Truck Drivin’ Hero Page 5

  “Our future is this mission, for now,” Speedy said.

  “For now, yeah. And I’m not even saying that we need to abandon this mission. Let’s move Hutch’s superweapon to Colorado, and then you come back to Des Moines with me. Or Canada. Or Antarctica. It doesn’t matter to me.”

  Her body became tense. “Hero, I want you to stop talking like that. You don’t know me anymore. I’ve changed in these past four years. I’m part of something greater than myself now. I’m on humanity’s side.”

  She pulled away from him, and the cold of the room suddenly seeped into the space between them.

  “Look, you’re right, this isn’t the time,” Hero agreed.

  “There won’t be a time.” She started to get up, then seemed to decide that was too much work and slumped back down to the bed, relaxing again against Hero. The warmth returned. “Can we just go to sleep? We have a long day tomorrow.”

  “Of course, darlin'” Hero said. He reached behind himself and turned off the light. “Thanks for telling me about the past, even if it doesn’t matter.”

  She made a happy little moan and snuggled more into him. “I’m glad you don’t care about the past, but it does affect the present.”

  “If you haven’t been with anyone in the Resistance, then-”

  “You misunderstood me,” Speedy said, cutting Hero off. “I said I haven’t been with a man since I joined the Resistance. However, I have been on a lot of missions with someone. Someone you know pretty well.”

  Hero guessed what she was going to say next. “Sunshine.”

  “Is that what you called her? She never told me that either.” Speedy sighed. “I’ve never met anyone like Victoria. I never stopped thinking of you, but I think I’m falling for her. We’ve started to request to be assigned to all the same missions together. And she seems more than happy to spend the night with me before any mission we take on together,” Speedy said.

  Hero didn’t know exactly what to say. “I’d never stand in the way of your happiness. I mean, I’m glad we did this tonight, but if you’re with someone else-”

  “It’s nothing official. Not yet, anyway,” Speedy quickly explained.

  “Well, it’s obviously important to you. I completely understand. I won’t tell a soul about what happened here, you don’t have to worry about that,” Hero said.

  “Thanks. I’m going to tell her, but I’m glad you’re my friend,” Speedy said.

  Ouch, Hero thought. Friend zoned.

  “There’s one more thing,” Speedy continued. “There’s no person, man or woman, that I trust to be at my side more than Victoria. That includes you. We’re going to need someone for muscle. She’s there at the base, waiting for us, and she expects to be on this mission as well. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  Hero laughed. “Up until ten hours ago, I didn’t even know that either of you were still alive. I’m overjoyed to hear that you both are. I won’t have a problem as long as she doesn’t.”

  “Well, she doesn’t know you’re coming, so it’ll be a bit of a surprise when we roll up. Still, I wouldn’t let her hear that you’re trying to get me to leave the resistance. Her favorite way to refer to you is, I quote, a 'fucking coward'.”

  “Ouch,” Hero said. It wasn’t entirely unfair, but he was sure that she had done more good for the Resistance by living than she would have by dying to alien gunfire in California.

  “Yeah. So you just let me handle her and everything will be alright,” Speedy said.

  “You got it.”

  They fell silent after that. A few minutes later, Speedy began to squirm. “You really made a mess, you know that?” she said.

  Hero laughed. “It’s been a while since I’ve been with a woman. Well, other than Alexandria, of course. And your body felt so right to me.”

  “I’m going to take a shower now instead of in the morning,” she said.

  “You mind if I join you?” Hero asked.

  “I was hoping you would.”

  6

  Hero woke up the next morning, naked and entangled with Speedy. He didn’t dare move. He knew that this might be the last time he'd be lying next to this angel, and he didn’t want the moment to end.

  Just a few minutes after he woke, she stirred, then opened her eyes and looked at him. “Good morning,” she murmured with sleep still in her voice.

  “Good morning,” he said. He didn’t say anything else, but he began running his fingers up and down her side. She moaned happily and closed her eyes, snuggling back into him. She didn’t seem to be in any hurry, either.

