Breaking News

“This is Annabel Hastings for Tucson Twelve News. It’s been roughly twelve hours since the stars began falling from the sky. Many have now realized that these stars are not actually meteorites but vessels of some kind, possibly alien in origin. NASA is currently investigating one of these vessels at a special research facility.

“With this crisis, President Stone has declared certain major cities as sanctuary zones to which the American public can escape and receive the care they need until, as the president has stated, this country can get back on its feet. The areas outside these sanctuary zones have been declared uninhabitable because of the unknown origin of these strange vessels, and martial law has been initiated.

“Many of the president’s supporters have turned against her, and the public consensus is that she needs to step out of office. The president, however, has stated she has no intention of doing so, at least not until this crisis has come to an end. She has initiated what she has titled the Falling Star Directives. Every American citizen is required to take a special barcode mark that will allow them to receive supplies and rations from the U.S. government. The president stated earlier that those who refuse the mark will be considered traitors to the United States.

“One such civilian, a girl by the name of Daisy Pierce, was caught forging the mark. The president has issued a statement declaring that Daisy will be executed on public television. Daisy’s brother, Nathan Pierce, escaped custody and is currently part of a citywide manhunt.

“According to the surviving national research groups, most of the people still alive in the United States, especially those here in the Southwest, feel the president has overstepped her bounds and is attempting to initiate a dictatorship. The president has been asked to move underground for her own safety—both from what could come of the strange vessels and from those who would attempt to assassinate her. She has refused to leave the White House at the time of this broadcast.

“We’ll bring you more details as we uncover them.”

Chapter 1

Friday, May 23, 2008   -   10:33 a.m.

Freedom Stay Hotel

Tucson, Arizona

Nathan Pierce turned off the television and glanced over at Sin—or Cynthia Ruin, whichever name one knew her by. She was asleep on the bed, her chest moving up and down with the rhythm of her breathing. She had spent a whole half hour in the bathroom and then chose to bury her head in the pil­lows and cry herself to sleep. Nathan couldn’t really blame her. Sin’s mother, Theresa Ruin, had betrayed both of them.

He stared into the mirror at the black bandage covering the wound to his forehead. He wondered when the next vision of Pearl would come to him. He had to see her again. He had to know she was okay.

In reflection, he saw that his tan cargo pants were marked in black streaks, and his black San Diego T-shirt had spots of sweat stains from the journey up the burning building in Phoenix. He sniffed his armpit and immediately regretted doing so. He would have to find new clothes, and soon. He rubbed the silver ichthys necklace that hung around his neck—a graduation gift from his sister. Nathan stared at it for a few moments and then shoved the symbol under his shirt.

He and Sin had been in the hotel room for hours. He hadn’t collapsed—a condition that caused him to dream about the immortal girl known as Pearl—in that time, and he still didn’t know where his sister was. All he did know was that law en­forcement in the city was looking for him and Sin. His sister was about to be executed for a senseless crime, and the words that his missing father and sister had both spoken to him, “Don’t trust her,” had gone unheeded. Nathan had royally screwed everything up by not listening to those closest to him. He had trusted Theresa Ruin, and because of it, his sister was about to die.

Peering out the window of the tenth floor, he watched the crowds of people in the street. Nobody down there seemed bothered by what was going to happen to his sister or what the president of the United States had inflicted the country with. If anyone was troubled by it, they didn’t show it. They were all grazing toward the tattoo booths to get the president’s mark, like cattle being led to the branding iron.

Nathan briefly wondered what Heather was up to right now. Was she even alive? Ryan had tried to trick him into thinking Heather was here in Tucson, but Nathan doubted that was true. He could try calling her, but his phone battery was dead. Maybe he could find one in the city if he was lucky.

Sin stirred on the bed. She mumbled something indiscernible. Probably having nightmares, Nathan thought. He would have to wake her soon. They couldn’t stay in this room much longer. Seeing how it was her mother’s room, it would eventually be searched, and they couldn’t be here when that happened. Besides, the precious little time he had to save his sister was quickly dwindling.

