Chapter 2

In the morning, I woke with the coming of dawn. I pulled the dead body out and away from the barn. I spread some straw to cover the blood and gore left. I went outside again and scouted around the exterior as the day brightened around me. I realized that this was a horse barn away from the main house. In the pasture, I could see dead horses. In the distance, I could see that main house. Unlike the barn, it had obvious damage. I could see a way to reach it while maintaining cover. I decided that would wait until later. I wanted to watch the area for a while.

I watched the ground for aliens or people and the air for any signs of their air machines. I didn’t think of them as planes or jets. It was quiet. About an hour or so later, Rebecca came outside looking around. She didn’t see me and was beginning to look worried. I loudly whispered, “Over here.”

She walked rapidly to where I was sitting under a pine tree. I was covered from the air and, with the branches and nearby undergrowth, no one could see me from the ground unless they were very close. She was standing in front of me like she was going to say something. I put my finger to my lips and whispered, “Shush. Sit down and we can talk. Quietly.” I had looked her over as she walked to my spot. She was medium height with a nice, trim figure. Her face was plain though not ugly. I figured that, with a bath and some clean clothes, she would improve noticeably. I figured that a bath and some clean clothes would help me, too. I had no facilities for the former nor much of the other.

We sat together quietly for a few minutes. Finally, she said, “What are you looking for?”

“Trouble. I’m a little worried about people but the aliens are sudden and I’m hoping that they have moved on by now. Their weapons are superior to what I have. Getting into a fire fight with them will get me killed by the alien or by a bomb from one of their ships. From what I have seen, they don’t seem to care about their people much less people. I’ve seen them bomb where an alien was fighting. There was no attempt to help the one on the ground. They just killed everyone.”

She said, “Riley, have you made any plans yet?”

“No, I would like to stay here but that barn is a natural target for men and aliens. I have to think about being chased by superior forces with superior fire power. Forgetting about that issue will get you dead.”

I continued, “I think the aliens track people by heat signatures. We had satellites like that though I think their satellites or whatever might be better. I’m hoping that the metal roof shields us though don’t know. I don’t know how often we are scanned in this area now since I don’t know how they are doing it.

“I plan to check out the barn a bit better and determine a couple of alternate exits. If I can find those, then it might be okay to stay. Also, I want to check out the house. There may be useful things there. Someday, I would like a hot bath.”

She grinned at me. “I might kill for that, Riley. Is there somewhere that I can wash my face even if it’s cold?”

“I don’t know yet. There should be. Let’s walk around the barn staying under the trees.” She nodded and we slowly moved around the barn. There was only one other door. I made sure it was clear. While inside, I went to a far corner of the barn and loosened some boards that were behind a couple of bushes. It wasn’t much but was better than nothing.

I said, “I’m going up to the house now.”

“That’s good. May I go with you?” I nodded.

We walked to it by following the tree line. We were two-thirds of the distance there when something went by overhead. It wasn’t anything I had heard before. I figured it was alien. It kept going so we did, too. We reached the house and watched it for almost half an hour before moving closer to it.

The power was out and it was deserted. Out front, I could see the remains of four people. The aliens left little to identify with their weapons but it looked like a couple and two younger boys. One might have been a teenager. That’s all he would ever be now. It looked like it had been a nice home and family before the aliens hit them killing them and their animals.

Rebecca was looking over my shoulder and asked, “Do you have any idea why this is happening?”

“I have opinions but few facts to back those opinions up. I think this is an invasion and they plan to stay. They have wiped out our cities. Any population center seems to have been bombed. Their bombs didn’t appear to be radioactive. They aren’t taking prisoners. Any large animal, human or not, is a target. I don’t know if they know the difference between the species or maybe they just don’t like large animals. Since their suits explode when penetrated, I’m not sure how to find out about their physical bodies.”

I shrugged. “Given a chance, I will return the favor and kill them. My two buddies were surprised but took one with them. They were killed in the explosion of its suit.

“I’ve been guessing about heat but that appears to be reasonable based upon what I’ve seen. On the other hand, they do have some limits on their resources. It took a while to blow up the camp where I had stopped and cooked two nights before. I also think the aliens have moved on after clearing this area and will only return to attack heat sources. At some point, I think they will return to take over. We are proof that they didn’t make a clean sweep. I don’t know what we can do to fight them successfully but we will probably get a chance to fight at some point whether we want to or not.”

I sighed. “Right now, we need to search the house. We need to clean up if possible and to get some food for sure. Without power, it will be a cold shower at best. However, I’m afraid the water was pumped from a well which means no water.”

I went into the kitchen and tried the kitchen faucet. Only a trickle came out. I wet a cloth before it stopped. Leaving the cloth on the counter, I began to check the fridge and cabinets for food and water. I found a number of bottles in the fridge and two cases in a pantry area along with plenty of dry and canned food.

I took some bottles and carried them with me. I found Rebecca in a bathroom washing her body with a hand towel that she had wet. She did look good. She looked toward me with alarm. I said, “Sorry. I found some water.” I left two bottles on the counter in the bathroom and went out closing the door behind me.

I went into the master bedroom and began to look at clothes. The father wasn’t a big man and everything was too small for me. Fortunately, I had a couple of changes left that were clean. I went into the master bath and closed and locked the door behind me. I wet a towel in the commode and wiped my body down with it. I dried off as the knob rattled. Rebecca said, “That’s not fair. You got to see me and I don’t get to see you.” I think she was being humorous but I opened the door and stood there in the doorway naked and partially erect.

“Satisfied?” I asked. She nodded with her mouth wide open in shock. I grinned and closed the door. I finished my clean up dressing with fresh briefs and socks. When I opened the door, she was sitting on a chair at a makeup table.