Wipeout…….
As a tour bus raced towards
At the Evans household, Diane Evans was trying out her
cooking skills, essentially practicing a new type of urban terrorism in the form
of Martha Stewart on smack. A nice frijole frittata was on the menu, and the
Evans felt the quickening of their imminent doom, or ultimate food poisoning.
Max watched his sister, carefully realizing that since Copper Summit she had
been quiet and reserved.
Meanwhile the father and son team of Valenti and Valenti
were angling their way to a good meal, or so it would have been as Kyle snagged
a huge specimen of fishy delight that had Jim’s mouth already watering and
adding extra butter. That feeling was quickly lost when Kyle practiced the
humane ritual of catch and release, and Charley Catfish was free to once again
hook himself on another line. Jim, confused by his son’s new Buddha lifestyle,
was slowly coming to grips with how much their lives had changed.
~~~
Maria and Liz in their waitress uniforms were hurtling
towards
“Would you step on it, please? My dad is gonna implode if
we don't get this thing back by the lunch rush.”
“It's your first day back in uniform. We have one break
in an eight hour shift, and the man sends us thirty miles out of town on an
errand.” Maria said grievously, her humor lacking for awhile now.
“Well, he let us stay on the clock.” Liz pointed out.
“I'm sorry, Liz. I love your father dearly. I do. But
this is totally Kathie Lee.”
Liz cleared her throat. “Is this really bothering you, or
is it Michael? He saved her husk. What did he say about that?”
Maria’s chin firmed and her eyes narrowed deadly.
“Nothing. We haven’t talked about it.”
“Not on the way home?”
“No.”
“Maria …”
“Look, Liz. Can we not talk about this? I’m having
enough time dealing with one of my best friends turning over for the enemy and
becoming a peeling Skin-loving freak. I can’t wrap my mind around it, and you
know … I don’t think I want to.” Maria didn’t want to have to admit to
being disappointed in Michael, to believe that a little flattery turned his
towel tumbled head. It was hard to think of him so easily led astray by his
smaller brain, but there it was.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, you’re sorry, I’m sorry.” Maria glanced at
Liz. “So you want to tell me what the hell is going on with you and Max, and
why that overblown blonde alien home wrecker is hanging all over him like he’s
the flavor of the week?”
“I don’t want to talk about Tess or Max. Let’s just
drive.” Liz conceded, letting Maria wallow in her own thoughts while she did
the same. It was hard. She could admit she was jealous and why, but Maria? Liz
was beginning to understand that Maria had no clue what was upsetting her about
Courtney and Michael. Maybe it was best that way … living in the dark, never
knowing. She wished everyday that she never knew about what could have been.
Maria sniffed. “You know … if it wasn’t for Isabel,
I’d think all aliens are blonde skanks from hell with not an ounce of loyalty
and compassion, or even respect in their easy bones. Hell, Earth girls are easy?
I don’t think so. Easy lay? Find a damn blonde alien. Thank god, Isabel is
breaking the mold. She would never cheat, lie, or betray anyone.”
~~~
Miles ahead of Maria and Liz in a billboard sign for the
UFO center on the outside of town was a glowing green rod struck through the
billboard defacing it. A green pulse emanated from it and the pulse wave moved
outward over the town of
As the wave hit the Evans house Diane Evans who had been
getting another serving for Max who was trying to distract his mother from
asking about ‘that cute Liz Parker’ suddenly disappeared as the plate she
had been carrying hit the floor.
“Mom?” Isabel exclaimed in concern.
Max and Isabel searched the house. Isabel came back down
from upstairs not finding either of her parents.
“I can't find Dad either,” Isabel said entering the
kitchen. She was alone. “Max? Max! Max!” Her voice rose hysterically. Max
came through the kitchen door from outside.
“Where were you?” Isabel demanded, fear still in her
throat.
“The neighbor's house is empty, too.” Max told her.
“What's happening?”
Max shook his head. “I don't know.”
Isabel grabbed the phone and tried to call someone. “Oh,
come on. Come on.” Isabel slammed the phone down when she got no answer.
“No! Mom and Dad are missing!” Isabel said her hysteria
reaching a new level. “They're gone. Oh, God. Are we the only ones left?”
Max tried to calm her down. Why did he ever think she was
unflappable? It seemed that over the last year she was nothing if not overly
dramatic. Maybe she was spending too much time with Maria.
~~~
Liz and Maria had been outside of
“Why are all these cars stopped?” Maria asked, slightly
annoyed by some people’s inconsideration for emotionally distraught drivers,
namely … her.
“What's going on?” Liz asked staring with her mouth
open as Maria went around the stopped cars. “Maria, w-what's going
on--Maria!” Liz screeched when Maria swerved into a baby stroller.
“Oh, God!” Maria and Liz both got out of the Jetta in a
hurry. “I didn't see it! It was just … it was just there, and I was going
too fast.” Liz and Maria rushed to the stroller checking it, but there wasn't
any baby in it.
“What?” Liz, holding a baby blanket looked around and
noticed a lawnmower going around in circles without a driver. “What?! Oh, my
gosh, look!”