Nathan tried to collect his thoughts into something cohesive. He needed a plan, some kind of restraint to the madness that was threatening to consume him. He took a deep breath, sucking in the cool morning air from the open window, and then let it out slowly. The first thing they had to do was get out of the hotel. After that, they could find sanctuary somewhere in the city, at least long enough to try and figure out where his sister had been taken. Once he figured that out, he would have to find a way to save her. To do that, he would need help, and he would need more help than just Sin.

He looked at the girl again. He could see a portion of the barcode tattoo exposed out of the cuff of her jeans. The skin around the ankle was red and raw, and Nathan wondered what possessed her to go along with the president’s charade.

Sin was a wild card. Wild enough to make Nathan question if he could trust her. Her own mother had been the one who betrayed them. Her father was found dead by Nathan and Daisy in a bathroom stall at the top of a hotel in Phoenix.

Then again, Sin was the one who had saved Nathan from facing the same fate to which his sister was about to succumb…if he couldn’t rescue her in time. But he knew he would have to keep Sin at a distance, at least for now. In his short adolescent life, Nathan had learned a valuable lesson: daughters are always loyal to their mothers, and mothers to their daughters.

Nathan decided to let her slumber a few more minutes while he counted out his half of the money he and his sister had been given by the uncanny military medic. This was his third time counting it. Each time he did so, he replayed the memory of his sister splitting the money in half and telling him that it was in case they became separated. How right you were, Sis. How very right you were. The amount was enough to procure their supplies for a little while, assuming they could find those who would sell to them for cash.

Sin mumbled again, something about a pink rabbit. Wasn’t that the name of the school hooker? Nathan couldn’t make out all of the words or what they meant. He really didn’t care. He gently nudged her arm, and her eyes opened. She stared at him, blinking the sleep away.

“Time to get up. We have to get out of here.”

She sat up in the bed and rubbed her eyes. “What do you mean? Where are we going?”

“Into the city to hide out for a bit.”

She slid to the end of the bed and stretched her arms high above her. Then she slipped her white sneakers on while Nathan peered out the window again. The crowd of people below was thick and would probably only get thicker as more areas outside the sanctuary zones evacuated.

“I think we should stay here a little longer,” Sin said as she faced the mirror with a cylinder vial of eye shadow in hand. She began to stroke the black shade across her eyelids.

“No.”

“Why not?”

He sighed, not really in the mood to have to explain some­thing so obvious to her.

“How do you propose we get out of here with the police all over this place?” Sin asked.

He turned toward her, holding the black bandage that was gracing his forehead. The gash was starting to hurt a little more. “We make a run for it.”

She glared at him through the mirror’s reflection. “You serious? That’s your plan to save your sister?”

“No, that’s my plan to get us out of here. There are swarms of people out there, and I think we have a chance to make a run for it. Once we’re outside, we can hide out in the city. I think most of the buildings around here are closed, and I don’t think the police will want to waste their time searching all over Tucson for us.”

Sin continued darkening her eyes. “But what happens once we get out of here? Do you know where your sister is being held?”

“No. We can cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now we have to get out of here.”

He glanced over his bandage in the mirror and thought about taking it off. It drew too much attention to him and could alert the police quicker to his presence than if he just looked like a regular civilian. Nathan gently pulled the bandage off, revealing the large gash in his head from the car accident more than a week earlier. Sin finished putting on her eye shadow and ad­justed her black blouse. Then she reached to the side of the bed and grabbed one of her duffel bags.

“What do you need that for?”

She put her makeup inside the big bag. “It’s my stuff. Clothes and some…things.”

“Are you seriously going to carry that around? What if we get chased? How are you going to run with that?”

She clutched the bag. Her glare drove deep into him with stubborn resolve. “This stuff is all I have left, Nathan. I’m not leaving without it.”

“You can’t empty some of it out? The bag looks like it’s going to explode.”

She shook her head. “No. This is my stuff. I can take care of myself.”

Nathan knew he should have put his foot down and told her she couldn’t bring it, but he decided against it. He wasn’t in charge of her. If anything, she was helping him find his sister. But he wouldn’t stay behind to rescue her if that stupid thing slowed her down.

“Just worry about yourself, Nathan.”

“Yeah.” He undid the door latch and peered into the hallway. The corridor was full of people, some frantically looking for a room, some showing off their new tattoos as if they had grown special horns or body parts that they could take pride in. Black and red barcodes were raw on their foreheads, necks and arms—one woman was even flaunting her tattoo over the cleavage of her breasts. A man across the hall from them quickly dropped his drawers and pointed to his right butt cheek, laughing as he did.

