by NB Blackbell
Aunt Jasper, are you there?
Jasper's head darted up. I'm here, but I don't know if we should use this way to speak right now. We were attacked earlier because of my talking inside my head, so we need to be super careful. Tell everyone we're okay and safe for the moment. We have a different vehicle and are headed home.
The little girl whispered, okay. Bye, I'll see you soon.
Jasper turned and looked at Nick. "It was Isabel's daughter. She was speaking to me, but I don't think that it's safe to speak that way, not for the moment, at least. Just in case, they have a way of listening to us. I might just be paranoid." He leaned forward and whispered, "Not at all. I think you're smart. We need to take as many precautions as we can. At least until we make it home safely. We don't want to take any chances. I think I'm done with road trips for a while after we get back to the hotel." Jasper smirked. "If you ask Jake, this is not considered a road trip." Nick smiled as he placed his head against hers. "If we're on the road and in a vehicle, then this is a road trip." The two of them giggled and proceeded to look out the window. They were thankful to have each other.
Chapter Fifteen
Nick looked back at Jasper, who was leaning on the window. "We're almost home." Jasper glanced over at him. "I know. It still seems so far away. We've been on this bus for so long. Isn't it funny we want nothing more but to get our lives back, but some of us will never be the same after all of this? When this started, I was all human, so I thought; now, I'm half Zafarian, related to the very monsters that want us dead. How am I supposed to feel about that?" They turned off onto the ramp that led to the hotel.
"You have to remember, Jasper, you never asked for any of this. You are who you are, and I happen to like that person. Being half-alien doesn't make us bad. What it does make us, though, is better prepared for anything to come." Jasper smirked. "You're right. I guess I should stop feeling guilty about it. I shouldn't be sorry for who I am." Nick pulled the bus into the hotel parking lot close to the hotel door. Jasper looked out the bus window at the hotel. "I feel different from when I left, and I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing." Nick got up and sat next to her. "I guess time will tell. You just remember you're not in this alone. There are a few of us in the same boat. Let's get the bags and let everyone know we made it back home."
The six stood at the door, knocking softly. The hotel looked exceptionally quiet; this made Jasper happy. She looked at Jake, "It's a good thing. It looks so quiet; it means the aliens haven't detected them." Seconds later, the sky filled with a loud hum. Nick grabbed Jasper and yelled for the rest to get back on the bus. They leaned against the windows and watched as the sky above filled with hovercrafts. Jasper's eyes widened. "Damn it! Check the stuff just in case there's another tracer in with it." Jake glanced over her way. "We already did. There's no more. I wonder if they can sense us since we're half-aliens." Nick looked over at Jasper. "What's that little girl's name?" Jasper looked up at him, "Christie. But we shouldn't talk in our heads just in case they can hear." Nick looked out at the hovercrafts. "They heard you, not me. I'm going to try just in case it works."
Nick closed his eyes, Christie, are you there?' Within seconds, he heard: Yes. Who's this? Nick watched the hovercrafts closely as he continued, The hotel is surrounded by hovercrafts. We're parked outside but we are not taking a chance of getting seen. Christie whispered, They've been watching this area a lot the last couple of days but never this close to the hotel. I think they know I'm here. They can sense half-aliens, you know. Nick looked over at Jasper as he continued communicating with Christie. We're going to send in two humans. The hotel should be emptied of anyone who is half-alien. That's the only way we can keep humans safe.
Jasper and the others will wait on the bus until we figure out how to remain safe. Once you're on, we'll move the bus away from the hotel; just until we see if the hovering has anything to do with us. Christie paused for a second. Okay. Mommy says we'll be out in a second.
Nick turned to everyone and said, "Okay, Guys. This is how it's going to work. Rick, you and Carla are going to go into the hotel. The rest of us are staying on the bus. Isabel and her daughter are coming out and joining us on the bus. We're going to move the bus away from the hotel and watch and see if those rats follow us. Christie believes they might be sensing the half-aliens and are trying to get their hands on them."
Rick and Carla moved to the front of the bus. As Rick glanced over at Nick, he said, "You guys be careful not to get caught. I'll look for John when I get in and tell him what's happening." As they approached the hotel door, they spotted Isabel and Christie, who stood there in the doorway. Nick motioned for them to run. Once the door was shut, he pulled the bus out of the parking lot. Jake wandered to the front and sat next to Isabel. He looked at her with fear in his eyes. Wrapping his arms around both her and the little one, he whispered.
