"Working late?" he asked, his voice rough. Surprisingly,
he found that he was nervous.
She shook her head. "Dan's Web site. You're going to
have to help me with that," she said.
"Maybe tomorrow . . . or—," Kyle began.
"I didn't mean tonight," she said. "I'm sure we can come
up with something better to do tonight."
Kyle's throat went dry. She watched him with a look of
mild amusement on her face.
"What do you think, Kyle?" she said.
As it turned out, Kyle found that his mind was com-
pletely blank. Then all he could think of was how good
she smelled. What was that perfume? he thought.
And then she was moving. She leaned into him and put
one hand around the back of his neck. As she pulled his
* * *
head down, she extended her own neck.
Then she was kissing him. Soft and then open. For a
moment, Kyle felt it. Sweet relief. This was exactly what he
had wanted from the first second he had seen her sitting at
her desk. There were no aliens, no Special Unit, no bullets
slamming into his chest, no secrets . . . only her. And she
was sweet.
For what seemed like a long time, Kyle lost himself in
her. He kissed her firmly, and she answered back even
more forcefully. This was what he needed. He wasn't a
monk. And Buddha's Middle Way did not ask him to be.
Dawn was what he needed ... but what he wanted was ...
Isabel.
Not Dawn.
When the realization hit him, it did so with a sudden
force that he felt in his stomach. He pulled his mouth
away from hers. For a moment, she pulled him back with
her tight grip. Then he was free again, pushing himself
away gently but firmly.
"What is it, Kyle?" she asked, a light still on in her eyes.
"Ah ... I can't, Dawn," he said weakly.
She glanced down and smiled at him again. "I know for
a fact that isn't true," she said. She was still smiling, but
the smile was getting tighter by the second.
"I like you. I really like you, but I won't be staying in
Stonewall," he said, gaining more confidence in his own
voice. The light in her eyes was almost completely out
now. The look on her face hardened.
"I didn't ask you to, did I?" Dawn reminded him.
"And the van's full. I can't take anyone with me," he said.
Her eyes cold, she said, "I didn't ask you to do that, either."
* * *
"I'm sorry, I—," he began.
"I know, you can't," she said sharply.
"Please understand," he said.
"Understand what?" she asked.
"I mean, I do like you," he said.
Her cold stare told him that she was expecting some-
thing more. From him. But how to explain? How could he
explain that it meant more to him to sit next to Isabel than
it did to kiss her? How could he explain that he would
rather talk to Isabel than . . . anything with her. Isabel was
an impossible situation. She was still married, and up
until days ago had been living happily with her husband.
She wouldn't care what Kyle did with this girl.
But he would care. It would matter to him.
He couldn't make Dawn understand all that that. And
she probably didn't really want him to try.
"I'm sorry, I really am. But there is someone else in my
life," he said.
He saw a brief flash before the side of his face exploded
into red.
Smack!
His hand was touching his cheek before what had hap-
pened registered on him. As he rubbed the place where
she'd slapped him, she began shouting.
"Then why have you been playing with me, Kyle?" she
said, drawing his name out like it was a curse. He thought
she was overreacting. He felt compelled to try to calm her
down.
"I—," was all he could say.
"This whole time, this whole game!" she said, her voice
getting louder still.
* * *
Kyle kept silent. He had nothing to say. At least, there
was nothing he could say that wouldn't make things worse.
"You've just been playing with me. Having a good joke
at the local girl's expense!" she railed.
It had been a long time since he had seen a girl truly
angry. And even longer still since he had been on the
receiving end of that rage. It was unsettling. "I'm sorry," he
said again. He knew it was lame.
Apparently she did, too. She was still angry, but some-
thing was changing. Her eyes were beginning to get red.
Uh-oh, he thought. Angry was better.
As she started to sob, she turned and stormed away.
Kyle let out a long sigh, glad it was finally over.
But before he had taken another breath, Kyle heard
Gomer's voice.
"Dawn," he called out. Kyle could hear concern in his
voice.
Gomer stepped into the garage. He didn't even glance
Kyle's way and said, "Your dad said that you told him not to
pick you up. I just wanted to make sure you got home okay."
Yeah, and make sure she didn't work too late with me here,
Kyle thought.
Dawn didn't respond, she just kept walking across the
shop floor toward him. When she was just a few steps
away, Kyle could see that Gomer had finally seen her face.
"What's going on here?" he asked, looking first to
Dawn, then to Kyle.
"We were just talking," Kyle said.
Then he saw Dawn's shoulders shake and heard her
first sob. Gomer looked both surprised and confused.
