Chapter 21: 21
'Jack! Jack! Get up! Wake up!'
'What the hell, Jason? What time is it-'
'Never mind that! Just get up! Now!'
Moments later, Jack stumbled bleary-eyed into the living-room . . . and stared in shock at what was going on on the television. 'God damn it to hell! What do those bastards think they're doing? There're people inside that thing!'
Kiko was weeping inconsolably. Yelina looked to him hysterically. 'We have to stop them! We have to stop them! My mom is in there! Jack, please! Do something!'
'Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!' Jack unconsciously repeated the words like a mantra as he stared in horror at the scene as it was replayed again and again by the news helicopter cameras. There was a brilliant flash, and a ball of fire, and the impossible bulk of the massive craft bucked down its whole entire length from the force of the blast. 'Those monsters! How could they do that? There're people in there!'
As in a dream, a motion outside his front window drew their attention, as his crew cab went careening into reverse with a roar, slammed into the cars across the street, burned rubber and sped off.
'Yelina! Jesus fucking Christ! This isn't happening!' Moving at a run, he ran outside and jumped into his old pickup-
'I'm coming with you-'
'No, Jason,' he said through the open window, 'you're staying here and taking care of Kiko and your sister! No arguments! If I don't come back, take your sister and Kiko and go to Mike's place and stay there! Understand?'
Feeling as though his little world has been ripped apart at the seams, Jack went after Yelina in his old pickup truck, trailing a plume of blue smoke.
As he suspected he would, he soon caught sight of the crew-cab barrelling along on the grid leading north from Anaheim. With his heart in his mouth, he watched the way the truck careened drunkenly from side to side as the little blonde alien girl tried desperately and inexpertly to control it.
Jack was forced to slow down as the dust thrown up by the crew cab blinded him.
'Shit!' Jack slammed on the brakes and slewed to a stop in a cloud of dust. The road had ended abruptly at a "T" intersection. He turned around in his seat, looking left and right down the paved country road as the dust cleared. But there was no sign of Yelina. She was gone.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone