Crowds, we will face them down~
“Breaking News. Fifty seven year old, Ralph Snider from Texas claims to have come into contact with, what he thinks may have been the occupants of the crashed space craft, a little over three months ago. Ralf informed government officials earlier yesterday morning that, he was not in Texas at the time, but California on a trip to visit relatives. . .”
“Unh.” I moaned sleepily and stretched, a vaguely familiar voice penetrating through my sleep bound mind. Ignoring it, I curled up against the surrounding warmth, only to receive a very un-welcoming heel to the eye.
Muttering a slur of unintelligible words, I shot upright, pressing a hand to my bruised eye. My mind not quite functioning yet, I groggily tried to assess the current situation.
Before me lay a tangled sea of arms, legs and a central pile of blankets, that was no doubt Pixie, who was famous for being a blanket thief, and also happened to be the owner of the weapon that had injured me, that was currently retreating back into its carapace of warmth once more. Typical.
The functionality of my brain reaching first gear, I put it in reverse for a recap. Last night, after exhausting ourselves with several games of sharps, we gutted the couch and threw in a mess of our mismatched blankets and pillows from the thrift store. Then we all crashed on the hide-a-bed, and fell asleep to the droning of the late night news.
“Yeah, they had real strange names. I don’t remember exactly, one was like Fairy or somthin, then there was a Kii, and Chester, and Lionel, and I think they said the injured kid was Who, or somethin.”
My head spun around so quick, it almost popped right off. Searching the computer screen I found a pixilated video of an older man, he was being interviewed or something, and after searching his face, I realized I knew who it was. Ralph. The man who had helped us, the day of the crash.
Ralph disappeared and a male news anchor came on.
“Government officials were able to confirm Mr. Snider’s story with the testimonies of several of the staff from the hospital they were admitted at, where unfortunately the medical records seem to be missing. Only deepening our assumptions that these life forms hiding among us are capable of manipulating us. It’s one theory for why they have stayed unnoticed for so long. . .”
Or maybe you’re just naive and stupid, I thought wryly, annoyed beyond measure with what I was seeing. They thought they knew everything when really they knew absolutely nothing. I was glad though to see that my stealth work at the hospital had paid off. After we’d left, I shifted and shimmered back in, stealing Who’s records, and deleting the stuff they’d impute on the computer, which hadn’t been much. The hospital was over worked and under staffed, and they’d been swamped when we were there.
Tuning back in to the insect’s buzzing, I caught the end of his monologue.
“With the correlation of several witnesses’ descriptions, a sketch artist was able to come up a fairly accurate idea of what the aliens looked like, at the time. . .”
The anchor disappeared and my jaw literately dropped at what appeared on the screen next. Five very detailed drawings. Each a very good likeness to one of the occupants in the room where I currently sat. How could they do something like that? My brain numb with shock, I remained frozen for an eternity. As my brain caught back up with reality, a shock of adrenaline raced through me. We needed to act. Now.
“Lion! Guys, wake up.”
Turning back to the bed, an all-inclusive groan of protests met my ears. They obviously hadn’t registered the panic in my voice. Painfully slow, the mass began to writhe and three heads emerged, and after some prodding on Who’s part, a fourth joined the rest.
In that moment, my family free from worry, well rested, and almost healed, time seemed to freeze as I took in the calmness that would inevitably morph into the ensuing chaos.
Who, his attention diverted to the still sleeping Pixie leaning against his chest, was gently stroking the explosion of sunshine that had escaped from its band sometime during the night. I was keenly aware that these two had grown so close over such a short period of time, and I selfishly wondered if I would ever get the chance to explore that path for myself.
Involuntarily, my gaze moved to Chess, and I felt my heart rate increase as his eyes, half hidden behind too long, neon green hair, met mine. I watched as he brushed the hair out of his eyes, and knew that I would probably never be able to sort my feelings out for him. At least not now. Not with the latest turn of events, just waiting to throw my family back into the fray of madness called life.
At last I turned to Lion, who without his hair brushed looked even more like his name sake, the messy golden locks framing his tired face as his eyes, not quite their usual sharpness, met mine.
Why? That was the question blaring in my mind, as four pairs of amethyst eyes -Who had finally brought Pixie to semi-consciousness- met mine. Why was fate so set against us? Why, after almost finding a sense of normalcy did our world have to upend itself once again? Why did the stupid occupants of the stupid world we’d stupidly crashed on, have to find us? Why couldn’t things have just stayed the same?
Taking this all in, I felt like breaking down and crying. My life absolutely, officially, sucked.
