“Judging by what you must’ve gone through, I doubt those pastries have done much to curb your appetite.” Lily stood and came back around the table.

He felt more at ease when she approached him, beginning to come to terms with the idea that they were on the same team. She had suffered too, had lost her people and her home. He couldn’t ignore the irony of having the rebels land on a planet destined for harvesting. What were the odds? And even if the enemy was as formidable as she made them out to be, the notion of destroying them from the inside seemed viable. He wanted to believe she was good, and her plan could work, but he reminded himself to stay cautious.

“So, about these guns,” Lily said, looking at Kelly’s M-16, which was propped against the table. “I won’t order you to relinquish them, but I do worry about an accidental discharge. You brought a lot of kids with you, and it concerns me to have these weapons everywhere.”

The teens were silent. Shane stared at her, hesitant to take the final leap. He glanced at his friends—all eyes were on him. They expected him to make the decision; otherwise, they would have said something by now. Biting the inside of his cheek, he looked at Lily once again and sighed.

“Yeah, I think it’s okay to leave them here,” he said.

Lily smiled. Relief settled on everyone’s face except Tracy’s and Steve’s. He sensed neither of them had misgivings about parting with their guns for fear of Lily. They glanced at the weapons with longing—children forced to surrender their favorite toys.

Aside from football, Steve’s other great passion was hunting. He wasn’t good at school, just barely making the grades so he could play sports, and he wasn’t particularly successful with the ladies, who probably didn’t enjoy that he only talked about these two things.

Tracy loved anything military related. Her stepdad had been a Green Beret in the Army, and she seemed to want to be just like him. The JROTC program at Leeville High had been an obscure club with a few oddballs in disheveled uniforms when Shane was in the ninth grade. With her stepdad’s help, she revived the unit in less than two years. She even had the soldier wannabes marching during halftimes and twirling rifles.

Grinning at their discontentment and satisfied his friends felt he’d made the right decision, he followed Lily out of the conference room and onto the tarmac. She pointed the hungry teenagers toward the base cafeteria and went back inside.

He and his friends walked across the base in silence, and he expected they, like him, were contemplating all Lily had just said to them. She’d mentioned six other teams were on their way, and his imagination conjured three dozen teenage commandos with tattoos and battle scars being scooped up from the darkest corners of the globe. It made sense to get the best kids alive on this mission. But, if the rebels initially weren’t aware his team had shut down the limbic manipulator, why had they chosen them? It wasn’t like they had any special training that would make them better candidates. The whole neural scan from above explanation she gave wasn’t easy to believe. Maybe Lily did already know what they’d achieved and was just trying to boost their egos by acting amazed when they told her.

The cafeteria was inside a squat, rectangular building, a contrast to the curved half-pipe or taller, blocky structures making up much of the perimeter of the airfield. Passing through the glass doors, Shane immediately got a sense that the ceiling was too low. It gave the windowless dining room a dark and claustrophobic feeling, despite the lines of fluorescent lights breaking the monotony of the acoustic tiles. It had more rows of tables than the Leeville High lunchroom had, and a long, stainless-steel serving area took up the entire wall opposite the entry.

“Some rescue,” Maurice grumbled, setting his tray down across from Shane. “When they plucked us off that farm, I thought things might get better.”

“I’m not ready to give up,” Shane replied, trying to maintain a semblance of courage. He looked across the room at Kelly, who was in line getting food.

“Me neither—I’m with you,” Maurice said unconvincingly. “It just sucks, that’s all.” His head drooped, and he shoveled a bite of tuna casserole into his mouth.

Although he’d only known him for a couple of days, he felt close to Maurice. The short, thick kid was willing to give his life if that was what it took to win. He was a great orator, brave as hell, and strong as an ox. Shane didn’t know much else about him. In the short time they’d been acquainted, he’d never seen the boy carry his head so low. He usually stood proud and seemed taller than he actually was, but now something was undermining his confidence.

“What was your family like?”

Maurice glanced up, his eyes wide like he was taken off guard by the question.

“They were the best kind of people,” he said earnestly. “My dad was a preacher in a church in Stone Mountain. Mom was a nurse. All they ever wanted to do was to help others, to make the world a better place.” He looked at his tray, chasing a brussel sprout around it with his fork.

