Earth: Population 2 (Paradise Lost Book 1) Read online

  Hailey shook her head. “I’m not looking back there.”

  “You have to. I need to focus on the road.”

  Hailey breathed in and out then jerked around and peeked through the window. “It’s gone.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “No. But I don’t see anything.”

  The road widened onto pavement, and I breathed with relief. We weren’t dead. Maybe scared out of our minds, but definitely not dead. Or arrested. “Do you think the others made it back?”

  “I hope so.” Hailey stared at the windshield with a blank gaze.

  Shock could do that to people. I’d seen it on my mother’s face after they amputated her leg. I was only twelve, but I remembered the way she drew within herself, and away from me. She lost part of her mind that day, along with her leg. Part of her mind and part of her heart.

  But Hailey would be all right. I kept telling myself that as I drove back to her house. She might have an evil sunburn for the next week, but she still had both legs. And she was still going to UCLA. Endless groceries loomed in my future.

  Nothing had changed, yet my world seemed like it would never be the same. In lieu of everything that had happened, I owed Hailey an apology. I’d ridden my anger too far.

  I pulled into the driveway and parked next to her barn. Shouts came from inside, so at least we didn’t have to deal with her parents right away. We could make up some story to explain the damage.

  I turned the engine off and spoke for the first time since we’d hit the smooth pavement.

  “Hell of a night.”

  Hailey nodded.

  I smoothed my fingers over the runes on the rock. Guilt rolled over me in a thick, murky mess. “I should give this to the scientists.”

  “And implicate all of us?” Hailey shook her head, looking more like herself. “No way. Like I said, wait a few weeks then try to sell it on eBay.”

  “And what are you going to do?”

  She shrugged. “Tell my parents I stayed too long in the tanning bed and try to forget.”

  Somehow, I didn’t think I’d forget anytime soon. “Come on. Let’s get out of the truck and see the damage.”

  Hailey nodded, and we both got out and circled the vehicle. Both sides had a latticework of scrapes and a few large dents as big as my head.

  More guilt spread on top of the guilt already there, like a stack of guilt pancakes. I’d wrecked her paint job, and I had no money to help her pay for it. “What are you going to say?”

  She shook her head. “Not much. I’ll let them come to their own conclusions.”

  “Will they ground you?”

  She gave me a look of resignation. “My dad will have a fit, but I’ll be off to college soon, and they can’t do a thing.”

  I leaned on the back of the pickup, feeling awful. “Jeez, Hailey. I ruined your truck.”

  “No, you saved our butts.” She put both hands on my shoulders. Her voice fell to a whisper. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, which is why I push you to think outside the box you’ve put yourself in. When the going gets tough, you truly shine. Like tonight. You saved my life.”

  She had too much faith in me. So much, it almost gave me hope I’d find way out of my abysmal situation. I smiled as all my anger with her melted away. “It was the least I could do, considering you saved my butt on the English final.”

  “That was easy. I just let you borrow my CliffsNotes.” She smiled back, and a warm glow spread through me.

  “Listen, I’m sorry I got mad at you back there in the woods. I want you to go to UCLA. I want to you to follow your dream.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Go out there and become the best Jane Eyre historian in the world.”

  She laughed. “It’s Jane Austen. Jane Eyre was a character in Charlotte Bronte’s book, remember?”

  I shook my head. I did not want to relive British Authors class. “If it was a science book, I’d remember.”

  “And if it was a science book, I’d toss it.” Hailey put both hands on my shoulders. “That’s why we get along so well. We respect each other’s differences.”

  I nodded. Hopefully she’d respect my feelings—or lack thereof—for Mike. “BFFs forever, right?”

  “Right.”

  Her eyes wandered beyond me, and her sweet smile disappeared into a horrified gape. My chest tightened as I turned my head to the bed of the pickup. A glimmering, clear substance oozed off the back window. Tiny circles had been pressed into the glass, reminding me of the cheap suncatchers I hung on the kitchen window of my apartment. I licked the plastic suction cups and then stuck them on the glass. They always fell off, so I kept sticking them back on, leaving circles on the dusty window.

