Chapter 1
Escape
Portland, Oregon
Aqua
Somebody was shaking my shoulder. "Aqua, Ai, wake up," Ian whispered. I was glad that it was him, rather than Kyle. If Kyle was waking me I would have ice-cold water soaking my bed and I would shiver from the cold for the next several hours.
I blearily opened my eyes, rubbing the tiredness from them as I sat up. "What's going on?" I hissed, knowing that I had to be quiet so that we weren't heard.
"It's time," Ian told me grimly, his mouth, so often smiling, set into a hard line.
"Tonight?" I breathed. He nodded. "Okay, I'll be ready. How much time do I have?" I asked.
"Fifteen minutes. Be downstairs in fifteen minutes. We finished packing the cooler and some bags with as much as we could. Along with plenty of water. We just have to get it all in the car now. Just take a backpack with the necessities," he commanded, all business.
I nodded. I was ready for this. I had been ready for weeks really, ever since we had realized that our parents had come back from their vacation so much meeker, with silver mirrors behind their eyes and thin scars on the back of their necks, just below the hairline. I had known that this time was coming. And now it was time to act, time to escape. I took a minute to say a mental goodbye to the house and to my parents, who by now weren't even my parents any more. They only looked like them. After the minute was up, I sprang into action.
First I grabbed the empty backpack that was sitting by my bedroom door. Then some clothes; a pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, three t-shirts, and some underwear, bras, and socks were rolled and placed in the bottom. I also stuffed in an extra set of sneakers. I knew that I'd need them when my first pair wore out. Then I changed out of my pajamas and into another pair of jeans and a t-shirt, pulling a hooded sweatshirt on and zipping it up. I stuffed my raincoat into the backpack as well, thinking that I'd need it, what with the weather around here, and then tried to think of anything else I might need if I got separated from Kyle and Ian.
I grabbed a small flashlight and a bunch of extra batteries, my favorite book, a mechanical pencil, lead, and a notebook, sunglasses, thinking I could use them to disguise my eyes if came to that, and a large plastic water bottle.
Then I headed to the bathroom. I grabbed a fresh toothbrush, a full tube of toothpaste, and a couple of bars of soap. After a minute of indecision I also grabbed a full bottle of shampoo. I didn't want to risk bringing too much to carry, and the backpack was pretty full at this point, but I'd just use the soap up faster if I didn't bring it. I went quietly down the stairs and filled two water bottles at the sink in the kitchen before sticking them into the pockets on the sides of my backpack.
I went to the door and pulled on my usual sneakers, tying my long black hair into a ponytail as I did so. I was glad that I always wore a ton of hair ties on my wrist, so I didn't have to worry about packing them. I took a deep breath and left the house for the last time, closing the door silently behind me. Kyle and Ian were in the car already, Ian behind the wheel, and I climbed into the back seat, slipping my backpack off as I buckled my seat belt. The trunk had our large cooler that we used when we went camping in it, along with several brown paper bags filled non-perishables. We had been stocking up whenever our 'parents' had sent us to buy food, although buy wasn't the correct term anymore, seeing as the parasites didn't believe in currency. There were also a bunch of gallon containers filled with water.
Kyle and Ian each also, which were in the back seat next to me. And there was a small duffel bag full of what I assumed were other things that we might need, although slightly less necessary, such as sleeping bags and extra layers of clothing. The first aid kit sat right next to it. I recognized it from our many camping trips over the years, and I knew it was well stocked.
"Good timing," Kyle said. He didn't have his usual spark though. And I knew why. A little more than a week ago, his girlfriend, Jodi, was taken over by a parasite. It was too late to save her. That was when we truly realized that we needed to go. It was just parents that they were taking over anymore, they had moved on to their children.
"I already knew what I needed," I told him grimly.
"At least we're prepared," Ian said. We sat in silence, thinking about those who hadn't been so lucky, like Jodi, as to figure out the invasion before they were captured, all of the friends and neighbors who had already been taken away from us, who had been forced to succumb to the parasites that had invaded our parents.
"Let's go," I said firmly. That was all it took for Ian to put the keys into the ignition and turn them, the engine quietly rumbling to life. We pulled quietly out of the driveway and onto the dark street. No other cars were out, as it was still several hours until dawn, and the road was silent and utterly still. I didn't speak, and neither did they, as we quickly escaped the place that, for fifteen years, I had called home.
3 days later, Atlanta, Georgia
Tyler
"Tyler, you need to take your siblings, and you need to get out," my mother said to me.
"You have to come with us," I told her fiercely.
"We can't do that, Ty," she said, using the nickname that I had shed when I was thirteen when I had insisted that it sounded like I was a baby. Only Gabby was allowed to call me that now. "If your dad and I go with you, they will know that something is up. If we stay and lie and cover for you for a few days you'll have time to get away from here, to get into the wilderness and away from them."
By them, I knew she meant the invaders, the things that were slowly taking over the bodies of the people that I knew and loved. Our family was one of the only human ones left in the neighborhood, and I knew that they were coming for us next just as well as my parents did. The shells of their friends were coming over the next evening, and we had to be gone by then. Gone and far away. "I can't leave you here to die," I whispered to her. I was not going to cry. I was not going to cry. I was seventeen now. I had to be strong, for her, and for my three younger siblings who were counting on me.
"You must. And we're not dying," she said.
"Yeah, it's worse than dying," I insisted. "It's disappearing. It's like you'll never have existed at all!"
She pulled me into a big hug, although I was several inches taller than she was, before releasing me. "Of course we'll have existed. As long as you remember us, we will have existed, as long as you don't forget us."