“Did you have any brothers and sisters?”

Shane didn’t want Maurice to dig up painful memories, but it had made him feel better when he talked to Kelly about those he’d lost. And if he was going to continue to fight alongside these kids, he wanted to get to know them.

“Yeah, a grip of them.” Maurice gave a little smile. “I was the youngest. I had a sister and two brothers who were in college and two other sisters who were all grown up and married.” He paused, his eyes glistening. “Veronica, the oldest, was pregnant.” His voice trailed off.

“I’m sorry,” Shane said quietly, hoping he hadn’t asked too many questions.

“It wasn’t so bad before this morning.” The thick kid’s lower lip trembled. “I had my faith—believed they were all in heaven.”

“What changed?” Shane hated to see Maurice so distraught. The kid had been a rock through the battle in Atlanta. Shane needed him to be strong now.

“Lily said we were made by aliens,” Maurice replied, sounding disgusted. “Don’t you see? It defies everything we learned in church. Makes me feel like my whole religion is a farce.”

“I don’t see it that way,” Shane replied. “Just because there’s more to our history than we knew before doesn’t mean heaven doesn’t exist. I know my granny, my mom and dad, and everyone else is up there looking down on us right now. I can feel it. Just because some of what we’ve been taught might be wrong doesn’t mean what you feel in your heart isn’t true.”

Shane was half impressed with what he’d just said. It sounded like some of Granny’s counseling. Looking at Maurice, he smiled, but inside, he felt a twinge of shame. Maurice seemed way more qualified to give spiritual advice. Shane wasn’t even sure he really believed what he’d just said. He was trying to make Maurice feel better, and his own doubts made him feel like a liar and a hypocrite.

“You know what?” Maurice raised his head. “You’re right.” He reached across the table and put his hand on Shane’s forearm. “Thanks, brother.”

He nodded and then glanced around the room, unable to keep looking into the boy’s brown eyes with the uncertainty eating at his insides. However, he knew he’d done the right thing. If he was going to lead these people, he had to put their well-being and peace of mind above his own.

The cafeteria had at least sixty tables in it. Red-haired Rebecca and another girl who’d been a victim in the assault at the gym monitored the youngsters, sitting at a table on the other side. That corner of the room had more chatter and even some laughter coming from it. He envied the little ones, some young enough that they’d forget most of this in a few years if they survived what was to come.

“What about you?” Maurice looked at Shane, his eyes showing compassion and an innate desire to ease the suffering of others. Fitting for the son of a preacher and a nurse. “What was your family like?”

“Mine was a bit of a mess, but I loved them just the same,” Shane replied honestly.

He told Maurice about his mom, and how she’d died of cancer a while back. Then he talked about Granny before mentioning the weapon killed his aunt and father. Maurice was easy to talk to, and he didn’t feel as much pain as he expected while recanting the story. Perhaps he was starting to get over their deaths, or maybe it was the numbness haunting him from the moment his aunt died—he couldn’t tell which.

“Y’all got something deep going on there?” Maurice said, a mischievous grin on his face.

Shane realized he’d been looking at Kelly as he told the last half of the story. She was heading across the cafeteria toward their table. He felt his face get warm and returned his attention to Maurice.

“I reckon we might,” Shane replied and cleared his throat.

“Well, that’s a good thing as far as I see it,” Maurice said. “As long as we got love, we’ll be alright. That’s what my pop used to say.”

“Hey guys,” Kelly said, walking around the table and sitting next to Shane. She forced a smile at them, and he could see she was having trouble digesting everything too.

“Hi Kelly,” Maurice replied, smiling in return.

Shane was glad the old Maurice was back. His steady and ever-present cheerfulness was good medicine.

“At least they have decent food here,” Shane said, watching Kelly dig in.

He took a bite of his roll and imagined what it would’ve been like to have her cut through the crowd in the high school lunchroom so she could sit next to him. It would’ve been insane. Shane would have risen from near obscurity to the height of teenage royalty had this captain of the cheerleading team chosen him over all the other boys in school. He chuckled at the thought.

“What?” Kelly glanced at him.

“Nothing,” he replied, embarrassed.

“I’m so hungry,” she said with an apologetic tone, and then started eating slower.

