The Monster Apocalypse Read online

  He looked at Brent, who for the last three years in that downstairs newspaper room had been the object of his affection, with never more than a wink or a flirtatious glance to accommodate his yearning. But now here he was, holding onto the man tight—and even though Brent was still not willing to call himself a bona fide queer, he was finally showing some affection toward Dylan. After all these years, his dream had come true. It was certain to him now: good things could happen.

  Brin had already started turning herself around in the front passenger seat, when Dylan said, “All right. Fine. I’m in, too.”

  “What?” She looked back, happily startled by Dylan’s words.

  “You heard me. I don’t want anything to happen to you guys. If I can be there, to help in any way I can, as much as I can’t stand the thought of going back to that horrible place—I’m in.”

  “We’re all in,” Brent added, tapping the seat in front of him.

  “Well shit, guys,” Brin said. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothing to say,” Ash said, leaning forward. He was the one to take Brin’s hands this time, and then he went a step farther—he kissed her softly on her cheek. He turned to his left and playfully kicked the back of Mr. Barker’s seat. “Except that Mr. Barker needs to step on it! The faster we get there, the faster we can end this.”

  “All of this,” Brin added.

  “Because it’s not just what we want or need to have happen. It’s what has to happen. Droz, and all his followers, and that old, decrepit town, are going down.”

  Brin had rarely thought of her best friend in that way before, but Brin considered another kiss with Ash, this one on the lips. She patted him on his shoulder instead, then sat back in her seat and turned to Mr. Barker. He had the most serious expression on his face of anyone in the van. He looked focused, determined, like he didn’t want anyone to get in his way. They were heading toward Topaz Lake, the California state border, small-town Bridgeport, and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn off to Bodie. Mr. Barker wasn’t going to wait until the morning. He, clearly, wanted to get there tonight.

  Brin didn’t say a word to the Film teacher. She just rested her head back and looked out the front windshield, happy that no cars were slowing them down, that no light was revealing to the rest of the world their suspicious whereabouts. Droz had to know she was coming, but the big bad couldn’t have had a clue that an army this large was on its way. She smiled and looked out her window. The black clouds loomed overhead; the mountain peaks in the distance showed off hints of snow. Brin started to close her eyes. With still another hour and a half of driving to go, Brin wondered if this was the only time to catch a wink before the epic finale.

  But a strange bright light from the mountaintops woke her right back to reality. A small chunk of the black sky became red, only for a second or two, before the glowing red object in the sky shot past the mountains, straight for their vehicle, and passed overhead.

  “What the—what the hell was that?” Brin shouted.

  “What was what?” Mr. Barker asked. He hadn’t said a word in thirty minutes.

  “That red light in the sky! It looked like a plane zooming a thousand miles per hour. You didn’t see it?”

  “Uhh, no,” he said. Mr. Barker glanced at Brin with a concerned expression on his face. “Brin, maybe you should just get some sleep. You’ve had a long day. We all have.”

  “I’m not going to sleep. And don’t talk to me like I’m a child. You’re telling me you didn’t see that?”

  He just shook his head, then re-focused on the road.

  Brin turned around. Almost everyone in the last thirty seconds had fallen asleep. Ash had his chin shoved up against Anaya’s left shoulder. Anaya had her head back, snoring at the top of her lungs. Dylan and Brent had their heads leaned against each other, and Justin was out cold, hunched over in a position that surely didn’t look comfortable.

  The only one awake behind her was Valerie. “Everyone just got a little sleepy, didn’t they?” she said.

  “Yeah,” Brin said. “Weird.”

  “I know. It’s like that scene from The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and the others run into that field of poppies and can’t help but fall asleep. I could swear, Brin, that they all went down at the exact same time.”

  Brin pursed her lips, confused but not overly worried. It could have been a coincidence. Five people falling asleep within seconds of each other could have been normal.

  But Brin wasn’t naïve: nothing in and around Grisly, Nevada, could be considered normal any longer.