Great, Kyle thought.
* * *
When Gomer looked at Kyle again, Kyle saw that some-
thing else was brewing there.
"You," Gomer said, glaring at Kyle. Kyle saw that the
only thing that kept Gomer from coming after him was
Dawn falling into Gomer's arms. Whatever control she had
fell away, and she sobbed openly into his chest.
"What did he do to you?" Gomer asked.
Kyle had thought Gomer sounded dangerous before,
when he had trapped Kyle under the car. But now Kyle
knew that Gomer had just been playing then, because now
he was hearing what Gomer sounded like when he was
really dangerous.
Well, Kyle had faced bigger and tougher guys on the
football field. He could be pretty dangerous himself.
And he wasn't stuck under a three-ton car now. Kyle
felt a shot of adrenaline race through his system.
Gomer was holding Dawn, but looking up at Kyle with
murder in his eyes. Buddha only knew what he was thinking.
When Dawn's sobs began to subside, Gomer pulled
back a little and said to her, "What happened here?"
"Nothing," she squeaked. "I just want to go home."
"Sure, in a minute," Gomer said, completely disentan-
gling himself from Dawn. He immediately headed for Kyle.
Kyle squeezed the fist on his right hand into a ball,
ready. He was tired of running, and decided that he was
going to give Gomer a surprise. It was almost too bad that
he and Gomer would be getting into it ov
er Dawn.
Though Kyle knew that he had done nothing to her,
Gomer didn't.
Kyle was tired of being a victim. Nevertheless, if Gomer
kept his head, Kyle wouldn't make a move against him.
* * *
But it looked like Gomer was going to make the first
move. Without stopping, he reached out with both hands
and shoved Kyle hard.
Expecting it, Kyle didn't hesitate. He stood his ground
and shoved back even harder. That surprised Gomer. The
fury in his eyes dulled a bit, and uncertainty began to
dawn there.
"What did you do?" Gomer said.
"Nothing," Kyle said. "At least nothing to Dawn. Touch
me again and I will take you apart, though." Kyle saw that
Gomer was buying his bravado. The uncertainty in the
bigger man's eyes was growing.
"Dawn, did he hurt you?" Gomer asked, not taking his
eyes off Kyle.
There was a long pause, and then Dawn said, "No, he's
just a jerk. Take me home, Gomer."
Gomer studied Kyle for a few seconds, and then began
to back away.
"You're lucky," Gomer said to Kyle, trying to sound
tough.
Kyle felt a rush of satisfaction. He had won this show-
down, and had done it without striking a blow. Maybe
Gomer wasn't much of an opponent, and this hadn't been
much of a contest, but it still felt good to win one—to win
something. As Kyle watched Gomer help Dawn into his
pickup, he felt his body relaxing slowly. Rather than wait-
ing around, he decided to lock up and go see the others.
He would have plenty of time tomorrow night to work on
the van. He pulled the large shop area doors shut. They
were the old-fashioned kind that opened from the sides
instead of the newer ones that opened up and down.
* * *
The doors were heavy and squeaked on their wheels as he
pulled them together. Then Kyle locked the two doors together
with the padlock and looked up in time to see Gomer's pickup
heading down the road into the rapidly darkening sky
As soon as he turned away, he felt an odd vibration in
the ground.
Earthquake? he wondered.
Inside their room, Max felt the ground shake underneath
him. He was immediately on guard. Instinctively, he
turned to the others to make sure they were okay. His best
friend was wearing the same hyper-alert expression than
Max was sure was on his own face.
"What was that?" Liz asked.
"I don't know," Max replied, a chill running up and
down his spine. He had a very bad feeling about whatever
was going on. By the look on his best friend's face, he was
not the only one.
"Let's check it out, Maxwell," Michael said, getting up.
Max was on his feet in a second.
"Wait here," Michael said to Maria.
"We'll be right back," Max said to Liz.
"You'll be right back? You're going to leave us here while
you check out whatever is out there?" Maria said.
As Maria spoke, the shaking of the ground turned into
a deep rumbling that was getting stronger.
"She's right," Max said. "Everybody stay together. We'll
find Kyle and go from there."
Kyle ran toward the road and followed the lights of the
pickup as it drove away from the garage and the center of
* * *
town. As the ground started to shake even more around
him, Kyle saw the pickup begin to weave on the street.
Then he heard a loud crash and saw it come to a sudden
stop, as if it were slamming into a wall that he couldn't see.
The rear of the pickup seemed to lift into the air and hang
there for an instant.
