The End of the World As We Know It

by Iva-Marie Palmer

  Sarabeth nodded and started pulling him back toward what was left of the mall, and the smoking cavern and the still-burning ship, ignoring warnings from the crowd behind them. They don’t get it, Leo thought. We can’t leave them behind.

  Doom settled over them as they moved closer to the massive bonfire and the adjacent crater. How could anyone have survived that? Leo bit his lip, trying to stay strong, when he spotted a figure emerging from the wreckage. Dust-covered, dirty, and glistening with what had to be man sweat came Evan, carrying Teena prone across his arms. She was unconscious, but as Leo ran closer to Evan, he could see the rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing.

  Yup. Leo might have had his action-movie moment, but Evan was laying claim to the whole action-movie franchise.

  “That guy better get some when all this is over,” he said, a little louder than he’d meant to, as he made his way closer to Evan. A crowd of people, including Sarabeth, their parents, and Evan’s mom, was following him, eager to help the ship’s last survivors.

  Sarabeth slapped him above the elbow, and behind them, he heard her mom give a little cough. “Thankfully, it is over,” Sarabeth said.

  Evan stopped in front of them, and his mom ran to him and pulled his head to her shoulder. “My boy,” she said. Looking at Leo, Evan blushed.

  “We need to get her some medical help,” he said, nodding down at Teena.

  “I’ll take her,” his mom said, and was joined by another woman, who helped carry Teena away.

  “It’s okay, she’s a nurse,” Evan said, looking from Leo to Sarabeth, who threw her arms around him. Leo did the same.

  “Most-deserved group hug ever,” Leo said, hardly believing they were all still alive and three of them were conscious.

  “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Evan asked, looking down at Teena’s pretty, peaceful face.

  “I do,” Leo said, looking to a grassy median in the parking lot where Evan’s mom and several other people, probably nurses and doctors in their regular lives, were tending to Teena and a few other captives with minor wounds.

  “What happened to you?” Sarabeth asked, pointing to Evan’s arm, which was covered with tiny pinpricks.

  “Leo tell you about the juicer?” Evan asked. Sarabeth nodded. “They tried to drain me.”

  He pulled the handle of his bat from under his arm. It was just a stump at this point, one end of it ragged and broken. “This thing saved my life, again. Broke their machine and everything.” He glanced back at the burning ship. “Well, I think you guys did that.”

  “Group hug again,” Sarabeth said, going for it. “Thank God you guys are all right.”

  “Forget God. Thank Evan,” Leo said.

  A small smile on his lips, Evan scanned the crowd behind them, looking at the thousands of people standing there.

  “This isn’t the whole town, is it?” Evan asked.

  “I hate to say it, but doesn’t look like it.” Leo had been wondering the same thing.

  “Yeah. If only a quarter of the town was captured, why haven’t we seen anyone else in the last two days?” Sarabeth asked, reading his mind.

  “They’re at home. Asleep,” came a strong voice from behind Leo. Leo turned and saw a very upright man in a black suit with such sharp edges Leo thought he could cut himself on them.

  “Who are you?” Leo asked. “And what do you mean, asleep?”

  The man extended a hand and said only, “The people you’ve been waiting for.” His voice was so official, it worked better than a badge.

  This guy was for real. Leo just knew. “Now the government gets here?”

  “Ha. Government,” the man said. “No. We’re a private interest.”

  “Not interested enough,” Leo said.

  “And you still haven’t told us what you mean by asleep,” Evan said.

  “The people who aren’t here are asleep in their homes. The Veoisans have a technology—a gas—that allows them to bring on temporary paralysis in both humans and Veoisans,” the suited man said, looking from Evan to Leo to Sarabeth. “You probably saw it active in its more portable, short-term form.”

  Evan nodded. “Yeah, they used it on Leo and Teena.”

  “Interesting, we’ll need to look into that.” Mr. Private Interest checked the fact off in his head. “The Veoisans used their gas in all the homes with chimneys, where they could easily pipe it in. As those people slept, the Veosians captured all the people in their cars or houses without chimneys. The Veoisans were going to drain the people they had, then go back for the others.”