  She rolled down the passenger window and looked back up at the sky. She tried to find that streak of red light.

  “What are you doing?” Mr. Barker asked. “Roll the window down! It’s freezing out there!”

  “Hold on,” Brin said. She scanned the mountains. She looked left and right. No red light. No strange glow.

  Brin knew it wasn’t a smart idea, but she had to do it: she pulled herself up a little bit more to get a better look out the window. Mr. Barker grabbed her pants and tried to bring her back down, but she swatted him away. She started to shiver, and the ferocious wind struck her face like ice. But the pain wasn’t for nothing; she could see something, all right. Out in the distance. Over by Topaz Lake.

  “Oh no,” she said. “What. Now.”

  She crawled back inside the car. As soon as she did, Mr. Barker rolled the window back up.

  “What were you thinking?” he said. “You could’ve fallen. Something could have smashed right into your face! We’re in the middle of nowhere, Brin. I can’t take care of you at the same time we’re trying to save your mom—”

  “Shh,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  She pointed out the windshield, at the lake on the left side of the road, as the van started descending the long and curvy hill toward the California state line. “Do you see that? The red light by the lake?”

  Mr. Barker glanced toward the lake for only a split second. “I don’t see a thing.”

  “Look closer! Squint if you have to. There’s some weird object hovering over there near the—”

  He clearly didn’t want to take her seriously. “Brin, please. Don’t let your imagination go wild. I know it’s nighttime, and I know you’re scared about where we’re going. Trust me. I am, too.”

  “Don’t let my imagination run wild? I’m in a car with a werewolf and a troll, I’m headed toward vampires, and I just barely evaded getting eaten by zombies.”

  He shrugged. “All right, you make a good point. But I’m sorry, I just don’t see any red light—”

  “Look! To your left, goddammit!”

  Mr. Barker sighed, then finally darted his eyes toward the impressively large lake on the left side of the road. Brin could see it in his eyes. He could see the light, too.

  “OK,” he said. “So what? It’s probably just a campfire or something—”

  “When has fire ever been the color red, Mr. Barker?”

  “What do you want me to do about it? We have to keep moving, Brin. Whatever that light is, whatever it means, we have to keep heading toward our destination. We have no time to lose!”

  In most respects, Brin agreed with Mr. Barker. She didn’t think they needed to stop and investigate every strange sight and sound that occurred—especially not tonight.

  But she, nor Mr. Barker, nor anyone for that matter, had a choice.

  One second the vehicle was hauling down the hill at nearly seventy miles per hour. A few seconds later, the van screeched to a complete stop, in the middle of the highway.

  “What are you doing?” Brin said.

  “It wasn’t me,” Mr. Barker said, with a tightening in his voice. She noticed small beads of sweat drip down his forehead, even though it was freezing both inside and outside the vehicle. “Brin, the car stopped by itself.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Mr. Barker, that’s not funny.”

  “I’m being serious—”

>   “Now’s not the time to be making jokes.”

  “Brin, look at me. Look at my feet.” He slammed them against the pedal. Nothing. The car wasn’t responding. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “Maybe the engine is stalled? Maybe—”

  “What’s happening?” Ash said, with a yawn.

  “This is an odd place to stop,” said Anaya, waking up.

  “We can’t just stay stopped in the middle of the highway!” Brin shouted, loudest of all. “It’s dark out here! What if a car doesn’t see us?”

  Mr. Barker turned the key in the ignition and tried to get the car to start again. He turned it twice, three times. Nothing. The van was dead.

  “This is insane,” the man said, slamming his fists down against the steering wheel. He shook his head and looked at Brin. “I guess we have to get out and move it. I don’t know what to do.”

  Mr. Barker had been so focused, so determined—and now, with this (arguably) small hiccup, he was already showing signs of weakness and distress. He rested his hand on the door handle.