  Hutch had told him on the way over here that they’d have at least sixteen hours warning between the visual confirmation of the solar storm and the first effects of it being felt here on Earth. He hadn’t heard his phone blowing up, and if Speedy had a phone, it wasn’t going off either. It was only about an eight hour drive from Toledo to Teaneck, so there really wasn’t any hurry that he knew of. He wondered if they could make love again before going.

  After a while of stroking her naked body, he did get one notification, though it wasn’t from his phone. His tummy started to rumble.

  “You hungry?” Speedy asked without opening her eyes.

  “I am, but I’d rather stay right here,” Hero replied.

  “So would I.” He kept lightly touching her, tracing his fingers from the widest part of her hip to the top of her arm. Her skin was the same as he remembered it, except a little more sun-kissed. He hadn’t known how much he missed this until now.

  He ventured his fingers a little further, tracing down the underside of her butt and heading back up. He touched the small of her back, working his way up. Suddenly, she moaned. “Oooh, yeah. Scratch right there.” He smiled and did as she asked. “A little down. No, your other down. Yeah, right there.” He started scratching in an ever widening circle, as she grimaced and moaned with every new itch he scratched. When he was done, her eyes opened. “Now I’m ready to get up.”

  “Are you sure you don't want to see if the other bed was as good as this one?” Hero asked.

  She narrowed her eyes at him but still smiled. “We gotta get on the road.”

  Hero shrugged. I guess it really was a one-time deal, he thought. Still, he didn't bother hiding it while he admired her form as she threw on yesterday’s clothes, and she definitely took a peek while he got his on. They brushed their teeth with the hotel’s toothbrushes, poking at each other as they brushed. Hero always liked how flirty she could be.

  Out in the parking lot, Hero was glad to see that his truck was still there. It would definitely have thrown a spanner in their plans if they had to make a trip to the tow yard. “So, where do you want to stop for lunch?”

  “You know Nancy’s in West Middlesex?” she asked.

  “I’ve seen signs for it,” he said.

  “Well, I like it there,” she said.

  “If you like it, then that’s what we’ll get,” Hero said. He leaned in and gave her a kiss. For a moment, Speedy returned the kiss. Then, she stopped cold.

  “Hero, I… I want you to know that… This is over,” she said, seeming conflicted.

  Hero nodded his head. “Say no more. I had a great time, but I won’t try anything else.”

  She looked relieved. “Thanks.” She got in her car and he got in his truck. As she pulled out of the parking lot, he shook his head. He was sure that he had just lied to her, that he wouldn’t be able to help himself, even though he really didn’t want to get in the way of her happiness with Sunshine.

  They drove on the Ohio Turnpike for a while, construction slowing them down at every opportunity. If Hero’s stomach was rumbling in the morning, it was downright quaking by the time they crossed the border into Pennsylvania. They pulled into the diner’s parking lot without a moment to spare.

  Hero ordered a chicken fried steak while Speedy got a chicken caesar salad. Hero managed to turn off his phone before they started talking, even though they weren’t saying anything importa
nt. The movie industry hadn’t recovered from losing Hollywood, but TV had, so they talked about what shows they had seen in the past few years. It turned out, both of them just watched reruns of old shows on Netflix when they had a spare minute.

  Before long, they were back on the road. This was the dangerous part of the journey, really. The closer they got to the coast, the more likely they were to go through a manned Grey checkpoint. Hero knew his own papers would hold up, but he had no idea about Speedy.

  They crossed into New Jersey without problem, but then traffic began to slow down again. There were no signs of construction, so Hero figured what was coming.

  Sure enough, a military checkpoint was set up near Fairfield, New Jersey. Cars were being pulled at random to go through the checkpoint. Hero had no idea if Speedy had her papers in order or not, and what she would do if she was caught.

  He’d find out soon enough. Despite the fact that there were a couple cars in between them, both of them were selected to go through the checkpoint. Hero pulled his truck up behind Speedy’s Mustang. “Breaker 1-9, this is Hero, you all good up there?” he asked.

