Ch 2
He guided her, with a gentle hand to the small of her back, to her locker. He stopped her and advanced upon the locker as a SWAT member might a psychopath with a gun, knocking on the door before carefully opening it and retrieving her books slowly. He warily opened each book, inspecting the pages and inside covers for abnormalities before he handed them to her. Julie had waited patiently about ten feet back knowing he was checking for bombs and/or tracking devices planted by their enemies during the weekend.
Then they headed to their first, shared, period; he guided her to their seats and school began.
His stomach rumbled but he ignored it, he would hunt during the morning break. There was a surge of rats and mice around the campus that needed to be taken care of soon. He licked his lips in anticipation; humans truly had no idea of the tasty morsels they missed out on. His eyes gleamed with a wild bloodlust as he gazed at the board but didn't really see it. Julie nudged him, "What's going on? You have such a weird look in your eyes…"
"Nothing," he replied, "just thinking, d'ya think it'd be okay if you spent break in the Library?"
"Why?"
"Just need to get breakfast."
She turned a bit green, "That's sick. Just go to MacDonald's or something and order a human breakfast."
"No," he shook his head, "too much time to leave you unprotected for. It's safer for you this way."
"Whatever you say." She spoke softly with an eye-roll.
"Please don't act that way." He asked, "Please understand."
"Oh I do," she snarled lowly, "you're gonna kill yourself because you don't want anything to happen to me!"
The bell rang and he pulled her into the crush of the halls before turning to her and saying, "Without you I'll die anyway," he said firmly, "I don't care what happens to me but if anything ever happens to you again I better be dead and rotting or I'd never forgive myself. I will not let that future come to pass, no matter what it costs for me or my life."
His eyes were emerald fires, burning into hers with an intensity that they should not have been capable of that she shivered under his gaze. He turned away, his hand still tight on her shoulder. He led her to the next class, silent and brooding; she sighed, it was going to be a long day.
----
He felt the hot wind currents beneath his wings lifting him towards the sun as he circled the school. The owl's eyes scanned for a meal. Ben had stopped naming his forms years ago, years into the future from this point in time. They were neither pets nor toys and thus were not to be named like such. His eyes narrowed and he went rocketing down like a bullet. There was a whistling sound as he plummeted through the air, twisting and turning. At the last possible second he pulled back, thrusting his talons forward to catch his treat by the spine thus killing it humanely before pumping his wings to get altitude once more. He ate on the fly, dropping the husk of flesh into the dumpster before landing in the field and turning back to his normal self. He dusted his clothes off, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his lips of any remnants of his repast before stuffing it back into his pocket and heading towards the library and Julie.
His peers, mere children to him now, paid him no mind as he walked at a quick pace. This was an advantage of being one of the non-popular persons; no one paid you any attention. He found her where he had left her, tucked away at a little table, hidden by age riddled shelves and the musty books they held.
"Can I come out now?" she pouted slightly. He nodded, helping her gather her books just as the bell for class rang. "You got the phone?" he asked her lowly; she nodded, "And the pistol."
He escorted her to her class before speeding to his own; he often sat in the back so he could monitor her stats. He could also be privy to her thoughts but he only used that ability if something worrying came up. To read her mind would be a personal privacy violation against her and she deserved better than that from him. Though he glanced at the minds of the students around him, he was always made sure not to pry too deeply or to be noticed.
'Man she's hot!' a young man in the front of her class thinking about the substitute teacher. Ben got a mental image of the sub and cringed, disgusted.
'I hope Grams is okay!' thought the girl anxiously that sat five seats from the young man.
'Soon they shall all see!' thought the class nerd angrily, probably hunched over some jock's math book, 'I shall be Dungeon Master and they shall all suffer!'
But none of the thoughts were potentially dangerous and/or life threatening towards her so he settled into his work, content with hearing the steady thrumming of her pulse echoing in his mind's ears.
