Free Burnout (The Invasion Chronicles Book 1) by Alex Barnett Page A

returned with technology that had had just as much time to advance as Earth technology.  Truthfully, Lydia didn’t know which thought was worse. 
    Lydia shook her head, as if she could physically dislodge the dark thoughts.  “Did, did you guys tell my grandpa or anyone about what you’ve seen out there?  It’s been months since we had any contact with anyone outside the barricade."
    Zack nodded.  "Caleb was up talking to your grandfather most of the night." 
    Lydia took a deep breath.  Grandpa would figure out what to do, she told herself.  They had been safe for this long; they could hold out.  Zack tilted his head towards her.  
    "Sorry," he said. 
    Caleb laughed, low and without much humor.  "Too bad no one actually had an apocalypse plan, huh?"
    "Excuse you?" Zack sputtered.  "I had an excellent apocalypse plan.  I mean, I was thinking zombies, not weird cyborg attack…things…but I had an apocalypse plan.”
    "Man, locking yourself in the nearest Wal-Mart isn’t an apocalypse plan."  Caleb rolled his eyes.  "That's just Hollywood."
    "Says the dude who wanted to grab a crossbow in that sport shop last month."
    "Wh—hey, those things don’t make any noise!  It was a good idea!"
    "Only if you know how to shoot it," Zack countered.  He finished with the gun barrel and held it up for inspection.  Caleb tilted it to one side, holding it up to the light streaming in from the windows.
    "Good to go," he said.  Zack set the barrel down on the towel again, and capped the bottle of cleaner.  Caleb gathered up the brushes and swabs, wiping the brush down on one corner of the towel as Zack picked up the pieces, reassembling the weapon with a speed that had both Lydia and Ava staring.  He was almost as quick at it as Grandpa.  Caleb grinned at their shock, open and easy.
    "Yeah, there's a reason he does all the maintenance."
    Ava let out a low, impressed whistle.  Lydia bit her lip, curiosity welling up inside her.  "Can I ask you something...I mean, do you mind?" she asked.
    "Ask away," Zack said, tilting his head downward so that his glasses slipped down his nose. "I'm not shy."  He winked, and shoved the glasses back up.  Lydia let out a soft huff of laughter.
    "Can you see anything ?" she asked. 
    Zack gnawed on the inside of his cheek.  "Mmm, light and shadow, mostly," he replied.  "I mean, like, I can tell there's a window behind you two...things like that. It's hard to describe." 
    “What, I mean if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”  Ava added. 
    Disabilities like Zack’s weren’t unheard of, but they were unusual these days.  The biomedical fields were finally catching up with the technological fields, and Lydia knew there were at least three cybernetic implants on market that could restore almost a full field of vision in blind patients. 
    “Don’t mind,” Zack assured her friend, leaning back in his seat.  “I was born like this…came way too early and this,” he gestured towards his glasses, “was a side effect that stuck around.  My eyes are too messed up for implants to work, and they’re not messed up enough for our insurance to cover a transplant.  I’m too well-adjusted,” he said with a laugh, and shrugged philosophically.  “Ain’t like that’s an issue now, anyway.  I get by.”  His expression turned playful, and he waggled his dark eyebrows.  Lydia found herself answering his crooked grin almost involuntarily.  "Can I ask you something?"
    "Sure."
    Zack pulled an exaggeratedly serious face.  "Did you two have an apocalypse plan?"
    Caleb heaved the long-suffering sigh of a lifetime of such exchanges, and Zack socked him on the shoulder.  “Shut up, it’s a valid question.  I don’t trust people who didn’t have an apocalypse plan.” 
    “Malik had an apocalypse plan,” Caleb muttered with a sly grin.  Zack immediately grimaced. 
    “Doesn’t count, he thought New Kirk was better than Original Series Kirk, how good could his