Read Intruders: The Invasion: A Post-Apocalyptic, Alien Invasion Thriller (Book 1) Online
Authors: Tracy Sharp
Intruders: The Invasion: A Post-Apocalyptic, Alien Invasion Thriller (Book 1)
INTRUDERS
BY THE TIME YOU’RE SCARED. . .
It begins with the abductions. In a single night, thousands
of small children vanish from their beds.
IT’S TOO LATE.
A day later, meteorites hit the Earth, releasing strange dust
into the air.
THEY ARE HERE. . .
The dead rise, ravenous. The living, dragged underground by
creatures out of nightmares.
AND THEY CAN SMELL YOUR BLOOD.
There is nowhere to run.
INTRUDERS
TRACY SHARP
By the time you’re scared, it’s too late.
Contents
Chapter 1
The first sign that the world was ending was disturbing, but
not alarming. It was insidious, because it was disguised as an everyday kind of
horror. Something that, although terrible, had become almost commonplace in our
world. Things like this happened every day, somewhere. All you had to do was
watch the news to see evidence of horrible, but not shocking (not anymore)
things people do to one another on a daily basis.
It started with the disappearances. Babies and children
vanishing from their beds. First one, then another. And another. Until it did
become alarming. By the time we knew something odd was happening, the invasion
was well underway.
People were comfortable in the belief that we were safe.
That everything would be all right. That the world would go on, continue as it
always had, one donut shop paper cup of coffee at a time. We were smug and
oblivious; a combination which made the invasion inevitable and rapid.
We were easy pickings.
But then, I doubt there would be much anyone could’ve done,
anyway.
Our militaries were no match for them.
Nothing was.
* * *
One of the first to vanish was my niece, Jessica. She was
two years old. Almost three. I was in the house when it happened because I
lived with my sister, Kelly.
Which is why I was sitting at the police station right now,
being questioned by the cops.
“Tell me again what happened that night, Zoe.” The cop was
older. He had a kind face. Most would call him fatherly. He spoke to me in
soft, gentle tones. “How did you get the shiner?”
I shrugged, which is what I’d done the last several times he
asked me. “I was in a fight with some girl at the college. She spit at me. I
hit her. She hit me back. End of story.”
“That sucks. You’ve had a rough couple of days.”
I shrugged. Nodded.
“Start from the beginning, Zoe. Okay?” His voice was so
gentle. It made me uncomfortable.
So although I was tired and annoyed because I’d been sitting
there for hours, his kindness was disarming. I pushed out a breath and started
again. But I skipped the good parts.
“I’d just gotten home from work. Kelly asked me if I’d watch
Jessica for a couple of hours so they could go out for a bite. He’d received a
Christmas bonus from work, and wanted to celebrate.”
The cop, Detective Elliot Rayback, leaned forward, his hands
slowly turning his Styrofoam cup on the table. “What time did they leave?”
“Around seven-thirty.”
“You work at the college, you said, right?” He was trying to
confuse me, by jumping back and forth in the story. A technique that often
works if a suspect is lying.
“Yes.”
“And you drove home?”
“Yes.”
“At what time?”
“Eight. I stood around watching the meteor for a while.” A
small meteor had crashed on top of the physical education building at the
campus. It was something I definitely hadn’t expected when I got up that
morning.
“Yeah, that was something else, wasn’t it?”
Indeed it was. If he only knew. I nodded.
“Right in our little town.” He shook his head. His tone was
friendly and conversational, like he was talking to someone he’d known and
liked forever.
“Did you get pictures? Like on your phone?”
I shook my head. “Too freaked out.”
He chuckled. “I bet you were.”
I wanted to offer him a smile but I couldn’t make my face do
it. My nerves were jangling.
“Anyway, it was snowing, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That snow makes the roads slippery. Treacherous. Believe
me, I’ve seen my share of car fatalities because of weather. People just aren’t
as careful as they should be. They think they’re immortal or something.”
This time I did offer a tiny smile, and was amazed I could
manage it. I was so tired. My neck and shoulders ached from sitting there so
long. My back screamed. Grief sat in my belly like a rock. “Can I stand up for
a while?”
“Sure, Zoe. Stretch yourself out.” Detective Rayback kept
his demeanor calm and laid back, but his eyes casually watched every single
thing about me.
“Thanks.” I stood, stretching, my red combat boots creaking
a little.