Not knowing how to explain that the ignorant world we’d landed on was no longer ignorant, I pointed dumbly at the screen, and the only people I cared about in the whole galaxy, sleepily gathered around me. I watched in turn as the light of first recognition, and then a mix of shock, fear and horror crossed their faces, as the reality of the truth hit them. We had been found.
“Go get your stuff.”
No details needed, Lion once again became the strong, assertive leader he’d always been. We all knew the severity of the predicament we were in and not a word was said as we obediently obliged. The truth of the matter being, people around the area had seen and interacted with us, on almost a daily basis. It would only be a short length of time, if even that, before someone called us in, if they hadn’t already.
Grabbing my pillow from the mixed heap on the couch, I snagged my hello kitty comforter and, Pixie following closely behind, headed for the bedroom. The room was stripped and pretty much empty save for the bunk-bed against the wall, the mirror in one corner and the two large backpacks in the center of the room. Lion had had us get rid of almost everything, save for what we could fit into our backpacks, the day the hover craft had been discovered.
I knew this day was coming, we all did, so why was I so scared?
“Key, I’m scared.”
I almost laughed with hysteria, as Pixie matched my thoughts exactly.
“Me too, Pix,” I informed her, giving her a shaky smile.
I know, I could have tried to pretend and be strong, lie and say I wasn’t what I was, but right now, we needed to be truthful with each other and ourselves. If we couldn’t trust our family, we had nothing.
She returned the gesture and, grabbing both our bags, headed back out the door, leaving me alone in the room. Clutching my sleep-ware to my chest I survey the room that had been my sanctuary for the last three months. I felt strangely detached, and emotionless. Wasn’t it wrong to feel that way? Shouldn’t I at least feel a tinge of regret, or something along that line?
Oh well, it didn’t matter what I should feel, it wouldn’t change the fact that I didn’t feel anything, and a creeping sense of fear gripped me. Was there something wrong with me? Were the only emotions I was truly capable of feeling anger and fear? As I thought about it my dread only increased. Ever since we’d landed, a mix of those two feelings were pretty much the only things I’d felt. There had been glimmers and faint shadows of other emotions, but had they only been imitations, fakes? Was I fake? Had the world I so loathed and hated stolen everything I truly was, and left me this crumbling, numb, shell?
“Key?”
I practically jumped out of my skin as a panicked voice shattered the overwhelming sense of wrongness that gripped me and, spinning around, I found Who in the door way, his purple hair a mess and a fearful expression on his face.
“We have to go. Now.”
I didn’t question him, just nodded and followed him out the door and down the hall as he headed towards the back door, our rendezvous point and the means of our escape.
Passing the entrance into the living room, I paused as I heard a loud humming noise. I’d never heard anything like it before, but it sent shivers down my spine. Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything good.
Making a split decision, I changed the direction of my course to that of the kitchen, and reaching the small window peered out.
Humans.
More humans then I think I’d ever seen in one place filled completely the small space I could just see out the window. Anger, go figure, filled me. Complete and total rage. How dare they defy our privacy, disrupt our lives, and throw us into turmoil, again! Sure we had crashed on their planet, but we’d done nothing wrong. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone, like we had them?
If they wanted to mess up our lives, let em. I was gonna mess up theirs.
“Keey.”
Strong hands grabbed my wrist and drug me away from the window. It was Lion.
“There’s nothing we can do about it, so just let it go,” he warned, towing me back through the living room and down the hall.
I stayed silent, he was right but it didn’t change the fact that I was still seething, and reaching the back door, I found the other three already waiting outside in the back yard. Joining them, I realized the creepy humming noise was even louder out here, and it was only a matter of time before the freaking humans would make there way back here. I was quite surprised that they hadn’t already.
“Ok, everyone ready?”
I blocked the noise out as best I could, which wasn’t saying much, and focused my attention on Lion.
Everyone nodded grimly, and huddled in our small group, I could see fear reflected in everyone’s eyes as we searched each other’s faces. Would we be able to make it through this? My eyes met Lions and I felt like crying as I saw my own emotions reflected in his eyes. He looked away.
“Alright guys, you know the plan, keep quite and no matter what, stick together. Understood?”
Once again we all nodded, and as one turned towards the back fence.
Stick together, that phrase echoed in my mind, as we headed towards the fence and I made my way to Pixie. What would happen if we did get separated? I couldn’t imagine the horror of being lost from my family on this wako planet with no way of contacting them. I shivered and pushed the thought aside, I would just never let that happen I promised myself.
Reaching Pixie, I took my backpack from her and she relinquished it to me, a dazed expression on her face as we halted at the back gate.
“Key.”