"I'll give my life before I let anything happen to either of you," kissing her cheek while he nuzzled closer. Isabel laid her head on his should and let out a deep sigh. Jake gazed over at Nick. "So, Nick, where are we going?" Nick pulled up next to the bridge. "Just right here. Far enough away to watch the hotel and to see what those bastards will do." Jake looked at Isabel, she looked worried. "Hey, you don't have to worry so much. We're all here together." Isabel nodded. "I know, just want this to be over. You make me feel safe, and I know with you here we are." Jake looked out the window and over at the crafts. "It should be soon. This is the only way of testing them; we just need to sit and watch. They can't see the bus. We drove by so many of them, but we've had problems with them searching for us on the way back."
The hovercrafts moved away from the hotel and headed over towards the bridge. "Damn it!" yelled Nick. "It's us. "They're on the hunt for half-aliens. I bet they know we were on their ship. That thing in the blue box has to be something of importance." Nick ran to the back of the bus and fished it out of the bag. He sat down and opened the box. The device was a shiny shade of silver. Nick picked it up and played with it, "It has to do something." A bright green light lit up on the device. He held it up in the air. "Look, it turns on.
Now, I just have to figure out what the hell it does." Just as Nick was about to lay it down, he spotted a ship falling from the sky. Fire rose to the sky as the craft continued to burn with no survivors. Seconds later, two more crashed, setting the ships aflame. Jasper gasped. "Holy shit! What just happened?" Nick looked down at the device. The blinking green light caught his eye. "Holy shit is right! I think we have our hands on the only thing that can stop them." Nick picked it up and ran to the front of the bus. "It doesn't make any noise or really do anything, but when that light started to flash, the hovercrafts crashed. If this is for real, then we are on to something, and that something just might get us home or at least freedom."
Isabel reached over. "Let me see it, please." Isabel took the device from Nick. She turned it in every direction and looked at it from one end to the other. "This doesn't seem to be anything like we have on earth. Christie, have you seen this before?" Christie examined it. "Yes, it makes noise that hurts the Zafarians. It won't hurt us, though, only the ones who have the rods." Isabel felt puzzled. "What do you mean by the rods?" Her daughter leaned over the seat and pointed below her ear. "The full aliens have an organ below their left ear called a rod. It's the only way they can die. This makes a deafening sound that hurts them. It won't hurt them unless you're close to them, though, like maybe less than a mile away." Isabel looked over at her daughter. "How do you know this?" Christie shrugged. "I don't know. They just talk around us like we're not there." Isabel turned to Jake and Nick. "We better leave the light on. If this does what she says it does, then they're going to be pissed that we have any idea what it is." Jake looked out the window. "There haven't been any more around since they crashed. My worry is that if that's what happened, and this goes off, they're going to strike at us hard." Nick got up and walked towards the front of the bus. "I can self-heal, so I'm going to go out there and see if it'
s safe."Jasper felt sick to her stomach at the thought of this. Be careful, she said inside her head. Nick looked over and smiled at her, then walked off the bus. The group watched out the window, looking around to see if any new hovercrafts would come around. Nick walked over to the broken-down ship. Peering into the window, he could see the alien lying there lifeless. He looked back at the bus and gave a thumb-up, then continued walking while observing the surrounding skies. Nick turned towards the bus and whispered, "Turn it off for a second and then back on when I give you the signal to."
Isabel reached down and switched it off. The light stopped flickering. Within minutes, the loud hum of the hovercrafts filled the sky and got louder as they got closer. Nick turned and motioned for her to switch it back on. In the distance, a bright flash filled the sky as another craft crashed. Nick ran back to the bus. "Damn it, I think we're on to something. They can't come around as long as that's on." Nick got in the driver's seat and pulled the bus over to the parking lot of the hotel. "All of us can now enter the hotel. Just whatever you do, don't turn that off. They're just waiting for us to turn it off so they can attack." The group got off and headed for the door. John ran to open it. "Oh, my God! I'm so glad you guys are okay. Did you see those ships crash? I have no idea what's going on, but you want to see a bunch of frightened people, just go look under the beds."