  “But why drain people?” Leo asked, piecing things together as the man spoke.

  “Our bodies are a natural source of fluids that can keep their ecosystem healthy,” Mr. Private Interest said. “They would have used our fluids to feed their planet.”

  “Ew,” Sarabeth said. “And why stack the cars like that?” She pointed to the car towers off in the distance.

  “A flair for the dramatic coupled with a slight fear of human technology,” Mr. Private Interest said.

  “Ah, that explains why our remote-control cars worked so well,” Leo said, enjoying the agent’s puzzled face. “So they stopped people from coming into town?”

  “No,” the man said. “We were keeping people out of the town while it was occupied by the aliens. But now there should be paramedics here, to help you.”

  Evan gave the man a dirty look. “Seriously? We could have had help all this time? What kind of assholes are you?”

  “Yeah, why not help? And why keep people out of our town? And why did the Veoisans attack?” Leo asked.

  “One question at a time. We knew. We just knew too late,” the man said. “We’ve had cutbacks ourselves and failed to make our delivery for the last two months. The Veoisans—their planet isn’t part of our galaxy—are normally a peaceful race. But when their planet began to dry out, they got desperate.”

  “What’s this delivery? What do they need that we have?” Leo asked.

  “Our group makes a special erythritol-based compound we supply them with to help keep their planet moist. The compound mimics the enzymes and moisture found in the human body, which is why they were harvesting people as a replacement.”

  “But what do you get out of these deliveries? Besides them not coming here to kill us all,” Sarabeth asked.

  “Let’s just say they have resources equally valuable to us,” the man said. “It’s in our interest—our business interest—to be good intergalactic neighbors. That’s actually in our mission statement at Intergalactic Hospitality for Other Planets.”

  “Wait … IHOP?” Leo squinted.

  Mr. Private Interest nodded, seeming annoyed.

  “For real? IHOP has something to do with this?” Leo sputtered.

  “Yes,” Mr. Private Interest said. “That’s all I can say.”

  “So, explain to me again why you didn’t help,” Leo said, kind of annoyed. This guy was unreadable. It was like he was wearing dark sunglasses, even though his eyes were clearly visible.

  “IHOP has agreements. Like I said, it’s just business,” he said. “Plus, once we realized most of the damage was done and several teenagers were controlling the threat, it became of interest to us to see how you would fare.”

  Leo felt his fists clench. “Even though we could have died?”

  “Even though we didn’t even know what we were up against?” Sarabeth asked, sounding equally pissed.

  “Even though there were only four of us, and they’re almost indestructible?” Evan was gripping what was left of his bat so tightly, it was shaking.

  The man shrugged. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

  “Barely.” Leo wanted to send this tool back to wherever he came from.

  “Mr. Starnick, you in particular caught our attention,” Mr. Private Interest said, handing him an IHOP business card. All it contained was a logo and a three-digit number, 888. “You predicted that aliens would choose Tinley Hills, and you were r
ight.”

  Leo squinted at the guy. “Maybe.”

  The man pulled a folded piece of paper from inside his suit jacket. “You posted on an online forum called Dangerous Skies last year that, quote, when aliens decide to make the journey cross-galaxy or whatever, Tinley Hills will be the number-one target, end quote.”

  “Dude, do you know how high I was when I wrote that?”

  Sarabeth and Evan chortled.

  “Our company doesn’t care how you arrive at the answers, just that you arrive at them,” Mr. Private Interest said, his impenetrable dark eyes lacking any humor whatsoever. “And, when you think about it, it makes sense. Plenty of people in a dry town means pure specimens.”

  “Clearly, they don’t know my dad,” Leo said. “Or Abe.”

  “Ah, they know Abe,” Mr. Private Interest said, his jaw setting into a frown. “He used to work with IHOP, long ago.”

  Sarabeth’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you talking about the same Abe who we met?” she asked. “Lived in a mobile home by the … IHOP?”

  Mr. Private Interest nodded.

  Leo remembered something. “He had squirt guns, filled with alcohol, just like us,” he said, more to Sarabeth than to Mr. Private Interest. “They weren’t just for drinking.”

