I had found an old t-shirt of my fathers and paired it up with a pair of jean shorts. I had tied my hair up and found my glasses. Lord knows if I would need them, but at least if I died my mom would be able to tell it was me a lot easier.
We were making our way down the road. I left Armstrong without a leash, trusting he would stay by my side. Alex was in between Dariush and ZhenZhen. He kept shooting my nervous glances.
"Alright, you get on one side of Alex and you get on the other. We'll get him up to speed. Alright?" Gabriel instructed.
My heart melted. What a fucking sweetheart.
"Gotcha." Dariush nodded.
We pulled on our helmets and Dariush mumbled some complaint under his breath. I beckoned Alex over and made sure the strap under his chin was tight enough. I fixed mine before turning to Gabriel, who had found a motorcycle helmet. He looked good.
"Alright, get on. We'll hold you steady." ZhenZhen guided Alex, a hand on his shoulder.
We rode slow, at least until Alex could find his balance. Dariush and ZhenZhen kept him stable, with Dariush occasionally telling him to put his feet back on the pedals.
"Alex, it's easier once you get moving." I called over to him.
"The faster you go, the easier it is to stay balanced!" Gabriel tipped.
"A-are you sure about this?" Alex stuttered.
Gabriel looked at me and raised an eyebrow with a shrug. I turned back to Alex.
"No." I shook my head.
"Of course!" Gabriel nodded at the same time as me.
"Alright, good! You're good! Just keep doing that!" Dariush encouraged Alex as he began to pedal, trying to keep his balance.
ZhenZhen shot me a look over her shoulder and I nodded. She let him go, and Dariush did too. They kept their hands close just in case.
"I don't ... I don't know if I can do this!" Alex stuttered.
I grinned as ZhenZhen told him that he was already doing it. Armstrong barked happily, running by Alex's side. We erupted into cheers and screams of joy, and I watched Alex break into a smile. I pulled a hand away long enough to snap a picture of him on his bike, gripping the polaroid between my lips before shoving it in my pocket. He rode ahead of us, and ZhenZhen pulled up next to me. Dariush wove to Gabriel's other side. She looked at me with a huge smile and I laughed. Gabriel whooped from next to me, sticking his legs up.
Why is he so fucking cute?
I looked back to ZhenZhen, who was smirking at me with an eyebrow arched. I rolled my eyes at her, ignoring the heat at the tip of my ears. Dariush pushed himself up as we rounded a corner, letting out a Tarzan style scream. We laughed, and I heard Alex shout something about fun before a grunt. I looked forward to see his bike hit a median, and he flipped over to the other side of the hill. Armstrong barked and bounded over with a whimper.
"Alex!" I shouted, squeezing the brakes on my bike and jumping off, running the rest of the way to the edge of the hill.
"Oh!" Dariush winced.
"Alex?" I heard ZhenZhen close behind me.
"Yo, is he dead?" Dariush asked.
"Hey." I jumped over the bushes and bent down next to him.
I felt a hand on my back and looked to see Gabriel next to me, helping Alex pull his helmet off. He groaned, pained. I brushed his hair back.
"You okay?"
He only nodded, a grimace on his face as I helped him sit up. He went stiff halfway, and fell back to the floor on his elbows.
"Alex?" Gabriel asked him, hand on his shoulder.
I opened my mouth to ask if he was okay, and then I looked up to see what he saw. My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped. I could feel my ears move back as I let out a gasp of air. Los Angeles lay before us in ruins. Explosions went off in the sky and Alex flinched.
"Holy shit." Gabriel mumbled.
ZhenZhen wordlessly pulled Alex to stand. I watched the scene before us, eyes darting back and forth between the fires and the jets and the ships and the continuous explosions. I swallowed hard and pushed my glasses back up the bridge of my nose.
"Ava." Gabriel knelt beside me. "Come on. We have to go."
I broke my stare and glanced at him before bringing my camera to my eye and snapping a picture. Maybe this was all just a nightmare. Maybe I would wake up and this picture wouldn't exist. Armstrong whimpered from beside me. I stood and grabbed Gabriel's hand, silent as we walked back to the bikes.
