Vanish by Tom Pawlik

connected somehow. Still, Mitch had not experienced any convulsions or physical pain during his hallucination. Maybe it was something specific to Conner. Or his memories of Matthew.
    But why? Why would they be showing him visions of his son?
    Conner looked up suddenly. “Matthew! I was thinking about him right before the storm came. I was looking at his picture! Maybe they were able to detect that somehow.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “These hallucinations,” Conner persisted. “Maybe I’m having visions of my son because I had just been thinking about him when the storm came last night. What about you? Were you thinking about your mother at all last night? You said she died when you were a kid? Was that a traumatic—?”
    “No,” Mitch growled. “I wasn’t thinking about her. I hadn’t thought about her for years until…”
    “What?” Conner pressed him. “Until what?”
    Mitch turned away. “My dad called me last night,” he said after a moment. “I hadn’t talked to him in years. We had a fight when I was eighteen, and I left home.”
    “What did you fight about?”
    “Everything.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “What does it matter?”
    “Did it have anything to do with your mother?”
    Mitch’s jaw tightened. He didn’t respond.
    But Conner went on. He was sure he was on to something. “Maybe the phone call evoked some memory of your mother on a subconscious level.…”
    “So what?”
    “So maybe that’s how they’re trying to communicate. Maybe they’re able to scan our memories and—”
    “You’re saying they can read our minds now?”
    Conner paused at the absurdity of the thought. But was it really so absurd? “Why not? Maybe they’re able to detect brain waves. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. Maybe they’re just replaying them back to us to get our attention.”
    Mitch got up and peered out the patio doors. “I still don’t trust them.”
    “Maybe,” Conner said. “I agree we should proceed with caution.”
    Mitch turned around. “So then, what do we do now?”
    Conner thought for a moment. Their first priority should be to try to locate others. He made a mental note not to call them
survivors
. That would imply everyone else was dead. And he wasn’t ready to accept that yet. There was no evidence of mass destruction or death. That was what was so odd about the whole experience. Other than these creatures, the rest of the world seemed completely untouched.
    “I think we should stick to your plan,” he said at last. “We need to try to find anyone else that may still be around.”
    Conner went to his room to change and throw a few items into an overnight bag. He had no idea how long he’d be gone or when he’d be back. He glanced around the room, running through a mental list of anything he might need.
    Then he went into the bathroom and examined his wrist. The purple bruises had grown more distinct and tender. His discolored skin, however, was oddly cool to the touch. He frowned. He had made contact with an extraterrestrial life-form. How could he possibly know what kind of effect it would have on his own physiology? He washed his wrist several times and wrapped it with an Ace bandage. Then he gathered a few first-aid items as well.
    He went back downstairs, where Mitch and the boy were waiting.
    Conner looked at the kid for a moment. His flannel shirt looked a few sizes too big. His jeans were tattered, and his sneakers looked equally worn-out. “I think Junior here could use some better clothes. And we still need to find some food.”
    “Right.” Mitch nodded. “We’ll make a few stops first.”
     
     
     

Chapter 20
     
     
    AS THEY STEPPED OUTSIDE, Conner peered at the sky and shook his head.
    “Looks like another storm is coming.” He nodded to the horizon.
    Mitch frowned. “That’s not a good sign. If sunlight’s been keeping them to the shadows, they may get more aggressive if clouds roll in.”
    Conner bit his lip. “To say