“Me too,” he replied, trying to convey he wasn’t laughing at her.

The funny thing was that Kelly was probably oblivious to the power she’d had in high school. Like a fairytale princess, she was humble and sweet to everyone. Before, Shane sometimes wondered if it was just an act, if maybe she was being condescending. Now he realized she was genuinely a kind person, though, she had a mean streak of which he never wanted to be on the receiving end.

Steve and Laura came to the table, followed by Jules and Tracy. They finished lunch without much talk. Once in a while, one of them would look up from their food over to the other tables, perhaps envious of the higher spirits of the little kids or just checking on them to make sure they were all right.

These were good people. Each had proven they would fight alongside him. They’d give their lives if necessary. This was Shane’s team, and he wasn’t going to let them get manipulated by anyone. But Lily might be telling the truth—she sure seemed to be. He had to build up their confidence, make them believe they could stop the Anunnaki. A lover of proverbial quotes, Coach Rice had told him confidence was the ocean on which the victorious sail. Even if Shane didn’t think they had a chance against the Anunnaki, he had to make his team believe he thought they would win. His own fears and concerns must be suppressed, and he had to help them overcome theirs.

“So what are we gonna do, boss?” Steve asked, wiping his mouth with his hand and then rubbing it down his shirt.

“We’re gonna train,” he replied firmly. “We’re going to practice and learn everything these rebels can teach us. We’ve got to bust our asses every day until the Anunnaki arrive.”

“We should act like a military special forces unit if we are going to have a chance,” Tracy interjected. “We should wake up early and run. We need to get in the best shape we can.”

“Agreed, and we should do some calisthenics too,” Shane added. “At least some push-ups and sit-ups.” He’d played sports long enough to know being in good shape would only help them. And the less time they spent thinking about how impossible their mission was, or about lost loved ones, the better.

“Who are we kidding?” Laura said, hysteria pitching her voice. She was sitting on the other side of Steve, hidden behind his massive frame. “I don’t mean to be a downer, but how can a bunch of teenagers defeat space soldiers who have been traveling around the universe for thousands of years, kicking the crap out of entire worlds for fun? I mean, has it occurred to you guys that it sounds like no one has ever beaten them?”

“Yes, Laura, that has occurred to me,” Shane replied quickly. He could see Tracy was about to snap at her, and he knew it wouldn’t help. “But we are different. The Anunnaki have never fought humans, so we don’t know what our chances are.” He gave each of his friends a stern look. “No one ever wins a fight going into it thinking they’re gonna lose. We have to believe in ourselves, or we definitely don’t have a chance.”

Laura didn’t respond, but her comment put a damper on the mood of the kids around the table. After a moment, Shane stood and lifted his tray, taking it to the window on the right side of the cafeteria and dumping the remains of his meal into a trash can. Sliding the tray through the window into the kitchen, he could see some of the kids from his and Maurice’s groups washing dishes and helping prepare food.

When he turned around, Kelly, Steve, Laura, Maurice, Tracy, and Jules were behind him. They all dropped their trays in the window and gave him a what’s next look.

As if on cue, a man in a black jumpsuit entered the cafeteria and glanced around. When his eyes found Shane’s, he walked briskly toward them.

“I’m Jones,” he growled, glaring at them like they weren’t worthy of his attention. “I’ll be in charge of your training.”

Other than a large scar running from his temple to chin, the alien resembled the other male clones. But his facial features were where the similarities ended. Jones’ broad, muscled shoulders threatened to burst the stitches of his black shirt. He wore his dark hair in a crew cut like Tracy, and he stood tall, with his big chest thrust forward.

“Is it just the seven teams who’ll be attacking the Anunnaki?” Tracy asked, unmoved by the alien’s drill sergeant demeanor. “Won’t we be getting more troops?”

“We’re recruiting as many kids as possible for the fight against the Anunnaki. On hidden bases around the world, teams will be trained to attack different parts of the Anunnaki ship. This base is being used to prepare the special attack squads that have the most important role in the mission—destroying the reactor. Here, your group will compete with the other six teams to determine which is the best and, therefore, which will attack the Anunnaki flagship,” Jones rumbled.