Nathan was appalled at the absurdity of it all.

Sin came up behind him, lugging her bag over her shoul­der. She was so close he could feel her warm breath on his neck, and it felt strangely comforting. Comforting to know he had an ally. Comforting to know he wasn’t in this alone. “You ready?” she asked.

“Yeah.” As ready as I could ever be. He stepped out into the hallway and started shuffling through the crowds, with Sin close behind him. He felt panic at first, that their need to be inconspicuous was being overshadowed by the gash in his forehead and Sin’s big ol’ bag. But Nathan realized that he and Sin actually looked quite normal compared to everyone else.

They reached the stairwell and started down, shoving their way past the crowds of people coming up. At the bottom of the stairs, Nathan motioned for Sin to stop. He peeked out the open doorway to the lobby. Through the crowds, he spotted a few police officers loitering near the front doors of the hotel. There was a soldier wandering around the lobby area as well, dressed in full camouflage and carrying a large rifle over his shoulder.

Nathan realized with some degree of dread that he and Sin would probably fail at trying to hide among everyone. They would have to make a run for it and hope that the soldier and police wouldn’t fire any shots into the crowd.

“Okay, we’re going to make a run for it.” He waited for another crowd to move through the doorway. “Head toward the front doors. I’ll stay as close to you as I can.” He glanced at her bag. “Hold that in front of you and use it to get everyone out of our way.”

She moved the bag in front of her. “You want me to knock people down?”

“Yeah. You and I have to do this right the first time. There won’t be any second chances at this.” Nathan pointed to the front doors. “You see that gap, between those two cops? Where the crowd is?”

She nodded.

“Make your way through there. Before they know what’s going on, we’ll be outside.” Hopefully.

Nathan wondered briefly if the man who had tried to kill him earlier near the helicopter, or Ryan, were still around. His sister had saved his life once, but she wasn’t around to do it again.

They waited a few moments for another crowd to get by them and head up the stairs. When there was a clearing, Nathan motioned for Sin to lead the way, and she began in a light jog through the lobby. He followed.

She used her bag as a bulldozer, shoving it straight into the crowd of people, carving a path toward the doors. Sin clocked a kid in the head, and he hit the ground dazed.

“Nathan Pierce!”

Nathan glanced over his shoulder. A police officer was barreling toward him from the stairwell.

“Go! Go!”

Sin broke out in a full-out run, slamming into people with extreme prejudice, ramming her bag into their backs and chests, knocking the lighter ones to the floor and shifting the heavyset ones to the side. She and Nathan reached the front doors before the two police officers and the soldier realized what was going on. Nathan and Sin plowed through the thin opening and stum­bled outside.

Nathan grabbed Sin’s arm and hurried her through the crowds of people, toward the intersection. “Veer to the right and we’ll get lost in the buildings. I don’t think they’ll go very far to catch us.”

“You never know! The president—”

A shot echoed through the street as the window of a car they passed shattered, scattering glass across the street. Crowds screamed, and many fell to the ground, shielding their heads as if their arms could protect them from a hot bullet.

Another shot rang out, and a bullet blasted through a young girl’s arm, casting her to the ground. Nathan stopped for a split second, intent on helping her up, but instinct reversed and he continued running.

He glanced over his shoulder, half expecting a bullet to pile-drive into his face, and saw that a large group of police officers were pursuing them. One of them stood in the middle of the street with his weapon drawn. He fired another bullet, which struck a street sign they were passing under.

“I can’t believe they’re shooting into a crowd!” Sin shrieked.

As much as he didn’t want to believe it, Nathan could. They were probably under orders from the president herself to kill on sight. If the woman was willing to execute an innocent American for refusing to tattoo her body, then he could believe she would authorize some collateral damage, like the young girl he wanted so badly to help.

“We have to separate!”

Sin stumbled a bit because of the large bag, but quickly re­instated her pace with Nathan. “What?”

Nathan realized they would have to separate in order to split up the massive group that was chasing them. He figured if one of them got captured, the other still had a chance to bail the other out…or save his sister.