"Never," I promised
"Good. Now, go. Grab your siblings and their emergency bags. Your father's packed the van with as much food and water and other necessities that he can fit that still leaves you all room to sit, but you have to go now," she urged.
"I know," I whispered.
She smiled weakly at me. "Go, I'll get Gabby ready, you wake Carson and Tanya." I nodded and we walked up the stairs. She entered Gabby's room and I went into the one that Carson and I shared. He was staring up at the ceiling, eyes wide open, like he had known that it was going to be tonight, that we would have to leave.
When he heard the door open he turned to face me. "Is it time?" he asked. I nodded grimly and he got out of bed, already dressed in normal clothes. I guess he hadn't bothered to change into pajamas. He could sense that it was coming, just like I could. He grabbed the two backpacks full of clothes, toiletries, and a couple of other survival necessities in case we got separated from the van. He threw mine to me and I slipped the straps over my shoulders while he did the same with his. Even though he was sixteen, almost a man, like I was, I was still fiercely protective of him. I didn't want him to have to leave the safe haven that our home had been for the last weeks as slowly, everybody around us had been taken over. I wanted him to be safe, and now that could only happen far away from here, where nobody would be able to find us.
"Get in the car. Dad should be out there finishing packing it up. Mom's waking Gabby. I've just got to get Tanya. As soon as that's done, we have to be gone," I told him in a business-like tone, trying not to show the emotion that was coursing through my veins like fire.
He swallowed, but kept up his brave face as he left the room. I waited until he was halfway down the stairs before I slipped into Tanya's room. At thirteen, she knew what was happening, and she knew that it couldn't be stopped, and she knew that we had to leave Mom and Dad behind in order to stay safe for the next few days. By the time they had been taken over, we would be far enough away that they wouldn't be able to find us. Not easily, at least.
I gently shook her shoulder and her eyes flew open. She had always been a lightly sleeper. It was easy for her to fall asleep, but just as easy for her to wake again too. "Come on, Tanya, we have to leave," I told her. Her face paled and she bit her lip, but nodded all the same, sitting up slowly. She was still in her pajamas, so I left her to change, waiting outside her room and focusing on steadying my breathing.
Within two minutes, I was calmer, and she was out of her room, wearing a sturdy pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and one of my old sweatshirts that I had passed down to her when I grew out of it. She had her own emergency backpack slung over her shoulders. I took her smaller hand in my own and we went down the stairs. Gabby's room was silent, so I assumed that Mom had already gotten her ready and that everybody was just waiting for the two of us.
I was right. The house was empty and it had a deserted feel to it, but I walked through it steadily, trying not to show how quickly my heart was beating, how scared I really was. I had to be strong for the little girl holding my hand. Except that she wasn't a little girl anymore, at thirteen, she was younger than most were when they went through something traumatic in their lives, and it was forcing her to mature. She knew I was sacred, too, and she squeezed my hand, reassuring me that she was still there, still the same as she always had been. I smiled down at her, a real smile, and we left the house through the front door, closing it softly behind us.
Carson was sitting in the passenger seat of the van, and Mom was putting Gabby in and buckling her up. At eight, Gabby had no idea what was going on, other than that something was wrong, and that we were worried. Now she knew that we had to leave. Her small backpack was in front of her, situated between her legs and the drivers' seat.
"Ready?" I asked Tanya as we approached.
"It doesn't matter if I am or not," she said wisely. "I have to be."
I knew exactly what she meant. We were all maturing faster than we should have, all growing up before our time. I was going to be in charge or keeping three people safe before I was even officially an adult. It was scary, and we weren't ready, but we had to grow into the role whether we wanted to or not. And we didn't want to. We had to.
Dad stepped forward and he swept us into a hug together. I was the same height as him now, but he still crushed Tanya and I against him like we were eight and four, rather than seventeen and thirteen. "Good luck, you two. Remember, you're going to be some of the last of us left. Keep yourselves alive," he told us, pulling back and looking each of us in the face.
I nodded and Tanya shook next to me, the fear finally hitting her. Hard. Mom came over next, hugging us goodbye, leaving Gabby buckled into the car, her door closed as a look of horror came over her face. She knew we were saying goodbye. She knew that they weren't coming with us.
Dad also noticed this. "Go, go now," he said, taking Tanya around to the other side of the car as I got into the driver's seat, tossing my backpack over my sisters' head and into the trunk. Carson looked at me nervously. His seat belt was already buckled and I grabbed mine, hearing it click quietly into place. The keys were already in the ignition and I turned them, hearing the engine roar to life in the quiet pre-dawn air. I said a last silent goodbye to everything that I loved, my home, my friends, my parents... my Mia, who had already been lost, ripped away from me for almost two weeks. I backed out of the driveway.
In the mirror, I saw the tears that rolled down Gabby's still-chubby cheeks as she stared back out her window to where Mom and Dad were standing, waving us off, sad smiles on their faces, for they were saving us, but in doing that, they had to let us go and they had to stay behind. I saw Mom turn into Dad's arms and I knew that, like Gabby, she had succumbed to tears.
I wanted to cry too, to go back and let her hold me and tell me that it was alright like she used to when I was younger, but I didn't. I couldn't. I had to be strong. Hands shaking, I kept driving, away from everything that any of us had ever known and loved. It was gone now, and we had to survive off the love of each other, the only ones left in the world that we could trust.
One week, just like I promised. Anyway, here's Chapter 1, which I have to say is much more interesting than the Prologue.
Thanks for reading and please leave a review! I'll have the next chapter up next Saturday.
