This Town Is Not All Right

by M. K. Krys

  “They’re like sea stars.” Everleigh had appeared next to Beacon. She stood there, watching the aliens. “They evert their stomachs outside their bodies to eat. The digestive enzymes absorb the food, and the liquefied food is then absorbed through the body and transferred to other organs. Pretty neat.”

  “H-how do you know all this? Why are you here?” Beacon asked.

  “Because I’m a Gold Star, of course,” Everleigh answered proudly.

  “I thought the Gold Stars were a youth group to promote social responsibility or whatever,” he said.

  “We are. And we’re also youth ambassadors for the Sovereign. If you join us, you’ll get to find out all about them, too. You can be a part of this incredible partnership.”

  Beacon backed up, bumping into the door. Right now, his twin sister seemed as alien to him as the creatures inside that cafeteria.

  “Don’t be scared, Beacon,” Everleigh said. “They’re here to help us, not hurt us.” She offered him a sterile smile.

  He turned around and ran. Down the corridor, through another set of doors. Down hallway after bleached white hallway, past people in headsets ordering him to stop.

  He was careening down another nondescript corridor when a set of hands banged on the glass from behind one of the doors. He skidded to a stop and whirled around.

  Arthur!

  His friend smiled when he saw him, but his eyes were red and weary behind his glasses, which had a crack down the middle of one of the lenses and sat crooked on his nose. He looked like a ghost of himself. What had they done to him?

  Beacon knew it seemed too good to be true that the aliens were helping them adapt. Why would they hurt Arthur? Kidnap Beacon? Brainwash kids?

  Beacon tested the handle. Locked.

  “The doors are electronic,” Arthur said, his voice muted from the inches of thick door between them. “You aren’t going to get it open like that.”

  That didn’t stop Beacon from jerking the handle, then slamming his body against the door. He heaved and shoved at the thick metal with all his might. All he got out of it was a sore hip and bruised, stinging hands. A siren wailed overhead, and red light beamed across the white walls.

  “Go,” Arthur cried. “Get out while you can.”

  “I won’t leave you,” Beacon said.

  “Don’t be dumb,” Arthur replied. “If you don’t leave, then we’ll both be trapped.”

  He didn’t want Arthur to be right, but he was. If Beacon was caught, there would be no one to come after them. No one to save them. His own dad was complicit, and the rest of his family was on the other side of the continent. Arthur’s grandma would report him missing eventually, but who knew what might have happened to them by then, if the police even found them at all. Sheriff Nugent had been the one to shoot him. He might be Sov, for all he knew. Leaving was the smart thing to do. But he couldn’t just abandon his friend.

  Beacon got an idea. He turned on his heel and raced around the corner. He remembered passing a fire hose not long ago. He just hoped he could find it in time.

  He was running so fast, he skidded past the glass enclosure. He doubled back, panting for breath, staring at the thick, coiled hose locked behind the glass.

  He may not be a genius like Arthur, but he had dropped his phone into the bathtub twice. If there was one thing he knew, it was that water fried electronics.

  He pulled the sleeve of his hospital gown over his fist, then took a steely breath and punched the enclosure. A firework of glass rained down. He yelped and yanked his hand back, shaking his stinging fist. There were two gashes on his knuckles that he was sure would hurt a lot more when the adrenaline stopped pumping through his body.

  He grabbed the end of the hose. Then he ran down the corridor, unspooling the coil as he did. He skidded up to Arthur’s cell . . . just as Gold Stars rounded the corner. Jane’s perfect blond curls bounced around her shoulders as she jerked to a stop and stabbed a manicured finger at Beacon.

  “Stop right now!” she yelled.

  Footsteps pounded the tile, and in moments, more Gold Stars appeared from the other direction.

  He spun in a circle, but it was no use.

  He was trapped.

  14

  “Put the hose down and your hands on your head,” Nixon ordered.

  Beacon narrowed his eyes and aimed the hose at the door.