We all had less hope now.
***
We walked down one of the main streets in silence. The city was destroyed, cars flipped over and a few small planes crashed between buildings. Signs were torn out of the ground, and things were on fire. We had to weave through the littered road.
Alex was looking around, taking in everything. ZhenZhen kept her eyes forward. Dariush was looking at the things on the ground. Gabriel's mouth was hidden under his helmet, but I could see his eyebrows knitted together, concern visible. Dariush stopped and picked a teddy bear off the street. Armstrong was closeby, sniffing every single thing.
"There!" ZhenZhen called, pointing to the building ahead of us.
"Man, this place is trashed." Dariush noted, dropping the bear as we walked up to the building.
Gabriel tensed and stopped by a tree, looking at the ground and trying to figure something out. I stopped and came back to his side, dropping my bike against the floor.
"What's wrong?"
"Ava, I can't go in there." He looked at me and whispered, eyes wide.
I nodded, "It's okay. I'll just tell Alex to go ahead." I kept my voice quiet.
He shook his head. "No, lemme handle it."
"Guys, I don't- nobody's, uh..." He sighed, pulling his helmet off.
"What?" Alex asked, confused.
"You guys go ahead. I'll just stay back and watch our bikes." Gabriel offered, nerves in his voice.
Alex looked at me and I made a face, telling him all he needed to know.
"What? Yeah, because the aliens wanna jack our mountain bikes." Dariush scoffed at him.
"Yeah, looters could take them." Alex shot him a look. "Yeah, two people should stay and watch. Ava, Gabriel, could you guys?"
We both nodded, "Yeah, you guys go ahead," I tied the makeshift leash to Armstrong's collar and handed it to Alex. "Take him."
Dariush rolled his eyes with a loud snort. "Yeah, they'll watch our bikes while they do some heavy petting in the corner."
Gabriel took a step forward with a fire in his eyes, raising his eyebrows, a dare for Dariush to open his mouth again.
God, Dariush is really fucking getting at something.
"Just go." I pointed. "And be careful."
They nodded and went inside, cautiously looking around before ducking into the building with a few old flashlights out. I sank to the ground against the tree. Gabriel sighed and sat next to me, eyeing me.
"Sorry. You didn't have to stick up for me."
I leaned my head against the tree with a shrug. "I don't mind. Dariush is the only pain in the ass here."
Gabriel laughed, bumping his shoulder against mine. "You mean you don't wanna hold my hand anymore?"
I snorted, holding my hand out and letting him link his fingers through mine. I looked him over before sighing again.
"So what's the deal?"
He looked at me, confused.
"You won't go in there. You seem like you're scared of the place. And don't get me wrong, you look really good in the whole outfit, but only e-boys dress like that, and if you were an e-boy, you'd have a phone. So ... what's the deal?" I asked, making a conscious effort to keep my voice gentle. I didn't wanna make him feel interrogated. I just wanted to know who we were with.
"Ava..." His shoulders dropped.
"I mean, it's all real sus. You could be an alien in disguise trying to kill us all. What if right now I'm holding your hand and the next thing I know you're trying to eat me alive?" I turned to him with a playful smile.
He only sighed, letting go of my hand. I felt my lungs falter. I had probably just gone and made him feel awful without trying to. He looked up at me slowly, then smiled, pushing me onto my back and trying to tickle me. I squealed, trying to make him stop, but he grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head, leaving me to squirm helplessly.
"You caught me. I'm one of them." He stopped tickling me and let my hands go, pressing his fists into the ground by my head, supporting himself. "I'm here to infiltrate your group and then tickle you all to death."
His knee was holding him up between my legs and he smiled at me. I brushed my hands through my hair and stared up at him, trying not to smile back. His hair was hanging over his eyes and he seemed a lot less stressed out. I couldn't stop my eyes from flickering around his face. Over the small birthmarks, the dots on his nose, the subtle bags under his eyes, and then to his pink lips. His smile had dimmed down, his eyes darting around my face the way mine had just done. I felt butterflies rise in my stomach again, and my chest began to rise and fall faster.
