Transmission

“So that it will still be here if we need it,” she said. Kevin couldn’t see who might be there to steal it, but even so, it sounded like a good idea. He guessed that there might be people about in the tourist areas, all controlled by the aliens now.

They took food and supplies from the car, a few cans and packets that didn’t seem like enough now that they were here. They crept forward through the trees, trying not to make a sound.

“Which way to the bunker from here?” Luna asked.

“I’m not sure,” Kevin admitted. “I think right at the top.”

Luna nodded, and they started upward. It was hard, climbing that way, but they kept going. They were almost at the top anyway, and the prospect of safety pulled them on.

There were people near the top. Kevin could see them as he got closer. Some looked like tourists, but there were others in military uniforms, suggesting that Phil’s talk of a hidden military testing site might be true. All seemed to be as still as everyone else he’d seen, as if waiting for orders. He knew that they couldn’t just walk past them, though. If even one saw him, how many more would come? If there were enough, it wouldn’t matter that they had a bunker to go to.

So they crept along as best they could, trying to keep as many trees as possible between them and the people there. Kevin kept his head low, trying to keep out of sight. He saw people slowly turning to stare at him through the trees, and he knew that their efforts to stay out of sight hadn’t worked.

“Run!” he called to Luna.

They ran, while the group of those by the lake started forward as one, moving at no more than a walking pace, but looking as though they wouldn’t stop for anything. Kevin and Luna rushed through the trees, heading deeper out of sight.

“There,” Luna whispered, pointing.

Kevin sighed with relief. She was right. They’d found it.

The entrance to the bunker was camouflaged with green and gray, moss and small plants. The entrance looked like a small hollow in the ground from a distance, but closer to it, it was possible to see the steps leading down. There was a door there closed by an old-fashioned round handle, like a ship’s wheel, or a safe. A keyhole sat at the center. Kevin just hoped that Phil had been right about the same keys working everywhere.

“Quickly,” Luna said.

Kevin could hear the crashing behind them now of the alien-controlled people closing in. The two of them rushed for the door. Kevin set the key into the lock, and so slowly that it terrified him, the wheel started to turn.

The door came open just in time.

He and Luna dove inside, slamming it behind them and winding the locking mechanism shut. Something slammed into it from the other side, but the door held.

“Beginning decontamination procedure,” an electronic voice said. Water came down in a swift burst that drenched them both like a heavy storm. Right then, Kevin didn’t even mind.

“We did it,” he said. “We’re safe.”

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

To Kevin’s surprise, the bunker was empty, no one left in it, despite whatever precautions must have been in place. It felt strange being trapped in there with only Luna for company.

The bunker had an operations center with screens bigger than they were. Kevin pushed a button and was relieved to see the bunker’s systems let them patch into TV and the Internet, satellite images and more. There were even things that looked as though they would access military communications channels, although Kevin hadn’t figured out how to work those yet.

“Is there anyone left?” Luna asked.

Kevin wasn’t sure how to answer that. “There are broadcasts and things,” he said, “so there must be someone.”

There didn’t seem to be many people, though. From the sealed off interior of the bunker, Kevin and Luna watched the world change. There was news out there on the Internet, talking about the people being transformed. It wasn’t just America now, and it was spreading too fast to contain. Perhaps if people had managed to close their borders in time, they might have stopped it, but even then, what could they do about a vapor carried on the wind?

“What do you think our parents are doing now?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know,” Kevin admitted. It was a strange, wrenching feeling not knowing like that. Would his mother be out there with the others, just staring? Would the people like that eat or drink, remember to sleep? Or would they just stand there until they fell from exhaustion?

“There are still some people trying to show what’s happening,” Luna said. She showed Kevin images of a TV station where they were trying to map it all in front of what looked like a weather map, and an Internet site where someone had managed to tap into a bunch of cameras around the world.