James raced up the steps, shoving the door open. He hopped over the overturned couch and ran to the front door. Kathy Davis, the sheriff, knelt on the ground before a group of yellow-skinned… The Imanji. Her cruiser sat in the driveway behind McGee’s truck. They must have noticed her car before they left.

One of the Imanji reached out and touched her chin. She shrieked. Her skin began to flake away.

“No.” He aimed and fired, hitting the alien touching her between the eyes. It fell forward, landing on top of Kathy. They both toppled to the ground.

He’d been right earlier, there were six of them. Now there were five, and they were all looking at him. He moved his gun and fired, hitting another one in the head.

“Stop!”

The voice echoed in James’ head. He lowered his gun so the barrel was pointed at the porch. He tried to raise it back up but couldn’t. His arm was leaden. It trembled, trying to do what his brain commanded, but for the life of him, he couldn’t get it to move.

A shriek cried out from behind him. Nova sprinted forward, diving off the porch. Her body exploded into a fiery bird. It flew at the creatures. Fire spewed from her mouth and rolled off her wings and tail. The balls of fire hit four of the aliens. Their bodies erupted into flames, and their screams echoed in the air.

Whatever hold the creatures had on him disappeared. James shot to his feet at the same time the remaining alien whirled around, firing at Nova with a weapon it pulled out of its belt.

An icy blast shot toward her. Nova dived, hitting the ground hard. James lifted his gun again and fired. The bullet struck the alien in the back of the head. It dropped to its knees then fell backwards.

James rushed forward, stopping at Kathy’s side. Her brown eyes stared vacantly at the sun. Bits of her jaw and right cheek had flaked away, leaving only bone behind. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. She was gone.

A hiss drew his attention away from Kathy. He readied his gun but paused when he saw it was Nova. She pushed up to her knees only to fall forward again, catching herself on her hands.

Her body shook as she fought to get to her feet. James tucked his gun away and rushed toward her. He knelt by her side, sliding an arm around her waist to support her. Her warmth seeped into him and her scent flooded his senses. She smelled good, like a warm campfire with a slight floral scent.

Nova’s body fit snugly against his. Her hand went to his chest, curling around his shirt for a moment before shoving him away. “I’m fine.”

He released her only to grasp her elbows when she waivered on her feet. “We should get inside.” He didn’t give her a chance to protest. Scooping her up, he walked across the grass and back inside. She was lighter than he expected, and having her pressed against him stirred something inside of him.

The woman might be an alien, but she was a damn pretty one. Not to mention, she had a warrior’s spirit.

“Put me down. I need to contact my ship so we can get out of here.” She struggled in his grasp, but her efforts were futile. In fact, she seemed to be growing weaker by the second.

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere right now,” he said as he went back inside. He kicked the front door shut with his foot and went back to the cellar’s secret entrance.

“But you don’t understand,” she said her voice coming out a whisper. She inhaled a deep breath, but before she could argue further her eyes rolled shut.

James swallowed and stared at her, only relaxing when he saw her mouth part to draw in a gasp. She was still alive. He hurried down the stairs. “Emma, go close the door.”

Emma raced up the stairs and pulled the door shut. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked as she joined him by his side.

“She’s burning up,” he said as he set her back on the mattress. Sweat rolled in rivulets from where her body had been pressed against his. Her cheeks were red and her body temperature felt too hot. “Is there a thermometer in that first aid kit?”

Emma went to the bag and rifled through it. “Yeah.” She brought it over to him.

James rolled the dial over her forehead and blinked at the reading: one hundred sixteen. She should be dead, but her breath seemed even and when he put his fingers to her pulse, it was fast, but not too fast, he didn’t think.

“Is that bad?” Emma asked.

Nova coughed. Her eyes opened and she tried to sit up.

“Whoa. Take it easy,” he said, pushing her back on the mattress.

Her gaze darted around the room. “What happened?”

“You blacked out,” he said.

She closed her eyes and swallowed. Her right hand went to her forehead. “It’s the ice they hit me with. It’s affecting my ability to heal.”

“Your frozen arm,” he said, remembering it from earlier.

Nova nodded. “Ice is the only thing that can kill a phoenix. They hit me with it when they took down my shuttle. That’s why I have to contact my people. I can’t fly you to The Retribution. It’s in Earth’s orbit. We would suffocate before reaching it, and with my shuttle gone, my people will think I was killed when it went down.”

“They won’t come to look for you?” James asked. It was harsh to leave a solider behind, but he knew well enough that sometimes it was necessary.

“Not if I don’t make contact. There isn’t enough time. The Imanji will destroy this planet. The focus is on saving as many lives as possible.”

She’d said that before, but he hadn’t been listening, not really anyway. “When you say destroy…”

“The planet’s going to explode. Anyone down here will die. You and your daughter have to leave the planet. The sooner the better,” Nova said. Her eyes grew wider with each word she spoke.

Explode? She’d said it would be destroyed earlier, it seemed she meant literally. He’d assumed she’d meant figuratively the planet would be drained of resources, but that life could go on – somehow.

