Apex by Adam Moon Page B

vain to salvage anything from them that might be worth something to someone.
    The children all looked dusty and unruly. The parents all looked sleepy. It was enough to depress a person, except that the general was on a mission. He couldn’t afford to let this little stink-hole affect him.
    By process of elimination, they’d discovered that if the kids had come back home, then they weren’t within the town proper. They were holed up somewhere on the outskirts, maybe hiding out in an old abandoned barn, or a farmhouse.
    He was starting to doubt his intuition now though. What if they hadn’t come home at all? That boy had vanished, taking the others with him. They could’ve gone anywhere. Maybe they were in Paris. Maybe they simply vanished from existence. There was no way to know, so the general went with his hunch. He could only hope he’d made the right call. Those punks were dangerous. They had to be put down before they hurt anyone.
    He rounded his men up in a corner bar that stunk of puke and stale beer. Even at seven in the morning, there were a few occupied barstools. These were some diehard drunks. Then again, if he lived here, he’d probably escape through some type of medium too, even if it had to be alcohol.
    “Alright men, we’re going to widen the search. I need to keep two of you stationed at either end of the road coming through this shit-hole. The rest will fan out to search the surrounding farmhouses, barns, silos, and chicken coops. Leave no stone unturned. Shoot to kill on sight.”
    The grizzled old woman behind the bar gasped, but the general ignored her. “Move out.”

    Suit up
     
    Jack, Melanie, and Scott had all shared the spare room while the doc had taken the couch in the living room. Surprisingly, the teenagers had slept peacefully throughout the night.
    Molly was flipping pancakes and Dan was making coffee when they walked into the kitchen.
    On the table, there were three parcels wrapped in brown paper and twine. They knew what they were immediately.
    Molly smiled and gave each of them a hug in turn. “Good morning, superheroes.”
    Jack smirked. Maybe they weren’t exactly superheroes but they were most definitely superhuman.
    Molly handed each of them a package and watched intently as they opened them. They all feigned delight at first, until the delight became real. The costumes weren’t as bad as they worried they might be.
    Sure enough, Jack’s had a lightning bolt on the sleeve, and Melanie’s was a bright yellow. Scott’s didn’t have a skull and crossbones, but that didn’t seem to dampen his very real enthusiasm.
    “Try them on. If they don’t fit right, I’ll alter them for you.”
    They excitedly walked to the spare room.
    Jack said, “You two go first. I’ll change when you’re done.”
    Melanie gave him a quizzical look. “I’m not changing in front of Scott. I’ll go first.”
    Jack didn’t know what to make of her statement. She closed the door behind her and Jack said to Scott, “I guess I just assumed you’d been naked together by now.”
    Scott shrugged. “She wanted to wait.”
    Jack said, “How long have you guys been dating?”
    Scott looked at his feet. “Just a month or so.”
    “Huh. Well good for her.” He said it to tease Scott, but Scott wasn’t pleased.
    “Yeah, good for her and bad for me.”
    “Give it time, man. You found one of the good ones. Don’t give up because she won’t give in to your charms right away.”
    Scott shrugged. He was getting annoyed now. It was clear that it was a touchy subject so Jack dropped it out of respect.
    Scott whispered, “When we were in the silo the other night, right before the orb fell out of the sky, I broke up with her.”
    Jack said incredulously, “Why?”
    “I already wasted a lot of time waiting for her to come around. Plus, I’m going off to college in less than a year. Do you know how hard it is to maintain a long distance relationship?”
    Jack saw through his crap. Scott wanted