Instead of protesting she nodded her head slowly and turned away from her son, making her way around the room whispering into people’s ears. And from then on a domino effect occurred and pretty soon everyone knew what the plan was.
Tyler made his way back to Xavier. His eyes were squinted and he was looking out the window. Tyler nudged Xavier to get his attention. “You ready?”
Xavier nodded and stood up straighter. “I’m ready if you are,” he said, huffing out a breath of air. He still felt that pit of anxiousness in his stomach and it intensified as he moved to push the open button on the keypad. He was glad that the doors in the stair room weren’t automatic; it gave him time to gather his wits which weren’t that great, to begin with. He depressed the open button, the door hummed open and a whoosh of air puffed into the stair room, ghosting across Xavier and Ty’s faces.
He sucked in another breath of air, stepped out into the room, then let the breath out in a huff of air.
Ty and Xavier surveyed the room carefully. The walls were of gray steel and the atmosphere was cold. Xavier had to stifle a shiver more than a few times. The cold crept off the steel walls and sent a chill up his spine that wrapped menacingly around his bones and took up home there.
Tyler stepped into the center of the eye and Xavier moved to stand behind the control panel, just looking over it, not looking for any particular thing, just to look over it and see if it was something that he was going to have to get acquainted with for their escape. Which it seemed that he would.
All of the buttons had a weird nondescript symbol etched into them. They were symbols that were blocky and tacky looking in nature. Xavier stared for a long while, at them, with confusion. “Hey Ty, do youth—” He broke off with a deep groan and fell to his knees. A jolt of electricity coursed through his body, frying his nerve endings. And all he felt was pain, and then, nothing. He felt nothing. He fell forward, flat on his front, and then blackness overcame him. But before he lost consciousness the sound of stomping feet against the ground filled his ears and then he fell into the abyss.
Darkness overcame him faster than it ever had.
Tyler watched in shock as Xavier fell to his knees. It happened in slow motion, and then he fell forward falling unconscious.
Ty’s eyes widened. The room filled with everyone surging out of the stair room. It all happened so fast and he could feel his nerves flaring with anxiousness. Butterflies filled his stomach and the tell-tale flutter of their wings tickling the insides of his stomach made him feel a little sick.
He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath of air, then let it out slowly. When he opened his eyes again the first thing that they came in contact with was the large black and beady eyes of one of the others. Their skin was a pale gray color. But it was lighter than the steel walls of the ship.
He stared longer than he really should have. And he figured that out when the other held up his gun and pointed it at him. His eyes widened and he dashed out of the way just in time to not be hit by the blast. The same blast that Xavier had been hit and knocked unconscious with.
Xavier’s mother was kneeling over her sons’ unconscious body and Ty watched as she struggled to pull him away from all of the commotion, wanting nothing more than to just keep him safe.
Ty pushed himself back to his feet. There wasn’t anything that he could really use to fight back, he could use his hands, but he knew that there wasn’t much that he could do with them, so instead of using his hands, or searching for something to use that he knew wasn’t there, he ran toward the one that had shot at him, dodging another close shot, jolting to the left, then as he moved dangerously closer, he threw himself down sliding toward the other, knocking into it at full force.
The other fell backward and as it did everything happened so fast. It fell back, its head met the hard floor of the ship and then there was blood pooling and pooling around its body like that of a deep red-black puddle—dead.
Dead, though Ty. It was dead and the sight of its blood made a lump of bile form in his throat. He felt sick, it gathered in the pit of his stomach, hot and gross in all of its glory.
He didn’t allow himself much time to think about the thing that lay before him, lifeless and lying in its own blood.
He took a moment to grieve its loss. He looked over its lifeless body, stopping at the stun gun in its hand and didn’t think twice about picking it up and weighing it in his hands. Whenever he thought of holding a gun, not that he had thought about holding one that often, especially not an alien stun gun, he thought that he would feel some sort of unease but he didn’t really feel anything. Nothing but a surge of strength that jolted through his body and he felt ready.
All around him there was chaos. The sound of violence filled the room; you could hear it over the sound of the alarm. He turned; ready to join the mass of pandemonium and just barely missed being hit by an electric jolt.
His heart thrummed against his chest. He didn’t think as he bolted toward one of the others, they were littered around the room—ten in total—standing, a stun gun in one of their hands ready to shoot at any given moment.
He aimed for the nearest one, running for it and kicking its feet out from under itself. And it fell to the ground—dead—much like the last one had, a puddle of blood pooling around it. He then turned, aiming the stun gun at another, pulled the trigger and a beam of electric blue light jumped from the barrel of the gun, bringing the other to its knees, with a shrill sound of pain, where it then fell over unconscious.
A few people joined Ty in fighting, but others cowered and tried to get as far as they could from the commotion, which was hard, but they managed.
Tyler didn’t pay much attention to them though. He was much more invested in what he was doing; aiming the stun gun at another one of the others, ready to depress the trigger, but as he was about to he was stopped by the sound of a voice.
