The Assault
Chapter 1
Wednesday, July 23 1997 - 2:16am
My name is Jake.
I hadn't been sleeping much lately. Our last mission had gone bad. We'd had too many close calls, and I was having a tough time shaking the memories. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, playing Madden with the sound off when I heard the phone ring in Tom's room down the hall. He answered it immediately, as if he'd been waiting for the call. There were a few seconds of silence, and then Tom spoke fast in a low, urgent voice. He hung up the phone loudly and I heard the thumps and squeaks of Tom's dresser drawers being opened.
I set my controller on the bed and crept quickly to the door. I could hear Tom banging around in his room, but I was still extra careful as I opened my door a crack. A second later Tom's door burst open, and he rushed into the hallway with a heavy gray duffle bag bag in his hands. His face was grim, and his eyes held an edge of panic.
Uh oh.
My backpack was lying on the floor next to my door. I silently knelt down and pulled out the cell phone that Erek the Chee had given us a few months ago. I'd call him when Tom had gone and see if the Chee had heard of anything. It was obvious the Yeerks had some kind of emergency.
The light went on in my parents' room, and a moment later dad opened the door, blinking sleep out of his eyes and staring at Tom incredulously.
"Son? What the hell are you doing?"
"Move, you fool!" Tom snarled, and swatted my father out of the way with a vicious backhand.
I ripped my door open, ready to dive for Tom. No time to morph. Whatever had just happened, the Yeerk in Tom's head was making its move, and subtlety was out the window. But Tom simply shoved past my dad and rushed down the stairs.
I ran to my parents, mind racing, panic setting in. Something major had just gone down. Tom had just seriously compromised his cover. My dad was laying on the floor in the doorway of his room, holding his jaw with a look of profound confusion on his face. Mom jumped out of bed and ran over, screaming. I knew I had to follow Tom, but I also had to alert the other Animorphs. I needed backup. What had happened? Had they captured one of my friends? Was this the invasion? Had the day finally come when the Yeerks had decided to make their presence known? Nightmare scenarios started to play themselves out in my head. I wasn't ready! I wasn't prepared! Idiot!
I came back to reality and realized my mother was yelling at me, and dad was starting to pick himself up off the floor. I grabbed mom's shoulders and shook her. I didn't have time to try and calm her down, so all I could think to do was shock her into hearing me.
"Mom! Shut up!" I yelled in her face.
Thankfully it worked. She stopped yelling, and an expression of outrage started to form.
"Mom, listen to me! I'm going to go get Tom. You and dad STAY HERE! Don't go anywhere, don't call the police, don't do anything! You just have to trust me, please. Stay. Here!
I glanced from her face to my dad's. They both wore nearly identical expressions of shock, anger, and utter confusion. My heart sank, but there just wasn't any time to explain anything. I wasn't prepared for this. I wasn't ready. Suddenly, my throat felt tight.
"I love you both very much," I said, in a low voice, thick with emotion and frustration, "but if you don't do exactly as I've told you, we could all die."
Before they could react, I turned and leapt down the stairs after Tom.