Indigo sped through the night with Molly curled up and whimpering in the passenger seat. She had to think fast. Where could she take them? The one thing that came to mind was her parents’ house in the valley. She hadn’t seen her parents in a few weeks and wanted to make sure they were all right. She tried to call them on her cellphone, but they didn’t pick up.

The freeways were jam-packed with people fleeing the city as fast as they possibly could. LA traffic in the middle of the night wasn’t any better than LA traffic in the middle of the day.

Her priority was getting Molly somewhere safe where she could rest and stop crying for a minute. The lizard-men probably weren’t interested in San Fernando. At least, she hoped they weren’t.

The traffic started to ease up as they passed Burbank, and Indigo was able to speed up until she made it to her parents’ neighborhood. She parked Molly’s car in the driveway. Both girls climbed out and walked up to the front door. Indigo rang the doorbell and waited, but no one answered. Her parents’ car wasn’t there.

Indigo pulled her key out of her pocket and shoved it in the front door. All she wanted to know was that her parents were safe. She pushed the door open and stepped into the pitch black entrance hall of her parents’ home.

“Hello? Anyone home?” Indigo called. All that she heard in response was silence. “I think they’re gone,” she said to Molly, who was still whimpering and shaking.

Indigo flipped on the lights and walked into the kitchen, where she found a note on the linoleum countertop.

Indigo,

If you’re reading this, that means that you fled the city. We’re sorry we couldn’t wait for you. We are going up to your grandfather’s old cabin in Tahoe. Please meet us there. We left an extra gun in the box under the bed.

“They’re gone,” Indigo said, sliding onto the stool pushed up against the counter.

“What are we going to do now?” Molly whimpered.

“My parents went up to my grandfather’s cabin in Tahoe.”

“We’re driving to Tahoe?”

“I don’t see what else we can do. My parents left an extra gun in the gun safe under their bed.”

“You have guns?”

“You don’t live in a neighborhood like this without owning a gun,” Indigo said. Molly was from an upper-middle-class family from the east side of the San Francisco Bay area. She had no idea what it was like to grow up in a place like this. Her parents would have cashed out the cabin a long time ago if her mom’s rich sister hadn’t insisted they keep it for vacations.

“I’m so tired,” Molly said, hiding her face in her hands. Indigo knew that Molly was about to start sobbing again, but she didn’t have time to stand around and comfort her shaken friend.

It wasn’t Molly’s fault that she wasn’t as strong as Indigo. Indigo didn’t hold it against her. All she could do was try to help Molly keep it together long enough to figure out what the hell was going on. Her grandfather’s cabin in Tahoe was extremely remote, and it was unlikely that the Mulgor would ever find them there.

“You can sleep in the car,” Indigo said, trying to keep herself from becoming irritated with Molly’s constant crying. She handed Molly a plastic garbage bag.

“Fill this with food,” she said, hoping that the activity would distract Molly from her panic.

Molly reluctantly took the plastic bag and stood up, nodding her head in agreement. Indigo watch Molly wipe her eyes and put on a brave face. She gave her friend a tightlipped smile and patted her on the back.

“Good girl,” Indigo said. “I’m going to my parents’ room to find the gun.”

She left Molly in the kitchen to shuffle through the cabinets, and walked down the dark hallway to her parents’ bedroom door. Clothing and boxes were strewn across the room as if they had packed in a hurry. Her parents hadn’t answered her cellphone calls, and it worried Indigo that something had gone wrong on the way to Tahoe. She had to think positively; there was nothing else she could do. If she let herself worry too much, she’d break down like Molly. Then where would they be?

Indigo knelt beside the bed and reached into the darkness underneath. Her fingers slid over the smooth metallic surface of the gun safe. She gripped the metal handle and pulled the heavy safe out into the light. The key was taped to the top. Indigo pulled it off, pushed it into the lock, and turned it around twice. The lock popped open, and Indigo pushed up the lid of the safe. Inside was a handgun and several packages of bullets.

Sucking in a deep breath, she took the gun from the case. Indigo knew how to use a firearm. She’d been trained from the time she was a teenager to handle weapons. With the aliens landing on Earth and the economic upheaval that had gripped the planet, she saw her parents’ wisdom in teaching her how to defend herself.

