Danny arched an eyebrow at me and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at where Xai'an vanished. "The fuck was that about?"

I ran my hands over my face counting all the ways I so wasn't going to be honest about what 'that' was about. Shit, I was still struggling with what just happened. "He's protective, Danny. I don't know."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say he's in love with you. Z, you need to be careful. No telling what sick things he'd do to you." He grimaced and visibly shuddered.

My heart fluttered because I knew exactly what kind of 'sick things' he'd do and I hated that my body reacted almost violently to the memory.

"You okay?" Danny stepped a bit closer to me and I nearly jumped, turning the color of a tomato.

"Yep. Uh huh. Are we doing this or what?" I all but ran out of the room and into Ned. Thank god Xai'an had turned invisible before he left the room or Ned would be dead.

He turned to give me a lopsided grin. "Oh, hello. You smell nice. More than I can say for the rest of us."

At first I thought he meant the shampoo but then I realized I reeked of Xai'an's scent even though I had scrubbed myself for a second time. I was tempted to go bathe in that glitter perfume but I knew I was just being petty. It really was a wonderful smell...damn him.

"Thanks. I take it you're coming with us to get the bus?" I asked, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as I felt. Danny silently followed me out of the locker room.

"It was either that or kill Sean if I stayed." He shrugged unapologetically.

"Not that I care about him, but you really don't like him do you?" I arched an eyebrow.

Danny walked between us, stalling a bit, "Let's go. We don't have time for chats. Save it for when we're out of here safely."

When he headed out toward the court floor, Ned made a soundless mocking face behind his back. I admit it made me laugh. Out loud he said, "No. I don't. I'll tell you about it later."

If it bothered Danny that I laughed at something he couldn’t see, he didn't show it. We followed him until we got to the fireman's exit to the roof. I think it surprised all of us when the lock was not only broken on it, but crushed, which forced Danny to knock it completely off with the butt of his gun. Apparently, it had been locked before with Danny having the key. I was betting Xai'an had something to do with it.

Danny explained briefly that we were going to scout the area from the roof first before we made it across the street to the three story highschool building. I merely nodded and tried my best not to grunt from the dull ache that was starting between my legs. Fuckin hell…

"You okay?" Ned whispered below me on the ladder.

"Yep." It was all I could muster out because in all honesty, I was a little battered from Xai'an's fuck session. Thankfully neither of them could see my face because it was hot enough to light the beacons of Gondor. I can't believe I let that happen…

"Give me your hand." Danny said above me. I hadn’t even noticed he already reached the top. I took his outstretched hand and let him pull me up out of the hole. He gave Ned the same courtesy. What a nice guy.

From up here, you could see nearly the whole town and my heart sank. There was a plume of smoke raising up in the sky for miles from the massive sinkhole that was slowly consuming it. Even in the dark you could still clearly make it out. The west side was almost already completely gone. I could tell the small library I used to spend hours at was among the decimated.

"Fuck...he wasn't kidding, was he?" Danny mumbled next to me. I guess this was the first time he saw how bad our little town was too. It was enough to make me cry, but I bit my lip to get a hold of myself. Not yet. I couldn't cry yet.

"Holy...shit…" Ned whispered. Whether he hadn't heard what Danny said or perhaps he just thought Danny meant his 'informant', I couldn't know. What I did know is that the three of us stood here for a moment, taking in the realization that our childhood home was crumbling before our very eyes. People we knew and loved were not going to make it and there was a chance that we wouldn't make it either. It was a sobering moment of just how easily we take things in life for granted.

Danny was the first to turn away from the devastation, not surprising. I had to force myself to follow him so I could concentrate on something other than the pain I felt...well...everywhere. He reached into one of his vest pockets to pull out a singular microscope device.

"Well?" I prodded. "See anything?"

He didn't answer me right away, but finally shook his head. "This can't read anything beyond solid objects, but no heat sources. Not even the ones in the woods like before." He motioned toward the area Xai'an and I had come from.

