No Aliens Allowed (Flight Knights, Book 1)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Cloud 

“Parker,” yelled Mark, waving his hand in front of my face, “what’s wrong with you?”

“Uh—Uh,” I stammered, questioning myself and thinking maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. “I thought I—Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing is right,” said Hanna who was still messing with her phone. “Not a single bar, can you believe it? Wait until my Mom hears about this. What if this had been a real emergency?”

Mark and I looked at each other and then at Hanna.

“This is a real emergency,” we said in unison.

Hanna lowered her phone and glared at the two of us. Her reddish-brown hair framed her pale complexion and green eyes, and a look that could kill.

“I wasn’t being serious. I know it’s a real emergency,” she spouted, “that’s why I need a signal. What if someone’s hurt?”

“Oh . . . right, keep trying,” I replied, “sorry.”

“Me too,” said Mark.

“Maybe we should go check it out,” I declared.

“Uh—” said Mark. “But what if there’s like dead people all over? Or worse, parts of dead people all over. I don’t think I could handle that, Parker.”

Mark is 11 years old. He’ll be 12, just like me and Hanna, in a couple months. He’s a great friend. I trust him a lot. But the truth is—I guess you could say I kinda watch out for him too. And right now I could hear the fear in his voice. And see it in his widening blue eyes as his forehead wrinkled behind his light brown hair.

I knew he had a point. I didn’t like the idea of what we might find either.

“Well, someone has to go look,” I said, remembering that I thought I saw something move. “Hanna’s right. What if someone’s alive and needs our help?”

The three of us looked at each other. And right away I could tell the someone, I was talking about, was going to be me.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” I volunteered. “I’ll run down there and take a look first and if it’s all clear, I’ll give you a signal and you can follow. Okay?”

Apparently no further discussion was needed. They both nodded their heads and let me take off running without giving it a second thought.

Right away I started to have doubts. Part of me wished they would have at least tried to talk me out of it. I mean, what was I doing? I’d never seen a dead person, or part of a dead person, in my entire life. And now all of the sudden I’m brave and fearless. Where did that come from?

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I try to be as tough as the next guy when I have to be, but mostly I just try to live a quiet normal life.

I ran along the edge of the toppled and severed trees, weaving through those that were still standing.

The closer I got to the wreck, the denser the settling dust became.

I stopped for a moment and pulled my t-shirt up over my mouth and nose so I could breathe.

I looked back momentarily at Mark and Hanna. They were pretty far back, father than I had estimated, but I could see their heads sticking up behind a fallen tree trunk. They hardly moved. Then I saw both their hands raise and wave at me. For a second that gave me strength and courage.

I turned and kept on going.

And as I disappeared into the cloud of smoke and dust I suddenly had a feeling this was a really bad idea.