Then the lights in the pickup went out. Kyle could still
see the outline of the vehicle, but it began to dim in front
of him. No, that wasn't it. The truck wasn't dimming. It
was just getting darker, much darker. Looking up, Kyle
could still see the night sky and stars clearly above him,
but the road around the pickup was nearly pitch dark.
Looking into the darkness made Kyle queasy. Then he
was not just queasy, he was nauseated. Something about
the darkness made him want to ...
The world seemed to be moving in slow motion, and
then Kyle heard someone call his name. Max. It was Max.
With effort, he turned away from the sight in front of him
and saw Max and the others approaching him at a run.
They were looking at him and past him toward the
pickup.
Kyle wanted to tell them not to look, but then the dark-
ness was gone, and he saw a bright light shining on his
friends.
The ground continued to shake, harder. Kyle turned
quickly to see a large, brightly lit ... something hovering
over the ground.
The ship, if that's what it was, was big. Almost as big as
Johnny's garage. It also seemed like a perfect cylinder—
almost like a giant, solid pipe. It was covered with maybe
half a dozen small white lights and another half a dozen
* * *
large searchlights that moved and crisscrossed over the
road and surrounding area.
For a terrible moment, Kyle saw one of the searchlights
point directly at him as his ears told him that his friends
were right behind him. The light was blinding, and Kyle
had to close his eyes and then turn around. Finally, he
tried to focus on his friends, but a bright afterimage
obscured his vision.
When his eyes began to refocus, he turned around to
see the cylinder continue to hover. Then the lights went
out all at once, and Kyle heard a rush of air as the ship
raced away.
He tried to track it with his eyes, but he looked away
when he saw the cloud of darkness again. When he looked
back, the ship was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, my God," he heard Maria say from behind him.
* * *
18
Uh, my God, Max, it was a ship!" Liz said from behind.
Max nodded, still looking out into the sky. It was a ship,
there was no question about that, Max thought. The only
question was what they did now. His instinct was to pile
himself and his friends into the van or whatever vehicle
was handy and get as far away from Stonewall as they pos-
sibly could. "Kyle, are you okay?" Max asked his friend.
"Yeah, I got here a few seconds before you did," he said.
Kyle didn't look hurt, but he was obviously shaken up.
There was something else, too, something in his face.
"Are you sure?" Max said.
"I think so. I feel a little sick," Kyle said. He explained
about the black cloud that had hidden the ship, or what-
ever it was. "Looking into that darkness made me feel sick
to my stomach, I can't explain it," Kyle said.
"What kind of technology was that? What kind of ship?
Max, who are they?" Liz asked.
"That was nothing like the ship that brought us here. A
Skin ship maybe?" Michael said.
&
nbsp; * * *
"I don't think so," Isabel said in a very firm voice. "I
think I know exactly who they are, or at least what they
look like."
"Who is it?" Max asked.
"The monster from Jessica's dream. I think she was
dreaming about the things that took her," she said.
Then a sound disturbed the quiet around them. Until
Max heard it, he hadn't realized how quiet it had been.
Since they had arrived, there hadn't been any of the usual
insect sounds, not even the endless chirping of crickets
that usually went on all night.
This sound was a growling. No, not a growling—it was
someone moaning.
"Help me," a weak voice said.
"I'll go," Max said. Then he caught a glimpse of Liz's
face and corrected himself: "We'll all go."
The group approached the pickup. The truck was
angled toward them, and Max could see that the front end
was pretty well smashed.
As they approached, someone pushed his way out of
the pickup. Max recognized him immediately.
"Gomer," Kyle said.
The large man staggered away from them, to the side of
the road.
"Gomer," Kyle repeated as he rushed to the pickup to
look inside.
"Gomer!" Kyle shouted. Gomer finally turned around
and looked at Kyle as if he didn't recognize him.
Max saw that the tow truck driver had a bloody nose.
Other than that, he looked okay.
"Where is Dawn?" Kyle asked.
* * *
"They took her," Gomer said, his voice weak.
Max knew that the next logical question was: Who took
her? But Kyle didn't ask it. They all knew.
"What happened?" Max asked.
"I don't know," Gomer said. The man's head seemed to
clear a small fraction, but he still looked like he was in a fog.
Shock, Max thought.
Kyle had produced a rag from somewhere and handed
it to Gomer. "Put this on your nose," Kyle said.
Liz put a hand on Gomer's shoulder and said, "Gomer.
Do you remember anything?"
That seemed to bring him out of his haze a little more.
"We were driving . . . then it got dark all of a sudden,"
Gomer said. He was struggling to remember details.
"Then we crashed into . . . something," he said, shaking