Indigo stood and found an empty backpack. She shoved the gun and the extra bullets inside, then went to her own bedroom. Molly might be skinnier and taller than she was, but they were roughly the same size. It might get cold up in Tahoe and Molly would need extra clothes, too.

Indigo packed them both some sweatshirts and things like extra socks and T-shirts. Molly had been wearing a thin, flowy skirt when they’d escaped the dormitory, and Indigo knew it would be too light up at higher elevations where the snow was falling.

She threw a couple pairs of jeans and sweatpants into the backpack, hoping Molly would be able to fit into something. Indigo went back into the kitchen to find Molly sitting at the counter, staring into space. The plastic garbage bag was full of cans and nonperishables.

They could make it to Tahoe by the next morning if Indigo drove all night. She didn’t want to take the Five. It would probably be jam-packed with other people fleeing the city. She would have to take the Three-ninety-five through the forest. Even still, it was going to be sketchy.

At least I have a gun.

“Do you have your credit cards?” Indigo asked Molly. They would most likely need money for gas to make it the rest of the way.

“Yes,” Molly said, patting the purse that was slung over her shoulder.

“Good, we need to go.”

The girls left the house and locked the door behind them. Indigo felt a wave of apprehension wash over her as they climbed into the car. She would have to keep herself awake all night, driving along narrow highways in a rural part of the state she’d never driven through alone.

She had to admit to herself, she was just as scared as Molly. There was no way in hell that she could show it or let it overcome her. Somebody had to be strong, and that had to be Indigo. Maybe when she got to the cabin she could let herself cry and sleep. Until then, she had to grow a pair and cowboy up.

Indigo pulled out of the driveway and hurried to the Three-ninety-five headed north. It was already so late, and her eyes were drooping.

Just keep driving.

Flipping through the radio channels, she came to another newscast that told them the Mulgor had invaded almost every major city on the planet. The Draconians were nowhere to be seen, and many believed that they had abandoned the Earth altogether.

Indigo slammed her fist into the steering wheel and swore. How could the Draconians leave them like this? Wasn’t it their responsibility to take care of their own problems? Not only had the Draconians brought humanity a deep economic recession, but now they had brought them an enemy they could never defend themselves against.

The newscast went on to say that nuclear weapons had already been launched at the Mulgor spaceships, having no effect. The leaders of each nation were working together against the threat, but no resolutions had been found. Nuclear missiles were the strongest weapons humanity had in their arsenal. They had nothing left to throw at the Mulgor.

Some military units had found that the actual lizard-men were vulnerable to fire, even though they were not vulnerable to regular bullets.

The further she drove, panic began to set in as heavily as fatigue. Indigo gripped the steering wheel and forced herself to stay awake while Molly slumbered at her side in the passenger seat. She was glad that Molly wasn’t hearing the news because it would have made her hysterical. She couldn’t afford to have Molly hyperventilating while she drove. She just had to make it to Tahoe and her family. She prayed they were there.

As she drove through the forest, she noticed that her gas tank was getting low. The clock showed that it was four a.m., and Indigo was so tired she could barely keep her head up. The highway had been mostly deserted through the night. Indigo had been right that most of the people would be taking the Five, and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for being so wise.

Gas stations were few and far between in the middle of the forest. She saw a road sign that said a town would be coming up in five miles. She would use Molly’s credit card to get gas and coffee so she could make it the rest of the way to the cabin.

She slowly pulled into town and found a gas station off to her right. Flipping on her blinker, she pulled in beside a pump. She grabbed Molly’s wallet and began to step out of the car when she remembered the gun in the backpack. She slid back into the driver’s seat and checked the gun for bullets. It was loaded, and she shoved it into the waistband of her jeans.

Stepping out of the car into the cool night air, Indigo looked around for the gas station attendant. There was no one around so she slid the card in the credit card reader and shoved the nozzle into the gas tank. She knew Molly would have enough money on her credit card to fill the tank. Hopefully, this would be the last time they’d have to stop for gas.

Indigo needed a cup of coffee more than anything in the world and could see the light on in the gas station’s minimart. She left the pump to run on its own and went around the front of the car to stride into the minimart.

