The New Experiment

It had been days since Jessi and Kyle had saved Amanda. Days since Jessi had saved him from Latnok. Days since Kyle had been unable to see Amanda. Her mother had forbade Kyle to ever see her again. Although Kyle couldn't blame her, getting your prom date kidnapped does not give you good reviews in the other household, he still got mad at Mrs. Bloom. School had finally been let out for the summer, but to Kyle it was going to be a miserable summer.

Since Jessi had wanted to stay in Washington but Sarah wanted to leave, Nicole decided to let her stay with her family. Jessi was not happy with Sarah. Although she had promised to visit, Jessi knew that she would probably never return. Even though she was burdened by this knowledge, Jessi was the happiest she had ever been in her whole life. At first she and Kyle shared a room, but the first week of summer the whole Trager family cleaned up the attic and made it into Jessi's new room.

At first all seemed to be well in the Trager home. It was almost as if they were a normal family; except for a few commotions between Josh, Jessi, and Lori. All was great until Tom Foss called Kyle one day. He warned Kyle that Latnok was up to something. So far nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Kyle left the house early that morning. He had to get away to someplace quiet; someplace he could think. He was headed to the park. He found an alcove of trees so no one could interrupt him. He had heard from some of Amanda's friends that she and her mother were going to move east. Of course she could not tell them exactly where, in case they happened to talk to Kyle. This deeply saddened him because he knew that Mrs. Bloom was moving Amanda against her will.

Suddenly he heard a heartbeat behind him. It was beating quickly, so quickly that he thought it was an animal at first. When he turned around he was startled, what he thought was an animal was actually a girl. She looked to be about his age, or a little younger. She was frozen in mid-stance nothing moving but her long brown hair, which swayed dismally in the slight wind. Her gaze pierced him through. She did not blink; she seemed to not even breathe. All she was wearing was an oversized T-shirt that reached her knees. It was tattered and torn and stained with mud.

An alien conscience touched Kyle's mind for a second.

"Who are you?" he asked. But with the first syllable she took off in the quickest run he had ever seen. He ran after her, but even with his advanced skills he could barely keep up with her. He chased her through the woods for about and hour but suddenly lost her. Kyle quickly went home. Jessi, Lori, and Josh were all out of the house so he went to his room and began to draw a picture of the girl. He closed his eyes and to try to remember the detail. She had a piercing stare; one eye green the other brown. Her arms and legs were nothing but muscles and her feet were bare. All of this he made certain to pay attention to while he was drawing.

After he finished he observed his work for a minute. He heard the others enter the house. Jessi walked into his room with a vibrant bikini in her hands.

"What do you think?" she said holding it up to herself and posing.

"It's nice." He said vacantly. "Look." He said giving her the drawing. She paused and stared for a moment.

"Who is she?" asked Jessi.

"Latnok." Replied Kyle. "I think that she is another experiment, but she's different from us."

"How do you know?" said Jessi in an apparent tone of dislike.

"Well, she outran me barefooted in the middle of the woods with sticks and thorns and rocks all over the ground. Plus she tried to touch my mind with hers."

"I don't like the sound of her."

"Me either." He said thinking. " I just can't tell if she escaped from Latnok or if she is part of a plan to lure us closer."

"Well whatever she is we should be careful with her. Where did you see her?"

"At the park."

"We could track her down together; maybe get some answers."

"It will be difficult to catch her. She snuck up on me, the only reason I saw her was because I heard her heartbeat, but nothing else. She didn't make a sound, not a footstep or breath."

"Let's go find her now."

"No, we better wait 'till tomorrow. I think I scared her off."

"Fine, I'm going to go try this on." She smiled and walked away.

Kyle knew that if he had outright declined Jessi's desire to find the girl that she would cause trouble. He knew that he had to talk to Foss first; so he called him up.

"Kyle, what's up? Has Latnok done anything?"

"Well I don't know yet, today in the park I saw another experiment."

"Damn, are you sure?"

"Yes, she was strange though, different from us. Jessi and I are going to find her tomorrow."

"No! It might be a trap."

"I don't think it is, she seemed afraid of me."

"Hey Kyle can I talk to you about something for a minute?" Asked Josh as he walked into the room.

"Foss I'll have to call you back." Kyle hung up on him. "What is it Josh?"

"Could you please tell Jessi to stop 'Protecting' me all the time?"

"You know that she is just excited about being an older sister; she thinks that she's supposed to protect you."

"Well can you tell her I'm not seven?"

"Why can't you?"

"Cause she'll bite my head off." Said Josh looking pathetic.

"Maybe I'll talk to her about it tomorrow."

"So why did Foss call?"

"I called him."

"What for?" said Josh suspiciously.

"To check up on Adam." Lied Kyle. Josh looked at him not totally convinced but left the room nonetheless. Kyle had decided that he and Jessi go find the girl the next day. Something told him that she was not a lure, but a girl reaching out for help. He felt bad however, about going against Foss's wishes.