Vanish (23 page)

The fierceness in Helen’s eyes wavered, then gave way to tears. “He’s gone.”

Mitch swore. Conner shook his head. “Gone? What do you mean? Where’d he go?”

“He just…” Helen waved her arms. “Just disappeared. Vanished into thin air!”

Conner and Mitch looked at each other for a moment, then back at Helen. Mitch ran inside calling for Devon.

Helen shook her head. “Didn’t you hear me? I said he
disappeared
! He didn’t just
run away
. He’s not hiding. He just disappeared right in front of me! One second he’s talking to me, then he starts going into this convulsion. Like you had on the boat. Then there was a flash, and when I looked up, he was gone.”

Howard scratched his head. “Where did this happen?”

Helen nodded toward the house. “Right there, on the porch.”

Conner narrowed his eyes. “You said he had a convulsion. A seizure like mine?”

Helen nodded and choked back tears. “I didn’t know what to do.… I tried to help him, but then this light came from nowhere.”

Conner drew close and placed an arm around Helen’s shoulder. “Sit down. Tell me exactly what happened.”

Helen recounted her experience that morning. How Devon, or something that
looked
like Devon, had tried to get her to go into the woods. Then how she had fled back to the house and discovered the bruise on her arm. And then how she had met the real Devon again.

Conner examined the rash on her arm. It was even larger than his, nearly covering her entire forearm. “Does it hurt?”

“It stings a little,” she said and then looked up. “Conner, what’s happening to us? Did you find anything in the medical books?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t find anything like this. Nothing with all the symptoms we have. I’ll keep at it, though. I’m not giving up.”

Helen went on to describe Devon’s seizure. The light. Conner frowned. He wondered if that had anything to do with the bright light he had seen during his own convulsions. He hadn’t had an episode since two nights ago on the boat. Either they had stopped altogether or he was due for another one soon.

Was that what had happened to everyone else? Did these creatures have some means to make people disappear? Had Devon been transported somewhere, or had he just been disintegrated? Was that what was going to happen to him as well?

What about the creatures, then? If they were, in fact, terrestrial, were they responsible for Devon’s disappearance? The others had been physically dragged away. Why had he simply vanished? Was this something new, or did the creatures have abilities they weren’t aware of yet?

Conner rubbed his eyes. Something was missing. A huge piece of the puzzle. Helen, Devon, and Mitch had all had hallucinations where someone they knew had tried to get them to follow. To go back to the forest.

The forest. Was that where the answers were? Conner shuddered. That was the last place he would go to find them. It was all too convenient. It reeked of a trap.

Conner’s own experience in the library had been different. The creature there could have dragged him off, yet it didn’t. It acted almost as if it had come simply to deliver its message.

Soon.

What though? What was going to happen soon? Was it a threat or merely a warning? And precisely
how
soon was
soon
intended to be? Soon, as in a few days? Or a few hours?

They would have to wait. Conner’s jaw tightened. They would just have to wait.

THE FOUR OF THEM sat around the kitchen table. Conner stared at the half-eaten granola bar in front of him. He was no longer hungry. Thirsty, yes. But he had long since lost his appetite.

He downed his third glass of water before speaking. “I think we should assume these things have some type of hostile intent. Their pattern of behavior has been one of deceit and guile. They haven’t given us any reason to trust them.”

Mitch leaned back in his chair, arms folded. “You think they’re responsible for Devon’s disappearance too?”

Conner shrugged. “At this point, I don’t see any other explanation.”

Helen rubbed her bandaged forearm. “So what then? What are we supposed to do? Just wait around until they pick us off one at a time?”

“No,” Conner said. “No, as I see it, we have two options. Fight or run.”

Howard frowned. “What about holding our ground? We know they’re afraid of the lights. I’ve been living here for years with these things right in my backyard. Why is it they’ve never dragged me off? And I’m just one man.”