After they all piled in, John locked the doors. Isabel pulled out the device. "This is what happened, John. See this flashing green light? If it's flashing, it will keep them away. We think it lets off a noise that's too sharp for us to hear, but it kills the aliens if they're anywhere around us. If that's the case, we'll be safe here for a while. As long as they don't do anything to prevent this." John looked at the device. "I've never seen anything like this. You should put it in your room, somewhere it won't get touched." Jake looked at her. "My room might be better. I don't have pets playing or any children around." Isabel nodded and handed it to him, "Good idea."
Jasper looked at Faith as she came running down the hall. "You're all back! John told me what happened with the crafts. I was so worried." Jasper smiled. "We're okay, I promise. It's been a super long trip, so we're just happy to be back. For a minute there, I thought we would never get to see you again." Faith looked her in the eyes, "That's not true. If you buggers would've been stuck on that bus much longer, I would have come out to join you. You guys have been like family to me for so long, not even John could've stopped me. "John rolled his eyes at her, "That's a fact." The group headed down the hall towards the board room. John looked over at Nick. "Those crafts have been hovering over this hotel since you guys left Mexico. It had to have been the fact that they knew you found the device. But if they couldn't see you because you were all in red, how did they know?" Nick shook his head.
"We think it's feasible that they can detect the half-alien in us. My guess is they know it was a half-alien that found the device. The ship door was too heavy for anyone else to have opened it. Billy was strong enough to open it plus, the drawers it was kept in, so that's the only thing I can think of." John shook his head, "Sounds about right. These gifts are a blessing and a curse at the same time." John paused. "Billy has supernatural strength? When did he get that?" Jasper laughed. "A lot has happened since we left. You really need to be filled in." She nodded as they entered the board room and headed over to the table.
Nick joined Jasper and motioned for the rest of the group to go relax and maybe get some sleep. John watched quietly. "You're pretty good at that. You didn't even need to say a word." Nick leaned against the table. "I spent a lot of years in training for special ops. Funny thing, though, I remember being involved in some kind of combat training. It had to do with the aliens." Jasper chimed in. "Yes, I remember something like that too. It's crazy; it's like a really faded memory." John took a deep breath. "Every time we turn around, it gets crazier with this half-alien thing. I'm so glad you're on our side. I don't think we would have a chance without you." Nick looked at John with a serious look. "No, we're all a team, and this win is a team effort. We may have gifts that help along the way, but it takes every single one of us to win this war." John nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, so start from the beginning." Jasper leaned against Nick as she spoke. "We were on the way to Mexico when we went through White Rock. The whole place was gone. It was one large set of crops. The aliens were guarding them as the humans tended to them. We didn't have any problems the whole way there. We did see a woman though when we hit LA. We told her to tell everyone about using hand radios; hopefully, they listened." John put his hands on the table, "Yes, I heard from a few people; one from LA. and another from San Francisco. They told me that they saw writing on the side of a gas station telling them to use a handheld radio. I filled them both in on what's going on; oh, and I heard from the Colonel too. I forget exactly where he's located. He's in the USA, though. He followed our instructions and reported back that they've had progress. I told him we'll report anything new once you return. I see that you brought back Rick and his niece, Carla. That was a good idea. He seems to know a lot about what's going on down south. I told Mike I would send back two of ours to help get them prepared for war." Jasper curiously asked, "Do we have anyone picked out yet?" John gazed over, "Yes. Loretta has volunteered, and Chris will be joining her." Jasper bit her lip. "The conditions down there are deplorable. They don't have a lot, and they're locked up in a warehouse with barely any light." John leaned back. I hate sending anyone to a place with those types of conditions, but they're desperately in need of help. Perhaps we can stock up the bus with supplies before they go. So, what else happened?" Nick reached under the table and grabbed onto Jasper's hand. He could feel she was a little tense. "We went to the ruins and came across a door in the ground beside an old temple. The door was hefty. We nearly didn't get it open. I cut myself when I tried. Turns out, I can self-heal." John's eyes enlarged as Nick continued. "Billy gave it a shot. He opened it as if it was as light as a feather. Jasper went in