“Oh, good.” Sarah sighed.
“Good?”
“Ah, yeah, that they aren’t wrapped up in all of this!
“Mm. Well, we can only hope. Last I heard, the sky jellyfish were being seen all over the place. Ah, here we go.” A radio suddenly crackled to life and the group listened in.
“-that’s why the military can’t do anything! Because of all the human hostages in these things! Not that firearms have been effective anyway but we need to be thinking of other solutions. Ground teams lost contact with Air Force One a little while ago, and government response has been all over the place. We need to call it as it is, people: aliens! It’s aliens like from the movies! We need to rise up and-” The broadcast continued like this for a while. Adam cycled through several channels only to hear the same things, ranging from fear mongering to solemn prayer. He sighed.
“Here, plug this into your phone’s charge port.” He handed Zoey a cable. “I only have one, so we’ll have to take turns.”
“Thanks…” She gently took the cable and connected it to her phone. “It seems to be working; I have a signal!” She quickly pressed a few buttons on her screen and held the phone up to her ear under her disheveled golden hair. “C’mon, c’mon pick up Stevie… pick up…!” She muttered under her breath. The ringtone suddenly stopped and her eyes widened.
“Stevie? Stevie is that you!? Are you alright!? How are mom and dad?” Zoey’s tongue was practically tying itself into a knot in an attempt to ask as many questions as possible in a single breath. “Wh…what…? Gone…? Where are you right now? Oh my god… s-stay there… I’m gonna get you help! Wait! Wait Steven, don’t-!”
She jerked up out of her seat and yanked the cable from her phone. “My parents are gone!” She cried. “M-my brother, Steven, is hiding in his closet but there was a loud noise and he suddenly hung up on me! W-we have to go save him! I-I don’t know what I’ll do if… if…” Zoey’s blue eyes became reddened with tears as she desperately looked back and forth at the group members.
“Slow down, Zoey…” Sarah gently put her hand on the terrified girl’s shoulder. “We can leave rescue missions to the professionals. I’m sure that any minute now we will get news of rescue works evacuating citizens…” She looked hopefully over Zoey’s shoulder at Adam, who was listening in on the radio with an earpiece. He glanced at her and slowly shook his head with a grim expression.
“Besides, how would we even get there? I’m sure everything will be okay.” Sarah had found that one trick to being an effective teacher was faking confidence.
“Y-you don’t know that! We have to go help him NOW!” Zoey cried out. Diana nervously shuffled in place and cleared her throat.
“Well, her house isn’t too far away… I’d say it’s probably a ten-minute stroll from here. Part of the reason why her parents offered to pay for her to go to USC was so that she could be close to home. Helicopter parents and all…”
“O-oh… did I not mention that…?” Zoey stammered, clearly flustered. “Yeah, I live close by; we could do it! Di agrees with me!” She sniffed, lifting her glasses in order to dry her eyes on her sleeve.
“Umm… well, I nev-never really sa-” Diana stuttered.
“Diana, please!” Zoey pleaded.
“Did you somehow miss the giant aliens flying all over the city on the way here?” Adam snapped, spinning in his chair. “Zoey, I take it you’re a smart girl. How exactly do you plan to get there and back without being grabbed by one of those things?” He looked at her incredulously. “Not just that, but this bunker was only designed to support four people at MAX. Adding a fifth would put dramatic pressure on our resources.”
Zoey stared at him with sad puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip. She stood there practically swimming in her oversized hoodie, looking absolutely pitiful with her tear streaked cheeks and messy hair.
“Dammit…” Adam swore under his breath. “Fine! Fine. We’ll figure this out.” He pulled a map out of a drawer and spread it on desk. “Show us exactly where your house is.”
***
Ten minutes later, Sarah, Zoey, and Diana furtively creaked the shed door open and peeked out into the surrounding neighborhood. Truth be told, they didn’t have much in the way of a plan other than “don’t get caught”.
Adam had been adamant about staying behind because if he got captured, they wouldn’t be able to operate the shelter. He also asked them for the contact info of their families so he could try and get in touch with them in the meantime. Sarah suspected he was just trying to save his own skin while staying snug and warm in the bunker. It was… understandable, but her impression of him dropped slightly. He didn’t leave them completely without aid, though.
Sarah gripped the single-shot flare gun he had given her. This was a bit of a last resort as it wouldn’t really do much damage to anything and it would also have the minor inconvenience of alerting any and all nearby living beings to their exact location. Great if rescue workers were in the vicinity but not so great if the “sky jellyfish”, as Adam called them, were watching. Do they even see? How do their sensory organs work? Sarah was still fascinated by their anatomy. If she could just write a detailed thesis paper on them, her tenure would be secured for sure… not that such things mattered much any more.
“Come on, girls, the coast is clear.” Sarah eased the door open and gingerly stepped outside, looking around the area. The other two shuffled out behind her, huddling close. They started making their way down the road, keeping to the side and ducking between shrubs and parked cars as they went.
“Hey, I don’t see any more of those creepy coleoids floating around,” Diana whispered. “Knock on wood, though, right?”
Sarah and Zoey blinked at her.
“What?” Diana stared back at them in confusion.
“‘Coleoids’!?” Zoey exclaimed. “Since when do you use big words like that?”
“I guess you paid more attention in my classes than I gave you credit for.” Sarah said approvingly.
“See? I know things,” Diana proudly declared, smirking at the look on both of their faces and sticking out her modest chest. Now that Diana mentioned it, Sarah glanced around the skies and didn’t see any sign of the large sky jellies.
“Okay then, do you know why we still hear screaming and stuff despite those ‘coleoids’ not being here anymore?” Zoey retorted, continuing to scan the area as they swiftly but carefully moved down the street. Sarah heard them too. Sounds of panic were still erupting sporadically around the area, though the nearby streets and skies were empty. No aliens or humans in sight. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
“Yeah… that’s… odd.” Sarah nervously agreed. Suddenly, she grabbed the girls and yanked them behind a parked van. “Shhhh! Get down!” She wildly covered their mouths while stifling her own breathing. The flustered girls pulled Sarah’s hands away and looked around with panicked faces.
“Wha-?” Diana gasped as her eyes went wide. Through the windows of the van she could make out… something… lumbering along at the next intersection. Curiosity got the best of them and they all slowly peeked out at the thing. Zoey covered her own mouth this time and Diana fell backwards onto her butt in shock. Only Sarah had steeled herself to get a good look, having already glanced it before.