"Can I kiss you?" His voice was scratchy and nervous, and my stomach did flips.
Oh my god Ava get it together.
"I dunno, can I trust you not to shove your alien dick down my throat?" I kept my eyes on his, breaking into a smile as he laughed.
"I promise." He held his pinky up, holding himself up on an elbow.
I hooked my pink around his and forced myself halfway up, pulling him down the rest of the way. I shut my eyes as my lips met his and my heart exploded.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god.
His lips were chapped, and it took him a second to react. He went to put his hand on my neck, but lost his balance, landing on top of me. I laughed, and he seemed stunned, trying to come up with words as he stared at me, wide eyed. I put my hands on his cheeks and pulled him back down, kissing his lips once more.
He pulled away, his smile dropping as he looked to the ground, avoiding my eyes.
"Gabriel. What is it?" I looked at him.
He sighed. "I'm not an alien, but ... I lied to you guys."
"About what?" I was still laying underneath him.
He sat down, and helped me sit in front of him. He pulled his knees to his chest, and I sat with my legs crossed. He ran his hands through his hair.
God, he looks good.
"I wasn't in the mountains because I live here. It was because I escaped." He paused, looking up to see me with my head tilted. "From juvie." He whispered.
"Did you kill someone?" I raised my eyebrows, already knowing the answer.
"God, no!"
I shrugged. "Then it's fine." I grabbed his hands.
He looked up. "Are you sure?"
I nodded, stroking his cheek. "You're not going to hurt us. So it doesn't matter."
He looked me over, confusion in his shining eyes. It was as if he didn't understand what I was saying. I gave his hands a squeeze, and he looked me in the eye. I smiled. His eyes went back to my mouth and he started to breathe heavily.
"Come here." I pulled on his hands, and he pushed me down.
I didn't make it all the way to the ground, as he grabbed the back of my neck and held my mouth against his. I laughed, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as his other hand came underneath my back to hold us both up.
"Oh!" Dariush groaned and I felt Gabriel smile before pulling away. "Nice job watching the bikes, you nasty fuckers."
No no no no no, go away!
Gabriel stood up and brushed himself off, grabbing my hand to help me up. I popped to my feet with a giggle, and Dariush let out another sound of disgruntlement. Alex was pink as he walked past me, trying to avoid eye contact. He passed Armstrong to me. I untied the leash and he moved to sniff Gabriel's hand before covering it in slobbery kisses. ZhenZhen looked at me with a smile, and then openly turned and winked at Gabe. I rolled my eyes.
"There's nobody in there. We have to keep moving." Alex told us, getting onto his bike.
I looked up at Gabriel, who sighed. I grabbed his shoulder and moved him down as I bounced onto my toes. I pressed a kiss to his cheek before turning back and swinging a leg over my bike. I pulled on my helmet and patted Armstrong's head.
We rode through the streets, and Alex led the way through an alley.
"How is your watch still working after the pulse?" ZhenZhen asked him.
"It's not electronic, it's mechanical."
"Yo, he's doing good!" Dariush told me with a smile.
Alex stuck his hand out to show ZhenZhen the watch, and then swerved, losing his balance for a second. Dariush called out a warning, and Alex corrected himself.
"It was my dad's." I heard him.
I felt Gabriel's eyes on me and I looked down, trying to ignore the burning feeling rising in my throat. I heard Alex agree to the suggestion of the watch being given to him and I tried to shrug off my emotions as Armstrong let out a bark. I looked up to see a truck speeding through the street in front of us. My foot hit the ground and my bike dropped under me. I grabbed Armstrong by the collar as the truck sped past, and the other jumped off their bikes. I let go of Armstrong as the last truck passed, and he took off, barking. We began to yell and wave our hands, but the trucks didn't stop.
"Armstrong!" I called him back, and he turned around, whining.
He looked at something behind us and growled and I hoped to the lord it wouldn't be another alien. He began to bark, and came running toward us.
