Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky

Author:Brian Yansky [Yansky, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Humor
ISBN: 076364384X
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2010-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

The wave passes. A part of it comes through the hole and knocks us all on our butts; we’re lucky, though: the wall holds most of it in. When it’s past, I hear silence behind it. No screaming now, just dead silence.

“We’ve got to get going,” I say.

We help each other up. We all know that we were meant to be part of that silence and it won’t take them long to realize we aren’t. The most powerful beings in the universe will not be happy.

“Get going where?” Lindsey says.

“Find a car, something that we can use to get away and out into the country.”

We run. The bushes and tree leaves are wet, and before long we’re soaked. We hit a patch of thorn bushes so then we’re soaked and cut up. We keep looking back, expecting the Handlers to swoop down on us at any minute. A few times I think I even hear the rush of water, but it’s just my imagination. We’re all breathing hard but we keep running like our lives depend on it because they do.

“Break,” Lindsey calls.

I don’t stop.

“Come on,” Lauren says.

I stop.

“Where are you taking us?” Lindsey says through heavy, short breaths.

“The city.”

“This is the best way?” Lauren says. She’s trying to slow her breathing. She has her hands pressed together in front of her. I hear her trying to think yoga thoughts, trying to slow her racing heart.

“More like the best way to hell,” Lindsey says.

“You want to lead?”

“I doubt I could do any worse.”

She doesn’t say anything more, though.

“We need to keep moving,” I say.

We run some more. Then we come to a bridge and downtown is in front of us. We take a second rest. We’re all sucking air now.

“Is there water?” I ask.

Lauren shakes her head. “We couldn’t get to the food or clothes. It was just too crazy in there.”

“Think they know we’re gone yet?” Michael says.

“He’ll know,” Catlin says.

We don’t need to ask who he is.

“Wonder if there are any cars left,” Michael says.

This worries me a little. They were destroying every machine they could find when we worked downtown, including a lot of cars. But they used trucks and buses, so they didn’t destroy those. I don’t see us escaping in a Greyhound, though.

“We’ve got to get out somehow,” I say. “It will just get harder the longer we’re here.”

“Maybe not,” Lauren says. We all look at her. “Addyen showed me her house. In my mind, I mean. It’s in a neighborhood called Hyde Park.”

“I know that neighborhood,” I say. “It’s north of the university. My uncle lived there.”

“Her house is on Avenue B.”

“So what?” Lindsey says.

“She’ll help us,” Lauren replies. “She thinks it’s wrong that we’re slaves. She’ll help us escape.”

I think about this and about Addyen giving us dessert that night, and I think we don’t have anywhere else to go. “Let’s do it.”

“We all need to agree,” Michael says. “It’s all of our lives at risk here.”

So we vote, and we all agree that it’s the best choice of bad choices.

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