Janie and The Gray: Chapter 2

I was first in the cafeteria line and had my choice of seats. I sat with my back to the wall at the middle table. I could see the entire room. Watching the weird creature serve food to a line of zombies was the closest thing to entertainment this prison had to offer.

Then something weird happened. A girl in line — the brunette that always looked so sad — smiled. Teeth and everything. That didn’t happen here. It reminded me of life before. It broke my world.

I stopped eating and scanned the room. Nothing had changed. The zombies were still zombies and the aliens were still aliens. If anyone noticed, they didn’t let on. The next time I looked, the girl’s smile was gone — but the crazy look in her eyes wasn’t. She was about to do something. Something stupid.

Shit. I stared into my bowl and weighed my options: fight or fold.

Something flew over my head and hit the wall behind me, splattering my head and back with warm goo. The girl launched like a lioness at a steak dinner.

I was out of my seat running after her before I realized what I was doing. Yep. Fight.

The panicked screams of prisoners and the sound of alien weaponry erupted from the factory. As my foot fell in the overgrown grass at the edge of the parking lot, a tree trunk in front of me flashed bright white and exploded with a sizzling crack, accompanied by a plume of white mist. I ran through the hot cloud — a thousand shards of wood peppering my face as I inwardly begged the tree not to fall on me.

I crashed through the underbrush, eyes burning and blurry as I tried to blink away the debris. The forest thickened and the leaf-bare branches of scrubby trees slowed my progress.

I started to descend into the shallow gully when a voice thundered behind me. “Go, go, go, go!”

I froze and spun around to see another prisoner sprinting toward me. “Dimples?” I said, the sound of my small, crackling voice strange to my ears. God, why did I say that out loud? Holy shit — I talked. That’s weird.

He blew past me and I gave chase, feet sliding on crunchy, dead leaves. As we scrambled up an embankment toward the road, the unmistakable whine of an alien craft filled the air.

We slowed at the shoulder of a divided highway. It was completely still apart from the tall, yellowed grass that swayed in the median. Both sides of the road were dotted with debris and abandoned cars — some charred and twisted while others were eerily pristine. The sound of the ship moved further away. Dimples signaled me to stop.

Gladly. Calm down, Janie. Just breathe. In 2-3-4, hold 2-3-4, out 2—

"Skimmer," he said quietly before turning to me. "Gotta move. You good?”

I lost my family and friends and dog and home and future. I was kept alive just enough to assemble parts for some extraterrestrial dishwasher. And now my impulsive escape got other prisoners killed and I’m being hunted by telepathic monsters that will boil me on sight. Doing great, thanks.

I nodded.

He bolted. I froze when I saw the alien hovercraft streak down the highway on-ramp — maybe a quarter mile away. Run Janie.

The ship’s weapon was unleashed — striking nearby cars with sharp, rhythmic crack-crack-cracks. I was ten steps from the guardrail when Dimples cleared it. crack-crack-WHUMP. An explosion threw me to the ground. Immediate pain, then darkness.

Lightning flashed. Thunder cracked. Again and again. The storm resisted me. Injured bird. Unable to soar. Pushed backwards. Crumpled. Heavy. Distant shouts. Ringing ears. Dull pain sharpened. Throbbing head. Vague world. Bouncing vision. Green. Brown. Smoke. Falling. Splash. 

Reality hit me like a bus. Frigid water rushed into my mouth, nose, and lungs. I thrashed and scrambled to the surface in a disoriented frenzy. My head broke above the water but the air wouldn't come — my lungs clenched by unseen hands. I fought for breath while bobbing in the river’s swift current with rocks and branches scraping my arms and legs. I coughed hard and drew a hoarse and ragged breath.

"Dive!" a voice bellowed behind me.

I gulped what little air I could and plunged under the surface moments before an explosion obliterated my senses — the intense sound pressure dazing me to the point of complete disorientation. Seconds or centuries later, my faculties returned. My head was above the water and I shot backwards like a drunk torpedo.

I caught a glimpse of a bright silvery reflection through a thick patch of trees on the riverbank. They couldn't follow. Dimples surfaced and gasped for air. I — we were alive.

The river widened and calmed, fast water replaced by gentle ripples and twirling eddies. Some distance ahead, a bridge crossed the river — its centerpiece a trailer bearing an Amazon logo.

I swam toward the shore and trudged up the embankment. Dimples climbed out after me and looked as awful as I felt. His dark wet mop of hair contrasted with his pallid face — lean, hollow, and hungry. I shivered violently.

“You went down hard back there — you were out cold,” Dimples said, his words jerky through clattering teeth. "You okay to run?"

"I need a minute."

He nodded and started hopping up and down, shaking his arms, blowing into his hands, rubbing them together.

“We need to get underground," he said, more to himself than me. “What’s your name?”

“Janie," the word felt weird in my mouth and foreign to my ears. "You?”

“I’m good with Dimples,” he said, flashing a practiced dimpled smile.

"I —"

“I'll follow you,” he interrupted and pointed toward the woods. “If we head north we should eventually hit some residential areas. Surprised a warship isn't on us yet.“

“Probably making a beer run,” I snarked.

“Yeah, kegger at the mothership,” he countered. "Let's roll, Janie."