After barely taking a breath, he continued, “Each human opposing the enemy must be given an earbud to suppress the slave gene. We have a limited supply of the earbuds, but we’ll give them to as many kids as possible to build several small forces for an exterior attack on the remaining Anunnaki after you and the other teams have completed your missions. Once the reactor is destroyed, and they are released from the enemy’s control, you will also recruit the humans who were enslaved. The Anunnaki will be outnumbered. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the barracks.” Jones spun away, putting an abrupt end to the questions.

He led them out of the cafeteria and onto the tarmac. The lush treetops reached up behind the hangars to their left, the forest of the Appalachian Mountains stretching away from the base. Shane imagined there was nothing but wilderness for hundreds of miles in every direction.

The thought of all of that uninhabited forest comforted him. He used to spend hours in the woods when he was younger, his imagination turning trees into skyscrapers and his arms into wings. Granny descended from Irish hillbillies who tamed this forest and lived off the land. She taught Shane how to run a trout line in the crisp, cold rivers and make a rabbit box to catch a meal. Intent upon keeping her family’s history alive, she even showed him how to create medicine from the wild ginseng and herbs that took an experienced eye to find.

He wished he could remember more of what she taught him, but he was confident he could survive out there just fine. If only he could flee with Kelly and his friends. They could build log houses and live peacefully amongst those towering pines—could try to put their broken lives back together and find some semblance of happiness.

The video Lily had shown them warned that any such escape to isolation would be short-lived. The enemy was too advanced and Earth too small for them to hide. The Anunnaki would find them. No—Shane, Kelly, and his friends had no choice but to fight.

“Why do you guys have names like Lily and Jones?” Jules asked, walking in the shade of the half-pipe-shaped hangars with Tracy separating her from Jones. “They don’t sound like names of extraterrestrials.”

“Most of us were born, or should I say cloned, on Earth,” Jones replied, sounding annoyed with having to answer another question. “Lily was one of the original two who crashed in New Mexico. Lilith is a popular name on our world.”

“An interesting choice, if you know anything about the biblical legend of Lilith,” Maurice mused. “The original disobedient wife of Adam turned baby killer.”

“This is our home now, and we’re willing to die for it,” Jones growled. He seemed easily annoyed by trivial conversation. “Though we will never be human, we don’t want to be thought of as alien either, so we’ve chosen earthly names.”

“I meant no offense,” Maurice murmured, his eyes wide as he looked at Jones.

His comment got Shane wondering. Lilith the baby killer—he wasn’t familiar with that story. It renewed his suspicion, but a thumping coming from the west distracted him.

A Black Hawk appeared above the treetops, flying so low that the tallest pines scraped its belly. Clearing the buildings, the helicopter dropped to the tarmac. Lily came out of the hangar where she’d met with Shane and his friends earlier, jogging across the fractured blacktop to greet the new arrivals. She slid open the side door and seven Asians, four guys and three girls, stepped out, all wearing matching blue tracksuits with red stripes down the arms and legs. Seeing these kids and recalling what Jones had said about the contest against the other six teams, Shane’s competitive nature took over, distracting him from all other thoughts.

“It’s the Koreans,” Jones explained once the engine on the helicopter spun down enough for him to be heard. “They’re a very promising group of teenagers, all part of the South Korean National Tae Kwon Do team. They were slated to be in the next Olympics.”

“How are we gonna compete with that?” Laura asked.

“They are formidable, but each of the teams has characteristics that give them a distinct advantage,” Jones reassured. “Don’t forget—we might not even have a chance if it weren’t for you.” A hint of admiration took the edge off his gruff tone. Judging by his drill-sergeant behavior thus far, Shane reckoned it was a rare occurrence. This dude preferred one-way conversations, with him yelling the entire time.

Shane stared across the tarmac, studying the new team. The shortest of the girls stepped ahead of the group and bowed to Lily. Unheard greetings were exchanged, and then Lily turned and led them to the building, where she would undoubtedly show them the same video he and his friends saw.

The short girl at the head of the Koreans—who he reckoned had to be their leader—looked at Shane as she walked. Her steely expression promised she would not be an easy adversary. Shane met her gaze, knowing looking away would give her confidence. He wasn’t about to do that. They passed each other before their eye contact broke.