The alarm stopped blaring and the red flashing lights did as well. Ty turned in the direction that the voice had come, confused. There was a string of murmurs that filled the room. A few feet away from him stood one of the others. Its stance was authoritative and Tyler could tell that it was the leader of the ship.
“We concede,” it said, its slanted eyes blinking a few times. “We did not wish any harm or ill will upon you. I hope that you can forgive us for inconveniencing you.” Its words were monotone and sounded almost fake.
Tyler shook his head. “Don’t apologize to me,” he said. His voice just as flat as the others was. “Apologize to them. The ones that you took from their homes and traumatized.”
“We acknowledge that,” said the other. “And we know that, by your morals, we have done wrong. But to us, we have not. And we will not apologize.”
Tyler shook his head, a feeling of almost disappointment fizzling in his chest. “Just let us go,” he said. He was doing great at feigning strong, but there was a nasty war going on inside of him. “You’ve given up, so let us go.”
“We’ve not finished what it is that we’ve come to do.”
“And what is that?”
“Classified.”
Tyler pointed the gun at the other in an empty threat; until he was pushed to the edge, then it would become a real lethal threat. One that he would greatly commit and turn into a reality in a matter of a second if one of the others tried to pull something.
“Let us go,” he said again. “Now.”
The other nodded his head, stepped back a few steps, and held out a pale-gray arm, pointing toward the control panel. “Go on,” he said. His voice was deep and annoying like nails on a chalkboard. “It’s the big green button. You can’t miss it, but then again, you mundane do have small minds that can’t comprehend much.”
Tyler sucked at his teeth then, without a second thought, he pulled the trigger on the stun gun and it jolted back. A jolt of electricity shot out of the barrel and then there was the sound of the other groaning and falling to its knees with a muf
fled groan of pain.
Tyler stepped forward a few paces toward the other and placed the barrel of the stun gun against its forehead, ignoring the pain the coursed through his arm. Through all the commotion his drowsiness had faded and now all he felt was a sense of determination. The other grimaced and its face contorted into something that resembled almost fear, and Tyler felt some sort of delight because of it. And he didn’t know whether to be proud of it or afraid.
But whatever it was that he was supposed to feel, whatever that was supposed to be, he pushed it to the back of his mind.
The other stared up at him. Its black beady eyes held an intensity that could rival that of the stars. “Go,” said the other, its eyes closing into thin slits. “Now, before I change my mind.”
Tyler signaled for everyone to move to the center of the room, where the menacing eye was, with a jolt of his head to the side. They complied, and he stared back down at the man before him, his own eyes flared with their own intensity, one that could rival the sun.
“You’re going to leave,” said Tyler, his voice deep and rough. “Go back to wherever the hell you came from and never come back.”
“What makes you so sure we’ll listen?”
“I’m not sure of anything,” replied Tyler. “But I would advise that you didn’t. We mundane may not be able to comprehend much, but we know how to protect what’s ours. We may not succeed in the end but at least we have the heart to try. So, leave,” he added, pushing the barrel of the gun a little harder into the other's skin.
The other had a sneer on its face. It nodded in a slow manner. And without another word, Tyler made his way over to the control panel and depressed the big green button without another thought. And the center of the room, where the eye was, was evaded in a glowing green beam. The same beam that pulled Xavier and him up into the eye.
A few people at a time stepped forward into the green light, eager to get off the ship, and they were exported downward back to earth. It didn’t take long before it was practically just him left, save for his parents’ and Xavier and his.
Tyler stepped forward from behind the control panel, sheathed the stun gun in the waistband of his pants, and hefted Xavier into his arms. He gritted his teeth at the throbbing pain in his arm. He ignored it the best that he could, tried hard to stifle a groan but couldn’t. He chanced one last glance at the other that he had threatened just moments prior, then stepped onto the eye with Xavier still in his arms. His and Xavier’s parents stepping on as well.
They were immediately enveloped in a blinding green light that was practically searing to the eyes. It only lasted a second and then everything evened out. The blinding light turned pale and they were descended down with an almost grace back down to the ground.
A sigh of relief left Tyler’s mouth as he felt his feet touch the grass covered ground. They were standing back in the clearing in the center of the woods.
All Tyler felt was relief. He was glad to be back on the ground. He could feel his muscles—that he hadn’t even realized had been tense—relax. It was an amazing feeling. Almost pleasurable but not quite.
He looked around him. Everyone looked relaxed and glad to finally be back down on the ground. Some of them were injured, but not too badly.
The ripple in the sky suddenly stopped moving and then there was the sound of an engine starting in the sky. It was the UFO, coming to life.
Tyler looked up toward the sky. The UFO was there and then in a flash, it was gone. Its disappearance was followed by a chorus of excited shouts.