  “That’s kind of disappointing,” Evan said jokingly.

  “Yes, Abe made a few enemies in his day,” Mr. Private Interest said, clearly not in on the joke. Then he morphed his serious expression into a salesman’s smile and asked Leo, “Ever care to see Area Fifty-One, the world? Other worlds? We’re looking for people like you.”

  Leo grinned and reached out for Sarabeth’s hand.

  “It’s an interesting offer, and I’ll keep it in mind,” he said, flicking Mr. IHOP’s card. “But for now, I’ve got a prom to catch.”

  39

  HANGOVER

  Teena McAuley, 8:08 A.M. Casimir Pulaski Day, Orland Ridge Mall Parking Lot

  Why did her head hurt so bad?

  How much had she had to drink?

  She must really have been mad about Cameron and Nina to have gotten so wasted.

  Wait, why was she on the ground? Was this … the mall parking lot? She turned on her side.

  Where was the mall?

  “Breathe, honey,” a woman’s voice said. “You’re gonna be okay.”

  Teena sucked in air, and it was like she’d swallowed back her memories. Her party. The dead people. The aliens. She wasn’t hungover. She’d been hurt in the last battle. But where were Sarabeth and Leo? And Evan. She had to find them. She sat bolt upright and tried to stand, but her nurse pushed her gently down. “Don’t move too fast, sweetie. We just stitched you up.”

  “Yeah, your leg looked pretty awful,” came a familiar voice.

  She blinked and turned her head to the other side. There was Cameron Lewis, his teeth gleaming white in his perfect but ash-smudged face. Had Cameron saved her? How had he found her?

  Teena smiled wanly in response.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come to,” he said. “Are you okay?” There was worry in his eyes.

  “I am, I think,” Teena said. “Are you?”

  Cameron nodded. She could barely pay attention to his handsome face because she couldn’t stop herself from looking over his shoulder for Evan and her friends. Maybe Cameron had saved her. And if so, she was grateful. But the weird thing was, she didn’t care the way she would have a few days ago. She just wanted to find everyone else.

  “Have you seen your sister?” Teena asked, earning a quizzical look from Cameron.

  “Yeah, she’s back with my mom and that Leo guy,” he said. “I can’t believe you guys did what you did. And Evan Brighton. He’s … ”

  “What about Evan? Is he okay?” She sat up again and this time didn’t let the nurse urge her back down.

  Cameron pointed to a cluster of people. “He was over there. People haven’t stopped coming up to him since he brought you off the ship. It was pretty badass.” Evan had saved her? Again? How many of her lives did she owe the guy?

  She stood up. Her leg wasn’t that bad. She started hobbling in the direction Cameron had pointed, even as the nurse protested.

  What the nurse didn’t understand was that, for Teena, finding Evan was a matter of life or death.

  40

  GIVE ME SOME (OUTER) SPACE

  Evan Brighton, 8:13 A.M. Casimir Pulaski Day, Mall Parking Lot

  Evan was staring at the wreckage of the ship and the mall, or at least pretending to. He wanted to look like the stoic hero who’d be just fine on his own, even if he wasn’t quite feeling it. He thought better of comparing his heart to the deep, empty pit in the asphalt where the mall had been. Instead, he just soaked it in, comforted by the realization that if he could survive an alien attack, he could certainly find a girlfriend. Someday, anyway.

  “Evan.” Teena’s voice behind him was impossibly, annoyingly irresistible. He spun around without even thinking about it.

  “Hey,” he said, sounding cooler than he felt.

  “What are you doing by yourself?” She was limping on her bad leg, and her tangled hair was pressed against her head in weird places. Yet she was more gorgeous than ever.

  “You shouldn’t be walking on that leg,” he said automatically. He didn’t know if he could ever fully stop worrying about Teena. Then, remembering the situation, he shrugged. “I was coming to check on you, but I saw you with Cameron. I didn’t want to spoil your moment.”

  Teena hobbled closer to him. She was so much shorter than he was, he half wanted to lift her up so it would be easier to see into her eyes.

