Right on cue, at six in the morning, a loud banging erupted through the rooms. David flinched as he heard Claire’s closed fist slam against his door. He never knew how she managed to be so thunderous with her wake-up calls. His few hours of sleep had felt like minutes and everything inside of him argued that he should sleep on.

Within two minutes, the noise had come to an abrupt end to which Claire thought she had successfully gotten everyone up. David, still sore and rather exhausted, rolled over with a groaned. “I’m not getting up yet!” He called as his door opened slightly. He felt like a five year old kid, defying his mother for he didn’t want to go to school.

Cautiously, David peered up and saw Claire standing at the door, her best annoyed look on. She didn’t say a word but whistled. David braced himself for what was coming next.

Like a white arrow, Daisy shot into the room and with one bounding leap, landed with ease on top of David. He opened one eye cautiously to see Daisy’s huge face, excited brown eyes looking him over. Suddenly, she parted her muzzle; foul dog breath came out as she started to lick his face like crazy with her two tongues. David had to admit it was the most disgusting situation he had ever been. He couldn’t understand how Claire could stand letting this thing even near her face.

“Fine, I’m up!” He cried, pushing away the dog as he sat upright. He glared at Claire as she beamed a smile and sauntered out of the room. Daisy gave him one last look and a lick before bolting off the bed and racing after Claire. David fumbled around for a second on his bedside table for his glasses which he ungracefully knocked off the table.

Getting up slowly, making sure not to step on his glasses, the smell of cooking food wafted into the room. He knew quite well that Zane had gotten up early so he could beat Claire to the kitchen. There was a twin who could cook and there was one who couldn’t but thought they could. Everyone feared the morning Zane did not beat Claire in the morning. It spelled burnt food for all and a very down-hearted Claire.

Bending down, David grabbed his glasses, put them on and slipped on a button-up blue shirt and jeans. David wandered out of his room barefoot and turned into the small space they called a kitchen. Zane was beginning to set out plates of food for the group to help themselves to. Kaile was already at the table, feebly toying with the camera. Her lack of sleep was apparent by the bags under her eyes. Matthew was leaning over the table, rapidly pressing buttons, still playing his game. It was obvious he had yet to try and do anything with his wild mess of hair for it stuck up at every end. Claire was fluttering around her brother, constantly asking if he needed help, despite the obvious evidence he didn’t.

David plopped himself down in a chair next to Matthew and grabbed some of the pancakes off a stack. “Claire?” He called quickly, pulling the leader of her brother’s back. “Were we assigned anything today? Any calls?”

The blonde looked over at David before seating herself across from him. “No, nothing has been reported.”

There was a sudden slam on the table as Matthew looked up from his game; his fist had landed hard on the table. “You mean you woke us up at six in the freakin’ morning just because?” He growled. “I’m going back to bed.” He mumbled, closing his game and lumbering off in the direction of his room.

“I second that.” Kaile yawned, getting up from the table with a piece of toast in one hand and the camera in the other. She would be out the rest of the day unless something exciting was happening.

“You going back to bed Zane? David?” She looked over her shoulder at Zane who shook his head, washing a frying pan. She turned to David and he shrugged silently.

“I don’t want to get slobbered on again.” He muttered, tapping his fingers against the table. David flinched slightly as he felt two tongues run up his jean pant. That dog always seemed to have it out for him. Ever since Claire brought her home several months ago, just a few after getting Joshua, the dog had been harassing him. Claire said it was the way Daisy showed her affection for him but David was convinced the dog hated him.

Claire nodded in approval. “Good, then you get to come with me shopping; we are running low on food.” She exclaimed, happily taking a forkful of scrambled eggs. Zane looked over his shoulder at David and gave him a look of sympathy.

David groaned inwardly. Going shopping with Claire more of a form of torture than a chore. It wasn’t only that all she did was talk while they were there but the fact that their black van was so attention-grabbing. Claire didn’t want people seeing it all the time so they had to walk everywhere and especially in winter, it was miserable. Deciding that he should just accept his fate, David took a couple mouthfuls of food and headed back to his room to put on several more layers of clothes.

The snow swirled all around as David stomped through last night’s layer. It had to be below zero and why they had to leave right after Claire had finished eating was beyond him. It was still only seven in the morning and not many stores would be open. Still though, Claire insisted on being out early for everything. Sleeping in was for people who wanted to waste their day. Supposedly she had this attitude as a child, David felt bad for her parents.

“I still don’t understand why we couldn’t take the car this one time. How are we going to take the groceries back to the house?” David snarled over the wind as Claire looked at him through her thick woolen scarf and hat. He had his arms crossed in desperation for more warmth. Even with his hat and gloves, he was freezing.

She glared at him seriously through the thick clothing, her eyebrows knitted together. “You hunt aliens for a living David; I think you can deal with carrying some groceries back to base.” She growled, hitting him in the arm with a gloved hand. She then proceeded to trudge ahead, brushing some snow from her hat.