"Yeah. That area is clear. It's where I came through." I said, hoping he'd put two and two together. This trying to talk around Xai'an's existence was going to get annoying.

Danny nodded and was in motion. "Let's move. There's a folding ladder over here."

Ned finally joined us, but there seemed to be a loss of something in him as we moved. I didn't blame him in the slightest.

The drop ladder didn't fold all the way to the ground, so Danny had to catch me after he dropped down first. I crouched down like he instructed so he could help Ned to his feet after he landed.

Then we were careful as we crossed the street toward the school. It was an old building that only had a silent alarm to worry about. With the town partially gone I doubted police would be rushing over here to check on a break in.

Danny had the same mindset, which is what had him using the butt of his rifle to smash the glass doors in. It was loud, but it was better than shooting the lock off. We waited quietly for a few minutes to see if anything came running to meet us before Danny took point, aimed and ready to fire.

With Ned at my back, I knew I was as safe as I could be without Xai'an with us. No offense to them, but I've seen Xai'an's skill against these monsters. I hadn’t seen theirs.

We moved silently in a line formation down the halls until we came up to the main office door. It was a large glass box room so anyone visiting could easily spot it from the tall doctors office type desk and simple chairs for waiting. Though I had never seen anyone besides teens who were in trouble use them.

Danny waved to me to get in front of him so he could hand me a paperclip. Where he found it, I have no idea. Maybe the Marines gave you a list of everyday things to always carry? I wasn't going to waste time by asking. I simply went to work with the old lock.

A soft click told us that the door was now open and Danny had me fall back into line. Inside the room everything seemed louder for some reason and I couldn't tell if it had always been this way or if my own fear seemed to be making shit up.

"The box is in the Principal's office; in his desk." Ned whispered to us. When we both looked back at him questioningly he just shrugged those big shoulders and said, "I spent a lot of time with Principal Mason."

The lock to this door was far more advanced. Key card access only. When the hell did they install that? Before I could get too deflated, Ned appeared with a card in hand. He waved it over the black box and watched the red light turn green.

He turned the card to show both of us a picture of Mrs. Kingsingston, the day time secretary who was old enough to be dirt itself. She had a permanent scowl even in the photo, something I always attributed to dealing with trouble kids like me. "She always leaves her card in her desk because she forgets. I overheard her talking about it the other day in church."

Danny actually chuckled at that. "Praise the Lord then, huh?"

Inside Mason's office was the same as it always had been. Dark coffee colored walls that made the room look even darker and more intimidating. Huge bookshelves lined the four walls with books more for decoration than reading because I've never seen anyone who had these silver etched books sitting down for a good read. And I high doubted our principal woukd be working here of all places if he had an intellect that high.

Our object though was the massive mahogany desk in the center of the small room. There were papers thrown about it as if someone dropped papers and left them in a hurry. It made me hope whoever it was got out of the city alive.

Danny forced the drawers open with a few hard tugs, quickly going through the contents until he found a small metal box that clattered inside with something metallic. His knife from his wrist sheath popped it open with little resistance. Sure enough, it was lined with keys.

"Which ones are for the buses?" Ned asked as we looked inside. The trouble was with that question...I had no fucking idea. All the damn keys looked the same to me. There was one ring of keys but a simple glance showed the were keys to doors, not ignitions.

Danny closed the box and thrust it out to me. "We just take the whole damn thing and try them out. Come on. The garage is out back."

I clutched the box to my chest as we moved out of the office, trying to keep it as quiet as possible. I knew that we would have to move to the second floor if we didn't want to go back outside and around because the school was built on a hill. It would waste time and clearly Danny felt the same because he moved down the hall toward the stairs instead of heading outside.

The stairwells were at the opposite ends of the school which made it hard to be on time to class. A headache, really. We had a small student population and this school was meant for much more than it had.

Danny signaled us to wait a few steps down while he went to check to make sure the stairs were clear. When he whistled softly, we were moving again.