Inside, the minimart was just as deserted as the rest of the gas station. She looked around and found a coffee dispenser at the back of the store.

Thank God.

She filled herself a large cup and walked to the counter to pay for it. Waiting there for a moment, her mind ran with fuzzy dark thoughts. She shook her head, trying to push the darkness aside. She had to stay positive. She had to believe that she and Molly and her family would all be okay. Several minutes passed and no one came to help her so she pulled a dollar out of her own wallet and put it on the counter. That should pay for the coffee.

She went back outside just as a truckload of locals pulled up in front of her. Several of them got out and started eyeing Molly in the front seat of the sedan. Two more of them approached Indigo, leering at her suggestively.

“What do we have here, boys?” one of the men said as he walked towards Indigo. She didn’t have time for this good ol’ boy bullshit. She took a sip of coffee and stroked the gun under her sweatshirt. If they messed with her, they would be damn sorry.

“Chocolate and vanilla swirl,” the man slurred. “My favorite.”

Indigo rolled her eyes and chugged the rest of her coffee. This was going to get bad fast, and she knew it. She’d been around assholes like this back in her old neighborhood.

Men like this were all the same. It didn’t matter where they came from. They all seemed to think they were entitled to women’s bodies by some grace of their own awesomeness. Indigo didn’t intend to let them get away with it. She was way too tired and way too stressed out. They were in the middle of an alien invasion for God’s sake, couldn’t these jerk wads give it a rest?

“I’m sure you can find chocolate and vanilla inside the minimart,” Indigo said flatly. She finished her coffee in forty-five seconds flat.

One of the men opened the passenger door and started to reach for Molly’s breasts as she slept. Indigo sighed heavily and threw her coffee cup on the ground. The last dregs of the brown fluid seeped across the black pavement. She slowly reached under her sweatshirt and dislodged the handgun from the waistband of her jeans, not bringing it into view just yet.

“But that ain’t the kind of chocolate and vanilla I’m talking about,” the ugly hick said. Two of them approached Indigo, coming uncomfortably close. She let out a little growl and pulled the gun from her waistband. She pointed right at the idiot who had been talking to her.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Don’t you realize we’re in the middle of an alien invasion? And you’re going to sexually harass human women? Some people’s stupidity is mind-boggling.”

At the sight of the gun, the men stepped back and put their arms up, chuckling uncomfortably. “We didn’t mean anything by it,” the second man said. The other two were still standing over Molly, who had woken up and was beginning to scream uncontrollably.

“Shut the hell up, all of you,” Indigo yelled, pointing her gun from one man to the next. Molly snapped her mouth closed and tried to shut the car door.

“Just overpower the little bitch,” one of them slurred. They’d obviously been drinking and doing who-knows-what all night.

One of the men tried to run at Indigo, but she sidestepped him with the practiced grace of a skilled athlete.

“Just don’t,” Indigo said. “I’m not in the mood to kill a fellow human being right now. Haven’t enough of us died today?”

The man she’d sidestepped gritted his teeth and growled, coming at her again. This time she twirled around and kicked him right in the balls. He stumbled to the ground, cursing her. Indigo cocked the gun and shot a bullet into the overhang of the gas station. The loud bang startled everyone, and the men finally decided to take her seriously. They jumped into their truck and sped away into the darkness of the small town.

“Jesus Christ. Some people.” Indigo hurried back to the car and slammed Molly’s door closed. Molly whimpered softly in the wake of the men driving away.

Indigo pulled the gas nozzle out of the tank and put it back in the dock. She climbed into the driver’s seat and gave Molly a hard look. That white girl needed to calm the fuck down or she was going to get slapped again. Indigo put the key in the ignition and turned over the motor, chastising herself for thinking so harshly about her best friend.

“How fucked up was that?” Indigo asked, pulling out of the gas station.

“I guess it’s going to be the new normal,” Molly whispered.

“Maybe,” Indigo said. She put the gun in the glove compartment as she sped up the highway. They’d be in Tahoe in a few more hours, and she could finally sleep. The coffee had barely made a dent in her fatigue, but she couldn’t stop now.