David turned away, even though what Claire said was true, he still couldn’t believe he spent four years at the University of Illinois to get his undergrad in computer engineering just to spend his time behind a screen for the rest of the team. He could’ve had a great cooperation job and getting his master’s degree but he lost that when he joined this little organization. Though, something kept him from leaving. The question bothered him time after time but he couldn’t bring himself to come up with the answer. In short, he just believed he would never leave.

Walking down the snowy street, the little town seemed deserted. One store, the general store that most of the team’s food came from was open. It’s old neon sign flickered as it read ‘Hank’s General Foods’. The H in Hank was slowly dying out and looked like it could be blown out by the wind like a candle. It was a bit run down. Old posters hung, ripped, on the windows and litter was strewn across the ground carelessly.

Pushing open the door, the two stepped into the warm, heated air. The small store was dimly lit and David had to squint to get a good view of everything. The only reason his eye sight was so bad was because of all the time he spent in front of the computer.

The inside of Hank’s was musty and smelled slightly of smoke from when Hank used to smoke in the store but complaints came up and he stopped. Claire waved a greeting at Hank as she disappeared around some shelves, leaving David standing in the doorway. Hank was a large man with an even larger beer belly but he was friendly toward Claire and them, so David had to no objections to him. Well, except for whenever he walked in the store, Hank usually made fun of David for squinting at everything through his glasses.

Glancing around, he realized he didn’t quite know what they needed, Claire had the list. Claire had a list for everything, especially the longest one of groceries. Five people in one house goes through a lot of food.

Turning down the aisle she had disappeared into, he spotted her already chatting up a random stranger as she looked through the dairy isle. This was the second worst part about shopping; it took them forever because Claire was constantly talking to strangers. She was friendly to everyone and managed to chat with someone each time they came. Sometimes it was the same person more than once but most of the time, it was some random stranger Claire just met.

This one was a man, probably in his late twenties, like Claire and the rest of the team. He had sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. As David slowly approached, the two of them started laughing about something but the man stopped immediately when he spotted David. Pulling away from Claire, he shot him an apologetic look.

It took David a minute to understand the look he had been given. “Oh, we aren’t together.” He quickly blurted out. It was something that was asked of them often, many people who have seen them together quite a bit seemed to believe they were dating. “I need the list Claire.” He said, looking away from the two, his face burning bright red.

Claire turned to David and smiled. “David!” She gasped like she had not seen him coming. “This is Austin, he’s just moved here from Florida.” She said eagerly, she looked like a child that discovered a new candy that they loved. As David looked over the man, it became obvious. Austin was dressed in the most layers he had ever seen a person manage to squeeze on. He didn’t have the thick-blood of those who had lived in Illinois most of their lives, like Claire and himself. In weather like this, they needed much less clothing than him.

Claire looked back over at Austin when suddenly; there was a rough ring from her pocket. Without a word, she swept past Austin and down another row of food. David immediately know who the call was from, it was from ADE headquarters. There was something amiss in their little town. Probably just another alien dog or some other harmless alien, that ADE was afraid would draw attention. She would have Zane or Matthew take care of it. Unless it has already attracted a crowd, the job only needed one person.

Austin look thoroughly confused though at Claire’s sudden exit, he turned to David and gave him a quizzical look. “She likes to take her phone calls in private?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

David shrugged. “It’s a work call; Doctor Ridgeback are constantly on call. We deal with various emergencies and things. It’s probably just something one of other colleges can take care of.” David waved his hand dismissively.

“So, she’s a doctor?” Austin asked, giving a slight smirk. He glanced over his shoulder and David panicked a little. Claire had never been a really doctor for once she was out of medical school, she was automatically hired by ADE. Claire would scold him later for lying but David couldn’t tell this guy they were alien hunters!

“No, but I wish I was.” Claire called, coming around the corner. She quickly grabbed David and pulled him along with strength that David did not expect. “I will see you later Austin.” She said without looking back at him. Something stopped them both as Claire halted in her tracks. Austin has grabbed her shoulder.

David held his breath for a second, touching Claire like that could result in a broken arm. Matthew had experienced it once, had grabbed Claire’s shoulder to stop her and she grabbed him and threw him off her shoulder, resulting in a fracture wrist.

Instead, she turned around and looked at him, a bit confused. Austin quickly wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Claire. “My number, I would really love to continue our conversation.” He smiled and turned back down the aisle and disappeared from sight. At that moment, David had never had such a burning, itching curiosity about what their conversation was about and why he would want to continue it.

Once outside the store, the snow had mostly stopped and Claire was quickly dialing in the number of the base. “Zane, get the others ready, we have a level six alien come through. One person already dead, we have to deal with it now.” She said steadily into the phone but David could see a mixture of excitement and fear as the girl shook slightly. It was rare that they ever got any alien over a level three, level six for them was extreme.