  He fired.

  Water surged through the hose, inflating the tube with a speed and power that nearly blasted him off his feet. He struggled as it fishtailed in his grip like an angry serpent. Finally, he managed to point the hose right at the crack in the door. He doused the door in water, and sparks fizzed and popped from the gap in the metal.

  “Stay out of the water!” Arthur yelled from inside. “You’ll get electrocuted!”

  Beacon leaped back from the growing puddle at his feet. Gold Stars thundered toward him in a clamor of squeaking boots.

  “Stay back!” Beacon shouted.

  But they didn’t stop running.

  One by one, they ran into the water like lemmings running off a cliff. And one by one, they all went down, twitching in the charged water. Nixon, Perry, Sumiko—they were all dead.

  No. No, no, no. He had only meant to free Arthur. He hadn’t meant to kill them.

  What had he done? These kids weren’t even Sov. They’d just been brainwashed like his sister had been.

  That’s when he saw the girl with the dark brown ponytail facedown in the water.

  Beacon let out a noise somewhere between a scream and a sob. He dropped the hose.

  “Everleigh.”

  He ran to his sister, falling to his knees just outside the pool of water. Tears stung his eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

  “Oh, Everleigh.”

  He reached out to touch her shoulder. But to his shock, his sister turned. Beacon gasped and skidded back.

  “What the heck happened?” Everleigh asked, groaning as she got up.

  “Everleigh! You’re alive!”

  “Of course I’m alive. Why wouldn’t I be?” She looked around, as if seeing the craft for the first time. Then she glanced down at her outfit, and a repulsed look came over her face.

  Perry stumbled to his feet. He swiped water off his Gold Stars jacket and shook out his spiky hair like a dog.

  Nixon got up next. He winced and clutched his head.

  “What’s going on?” Perry asked him.

  “I—I don’t know,” Nixon said.

  Sumiko pushed herself up, wobbling slightly. She squinted at her surroundings as if trying to puzzle something out.

  They didn’t want him dead. They didn’t want to trap him. They didn’t even seem to remember why they’d been chasing him so desperately. The Gold Stars had somehow been snapped out of their mind-controlled state.

  Beacon didn’t get it.

  But then he realized what had happened. The electronics. The water. Beacon had electrocuted the kids, and it had messed with their brains. It undid whatever the Sov’s antidote had done to alter their brain waves so they would be complacent.

  Thrilled, Beacon turned to the door.

  “Arthur, we found a cure!”

  But Arthur wasn’t in the window. Beacon cupped his hands around his face and peered inside the room. Arthur was lying on the floor in front of his stretcher, clutching his stomach. His pale skin was practically see-through, and rivers of blue veins ran across his sweaty temples. He was lying in a puddle of water.

  “Arthur!” Beacon cried. He reached for the handle, but Everleigh yanked his hand away.

  “Do you have a death wish?” she snapped.

  The air around the door fizzed and popped with electricity.

  “But Arthur is hurt!” Beacon said.

  Arthur’s eyes flickered open, and a wave of relief wash
ed over Beacon. Thank God—he wasn’t dead.

  “Get out of here,” Arthur croaked.

  “I’m so sorry—I didn’t know it was going to electrocute you,” Beacon said. “I was just trying to help.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Arthur said. “If it wasn’t for your stupidity, we wouldn’t have found a cure.” He managed a wry smile that Beacon couldn’t return.

  “Why is everyone just standing around?”

  The clear, crisp voice made Beacon’s back go straight. He turned to see Jane pushing herself up from the puddle. Water dripped from her drenched curls.

  “Get him!” she commanded, pointing at Beacon.

  For a moment, Beacon didn’t get it—why was Jane acting like the same old Jane? But then he realized that she was Sov. She hadn’t needed any injections, so the electrocution hadn’t altered her personality.

  No one moved.

  “I said get him!” Jane screamed.

  “But . . . why?” Sumiko said.