A quick glance behind me showed that Ned was walking backwards up the stairs, to make sure nothing came in for us from behind. The fact that he was making the steps effortlessly made me wonder if he too had military training that I didn't know about.

When we got to the second floor landing, something crashed below us. It made all of us stop and listen but I could suddenly only hear the blood rushing in my ears. Shit!

When nothing else seemed to move Danny whistled us to move again. I tried to swallow my panic and not trip over my feet. I was fucking scared.

This time our pace was quite a bit more rushed and I didn't complain once. Not even when my lungs started to burn. Whatever it had been had Danny on high alert and I'd trust those instincts. My own were telling me we needed to get the fuck out of here.

When I finally saw the exit doors I almost sighed in relief, but I was too scared to allow it. I was too scared to even take a full breath.

Damn it all, why did Xai'an have to leave? I hadn’t been this scared with him next to me. Which was dumb, because if he were here, he'd probably be pulling that Alpha male dominant shit about me being his mate. No matter how well he fought against those things, I should be hoping he never came back like he promised. Us together should be taboo. Period. Yet...I let him violate me without a fight which was just...wrong, right? For fucks sake, shouldn't I have done something to fight against him? I just let it happen! Fuck...what was wrong with me?

"Z? Focus!" Danny hissed at me. I had been so consumed in my thoughts that I hadn’t even realized that he was holding the door open for me to pass through and I was just crouched against the wall.

"Sorry." I rushed forward and took a deep breath of the fresh air just as the ground started shaking again. It was such a massive force that all three of us fell to our hands and knees. The sound of the city falling rumbled through the air like rolling thunder.

"Shit!" Ned cursed as he launched himself over my body just as glass rained down over us. The quake had apparently shattered the glass from the windows on the third floor and I hadn’t even known.

"You good?" Danny asked in a huff once the tremors stopped.

Ned groaned a little as he stood up, dusting himself off. He had been a little scuffed up, but none worse for wear. "Peachy."

Thanks to Ned I didn't have a scratch on me. I gave Danny a half hearted thumbs up before he had us moving again.

The garage was a massive building that was secured by a chain link fence, which we scaled easily. We could have walked around to see if one of the keys in the box could unlock the gate, but we didn't have the time to waste.

Now that we were closer to our goal, I felt my heart hammering in my chest. It was an inevitable reaction to my fear. Everytime things seemed too easy, they usually were. I'd take being wrong 100% of the time but...my life just generally doesn't work that way. Take Xai'an for example. I thought he was my savior and now I know he wants to put an alien baby in me. Trust. Nothing.

We got to the door of the garage, the one meant for actual human use, and I took a deep breath before opening the box to try to fumble around for the right key. Thankfully it didn't take long to find because Mason had apparently labeled all the keys on the ring. I assumed the single keys were for the buses themselves. Or at least some of them.

Because our town was so small and our students even fewer, there were only five buses parked in the large building. I was actually surprised we had five. From K-12 I doubted there were more than a thousand students total and most of the kids either walked to school or had their parents drop them off.

"Let's start with the first one." Ned nodded his head to the old yellow bus directly to our right.

"You know how to drive stick?" I asked as Danny pushed open the door flap.

"Of course I do. You don't?" He mumbled as he got into the driver's seat. I started handing him keys to try.

"No. No one ever taught me."

Before any of us could speak any further, the garage door burst open with a loud bang, making all of us jump. I shamefully screamed.

Sean was standing there, panting heavily with his arms holding the frame. "You fucking dick! I told you that I wanted to come!" He pointed directly at Danny.

Danny scowled, lowering his rifle that I hadn’t even noticed he had aimed. Damn he moved fast.

Ned took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, "You stupid fuck! I almost wasted your ass! And shut the fuck up!"

Rage emanated from Sean as he walked up to us, but not nearly as much as mine. I sat the box down on the dash and crawled down the steps before my ex could fully stand before Ned. "That was you making that noise in the main hall, wasn't it?"

