Page 19 of His to Take

10

“I don’t believe this,”Mary whispered as they were guided into one of those odd lightbox transporters to be taken down to the ground.

“I won’t believe it, not until we’re on the ground again,” John said, his arm around his wife as the box closed and the ground suddenly dropped out from beneath them.

“Dad…” Ann strangled out as the force of gravity made it feel as if she was being pushed up the walls of the box.

“Hold on tight, baby girl.” Her father used a term he hadn’t called her in a long time and reached for her hand.

By the time the box came to a stop, they were all huddled together in a corner, and when the box disappeared, the small device that created it flew away, up into the sky. Their eyes followed the trajectory of the device and saw a huge black thing in the sky.

It was massive, beyond anything they’d ever seen in the sky before. It almost looked like a supersized, but flat, warship that the US Navy would create, but they all knew it wasn’t.

“Aliens,” John said, and Ann wanted to joke about the guy in the meme but didn’t.

“Because, aliens,” just didn’t seem appropriate right now.

“Come with us now.” Two soldiers brought their attention back to the ground, and the Adams family finally saw a black van with windows only in the front of the vehicle.

The Adamses climbed into the seats inside the van and watched as the city’s landscape passed by. Rubble from past events was already being removed, and glass replaced in the empty windows of buildings.

The soldiers didn’t speak at all to the family, they simply transported them to the center of the town, to a house hidden behind a tall, steel fence. The gate opened, and Ann almost gasped in wonder. Fruit trees, flowers, and plants bloomed with life and the house was sparkling clean.

The driveway wound up to a house that was three stories tall and sprawled over at least an acre of land. Something told Ann there would be a pool in the back, sparkling and blue. She stared, almost numb, at it all. The aliens had done all of this, she knew it instinctively. Logic also told her it had to be the aliens. What else could turn the world around so quickly?

The van came to a stop outside the double doors made from some tropical wood that Ann couldn’t name. The outside was stucco painted a tropical yellow and had terracotta shingles on the roof. A typical Californian mansion, but so far from typical it astounded her. They were going to live here? How?

They would need an army of servants to keep the place up… and just as she thought that, a man came out of the front doors, dressed in black slacks and a white, button-up shirt. He was in his late 40s, rather average looking, but non-threatening. He opened the door to the van and the family climbed out.

“Have a good day,” the driver called before he pulled away.

The family watched as the driver drove away, still too shocked to believe any of this was real.

“Hello, my name is James, and I am your butler. If you’ll follow me please, I’ll show you inside.” His smile was polite, but gave little away.

Ann wanted to explore outside, but her curiosity about the inside of the house overcame that. The family followed James up the tiled steps and into the house.

“There are 23 rooms in Quinta de Rosa, 10 of which are bedrooms. There are en suite full bathrooms for each bedroom, fireplaces, tennis courts, the swimming pool in the back, a movie theater, a music room, and much more.” James indicated that they should follow him, and the man took them into a sprawling living room filled with dark wood furnishings, and furniture covered in leather so dark it resembled dark chocolate.

One wall was little more than one long window, but each section opened up to allow air to flow in. Ann saw an antique writing desk in one corner, two long couches, three recliners, several coffee tables, and small end tables topped with white marble lamps. It was a palace, not a home, she decided. Expensive, tasteful, and luxurious. It was so far removed from life in the bunker, and in the abandoned houses that they explored after they left the bunker, that it seemed as alien as the invaders in the sky.

“It’s all too much,” Mary whispered loudly, and Ann moved to put her arm around her mom.

“At least we have a place here. I thought that was the end of us.” Ann guided her mother to one of the couches as she spoke, and James waited for them to be seated before he broke in.

“Would you like any refreshments? We have water, coffee, tea, and some wine. There’s also some lunch prepared if you are hungry.”

“Just some water, please, James,” John answered for them all. “I’m afraid we’d all bounce off the walls if we have coffee after so long being without it.”

That had been the first thing they ran out of in the bunker. Ann missed the flavor of a good cup of coffee but wasn’t sure any of them really wanted to start back on the addictive drink right now. It was the least of their worries anyway.

“What does it mean, Dad? You’re the leader, ruler, whatever?” Ann looked up to see her father on the other couch, his feet up on the buttery soft leather, still without shoes.

“I guess we’ll have to look through this.” John opened the file by pushing black pieces of elastic aside and pulling back a cover. The file contained three large yellow envelopes.

He stood up and handed one to Mary, and one to Ann. Ann saw that her name was on the outside and wanted to tear into it, but felt nervous about it. What role could she possibly have in this new world? She was, by that soldier’s words, the princess of the castle. Quinta. Whatever.

“That soldier was right,” John said after a while. “I’m basically the king in this district. I have the power to make laws, enforce them, and am the final decider in most things. There’s a list of things they’ve kept control of, who can marry, for instance, and who gets the death penalty, but otherwise, it seems most of it is left to me.” He sounded as stunned as Ann felt.