Escape from Earth by Janice Greene

Author:Janice Greene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
Published: 2014-08-03T18:14:58+00:00

Chapter 6

I pulled loose from Dad’s grip and glared at him. “I am going,” I said quietly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept quiet.

I tried to back the truck out of the parking lot. But people were swarming out of the loading dock all around me. Then, suddenly, with a great rolling boom, the entire roof of the printing plant folded inward and caved in on itself! A huge cloud of dirty brown dust rose in the sky.

Turning the truck around slowly, I headed for the street. Three men and a woman hurried beside the truck, carrying a man with a bloody chest.

At the street, I stopped. “Okay, Dad, you can get out here,” I said.

“No,” he said.

“You should stay here to help out,” I said. “There are injured people inside!”

“I’m staying with you,” he said.

“Huh. That will be a change from the last three years,” I snapped.

We drove across town in silence. The streetlights were just coming on. Wealthy people drove by in their shiny, quiet cars. No doubt they were headed for restaurants and theaters. Homeless people were setting up blankets and sleeping bags in doorways.

Finally, we left the city and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Dense fog was turning the strings of lights between the towers a fuzzy orange color. The Point Reyes lighthouse would be working tonight, for sure.

I glanced over at Dad. The dark outline of his face looked so familiar, yet so remote. I realized that I didn’t know him anymore. Finally we got off the bridge and onto the freeway.

“Dad, I really don’t want you to come. You’ll just be interfering.”

“They could kill you!” said Dad. “Whatever this is, it’s too much for a kid like you to get mixed up in.”

“But Darryl saved my life!” I cried.

“Who is Darryl?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. I just looked out over the lights of Mill Valley. I knew the turnoff for Point Reyes would be coming up soon.

Dad put his hand on my arm. “Give me a chance, won’t you? Tell me what’s going on, Nick. I promise I’ll listen.”

So I did. I told him everything. And as I talked, the smell of the dead alien’s charred clothes sprang fresh in my mind. I showed him Darryl’s tube. “I have to get it back to him,” I said. “Maybe he still has a chance to beat these guys somehow.”

Dad said, “I want to help you.”

“That’s a new one,” I said.

There was a long silence. Then he said, “Believe me, Nick. I wanted to help you—and your mom.”

“Then why didn’t you?” I burst out. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so angry. I felt like crying.

“Listen to me, now,” Dad said. “This is important. When my drinking got out of hand, everything slid away—my job, the house, and you and Mom.

“Finally, my boss said he’d give me one more chance if I joined a support group and quit drinking. I’ve done that, son. And I’ve started climbing out of my hole. It’s taken me a year.

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