  Brin touched his shoulder. “It’s OK,” she said. “We’ll find a way to get there. Even if we can’t get the van to start up again, we will find a way. I bet it’s just overheated. Let’s move it to the side of the road and give it a few minutes.”

  The teacher sighed. He obviously didn’t want to get out of the car. But he knew he didn’t have a choice. “Come on, Anaya, Ash. Help Brin and me push the van to the side of the—”

  The van started up again, magically. Mr. Barker hadn’t touched a thing, not the steering wheel, the gas pedal, the key in the ignition—the vehicle just roared back to life with no explanation.

  “Yes!” Brin shouted. “See! It just needed a minute. It’s probably because there’s so many of us in the car or something. Maybe it’s just—”

  The van started moving, heading down the highway at a slow pace, at about 20 MPH.

  “Are you going to speed up?” Brin asked Mr. Barker.

  “Uhh…” He didn’t say anything for a moment. He just stared out the windshield in confusion. “Brin, I’m not touching the pedal.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brin looked down at Mr. Barker’s feet. They indeed were shoved up close to the door, and not near the pedal at all. “Can you touch the brakes? Can you stop the car? Maybe it’s just rolling. We are on a hill.”

  “Let me see.” He pressed his foot against the brake. He tapped it a few times. The car was still moving.

  “Anything?”

  “No. This can’t be the hill. Look, the road is leveling out.” Mr. Barker pointed out the windshield. They had reached the bottom of the hill and were now just a minute or two away from the California state line. They were so close to fleeing Nevada, to getting far away from the monster-infested Grisly. The van just needed to respond to Mr. Barker’s touch.

  “This is ridiculous,” Brin said. “Well, come on. Let’s at least pull the van to the side of the road.” She leaned over and tugged the steering wheel in her direction. She waited for the wheels to turn, for the vehicle to pass over into the bike lane.

  But the van didn’t budge. It just kept going straight.

  “The steering wheel isn’t working either?” Ash said, the panic in his voice more discernable than before. “Do we need to get out of the car? Are we safe?”

  “Hold on,” Mr. Barker said, brushing Brin’s hands away. “Let me give it a go.”

  He pulled the steering wheel to the right with all his might. He gritted his teeth and emitted an uncomfortable moan. He spit up a little bit, and Brin watched as drool dripped off his chin and landed on the center of the wheel. Mr. Barker finally let go.

  “Damn it,” he said. “It’s not working! What kind of car did your stupid little friend give us, Brin?”

  “Don’t blame Crispin,” Brin said. “This isn’t his fault. Maybe we’re low on gas? Did you check to see how much was in the tank?”

  “His mom said it was low on gas, but I checked. There’s still a quarter of a tank left. That should be enough to get us to Bodie.” He looked like he wanted to scream. “If I could just turn this stinking car…”

  Mr. Barker gripped the wheel to the left and tried to pull the vehicle into the adjacent lane, just for the hell of it.

  The idea worked. The van started turning to the left, into the oncoming lane, toward the slim one-lane road that winded along the side of the lake.

  “Yes! I got it!” Mr. Barker shouted. “It’s turning!”

  “Oh, thank God,” Brin said. “Turn it to the right.”

  Mr. Barker tried. He pulled the other way. Nothing. The van kept veering left.

  “What the hell?” He tried to stop the vehicle from turning left, to no avail. “This is so dumb! It’s like something’s controlling the van! That, or it has a mind of its own!”

  “Oh my God,” Ash said. “We’re in Christine, aren’t we! I knew Stephen King would factor into this story sooner or later!”

  Brin ignored Ash’s comment and pointed outside, at the bright red light.

  “I think…” she started. She leaned against the dashboard and shook her head in disbelief. “I think I know what’s controlling the van, Mr. Barker.”

  “What is that?” Dylan asked from the back of the van.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Valerie, pointing.

