We stood at the edge of the highway and nobody said a word.
(Okay, this is not what I expected. Not even close.)
The road was jammed with cars, hundreds of them, bumper to bumper, doors open, headlights still blinking. Some were burned black. Some were flipped over like toys. (Whoever was driving, I hope they got out.)
But that wasn't the scary part.
The scary part was the lizards.
They were all over the highway. Dozens of them, maybe more. Standing on top of cars, standing between cars, standing in the middle of the road.
And not one of them was moving.
"Why aren't they attacking," Kevin whispered.
"I don't know."
They were just standing there, wings folded, all of them facing the same direction. Up. Straight at the white sky, like they were waiting for something. (A bus? A signal? A very long lunch break?)
"This is wrong," Kayce said quietly. "Yesterday they were tearing everything apart. Why are they standing like statues now?"
"Maybe they're resting," Ronnie said. "Like... a corporate retreat."
Everyone looked at him.
"What," he said. "I'm just saying, everyone needs downtime."
(Is this man serious? The world is ending and he's making HR jokes.)
"Shh," Emberly said, pulling Kevin close. "Let's go back. Slowly."
I took one step back. Then another.
My foot landed on a piece of glass and cracked it.
The sound was small. Maybe too small to matter. But in that dead silence it was like a gunshot.
Nobody breathed. Not me, not Kevin, not even Ronnie.
(Please don't hear that. Please don't hear that. I'll be a better person, I swear.)
Nothing moved. One second. Two seconds. Three.
I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.
"Dave," Avianna whispered, glaring at me. "Are you serious right now."
"It was glass," I whispered back. "It's not my fault the world is full of glass."
"Just walk."
Wrenley was already moving backward, one careful step at a time, his hand over his mouth. (This man has survived two days of apocalypse and he's still sighing about his son. Respect.)
We almost made it back to the first car.
Then Kevin tugged my sleeve.
"Uncle," he said, very softly. "That one's looking at us."
I froze.
(Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.)
I looked.
On top of a truck near the middle of the highway, one lizard had turned its head. Just its head, slow, like a creepy doll. Its eyes were small and yellow, and they were pointed right at us.
It didn't screech. It didn't jump. It just stared.
And then I noticed something else.
It was bigger than the others, and it was standing a little apart from them, like it wasn't one of the crowd. Like a commander.
(Wait. This is the same kind of lizard from yesterday. The one that stood in front of the ship.)
"Nobody run," I whispered. "If we run, it'll chase us."
"If we stay, it'll kill us," Avianna hissed.
"Then what do you suggest, slickback?"
"Don't call me that."
The lizard tilted its head. Then, very slowly, it lifted one claw and pointed.
Not at us. Past us.
We all turned around.
Behind us, back down the road we'd walked, a wall of white mist was rolling in. Thick, fast, and silent. It was swallowing the buildings one by one, and it was already halfway down the street.
"Oh no," Emberly whispered.
"What is that," Ronnie asked.
(The mist. The same mist from yesterday. The one that came right before they did.)
I grabbed Kevin and picked him up. (Still heavy. Still a brat. But my brat now.)
"Everybody," I said, "move. Now. And don't stop for anything."
Behind us, the lizards on the highway began to open their wings.
FOLLOW FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait. I'm back, and I'll be posting regularly again. Thanks to everyone who read the first two chapters. Leave a comment if you want to see what happens next!