Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

WE KEEP THE WINDOWS DOWN, SAYING LITTLE, unnerved by the task ahead. Sam keeps a firm grip on the wheel as the highway winds through Virginia.

“You think Six will make it?” Sam asks.

“I’m sure she’ll make it, but who knows what she’ll find.”

“That was a hell of a kiss you two had.”

I open my mouth and then shut it. A minute later I say, “She likes you, too, you know.”

“Yeah, as a friend.”

“Actually, Sam, she like-likes you.”

Sam blushes. “Sure. I could tell by the way she shoved her tongue in your mouth.”

“She kissed you, too, dude. I saw it.” I slap him in the chest with the back of my hand, and I can see he’s replaying the kiss in his mind. “After I kissed her I asked if she knew you liked her and—”

We’re jerked over the double yellow line on the road. “You did what?”

“Dude, relax. Don’t kill us.” Sam glides us back onto our side of the road. “She said she liked you, too.”

A devilish grin spreads across Sam’s face. “Interesting. It’s kind of hard to believe this,” Sam finally says.

“God, Sam. Why would I lie about it?”

“No, I can’t believe that this whole thing is real. That you’re real or that Six is real, or that a hostile race of aliens has scattered themselves across the planet and nobody seems to know it. I mean, they’ve hollowed out a mountain in the middle of the state. How has it not been found? What did they do with all the dirt and rocks they removed? Even as scarcely populated as parts of West Virginia are, surely somebody had to stumble across it at some point. Hikers or hunters. Pilots of small planes. What about satellite imaging? And who knows how many other base camps or outposts or whatever you want to call them they have on Earth. I just don’t understand how they move about so freely.”

“I agree,” I say. “I don’t know how either, but something tells me we probably don’t know the half of it. You remember the very first conspiracy theory you told me?”

“No,” Sam says.

“We were talking about an entire Montana town being abducted, and you said the government allowed abductions in exchange for technology. Remember now?”

“Vaguely. Sure.”

“Well, that makes sense now. Maybe technology has nothing to do with it, and maybe the government isn’t allowing abductions; but I really think some agreement has to be in place. Because you’re right, there’s no way they’re traveling unnoticed. There are way, way, way too many of them.”

Sam doesn’t respond. I look over and see that he’s smiling.

“Sam?” I ask.