"He was just standing in here," the other guy said, and now Brandon recognized him as well: Tommy's sidekick, Russell Sykes.
"I'm looking...wait, what are you doing here?" Brandon asked.
"I woke up on a table in there. We both did." Tommy walked closer, and as he walked, his muscles bulged even larger. He grew half a foot as he walked across the room, causing his fatigues to stretch and tear.
"But...wait...you weren't on the school bus," Brandon said.
Russell walked around the other side of the big table in the room and started to approach Brandon from the other side. Suddenly, his back arched and he howled in pain.
"What's happening to him?" Tommy asked. "What did you do?"
"Me??"
Russell fell to his knees, and suddenly his legs fused together, bursting out of his pants. His body twisted and undulated, forming a snakelike tail to which his torso was attached.
"Stop it!" Tommy said, and swung downward at Brandon with one massive fist.
Brandon activated his power and whizzed backward across the room, his feet skidding on the floor. Tommy's fist hit the floor and the stone cracked, sending fragments exploding outward.
That would have caved my head in.
"Ahhhhh...ahhh..." Russell writhed and twisted on the floor, his arms wriggling and reshaping into undulating reptilian forms. Finally, with a jolt, his hands became miniature snake heads, and opened to hiss at Brandon, venom dripping from their teeth. His head reared back, and his mouth opened, a forked tongue lolling out over canines thrust forth to form sharp fangs.
Tommy grabbed one of the stone tabletops that lined the wall and yanked it free of the wood and plaster. He hurled it at Brandon. Brandon again zoomed across the room, evading the blow.
"Look guys, I didn't do anything. I don't even know how you got involved with this. Neither of you were on the school bus!"
"The thcool buth?" Russell said, "latht thing I remember it crathed. I don't remember theeing you there!"
"Yeah, I don't remember anything after the crash, either," Tommy said, "until I woke up naked back there with that blond guy putting his hands on me."
Zachary, thought Brandon. "You were naked? Where did you get the clothes?"
"Took 'em off thome tholdierth," said Russell.
"Right after I broke their necks," Tommy said with a grin.
Russell emitted a high pitched giggle.
Okay, this is not good, Brandon thought. He backed off a bit, trying to keep them both in sight. Tommy suddenly raised his hands high, and Brandon saw the muscles in his arms bulging again. The camo shirt tore completely free and fell to the ground in tatters.
"Hell yeah!" Tommy said. "I'd like to see my old man take a poke at me now!"
"Okay," Brandon said, "we can figure this out, okay? Let's just calm down."
"Ragghh!" Tommy ran at him, and Brandon again zoomed backwards away from him.
Russell lashed one of his snake arms and it stretched out like a hose, wrapping around Brandon's neck.
"Ah!" Brandon reached up to try and pry it free, and in that moment, Russell snapped the other snake around his left arm. Russell then reeled him in and his tail coiled around Brandon's legs.
"Oh I'm calm. I'm real calm." Russell said with a giggle.
The snake around Brandon's arm sank its fangs into the flesh of Brandon's left hand.
______________________
The hole widened, and through it, Brandon's eyes beheld shapes of light and color. It took a moment, but as they became clearer, he recognized them. They were masses of strange lights, with large globes in the center surrounded by satellites of smaller lights that whirled around them.
Dozens of them.
The ships of light exploded from the opening and sailed out into the sky in all directions.
At last, the aliens had come.
______________________
When Beth didn't answer her cell for the third time in two days, Brandon decided to drop by her house. There were police cars out front.
Feeling fear in the pit of his stomach, Brandon rapped on the door.
He heard muffled voices inside. Soon, Beth's father opened the door. He was a chubby man with light brown hair and glasses, an accountant by profession. He was unshaved and looking quite haggard, and his face crashed when he saw it was Brandon at the door.
"Oh, Brandon, it's you."
"Mr. Clark, what's going on? Is Beth okay?"
He ushered Brandon inside. "Brandon, have you seen Beth or heard from her at all?"
"No, not since the other night when I was here."
There were police inside, sitting with Beth's mom in the kitchen. She looked even more distraught than her husband.
"Beth is missing," said Mr. Clark. "We've looked everywhere. No one's seen her."
"Missing?" Brandon put a hand over his mouth.
"Can you think of anywhere she might have gone?" asked one of the policemen.
Brandon thought. "She said there was a cabin. A cabin in the forest. She said she liked to walk out there sometimes!"
"That's my dad's old cabin," Beth's mother said.
"Okay, okay, that's good, we'll get some guys out there, see if she's there."
Beth's father clapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you, Brandon."
"I hope she's okay," Brandon said. "Please call me, okay?"
"We will."
Brandon sat alone in his empty house, feeling powerless. He kept trying Beth's number, but now it just went to voice mail. He sat on the floor in his room, leaning against his bed, comics spread around him on the floor, and wept. If Beth weren't okay, if they didn't find her, he wasn't sure what he would do.
He tried to read comics to distract himself, but he couldn't get his mind off of her. Beth's out there, somewhere, he thought, she could be hurt, or scared. She could be all alone.
I can't just sit here.
