☽☽☾☾⚔︎⚔︎☽☽☾☾☽☽☾☾⚔︎⚔︎☽☽☾☾☽☽☾☾⚔︎⚔︎☽☽☾☾
Sky tackled Dan, and they landed back in the bush.
A black craft swooshed overhead, casting a brief shadow. Sky gaped. It looked manmade, like a stealth plane. But that was impossible! No human aircraft had flown the skies for a decade.
The whirring hum grew to a roar, and Earth's new dominant species zoomed over in two gleaming red prowlers—spacecraft that ruled the skies. Luminous scarlet lights flashed through the naked branches. Draconian stripes crisscrossing over one prowler's sleek exterior brightened, and an energy bolt erupted from its rounded wing.
A boom thundered through the forest. Sky flinched, and Dan cowered in next to her, whimpering. The swirling crimson sphere streaked toward the stealth bomber. At the last second, the jet evaded, and the coiling red mass whizzed past.
"Whoa." Dan gawked at the fading orb. His eyes bulged so far that they looked like they might pop out.
The black plane rolled—a maze of fluorescent blue patterns decorated its top—and looped around, speeding straight for its attackers. Both prowlers fired more pulsating spheres, and every shot hammered at her eardrums.
Sky had been fourteen when the aliens arrived and obliterated human technology with a giant blue blob—an alien equivalent of a global-sized electromagnetic pulse. Before that, she had seen images of stealth planes, but that jet did not look anything like one.
Swifter than any manmade plane she could remember, the jet zigzagged through the sky. It regained its original course, zooming toward its enemies. Sky clenched her fists, sure she was about to witness the destruction of the mysterious jet.
With less than ten ship lengths between them, the black craft lit up. The blue stripes along its side shone brightly. Then it fired a blinding silvery sphere. The prowlers retaliated with more crimson blasts.
Whiplike cracks, like a rapid-fire of lightning bolts striking the earth, rattled her brain. She smashed her hands against her ears, recoiling into a crouch. Forcing her gaze skyward to witness the end.
The swirling liquid-metal-like ball detonated on impact, consuming the left prowler in a white flare. Shock waves bombarded the forest. Sky grabbed Dan's collar and flattened him to the ground. A turbulent burst of blistering wind rushed over them and launched hundreds of yellowing leaves into the air.
A dark blue blur zipped through the smoke, speeding after the remaining prowler.
Sky stood and stared in wonder. She'd never heard of a prowler taking a lick of damage. Earth's inferior weapons had never pierced their technology, which made what they'd just witnessed the most mind-blowing event of the millennium.
"Sky." John grabbed her shoulder. His fingers dug into her flesh. "Have you ever seen a plane like that?"
"Isn't that a stealth bomber?" she asked.
John would know better than her—he was ex-military, even if it had been the British Armed Forces.
"That ain't like any jet I've ever seen."
Dan came up next to them, and through the trees, they all stared at the prowler as it fired more shots. "Wow, they're lighting up the whole sky."
His statement obliterated all traces of wonder from Sky's mind. Icy fear filled her chest.
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The Cardinal Sky (PREVIEW ONLY)
Science FictionShe was the hunter. Now, she's the prey. **Now on AMAZON, Kindle Unlimited.** Sky survived the aftermath of an alien invasion by becoming an infamous warrior for a bloodthirsty warlord. Then, to protect her brother, she fakes their deaths and finds...