  “Oh my God!” Anaya shouted. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Mr. Barker put his hands up into the air, like he had a cop pointing a weapon his way. He wasn’t touching the wheel anymore, but the van had finally decided to stop turning left. Now the group was on the slim one-lane road, headed toward the dark, empty lake, and the glowing red light up ahead.

  Brin had seen that red object fly overhead a few minutes ago but couldn’t tell what it was. But she could now, in all its awe-inspiring glory.

  “It’s pulling us in,” Mr. Barker said. “It has us in its grasp!”

  “What does?” Justin asked from the back of the van, his voice so high and scared Brin wondered if her brother had transformed into the sister she never thought she had. “What the hell is that red light?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Brin said. “It’s just… you know… a spaceship.”

  The van continued rolling forward, closer and closer to the bright red light, where a large, spinning flyer saucer rested on the dirt ground beside the lake.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I don’t believe it!” Ash said. “This whole time I thought we were living out a real-life horror movie. Now… it’s a 1950’s science fiction movie!”

  “For God’s sake, not now, Ash,” Brin said. She looked up at Mr. Barker and clasped her hands behind her head. “What should we do?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t dealt with aliens before.”

  “No? You haven’t taken part in any werewolf vs. alien wars we haven’t read about in the history books?”

  “Has anyone seen the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still?” asked Ash. “So great. The old one, of course. The new one with Keanu Reeves was a complete waste of time and money—”

  “Ash! Please!” Brin turned toward the flyer saucer. It didn’t look a mile away any longer. Now it was close enough for her to see the little white men stepping out of it. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

  “Is that them?” Ash asked.

  “Those are aliens, all right.” She looked at Mr. Barker. “We can’t just sit here. We can’t just let them take all of us. I didn’t come this far to be swallowed up by an alien spacecraft, Mr. Barker!”

  “You’re right,” he said. He looked back at the terrified faces of all the passengers, then glanced down at his driver’s side door handle. He pulled it with his left hand and kicked the door open. The van was only going about 15 MPH.

  “We have to jump,” he said. “We all have to jump away from the van!”

  “But how do we know they’re evil?” Ash asked. “Maybe they’re friendly. Maybe they just want to talk to
us.”

  “They’re pulling us toward them, like a magnet,” Mr. Barker said. “They have no intention of letting us drive away. They want us on board. They want to probe us, dissect us, kill us!” He looked at Brin, then the others. “Everyone! Get out of the car! Now!”

  Mr. Barker jumped away from the van, landing on his left side. He rolled up against the mounds of dirt next to the paved road.

  Brin stayed put for a second. It felt so strange to be in a moving vehicle, with no person in the driver’s seat. It was like she was stuck in a car wash, with the machinery below doing all the work, and a blinding red light smashing against the windshield instead of soap and hot water.

  She looked back. “Well! You heard what he said! Get out!”

  Brin pushed her door open and looked down. She sighed, closed her eyes, and kicked herself away from the van. She landed on a bed of shrubs, on her back. She looked up to see a medley of red beams dotting the night sky like leftover fireworks.

  Valerie struggled opening the van’s sliding door, but Justin helped her, in a hurried fashion. The van was closing in on the flying saucer.

  When he pulled it open, Valerie was the first to unbuckle her seatbelt and roll away from the vehicle, landing hard on the pavement. Anaya followed, bouncing on her belly and rolling into the dirt, near Brin.

  Brin looked back at the spaceship. The front of it opened slightly, allowing a walkway to touch down to the ground. The walkway looked just big enough for the van to fit inside.

  Ash was the next to hit the ground, followed by Justin, who nearly head-butted Valerie as he crashed awkwardly against her.

  Brin waited for Dylan and Brent to leap away from the vehicle—but when five additional seconds became fifteen, Brin stumbled up to her feet in panic.

  “Dylan! Brent! Hurry up!”

  “I can’t!” Dylan shouted from inside the van. “My seatbelt! It’s stuck! I can’t get out! Oh God, I can’t get out!”