first and found a light source. It lit up bright green. I think that's so they can see better, probably why the fog is green." John hurried Nick along. "Come on. What happened next?" Nick smiled. "Hold on. I'm getting there. So we searched the whole ship. It was massive, so it took a while. We found quite a few things, one being the key that opened the drawer for Jasper and Billy. That's where the device was. We found quite a bit, though, that has to be gone through. Anyway, moving on with the rest of the day, we hit the road and started to return home when the van broke down. I think the lack of oil seized the engine, but who knows? For all we know, they did it to stop us." Jasper interrupted. "That's when all the problems started. We walked for what felt like forever until we found this town, that's where those stupid crafts found us and shot me." John freaked out. "You were shot? Are you all right?" She leaned in towards John. "Nick healed me. I have so much anxiety thinking about it. If he hadn't been able to heal me, I would be dead right now." Nick squeezed Jasper's hand a little, "But I did, so we don't have to worry about it, do we? She's fine, I won't ever let anything happen to her again. We ran into this house across from where they shot her and took up shelter there for a while. We needed the time to stop and think about what our next move was. Those hovercrafts were camped outside the house, so we knew something was up. Jasper found a tracer inside the blue box right under that device and threw it out onto the road." Jasper gazed over at Nick. "Yeah, that's when they decided to guard the house on foot. It's like they sensed us, or at least the sensor. We found a bus, painted it red, and long story short, now we're home." John got up and walked over to the window. "Wow! That's one hell of a story! You guys are lucky to be back. What made you think of painting the bus?" Nick looked at Jasper. "Jasper thought of it and then used her mind to make the paint appear for us. It took a few hours for it to dry, but it was the best idea we could come up with. Too bad we didn't know what we were carrying, eh Jasper." Jasper stood up. "I really need some sleep. You should get some too, Nick. You've been up for hours driving." John
motioned for them to go get some sleep, then headed off to talk to his wife.
Nick grabbed Jaspers arm and pulled her close, "Are you all right?" She gazed up into his eyes, "I am. I need some sleep, though; it's come to the point that I can't even think. Reaching up she kissed his cheek, "You get some sleep, I'll see you once I wake up" She smiled and headed to her room.
Hours later, Jasper woke to a tiny little tongue washing her face. Opening one eye, she saw Buddy wagging his tail frantically, trying to wake her up. "Hi, boy, I'm so glad to see you too. Come here." She reached over and pulled him over to her, and scratching behind his ears, she whispered, "You make life feel so ordinary, I missed you so much. Nookers jumped up onto the bed. Buddy dived at him and wrestled him. "Aww! Poor guy. He misses me too." She reached over to rub him. "You're a good boy." She looked over at Isabel's bed. It was empty. 'It must still be early,' she thought to herself. She got up and threw her hair in a ponytail, then headed to the sink to splash some water on her face.
As she headed out of the bathroom, Marcy walked into the room, "Oh, hi. I was just coming to check on them. They're happy to see you, especially Buddy. He looked all over for you." Jasper smiled. "I missed him too. I miss taking him for walks in the park or just waking up in the morning with not a care in the world." Marcy nodded. "I know what you mean. I miss the sun so bad. John told us you found a device to keep the aliens away from the hotel. Is this true?" Jasper nodded. "Yeah, so far it works. The guys still need to go investigate, but we think four ships crashed because of it." Marcy was so excited. She reached up and hugged Jasper. "Oh, my God! We might make it home after all." Jasper hugged her back but then gently pushed her away. "I don't know about home. It doesn't switch worlds; it just prevents them from getting close to us for the moment. It allows us time to find a way to get rid of them. We may eventually get rid of them, but there's no saying our home will ever be the same. That's not even a guarantee that we'll win, but we'll try." Marcy took a deep breath. "I pray every night we'll all get home safely. Beth never got a chance, and it'll be hard to never see her again, but the rest of us must've survived for some reason. I have to believe we have a chance against them, don't you?" Jasper thought about it for a second. "I do believe we have a shot against them. If it's not a well thought out plan, then we're screwed, but if we plan it well, maybe we can do this." Marcy reached down and patted her leg for Buddy to come. "Hope you don't mind; I'm going to take them down to my room and entertain them for a bit."Jasper smiled. "No, I don't mind at all." Jasper picked up the book she grabbed off the ship. "I'm going to find Isabel and Christie. Have fun with Buddy and Nookers."