Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) Read Online Free Page B

round.
    Thump!
Thump! Thump!
    Sometimes
closer, sometimes farther away. We sit on opposite sides of the tree, resting
our backs against the trunk. He keeps his legs stretched out, with the left foot
elevated on a rock that I found. My legs are bent and pulled up to my chest, and
my chin is resting on my knees.
    “May…be we sh…should
get closer together?” I ask. My teeth chatter as the chilly air seems to seep
into my bones.
    “I know you’re
cold, but in this position we have a better vantage point.”
    “O…okay.”
    Thump!
Thump! Thump!
    I cringe. It
could be anything, but the more I hear it the more I realize it’s coming from
the aliens. No one else would be that loud willingly. That would only invite
the aliens to your location.
    Thump!
Thump! Thump!
    Closer.
    Cringing again,
I tighten my grip on my leg, scraping my nails against my skin. “I hate this,”
I whisper.
    “I do too, but
we’re going to be okay, Sin.”
    I don’t mind
that he has shortened my name, using a nickname that only my mother and Mia
call me.
    “That one
sounded closer,” I whisper, so low that I’m not even sure he can hear me.
    A ship can be
heard off in the distance. Although it doesn’t seem to be coming our way I keep
listening for it, willing it away.
    “Yeah, but I
still think its three or four miles to the south of us.”
    “That would
put the sound between us and camp.”
    “Yeah, but I’m
sure they’re doing what we are—hunkering down and staying out of the way.
If the noise gets any closer, we’ll have to start heading north again.”
    “But your
ankle.”
    “It’s getting
better. I can feel it. It doesn’t hurt as much.” I hear him rustling. “We don’t
have to make any hard decisions right now. We’ll wait it out. See what
happens.”
    I bury my face
between my knees. I don’t want to think about what he means by “hard
decisions”. Wade and I can’t leave everyone else behind and take off on our own.
Mia is still back there. “I can’t leave without Mia, or everyone else.”
    “Stop thinking
like that. I don’t think we could make it back on our own. We need all the help
we can get.”
    “Do you really
think they’re okay?”
    He pauses
before he answers. “Yeah.”
    Does he
really think that? Was there a hint of uncertainty in his voice?
    “Are you
worried about Mia?”
    “I’m worried
about her and everyone else, but mainly her. I can’t lie. We’ve been best
friends since we were in the second grade. She’s the sister I never had. If
anything happened to her, I don’t know what I would do.”
    “She’ll be
fine. They all will.”
    I close my
eyes and will what he says to be true. She had just moved to America from
Medellin, Columbia and, on her first day of school, the teacher assigned me to
be her buddy. We haven’t separated since, even though we’re more different than
alike. I spend most of my time studying and the only time she’ll crack open a
book is if I make her. If she didn’t hang out with me, I have no doubt she could
assimilate into the “in” crowd, while I would be stuck hanging with the nerds. She
has a golden skin tone, telling of her Latin heritage, and mine is a light
caramel color. She’s gorgeous, with more of a woman’s body than I have, curves
in the right places and breasts that can actually fill out an adult bra. If I
didn’t wear a bra, no one would ever be able to tell the difference.
    But I really
did hit the jackpot in the best friend category. We’re inseparable.
    “I don’t want
the aliens to get them. And I especially don’t want them to get us.”
    He chuckles. “I
don’t see us going with any aliens without a fight.”
    I reach for my
butcher’s knife. “I’ll make a lizard-skinned belt out of one of them first.”
    “ Pft . Have
you seen how big those motherfuckers are? We’ll have enough left over for some
cool boots, maybe a hat for me and a purse for you.”
    “And a jacket.
Not a short jacket, but a long one, down to