“What?!” Maria mouthed opened to mimic the same look on
Liz’s face as the two girls stared at the lawnmower.
“Where is everybody?”
Maria shook her head, her hand coming to her mouth. Was
everyone gone? Her mother wasn’t in town, but … Michael...
~~~
The bus arrived in
“Welcome to
Nicholas looked at the others. “Let's find us some
aliens.”
~~~
Jim and Kyle Valenti were driving back to
“Deputy Hanson, we've got some property defacement up by
the Chaparral Turnout. I need you to rustle up a ladder and, uh, take care of
it.” Jim said in his radio, his eyes looking at the phallic defacement of a
green rod extending out of the alien’s nether region. Kids. Shaking his head,
he glanced at his son.
“You could've told me you didn't want to go fishing.”
“No, I did. I wanted to fish.” Kyle reassured his
father. “I just … it's just now I enjoy it from a different perspective.”
“Different seems to be the story of your life these
days.” Jim pointed out. “The guys don't come over to watch games anymore.
You hang wind chimes in my backyard, burn compost sticks in the kitchen.” Jim
frowned in irritation when he got no response from his radio. Trying again, he
talked into his radio. “Hanson!”
“It's called ylang-ylang, and it opens the mind.” Kyle
explained.
“You know what? If you’d lay off the mumbo jumbo, you
might get a date every once in awhile.” Jim told Kyle before screaming into
his radio again. “Hanson!”
“Any other areas where'd you like to point out my
incompetence, Dad, or is the list complete at fishing and dating?” Kyle asked
bitterly, trying to bite back the feeling.
Whose fault was it exactly that he had to find some peace
in his life after being dead, then brought back to life by an alien? Whose fault
was it that he didn’t know what was driving his father to neurotic behavior
last year, and made him afraid for his own father’s life? Kyle bit it all
back, swallowed it deep inside, hoping for some calmness to smooth away the
rough edges of anger that seemed to plague him for the longest time. It was
eating him alive, and a calming philosophy was the only thing that kept him from
murdering Max Evans or even saying things to his father that would never be
taken back.
Jim ignored Kyle to scream at Hanson. “Hanson, if I get
back to the station and find you sipping a damn frappaccino …” Jim slammed
his handset back into its carriage restarting the car. “My one day off!”
~~~
At Michael's apartment, Courtney had successfully changed
into the new husk in the bath tub. She had called Michael to come see how it
worked. Emerging from a bath of muddy
sludge, Michael reluctantly reached out to touch Courtney’s hand, touching the
Skin.
“You put the husk on?” She looked the same as ever.
“The fit’s ok.” Courtney told Michael.
He pressed his thumb on the skin in interest. “Feels like
real skin.”
“For now. The husk wasn't fully mature, and I don't know
how long it's gonna hold up.” Courtney looked at him. “You saved my life …
by stealing this.”
Michael shrugged. “Well, you saved ours in Copper
Summit.” He stood up, passing her a towel as the phone rang. “Here's a
towel, and here's a robe.” He certainly wasn’t going to mention to Maria
that Courtney wore her robe. Michael left the bathroom.
“Yeah?” Michael said in the phone shutting the bathroom
door to give Courtney privacy to get out.
“It's me.” Max said. “Meet us at the Crashdown right
away.”
“Courtney and I will be there shortly.” Michael
answered before he hung up the phone calling to Courtney in the bathroom.
“Hey, can you get the lead out? Max called. He wants us at the Crashdown.”
“In a minute,” Courtney called back.
Michael went to sit on the sofa to wait for Courtney.
Picking up a magazine, he flipped through it without interest wanting to get
going. He heard Courtney opening the bathroom door. Looking up he saw a very
naked Courtney posing in the doorway with a smile on her face.
“I really wanted to thank you for saving my life.”
Michael sighed deeply. Finally her overly aggressive come-on style was more than
irritating him; it was turning him off.
“Uh-huh.” Michael said with irritation moving over his
face. “Get your clothes on. We’ve gotta go.” He went back to reading his
magazine. Whatever attraction or alien vibe he had gotten before, it was gone.
Now … now he didn’t want to get in the middle of some bitchy scratching
fight between Maria and Courtney. He glanced at his the clock. “And make it
fast!” Michael paused for a moment. “Hey, did you clean the bathtub?”
Hell, he didn’t want to have to explain the ring in the
tub to Maria. She was already a walking bag of irrational behavior since she
visited Madam Vivian. Like most females, she was highly unpredictable and
strangely emotional of late. At least with Courtney, he sort of knew where she
was coming from, not that he was buying her story completely either. Women. Too
much frickin’ work.
~~~
Maria and Liz were moving down the streets of
“Look.” Maria said picking up a cup of coffee holding
it to Liz. “Look, look! It's still warm.”
“Ahh!” Maria and Liz said together both of them looking
around nervously. They both backed away. Whatever happened, it happened fast,
and not long ago.
“Ok, let's just go back to the car, ok?” Maria said
backing up pulling Liz with her.
“Ok!” Liz agreed fear moving over her face.
“Ok.” Maria took Liz’s hand and they crept back to
where the Jetta was left.
