Chapter Eleven #2
Dad floored it.
Gritting my teeth, I held on for dear life. Dad drove like a crazed kamikaze pilot bent on suicide. The ATV hit a pile of debris, sailed into the air and slammed down on the other side with a spine-jarring impact.
“What the fuck!” Uncle Saul bellowed.
The ATV blasted through some dead bushes, shot off the edge of a hillside, careened wildly and came to an abrupt stop in the Safeway parking lot.
A gun battle raged inside the store.
A muscle jerked in Kaelen’s cheek. “Your father is a berserker.”
“You got a death wish?” Uncle Saul spat as he climbed out of the ATV.
Dad interjected, “I got us here in under three minutes. We can’t afford to bury any more people.”
Uncle Saul gave him a look.
A woman and her three children fled out the front door.
I yelled, “Who started the fight, Ethel?”
“Jason Avery and Scott Larson. Both are drunk again and fighting over the last case of beer,” Ethel hollered and shoved her kids into her car.
Sonovabitch! Neither of them could hit the broad side of a barn. I scanned the store. “We have three injured, but I’m not sure how badly.”
Dad keyed his mic, “Dispatch, start the paramedics our way.”
“Copy Adam-30.”
“Minor injuries,” Kaelen advised and his power flared. A scant ten seconds later, the firefight stopped. “The males will no longer drink or cause problems.”
“Thanks. Ever thought about becoming a cop? Your mental voodoo works wonders on idiots.” Before I could move, Kaelen slid an arm around me. There was a flash of black and poof! We were inside the store. “Wow! How did you do that?”
“I teleported us.” Kaelen retrieved the hunting rifles from Jason and Scott.
I handcuffed the unconscious men and searched them. “It’s kinda like going through the portal. How far can you port?”
“Up to one hundred of your miles.”
Huh? Not very far.
Avery moaned and twitched.
Since the Tai-Kok started attacking our world, anyone over the age of sixteen was required to be armed. Those who refused to carry weapons usually ended up dead. I confiscated Avery’s backup pieces, boot knives and cyanide pill. “Can you teach me how to teleport?”
“I can, once I have converted you.” Kaelen commented.
Confused, I parroted, “Converted?”
“We will discuss that later.” Kaelen gestured at the cyanide pills I had placed in evidence bags. “Your people take poison deliberately?”
My lips twisted into a bleak smile. “Yep. If you’re captured by the Tai-Kok, you take the pill. Sixty seconds later, you’re dead and it takes about that long for the monster eating you to die too.”
“You carry this pill?” Kaelen’s eyes darkened.
“I do. So does my father, Jake, Uncle Saul and millions more.”
Kaelen stroked the side of my face with his thumb. “Your people are very determined to stop the Tai-Kok.”
“We aren’t going down without a fight, and we are killing as many monsters as possible.”
Kissing the top of my head, Kaelen’s strong arms hugged me tightly. “Together we will annihilate them.”
“It’d be nice if we could do that before we all starve to death. I miss chocolate so much.”
Kaelen gestured at the nearly empty shelves. “The Tai-Kok destroyed your food processing centers?”
“A lot of them, and they bombed our farm fields too. Central Command was forced to ration what little food was left.” I snorted. “The Tai-Kok stopped bombing our food sources about six months ago. I guess the monsters don’t like chowing down on skinny people.”
Dad, Uncle Saul and Jake rushed into the store with guns drawn.
I held up four fingers.
Jake nodded.
Ed, the store manager, stormed over to my dad. “I want those morons arrested and banned from the store. They are going to kill someone.”
“They’re being arrested for aggravated assault and endangerment,” Dad replied.
The angry shoppers gathered around them, shouting, “We need our box of food.”
“Our children are hungry!”
“Why aren’t they in jail?”
“We could have been killed!”
“It’s bad enough that Tai-Kok keep attacking, now we have to deal with these fools!”
“They should be hanged!”
“Ah oh. The last time people got this angry, there was one hell of a brawl and my nose got broken,” I groused.
“Not today.” Kaelen’s power flared, and I felt him use his mental voodoo on the shoppers. The yelling stopped and the shoppers quietly moved to stand in line for their box of food.
Wow, color me impressed. “You’ve got to teach me that.”
“I wanna learn that trick too,” Jake added.
Kaelen gave a slight bow. “It would be my honor.”
