Edge of Insanity

  "I see food," she said, shaking away the memories as she stepped through the doorway. "It looks like the creatures didn't get all of it, only the stuff they could reach and open."

  "I... I just need something... anything... for now," Dust muttered in a voice filled with pain.

  Sammy glanced at the bent shelf that was closer to her. There were cans of green beans on it. It would have to do. Gripping the bow in her right hand, she walked over to the shelf and grabbed a can. She turned and wove her way along the row of cash registers, searching for something to open the can with, when she saw a can opener hanging from the tab along with other items. Grabbing it, she quickly removed the top of the can before turning to walk over to where Dust was sinking down next to a pile of shredded candy wrappers. She held the can of green beans out to him.

  "Be careful, the edge is sharp," she said. "I'll go look for some medical supplies. Todd, you start picking up as many cans of food as you can and stack them near Dust. We'll figure out what to do with them once we have an idea of how much there is."

  "Okay," Todd said, sliding the backpack off his thin shoulders.

  Sammy glanced one last time toward Dust where he sat frantically eating the green beans, liquid and all. Her gaze flashed over his chest. She'd have to see if there were any clothes along with the medical supplies. She reached down next to him and picked up one of the handheld shopping baskets before turning to walk away.

  She glanced up at the signs above each aisle. Number ten held cosmetics and bandages. She carefully walked down the center aisle, pausing to glance down each row as she went. It looked like most of the items had been either knocked off the shelves or crushed.

  Turning down aisle number ten, she quickly grabbed everything she could off the shelves. Once the basket was filled, she released a frustrated groan. She would need to get more baskets. Food and medical supplies were essential. How they would carry everything, she didn't know, but for now, she wasn't going to worry about it. Remembering the blood covering Dust, she turned and hurried back down the aisle to where she had left him.

  "I found some...," Sammy's voice died when she saw the four empty cans of green beans next to Dust. That wasn't what froze the words in her throat. "What happened...? How did...? What are you?” she asked in a trembling voice, staring at his chest.

  Sammy's fingers instinctively searched for the bow she always carried. A curse swept through her mind when she remembered that she had set it down to gather the medical supplies. Swallowing, she dropped the basket in her hand and took a step back as Dust rose to his feet. Her eyes remained glued to his chest. There was dried blood on his skin where the devil dog had clawed him. The front of his shredded T-shirt was proof that she hadn't imagined the attack a short while ago. Only now, instead of ripped flesh there was smooth, unmarred skin.

  "I don't know," Dust replied, staring back at her with an intense expression on his face. "But, I know that I won't hurt you or Todd."

  Sammy shook her head, her eyes flashing from his face to his chest. She bit her lip, trying to decide if she should scream for Todd to run or stand her ground. Her gaze flickered to the front door. If they ran, how far could they get? That thing was still out there and they needed food. She was also out of arrows. In here... There was food, medicine, and... Dust. Swallowing, she locked gazes with Dust again. Could she trust him? That was the real question.

  Chapter 4

  What Is He?

  Dust stared at the two figures walking ahead of him. He glanced down and kicked at a stone in the road when Sammy looked over her shoulder at him again. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. She had been glaring at him for the past two hours. At first, she had backed away from him. When it became obvious that he wasn’t going to attack her and Todd, she had tried ignoring him. They had worked quietly, gathering as much food as they could and placing it in stacks.

  He found some more shirts on one of the aisles and quickly changed out of his torn and bloody one. He had also snacked on anything he could find and felt better than he had in ages. He paused when she stopped to stare inside one of the small cars left in the middle of the road. Curious, she opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. He jumped when he heard the clicking of the engine. His expression softened when Sammy leaned her forehead against the steering wheel.

  “Pop the hood,” he called out.

  Sammy slowly lifted her head and stared at him in silence before she bent down and pulled the lever. Dust stepped forward and felt under the hood until he found the latch. Pulling it, he lifted the hood and pulled the thin bar down to hold it up. He glanced around the engine, looking for anything obvious.

  “Can you fix it?” Todd asked, coming up to stand next to Dust.

  “Maybe,” Dust replied, touching some of the wires and hoses, before checking the battery. “Does it have any gas?”

  Sammy stepped up to look up under the hood. “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “The battery is dead.”

  Dust grinned. “I might be able to help with that,” he commented, looking around. “Wait here.”

  “Where else are we going to go?” Sammy muttered under her breath as she turned to watch him jog across the street. “Shit!”

  “Sammy!” Todd exclaimed, watching Dust with wide eyes.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, staring at the spot where Dust had just disappeared – literally. “He just went through that door without opening it!”

  “I know,” Todd whispered in awe. “I wish I could do that!”

  Sammy didn’t say anything. Instead, she watched as the door opened this time and Dust walked out. He had disappeared inside what looked like a discount auto store. He had several things in a dark red basket. He stopped in front of the car and set the basket down before rubbing his hands nervously down the front of his pants.

  “I used to help my dad in his shop,” Dust admitted. “It may take a little while, but all we’ve got is time, right?” he joked, looking at Sammy with a slightly pleading look.

