Free Alien Invasion (Book 1): Invasion by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant Page B

they’d seen earlier, up ahead. It seemed to be in the road and was fairly wide. It was black, like a petroleum fire, but there didn’t seem to be any flames. “I’m not seeing any panic.”  
    “Give it time,” said Trevor. “It could happen. You don’t know what happened up there.”  
    “Broken down car,” said Lila.  
    Raj shook his head beside her. “Look how black that smoke is. Something’s burning.”  
    “Why would something be burning?” said Lila.  
    Trevor looked back derisively. He and Lila had always got along well. It was a shame that he’d become such a temperamental little shit. Just six months ago, she’d have told him all about her unexpected motherhood. But now, it felt like she could no longer trust him with her secrets.  
    “You’re right. Let’s look at ‘why would’ rather than what’s right there in front of us.”  
    Piper looked back. The van was long, and she seemed very far away.  
    “I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said.  
    “See, Trevor?”  
    “She doesn’t know any more than you do!” Trevor spat.  
    “Settle down,” said Piper. “Just … it might be nothing.”  
    “Or it could be a riot,” said Trevor, shrugging. “Traffic jam, someone throws a Molotov cocktail, others pull guns, spreading back toward us until … ”  
    “Stop it, Trevor!” Piper spat. Duly chided, Trevor lowered his chin and looked out the side window, away from the windshield where Meyer was marching back toward the van.  
    He sat heavily in his seat and closed the door.  
    Piper looked over, waiting for him to speak.  
    “Something’s on fire up there,” he said.  
    “See,” said Trevor, his voice spiteful.  
    Meyer looked back curiously, but said nothing. He continued. “Talked to a guy just now who walked up and helped put it out. Nothing wrong; just a crappy car, too much idling, and a lot of leaking oil. Engine just caught fire. They threw dirt on it.”  
    Piper sighed, sitting back.  
    “Well, there’s more.”
    “What?”  
    “The fire, no big deal. Ordinarily, they could just put it in neutral and push it off the road so we can get past. But it’s on the bridge.”
    “Push it off the bridge, then,” said Lila.  
    “Yeah, just chuck it into the Ohio River,” said Trevor, rolling his eyes.  
    “I meant off one end, dumbass,” said Lila.  
    “Lila … ” Piper began.  
    “Ordinarily, that’d be no problem,” said Meyer. “But there’s construction, too. Bunch of orange cones up ahead. Someone must have wiped out the merge signs; I saw them lying down up there. But it’s three lanes going to one across the bridge, and that’s why we were so jammed up to begin with and what caused this guy’s engine to go, but now he’s smoking up there right in the middle of the single lane.”  
    “Push him forward,” said Lila. Trevor shot her a look but said nothing.  
    “Can’t, buttercup. He’s packed in, and the guy I talked to said his transmission is frozen. It’d take a tow truck. And even then it’d need to get in, and … ” He trailed off.  
    Lila’s stomach lurched. She caught the swell of illness without giving much sign, but she saw Piper eye her before looking away.  
    “So … ” said Piper.  
    “We’re going to have to go around.”  
    “How?”  
    “We’ll have to go north.” Meyer shook his head, eyebrows drawing together darkly. “That’s the thing about coming from Northeast Ohio. Just when you think you’ve gotten out, it pulls you back in. Like the mafia for Michael Corleone.”  
    “Who’s Michael Corleone?” said Trevor.  
    “You kids today,” he said. “Anyone wants to take over Fable in their adulthood, you’re going to have to get more steeped in cinema.”  
    Piper was looking to the left, where traffic in the other direction was still creeping past. Lila thought she might say something about making that line of cars stop and using the other half of the bridge. Instead she whined