  “10-4, good buddy. I can handle it.”

  In the evening sun, he could see a man checking documentation. He was dressed in blue jeans and a plaid shirt. A cowboy hat was on his head, and cowboy boots on his feet. In Texas, he might have fit right in. In Iowa, he wouldn’t have looked too out-of-place. Here in New Jersey, he stood out like a sore thumb.

  As they got closer, he realized that it wasn’t a man at all. Not a human anyway. It was one of the Greys.

  When the aliens first landed, and humanity realized that the aliens that had harassed hicks and cows for generations were real, it felt like vindication for a lot of folks, mostly UFO conspiracy theorists. Still, the aliens didn't do everything that the UFO community expected. One was that, despite the fact that most artist’s depictions of the Greys had been naked, these invaders all wore clothes. Most of the time, they wore a one-piece jump suit, similar in color to their skin, with grey boots that almost looked like leather.

  This Grey, however, looked like he had gotten lost in Texas. Hero wondered if he had lost a bet.

  The Grey approached Speedy’s car. Again, Hero wished he could be there with her. Even if she had everything in order, this had to be a scary experience for her.

  No. He had to stop thinking that way. She wasn’t a child, and she didn’t need protecting. If she wanted to be a part of the Resistance and go on missions and kill the bad guys, that was her decision. She was a grown woman, and Hero had to respect that.

  Still, he hoped that everything checked out for her here. If not for her sake, then for the mission’s sake.

  He breathed a huge sigh of relief when the alien waved her through. Speedy drove away, merging onto I-80 and driving almost out of sight before taking the next exit.

  Hero pulled his truck up. It was his turn now. When he got to where the alien was, he could see that he even had a bushy grey mustache. The Greys were all hairless, so whether this guy had this one glued on or surgically attached, it still looked way out-of-place.

  “Howdy,” the alien said. It was in the usual soft voice the aliens used, but he had obviously been practicing it to sound human and even slightly southern.

  “Howdy,” Hero said back. He didn’t say ‘howdy’ often, but it sounded appropriate now.

  “Can I see your license, registration, and proof of employment, please?” the alien asked. Hero handed them over, and the alien gave them to the dome-shaped robot next to him, which had the initials “JR” emblazoned on it. The aliens required everyone to be either in school or have a job, with very few exceptions. And those people with exceptions wouldn’t be driving a big rig.

  “Your truck is not carrying a trailer, Mr. Reynolds,” he said.

  “No, sir, it is not,” Hero said.

  “What is your business in New Jersey, Mr. Reynolds?”

  “Well,” Hero started, turning his southern accent way up. “An ol’ pardner of mine has an ol’ junker he needs repaired, and he don’t trust nobody but me to do it. Now I figured I’d just come out to the city and repair it, but turns out, I need more than just my hand tools to do it.”

  “I see,” the alien said. “What is the name of this 'pardner', Mr. Reynolds?”

  Hero’s heart sank, but he recovered quickly. He noticed that the alien kept using his name, as if that were important to him. “Now listen here, Officer, uh, what did you say your name was?”

  “Sheriff Zorflox,” he said flatly.

  Hero smiled. There was no way that he was really a sheriff, so he had just adopted that title on his own, much as he had pasted that ridiculous mustache on his face. “Listen here, Sheriff. I don’t want no trouble for my friend. He just happened to break down in the city, and he don’t want no city folk trouble. A good ol’ boy from the country, like yourself, knows what I’m talking about.”

  The alien seemed to think about it for a moment. Hero didn’t know how much aliens knew about the concept of mockery or patronizing. This was the longest interaction he had ever had with one of the Greys. He was hoping that at least this one was as clueless as he looked.

  The seconds stretched on and on, as if the alien were looking for some sort of obvious sign of lying in his eyes. The robot next to him extended one of its manipulator arms toward the alien, which contained all the documents. “Status clear,” it said in a monotone.