  But, these circles weren’t made by my mom’s suncatchers.

  CHAPTER TWO

  TONGUE IN CHEEK

  June 23, 2013, 11:59 a.m.

  A carton of Save ’n Shop orange juice. Beep.

  A bunch of asparagus. Beep.

  Bananas. I typed in the code as they sat on the scale. Four oh one one. Beep.

  Wow, this person is really healthy. I glanced up at the middle-aged woman in the Nordstrom yoga pants and halter top. Yup, that made sense.

  I know it was wrong and totally judgmental, but I liked to compare the groceries to the customers. A lot of times, what they bought told me more about them than polite conversation would have.

  I hit the total button. “Do you have any coupons?”

  She gave me a look that said, Does it look like I have coupons? I hated asking, but the shift leader insisted. It always made people feel guilty, like they weren’t saving enough money.

  She held her card over the swipe machine. “No coupons.”

  I nodded. “That will be forty-two dollars and ninety-nine cents.”

  I bagged the groceries as the woman swiped her card. Gertrude was the only bagger working today, and she moved like an ancient turtle on Ambien. Not only that, but she stayed at the same lane all day long, leaving me to do both jobs on my own. I swear, Linda, the other cashier, slipped her a dollar bill just to get her to stay.

  Mom’s Medicare and disability only went so far. I needed every dollar I had to pay rent and buy groceries and prescriptions. I couldn’t hand out lavish bribes.

  A pack of gum bounced on my belt, and I looked up to see Hailey standing in line.

  I leaned forward and whispered, “I’m not supposed to ring through family and friends.”

  She pushed the gum toward me. “Come on, the shift leader is busy with spilled milk in aisle ten.”

  I glanced around. “Use the self-checkout or the ten items or less.”

  She crossed her arms. “I’m the customer. I can do whatever I want.”

  I sighed, ringing through the gum. You’d be surprised how many people show up at the ten items or less lane with at least twenty items. It’s not like they can’t count.

  I stuck the gum in a plastic bag. “Do you have any coupons?”

  “WTF, Julie? It’s a pack of gum.”

  “I’m supposed to ask.”

  “And I’m supposed to eat vegetables five times a day, but I don’t.” She opened her pink-floral Vera Bradley purse and handed me two dollars. “What time do you get off?”

  I stared at the clock, which refused to tick faster. Had it been noon for the last hour? “Five. Why?”

  “A bunch of us are going to Lookout Point tonight, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with us.”

  Last night had been enough for me. Did she want a repeat? Or was she already trying to forget? I handed her the change. “I have to make dinner for my mom.”

  She slipped the coins in her purse. “What about after that, like, say, seven?”

  I considered her offer. It was either that or watch Dancing with the Stars while Mom snored. “Is Mike going to be there?”

  She shrugged and gave me her poker face. “Maybe.”

  “Hailey, Lookout Point is a make-out place.”

/>   “So?” She took her gum. “You don’t have to make out.”

  I checked to make sure the shift leader hadn’t returned yet. “I want to spend time with you, not all these other people.”

  “And you will. Tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven.” It wasn’t a question.

  Before I could answer, Hailey jogged through the automatic doors.

  Five hours and thirty loaves of bread later, I turned the key and opened the door to our apartment. Grocery bags hanging off my arms, I shouted. “Mom, I’m home.”

  For the first time in a long time, she didn’t answer me. Panic froze my guts, and I dropped the groceries by the door. “Mom?” I checked the kitchen then the living room.

  She sat in her wheelchair in front of the TV. Footage of the asteroid flickered on the screen. “Have you heard about this?” She spoke without looking at me.

  I hated lying to her, so I settled on the partial truth. “Sure. It sounds like nothing special, just a big rock that fell from the sky.” I’d stashed the rock with the markings under my bed.

  “I don’t know about that.” She turned the TV down and finally looked at me. “They’re saying the stuff it’s made of isn’t anything they’ve seen before.”