  “Why are you doing this?” Sammy asked, swallowing over the lump in her throat. “What happened to you?”

  Dust bent his head and shook it. “I don’t want you to go without me,” he said softly. Clearing his throat, he bent and picked up the tools he had picked out and set them on the edge of the radiator. “You two are the first humans I’ve seen in over a year. The only other thing I’ve seen are a few animals and….”

  “And?” Sammy asked, motioning for Todd to take the pack in her hands. “Can you put this in the car?”

  “Okay. Can I help you, Dust?” Todd asked with a hopeful smile.

  Dust nodded. “Sure,” he said. “Can you make sure everything is cleaned out as much as possible so we can load the car up when we get it going?”

  Todd’s face fell, but he nodded his head and kicked at a loose rock. “Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled.

  “If I need more help, I’ll call you,” Dust promised. “This is important, though. We’ve got to have supplies.”

  “That’s okay,” Todd replied with a hesitant smile. “Can you teach me how to go through doors like you did?”

  Dust’s smile faded and he bowed his head again. Sammy shook her head at Todd, who released a loud sigh and turned away. Sammy’s gaze followed her little brother with a look of worry.

  “I won’t hurt him… or you,” Dust muttered. “You asked me what happened to me. I don’t know,” he said, bending forward and beginning to pull the spark plugs. Both the plugs and wires were scorched. He quickly removed them and tossed them to the side. “I don’t remember much after the initial blast. I was in the house alone. My mom and dad were in the barn, trying to bring the cows inside.”

  “What… What happened to them?” Sammy asked, watching as Dust worked.

  Dust glanced at her before bending to pick up some new spark plugs he had taken from the auto store. Sammy wished she could take back the question, but it was too late. Dust turned away from her and worked in silence for several mi
nutes before he spoke again.

  “They were gone and so was the barn. There wasn’t much left of the house,” he said in a low voice. “I woke up buried in the cellar. I could see through the roof. I remember a strange light in the sky, bolts of lightning striking all around me and a strange dust. It all mixed together and everything began to glow. The next time I woke, I was….”

  “You were…,” Sammy prompted, placing her hand lightly on his arm before jerking it away.

  Dust’s head slowly turned and he looked at her with piercing brown eyes. “I was there, but I wasn’t.”

  Sammy stared at him for a long time before she nodded, as if she had made up her mind about something. Biting her lip, she looked at where Todd was playing. Her heart hurt for both Todd and Dust. Life shouldn’t be like this. Blinking back the tears, she looked back at Dust and blushed a little when she saw he was watching her.

  “Todd can stay here and help you,” she said suddenly. “I’ll start bringing stuff from the store and packing it into the car. This way we can get out of here as soon as you get it started.”

  “Okay,” Dust replied, glancing back down the street with a frown. “Be careful. We don’t know what happened to that one devil dog and we don’t know if there are more.”

  “I will be,” Sammy said, stepping back. “Just… Promise me that you’ll keep Todd safe.”

  Dust straightened. “I promise,” he replied. “I’ll keep you both safe – or die trying.”

  “Let’s hope that won’t be necessary,” Sammy retorted with an unsteady laugh, pushing her hair back behind her ear.

  “Take your bow,” Dust advised.

  Sammy shook her head. “I only have one arrow left. I’ll borrow your pipe,” she said, reaching for the long piece of metal leaning up against the front of the car. “Just get the car going.”

  Sammy didn’t wait for Dust to reply. Instead, she focused on the task she had assigned herself. If Dust was successful, she wanted to get out of here. Her gut was telling her they didn’t want to be here after dark tonight.

  Dust: Before and After

  Gracie's Touch

  A time travel adventure full of hope, sacrifice, and love…

  Gracie Jones was little more than a child when the Earth was invaded by an alien species.

  Don’t miss the story of the woman who became the Mother of Freedom!

  Chapter 1

  “Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all the citizens of the world. This is Gracie, reaching out to touch each and every one of you with love and hope. The Freedom Five, along with groups from around the world, are pushing back against the Alluthans. Forces around the world have freed thousands of captives over the past several weeks. Over two hundred Alluthan fighters have been destroyed in the past week. Our fight for freedom is heating up, and we expect a breakthrough soon, so don’t give up!”

  Gracie Jones leaned into the microphone attached to the bank of computers and continued sending out news, stories, and hope to the millions of listeners in fifteen different languages. She spent at least three hours a day during different times, sending the messages out. Adam worried it would open them up to attacks if the Alluthans traced the signal, but Gracie was a master at bouncing signals off the satellites the Alluthans hadn’t destroyed.

  She was just ending her broadcast when Chance came in. One look at his face and she knew he was furious. She also knew what the cause was, Adam or Adrian had finally told him about her plan. She winced when she looked at his face again. The confrontation about to come was not going to be a pleasant experience.

  “This is Gracie’s Touch signing off,” Gracie said in a husky voice filled with emotion.