“Were there other shuttles going to Atlanta?” Emma asked. “I heard there were ships there.”

“Yes. Your planet is very large with a giant population. Our orders were to evacuate the largely populated areas first, as the Imanji will most likely strike there first. I’m guessing my shuttle flying over the area is what drew them here,” Nova said. She frowned and looked up at the ceiling. “It’s possible if the shuttle picked up life signs down here that they sent a message to The Retribution before they were destroyed.

“Sheriff Davis was alerting the neighbors. Everyone was supposed to meet at the high school by six tonight. My gut tells me that is a mistake based on what you just said.” He turned to Nova for confirmation. They had to save as many people as they could, and he had a bad feeling putting the entire town in one place.

Nova’s hand went to her forehead and she shook her head. “The more people grouped together the more likely they’re to attack. They can read energy signatures and feed off a person’s essence. A large group is asking for an attack.”

He gritted his teeth. So that’s why McGee and the sheriff’s bodies had flaked away. The aliens were eating them.

James looked at his watch. They had nearly five hours until six. How many people had the sheriff told to go to the high school?

“James!” Emma cried out. She hurried to him with the Emergency Radio in her hand. Different than the one in the barn, this one only picked up emergency signals. “Listen.” She cranked up the volume.

“My fellow Americans, this is the President of the United States. Our country is at war with a threat we never imagined possible. These yellow-skinned aliens have taken our planet by storm, killing and injuring men, women, and children. Band together with your fellow humans and look out for each other to the best of your ability. Find a safe place to seek shelter. Look for our new friends…the phoenixes. They too are alien, but resemble us in many ways and are here to help aid us and evacuate us should our best defenses fail. Together with our new friends we will conquer this threat. If you see them, board their shuttles, go to their ship, The Retribution, save yourself.”

James listened a little longer. He’d heard the president speak many times before. It was definitely his voice. It looked like Nova was who she said she was.

“Contact your people.”

Nova nodded and pressed a silver button type thing on her shirt. A voice came over the other end, but it was a language he didn’t understand.

James let out a breath and put his arm around Emma. He hoped and prayed he wasn’t making a grave mistake.

* * *

Nova listened to her orders and repeated them back to be safe. She let out a breath and turned off her comms device.

“Well?” James asked.

“There are mining caves close to here?” she asked, looking between the two.

“About an hour away,” James said.

“They will pick us up there in thirty-six hours,” Nova said.

“And take us where?” James asked. “To your spaceship?”

“Well, yeah,” Nova said. “There isn’t a place on Earth for you to stay that is safe.” What part of exploding planet did he not understand? Were all humans this hardheaded? She already had her answer. Her superior had said they were having difficulty getting the humans to trust them. Evacuations were not going very well at all. He’d also let it slip that Captain Cree was MIA. This whole mission was going horribly awry.

“What about the people in the town?”

“Is there a way to contact them? The sooner we leave the better. My commander believes we will be safer in the mines. That it will be harder for the Imanji to read our energy signatures,” Nova said.

James shook his head. “All our communication is down.” He’d seen how well going door to door had gone for the sheriff and didn’t want to make that mistake again. “We could wait until nightfall and then—“

“No. They are more vicious at night,” Nova interrupted.

“But if we travel at day, they will see us,” James said as he swiped a hand over his face.

Nova licked her lips, grunting as she pushed herself to stand. “That is a risk we must take. Your weapons have proven effective against them. As long as they don’t get too close, their compulsion won’t work. Together we should be able to take on small groups of them.”

“You’re injured,” James said.

“It’s not so bad.” She blinked the stars dotting her vision away and exhaled. She had a job to do and she was going to see it through.

“We should go to the Nielson’s first. They’re our closest neighbor and they have a hidden cellar like ours.” James grabbed a few more weapons from a bag on the floor and put them on his person.

“Do you think Kelsey and her family are okay?” Emma asked.

“I hope so.” James picked up a small weapon and handed it to Emma. “I want you to keep this with you. You remember how to use it?”

Emma’s eyes widened as she nodded and took the small metal object into her hand. “Do you think—”

“Just a precaution.” He smiled and then ruffled her hair.

Nova watched their interaction with interest and felt a twinge of jealously race through her. Was this what a loving, supportive family looked like? For as noble and pristine as her parents were they lacked in the family bonding department.

“Most of the group will have weapons. It’d be safest to travel the distance in a group; we’d stand a better chance at defending ourselves that way. Do you think people will be relatively safe until morning so we can all travel together? I don’t think it’d be wise to have a motorcade going from door to door while we round people up.”

He had a point. “It is likely the Imanji in the area were after me and saw your and the sheriff’s movements. If there are no ships in the sky, I’d think it safe for one more night. The bulk of the people will be found in the heavily populated areas. This area is small you said?”

“It’s a farming town. Just over a thousand people.”

She’d looked over the world’s population statistics and had to make note of the more populated cities. It was unlikely the Imanji would terrorize this town. She hoped her intuition was right. “Leaving in the morning as a united group would probably be best.”