“Wait!” Liz saw something on the ground. Stooping to
pick it up, she held a piece of skin from the ground. “This is not good.”
Maria looked around paranoid and grabbed Liz’s hand to
hurry them away from the area.
~~~
Max lifted a brow when Michael showed up with Courtney.
Michael shrugged, explaining that she had been at his place when Max called. Max
let it go as they searched the Crashdown.
Max came into the main diner from the breakroom. “No
one's back there, either.”
“Everyone's gone.” Isabel said stating the obvious. She
was still upset with the disappearance of her mother.
“Every human,”
Michael pointed out. “Whoever's doing this is trying to single us out.” The
group looked up in surprise as Liz and Maria came bursting through the Crashdown
doors.
Courtney made a sound of disgust when she saw Maria. Well
there had been hope. “There goes that theory.”
Maria caught sight of Michael in relief, and ran to him.
“Michael!” Michael opened his arms and picked her up in a tight hug.
Courtney turned away in disgust and Isabel watched with interest as Michael bent
his head to kiss Maria softly on the lips framing her face he whispered to her
and Maria nodded.
Liz turned away from Michael and Maria to look at Max, at
the leader who should know what was going on. And didn’t. “Max, what …
what happened? We … we just got back from Dexter.”
“Our parents disappeared. It seems like the whole town is
gone. All the humans, at least.”
“Well, why not us?” Liz asked as she looked around the
empty diner in dismay.
“I'm sorry.” Isabel told Liz as the other girl looked
at her home.
“What’s going on here? Everyone’s gone?” Liz
couldn’t believe it or even grasp it. “They're gone, like dead?”
“We don't know that.”
Maria glanced at Michael in fear. Her mother was in
“All we can do right now is focus on the fact that we
have each other.” Max told them.
Maria was listening to the dial tone as no one answered
Alex’s cell. She glanced at the counter. Reaching over, she picked up a CD off
the counter. “Alex's band just burned a new CD, and he couldn't wait to show
me...” She shut her eyes in grief as Michael pulled her closer.
Isabel couldn’t think about that, not now. This was
serious, too serious to sit around all maudlin over those missing. “First
thing we need to do is figure out who did this.”
“We know who did this.” Liz told Isabel. “The
Skins.”
“Yeah,” Maria nodded, confirming Liz’s assessment.
“We found one of those snake skin things off of
“Nicholas.” Courtney said, her face a moving display of
fear and worry.
Isabel looked around at the empty diner, remembering her
mother disappearing. “This is our fault.”
“No.” Tess said entering the room from the back.
“It's hers. You led the Skins straight to
“She's with us, Tess.” Michael told Tess getting a
strange look from Maria.
Tess ignored Michael. No Skin was with them. They were the
enemy. “What did your people do to the town?”
“They're not my
people!” Courtney spat at Tess, her voice low and angry.
“Stop pointing fingers!” Max held Tess back from
Courtney. “We're the ones who destroyed their harvest. They're here to settle
the score with all of us.”
Isabel had gone to look out the window at the mention of
Skins. She saw people approaching. “Into the bathroom! They're coming! Now!”
Nicholas and Ida entered the Crashdown. Isabel glanced at
Tess. “There's two of them … Nicholas and Ida. Hide us.” Tess nodded as
she concentrated on mindwarping the Skins into not seeing the bathroom.
“Check in the back,” Nicholas said to Ida as he walked
over to where the bathroom door was.
“Oh, please don't let me die like Elvis.” Maria mumbled
in fear searching for her cedar oil. Michael wrapped his arms around her to calm
her, pulling her back against him. His mouth went to her ear as he told her to
be still.
Nicholas tapped on the mirror that Tess had created in his
mind to replace the bathroom door. “Mom?!” Nicholas called to Ida as he
searched his skin grimacing at his acne. Great his face was breaking out.
Puberty for fifty years was making him cranky.
Ida came in from the back, slapping his hand away from his
face. “Don't pick. There's nobody back there or upstairs, sir.”
“Look in the mirror, You're shedding.”
The group hiding in the bathroom visibly relaxed.
“Oh!” Ida peeled away excess skin. “It's the heat.
Why couldn't those brats be from
“Let's get you back to the moisture chamber. This
haphazard searching is going nowhere.” Nicholas remained interested in the
mirror. “Time to switch to plan B.”
“What's plan B?”
“We'll search the town … street by street, building by
building, inch by inch. I'm not stopping ‘til we find them.”
Nicholas and Ida left as Nicholas gave one long look at the
wall, but shaking his head he went. Everyone piled out of the bathroom. Tess
weakly stumbled to the counter as Max caught her, helping to sit down. “I've
never come up against power like that before. It feels like … someone took a
sledgehammer to my head.” she told Max. Liz, unable to stand seeing Max taking
care of Tess, went through the door to the kitchen.
Max noticed her leaving. “I'll be right back.”
Maria hardly noticed as she talked to Michael in a low
tone. They were talking about Alex, and Maria noticed Courtney watching them.
“Why is she here?”
“She came with me.” Michael answered.
“I see.” Michael stopped her from walking away. “No
you don’t. She saved us in Copper Summit. I sort of owe her.”
