…night had descended upon Brainynerd, Minnesota. In the police station, Prunella was eagerly putting on her jacket as the headlights of her mother's car rounded the corner and shone through the windows. "I'm finally going home," she said with relief.
"I can't believe your mom got here so quickly," remarked the officer on duty. "What is she, a race car driver?"
"No," replied the rat girl with a smile. "It's because Elwood City is so conveniently located. It's within a day's drive of Minnesota, Washington D.C., and the seashore."
Mrs. Prufrock, numerous bead necklaces poking out through the flaps of her turquoise coat, rushed through the glass doors into the station. "Prunie!" she gushed. "My baby, you're safe!"
Prunella grabbed her mother around the legs. "I'm so glad you're here," she said tearfully. "I was so scared."
The rat woman gave the officer a grateful look. "Thanks for keeping my little girl safe," she said.
"Just doin' my job, ma'am," said the policeman meekly.
"Stand up for a minute," said Mrs. Prufrock, mincing up to the desk. "I'd like to have a look at your palm."
The confused man rose from his chair and stretched out his hand, allowing the rat woman to probe it with her long, unpainted fingernails. "What're you doin', ma'am?" he inquired.
"This is my job," she said simply. "I'm a palm reader, among other things."
Seconds went by as the bemused policeman watched her trace the lines in his skin. "What do you see?" he asked her.
Mrs. Prufrock withdrew her fingers, took a deep breath, and paused. "Don't eat the chicken," she warned him.
Prunella and her mother were soon on the road, following the officer's directions to the highway. As they passed by a sign with the greeting WELCOME TO BRAINYNERD, AMERICA'S MAPLE SYRUP CAPITAL NO MATTER WHAT VERMONT SAYS, Mrs. Prufrock turned to the little girl and asked, "You said you were scared. What were you scared of?"
I wish I could tell you, thought Prunella. "The aliens," she said aloud. "They used mind control to make me shoot Mr. Haney." What the heck…? I just told her!
Mrs. Prufrock gaped. "You shot Principal Haney?" She looked up just in time to swerve away from a guardrail.
"I stole Dad's gun," Prunella admitted. "I didn't do it on purpose. They made me." They wouldn't let me tell the truth before. Why aren't they trying to stop me now?
"Where is he?" the rat woman asked frantically. "Is he all right? Did you tell the police? Where's Sue Ellen?"
Her barrage of questions was interrupted when a man appeared in her headlights, standing bowl-legged in the middle of the Brainynerd street. She pounded on the brake pedal, and the car came to a halt only feet away. The panicked-looking man wasted no time in running up to the driver's window and repeatedly slapping it with his hands.
Mrs. Prufrock flipped the lever to bring down the power window. "Is there a problem?" she inquired.
Saliva sprayed from the man's lips as he ranted, "You're next! YOU'RE NEXT!"
He pressed down on the window as Mrs. Prufrock tried to close it. "He's some kind of lunatic," she remarked to her daughter.
"They'll take over your bodies!" shrieked the man as the window shut out his voice. "They can follow you anywh—"
She stepped on the accelerator, only to apply the brakes again when she saw a stream of frightened townspeople fleeing from the town hall. "What's going on?" she wondered. "Is there a fire?"
Two men and a woman stumbled into the glare of her headlights, pointed at the car, and ran in the other direction with all their might. "The whole town's crazy," she said, shifting the vehicle into reverse. "We're going back to the police station, and we're not leaving until Principal Haney and Sue Ellen are found. Another night without sleep won't kill me."
"Maybe they're just afraid of the aliens," said Prunella. "I know I am."
Mrs. Prufrock turned her pointed nose around, looking over her shoulder for wanderers in the street. As she readied herself to back up, an inexplicable terror gripped her heart. The words of the crazed man suddenly made sense. She recognized the danger.
"There's no time," she said fearfully, moving the stick to the drive position. "They're coming. They're right behind us!"
"Who is?" asked Prunella. The instant the words left her mouth, the car lurched forward violently. The frenzied citizens were scarcely able to leap out of the way as it careened through them like a blind bull.
The car picked up speed—twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five miles per hour. "Mom!" exclaimed Prunella, watching a signpost zoom by. "It's a school zone! You're going way too fast!"
"I won't let them catch us!" cried the anxious rat woman. Two blocks later she made a sharp turn onto the highway entrance; the centrifugal force threatened to tear Prunella out of her seat belt. Their speed only increased as they sailed up the ramp—fifty-five, sixty, sixty-five.
"That's fast enough, Mom," said Prunella worriedly. "They'll never catch up now." Her mother's only response was to put even more pressure on the accelerator. The car's rear tires sprayed bits of gravel as they latched onto the surface of the highway.
Prunella watched the asphalt fly under them like a shower of tiny meteors. "Mom, slow down!" she protested, but the speedometer only continued to climb. Ninety miles per hour…ninety-five…one hundred…
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To be continued