  Fifteen minutes later she was ready to scream. She’d known it was going to be difficult, but she’d never expected it to be this difficult! She turned to Adam, pleading silently for his help.

  “It’s the only way! I’m the only one who can do it,” Gracie said again, looking intently at the four men standing around her. “There is no other way.”

  “Like hell there isn’t!” Chance said fiercely. He jerked away from Adam, who grabbed at him.

  “Chance…” Gracie began.

  “He’s right, Gracie. There is no way in hell we are going to let you do this,” Mark said.

  Gracie sighed again in frustration. “Adam, you talk to them. You know I’m right.”

  Adam watched as Gracie rose gracefully from the chair in front of the row of computers. He shut his eyes briefly in an effort to get control of the rage burning inside him. He knew she was right, but he didn’t want to be the one to admit it. Adam opened his eyes and looked at his younger brother, Adrian, who hadn’t said a word throughout the whole argument. He had the same look of resignation in his eyes.

  “Gracie is right. She is the only one who can do this.” Adam spoke quietly but with authority. As the leader of one small group of New York rebels known as the Freedom Five, it was up to him to make the tough decisions. He wasn’t sure he would be able to live with some of those decisions if they survived the fight for their freedom.

  Five years before, Earth had been invaded by a group of ugly-ass aliens. There had been no warning, no promises of peace, nothing. The half-organic/half-robotic aliens had simply begun gathering up as many humans as possible and placing them in huge holding camps protected by a shield of some kind.

  Millions perished from lack of food and medical care. It was later learned, thanks to the work of computer hackers—or geeks as Gracie liked to be called—that the aliens were planning on using the humans as renewable parts for their own deteriorating forms. The Alluthans were experimenting on the captive humans to test their limitations and compatibility.

  Gracie lost her parents and an older sister when the aliens first attacked New York. Adam, his brother Adrian, and two other survivors, Chance and Mark, found her hiding in the old subway system six months later.

  She had escaped with her laptop and some external hard drives, and had managed to tap into one of the maintenance room’s access points to monitor what was happening. The governments of the world finally banded together to fight the threat, but not before a devastating number of humans had died or were lost in the large alien holding camps.

  Gracie was the youngest daughter of two university professors at NYU. Her ability to understand computer languages, and languages in general, was unbelievable. By fifteen, she had mastered eight different languages fluently and another seven on a conversational level.

  She also used her skills at deciphering computer-generated languages to stay one step ahead of the Alluthans. For the past two years, she’d focused on studying the language and computer applications of the Alluthans so she could find a way to defeat them.

  Adrian looked at his brother with a tense frown on his face. “You know it is suicide. She’ll never make it out.”

  “That’s not true!” Gracie said, turning to frown at the four men towering over her petite five-foot-four frame. “I have an excellent chance of escaping.”

  “And how, pray tell, do you figure that?” Chance growled, folding his arms across his massive chest.

  “Chance, I can speak, read, and write their language. I’ve been studying it extensively, as well as their computer applications. Team Two has one of their supply ships in the old warehouse down by the river thanks to me. All I have to do is program it to autopilot to the mother ship.

  “Once on board, I’ll upload the programs I’ve developed to bring down the shields protecting all their bases and prisoner camps around the world. Once it has downloaded, I’ll reprogram the ship to bring me back to Earth,” Gracie said with a plea for understanding in her voice. “I know I can do this!”

  Chance walked over and drew her against him, holding her close. She was the closest thing to family he had left besides the other guys standing with them. He had lost his family also and had vowed to protect Gracie from the first time he saw her emerald-green eyes staring fearfully back at him in the dark tu
nnel five years ago.

  He didn’t want to admit for a long time that as she matured, his feelings for her grew beyond a brotherly love. At seventeen, Gracie was still too young. Chance was waiting as long as he could before he claimed her as his own, but he feared he would never get the chance to tell her how he felt about her.

  “What if they find you? What if it doesn’t work and you get trapped there?” Chance asked huskily as he held her against his hard length.

  “They won’t. It will work. I’ve double and triple-checked the programs to make sure they would work. You saw for yourself how the shield collapsed, and I was able to take control of the ship and bring it down. The alien didn’t have a clue about what was happening,” Gracie said as she wrapped her arms around Chance. She wanted to give him reassurance, but she also needed it herself.

  “When do we do this?” Adrian asked.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Adam replied. “We’ve received confirmation from around the world that everyone will be ready.”

  Mark nodded. “You better come back, little britches, or I’m going to be mighty pissed at you.”

  Gracie smiled softly before replying. “I will, Mark. I will.”

  Gracie slowly walked into the bathroom and stared at her reflection. She tried to calm the trembling in her hands as she pushed her short, thick strawberry blonde hair away from her face so she could wash without getting it wet. Gracie wouldn’t say she was beautiful—more like cute.

  Her hair was cut in a bob that came to her chin; her eyes were too big and a deep, dark green. She had a short, button nose and lips just a little on the full side. She was very pale from having spent most of her time underground in the subway tunnels of New York. She was also very petite for her age, but that was mostly due to not having very much food for too many years.