“If she means something to you, Michael, you can just say
that.”
“She does.” Michael pulled Maria back before she walked
off again, frowning at her attitude. “Look, I know you and Courtney have been
adversarial, and damn if I understand it, but she does mean something to me. She
is the only living, breathing, and especially talking connection I have to my
past. She can tell me about my past life, about my parents, and about who the
hell I was. Maybe she can tell me why I was re-engineered.”
Maria nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I
see her face, and it sets me off. I can’t even explain it. I see her touch
you, my skin crawls. I don’t trust her, and what I don’t get is why you
do.”
Michael didn’t know if he could explain it, but Courtney
killed the husks, including her own. Her very life was at risk, and she
sacrificed it to save them, to save him. He owed her for that. Before Michael
could explain it, Isabel screamed “Max!” as Courtney slumped to the floor at
the bottom of the stairs.
Max and Liz rushed downstairs. Courtney’s skin was
literally aging and peeling before their eyes.
“She just collapsed.” Isabel told them.
Michael had Courtney’s head in his lap. “Max, you gotta
help her.” He couldn’t risk her dying yet. There was too much to know, too
much to ask her.
“Let's get her upstairs.” Max suggested as the group
helped her upstairs.
“The bathroom,” said Michael. “She got into her new
husk in the bathroom. I had it stored there to keep it moist. Maybe the water
will help.”
Maria chewed on a nail, uncertain. “Um … ok, maybe we
should take her clothes off?”
The others agreed and the girls began to strip Courtney.
“Got her?” Liz asked Tess who was keeping her upright.
Isabel noticed both Max and Michael hovering at the door.
With a wave of her hand she shut the door on the guys.
“Ok.” Liz said once they had Courtney down to her
underwear.
“What now?” Isabel asked.
“Um … you know, from what … from what she said, the
husk is starving.” Liz explained. “It's looking at her thighs like they're
two canned hams.”
“I heard that, you bitch.” Courtney said weakly from
between Liz and Tess. They helped her into the bath as Maria turned on the
water.
“Uhh!” Liz said from the strain of carting around the
dead weight of the Skin.
“Well … what if we tempt it with food from … from
outside the membrane … sort of like an all-you-can-eat buffet or something?”
Isabel suggested.
“Yeah.” Liz nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I mean, it's
worth a try. We need, like, some vitamins and minerals and … and nutrients.”
“Ok.” Maria searched in her bag and pulled out a
container of pills. “We've got gingko, bee pollen, Echinacea, C, D, E,
calcium,
~~~
Michael and Max were on the roof outside Liz’s bedroom
scouting with her telescope. Max was searching the streets trying to locate
Skins before they approached. From time to time he glanced at Michael.
“
Michael wasn’t listening. His mind was on the bathroom
and Courtney. “You think she'll be ok?”
“I dunno.” Max stopped looking out of the telescope.
“You and Courtney have gotten close.”
“Yeah,” Michael shrugged. If that was what Max wanted
to call it, fine.
“How's Maria feel about that?”
“Why do you care? You've never been interested in my
social circles before.”
“You were never sleeping with the enemy before.”
“And I'm not now.” It was true in the practical sense
and the literal. He wasn’t sleeping with Courtney, nor was he planning on
doing so. But, he also didn’t consider her an enemy.
“Then why was she at your apartment this morning?”
Michael made a face. He decided to keep most the details to
himself. “'Cause she wanted to show me how the husk fit. That's it.” He had
gotten an eyeful, and it was a fit.
“Good.” Max wasn’t sure about the Skin. Courtney had
been spying on them for a while, and he wasn’t ready to trust her. It was
surprising that Michael was.
Michael gestured to the telescope. “Let me take a
look.”
~~~
Back in Liz's bathroom, Courtney seemed to have recovered
from the nutrient bath.
“Pretty quick recovery, don't you think?” Tess asked
the others. “This ‘I've fallen and can't get up’ routine seems a little
too convenient. I think it's time for a Q&A.” Tess stared at Courtney.
“What exactly did the Skins do?”
“I don't know.”
Wrong answer. Tess pulled the drain plug and the nutrient
bath started to go down the drain.
“No!” Courtney tried to sit up to stop Tess.
“What happened to our families?” Isabel asked.
Courtney sighed. “Time exists in multiple subset
dimensions on our planet. Nicholas must have a technology to impose one or more
of these here.”
“Speak English,” Isabel commanded.
“It's like being on Pacific and Eastern and Central and
Mountain time all at once. Human bodies can't function. They simply
disappear.”
“To where? Where are our parents, our friends …
Alex?” Liz asked when Courtney shut up again. “Where is everyone? Are they
dead? Wha …”
Maria lifted a brow at Courtney. “Water’s getting
low.”
“Somewhere! Another dimension, another plane of
existence! I don't know where! They seem to have just … shifted.”
“Well, can we get 'em back?” Maria asked.
“I don't know.” Courtney looked at the water level.
“Please.” Tess replaced the drain plug when the others nodded.
“Why haven't Liz and Maria disappeared?” Isabel asked.
“I don't … I don't know.”