  Elation coursed through Beacon. Jane didn’t control them anymore!

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Beacon said.

  “But what about the others?” Everleigh looked at Perry, Sumiko, and Nixon. “We can’t just leave them.”

  “Oh, yes we can.”

  Beacon wasn’t about to sit around trying to figure out whether the other Gold Stars were on their side or not. All he cared about right now was saving his family. What was left of it.

  “Fine. I guess I’ll have to do the dirty work myself,” Jane said darkly.

  She smiled.

  The mouth in her chest burst open through her shirt, emitting a shrieking scream through row upon row of razor-sharp yellow teeth.

  Everleigh screamed.

  “Run!” Beacon yelled.

  He grabbed his sister’s arm and yanked her down the hall. They took off, fists pumping, shoes squeaking on the tile. There was a series of cracks and clicks behind them. Then eight distinct, wet slaps as something hit the tile. Beacon didn’t know what had made that sound, but he knew it wasn’t something human.

  The twins ran blindly, their breaths coming in hot, fast bursts. Finally, they reached an intersection of four corridors. Beacon peered down each one, then made a split-second decision and pulled Everleigh toward the one on the left. But Everleigh wrenched her arm back and shook her head.

  “No, this way.” She nodded at the corridor on the right.

  Beacon narrowed his eyes at his sister. Had she been jolted back into a Gold Star? Was she luring him into a trap?

  “Just trust me, Beaks,” she said.

  It could be a trick, but he didn’t have time to overthink it. The slapping, slurping sounds were closing in on them.

  They turned down the corridor on the right. But no matter how fast they went, the sounds only seemed to get closer. They were going to get caught.

  Just as Beacon had this thought, his sister tugged him through a door. He had enough time to register that it was a janitor’s closet, right before they were enveloped in darkness. Pale, dim light shone through slats in the door.

  Beacon made himself as small as possible, trying to control the sounds of his labored breathing.

  “Shhh,” Everleigh whispered. “She’s coming.”

  They froze, watching through the slats as the monster—Jane—shambled past. The thing moved over the tile like a wave of flesh. A tangled mess of tentacles and claws spilled out in all directions from its center, its skin the mottled, wet color of raw meat. The creature stopped in front of the janitor’s closet, then stood up on two powerful tentacles, revealing its mouth on the underside of its body. Its jaws peeled open, and a thick, wet organ slid out from between its razor teeth, slithering low over the ground—scenting them. The kids held their breath, not daring to move. The organ slithered up to the closet. It rattled and croaked as it slid through the gap under the door, nearly touching Beacon’s leg. He clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to suppress a scream.

  After a long moment, the organ withdrew, and the monster slid past, slurping, slapping, leaving a gelatinous yellow slime in its wake.

  They waited. And waited. When they were sure Jane was gone, Beacon blew out a harsh breath.

  “Oh my God,” he said.

  “I’m going to need so much therapy after this,” Everleigh replied.

  “How come it didn’t smell us?” Beacon asked, pushing himself up.

  “The cleaning chemicals must have masked our scent,” Everleigh said. “Come on, let’s get out of here before she comes back.”

  Everleigh pushed the door open, and Beacon followed her out.

  “Oh, and by the way, I forgive you,” Everleigh said.

  “For what?”

  “For thinking I was trying to trap you earlier. And for the record, I heard you cry when you thought I was dead.”

  Beacon’s cheeks blazed with heat. His sister was back.

  “Let’s just go,” he said.

  They tiptoed quickly down hall after hall, peering carefully around every corner. But everything looked the same. Were they going in circles?

  “Any more helpful memories?” Beacon whispered.

  A pained crease grew between Everleigh’s eyebrows as she gazed searchingly down a hall—left or right?

  “I think the exit’s this way,” she said uncertainly.

  Beacon followed. But the corridor ended in a huge metal delivery-bay door, like the ones in old warehouses. There was no door handle, only a digital panel full of flashing lights with the faint outline of a hand.