  I believed that. “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah.” She put the remote on her stomach, which acted as her table. Over the years, as she’d refused to go out in public with her fake leg, she’d grown less and less mobile. She kept gaining no matter how healthy I tried to cook. Now, she could barely stand up from her chair. I considered her immobility my single greatest failure in life.

  When I looked into her green eyes, I saw myself. Or, rather, the young, pretty, auburn-haired girl she used to be. I had a shadow of her beauty.

  She rubbed her eyes. “The one that hit us is just one of many. Scientists say they’ve landed all over the globe from Turkey to Alaska. It must have been some meteor shower.”

  “Have any of them found anything interesting besides the rocks?”

  Mom gave me a suspicious look. “No. Why?”

  I waved my hand. “No reason. I have to go make dinner.”

  She held up her finger. “That’s not all. One reporter found tracks in the woods.”

  My stomach dropped. “Tracks? What kind of tracks?” Were the police going to show up at my door and measure my size six-and-a-half shoe?

  “Strange tracks, like nothing a human would make.” She stared at me, wide-eyed. “Small impressions, like child’s feet, but long and skinny, as if someone drew them out like taffy.”

  I turned away from the TV, thinking about the thing that had jumped in the back of the pickup. “That sounds pretty strange.”

  “And the tracks had a gelatinous substance around them.”

  “Gel?” Exactly what we’d found on Hailey’s window. I started to freak out and breathed in and out to calm myself down before Mom suspected anything.

  “I’m sorry. Am I scaring you, dear?”

  “No, no, no. I’m just tired. That’s all. Tired and hungry.”

  “Go make dinner then.” Mom glanced back to the TV and turned the volume up. For once, I was glad to be going out with Hailey afterward, because Mom would watch the news for the rest of the night, just like when Michael Jackson died and the terrorists attacked Boston.

  I dragged the groceries into the kitchen and started boiling water for the whole wheat pasta I’d bought. It was more expensive than the regular stuff, but nutrition came first.

  My mind kept replaying the scene from last night. I hadn’t imagined it, and I had to stop telling myself I had. This asteroid business would be all over the news. This was big, monumental stuff. Guilt and shame rolled over me as I thought of the rock under my bed. Somehow, I had to find a way to give it to the scientists without getting my friends in trouble.

  Maybe I could sneak back to the site and drop it on the ground? Impossible. A million security guards had probably roped off our camp. Already, I’d seen more traffic in town, and non-townies clogged the aisles in our grocery store. I wouldn’t be able to get within a mile of that site.

  Hailey was right. I should have never picked it up.

  The water started to boil, so I threw in the pasta and opened a can of green beans. Even if Hailey didn’t eat her veggies, I, at least, tried.

  After eating dinner with Mom in front of the TV, I rinsed the plates and stuck them in the dishwasher. I ran the low-rinse cycle to save water and joined my mom in the living room.

  The news station showed hand-drawn pictures of aliens with oval-shaped bug eyes and slits for mouths. I averted my gaze from the screen. “Is it okay if I go out with Hailey for a while?”

  Mom tore her eyes away and gave me a melancholy smile. “Juliette, you’re over eighteen now. You don’t have to ask me for permission.”

  “I know. It’s just a habit. I want to make sure you’ll be okay.”

  She waved me off. “I’ll be fine. I have all these new alien shenanigans to watch on TV. It’s much better than Dancing with the Stars. They don’t even have any real stars this season.”

  I laughed. I loved how my mom treated me like an equal, a confidante. “What about the guy from that soap opera you used to watch?”

  “Oh, come on, honey. He’s not a star. Not like your Captain Jay Dovetail. He’d be great to watch.”

  I blushed, thinking about Gale Williams wearing those sexy dancing costumes. Mom knew me better than I knew myself. “He would.”

  She patted my arm. “Go with Hailey and have some fun. You work too hard.”

