good thing, judging by the look on Luna’s face.
“I’m never going to complain about having to eat vegetables again,” she said, although Kevin suspected that she probably would. She wouldn’t be Luna if she didn’t.
When they were done, they took turns cleaning up in one of the bunker’s bathrooms. They could probably have just picked a bathroom each, or two, or more, but Kevin, at least, didn’t want to be that far apart from Luna just yet. Even when the time came to pick bunks, they chose ones almost next to one another, when they had the whole space of the dormitory to choose from. It was like a little island picked out in the middle of it, and if he tried really hard, Kevin could almost pretend that it was some kind of sleepover. Well, no, he couldn’t, not really, but it was good to at least try.
They turned off the lights, using military-issue flashlights to guide them back to bed. Luna hopped up onto the top bunk of her chosen bed, while Kevin took the bottom level of his.
“Afraid of heights?” Luna asked.
“I just don’t want to have a vision halfway up and fall onto the floor,” Kevin said. Not that he’d had any visions since the one warning him about the invasion. Not that it would do any good now if he did. He found himself wondering what the point of his visions was when none of it had helped.
“Right,” Luna said. “I guess… yeah, I guess you should be careful.”
“Maybe in the morning things will look better,” Kevin suggested. He didn’t really believe it.
“We’d have to see it before it could look better,” Luna pointed out.
“Well, maybe we’ll be able to find a way to see things again,” Kevin said. If they did, though, what might they see? Would they see hordes of aliens out there in the world now? A barren landscape with nothing in it?
“Maybe we’ll work out what we’re going to do next,” Luna suggested. “Maybe we’ll dream of a way to make all of this better.”
“Maybe,” Kevin said, although he suspected that any dreams he had would be dominated by the sight of all those silent people.
“Sleep well,” Kevin said.
“Sleep well.”
In fact, it seemed to take forever for Kevin to fall asleep. He lay there in the dark, listening to Luna as her breathing deepened and she started to snore in a way she would probably never admit to when awake. This would have felt very different without her here. Even if there had been someone else there, Kevin would have felt alone, but as it was…
…As it was, he was still almost alone, but at least Luna was there to share in the loneliness of it. Kevin couldn’t get away from the thoughts of what had happened to his mother, to everyone, but at least he knew that Luna was safe.
Those thoughts followed him down into sleep and into his dreams.
In his dreams, Kevin was surrounded by everyone he’d known. His mother was there, his friends from school, his teachers, the people from NASA. Ted was there, with military gear slung all over him, and Professor Brewster, his face in a scowl that suggested he disapproved of everything Kevin had done.
Their features twisted as Kevin watched, becoming every alien from a sci-fi movie ever. Some of them became gray-skinned and big-eyed, while others looked more like insects with plates of armor across them. Professor Brewster had tentacles coming from his hands, while Dr. Levin’s eyes were on stalks. They lumbered toward Kevin and he started to run.
He ran through the corridors of the NASA institute, barely able to keep ahead of them as they poured out of doorway after doorway, and even though he’d lived there, Kevin couldn’t find the way out to safety. He couldn’t find the way to make this better.
He dove into a lab, shutting the door behind him and barricading it with chairs and tables and anything else he could find. Even so, the transformed people on the outside of the room hammered on the door, their fists pounding against it while, for no reason Kevin understood, an alarm started to sound…
Kevin woke with a gasp. It was still dark, but one look at the time on his phone told him that was just because they were underground. In the background, an alarm was sounding, the dull buzz of it constant, while underneath it, there was a dull, metallic thudding.
He knew Luna was awake, because she turned on the lights.
“What is it?” Kevin asked.
Luna looked at him. “I think… I think someone wants to come in.”
CHAPTER TWO
They rushed down to the command center, the knocking louder now that they were closer to the entrance. Even so, with the airlock in the way, Kevin was impressed that the sound was carrying. What were they hitting the door with?
Luna didn’t look impressed; she looked worried.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin asked.
“What if it’s the aliens, or controlled people?” she demanded. “What if they’re going around, rounding up survivors?”
“Why would they be doing that?” Kevin asked, but fear crept into him at the thought of it. What if they were? What if they got in?
“It’s what I’d do if I were an alien,” Luna said. “Take over everything, make sure there’s no one left to fight back. Kill anyone who gets in the way.”
Not for the first time in his life, Kevin vowed never to get on Luna’s bad side. Even so, he could hear the fear underneath her words. He could even share it. What if they’d run all the way to somewhere that felt safe, only for it to be falling apart already?
“Can we see who’s out there?” Kevin asked.
Luna pointed to the blank screens. “They’ve been dead since last night.”
“But that’s just the signal from around the world,” Kevin insisted. “There must be… I don’t know, security cameras or something.”
There had to be. A military research facility wouldn’t stay blind to everything happening around it. He started to press buttons on the computer systems, trying to find a way of getting them to do what they wanted. Most of the screens there were blank, the signals from around the world cut off, or blocked, or just… gone. Luna started pressing buttons beside him, although Kevin suspected that she didn’t know what to do any more than he did.
“Whoever it is, I don’t know if we should let them in,” Luna said. “It could be anyone out there.”
“It could be,” Kevin said, “but what if it’s someone who needs our help?”
“Maybe,” Luna said, not sounding convinced. “Whoever it is, they’re hitting the door pretty hard.”
That was true. The metallic echoes of each blow reverberated through the bunker. They came in groups of three, and slowly Kevin started to realize that there was a pattern to the spaces between them.
“Three short, three long, three short,” he said.
“You mean SOS?” Luna asked.
Kevin glanced over to her.
“I