The thought hit him like a bolt of lightning: I'm going to find her.
He made copies, hundreds of copies, of a photo of Beth, with her parents' phone number. He went to their house to share them, then began walking door to door in her neighborhood, distributing the copies. He put them in mailboxes, attached them to streetlights and telephone poles, tacked them up to fences. He went in a widening spiral out from her house, putting them up until he ran out. Then he went back home to make more and picked up again from where he left off.
It was nearly dark when he finally decided to call it off for the day. His belly emitted loud groans (he had never stopped to eat), and his arm and leg muscles complained with every step.
"Hey, nerd," said a familiar voice.
Brandon turned to see Tommy Malone behind him, with his sidekick Russell in tow. Tommy was holding a giant wad of paper.
"Think you dropped these," Tommy said. He shoved the ball of paper into Brandon's chest. It was composed of Brandon's flyers, pulled from where he had posted them.
"What-? You...you fucking asshole!" Brandon said.
"Ooo, think he's upset," Tommy said.
Russell giggled.
"It's not funny, man." Brandon was beside himself with fury. "This isn't a game! She's missing, she could be hurt!"
"Aw, nerd's got a girlfriend," Tommy said.
"So sweet," Russell said with another giggle.
Brandon swung his fist toward Russell's giggling face, as hard as he could, but Tommy had the faster reflexes. He caught Brandon's hand easily. He pulled Brandon close with one powerfully muscled arm.
"You know what? I hope she is hurt. I hope she's fucking dead. What are you gonna do about it?"
He threw Brandon down on the sidewalk as casually as he might swat a bug. Brandon lay there, panting and red-faced, trembling, while the two of them walked away laughing. Finally, he crawled to his feet, and picked up the ball of paper. He carefully unwrapped it, separating each flyer .
I'm going to find her.
Brandon went back to work, and he did not stop, he did not eat, he did not rest, u
ntil each and every flyer was back where it had been placed.
Then he went home to make more.
______________________
The snake fangs pulsed as they injected venom into Brandon's hand.
"AHH!" Brandon launched backwards and blew through the lab wall. He skipped across the ground outside before impacting into the base of a tree. The tree fell with a crash, and Brandon scrabbled to his feet.
The snake coils were still wrapped tight.
Russell leaned close to Brandon's ear, "Nithe try, but I'm thtill here!"
Damn, Brandon thought. He had hoped to knock Russell off or knock him out, but his power had protected Russell from the impact just as it protected himself. His left hand and arm were getting puffy and stiff. Brandon reached up with his right hand to punch Russell in the face, but the angle was awkward; Russell easily pulled back to avoid the blow. Worse, tiny snakes were now wriggling in Russell's hair, they snapped at Brandon's fist with their little fangs.
"Snakes in your hair? You've got to be kidding me!" Brandon could feel them nipping at his neck now.
A shadow fell over them. Brandon looked up in time to see Tommy in mid-leap, falling out of the sky. He zipped to the side and Tommy landed with a thunderous impact, sending rocks and wood flying.
"Woooo! This shit is fucking AWESOME!" Tommy said. He grabbed hold of the tree's huge trunk and wrenched it free of its remaining roots. Gripping it like a giant baseball bat, he swung it at Brandon and Russell.
Brandon launched into the air, narrowly avoiding the tree. Russell's coils yanked hard on his neck, however, sending him in an arc that plowed him right back into the ground.
Tommy made another great leap, landing beside them. He seized Russell by the tail, and swung them over his head, finally flinging them in the direction of a small creek.
Brandon re-directed his path, bringing him down into the creek bed. He turned so Russell was underneath him and plunged into the water, grazing the bed of rocks.
He still has to breathe, he remembered of his experience in space. Let's hope he takes in some water.
Above him he saw Tommy leaping to intercept them again. Brandon curved his flight and rocketed up to meet him. At the last moment he turned and cut off his power, allowing Tommy to collide with Russell's sputtering, fanged face. The jolt was enough nearly to knock him out as well, but he managed to reactivate his power and sail down. Russell's coils were loose now. Brandon shrugged him off and threw him to the ground; he was out cold.
Suddenly, something hit him in the back: a big tree limb. Brandon fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.
A massive hand wrapped around his neck and Tommy hauled him into the air. He slammed Brandon into the ground and leaned over him.
"You're a tricky little nerd, I'll give ya that," he said, "but it's 'Game Over' time. And you're all out of extra lives."
______________________
One of the ships hovered above Brandon, and a light beamed down on him. Brandon tried to fly up to it, but he couldn't get off the ground. It was as if his feet were glued to the rooftop.
Another ship returned, and another, all casting beams down on Brandon. His arms splayed apart as they held him, immobile.
At the center of the aperture in the sky, another light formed, this one blood red.
A figure stepped forth.
______________________
When Brandon woke up the next morning, his body was sore all over. His feet were blistered and tender, but he forced his socks and shoes on, somehow, and got back to work.
I'm going to find her.
Beth's father was glad to see him, but had no good news. Beth was nowhere to be found.
"Thank you so much for putting up all those flyers," Beth's mom said, hugging him. "You're a sweet boy."