My rage caught him off guard and for a moment he forgot what he was even angry about. "I...uh...knocked over a standing frame."

Something heavy hit the roof then. It was loud enough to force an unintentional drop to my knees. Ned's gun was aimed up where it seemed to originate from.

"What the fuck was that?" Sean whispered. Though we all suspected exactly what it was.

"You stupid, arrogant fuck! You probably led that thing directly to us with how loud your dumb ass was being! I should shoot you right now!" Danny hissed, but him waving us to get inside directly contradicted his words.

We all clambered inside as quickly and quietly as we could. I took a seat directly behind Danny and Ned quietly went to the back to secure the door.

"You think it's one of them?" Sean whispered, eyes wildly looking up out of the windows.

"Probably." Danny answered. "Shit. We're going to have to do something. If it's just one of those things, we can kill it and go. But if there's more than one, we need to abort. I can't risk leading a hoard of those fuckers back to the others."

"So, what? You're just going to go out there and check?" Sean scoffed as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. I was really starting to get pissed off at him.

"No, Sean, I'm sure we're just going to sit here and wait for the city and swallow us!" I snapped and it pleased me to see him realize just how stupid he sounded.

Danny didn't even grace him with a response. "Stay in here. Ned and I will go outside and see if it's one or more of those things. If you hear a grenade go off, then it's likely we won't make it and you will need to get your asses out of here. Got it?"

I nodded and scooted further into my seat so Ned could make his way back up the aisle without me being in the way.

"Wait, you're leaving us here? Give me a gun at least!" Sean thrust out his hand toward Danny who was halfway down the stairs now.

He sighed and handed him a smaller handgun from his hip. I wasn't knowledgeable enough to know what kind of gun it was. "Don't shoot, Z. Keep it aimed down." Then he pointed to a small switch on the side, pushing it up. "Safety off." He flipped it back down. "Safety on. Got it?"

Sean nodded slowly and looked a little green now that he was actually holding it. I knew he was one of those "I'm a lover, not a fighter." type of guys. I couldn't deny that having the gun made me feel a little bit better about being left alone though. I know I still had the bladed weapon that Xai'an gave me, but I really hoped I didn't have to ever use it. Seeing how easily the thing sliced through metal, I so didn't want to accidentally kill one of my friends with it.

"Stay low and for fuck's sake, Sean, keep your mouth shut!" Danny left us with that parting wisdom. Ned grinned at his back, not even bothering to hide his amusement at the berating.

We watched them tactfully make their way to the door of the garage and ultimately disappear. My heart was hammering as I sent silent prayers into the night that they would be okay. Life or death situations made you do things you normally would never do. Praying was one of those things for me.

"What the hell is their problem?" Sean scowled as he fell back into the small bench seat across from mine. The gun was sitting on the leather surface between his thighs.

Well, I knew sort of the reasons, but I simply shrugged a response. Danny was trying to keep Sean away from me so he didn't die. Ned simply didn't like him for a personal reason I didn't know, but could understand. Sean had a habit of being a snake to more than just me.

"Are you doing okay?" Sean's soft voice made me look at him. He was leaning his head on one hand propped up on the railing of the seat.

"We're being hunted by fucking monsters while our town is falling apart. People are dying and you ask if I'm okay?" I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around my middle. Had I forgotten to add anything? Oh, and I caught the attention of an eight and a half foot tall alien who is in love with me. Yeah.

My hand went to the device in my pocket just as a few shots went out. I sucked in a breath, sinking deeper into the seat, waiting anxiously for the explosives Danny warned us about.

Sean was huddled against the wall of the steps, cautiously looking out, gun pointed down. I hoped he didn't stupidly shoot himself in the foot.

A few more shots echoed after each other. These sounded closer but I couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from. Sound traveled differently here, I guess.

When it was quiet, neither Sean nor I, moved a muscle. I wasn’t even sure if I could. The anxiety I felt damn near paralyzed me to my spot. After a few tense moments, Sean visibly relaxed. "Thank God."