Page 6 of North

North frowned. “That’s against protocol.”

I shot him a look. “From what I hear, you guys don’t always follow protocol.”

Marc smiled. “Protocol isn’t that much fun.”

I looked at Jameson. “If I stay here alone, I’m at higher risk of getting attacked by something than if I’m with you guys.”

He stroked his stubbled jaw. “Okay, it is only one creature. Let’s put it down and go home.”

We trudged off the sand and into the trees. We moved onto an old road, where the pavement was cracked and weeds were growing through it. We made our way up the road, and came to some signs, rotting and falling down. One hung drunkenly from its post.

Welcome to Sussex Inlet.

As we walked into the derelict town, I wondered what had happened to the people who had lived here. There were thousands of places like this, once bustling with life, now turned into ghost towns.

The world had spent the last three decades rebuilding, but it took time. We’d lost skills and so many people. The population was slowly growing, and we were busy reconstructing so many skills and capabilities. Providing secure homes, power, and water had been the first items on the agenda for the burgeoning governments. Followed by education, food production, and medicine.

Prior to the invasion both the United States, Australia, and many other countries had been part of the United Coalition.After its collapse during the invasion, most governments were now small, and slowly starting to work together.

I knew we’d get there. Eventually. It was just going to take time. I scanned the ruins around me. We’d rebuild what we had before, but we’d do it even better. In ways that were better for the environment and people’s health.

We approached a row of old shops. The glass fronts were smashed, and they’d probably been looted during the invasion. We turned a corner.

“Hell,” Kai said. “Look at that.”

It was a small Gizzida fighter ship. It had crashed into a store and the back end was pointing up through the broken roof.

“It’s a ptero,” Zeke said.

I’d seen pictures of the alien fighters. They had a distinctive pterosaur shape with large, fixed wings that sharpened to a pointed cockpit at the front, along with a long, tail-like back end.

We walked closer.

“Sash, any sign of the monster?” Jameson asked.

“Nothing yet.”

I peered through the shattered window. “Oh wow. The Gizzida pilot is still in its seat.”

The seat had listed sideways, with the mummified pilot still strapped to it. The gray, scaly skin now looked like leather. The alien’s body was solid and muscular, and its face shrunken.

Marc peered over my shoulder. “He was a big fucker.”

The humanoid Gizzida had been called raptors. They’d been the leadership and main foot soldiers of the Gizzida army. They’d been intelligent, cold, and cunning. I shivered.

“Split up in pairs,” Jameson ordered. “Kai, you’re with me. Zeke and Marc. North and Jess. Fan out and find the monster. My girlfriend is coming home today, and I want to get this done so we can get home before she gets back.”

I knew that Jameson was dating an engineer, Greer Baird, who worked on a dam project nearby. She came home from the worksite every few days.

I met North’s blue gaze. He jerked his head, and we headed down the empty street. Our boots echoed on the pavement. The town was eerie as hell.

North scanned around, alert. He might be a good doctor, but he was also a good soldier.

“Do you see it?” he asked.

“No.”

I peered into a store. It looked like a clothes store, but most of the racks and hangers were empty.

---