“We were out of town this morning.” Maria told Isabel.
“Thank God.”
“It probably bought you some time.”
~~~
Maria and Liz went downstairs to look for more vitamins and
minerals to add to the bath. Courtney looked better, but they might need to
repeat the Skin beauty treatment.
“So you’re not too happy with Michael being supportive
and involved with Courtney.” Liz pointed out.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Maria asked frowning at what
was available. “Michael and I aren’t involved in that way.” Maria glanced
at Liz. “I was the one that sent him to investigate her.”
“Why don’t you just admit you’re jealous.”
“I will when I am.” Maria shut her locker door.
Nothing. Her supplies were shockingly low. “There’s a lot going on, but my
problems with Courtney aren’t jealousy as much as …” Maria paused lacking
the words to describe what bothered the most about Courtney.
“Territorial?” Liz suggested.
“I think there is some vitamin C tabs at the cash
register.” Maria said going to the outside café ignoring Liz’s assessment.
She was desperate to change the subject. “Ok. So, what did she mean by
"buy us some time"?” Maria asked Liz.
“Don't worry about it. She said we slipped through a
window. We'll be fine.” As they entered the main café a Skin saw them.
“Oh.”
“Run!” Maria screamed as both she and Liz moved to get
away from the Skin.
“Come on!” They went to the order window and Maria
climbed across the counter. “Go! Go! Go!” Liz said pushing Maria through and
trying to follow. The Skin grabbed her feet.
“Go, go, go, go, go, go!” Maria said as she got to the
other side and went to help Liz.
“Maria!”
Maria pulled on Liz's hands, while the skin pulled on her
feet. “Go! Go! Go!” Maria said encouraging Liz to kick herself away from the
Skin.
“Maria!” Liz screamed when she couldn’t get free. “Aah!”
Sheriff Valenti suddenly appeared. He shot the skin in the
back approaching at the Skin hit the ground.
“Oh. Careful, Sheriff! He's a Skin!” Liz called to
Valenti as the Skin was up again. He knocked the Sheriff to the ground and made
a quick escape.
“Oh, my …” Liz said as she looked down at Valenti on
the floor helplessly. “Oh …”
Kyle rushed into the Crashdown having been told to stay out
of sight by his father. “Dad! Dad, you ok?” Kyle helped his father to his
feet. “You ok? You all right?”
“Ohh!” Jim rubbed the back of his head. Maria and Liz
joined Jim and Kyle as the others from upstairs came downstairs in a rush having
heard the commotion.
“Maria!” Michael was the first through the door. He
immediately found Maria and went to her.
They had Courtney in a booth after the incident asking
questions about the Skins, questions they needed to know.
“If guns don't work, how do we kill them?” Max asked.
Courtney was reluctant to tell them, but facing the entire
gang was more than she could handle. “Take the heaviest thing that you can
find …” Courtney turned in the seat lifting her shirt in the back to expose
an area covered in an artificial skin cover. There was a silver button recessed
into the husk. The others stood back a little, somehow just coming to the
realization that the creature in front of them wasn’t a real human, but
something completely different inside. It made the outer appearance seem so
mechanical, almost like a robot or something. “Smash this as hard as you can.
It breaks the seal in the husk … permanently.” Courtney told them indicating
the silver button.
“What about Nicholas?” Isabel asked, more afraid of the
younger boy than any of the others. “What can he do?”
“All the things you can … times a thousand.” Maria
frowned at that. The Skins weren’t human, and if the aliens’ power were
human ones advanced by a thousand years, then where did the Skins get their
powers? “But the thing you should be the most afraid of … is this.”
Courtney pointed to her head. “He can get inside of your head and take
anything that he wants. Basically, he rapes you of your memories and your
thoughts.”
Jim nodded to Max. “We've gotta get everybody to a safer
location.”
“The UFO center. It's a former bomb shelter. There are no
windows and fewer ways in and out.” Max told Valenti. “After we get everyone
situated, you, me, Michael, Isabel, and Tess will start picking them off one by
one.”
“What about me?” Kyle asked not happy with being pushed
to the side with the girls.
“You're not someone I trust.” Max said coldly. “Let's
move.”
~~~
Everyone was in an alley across from the
Isabel stopped Max from going, asking him to let her go for
Nicholas since it was her Nicholas wanted. Max, confused over what the heck had
happened in
Max motioned for Isabel to go, but when she didn’t he
turned around to find that Isabel had slipped away. When he couldn’t see her
anywhere in sight, he went to look for her.
~~~
Michael joined Courtney where she was resting against a
wall. She looked sick again. Her skin was peeling and wrinkling, not as bad as
before, but it was apparent she wasn’t going to last long. Michael felt bad.
The other Skins weren’t as far gone as Courtney. It was the new husk. She had
changed into the immature husk because it couldn’t survive, and it was a
chance. It was now apparent that changing into the new husk sped her towards her
own end.
“I brought you some water if you want. We're gonna pull
together the ingredients for another bath. Ok?”
Courtney shook her head. “It won't work. It's … I'm
dying.”