Two female medics hurried into the store, skidded to a stop and stared at Kaelen.
Was that what instant lust looked like? I smacked Kaelen in the stomach. “You’re too pretty.”
“I am not pretty,” Kaelen protested.
Rolling my eyes, I let out a loud whistle to get the medics’ attention and pointed at the gunshot victims. “Your patients are over there.”
“Yes, officer,” they said in unison and rushed to help them.
Uncle Saul looked around. “The Battle Commander is drawing too much attention. I’m not sure how we are going to explain a six-foot-eight, three-hundred-pound alien with fangs.”
I had to admit he was an eyeful.
“The ranch is the best place for him until we figure out how to get him home,” Jake said.
I raised my hand, “Or he could become a cop. We are shorthanded.”
Jake and Uncle Saul looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“At least think about it,” I said.
Kaelen’s fingers shackled my wrist. “Lexi stays with me.”
One look at the steely authority on his face and Uncle Saul nodded. “Of course, Battle Commander.”
Dad went toe-to-toe with Kaelen. “If anything happens to Lexi, I’ll kill you.”
“Knock it off, Dad.”
In perfect English, Kaelen replied, “I would give my life to protect your daughter.”
“Oh.” The anger drained out of my father. “Good. Once you get to the ranch Lexi, see if you can bag us a deer or elk.”
My stomach rumbled hungrily. “Count on it.”
“You hunt?” Kaelen interjected.
I laughed. “We all do. Uncle Saul has a herd of cattle and buffalo if we come back empty-handed.”
“Fresh meat is really appreciated after months of eating MREs,” Jake added.
Dad sighed. “We won’t starve. Ben still has over a ton of MREs stored in his bunker.”
“MREs?” Kaelen asked.
“Military ready to eat meals,” Uncle Saul answered. “Soldiers, police officers and all essential personnel receive them.”
Kaelen frowned. “The MREs sound like warriors’ rations. I will help you hunt for the elk.”
“I’ll arrange a hunting party,” Uncle Saul said as he ushered us toward the front doors.
Getting his notepad out, Dad started taking victim statements.
I felt guilty leaving him to deal with the mess.
“Relax, I’ll help your father,” Jake said and came to an abrupt halt. “Or not.”
A group of heavily armed men wearing camouflage uniforms had gathered in the parking lot.
“Oh looky, it’s Timmy and his Oath Keepers,” I said brightly.
Kaelen pushed me behind him. “You know them?”
“We do,” Jake grumbled.
Timmy, a pipsqueak in camouflage who thought he was Napoleon Bonaparte, stomped over to us. “General Jones you have no authority here. You will turn the prisoners over to us.”
“No.” Uncle Saul looked bored.
Timmy gestured and his men drew down on us. “I insist.”
“Hey asshole, remember me,” I snarled and stepped in front of Kaelen.
The color drained from Timmy’s face. “Yes, ma’am, I do.”
His men began backing up.
“Git or do you want a repeat of last time?” I gave him my Debbie Sunshine smile.
Uncle Saul’s eyebrows rose.
Jake groaned.
Kaelen muttered something under his breath.
“I don’t recognize your authority,” Timmy blustered.
My gaze fixed on a large wasp nest in an orange tree. Drawing on my telekinesis, I yanked it off the branch and threw it at his soldiers.
Smack! The nest hit a soldier in the face. He instinctively caught it. “What the hell is this?”
The pissed off wasps boiled out.
Screaming like a little girl, he tossed it to his buddy, who tossed it to another soldier and on it went. It almost reminded me of that game Target Toss.
Swatting madly at the wasps, Timmy’s men jumped into their vehicles and sped off, almost hitting the detention van as it pulled into the parking lot.
“You’re Satan’s spawn,” Timmy hissed and went for his pistol.
Uncle Saul dropped him with a single punch.
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what did you do the last time?” Jake handcuffed Timmy.
I grinned. “Doctor Welby’s ostriches. Those suckers are mean. I simply opened the gate, and their ornery nature took over. They chased the Oath Keepers all the way to Glendale Avenue and the Doc was right behind them with his shotgun.” I laughed. “A few of them got a rump full of rock salt.”
“God, I’d love to have seen that,” Jake chuckled.
My grin got bigger. “Dad got it on tape.”
“Are those wasps heading our way?” Uncle Saul wanted to know.
We all stared at the swarm of angry wasps and skedaddled back into the store.