Page 2 of Dusk & Desire

Noa shakes her head and lets the curtain drop back into place. “Satellites,” she says, then spits her gum out into the trash can by the entrance. It’sWar of the Worldsand she’s avoiding littering. But why is that kind of hot? “It’s what I would do,” she continues, thankfully oblivious to my inner monologue. “Kill communication, kill defenses, win the battle.”

I blink at the tattooed girl who looks like she’d be at home in a rock band and get a grin in return.

“Just because I don’t go to college doesn’t mean I’m an idiot,” she says, not unkindly. Another explosion rocks the foundations of the old building we’re sheltering in, followed by more screaming from students.

“If you’re an idiot, I’m an amoeba,” I squeak, looking around in a panic, like I’ll find the answer in the multi-colored flyers on the walls. “We should… find a bomb shelter maybe?”

Axel shakes his head, his long black hair brushing over his broad shoulders. Why am I looking at his sister more than I am him when my taste usually runs toward penis. Why am I even thinking about this when we’re all about to die?

Fudge! My parents!

I pull out my phone to find a ‘no service’ notification. I lift my phone up like an idiot. Wave it around. Nothing. My breath comes quicker and a lump forms in my throat. I guess Noa was right about disabling communications. I should have called themearlier. I hope they’re somewhere safe…

“We should get some gym bags or hiking backpacks and hoard some food or we’re fucked,” Axel says, speaking to Noa like I’m not panic-tapping the call button on my mobile in vain.

She bites her lip and nods before looking at me. “He’s right. If everyone floods the shelters, they’ll just starve together. I don’t think this fight’s gonna be over in a day.”

Fight? These… things in the sky came to our planet without us noticing and they’re already disabling us within minutes. “Do you think we have a chance?” I ask in a whisper, leaning against her when the floor trembles again. “Against aliens who can travel across the universe?”

She gives me a pitying look before she shakes her head in negation, her blue hair flopping with the motion. “I’m afraid the world as we know it is over, pretty girl.”

Chapter 2

Linda

Once the satellites stop lighting the sky up in sparks of various sizes, and no spaceships are visible in the smoke-darkened sky, we gather our courage to leave the building. The air is thick with smoke, acrid and cloying, and my breaths come in short, sharp gasps. I think the reality of what’s happening is finally sinking in, the numbness that helped me through the first moments receding. I wish it didn’t. I feel so useless between Noa’s calm calculation and Axel’s jaded machismo.

Students are running in every direction, some crying, but all of them looking as scared as I feel. “Did anyone catch anything on the TV?” I ask a passing group, but they mostly ignore me, only one boy bothering to shake his head.

“No signal,” he says over his shoulder as he follows his friends to the other side of the parking lot.

We reach the first rows of cars and slow down. “Do you two have a car?” I ask, looking at the parked vehicles. Car doors are slamming all around us, followed by the squeal of tires. I wish I could floor it out of this reality.

Noa smirks at me as Axel approaches the driver’s side of a black sedan. My mouth falls open when he bends over to pick up a rock, then uses it to smash the window.

“W–what are you d–doing?” I stutter. “You can’t just steal someone’s car. What if they need it?” I protest weakly.

Noa rubs a soothing hand down my back and, despite everything, goosebumps dance to life under her touch. “We need itnow,” she tells me before hopping into the front passenger seat. “Get in, beautiful,” she commands in a no-nonsense voice before slamming the door shut. I look around me, at the students and professors peeling out of the campus grounds to return to their families. I wonder where those who, like me, would need a plane to get home are going, then shake myself out of my stupor. I won’t make it five minutes without Noa and Axel, of that I’m certain. Gingerly, I crawl into the backseat, just as Axel pops up from under the steering wheel, the car roaring to life.

“You know how to hotwire a car?” I ask in a murmur.

“We know all kinds of things good girls like you don’t,” he retorts with a grin. How he can laugh at a time like this is beyond me.

As we drive closer to the city, the smoke thickens, blowing in through the shattered window. I cover my nose with the sleeve of my top, my eyes watering from both the fumes and the sight of the buildings diminished into rubble where the satellites landed.

“That can’t be just from the satellites,” Noa ponders. “They had to have used some kind of weapons too.”

Axel nods grimly, his hands clenching on the steering wheel. “Oh, fuck,” he says, his voice low and barely audible over the screaming people and car alarms.

Straightening, I look out the window to see what he’s cursing at, immediately wishing I hadn’t. There are bodies on the pavement, dusty and battered from the debris. “Oh, no,” I whine, covering my mouth as tears blur my vision.

Noa’s hand sneaks back to grab hold of my other wrist and I’m grateful for the anchor. “We need to get out of here,” she tells Axel. “Now.”

He exhales sharply, looking at the chaos around us. “Where the fuck do we go when everywhere’s a damn warzone?”

“Out of the city, to the suburbs,” Noa says decisively. “The buildings there aren’t as tall, so there should be less debris. Plus, less competition for supplies.”

My stomach warms at her logical words, like they’re a breath of cold air over a burn. I turn my hand around to intertwine my fingers with hers. She looks back at me in surprise, but one side ofher mouth quickly lifts into her signature smirk, and she squeezes my fingers.

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