  Everleigh placed her palm over the print, and the panel emitted a deep beep. Access denied.

  Beacon dug his fingers into his scalp, pacing the hall behind his sister. “We’re going to be squid food.”

  “I’m sorry,” Everleigh said. “This place is so big, and everything looks the same.”

  Suddenly a set of voices echoed from the other side of the metal, and the door began zooming up. The twins jumped back and flattened themselves against the wall.

  Three men emerged, laughing boisterously and patting one another on the back. If any of them were to turn around, they would see the twins.

  Instantly Beacon recognized one of the voices. Sheriff Nugent. The sheriff slung his thumbs into the strained belt loops of his pants.

  The delivery-bay door began sliding down. Everleigh shot out her foot. The door paused, then began sliding up again, like the motion-sensor-activated doors of an elevator. Beacon held his breath, his whole body tensed as he waited for the men—or whatever they were—to turn around and notice. But they disappeared around the corner. Beacon couldn’t believe his luck.

  The twins ducked into the room.

  “I was right,” Everleigh said.

  The room was filled with sleek silver eggs the size of cars. From where they were standing, Beacon could see two padded seats and a steering device that looked like the controller of a video game inside one of the crafts.

  “Whoa,” he whispered. “Are these alien ships?” He cautiously stepped closer.

  “Pods,” Everleigh said.

  “Huh?”

  “Jane was telling me about these in the caf earlier. Personal submarines that researchers use to go back and forth to the mainland when they don’t want to use the tunnels.” She jogged toward a pod. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  “What do you know about driving a submarine?” Beacon asked, following his sister.

  “Nothing. But I know a lot about cars. How different can it be?”

  Beacon peered into the window of a pod. A complicated panel of lights and dials glowed neon blue from the dash. From the looks of it, very different.

  Everleigh climbed into the driver’s seat. Beacon scoured the body of the pod for a handle when his hand passed over what looked like a motion sen
sor. The door made an elegant swoosh noise as it rose up instead of out, like a Lamborghini. He climbed in next to his sister.

  She pressed a red button, and a hatch in the ceiling peeled open.

  “Note to self, don’t touch the red button while underwater,” Everleigh said.

  “You’re really inspiring a lot of confidence in your abilities,” Beacon said.

  “You want to drive instead? Be my guest.”

  Beacon motioned zipping his lips.

  Everleigh tried another button. Music blared through the speakers.

  “Turn that off!” Beacon cried. Everleigh frantically bashed at buttons. Warm air blasted out of the vents, wipers slashed across the glass, and the lights on the panel dimmed, but the music remained very firmly on.

  The door of the pod room burst open just as the pod slid upward into the air.

  “Buckle up!” Everleigh said.

  Beacon scrambled to tug on the four-point harness as the pod glided forward through a clawlike circular hatch that rotated open. Behind them, agents yelled and slammed on the glass, but the pod moved seamlessly through the opening, which spiraled shut behind them. A second clear glass hatch opened, and briny water cascaded down the pod in sheets. In moments, they were submerged.

  “Whoa!” Beacon said. He’d known they were underwater, but he hadn’t realized how deep. The only light was a diffuse glow some hundred feet above, casting everything into darkness and shadow. He peered through the glass at the seaweed and kelp floating in the dark water, and fish darted away from the craft like shadowy fireworks. Behind them, the UFO sat lodged in the seafloor, a solid, hulking mass of metal and lights. He stretched his neck and squinted, but he couldn’t see the end of it in the murky water.

  The pod jerked forward suddenly.

  “Whoops,” Everleigh said, just as the pod jolted to the side, then the other side, before they flipped upside down. The harness dug into Beacon’s chest and blood pooled in his head. “Not a problem!” Everleigh said brightly.

  She pressed more buttons, and they flipped right-side up. After a few more jumpy movements, she seemed to get the hang of it, and soon, they were cutting through the water like a shark slicing through the tide, leaving a churning white trail behind them.