Conner drummed his fingers on the table. Howard had a point. However, the creatures’ hostility had apparently increased when they arrived. The same thing had occurred at Ray Cahill’s house the day before. Ray had been living for weeks without incident until they showed up. Then a few hours later, the creatures dragged him off.

“I think it’s us,” he said, gesturing to Helen, Mitch, and himself. “I think their focus has been on us. They left you alone this long, but as soon as we showed up, they became more hostile. They’re disguising themselves as people we trust. They’re trying to get us to follow them into the forest.”

“But what did we do?” Helen said. “Why are they after
us
?”

Conner sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ve done something they view as a threat. Maybe we’re not supposed to be here. I don’t know.”

“I couldn’t care less,” Mitch said. “I just want to figure out how to kill them.”

Howard snorted. “Son, how’re you gonna kill them? They can make you see things that aren’t there. You could be fighting phantoms and not even know it.”

“But we do know their weakness,” Conner said. “I think it may be time to exploit that.”

Howard raised his eyebrows. “How?”

“Your harvester. They hate the lights and the noise. What if we rig up more of those? If we can get our hands on a few more tractors…”

“Or bulldozers.” Mitch perked up. “Some of those big earthmovers. We could level that whole forest and torch it. That’d brighten things up a bit.”

Howard shook his head. “Son, you’d be stirring up one heck of a hornets’ nest.”

“Maybe.” Mitch shrugged. “But I don’t care anymore. I’m tired of playing defense. I say it’s time to take the fight to
them
.”

“How big an area are we looking at?” Conner said.

Howard stood up and looked out the window. “That’s a couple hundred acres of forest.”

Mitch grunted. “Then we got our work cut out for us, don’t we?”

Howard looked at his watch. “I need to get the generators ready. It’ll be getting dark in a couple hours, and I need to fill the tanks.”

They followed Howard out to the yard, where he filled six gas cans from the large central tank next to the barn. He had transferred the load of gas from the milk truck earlier.

He sent Mitch and Helen off to fill up the three generators inside the maintenance shed, while he and Conner set out to fill the three in the larger barn. An old tractor was parked near the entrance, and they had to squeeze around it and several other farm implements to get to the generators at the back.

Conner began filling the tank of the first generator as Howard knelt down to check the oil levels and AC connections.

“It’s not that I don’t think you should do something,” Howard said. “I’m just wondering how smart it is to plan an attack when you don’t know enough about them. You don’t really know what you’re getting yourselves into.”

Conner knew they had made the same mistake when they had gone out onto the lake. They had chosen to act despite their lack of information. They assumed they would be safe, not knowing the creatures had adapted to water as well as land. He recalled being uncomfortable with acting before knowing more facts. It had nearly killed them. Now they were planning to do the same thing. But he didn’t care anymore. He was tired of trying to think his way through this mess. It was time to act. They had a sound, working theory on the creatures’ weaknesses. They weren’t going to get much more information than what they already had.

“Well, you may be right,” he said finally. “But we have to do something.”

Howard peered at Conner. His expression grew cold. “So your mind’s made up then, is it?”

Conner nodded. “I’m tired of running away. It’s time to stand and fight.”

“Fight. Puh!” Howard stood up and turned away.

Conner frowned. Had he said something to upset him? “Howard?”

“You have no idea what you’re fighting,” Howard grunted. “But you’re always so quick to do it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Howard just rubbed his jaw. “That’s been your problem since the dawn of time. Always acting before knowing the consequences.” He chuckled softly. “Some things never do change.”

Conner felt the air go suddenly cold. A gust of wind moaned through the rafters. His arm jerked as a sudden bolt of freezing pain stung him. He dropped the can and clutched his wrist. His heart raced. “Howard?”

Howard turned around to face him. A shadow crossed over his face. His eyes were white. Cold. Empty. Expressionless.

Conner backed away. “What… what are you?”

Howard shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”

Conner’s mind reeled. What was going on? This was the old man who had saved them. He had built a sanctuary out of his farm. A haven. He had given them rest and nourishment. He…

He was one of them!