  “What if I was hoping for a moment with you?” Teena asked, sounding kind of shy.

  Evan smirked. “Look, you don’t have to be all nice just because we got through some things together. I get it,” he said.

  “Oh, things like saving my life a shitload this weekend? Figuring out that I was not in the sea of people you freed from the ship? Coming back to get me?”

  He shrugged again. “Seriously, it’s no big deal.”

  “Just take some credit, already,” Teena said, and now she grabbed his hand. Her little palm wrapped around his big one perfectly. “And maybe we can try a do-over of the Bed Bath & Beyond thing we started?”

  Evan’s blush rose so fast he whipped around so Teena wouldn’t see it. With his eyes on the mall, he said, “Really, I don’t want you to do me any favors. I know I’m not your type.”

  “Then I was choosing the wrong type.” Teena was leaning into him. She tugged his arm, pulling him toward her, and then she kissed him.

  She wasn’t just doing this out of obligation. He touched her face, and he could feel her mouth lift into a smile beneath his fingertips. He almost wanted to jump in the air and pump his fists. Instead, he clutched her tighter, wanting to be as close to her as possible.

  When they finally pulled apart, he grinned. “You know, we can do this thing, but I don’t plan on taking any of your shit.”

  Teena smiled up at him in a way that made it clear he probably would take her shit. At least some of it. “I know,” she said. “I was just wondering how you’d feel about a date.”

  He lifted her so they were face-to-face and kissed her again. “With you?” he said teasingly. “We’ll see.”

  41

  WHAT’S NEXT?

  Sarabeth Lewis, 6:09 P.M. Casimir Pulaski Day, Orland Ridge Mall Parking Lot

  Sarabeth pulled a paramedic blanket tight around her shoulders. Now that night had fallen, the weather had grown colder. Still, she thought she felt a hint of spring’s arrival in the air. She leaned her head back onto Leo’s shoulder and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. Next to them, Teena and Evan were huddled together beneath their own blanket. They were the last people in the mall parking lot, and in front of them, the gaping hole left by the mall was illuminated beneath streetlamps that had finally come back on.

  Sarabeth was still in disbelief over everything that had happened, and
the fact that she was standing here not just a survivor, but a survivor with a boyfriend. She looked from Leo to Tevan—Teena had already given herself and Evan a couple name.

  “Should we take a walk?” Her friends agreed. Clearly they weren’t ready to leave yet, either.

  Everyone else had gone back to their homes and to check on loved ones who hadn’t been captured and were waking up from weekend-long naps. The town went to work planning vigils for the victims. Seventy-one students had died at Teena’s house, and the destruction at the stores on Route 33 and the killings on the ship added a few hundred more bodies to the dead.

  It was a tragedy, but life was already going on. Sarabeth and her friends had been interviewed by every news station. Fan groups had already started on Facebook, and girls were arguing over who was hotter, Evan or Leo. Sarabeth was a little jealous and tempted to tell all of the groupies to keep their grubby hands off Leo. After saving the world, she wanted him all to herself.

  Sarabeth and Leo held hands as they walked. Teena and Evan, right in front of them, were doing the same. For the first time in nearly three days, they had nowhere they needed to go, and no mission. The aimless walking was kind of nice, even if they did have to look out for debris. Suddenly, Teena stopped and pointed. They all stared disbelievingly at what stood in front of them.

  “I can’t believe it’s still here,” Teena said.

  “It’s indestructible,” Evan said.

  “It’s incredible,” Leo said, patting the Gussy Me Up van like it was an old and endearing horse that hadn’t been ridden in a while. “Janie, we love you, too,” he said to Abe’s trailer.

  Despite the blast that had taken out half the mall, the van and trailer still stood at the far corner of the parking lot, bruised but proud. The Gussy Me Up vehicle’s dented pink surface kind of fit nicely with the dystopian landscape behind it.

  Sarabeth surveyed the gaping wound left by the mall and the smoldering remains of the ship, which had been roped off by Mr. Private Interest’s friends. Odd as it seemed, she was a little proud of the destruction.