Rayback took in the boots, the worn, straight legged jeans
rolled up to the ankles; a style made popular by the punks of the seventies and
eighties. I wore my black The Clash t-shirt worn over a long sleeved black tee;
the t-shirt I found in a box of memorabilia Kelly and I went through after the
death of our mother.
“I remember The Clash. I actually went to see them in New
York city back when they were big. Great show. Joe Strummer was a serious
musician. Not everyone knows that, you know.”
I nodded, letting him know I was listening. But skin was
crawling beneath my scalp.
“I like your hair, Zoe. Very cool. The black hair with the
red streaks catches the eye. Cool cut, too.”
“Thanks. A friend at Antonio’s did it for me.”
“The hairdressing school?”
I nodded. This was all wrong. I shouldn’t even be here. I
didn’t understand how this all happened. And beneath this, a gnawing, tearing
panic. My niece was missing. Someone snatched her, right under my nose.
“That’s an expensive hairstyling school. My wife’s sister
went there. How did you come up with the cash for that?”
Anger shot through me. Of course he was suggesting I stole
it. Hadn’t I been in trouble with the law for stealing before?
The truth was more shameful to me than if I’d been a real
thief. I’d stolen a loaf of bread at fourteen; went to court mandated
counseling and mom went to AA meetings. They’d taken it easy on me.
“My mother had a life insurance policy.” It was for a
hundred grand, which my sister and I split, and which allowed me to enroll in
the hairstyling school in Saratoga. Rayback was right. It was the best
hairstyling school in the area. I couldn’t have afforded to go there if it
hadn’t been for the policy.
“Right. I’m sorry about your mother, Zoe.” His voice
softened. He must’ve read something in my face. Maybe that I wasn’t happy my
mother was dead.
But I was relieved. I was ashamed for it, but there is was.
She’d been a hardcore drunk for a lot of years, and anyone who has an alcoholic
for a parent knows what that means.
In the end, Kelly and I had to keep scooping Mom off the
street, where she’d inevitably passed out; many times outside of a bar. She’d
fall asleep in her car if she was lucky. She’d ended up in the hospital more
times than I could count in the last few years.
I took a few breaths to try to keep myself from sobbing, but
felt my chin as it began to tremble.
Detective Rayback’s gaze stayed on my face, the wheels in
his brain turning. I was betting he thought I was wracked with guilt because I
had something to do with Jessica’s disappearance.
Telling him I didn’t was pointless. I’ve already told him
this, many times. But everyone who ended up in this room likely denied any
guilt or wrongdoing.
So Rayback said nothing as I slowly walked the length of the
small room used for questioning suspects. I noticed the double-sided mirror the
moment I walked in. The place was more like the movies than I’d thought.
His silence was unnerving. I preferred the endless
questions. I could see why cops used it. It would make someone who was guilty
nervous because you wouldn’t know what the cop was thinking. But it made me
nervous too, even though I had nothing to do with Jessica’s vanishing.
I stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath. I turned to
look at him. I imagined what he saw when he looked at me: a young girl who was
full of anger; whose mother drank herself to death; literally and who had been
in trouble with the law already, for stealing. So although I knew it wouldn’t
do any good, I looked at him through tear blurred eyes and said, “I didn’t hurt
Jessica. I had nothing to do with this. I love her.”
“Okay, Zoe,” Rayback said. “But I need to hear it again.
Kelly and Derek are home when you get there.”
I turned my eyes heavenward and continued to walk the room,
pacing. It was what trapped animals do, and I felt trapped --- Exhausted,
heartsick and trapped. “Yes.”
“What kind of mood were they in, Zoe?”
“Great. Derek got a five hundred dollar Christmas bonus from
work. He was taking her out to celebrate and he gave me twenty bucks to order a
pizza.”
“You left that part out,” Rayback said.
“Well, he did. And so I ordered a medium pepperoni and
cheese and the box with the remaining half was on the table when you guys
showed up.” Frustration edged my tone. What the hell did it matter if I left
out the pizza?
“It isn’t easy being an eighteen year old with a baby.”
Rayback’s steady gaze stayed on my face.
“No. It isn’t. That’s why I moved in with Derek and Kelly,
to help out. With us toggling our shifts, there would always be someone home to
watch Jessica.”
“It helped you out, too, right? How much did they charge you
for rent?”