Lion motioned at the padlock on the gate. I nodded and reaching out, focused on the cold metal in my hand. Taking a deep breath, I shifted, and in turn shifted the lock. Pulling it away from the gate, I let the shift on the lock drop and it fell through my hand to the dirt at my feet. Focusing harder, I concentrated on shimmering. Feeling the familiar sensation settle around me, I shifted through the gate and into the neighbor’s back yard. All clear. Like usual, our neighbors seemed to be away. It was a rare occasion for them to be home this early in the day.
Sticking my head back through the gate, I dropped the shimmer.
“Looks good over here, it should be safe.”
Lion nodded, and opened the gate, and the four of them made there way through, Pixie pushing the depressed looking Who, making up the rear.
I jumped as Lion closed the gate, and a loud creaking sound broke the silence. Immediately a volley of barks issued from around the side of the house, increasing in volume as the owner of the voice raced into view.
I stiffened, the dog was huge. Huge head, huge mouth, huge, teeth, huge everything, headed straight in our direction.
“Key I thought you said it was safe!” Lion stated, exasperation evident in his voice.
“I thought it was, I didn’t see the stupid dog.” I shot back, mad at my self for putting us in this situation. We were hardly out of our house and already an obstacle had popped up.
“Geez, relax guys. It’s just a dog.” Pixie huffed. Taking a step forward she morphed into a golden lion, and roared. The sound vibrated through me, sending chills up my back. I was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one scared. The dog vanished instantaneously, leaving a puddle in its place, and I almost laughed, before Chess’s harsh voice brought me back to reality.
“Great job Pixie, if the people didn’t know we were here already, they sure as heck do now.”
Pixie morphed back, a furious expression on her face. She was about to yell something back at Chess, but Who grabbed her arm and shook his head.
“Let it go Pix, we need to concentrate on getting out of here.”
Lion nodded his agreement, and Pixie smoldered in silence.
Taking the lead, I headed for the opposite side of the house that the dog had gone around, and let myself through the side gate. I was relieved as I came around the house and found the yard free from any and all annoying earthlings. Finally, something was going right for a change.
“Keep moving Key,” Lion urged as he by passed me, regaining the leading position. I waited for the others to pass and trailed after them.
“Oh my gosh it’s the aliens!”
My body froze as I heard a shout from our left, and glancing to where the voice had come from, I found a man standing outside his house with a phone in his hand. He looked absolutely terrified.
I heard the hum of the humans, rise in volume as they heard the shout and instantly the alley way between the street we were currently standing on and the one in front of our house was swarming with humans.
Raw terror filled me, as they surged towards us. I was going to die. I knew it, there was no other fate available but death. These insanely corrupt organisms were going to kill me.
“Key!” I heard Chess’s voice, as if through a thick fog. Then he grabbed my shoulders and shook me so hard my teeth clacked, bringing me back to the fact that I should be running in the opposite direction. Not waiting for me to respond, Chess procured my hand and wrenched me forward. Finally getting the message from my brain to my feet to move, I pulled along side him and we pelted head long after the other three. My heart pounding so fast, I thought it would break through my rib cage, I let out a scream of frustration as a human land craft pulled up right in front of us and slammed on the breaks.
No! This couldn’t be happening. We were surrounded. I didn’t have to turn around to know the swarm was getting closer and even if we went around the vehicle there was no way we could out run it. So now what? The window on the land craft rolled down, and the faintly familiar face of a young man stuck out.
“Hey guys, need a lift?”
A million human faces that I’d seen since I’d been here flashed through my brain in less then a second. I knew this boy, but from where?
“Josh?” Chess and I blurted the name out simultaneously. I knew I’d recognized him from somewhere. He was a cashier at the local coffee shop where Chess went to surf the web and be alone. I’d been there a couple times, and that’s why I knew his face. But that still didn’t explain what he was doing here.
“What are you doing here?” Chess voiced my thoughts.
“No time to explain, if you don’t want the mob to get you I’d suggest you hop in.” Josh motioned behind us, and spinning around I found the humans standing less then twenty feet away, all kinds of electronics, flashing and beeping.
What choice did we have? Surrender ourselves to the mob or take our chances with a weird human offering his help? I looked at Lion and he obviously reached the same conclusion I did. It would be much easier to deal with one human than a mass.
Just then sirens rent the air. I’d witnessed enough of the human ways to know just what that meant. Trouble.
Josh opened the van door, and not taking a second glance back we all piled in. The door slamming behind us, a horrible sense of wrongness filled me. What had we just done? Fear overrode all my senses as my instincts told me, we had just made an enormous mistake.
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