“I’ll catch up with you soon. Meet me at the city bus sta­tion in two hours and we’ll go from there. Try to find supplies. Just don’t get caught!”

“You have to be kidding me!”

Nathan headed across the street. He turned down an alley that broke thin between two large buildings. He could hear the police yelling something about separating and realized that his plan had worked.

Now it would be up to Sin to hide effectively and meet him at the bus station—even though he had no clue where the bus station was. He turned right down another alley and came out among a cluster of buildings. He felt the sharp pain of a cramp in his side. His breath came out in a struggle.

He crossed the street and went down yet another alley, this time stopping to catch his breath. Nathan peered around the corner into the street. Nobody pursued him. A cluster of people in business suits ran down the sidewalk. A military Hummer roared down the street, passed him, and turned down another street back toward the hotel.

Nathan took a few deep breaths and leaned back against the wall. If he had any doubts before, he had none now: This had to be the end of things.

Sin heard the group of officers closing in on her. Her bag was slowing her down, she knew that much, but she couldn’t bring herself to let go of it. There were too many mem­ories, too many precious items in there for her just to throw them all away.

She lumbered down the street and came to a pawn shop. The window had been busted out, probably from looters. She shoved her bag through the window, clearing the leftover glass out of the sill, and climbed into the store. She was faced with shelf upon shelf of knickknacks. Some were broken across the floor, some just sat on shelves, alone, like the strange statue of a clown that seemed to be staring at her. She imagined the clown asking her where his friends had run off to. They don’t care about you, she would tell him if he were real. They don’t care about you, and they don’t care about me, so they took off running.

She made her way down the aisle, realizing that there were blood trails in the carpet under her feet. She fought to ignore them. She had to keep moving. Hide. Avoid the police, her mother, and the rest of the world that was in hot pursuit.

A few of the police officers came to a stop in front of the pawn shop. One of them noticed the broken window and said something about it to the others. Sin sat on the floor at the end of one of the aisles and leaned back against the end of the shelf, facing the back wall. There were strange posters on the wall of Chinese alphabet characters and little cartoon animals with re­ally big eyes and no noses. One of them she recognized as Hello Kitty.

“We know you’re in there! Come out with your hands up!”

Her heart skipped a beat. Never in her entire life did she think she would hear those words being directed at her. She was never involved in anything illegal, just lots of sex. People liked sex, and sex never really caused people to go out and hurt other people…not the way weapons or drugs did.

“I said come out of there! Now! With your hands up!”

They had to be bluffing. They couldn’t have seen her come in here or they would have leaped right in after her. At the other end of the wall she was facing, to her right, was a brown door that was shut tight. She could see if that was unlocked. Maybe it was an exit.

She heard crunching glass. One of the officers had stepped into the pawn shop. She couldn’t risk calling their bluff. Now was the time to escape. She grasped the handles of her duffle bag tightly and lurched up toward the wall. She crossed three aisles before she reached the door, not really sure if any of them had seen her. The knob turned easily in her hand and allowed her entry into the next room. She shut the door softly behind her and locked it.

When she turned around, she realized she was in a small, unkempt office. Sin set her bag down on the floor and took a seat in the dusty wooden chair at the desk. Glancing quickly around the room, she realized that if they tried to break down the door through which she entered the room, she would be finished. There were no other exits.

The officers in the pawn shop were talking among them­selves, uttering something about splitting up their group to search other buildings because it didn’t look like the “girl with the big bag” was here. She sighed and relaxed as best she could in the hard chair.

On the desk were scattered papers, folders, and books. It was a mess. Some of the papers had sales figures typed or written on them. Everything was caked in dust.

Sin began to shuffle through the papers quietly, hoping to find something that might aid her and Nathan in finding his sister and surviving in the city. She moved a stack of sales figure sheets and found a Tucson City Bus Guide. She let out a sigh of relief and quickly opened the guide, happy to now know which direction she needed to head in. She had never been to Tucson, so finding the bus station would have taken her a while, especially with the police searching the city.

She quickly memorized the cross streets of the bus station and then memorized the cross streets of the hotel, realizing with some degree of satisfaction that she was only a mile from the station. It would more than likely take her just short of an hour to get there if nobody—and nothing—got in her way. This would give her the time needed to wait out the police force that was outside the door.