  Zorflox handed the documents back to him. “Here are your papers, Mr. Reynolds. I recognize the accent. You are from Texas, are you not? One day I wish to go to Texas.”

  Hero smiled. “Guilty as charged,” he lied, but knew that this was the easiest way through the checkpoint. He had driven his truck through there enough to know a little bit about the local flavor. “I’m in Iowa now, but one day I’d like to go back. If you ever make it out there, make sure you go to Texarkana. They got a place there, Naaman’s, that makes the best barbecue you’ve ever tasted. Tell 'em Bill sent you.”

  The Grey looked like he was going to correct Hero, that the aliens didn’t eat human food, but instead changed his mind. “Naaman’s in Texarkana. I will do that… Bill.”

  “Glad to hear it, pardner! Now I’ll quit talkin’ your ear off and let you get back to work,” Hero said.

  “Oh. It is fine. I actually enjoyed hearing about Texas, Bill. Make sure to use I-80 on your way back. I will speak with you again about Texas,” the alien said.

  “You got it. Always nice to meet a fellow cowboy,” Hero said.

  “Yes,” Zorflox agreed. “It is nice.”

  Hero gave the alien cowboy a little salute, then put the truck in gear and drove out of the station, toward the next exit. He never expected to have a conversation that long with an alien before, and definitely never one about Texarkana.

  Hero and Speedy arrived at the Teaneck Armory just as the sun was going down. The complex was an old Army National Guard facility, but since the aliens had taken over, there hadn’t been any use for a national guard. Most vehicles had been secured or destroyed by the occupying force, but a few old Humvees and Jeeps remained. Hero didn’t know what their cover story was for using the building and he didn’t want to know. The less he knew about their operation, the less of a liability he’d be.

  When they pulled up to a loading dock, a young lady in a glowing safety vest directed him to park near the back, in a set of parking spaces underneath some trees. Speedy parked next to him, taking up several spots herself.

  “Sir, could you come with me, please?” the Latina woman asked. Her vest was emblazoned with a FoodMart logo. Hero followed, noticing her hair went all the way down past her ass.

  They went inside a garage through the loading dock. Pallets and pallets of canned tomatoes, corn, beans, and other vegetables were stacked in front of the garage door, blocking any possible way a vehicle could get inside. It was only through a locked office door that they were able to get inside the actual building. Through another locked
door, two men were sitting and watching cameras of the outside. They were each wearing pistols, with a fully-stocked weapons locker next to them. Hero noticed a selection of automatic shotguns, assault rifles, and grenades inside. The men were clearly expecting them, as neither of them moved a muscle as they walked through.

  “Now that we’re inside, can I have your cell phone, please?” the woman asked, holding out her hand.

  Hero looked at Speedy who shrugged her shoulders. He knew why the woman had chosen this room to ask. If he said no, those two men with the guns would be there to help her in an instant. He dug in his pocket for the phone, which already had its battery removed. He handed the woman both parts and smiled. The woman didn’t smile back, she just put the phone pieces in her pocket and opened the door to the next area.

  Past there was a long hallway. They passed a barracks room, full of bunkbed cots and personal belongings. Then, a mess hall. Finally, the woman turned into one of the rooms, a briefing room. Several people were seated in a room that could easily fit a hundred, listening to a man in the front speak. They all turned their eyes to the three newcomers as they walked in.

  “I don’t believe my eyes,” he heard a woman say loudly. He looked toward the back of the room, in time to see the woman stand up, her blonde ponytail pushed through the back of her camouflage print baseball cap. As she bounded toward him, he noticed her breasts bouncing nicely in the tan-colored tank top she was wearing. Her face was as intense as a face that beautiful could be without losing its beauty.

  Hero broke into a smile. “Sunshine, it’s good to-”

  She interrupted him with a hard slap to the face. “I never thought I’d see you again, you fucking coward.”

  7

  Hero managed not to go down, though he saw stars for a moment. He didn’t know what reaction he had expected when he finally saw Sunshine again, but he hadn’t quite expected this. As he staggered back, he grabbed his face and stared at her, jaw agape.