  Suddenly, picturing Mom watching the news play the same footage over and over seemed so sad. “Are you sure?”

  She frowned, and the bitterness lurking under the surface sprang up. “I hate holding you back.”

  “Mom. What? Stop talking like that. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you.”

  My late grandma had urged Mom to have an abortion. She’d said having me would ruin both our lives. You see, Grandma had my mom when she was only sixteen, so when Mom got pregnant while still in high school, the cycle continued. Grandma wanted to break the curse. But Mom fought for me. She moved out and had me all on her own. I’ve never forgotten how hard she struggled for me, not for a minute.

  “If I had my leg….” Mom glanced at the fake leg in the corner of the room, collecting dust. I wished she had the courage to try it on. We couldn’t afford a high-end prosthetic or a lot of therapy, so, what she did, she had to do on her own.

  I leaned back in the chair, resisting the urge to encourage her to try the prosthetic. Every time I did, we got into an argument, and I didn’t have the energy for that tonight. In fact, I should stay with her, especially if she was feeling down again about her situation. Watching alien pictures on TV wasn’t all that bad. None of it was real. Right? “Listen, I won’t go out tonight.”

  “No, no, no. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Your friends are all leaving for college soon. You should spend time with them while you can. I’ll still be here when you get back.” Mom pulled me up, half rising out of her chair.

  Afraid she’d fall over, I stood and helped her back into her seat. “Okay, okay. I won’t be gone long.”

  “Have fun. And watch out for the aliens.”

  I laughed despite the chill that came over me. When I spoke again, I was totally serious, “Don’t worry. I will.”

  Hailey picked me up, right on schedule. I climbed into her busted-up pickup wearing a fresh tank top and my favorite plaid shorts because no one wants to smell like deli meat and sour milk. The passenger door stuck from one of the dents, and I yanked it closed.

  “You sure this thing is safe to drive?”

  “Yeah. We’re not going far.” She pulled away from the crumbling curb. They hadn’t repaved the parking lot since I was in junior high. The building’s siding flaked off, and a few of the windows had blue plastic tarp instead of glass. The greenish-yellow water in the community pool stank, and, the last time I dunked my feet in, I
had a rash for a week. Home sweet home. The poor maintenance explained our cheap rent.

  Hailey drove through town and up the winding road leading to the mountain ridge overlooking the valley where we lived. As the woods thickened, a chill crept up my spine, and I searched the shadowy undergrowth for scrawny white arms, spider legs, and tentacles with suction cups. Let’s just say my imagination ran on overdrive. Normally, I’d want to get out of the car to get a better view of the sky and the constellations, but after what had happened, I’d keep the door locked. If the lock still worked.

  “We’re not going deeper into the woods, are we?” Hailey never told me the whole plan. I fidgeted with the lock. The top didn’t go all the way down, making me nervous.

  “No way. Not after what happened. Do you think I have noodles for brains?”

  “Just checking.” Noodles were in aisle six, along with the international foods.

  I shook my head, trying not to think about groceries or aliens. What were the chances asteroids would strike twice? Weren’t they like lightning? I tried to focus on my own personal matters. “What about Mike?”

  She shrugged. “What about him?”

  “I don’t want to kiss him, that’s what.”

  “Julie, Julie, Julie. What am I going to do with you?” Hailey sighed like I’d disappointed her. “Think about this—who are you going to meet working at the grocery store? Sure, Mike is a little bit chubby cheeked, and he drinks too much beer, but he’s good at wrestling.”

  Wrestling. I liked wrestling as much as twelve-hour shifts, earwigs, and moldy eggplant. “We have nothing in common. Quit trying to hook me up. This isn’t The Bachelorette.” My mom loved that show. She made me watch every episode despite my cringing reactions when all the ladies crushed on some dork. None of the bachelors compared to Gale Williams.

  “Who says you need to have stuff in common? Look at us. We don’t have anything in common. You like science, I like English. You watch movies, I like plays. You like the red gummy worms, and I like the green ones.”

  I laughed. “That’s different.”