We all turned slowly toward Lloyd, nearly identical incredulous looks on our faces. Lloyd’s mouth was slack, his eyes wide as he gazed at the empty street in dismay. “Excuse me?” I asked quietly.

   “They’ve cleaned the town up; rid it of the debris left behind by us. Cleaning it so that they can…”

   “So they can what?” Bret’s question hung heavy in the air as Lloyd’s voice trailed off.

   “So they can move in,” I suggested. I had only meant it to be a lame joke, but I felt trapped beneath their horrified gazes as they swung slowly toward me. “Oh crap, you don’t think that’s it, do you?”

   “What else could it be?” Jenna wondered. “Why the hell else would they bother to come back and sweep the streets clean of all possessions. They don’t need the money, I doubt they want the wigs, and I’m certain they aren’t looking for dentures. We had all kind of assumed that they would just leave after they collected and killed as many of us as possible. What if they actually plan on staying after?”

   I recoiled from the thought, trying hard not to give way to the panic beginning to thrum through my veins. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that they might stay behind after they were done destroying us. They had rarely come to earth, even when they had been pretending peace; I hadn’t thought that they would consider staying now. They had seemed to openly disdain our planet, and it was more than obvious they only wanted us for our blood. They had spent little time here before all of this, but maybe that was only because of the fact that earth had possessed us repellent human beings as residents. Maybe they would like our planet a lot more now that it had been mostly expunged of our disgusting presences.

   Bret cursed loudly as he paced away. He ran a hand anxiously through his disordered hair as he cursed violently again. “I always thought they hated it here,” Jenna said.

   “There is another possibility,” Lloyd said softly. Our attention focused sharply on him as we waited breathlessly for any other explanation than the one I had offered. “It is possible that they cleaned the streets because they are using Plymouth as some sort of base for the area. It’s a large town, and it’s on one of the main routes to Boston from the Cape and surrounding areas. If people are looking to flee the Cape, and surrounding areas, many of them will come through here.”

   It took everything I had to keep on standing; I did need a pine tree to lean against though as I felt my legs begin to shake. “They wouldn’t want any human things littering the street, reminding them of our pathetic existence.” I was really beginning to wish that Lloyd would stop speaking. If he was right then we had just walked right out of the frying pan and into the fire. If he was right, then not only was our mission going to fail, but there was a good chance we might not escape from here. “This could be the lion’s den.”

   Yep, I wanted him to stop speaking. But I sensed he might be right. Sensed that they didintend to use Plymouth as a base, or perhaps some kind of storage area. It seemed far more feasible than the idea that the aliens might actually wantto take up residence on our planet when all of this was over.

   “I’m sorry,” Jenna whispered.

   I swallowed heavily. “It’s not your fault,” I told her. “There was no way any of us could have known.”

   I waited for Lloyd to say I told you so, but to his credit, he didn’t. He strode away from us to consult the GPS again. “Still nothing,” he muttered, holding it up as he walked through the woods.

   I studied the street, the woods, and the surrounding area. “I don’t think they’re around. They might intend to move in, but I don’t think they’re here now.”

   Lloyd turned in another direction, stalking deeper into the woods. “Why?” Jenna asked quietly.

   I pointed to the seagulls and heron sitting upon the railings of a boat dock. A few gulls were circling high up in the sky, and a stray dog had appeared at the end of the road. It sniffed at one of the piles of rubble in search of some much needed food for its emaciated frame. Within the trees the squirrels, chipmunks, sparrows, blue jays, and robins continued to move about. “The animals always go silent when they’re near. They’re just as afraid of the aliens, and their creatures, as we are.”

   Lloyd stopped pacing to rejoin us. His eyes were narrowed as he studied the woods, the docks, and then the street. “We have to go now,” he said briskly.

   “What?” Jenna demanded. “Are you crazy!?”

   “Bethany’s right.” He clipped the GPS onto his buckle and pulled the rifle from his back. “They aren’t here right now, the animals would know. We can’t say the same thing in another hour, or even another half an hour. We need to move now, and we need to move fast.”

   “Hell,” Bret breathed.

   “It’s still light out,” Jenna said softly.

   “It’s our best chance,” Lloyd replied hurriedly. “We have to move nowwhen we know they’re not here.”

   “Oh crap,” I muttered. “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.”

   “Exactly. Stay low and move fast. Keep an eye out for anything unusual, and especially watch the animals. Let’s move.”

   I took a deep breath as I fought against the fear trying to take me over. It was now or never, and if we didn’t go now, there may very well be a never. Panic clawed at me, I gathered every ounce of courage I had, tightened my grip on my rifle and took a deep breath to steady my nerves.

   I fell in behind Lloyd, with Jenna close on my heels and Bret behind her. We moved swiftly into the open, spooking a few of the birds as we emerged from the woods. The sound of their startled flight caused me to wince involuntarily. I held my breath in preparation for some kind of attack, but as we reached the shadowy safety of the first building I inhaled a ragged, somewhat relieved breath.

   We had made it further than I’d expected in broad daylight, but there was still a long way to go. My heart hammered painfully, even in the cool September air I was beginning to sweat profusely. I wiped my forehead with the back of my arm, trying hard to control my shaking as Lloyd slipped from the alley.

   We moved swiftly down three empty storefronts before Lloyd disappeared into one of the open doorways. I was breathing heavily as I leaned against the wall inside the building. My eyes scanned over the bar, the stools, and the large glass mirror that highlighted the bottles lining the shelves. I stared at those bottles, amazed that they were still in one piece upon the shelves, and still so perfectly aligned. There were stools tossed aside, restaurant tables upended and splintered into pieces. There were even spots of blood marring the dark wood floors, and scratch ticket machine in the corner. The cash register was on the floor, the money had spilled from it and was scattered around the wooden floor before the bar. No one had touched the money; I did not go for it now. What was the point?

   Even with all the destruction and obvious death, those damn bottles were still completely perfect. It was unnerving.

   Lloyd broke away, skirting around the chairs and broken tables as he stalked behind the bar. He studied the shelves for a moment before pulling a nearly full bottle of Crown Royal down. “What are you doing?” Bret hissed as Lloyd slipped it into his backpack.

   “We make it through this I’m going to have a celebratory drink.”

   I studied him for a long moment before shrugging absently. Sounded like a damn good plan to me. Lloyd opened the swinging kitchen door with the tip of his rifle, holding it ajar as he craned his head to see inside. He nodded to Bret to follow him before disappearing through the doors. Bret vanished swiftly after him.

   I turned my attention back to the quiet street. The dog had made its way toward us. Now that it was closer I could tell that it appeared to be some kind of lab, shepherd mix. Its coat was matted, its ears hung lopsidedly. It looked completely lost and lonely. I wanted to call it to us, wanted to pet it and offer it some comfort and love, but I was afraid that its attention to us might be noticed by something else. Something far more sinister.