The air around us felt heavy, like something was waiting to happen, but we couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to move. Maybe it was because the chaos of the past hours was still too fresh, or maybe it was because we didn’t know what else to do. But we couldn’t stay in Andy’s house forever.
David cracked a smile, his usual grin breaking through the tension like sunlight through clouds. "So, we’re just gonna walk into the unknown? Sounds like the beginning of a really bad action movie."
I couldn’t help but let out a breath, the nervous energy in my chest lightened just a little by his words. That was David. He was the joker, the one who always had something funny to say, even when the world was falling apart. He and I had always been close, ever since I was a kid and we would sleep in the same bed, mom’s old queen-sized bed in the corner room at the end of the hall.
That room—what used to be mom’s before the addition was built—was where I spent most of my time as a kid, trying to catch my breath between asthma attacks. Mom had turned it into my own space when my breathing problems got too bad for me to sleep in the same room as Bobby. She’d put up paneling, moved in their old bed, and made the room my own. And David would often come sleep there with me.
We’d play with our Hot Wheels long after mom thought we were asleep, and David would crack jokes, do funny impressions, or just fart to make me laugh. No matter how bad my asthma was, no matter how tight my chest felt, David always knew how to get me to smile.
There were so many memories like that. Like the time we were at Grandma’s house, and we ended up walking to 6:30 p.m. mass together, even though we could’ve skipped it. It was a half-hour mass, and we never really thought about avoiding it. We’d walk there side by side, making jokes along the way. But when we got to church, David, in his usual fashion, would do something goofy—like let out a fart just as the priest started his sermon.
We'd try to keep it together, but it was impossible. We’d both start laughing uncontrollably, and I remember one time the old man sitting in front of us turned around and asked, “What’s so funny?” That just made us laugh harder.
And even now, in the middle of all this chaos, David was still trying to make me laugh, still trying to find something to make the unbearable seem just a little bit lighter. It was his way of coping, and for me, it was like breathing again. David was always there to remind me that not everything in life had to be so serious.
“Okay, okay,” I said, forcing a grin as I shook my head. “You’re right. It’s like one bad movie after another. But, seriously, what now?”
Bobby, standing just ahead of us, had been quiet for a while. His eyes were scanning the horizon, thinking. I could see the weight of the situation pressing down on him. No more jokes. No more distractions. We needed a plan.
"We need to get out of here," Bobby said, his voice cutting through the air with authority. “The aliens might be gone for now, but we can’t stay here. Not with Andy’s parents still missing. We don’t know what’s coming next, and staying put isn't an option."
I felt my stomach drop. “But, Bobby, what if they come back? We’re just gonna walk out there like nothing happened?"
Bobby turned to face me, his eyes hard and determined. “We can’t afford to sit around waiting. We have to keep moving, figure out what we’re up against. We can’t rely on anyone else to protect us. We need to take control.”
I looked at David, then Tony, who was still holding my hand, his small fingers clinging tightly. Tony didn’t say anything, but I could see the fear in his wide eyes. He was too young to understand everything, but he knew something wasn’t right.
David nudged me with his elbow. "Hey, man, don’t worry. I’ll make sure nothing crazy happens. You’re the big brother, remember? You lead the way."
I nodded, even though I didn’t know what to think. David’s joke helped, but it didn’t make the fear go away. Bobby was right, though. We couldn’t stay here forever. We had to move. We couldn’t let whatever had happened to Andy’s parents happen to us.
“Alright,” I said, swallowing hard, my throat tight. “Where do we go?”
Bobby gave us a sharp look. “There’s a two-track behind the house. We can head into the hills, make our way to the safe house. It’s the only place we can regroup and figure out what’s going on. It’s just a few miles. But we need to move fast.”
I hesitated. We had no real choice. No one knew where Andy’s parents were. No one knew what had happened to the people in town. And with the aliens gone for now, we couldn’t just stay here and wait for them to come back. We had to act.
“Let’s go,” Bobby said, his voice firm, and we followed him, stepping into the unknown.
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