “Might not be a bad idea. Maybe they have some kind of aversion to water.”

“We just don’t know enough about them,” Conner said.

“Dude, sometimes you just gotta take a chance and make a decision.” Mitch swung a leg over his motorcycle. “I’m going to give it a shot. The rest of you can do whatever you want.”

Devon piped up. “I say we take the boat.”

Helen stared at Conner for a moment. “We don’t really have the luxury of learning anything more about them. Whatever we’re going to do, we need to hurry.”

Conner sighed. She was right. He hated making decisions without knowing all the possible consequences and minimizing his risks. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that option at the moment.

“All right,” he said to Mitch. “We’ll follow you.”

They headed east toward the lake. Mitch led them back through North Chicago and into Waukegan. Conner hated this area. A lot of low-income, graffiti-laced, crime-riddled neighborhoods. Normally, he wouldn’t be caught dead in either town.

They arrived at the marina and Mitch rolled past several newer boats, finally stopping at a large cabin cruiser tied to the dock. The fiberglass hull was scraped-up and stained by algae.
Hey Lady
was painted across the stern in bold letters.

Conner raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t exactly a luxury boat. “You sure he’s got the key on board?”

Mitch climbed aboard and disappeared below. He emerged a moment later, waving a key ring on a wooden block. “Freddy practically lives on board during the summer. He makes some extra cash taking rich lawyer types out fishing.”

“Nice. You know how to drive this thing?”

Mitch shrugged. “I’ve been out a few times.”

Helen got her things out of the Tahoe and eyed the boat. “A few times?”

Devon just jumped aboard. “All right; let’s go.”

Mitch shrugged again. “What’s with you people? It’s a boat. All you do is start it up and steer. You coming or not?”

Conner sighed. “Give me a hand with these supplies.”

They transferred one of the gas generators on board along with several floodlights and all the gasoline, food, guns, and ammo. The dark-haired boy stood on the dock, shaking his head.

“Come on.” Conner motioned. “It’s all right. It’s safe.”

The boy still shook his head. His brown eyes were wide. Conner finally grabbed him by the arm and hauled him over like a piece of luggage.

Ten minutes later Mitch had the motor rumbling and untied the lines. He climbed up into the captain’s chair and pushed the throttle forward. They pulled away from the dock, out into the main channel.

Conner called up to him. “How much gas do we have?”

“Half a tank,” Mitch said. “There’s a fuel station up here. I’ll stop to fill up.”

Conner watched the dock recede and all their vehicles along with it. He bit his cheek. He hated burning his bridges, rushing into decisions that offered no way back. And he had the nagging feeling he would never be back this way again.

He wondered if they had made the right decision leaving land. Had they fully considered all the options? All the consequences? Mitch and Helen were right, though. It wasn’t as if they had an abundance of time. The sky had clouded up, gray and dismal. And the afternoon would soon turn into evening.

Mitch stopped at the fueling pump and started filling the tank. Conner set about running the floodlights along the sides of the boat. Three on each side, connected to the generator by extension cords.

Twenty minutes later they were headed out of the marina into open water.

Conner stood at the stern, peering back at the shoreline. Mitch and Devon sat up at the bridge. Mitch had agreed to just take them a mile or so. Conner wanted them to keep the shore in sight. None of them had much experience navigating on open water.

They came to a stop after ten minutes and waited. They all kept watch on the water and the shoreline. The water grew calm. Nearly smooth as glass.

The afternoon stretched on into evening, and eventually Mitch broke out a couple of boxes of granola bars and some beef jerky. They probably had enough food and water for several days. Conner shuddered at the thought. How long would they be out here?

The boy had curled up on the bed in the cabin below deck and had fallen asleep. Conner looked in on him and sighed. He wondered if he’d be able to sleep tonight himself. He went back on deck and sat down at the stern, staring at the shore.

The sky was starting to grow dark when Helen approached and gave him a bottle of water. “So when you woke up this morning, did you expect to spend the night out on Lake Michigan?”

Conner chuckled. “After what I’ve seen today, I’m learning to expect anything.”

Despite the hellish day they’d all had, there was something about adversity that seemed to draw people together. A few hours ago, they had all been on the verge of shooting each other. Now they were working together.

Conner sighed. “I’m just hoping we survive the night.”

Helen rubbed her arms and shuddered. “And what if we do? Tomorrow we’ll still be in the same predicament.”

Conner shook his head. “There have to be others. I have to believe that.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Look at us. Five strangers, and we all managed to find each other in just half a day. I think the more we look, the more we’ll find.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I have no idea,” Conner said. “None of this makes any sense. There’s no purpose to it. How were they able to make millions of people just disappear overnight? Why did they leave us here and why are they watching us? What do they want? Where do they come from?” He shook his head. “All I have are questions. I’ve got no answers.”

Helen fell silent for a moment. “Do you have any family?”

Conner nodded. “Yeah, a daughter and my ex-wife. But they’re gone like everyone else. You?”

“I have a son. Kyle. He’s twenty-four. We had dinner last night.” Helen’s voice broke. She put her hand to her lips.

“I’m sorry,” Conner said. “Look, I’m sure we’ll find some answers soon—”

“No.” Helen cleared her throat. “It’s not that. It’s… I… I saw him this morning.”

“What?”

“I went to his apartment, looking for him. I was worried sick. Scared to death. But then I saw him standing in the hallway.” Her lips drew tight. “I
saw
him. He talked to me, and I hugged him. I
felt
him in my arms.”

“What happened?”