“No. No. No, that's not an option. Ok, there's …
there's gotta be something that we can do.” Michael couldn’t watch this. She
was his only chance to learn anything about his home world, and that was
slipping away. He needed her to stay. Seeing the look she gave him, he frowned.
“Courtney, what?”
“You won't want to do it.”
“Just say it. What is it?”
“The Granilith.”
Michael sat back from the girl, his eyes moving over her
face. So know he knew.
Courtney and Michael talked quietly, and Michael fulfilled
a debt of honor telling her things he should not. There was little time for
anything else. It was important with the area infested with Skins. Michael stood
up to leave.
“Michael …” Courtney gulped hard.
He looked down at her not leaving. “Yeah?”
“Maria … I noticed the way you watch her, the way
you’re always holding her or hugging her, and for the longest time, I thought
it was nothing since you didn’t seem aware that you do it.”
Michael didn’t comment. His past was his own, and
explaining to someone, anyone what the comfort of human contact meant to him was
next to impossible. Maria accepted it without real thought because it was
something that had slowly evolved over time.
“We’re close.”
Courtney nodded, willing to admit to him, but not Maria
that she realized that. She had watched them sleep together, watched Michael
crawl into her bedroom when Maria was sleeping at home. It was a complicated
relationship, one Courtney never could really understand, but she recognized
possession. Michael was in Maria’s eyes her possession, but until today,
Courtney hadn’t realized that Michael felt the same about the human girl, not
until he thought she was gone and the look on his face when she walked through
the door.
“I know.” Courtney looked at her hands. Hers, and not
hers. “We don’t feel like that. We feel almost nothing from the husks.”
Courtney looked at Michael smiling wryly. “I envy you that. I envy you
both.”
Fifty years trapped in a shell that had no real sensory
perception. It was hard to imagine how wonderful the ability to feel and the
comfort of a human’s touch could be.
~~~
“Where are Max and Isabel?” Maria asked Tess, who
shrugged as worry moved over her face. She visually brightened as Max arrived at
the Center.
“Max,” Maria asked, “where’s Isabel?”
“She went off her on her own.”
“Did you find her?” Tess asked. Maria rolled her eyes
and went back to pacing. Sure, she was resting in his damn pocket.
“Where's Michael?” Max asked not bothering to answer
Tess’s question. It was pretty obvious that he was alone.
“He's in the back.” Tess said.
Maria sniffed. “He’s checking on Courtney, and Liz and
Kyle are in Brody’s office using his equipment to see if anything unusual
happened around
Max nodded his thanks to Maria as he went off to find
Michael.
Maria paced the room. She walked by an exhibit with a
mannequin in a window on her path to wearing a hole in the
Maria scrambled back from the advancing Skin. “Tess!”
Tess sneaked up behind the Skin kicking its seal
self-destruct button. The Skin disintegrated into dust. Tess helped Maria up,
brushing her off.
“Thank you, Tess.” Maria said aware that her usual
animosity towards the alien girl gave Tess no reason to help her … to save
her.
“No problem.” Tess smiled, surprised by Maria
gratitude.
Liz was telling Max and Michael about an energy surge
recorded by Brody’s sensors that morning. If it was an energy field that
started it, then they needed to short the energy pulse out. That might bring all
the humans back.
“They found a way in.” Tess told Max explaining what
happened to Maria as Michael went to Maria to make sure she was okay. “We've
gotta go.”
“All right. We'll head for the school. It's our turf.”
Max looked at Kyle. “Get your dad.”
“I can't.” Kyle told them. “He disappeared right in
front of me.” Kyle’s voice was a study in misery. His father had told him
that he was sorry for ignoring him, for not appreciating the changes in him, and
then he just disappeared right before Kyle’s eyes.
Liz frowned at the information. That wasn’t good. “You
know, the Skins' time dimension must be catching up with those of us that are
…”
“Human.” Maria finished for Liz, her worst nightmare
realized. She looked at Liz and Kyle. “So if the time dilation is catching up,
then who's next?”
Kyle rubbed his head. Glancing up, he saw a rack of
“That time field is coming from the billboard out by
Chaparral Turnout.” Kyle told them. “My dad spotted a green rod stuck
through it this morning. We thought it was a prank.” Kyle pushed the card back
into the stand. “I'm heading out there.”
“No.” Max told them. “We stick together.”
“Hey, I've been really nice about following your orders,
Senor Presidente’, but if I can do something to help bring some people back or
ensure that Liz, Maria, and I live to see another day, I'm gonna do it.” Kyle
said ignoring Max. Hell, he might be the aliens’ King, but he sure as hell
wasn’t Kyle’s.
Max stared at the stubborn look on the other boy’s face.
Kyle had been mild mannered of late, but the Kyle that he literally fought with
all last year was still there. “Kyle. Look, … take Bradford Alley all the
way out of town. It's a straight shot. You can't get boxed in.”
“Thanks.” Kyle glanced at the other two humans. It was
their lives, theirs and their peoples’. Liz and Maria nodded.
“Good luck … to all of you.” Max said when he noticed
that Liz was going with Kyle.