"Hey! Stay where you are! Do not move! Langley, get the dog!"
I turned on my heel to see a marine pointing a gun at us. A bunch more appeared, and we dropped our helmets, putting our hands up. One grabbed Armstrong by the collar, yanking him to sit. Armstrong crashed to the floor with a whimper, and I took a step forward. Gabriel caught me, pulling me back against him.
"Same side. Same side. Same side!" Alex yelled as they got closer.
"He's hurt, be careful." I begged.
"Kids! Kids!" The marine informed the others, dropping his gun.
They stopped aiming at us and the man let go of Armstrong. Gabriel loosened his grip on me and I ran to my dog, hugging him as he whined.
"You guys should've evacuated hours ago. We're at war." The marine explained.
I pulled Armstrong to stand, leading him back to the group. He whimpered at Gabriel, who only knelt down to scratch behind his ears.
"We were in the mountains when the attacks started, sir. Can you tell us what's going on? How big are the attacks?" Alex sounded like a reporter.
"Did it reach the nation's finest Mercedes dealership?" Dariush leaned forward.
Gabriel and I looked at each other. He stood back up and put a hand out for me. I moved to him and sighed.
"Dude, how can you-"
"No, my dad owns it!" He cut ZhenZhen off. "I'm the future heir to that shit."
"Shut up!" ZhenZhen shouted.
"Can I have a hug?" I looked up at Gabriel, whose only response was to pull my by the wrists and loop his arms around my waist, dropping his head against mine as I hooked my arms around his shoulders.
"All I can tell you is you're not safe here." The marine scoffed. "Everyone on the bus, right now!" He pointed over his shoulder and began to walk away.
"Wait, the key." I looked at Alex, grabbing Gabriel's shoulders so I could straighten myself without moving from his grip.
"Hey, wait!" We called after the marine, who kept going.
"Wait! Stop!" We ran after him, Armstrong following.
"Wait! No, stop!" Alex tugged at his sleeve.
"Knock it off!" He shouted.
"No! Listen!" Gabriel begged.
The marine turned to us with a sigh. "What?"
Alex pulled the key from his neck. "You need to take this key to Pasadena." He gave it to the marine.
"Where'd you get this?"
"An astronaut from the space station gave it to us." ZhenZhen explained.
Armstrong sat down and I found myself in Gabriel's hold again.
"She said we need to take it to JPL." Gabriel said.
"What's on that key can stop the aliens." Dariush jumped in.
"You need to get that to JPL in Pasadena to a Dr. Fielding." I looked at him, relaying the astronaut's message.
"We've been receiving morse code from a Dr. Fielding at JPL all day." The marine held the key. "Finding this key has been the primary objective. Thanks, kids. You may have just saved the world. We'll take it from here." He patted Alex's shoulder before shouting off orders.
"Yeah!" ZhenZhen squealed.
"Yeah! We did it! Yo, we did- yo, I am so happy I told y'all to go down the hill!" Dariush lied.
Gabriel spun me under his arm with a huge grin. He grabbed my face and pressed a kiss to my forehead, pulling back with a huge smile.
"We did it." He looked me over, eyes landing around my lips.
"Yeah, we did." I grabbed his shoulders and tugged him to my height on my toes, pressing small kisses all over his face, loving the sound of his laughter.
"Come on!" Alex came over, yanking me by the wrist.
I grabbed Gabriel's hand in mine and followed Alex, piling into the bus and accepting high-fives from the marine at the door of the bus. Armstrong hopped in after Alex and ZhenZhen, and Gabriel pushed me in first.
"We did it! Now move your skinny ass, Gabriel." Dariush complained.
I went to take the seat behind Alex, but I felt Gabriel give me a tug, pulling me into him. I giggled as he sat down and I fell into his lap. The seats could fit two people if you really tried, but I was more than content where I was. He pulled his arms around my waist and dropped his head against my shoulder, closing his eyes with a smile.
"Look!" Alex pointed at the truck as it drove in front of us, with the key.
I snuggled further into Gabriel and sighed. Maybe this was still a nightmare, but at least now it would be over.