Page 36 of Trigger Discipline

A plane.

He bolted off the couch, bare feet slapping the floor as he tore for the roof of the building, up the unfinished stairs, and fumbled with the lock on the door.

Bright sunlight stung his eyes, but he pushed forward. Hecould hear yelling behind him, but he didn’t stop. The rough tarry roof ripped at his feet, but he was looking up, hand shading his eyes so he could locate the noise.

“There,” Gabriel said breathlessly, pointing to three identical fighter planes in perfect formation.

Judd, Phin, and Tommy followed them up. Blinking sleep from their eyes as they looked at the sky.

Planes in the sky weren’t unusual. But there hadn’t been any since the invasion began. Blake hadn’t seen so much as a news helicopter in the sky.

“F-35s,” Gabriel said as he squinted into the sun. “Navy.”

“Fucking Top Gun!” Judd hollered, only to be shushed by Phin with an elbow to his stomach.

The three sleek planes moved in V formation. They were close, not shifting with the wind like a bird but punching through, creating their own air waves. Flying low, the noise hit them moments after they passed.

“They’re heading for Capitol Hill,” Tommy breathed, eyes wide. “Do you think?—?”

“We finally got some goddamn air support,” Phin mumbled, a grin splitting his square jaw.

“They’re going for that.”

Blake didn’t know what ‘that’ was, but he traced the trajectory of the planes until he saw what it was. The curved hull of some kind of ship sitting low. Clouds clustered around the thing, dissipating against the metal sphere the size of the entirety of downtown. It was so big they couldn’t see the whole thing. It disappeared into the atmosphere, hazy behind cloud cover.

A spaceship.

It was the first time he was seeing it, but Blake didn’t have enough time to focus on that; he was too busy glancing back at the planes.

The front plane shifted to the left, the second two following suit. From this close, with the planes flying so low,they could see something shifting on its underside. They looked like little missiles.

Before the missiles could eject, something banged. It was loud enough, or powerful enough, that even miles away Blake could feel the vibration through his feet.

The first plane exploded into a fireball. Pieces of the plane turned into shrapnel, striking the second. It wobbled midair, the pilot struggling to keep it level as its forward punch turned into a careening spiral.

“C’monMaverick,” Judd whispered under his breath. “Eject. Why the fuck isn’t he ejecting?”

The plane was getting closer to the big ship. If the pilot didn’t pull up soon, the jet was going to crash right into it. Closer and closer, and still the canopy remained affixed to the plane.

Phin swore under his breath and grabbed Tommy, wrapping a big arm around his neck and tucking his face into his chest. Tommy grabbed his bicep, trying to peel his arm away, but Phin held tighter.

Blake stopped breathing.

The plane crashed into the sleek side of the ship. A twisted pile of flames and molten metal, it slid to the ground, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the pristine matte surface.

“You didn’t need to see that kid,” Phin rumbled, finally releasing a wet eyed Tommy.

Blake realized he was holding onto Gabriel’s arm. His fingers digging into his skin. He jerked away and apologized lowly.

“There’s the third!” Judd hissed, pointing to where the third plane had managed to peel away from the damage.

It was making a reapproach, coming in hot down one of the larger avenues. Dangerously low, the pilot was holding steady between buildings and monuments. Gunfire erupted from the streets—Blake could see the flaming tips of thealien’s rounds striking toward the plane. The plane was winged, but the pilot kept it steady.

The big ship was silent. A seam had opened up just above where the second plane had hit. A long muzzle of a gun sticking out. That must have been what shot the first plane down. It was massive. Was that why they didn’t have air support before?

Ignoring the missiles, the quick plane strafed the side of the big ship with its machine gun. Blake knew the rounds must be huge, but they didn’t do a thing to the hull. Again, the plane pulled off its approach and made a big loop, coming up the street again. Its missiles dropped, and it let off the first and then the second. Accompanying explosions rose up from the streets.

“What…?” Blake breathed.