Sin listened closely as the officers started talking some more about leaving the shop. One of them tried the door handle of the office, and this made her heart stop. But then she remembered that she had locked it only moments earlier.

“We could kick it down,” one of them mumbled.

Sin closed her eyes and stopped her breath.

“Naw, she ain’t here, man. Nobody saw her come in here. I bet she’s already blocks away from here now. Besides, we get a bigger bonus for bringin’ in Nathan. Remember the president’s order?”

“Yeah, I remember. Alright, let’s get the hell outta here. I’m gettin’ too old to be chasing teeny boppers around the damn city. World’s endin’ and we get sent on a fool’s errand.”

“Which one of us is the fool here?”

“Oh, funny, funny guy. I tell you what, I…”

Their voices trailed off into the distance. Sin opened her eyes and breathed out. She folded the bus guide and threw it down by her bag. She shuffled through some more papers on the desk, finding nothing more of interest. She rummaged through the desk drawers, discovering more stacks of paper with sales figures on them, disorganized office supplies—such as paper clips and Post-it Notes—and a can of Raid.

Sin checked the bottom drawer of the desk, but it was locked shut. This only piqued her curiosity. If it was locked, it meant there was something valuable in it—like maybe money or a weapon of some kind. She glanced around the office and found an old screwdriver sitting on a pile of boxes. She took it and used it on the drawer, splitting the old wood apart. Inside she found a brown, leather-bound book with a blank cover. She pulled it out and set it near her bag. She would have to investigate that later, when she had more time.

She peered into the broken drawer and saw nothing else of interest. The book was probably somebody’s journal, one they obviously didn’t want anyone else reading. A brief scouring of the rest of the office dug up nothing she could actually use. Just more office supplies and sales sheets. Sin shoved the bus book and the old journal into her bag, resisting the urge to pull out the questionable items that were in there. She still had an unfulfilled vow to destroy the sex tape. She would do it later. Now was not the time. But she would. She promised herself that.

The inhuman guard shoved Daisy Pierce against the wall of the shower. Her cheek slammed into the tile, and her teeth gnashed into the tip of her tongue. He came upon her and grabbed her shoulders in his mammoth hands before he ripped off her bloodied T-shirt. Then he grabbed the sides of her cotton shorts and in one swift yank, ripped them off her body.

Now she stood in only her undergarments, her body shivering with the cold chill that moved through the underground structure. She fought to open her eyes completely, but the swelling was worsening, making it to where she was almost forced to keep her eyes closed completely.

The guard turned the handles of the shower and chilled water poured down on Daisy in waves of pain. He may as well have shoved shards of ice into her throbbing wounds; it would have had the same effect. She fell to her knees as the water pushed her undergarments to her skin like they were slabs of black mold. A few moments under the liquid caused her wounds to start numbing over, but now her body was shivering with violent convulsions, and she wondered if she might pass out.

He swung a large black baton at her, hitting her in the side of the head. She fell to the floor, and her face hit the metal drain. Blood seeped in and out of her mouth as she gurgled in the tainted water.

She felt like screaming at her assailant, but knew it would do no good. Absolutely no good at all. In her short time here—wherever here was—she had taken inventory of the strange things she had encountered. During her time being beaten and prodded, she came to the conclusion that these guards—if that’s what you could call them—weren’t human…at all.

They neither spoke nor did they react when she did. Strange tubes ran from their faceless helmets to the base of their spines, though the purpose of the tubes was beyond Daisy. They wore black outfits that resembled thick rags covering every part of their body from the neck down. And they beat. Senselessly. They were incredibly strong. Too strong for her to have fought back effec­tively in the beginning. Now she was in no shape to fight back at all.

Daisy tasted blood in the draining water and realized it was running down from the new gashes in her head. She spit out the water and used her weakening arms to push herself up. A tre­mendous weight came down on her back and pinned her to the floor.

Daisy wanted to cry, but her crying had ended hours ago. Hours ago when she realized there was to be no escape from here. Hours ago when it sunk in that she was never going to see her brother or her parents again. Hours ago when she allowed herself to accept the fact that it was the president of the United States who had issued her death. When she came to the conclusion that this might be her last day on Earth, she felt the tears dry up and a quiet peace enter her soul. It was by no means something that could take away her physical pain. But for someone so close to dying, so close to the end of her time here, to have such a quiet peace inside her where only chaos and havoc had reigned hours earlier, it was something beyond her human capacity, something that could have only come from God.

