Defender (New World Book 7) by C.L. Scholey Read Free Book Online Page B

to care. All in the area were talking, and most believed the same as Macey and her aunt. The aliens would leave soon and the storms would stop.
    Macey dropped to all fours when a horrific boom sounded; the food spilled from her arms. Haven and Skylar screamed when a bolt of lightning struck a tree, which smashed onto the cabin only feet from where they stood, caving in part of the roof. The rain and wind whipped into their faces soaking them through. Macey was on the move; she yanked off the jacket she’d just put on and wrapped it around Haven, tugging the child into her arms.
    The sky was alive in the view through the shattered roof. The four raced outside. Lightning streaked across the heavens in a shower of bolts. Not one streak here and there, numerous explosions lit up the sky firecracker style. The heavens were alive with a meteor shower. Haven was screaming, and Macey crushed the child into her arms as a tree exploded near them. She fled with Greta and Skylar to the cellar at the back of the cabin. The cellar was deeper underground than the basement. She tripped and slid down the embankment, the grass was saturated and she feared flooding but it couldn’t be helped. Topside was volatile.
    The women and girls had been together for over a week. The two girls went to huddle on a small metal cot, rusted with age, the mattress threadbare. Macey grabbed thick blankets to toss over the girls while they wrapped their arms around each other. She took a moment to run her hand across each child’s cheek to sooth them. Trusting eyes gazed back.
    “Don’t be scared, little sweethearts,” Macey said. “You know it’s safe in here. You’re not alone. You’re stuck with us. I’ll make us some popcorn after I make dinner and read to you both. We’ll just use the emergency supplies down here and I’ll get the things I dropped in the kitchen tomorrow. No worries.”
    “You dropped them to carry me,” Haven said. She wore her adorable saddened pouty face. Macey cupped her chin.
    “Well, who wouldn’t rather carry you, cutie, than an armload of cold tins?”
    “We need the extra gas for the generator,” Greta said. “It may not clear up out there for a while. I didn’t bring the extra gas down in case, well in case…”
    Macey knew she meant in case the house was annihilated and there was an explosion. There was no choice now. Macey had never seen the skies on fire before. The place where the extra gas was held might not be there come morning.
    Her aunt turned to leave, but Macey stopped her. Greta was in her early sixties. “I’ll go. Watch the girls.”
    “It’s in the shed.”
    “I know; I’ll be right back. Close the door behind me and bar it, and don’t open it for anyone else.”
    “Hurry back,” Haven called.
    “I will, honey. I’m unstoppable because I’m fueled with love. No better fuel anywhere.”
    Thunder crashed overhead making Macey jump as she left the cellar. The shed was around the back near the forest line. Rain turned to hail and she cried out when she was hit with icy golf ball-sized hail that left stinging red welts. Her arm over her head, she ran. The shed door was stuck as she yanked on it repeatedly. She groaned feeling dumb, remembering the shed opened inwardly. Using both hands she smashed into the door and swung it open, ducked inside, and smashed it closed. Her back pressed to the door, her chest heaving. All she needed was the gas can and her wits. Everything would be fine.

Chapter 4
    Another storm lit the new area Taz ventured into. It was a smallish town with little destruction. Until now. People were running for shelter from the brutal winds. Taz remained unshielded and ducked into a one-level building. He slipped into a small room and noted shelves with folded white coats. He draped one on and stuck his bare feet into strange blue paper slippers with elastics. They fit.
    Wails and moans inside the building drove him to investigate. There were rows of humans on white beds.