“I'll take care of her.” Kyle told Max, knowing that
despite everything Max thought to be true, he would still be concerned about Liz
above all others. Kyle walked up the
Michael stood next to Maria, his arm stopping her. “This
is insane. What if you run into Skins? One of us should go with you.” Michael
nodded more to himself. “I’ll come with you. We can take my bike and Liz and
Kyle can take the Jetta, that way one of us makes it.”
“Michael,” Max said. “Isabel is missing. It might
take the four of us to get her back.”
Maria put her hand on Michael’s stomach. “Go. Find
Isabel first. If we don’t make it, you know where to go. The billboard.”
“Maria …”
Maria stopped him. “Um … I know how you hate when
things get all goopy, so …” She hugged him tight, closing her eyes lest it
was for the last time.
Michael glanced at Max. “Max, you got your cell phone?”
“Yeah, why?” Max asked handing it over to Michael when
he held out his hand.
Michael looked at Maria. “You call me on Max’s phone if
anything happens, you understand?”
“Michael …”
“I mean it, Maria. Anything. You can’t make it. Or you
need me. You call.”
“Okay.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely promise?”
“I absolutely promise.”
“Yeah. So
I'll see you soon.” Michael said his eyes dark and serious.
“Yeah.” Maria said, her voice in no way convinced as
her eyes became glassy.
“No. I will.” Michael told her. Maria quickly left
before she changed her mind. It was hard to do this without Michael. They always
worked together, and she never realized how much he made her feel safe, like
nothing could happen to her as long as he was there.
“Ok. It's the four of us on foot.” Max said. “If we
stick to the side streets, we can …” Max paused looking around.
“What's wrong?” Tess asked Max.
“Where's Courtney?” Max asked. Michael shrugged, but he
didn’t meet Max’s eyes.
~~~
Isabel had found the tour bus. Following a toy remote car,
she was distracted long enough to be knocked unconscious. When she came awake
she was inside the Skins' bus handcuffed to the railing.
“Uh …” Isabel pulled on her arm. She tried to open
them with her powers, but they would not open.
“I knew it was only a matter of time before you rejoined
our side, Vilandra.” Nicholas said as he came onto the bus with Ida.
“Tryin' to ambush my baby,” Ida scolded Isabel. “I
should pull out your filthy eyes and grind 'em into dust.”
“I came to make a deal.” Isabel told them.
Nicholas laughed. “And what could you possibly have to
offer us?”
“Me.” Isabel shot daggers at Ida when the older woman
scoffed at her suggestion.
“You always were a flighty little princess. Jewels before
studies. That's our Vilandra.” Nicholas laughed. “We already have you, you
beautiful moron.”
“I think you're the one who doesn't understand.” Isabel
told the young boy. She made eye contact with the young kid lifting a brow
suggestively.
“Leave us.” Nicholas ordered the older woman.
Ida made a sound of disgust. “You can't possibly think
that this woman …”
“Do you really want to finish that sentence?” Nicholas
threatened Ida who immediately backed off. “Leave. Now.”
“All right.”
Nicholas waited until Ida left before turning back to
Isabel. “Go ahead.”
“The last time we were together, you awakened something
in me. I remembered things from our past.” Isabel swallowed the bitter bile of
nausea. “You and me.” She suggested. God help her, she didn’t remember a
damn thing, and so this was a shot in the dark.
“Our forbidden meetings.” Nicholas smiled.
Isabel bit the inside of her mouth repulsed by the boy, and
more so, by the person she used to be. “I came here for you.” She told him
as she seductively ran her hand up his front. “I know what's hiding behind
that husk.” Nicholas smiled as he motioned with his hand making the handcuffs
that Isabel had been unable to manipulate disappear.
Isabel acted like she was going to kiss Nicholas, but at
the last instant, she pushed him to the ground reaching for his fanny pack. Ida
came back knocking Isabel out.
“Uhh!” Isabel said as she hit the ground.
Nicholas got himself up, dusting himself off. Damn her! He
had wanted to see what Isabel would do when she found his Pokemon trading cards
in his fanny pack. Vilandra always had been more looks than brains. “Mom, what
are you doing?!”
“Saving you, sir!”
“She was no threat!” Nicholas looked at the unconscious
Isabel his anger increasing. He had fifty years of sexual frustration boxed up
inside a freaky loser boy’s body. “Damn it, now she's no good at all! I'm
sick of this!”
“What do you want to do now?”
Nicholas’s eyes gleamed in murderous intent. “Kill
every last one of 'em.”
~~~
In the Jetta, Liz, Maria, and Kyle were on their way to the
billboard, carefully going so not to attract too much attention to themselves.
Kyle was driving while Maria sat in the passenger seat, and Liz in the back.
“If we get out of this …” Maria said.
“When
we get out of this …” Kyle corrected.
“Things are gonna change for me. I'm gonna start spending
more time with my mother. I'm gonna … I'm gonna write more to my
grandmother.” The moment of loss was a telling one, it redefined priorities.
“I mean, these are the people who gave me life, you know?”
“No!” Screeched Liz more to herself in the backseat
having a conversation with herself, ignoring the others. “I can't leave it
like this!”
“Excuse me?” Maria looked into the backseat at her
obviously demented friend.
