Thanks to Azkadellio, Bade, and CheesyDip15 for reviewing. :) And also 50ShadesofGerardGay for beta-ing.

CHAPTER 11

Jade's arms wrapped carefully around the bundle of ten-foot poles, lifting them gently off the ground before tossing them into the black mouth of the cave. She kneeled down to retrieve the heavy bag of nails and stolen hammers before hurrying into the darkness .

The cave, her new home, was located in one of the rocky walls that bordered Loblolly River. Set deep into the stone it could only be reached by climbing down the jutting cliff above. Every night since finding it, Jade would sit on the edge of the opening, allowing her legs to dangle forty feet above the murky, sloshing water. She would look up at the glowing moon and breathe in the fresh air that breezed over her skin.

She had stayed here for almost three weeks now. After making sure she was out of the police's radar, she wandered around a dirt path and a thick grove of trees for almost two days before coming across the cave. During the bright, early mornings or gloomy evenings she went to the city to stock up on supplies. Her first stop was a thrift store, where she stole a few shirts and pants. They were all dark and she liked to bundle up as much as possible—despite the hot weather—to insure that she wouldn't be identified in public.

The familiar and comforting scent of moss and yesterday's dinner invaded her senses as she stepped over the pointed, jagged rocks that stuck up from the floor. Upon first finding the cave, Jade had a lot of trouble maneuvering her way around and tripped so many times the stones grew red and slippery from the blood that coated her palms after breaking her falls. Now she could travel through her cave at a reasonable pace, day or night.

Jade untied the string holding the aluminum poles together and allowed them to spill across the ground. She retrieved one along with a handheld saw and walked to the back of the cave. She had been fortunate to find that the main tunnel of the cave branched out into four separate dens. So far she had finished working on one; she still had a long ways to go.

Taking the pole, she attempted to wedge it between the floor and ceiling vertically at the front of the cavern. When it didn't fit, she took note of where she could cut it and set down the tube on a makeshift work table that consisted of a wooden board balancing precariously on four thin stilts. She secured one end of the pole to the bench with a leather strap and left several inches to hang off the edge.

Jade lined the toothed saw to where the pole and table met and began cutting into it. The metal gave way easily to her strength as she sliced through it neatly and in a respectable amount of time. She tossed the short piece into a corner of the cave and went back to the den, holding the pole up and wiggling it carefully into the gap. It was a perfect fit.

She retrieved her solar-powered welding kit and perched herself on a large rock, slipping on the mask and thick gloves. She took the tool in her right hand and stood up, tiptoeing slightly to reach the ceiling of the lair and let loose a stream of hot sparks. The fire melted the end of the pole to the stone, creating a tight seal that would require a lot of force to break through.

Jade welded the bottom of the tube to the floor and stepped back to admire her work. The entrance of the den was only partly blocked—she would need at least six more poles and a door to complete the cage.

Instead of continuing her work, she scurried around to find a several spools of thick, colorful wires. She unraveled a few yards of each and held the ends together tightly. Whipping out a bottle of industrial glue, she carefully cemented them to one another, trying not to let the exposed ends touch each other. It was dangerous but necessary work. She worked to glue the entirety of the wires together until the spools were empty and she was surrounded by forty feet of electrical wire. She left it on the ground and went to take a break.

Jade stood at the entrance of the cave. She got down to sit at the very edge, admiring the break taking view. Small, bright dots ran back and forth over the bridge and the buildings were lit up in vivid colors and patterns. Jade could even hear the very faint voices of people drifting up to her perch.

She remained motionless, sitting quietly with her hand clapped in her lap. She actually felt a little bit lonely. The only contact she had with living creatures was when she trekked back through the forest or passed through the stores. She had to be extremely careful, as she knew people were still looking for her. Every day that passed, the stakes rose higher. It would only be so long before she was discovered.

But before that happened, Jade had to make sure that certain people met their fate.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYXZ

André couldn't keep the grumpy frown off his face as he told Cat and Robbie to place the glass on his lab table. He was just so upset that the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with Cat was shattered because of the mop-headed Dimensioner.

Robbie was giddy with happiness as he watched Cat tap her fingers on the glass container holding the white substance. It took André four times of calling his name and finally landing a solid smack on the back of his head to snap him out of his trance. Robbie darted away to find the requested microscope, thankful that it was located in one of the lower drawers of the supplies closet and he could hide his burning red face from Cat's sight.

It took the three of them twenty minutes, lots of sweat, screaming, and pinched fingers to separate a small piece of the goo and place it into a slide to use under the microscope. Cat continued to giggle into her hands and Robbie's entire complexion had turned a blotchy purple. André knew his dark skin hid his embarrassment but he could feel his cheeks radiating heat as he brought the lens to his eye.

He examined the specimen carefully, zooming in and out as appropriate. He had never seen anything like it before. Minuscule white threads stretched apart and stitched back together as it glided agitatedly around in the slide. Using the special mechanisms he had added to the tool, André snapped several pictures of the creature at various degrees of size and had them uploaded to the big computer screen.

