Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Only a matter of time before they were all captured and possibly even killed.
Oh, Chain—where are you? she thought desperately. If only you’d come like Kat promised you would! I guess she was wrong about how you felt about me but I could really use your help right about now!
“Try your cell phone again,” Jodi whispered.
Melli—who was the only one of them who had grabbed her phone before they’d all gone running for cover—tried.
“No use,” she whispered. “It looks like I have a signal but none of the calls I make goes through. There’s just this weird flat beeping noise and then the line goes dead.”
“They must be using something to block outgoing calls,” Vicky muttered under her breath. “I’m sure they have something like that, with their advanced technology.”
“What are they, Mom?” Jodi whispered. “You seem to know something you’re not telling us.”
“Yeah, Mom—if you know anything about the creepy lizard men, now’s the time to talk,” Melli joined in, also keeping her voice low.
Vicky took a deep breath. It was time to come clean.
“Girls, I have something to confess,” she told them. “Remember how I told you I met a man on Valentine’s Day but it didn’t work out so I went on a little trip to visit Kathy for a couple of days?”
“Yes—so?” Jodi raised her eyebrows and Melli made a go on gesture.
“So…that wasn’t exactly the truth,” Vicky told them. “I did have a date set up, but the man I was meeting took one look at me and left.”
“Oh, that bastard!” Melli hissed indignantly. “How could he?”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Jodi whispered consolingly. “There are plenty of other fish in the sea and you’re beautiful. You’ll meet somebody else. Well…” She grimaced. “If we get out of this alive.”
“That’s the thing though, girls—I did meet someone else,” Vicky whispered. “He came into the bar and…”
She gave her girls a highly edited version of her adventures with Chain, being careful to leave out the sex stuff. After all, a girl had to have some secrets and she didn’t want to seem like a bad influence on her daughters. She certainly wouldn’t have approved of them going off with a strange man and doing the crazy things she’d done with Chain.
“So we said goodbye and Chain seemed to think I’d be safe because he towed the Varian ship out into deep space. But I guess he was wrong, because here they are again,” she whispered, finishing her tale.
There was complete silence in the closet for a moment—which allowed them to hear the distant sounds of dishes breaking in the kitchen down below and furniture being torn up in one of the other bedrooms.
Then Melli hissed, “Holy shit, Mom! I’m sorry—I know you don’t like it when we curse, but seriously? You had a Valentine’s fling with an alien hottie and that’s why there are ugly green lizard guys crawling all over the house?”
“I’m afraid so, honey.” Vicky shook her head sadly. “I feel terrible—this is all my fault. We wouldn’t be stuck here right now scared for our lives if I’d followed the advice I always give you two and refused to go along with the strange man—well, strange Kindred—I met in the bar.”
“No, Mom—don’t blame yourself,” Jodi whispered. “I think it’s wonderful that you took a chance on love again after Dad was such an asshole and left you.”
“Chain is certainly everything you’re father isn’t,” Vicky admitted with a sigh. “I was hoping he would come tonight so I could introduce you to him. But, well…” She sighed. “Obviously, he didn’t show.”
“He would certainly come in handy right about now,” Melli murmured.
“Yes, he would,” Vicky agreed. “Unfortunately, it looks like it’s up to us to get out of this—only I’m not sure how.”
“The noises seem to be getting further away from this room,” Jodi said. “Maybe we could try climbing out the window. I know we’re on the second floor but the old spooky tree is right outside.”
“Remember how I refused to come in here at night because it looked so creepy looming right outside the window?” Melli reminisced. “It has such thick branches it seems like anything could be hiding in there.”
“Well maybe we should be the ones hiding in it,” Jodi said. “Even if we can’t get down to the ground because of the lizard aliens, we can still hide in the branches and wait for them to go away. It would probably be safer than hiding in the house, waiting for them to search the spare room.”
“You’re right.” Vicky nodded decisively, though her heart was pounding. “It’s better to get out of the house. You girls go first and I’ll watch to be sure they don’t try to come in here.”
The girls didn’t like this idea—they wanted Vicky to be the first one out. But she put on her “mom” face and glared at both of them.