"I was thinking I'd go out to that cabin and look for her there," Brandon said.
"The police have already been over the whole area," Beth's dad said. "She's not out there."
"Still, I'd feel better if I at least gave it a try."
Beth's mom embraced him again. "Such a good boy. I'll give you the address."
He arrived at the cabin around noon. He wasn't sure how his dad would feel about what the gravel road had likely done to the paint job on his Lexus, but at the moment he really didn't care.
The cabin was modestly sized, one main room, a kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms. Beth's mom had given him a key, so he let himself in and looked around. Beth had described it pretty well. It was a cozy place, but the dusty old photos, the antique furniture, the lack of anything modern, made it an eerie snapshot of faded memories.
"Beth?" he called. "Are you here?"
No answer.
He looked around in the nooks and crannies, like the closets and attic, enough to feel comfortable that Beth wasn't stuck somewhere in the cabin. Then he checked to make sure he had everything he needed: his backpack, a full canteen, and his cell phone, complete with compass app. Satisfied that everything was present and accounted for, he went outside and locked the door behind him.
I'm going to find her.
"Beth!" he shouted as he stepped into the forest. No reply, unless you counted the birds.
For hours he walked, calling her name. He would range out in one direction until he feared he might get lost, then turn back. Once back at the cabin, he'd go out in another direction. He walked in diagonals each time: north, then northeast, then east, then southeast, and so on, all the way around the compass. When his voice grew hoarse, he'd drink from the canteen. Each time at the cabin, he would make sure and refill it.
By late afternoon, his feet hurt terribly. He was afraid to look at them for fear of seeing how bad the blisters had become.
"Beth..." he called weakly. His voice was degrading into a croak by this point, but he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.
I'm going to f- his foot kicked something white, causing it to skitter across the ground in front of him.
Brandon looked down, wiping sweat out of his eyes.
It was a cell phone. Beth's cell phone!
He picked it up of the ground. The screen was cracked, and the battery apparently dead, but he recognized it: it was her phone, all right.
"Beth! BETH!!! BEEETTHHH!!" he shouted in all directions, looking wildly back and forth.
Then he heard it, just barely: "Brandon...?"
He burst forward in the direction of the voice, and found behind a copse of trees a crevice. It widened out into a ravine nearby, but Beth's voice was coming from the tightest place in the crack, somewhere deep below the ground.
"Beth! I'm coming!" he called.
He searched until the ravine widened enough to fit inside, then he took off his backpack and lowered himself down. It was tight, but he crept slowly down until he could find footing at the bottom. He edged in her direction, and finally, he saw her dimly, in a sliver of light that made its way down from above. She was lying at the base of the crack, and had apparently dislodged a large stone during her fall. It lay across her feet.
"Brandon? I can't move," she said.
"It's okay! It's okay. I got you. I'm here." He knelt down over here and removed the canteen strap from around his neck. He unscrewed the top and held it out for her.
"Here. Water."
She sipped at it thirstily. "Oh. That's good."
Her glasses were gone, probably during the fall, and there was a terrible scrape on her right cheek, with flaps of skin hanging off.
"I've got a first aid kid in my pack up top. We just need to get you out of here."
"I can't move my legs," she said.
Brandon set the canteen down beside her and put his hands on the rock. It was very large, and impossibly heavy.
"Okay, I'm gonna try to move this. It's probably gonna hurt. A lot."
"Okay."
Brandon got his arms around the stone and braced his feet. He pulled as hard as he could, but couldn't move it.
"Damn. This thing is heavy."
"Shh. Stop that. You're going to be okay." He braced himself again, and pulled at the rock. He strained and strained. The stone did not budge.
"You have to go get help, Brandon."
"I'm not leaving you here," Brandon said.
"It's okay. Go get help."
He grabbed the stone again, braced himself, and pulled with all his might.
"GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Nothing.
Brandon sagged against the rock wall, breathing heavily.
"I'll be okay, just go get help."
Brandon looked up at the declining light. "Okay. Okay, but I'm leaving the water here for you, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll be back."
"I know you will."
Brandon ran a hand gently through her hair.
"You found me," she said. "You're a hero, Brandon. You're my hero."
He leaned down, and placed on her lips one soft kiss.
"Take that Captain Picard," he said.
She laughed. "Meh. He's bald anyway."
Brandon smiled. "Okay, I'll be back." He climbed back up out of the crevice, and looked back once, though he could not see her face from above. Then he grabbed his pack and ran in the direction of the cabin.
It was dark by the time Brandon returned with the police and rescue teams. They had big searchlights though, that illuminated the forest quite well.
"She's here," he said, showing them the crevice. "Beth! We're here!"
"Okay," one of the rescue workers said. "Stand back, we'll take care of it."
"You have to go down over here," Brandon said.
"I've got it, sir, it's okay. Miss Clark, can you hear me?"
There was no answer.
"BETH!" Brandon shouted.
The man lowered himself down. He was equipped for rescue operations, with a helmet light, hand lights, first aid kit, belt full of other equipment.
Brandon stepped back, and sat down on the grass. His feet felt like they were on fire.
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