“Max.” Liz explained. “No, I walked out on him
without explaining what happened between you and me.”
“Huh?” Maria shook her head. You and me? She lifted a
brow. Um, she had no idea that something happened between her and Liz, something
that would bother Max. Maybe he thought that she and Liz were like … Oh! No
way!
“I didn't even say good-bye!” Liz continued.
“Look, you've got a job to do.” Kyle told Liz meeting
her eyes in the rearview mirror knowing exactly what Liz was prattling about .
“Max has got a job to do. When everybody's done with their job, you can make
nice.”
“He'll never know!” Liz said tragically, her over the
top dramatic hyperbole making Maria open her mouth in confusion. What the hell
was going on?
“He's Max. He'll always know,” Kyle told her.
“Right?”
Maria looked to the back to reassure Liz over something she
couldn’t understand when Liz disappeared.
“Liz?” Maria mouthed opened in shock, then fear.
“Ohhh …” Maria could feel fear moving over her. “Not Liz. I need Liz.”
“Maria, Maria, look, look, look, look.” Kyle said,
trying to get her to calm down. “She's coming back. They all are. All right?
Now, Liz said something about generators and electric fields.”
Maria bit on a nail, her mind too upset to think straight.
“So how does electricity work?” She asked Kyle hopeful that he could help
where she normally depended on Liz.
“Why are you lookin' at me? We were both in the same
remedial science class for three years.” Maria made a face. Okay, so science
wasn’t her thing. She sort of listened, unless she was tired, bored, or, well,
unless it was science.
“Basically, we have to … um, blow its fuse, right?”
“That means we mess with the current.” Kyle glanced at
Maria. “Do you have jumper cables?”
“Yeah.” Maria looked up to see a Skin in the middle of
the road. “Kyle!”
The Jetta swerved and they went down a slight embankment
hitting it hard. Maria’s forehead hit the front dash as Kyle sat there
stunned. Getting out of the car, he faced the Skin.
“Buddha, forgive me, but I'm gonna kick your ass!” The
Skin rushed Kyle, and he flipped him over. Kyle reached into the car to the get
"the club". He knocked the Skin with it and then broke the husk’s
self-destruct button.
Kyle looked into the car at the hurt Maria who was stirring
with her hand on her forehead. “Maria …” Kyle disappeared.
~~~
In town, Nicholas found a weak and dying Courtney lying on
the ground in a back alley area.
“When my soldiers told me what they had found, I had to
see for myself.” Nicholas smugly stood over the dying Skin. “What's the
matter, Courtney? Too weak to run?”
“Leave me alone.”
“You always were the social butterfly, Courtney. Always
the first to make new friends.” Nicholas crouched down to her. “But what I
want to know is … where are yours hiding?”
“I think I see a chest hair, Nicholas.” Courtney said
nastily to Nicholas making fun of his difficulty of being a small boy for fifty
years. “Way to go.”
“Fine,” Nicholas countered, happy that she chose the
harder course. “We'll do this the hard way.” Nicholas grabbed Courtney's
head and started draining her mind, or what little she had left as the water
depletion in her husk dried her essential body fluids making concentration a
hard thing.
“Ohh! Ohhh!” Courtney screamed.
“Let's see … you had scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then
you slipped into that husk that punk stole from us.”
“No! No.” Courtney tried to resist.
“Boring. Boring. Boring.” Nicholas laughed. “Oh this
is interesting. Offered yourself on a silver platter to your dream leader …
aw, he refused! How humiliating for you! Guess he doesn’t care for your
overblown act anymore than the rest of us.” Nicholas said adding to the pain.
“Aha!” Nicholas saw an image of
Max through his mind drain.
“All right, we'll head for the school. It's our turf.”
“School? On a Saturday?” Nicholas tsked. “As I
suspected, the old King is still a dud. How sad to refer to school as one’s
turf. Dork. What a drag.”
“I hope they kill you.” Courtney told the evil young
boy.
“You've become awfully chummy with them, haven't you?
Courtney? Are you hiding something else?” Courtney tried to avoid him. “You
are. You have a secret. What do you know?”
“Ohhh!” Courtney screamed as Nicholas grabbed her head
again. He saw another image.
Michael was leaning in close to Courtney talking low. “If
anything happens to me, Max, or Tess, I want you to be able to save yourself.
Now, if I tell you where the Granilith is, do you swear never to tell anyone?”
“I swear.”
Nicholas laughed. “Oh damn! That Commander was always a
dupe! Loyal to a fault, he must’ve felt obligated to help you since you helped
him. We already know he isn’t interested in your scabby body.” Nicholas sat
back on his heels pleased with himself. “The Granilith! That's a bonus! I hope
he gave you detailed directions.” Nicholas reached in to probe deeper.
Courtney reached behind to her back and pressed the husk
un-sealing button. She disintegrated.
Nicholas sat back in disgust, but also in respect. “Now,
that's a soldier.” He stood up wiping off particles of Courtney from his
clothes. No great loss. The Royals would tell him what he wanted to know, and he
hoped they resisted for a long time. It would be his pleasure to torture it from
them slowly.
~~~