He easily completed his work, by tapping into the geniuses of his DNA bank, and reclined his head, beginning to doze lightly while he had the time.
The darkness faded, leaving him on the battlefield. He immediately began fighting, instinct kicking in as his mind caught up to his surroundings. Highbreed and DNAliens were everywhere, fighting his allies; Gwen, Kevin, Paradox, Azmuth, Alan, Darkstar, Cooper, Ship and...Julie! His heart started racing; no, not again. This WASN'T happening again, this COULDN'T happen again. He hurried to dispatch his opponents, still keeping an eye on her fight, but they just kept coming at him. Until she fell; it had been a punch to the chest, impaling ribs into her lungs and heart. She fell, eyes glossing over as life fled her.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he sat bolt upright and found himself in the Nurse's Office. Julie was at his side, her hand clasped in his. She looked at him with worried eyes, "You okay?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
"We're not sure…the story I got was that you fell asleep in your class, began mumbling and then convulsing like no tomorrow, fell from your seat to the floor and began moving as if you were fighting something…security brought you here, pulled me out of class, they called an ambulance but you shouted no and then woke up. You had a nightmare didn't you?"
"Yeah, it was the final battle…the first one…" he squeezed her hand tightly, "It was…horrible. I had to watch you…fall again. I couldn't help you; I felt so worthless, so helpless just watching you fight that-that- monster!"
"Is this why you don't sleep? These dreams?"
"You don't need to worry about me Jules," he gave a small smile and another squeeze to her hand.
----
He sat on the branch outside her class; he had been released from class early because of his fit but leaving her unguarded was not an option. His form was that of an alien who appeared to look like a crow except for the third eye in the middle of its forehead which he kept closed.
He was hidden by foliage, his dark plumage blending with the forest green leaves. There was a green flash and a catlike creature now sat perched in the crow's place. Almond eyes, lilac irised but without pupils, narrowed in interest. The creature was about the size of a normal housecat but sleeker and with six toes on each paw. Its' coat was spotted, white dots on a black background, yet two parallel white streaks, one starting at the very tiptop of each triangular ear, zipped down its' spine to its' bobbed tail. Its' claws were poisonous, causing immobility, coma and then death in the wrong doses. He stalked down the branch, standing on his hind feet he latched his claws into the tree's trunk and began dragging them down it, leaving indents in their wake. The bark and wood began sizzling, liquid bubbling from the marks.
He stalked down to a better viewing spot and settled in for the long haul. She glanced out the window and caught sight of him. Her lips pressed themselves into a thin line and her eyes narrowed. He just grinned, his eyes unblinking.
Suddenly there was the fluttering of wings and a lump of blue fell from the sky and into the, thankfully, empty football field. He took of after it, finding three young Big Chills. Two were conscious and were supporting a third, unconscious, one. A knot of unease formed in Ben's gut as he went back to human, racing to them.
"Dad!" one called upon seeing him approach, "Thank God! She's sick!"
Ben's speed increased and he immediately began to assess his—as much as he couldn't wrap his mind around it—daughter's state.
"Symptoms?" he barked out at the conscious two.
"Uh, sneezing, coughing, headaches, seizures and now unconsciousness." replied the first one.
"How long has she been sick?"
"As long as we've been alive." said the second.
"A year?!" Ben yelped almost angrily, "And you're just bringing her home now!?"
"Sorry Dad, but she didn't want us to bring her here at all!" the second told him.
Ben picked her up, carrying her as he walked, "C'mon, we gotta get you guys inside."
"Um Dad?" spoke the first, "we can't stay here…"
"We gotta get back into space…" finished the second.
"Fine, tell the others I said hi, they have my love, and to be safe."
"Will do." and they took off.
"AND DON"T TALK TO STRANGERS! AND LOOK BOTH WAYS WHEN CROSSING A KNOWN SHIP LINE!" he called after
Ben, carrying the unconscious alien child—his child, headed home at a run.
