Alien Invasion (Book 1): Invasion by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant

spirituality that actually mattered. She didn’t participate in the ceremonies. She hadn’t seen Mother Ayahuasca. He didn’t resent her for it, and she didn’t resent him, but it robbed them of common ground. Her parents had been religious and believed in a bearded savior in the sky. Meyer, on the other hand, had more or less predicted everything that had happened today. It was a decisive victory, he thought, but he wouldn’t waste breath on explanation. Some places were holy. That and the fact that he’d wanted one of his own was all she needed to know.  
    “Why are we doing this, Meyer?”  
    “Going to Morristown?”  
    “Going to Vail. Shouldn’t we stay put? We don’t even know anything yet.”  
    Jesus . It was the same thing Heather had said. He hadn’t been able to reach her again due to the overcrowded network, but if he had, he’d conference the two women so they could be ridiculous and shortsighted together.  
    “We know enough.”  
    “What do you know that nobody else knows?”  
    Piper looked at him with those huge blue eyes. It was rhetorical, basically a joke. But he’d already known enough to prepare, and could still feel the puzzle assembling somewhere inside. He couldn’t see it, but you didn’t need to see a black hole to feel its pull.  
    They needed to be in Colorado when it happened, whatever “it” was. That was the only safe place. If this had only waited another few months, they’d have been living there already. Then they could have stayed put. Then they could have bunkered down and kept off the roads. But staying in New York — the city in which all sorts of bad shit always happened first — just because they hadn’t had time yet to make their big move? That was just stupid.
    “We’re almost there.” Meyer looked out across the sea of brake lights. He patted her hand to soothe any possible reproach he might be giving off without intention. Then he gave her a forced smile, and she smiled back. He felt something release inside. Piper had that effect on people. Even Heather, who would have liked very much to hate her, but couldn’t manage to no matter how hard she tried.  
    “And we can just fly away.”  
    Meyer nodded. “One of the perks of owning your own plane.”  
    Despite the awkwardness of the space between them, Piper pulled Meyer’s arm toward her enough to lean uncomfortably atop it. They looked like a stretched-out picture of lovers side-by-side at a romantic movie, with the backs of cars on the big screen.  
    Meyer reached out and poked the radio. They were approaching the exit. Once off the expressway, everything would be faster.  
    Piper moaned.  
    “I just want to check before we get there,” Meyer said.  
    The radio program had changed. Apparently, there was fresh news after all. But none of the reports had to do with Astral or the ships or anything else. It had to do with government preparations and the people’s safety.  
    Meyer listened. He heard the announcement that made him shout just as the airport came into sight, the terminal and gate slowly being surrounded by flashing blue and red lights.  
    Trevor jerked awake in the back seat. He blinked. “What? What’s wrong?”  
    “The FAA just grounded all flights,” said Meyer, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We’re a half hour too late.”

DAY TWO

CHAPTER EIGHT

    Day Two, Morning
    Rural Pennsylvania  

    Piper woke with a soft vibration under her head. At first she didn’t know what it was.
    She’d been having a dream where she was on a roller coaster with Meyer’s ex-wife. Heather was wearing an outrageous red dress that turned her average-size boobs into respectable and decidedly Victorian-era cleavage. It wasn’t the kind of thing Heather wore in her lesser comedy shows and certainly not in any movie (released by Meyer’s Fable Studio or otherwise) that Piper had ever seen.  
    They’d been climbing a hill for most of the dream, a half-minute trip stretching to