Invasion of Her Heart Read Free

everything was as it should be, Venus turned her attention to the interior lights and a CD player as she stepped into the storage area where she kept supplies. Drained by the day’s heat, she slowly dug items they’d found that afternoon out of her backpack. Where money had once stood stacked against the steel walls, her supplies now filled the room. Lone Ranger came into the vault and sniffed around. He stopped in front of the canned meat she’d found and sank his fang into one of the cans. Finally, he dropped it to the floor, unable to get it open.
    She laughed and slowly approached him. “I can open that if you’re hungry.” He raised his head and stepped back from the can. Venus frowned. “I swear it’s like you understand me.” She reached out, grasped the pull-tab, and opened the can.
    Long Ranger used his long, thick tongue to scoop out the meat.
    “Maybe I should give one to your friend, too.” Venus turned to find the other animal behind her, waiting patiently. “Damn, you guys are smart.” She laughed, opening the other container, and set it in front of her. “I know it’s not much, but it’s all we have right now. We’ll go hunting tomorrow, so maybe I’ll get lucky and bag some fresh meat.”
    After she put her new supplies away, Venus grabbed a bottle of water and made her way up the staircase to the roof, all three animals close on her heels. Her baskets were already up there. All she needed to do was fill them with the vegetables. Tonight she would can everything she picked. Soon the summer heat would be upon the city, and then nothing planted or growing outside would survive the heat and scorching sunlight. During that time, Venus hibernated in the coolness of her home. Over the next four months, only an emergency or the need for fresh meat would force her to venture outside.
    She pulled a key from cord around her neck and unlocked the door leading out to the roof. Venus twisted the metal knob and grabbed her hat from a hook by the rooftop sign. Once more the intense heat caressed her body, like she’d walked into a sauna. She strode around the edges of the garden plot and across, to one of fourteen support poles with a crank. There, she grasped the handle and began turning it. The gears screeched as the pulleys they controlled stretched a huge awning out across the rooftop. The thing had been a bitch to set up and secure, and it had taken her two weeks doing it alone but it had been well worth it. The awning covered half the roof, shielding her crops and flowers from the blistering midday sun during the really hot days. The cover also provided relief when she needed to work in the garden or she simply wanted some fresh air.
    Once the sturdy vinyl awning was stretched out, Venus fastened the crank, and then pushed the plastic containers across the rooftop to her garden. Over in the shade of the small topper building where the door stood, the two creatures and Tonto lay panting.
    Venus knelt at the first row of radishes and started picking. “These vegetables aren’t going to hop into the baskets, so I better get busy.”
    Halfway through the plot, Venus frowned as a noise became more prominent.
    She glanced around her. “Where is that swooshing noise coming from?”
    The sound grew louder, and something large blocked the sun. As it passed and allowed the sunshine to bathe the rooftop again, the object drew closer, then shot across the sky, leaving a stream of clouds or mist behind it. The long ribbon of white reminded Venus of the contrails airliners once left across the stratosphere when the world was normal.
    The machine crossed the city skyline, growing larger as it approached and roared by, several hundred feet above Venus. It was entirely different from anything she’d ever seen or even read about, something not of Earth. And, Venus realized, it possessed the aura she’d been sensing for weeks.
    She froze, slowly following its arc across the silver-hazed sky. “They’re