“Just a hundred bucks a month, and I helped with groceries.”
“That was for room and board, basically, right? Where was
the room?”
I sighed. This again. He knew where the room was. Right next
to Jessica’s room. In fact, if Jessica woke up in the night, I heard her first.
The baby monitor was in my room, because neither Kelly or Derek heard her
crying. They both slept like the dead. “Right next to Jessica’s room.”
“Right. Right. You got up with her more than anyone.”
“Yes. I’m a light sleeper. Derek and Jessica could both
sleep through an earthquake.”
“Good thing you moved in, then, huh?” His gaze stayed on my
face, watching for a the slightest reaction.
I nodded. “I’m sure they’re not the first parents to not
wake up when their kid cries.”
“How old are you, Zoe?” He knew the answer to that question.
I tried not to grit my teeth. “Seventeen.”
“That’s mighty young to be caring for a baby.”
I shrugged. “Lots of people do it. And it’s not all the
time.”
He paused, and the silence stretched out for what seemed
like forever.
I knew Kelly and Derek were also being questioned in rooms
just like this one, just in case we were all involved in Jessica’s
disappearance. Accidents happened. People lost control of themselves sometimes.
“You and Kelly are pretty close, aren’t you?”
I nod. “We had to be.”
“It’s tough having a mother who drinks.”
I said nothing. What was there to say? Having a mother who
drinks means you really have no mother. You are the parent --- of yourself,
your siblings and your mother.
He clearly knew this. Cops deal with all kind of people.
What people are capable of doing when they don’t have the mental resources to
parent, because they had piss poor parents, and don’t know how. He’s also seen
what people will do to protect someone.
But I turned out the opposite. I was an excellent aunt to
Jessica. I catered to her every need, before she even needed it.
Kelly? She wasn’t terrible. But she relied on me a lot to
take care of Jessica. Because it came naturally to me. Which was a joke. If you
saw me, you’d know why. I don’t exactly look like the warm, fuzzy kind. But
people will surprise you. I surprised myself.
“What happened then?”
“I ate pizza. Fell asleep on the couch until they came
home.”
“And then?”
“Kelly and Derek went to peek in on Jessica.”
He said nothing, still watching me. Waiting for me to go on.
“And she wasn’t there. She was gone.”
* * *
Rayback left me alone for a while. I was sure he and other
cops were watching my every move behind the two-way mirror. I’d been there so
long, and I was so tired, I just stared at the table like a zombie. They
wouldn’t let me sleep.
If I closed my eyes, someone would walk in with coffee or a
soda, or ask if I needed anything. They make sure I stayed awake.
I leaned forward and placed my head in my hands, scratching
at my scalp. It felt like my skin was crawling. Were they even looking for
Jessica?
Panic made my adrenaline spike, and for a moment I thought
I’d hyperventilate.
I must look guilty as hell
.
I needed to get out of here. Jessica needed me. I had to
find her.
I thought of yesterday, before this happened. How much life
had changed since then.
* * *
The lights had still been on at the Ripley College education
building when I pulled into the parking lot. I went to the hairstyling school
in Saratoga Springs during the day, and I cleaned at night. The college is on
the outskirts of Ripley, the town where I live.
The temperature seemed to have dropped ten degrees from when
I started the drive a mere twenty minutes before. The chill air hitting my face
made my breath catch in my throat. It actually hurt to take a breath. The cold
snap had started a few days ago and it seemed like it had been going on
forever. Especially for someone whose car heater doesn’t work.
The old combat boots I’d snagged at the thrift store
downtown were awesome, but they didn’t do much to keep my feet warm. Of course,
having socks full of quickly expanding holes didn’t help either. I’d have to
invest in warmer socks and boots soon. The boots I’d get from the thrift store,
if I didn’t find them on clearance somewhere, but the socks I refused to buy
second hand. So I’d have to pinch pennies for those. Hard to do when you have
so few pennies to pinch. I had to make the little bit of money left from my
mother’s policy last. But at least I’d landed an internship at Make the Cut,
the salon downtown. I was to start the following Sunday full-time, and it was
two days away.
The heat of the school felt wonderful when I first stepped
through the doors, but soon felt stifling. Some parts of the college had the
heat blasting, while other parts were frigid. I’d learned every corner of the
place during my year cleaning for Joe.