Conner had to warn the others. “Mitch!”

He heard a low whisper and spun around, peering into the shadows. Something moved. A tall, thin shape emerged from behind the tractor.

Conner’s eyes widened. He backed against the wall. “
Mitch
!”

Another voice whispered in the darkness to his right. A second creature stepped out from the shadows, as if it had materialized out of nowhere. Conner slid to his left, pressing back into the corner, away from both creatures. They approached slowly with shoulders back and heads forward, tilting and sniffing the air.

Howard watched the creatures advance on Conner like a man watching his hunting dogs corner their quarry. His face was still obscured by shadows. His pale eyes glowed. “You think you can fight them? You think you can actually win?”

“Why?” Conner’s head was spinning. “Why are you doing this?”

“You wanted answers. And now it’s time.”

The creatures moved closer. In the darkness, Conner could see soulless white eyes appear against their gray flesh. He could see black jaws opening. He could smell their stench. They reached out spidery hands.…

But before they touched him, Conner’s muscles stiffened as another seizure raked his body. His back arched; his teeth clenched. Searing white light pressed in upon him. Blinding him. A frigid blast of air tore through him. He fell back against the wall. Wind roared in his ears, a thunderous, pulsing torrent that tugged at him with its force.

But beneath the light, the cold, and the fury was something else.…

MITCH AND HELEN lugged three gas cans into the maintenance shed and started filling the generator tanks. A bundle of power cords snaked out the main doorway and stretched across the yard.

Helen stood back for a moment. She had been having doubts about their plan to burn the forest. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to attack them?”

Mitch looked up. “Do you see any other options? I mean, the way I see it, Conner’s right: we either fight or keep running.” He gestured around him and grunted. “Or get comfortable here on the farm.”

“We’d be safe as long as we can keep the lights going.”

“Safe?” Mitch frowned. “For how long? They haven’t stopped trying to lure us into the woods. They used Devon, even my girlfriend to trick us.” He shook his head. “We shouldn’t trust them. They’re not going to stop. They won’t give up until…”

Helen looked down. “I just wish I knew what they wanted.”

“Linda said—or my
hallucination
of Linda said—they were trying to keep us from destroying the planet. That they just wanted to coexist.” He grunted. “I don’t believe it. She was just trying to get me to trust her. To go with her.”

“What do you suppose is in there?”

Mitch raised his eyebrows. “The forest?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Their spaceship. Their colony. I’m not the curious type. Whatever it is, I say we burn it down.”

They filled the last of the generators with gas and headed back toward the house. The sky was showing the first signs of dusk, and a cool breeze had picked up. Inside, Helen started to wash up.

It was several minutes later when Howard burst into the kitchen, out of breath.

“Trouble,” he gasped. “We got big trouble!”

Mitch stood up. “What do you mean? Where’s Conner?”

“He… he
disappeared
!”

“What?” Helen heard the words but couldn’t move. For a moment, she felt paralyzed.

“Just like the other kid. Devon,” Howard said. “There was a flash of light and then he was gone. Just into thin air!”

Mitch blinked. “Where?”

“In the barn.” Howard stuck a thumb over his shoulder. “We were filling the generators when he had this… like a convulsion. Then, poof! he just vanished!”

“Just like Devon!” Helen’s eyes widened. “What’s going on? What are they doing?”

Mitch stared at them for a moment. Then he shook his head. “We better get those generators running. Get the lights on.”

“That’s the other trouble,” Howard said. “It looks like they’ve been here, too. The creatures. They sabotaged us. All the cables have been cut.”

“Cut?”

“Sliced right through.”

Mitch looked like he was going to punch the old farmer. “I thought you said they don’t come out during the day!”

“They must have burrowed through the ground into the shed and the barn.”

“What about Conner?” Helen said. Everything was happening too fast. What if he was hurt? What if he needed help?

Mitch gave her a stern look. “We need to get those lights on first. We can figure out what to do about Conner after that.”