The guard grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to her feet. Blood seemed to be flowing from all areas of her broken body. He shoved her against the wall again, her face taking the impact against the tile. This time, though, Daisy made sure not to bite her tongue in the violent process. She felt those rough appendages that resembled hands barely touch her hips, and then her underwear fell from her body. She closed her aching eyes while those hands barely touched her again, and she felt the weight of her water-soaked bra fall from her chest and splash at her feet. Whatever she had left of herself was now gone, stripped from her body, from her soul.

She was naked. Naked and bleeding. Naked and broken.

The guard pushed her out of the room and led her down a cold, dark corridor. The chill that swept through the hall threatened to turn her to ice, and she feared if that happened, then she would surely shatter into thousands of pieces if struck one more time.

She tried to peer through her swollen eyes, but all she could really take in were the black walls and floor in front of her. In her time in this wretched place, she had tried to make sense of the surroundings: the strange guards, the man in the red suit who had abducted her, the dark corridors and the empty rooms. Was she indeed underground? Was she still in the United States? She remembered bits and pieces of the drive from the hotel to here, but along the way she had blacked out, only to awaken in the room where the man in the red suit had questioned her.

Daisy suddenly felt like crying again, a new wave of tears welling up inside her. Was it because she was naked? Was it because she didn’t know what was going to happen next? Was it because she knew she had no chance at escape? She realized she was limping with her right leg, the rips in her heel making it almost impossible to keep a steady rhythm.

She felt the baton jab into her back, to the right of her spine, and then she slipped and fell to the floor, catching herself with her hands.

“Daisy, my dear. You’ve suddenly become quite clumsy, haven’t you?”

It was the man in the red suit. She didn’t want to believe it was, but she could pinpoint that voice. She didn’t look up at him and give him the satisfaction. Instead, she stayed there on the floor, bowing her head to the cement, praying in her mind to God.

The man grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet. He was in her face, angry for some reason. With a snarl, he said, “The time to pray to your god is over. You had your chance to make your request known to him, and he had his chance to do something about your current situation. The rest will now be in my hands.”

Daisy did her best to smile. The surface of her chapped lips cracked, and she tasted more blood. She suddenly wondered how much blood she had already lost and how much she could possibly have left.

“What are you smiling at?”

She glanced into his black eyes. “I don’t need your permission to pray.”

He threw her up against the wall and then stared at her for a long moment. His stare wasn’t lustful; his stare was inquisitive. He was staring through her, straight to her soul. She had to look away, as much as she hated giving him the satisfaction.

“I can sense your emotions, and they betray you. Your god isn’t going to come save you. Soon, you will be killed for this entire decrepit world to see. You will be an example to this world of what happens to those who disobey.”

Daisy couldn’t help but begin giggling. She felt her insides ready to burst with the ridiculous action, but found it somewhat satisfying to be able to laugh at all.

The man in the red suit smiled. “You find something funny?”

“You.”

“Explain.”

She opened both eyes, as much as it pained her, and made sure she stared directly into his eyes, her will turning to iron as she did so. “I’m already an example.”

The man placed his hands behind him and took a step back from her. After a few moments of what she perceived to be considerable thought, he nodded to the guard. “Take her to her room.”

The guard acknowledged his request with a nod and then raised the stick to her. The man in the red suit grabbed the end of the weapon and shook his head. “No more force. She knows she can’t escape. Just get her to her room.”

The guard pushed Daisy away from the wall. She stumbled back but caught her footing with her bad ankle. She felt the wound tear open more, but swallowed the pain, turned away from them, and slowly started making her way down the hallway until the man in the red suit was nowhere near her. The guard opened a door to their right and grabbed her by the shoulders before thrusting her into the room.

She hit the floor, neglecting this time to catch herself with her arms. The cement was like an ice block against her bare skin, and the shock made her squeak. She spit up something thick and red onto the tile.

The door slammed shut, and she found herself alone in the dark, her body shivering her to sleep like a cold lullaby.