Robbie and Cat sat at a table behind him, wondering exactly what was going through the IQer's head. Well, that's what Cat was thinking about. Robbie was trying to figure out when the next possible opportunity to ask Cat out would be. They had never been able to go on their dinner date, as the complications with Jade had come up and the entire group had chosen to focus on her instead.

"How do you plan on identifying what the substance is?" Cat asked as she watched André scroll through a third page of Google search results. That was odd, because Cat knew that if you had to go past the first page, then the answer you were looking for couldn't be found on the Internet. At least, that's what Trina taught her.

André opened a new tab and pictures of colorful, twisted, DNA strands blanketed the screen. Some of them were of included random, ball-shaped atoms and also amorphous blobs of dark shades.

"I'm trying to see if I can match up the photos I took of the substance's genetics match with something that's already been discovered," André finally replied. "That will help give me some information on what it could be and where it came from."

"Would that really work?" Robbie commented dubiously. "Are you even sure that someone who possibly discovered this before would just leave their data online for anyone to find?"

"Calm down," André hissed. He had to make sure that he didn't look bad in front of Cat. "I just hacked into some of the government's top secret files on extraterrestrial events. They might try and hide it from the humans…but it won't stay hidden from the calibers for long."

The monitor turned black with green script running across the screen. Eventually almost a dozen new windows opened up, featuring black-and-white photographs of stone-faced scientists and wrinkled, scanned paper with the bold red 'Confidential' plastered diagonally across the surface.

"Ta-da."

"What does it say?"

"Give me a few." André zoomed in and the font enlarged itself. However, the text was fuzzy and blurry, speckled with white and black dots. Clearly it was not scanned in by a high-definition computer. "Okay, I think I can read some of this. There's something about an incident in 1972."

"No way. How can you even read that?" Robbie squinted at the screen. He took off his glasses and wiped the lens on the hem of his T-shirt.

"Maybe you should shut up and get over to read it for yourself," André suggested tersely. Cat skipped over and tried to sit down on his lap to get a better view of the screen. Her red head bobbed back and forth, limiting André's vision, and he was reluctant to ask her to get off.

"Can you please hurry up?" Robbie muttered.

"Have patience!" André snapped back. "This is an excerpt from a file taken in this place called Area 51, Nevada…all right then." He adjusted the image of the screen and cleared his throat before beginning to read it.

"On June 27, 1972, at approximately three in the afternoon, a chunk of asteroid fell from the sky and landed in the small town of Soho, London. A white parasite appeared from inside the rock and a curious six-year-old child became its first victim. It is believed the parasite only kept the connection with the child for a few hours. Her parents noticed their daughter had suddenly developed a strange, malicious behavior and intended on bringing her to the doctor's in the next few hours. However, the parasite left the child before they could reach the hospital.

"The parasite's next victim was Chevet Newell, who was also a Transvector." André paused to take a deep breath and give a response to the confused looks on his companion's face. "You've never heard of a Transvector?" Cat nodded while Robbie shook his shaggy head. André considered not informing him, but decided otherwise. He may be fighting against Robbie for Cat, but being flat-out rude to him too wouldn't go well for either of them. "Well, it's a caliber who has the ability to fly."

"Continue the story, please! It's getting so exciting!" Cat squealed, jumping up and down. André laughed and Robbie cracked a smile.

"Newell was first seen flying around the collection of houses on the east side of town, in plain sight of both humans and calibers. At the time, many humans were unaware of the existence of supernatural beings, and many of them believed it was a stunt at first. Newell began to descend and tear the shingles off the homes with his bare hands and swooped in to terrorize the passersby.

"Workers from the government Agency were called in to tell them of the current events. When they arrived, they found Newell would not respond to human communication, and even a trained Hypnoser could not enter his mind to control his actions.

"His condition grew steadily worse in the few following hours. People, humans and calibers alike, began throwing and shooting objects at him to cease his deranged attacks. A sixteen-year-old tossed a knife in his direction. It cut his ankle and his flying pattern faltered. Newell descended until he was inches above the ground, grasping for his bloody pant leg and sock. It was at this moment that the parasite was spotted in action.

"White threads appeared across Newell's skin and began to stitch over the small wound. They connected and fit like a covering. Seconds after this, witnesses reported seeing the white meld into the color of Newell's flesh and it seemed to disappear. Scientists think that this was the first sighting of the alien-creature. Unfortunately they would not get a real chance to examine it fully, as of the following events that occurred.

"Drastic measures were taken and Newell was taken out of the sky with several well-placed bullets from a police officer's handgun. However, even after he hit the ground, Newell tried to get back up and fly again but his injuries were very severe. Once again, white patches appeared over his face and chest and concealed the wounds, but this did not seem to heal him.

"Agency decided that they needed to take immediate action. While Newell struggled on the ground, an employee shot him in the forehead and another set him on fire while he was incapacitated. Although this finally stopped him, it also destroyed the creature and not another specimen has been seen since."

"Whoa," Cat breathed in awe.

"Did they give the substance-creature thing a name by chance?" Robbie said softly.

"Yup." André circled the mouse pointer around a single word. "They call it 'Terratume.'"

Ooo snap! Now everyone is a little more educated on the alien stuff! :) Next chapter is going to be filled with even more.

Hope you all stay tuned until next time.