Tyler didn’t join in on their excitement. Instead, he started making his way toward Xavier’s house. Whose mother didn’t stray too far behind, she was following behind him at a fast pace, matching his gait. Tyler’s mother and father—Cadence and Aria—weren’t too far behind either. But Tyler didn’t pay any of them any mind as he walked through the doors of Tyler’s house.
Demetria and her parents were sitting on the couch, but not anymore. They stood to their feet as soon as Tyler walked through the door.
“Tyler!” said Demetria.
Tyler didn’t stop at the sound of Demetria calling his name. He made his way up the stairs to Xavier’s room and laid him down gently onto his bed, to rest. Demetria and Xavier’s mother stood in the doorway watching him.
“Tyler?” said Demetria, her voice almost nothing but a whisper. “What happened to him? Is he okay?”
Tyler straightened his posture and turned to face her. “He’s all right. He just needs to rest for a bit, so we shouldn’t mess with him.”
“I’m going to stay with him,” said Xavier's mother. “I want to be here when he wakes up.”
Tyler and Demetria nodded in understanding. “Of course,” he said. “Do you want me to bring you something to eat?”
“No,” replied Eliza with a small smile. “Thank you, though.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tyler.
He followed Demetria out of the room. She stopped at the beginning of the stairs and turned to face him. “What happened up there?”
Tyler let out a heavy sigh. “It’s a long story that I’ll tell you later. But for right now, I’m going to go downstairs and spend time with my mother and father. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
* * *
Xavier woke a few hours later. He jolted upright with a gasp. His body felt tingly all over, more in his legs and hands than anything else. He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times trying to ease the tingling feeling in them. But it remained. His breath was haggard and his heart was beating fast in his chest.
His mother Eliza hurried to his side. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and cooed almost silently to quiet his rough breathing. “It’s okay. You’re okay,” she cooed.
Xavier let his breathing calm then said, “It should be me comforting you. Not you comforting me.”
“No,” said Eliza. “It’s my job to comfort you and make sure that you are safe. What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t? A pretty damn bad one.”
“No,” said Xavier with a shake of his head. That wouldn’t make you a bad mother. It would just mean that you cared for yourself for once, which I think that you should start doing more of.”
Eliza pulled him close into an almost bonecrushing hug and Xavier allowed himself to relax into her embrace, letting his guard down. The hug lasted for a good minute and then they both pulled away from one another.
“Do you want me to cook you something to eat?” she asked placing a gentle hand to one of his cheeks. “You look a little pale.”
“No,” replied Xavier. “I just want to rest for a bit. And you should get some rest as well.”
She sighed, pushing herself to her feet. “Maybe you’re right,” she said, leaning down and placing a soft kiss to his forehead. “I love you, sweetie.”
“I love you too, mom.”
He watched as she left the room, turning out the light and closing the door behind her. “Good night,” she called from the other side.
“Good night,” said Xavier back, loud enough for his mother to be able to hear from the other side of the door. And then she walked away, the sound of her footsteps growing fainter with each step that she took.
Xavier took in a deep breath of air. His chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. He stared absentmindedly up at the stars plastered on the ceiling for a long while. When he closed his eyes to sleep he saw the image of the glow-in-the-dark stars embedded into his eyelids like a projection. And with that being the last image he saw, he fell into a restless sleep where he dreamt of a starfilled sky. One that wasn’t tainted with a large menacing Alien Spaceship.
He woke a few hours later to the sun beaming in through the thin curtains that blanketed his bedroom window and the smell of bacon being cooked from downstairs. It smelled amazing and a tinge of excitement grew in the pit of his stomach knowing that it was his mother that was cooking it. He raced down the stairs and found Demetria and
her parents’, and Tyler and his sitting at the table with a plate full of bacon, pancakes, and eggs sat in front of them.
“Mornin’,” said Eliza with a large smile on her face. “I made enough for us all.
Xavier nodded and took a seat next to Demetria, who sat beside Tyler. He looked at them. They were sitting unusually close to each other, close enough to touch and with a quick glance under the table he saw that they were. Their hands were clasped together. It was innocent. It was probably the most innocent thing that either of them had done in the past few weeks.
Which was understandable.
A plate of food being set in front of him pulled him from his stupor and he looked at his mother and he gave a smile. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, turning back around to grab her own plate and sat down across from him where his dad would normally sit.
Demetria, Tyler, and Xavier all ate in a comfortable silence, while the adults talked nonchalantly about anything and everything as if nothing had happened at all. Xavier supposed that it was probably a good tactic. To pretend as if nothing had happened and then slowly, you’d believe that nothing did. It would take a long time but he was willing to do it if it meant being able to forget. He would gladly try.
Since the events of the night before all the signals and telephone lines had started working again. Xavier was pleased to find that the cable was working, as well and an old Sherlock rerun was playing. Demetria, Tyler, and him sat and watched a few episodes of it while the adults talked in the kitchen while cleaning up.
Demetria was excited about having signal on her phone again and was hastily texting people to check and see if they were okay, while Tyler just sat, silently, watching TV just like Xavier.
The Resurgent Page 13