His alarm vibrates under his pillow, and he groans. Ethan wants to go back to sleep, but he'd promised Lex he'd keep an eye on her sister today while she works. Sluggishly, he drags himself out of bed and gets dressed and ready for the day. Chances are he'll end up sitting on the couch most of the day with Hannah, letting her watch whatever movie she wants while he plays on his phone.
His parents are both out of the house by the time Ethan gets to the kitchen, and Peter's nowhere to be found, either. He grabs an apple and chows down on his way out the door. It's not a long drive to Lex's dads' house, and Hannah's sitting on the front porch waiting for him.
'Is Lex already gone?' Ethan signs as he climbs the steps, and Hannah nods glumly.
'Bad day,' she signs back, hands fumbling a little. She's normally pretty good at sign language, having started learning just after he and Lex got together, but sometimes she gets too shaky with anxiety, or she gets overwhelmed by the world around her.
'What do you mean?'
But Hannah just shakes her head and goes inside. Ethan follows, a little concerned. She sits on the couch, lips moving quickly as she mumbles something to herself. He can't really catch what she's saying— something about coffee, maybe? He's not sure, and she's not sharing. He knows not to push her when she doesn't want to talk.
Just as he'd thought, they watch a movie together. She picks Hocus Pocus, one of her favorites to watch this time of year. Her stepdad comes up at some point to check on them, but he seems distracted. Hannah scowls at him at first— which Ethan finds odd, considering she and Henry get along so well— but she slowly relaxes and returns her attention back to the movie.
When it's over, Henry comes back and makes them turn on the news. Henry translates for Ethan as the anchors speak, talking about musical riots and the bridge to Clivesdale being closed.
Ethan's just about to ask what's happening when the light flickers. It's a feature that Henry had added for Ethan's sake, to alert him when the buzzer at the front gate goes off. It makes noise for everyone else, but Henry had wanted Ethan to be able to know as well.
Hannah curls up on the couch, covering her ears. It's clear she's starting to get overwhelmed again, as Henry goes to answer the buzzer. He looks back to Hannah, a quizzical look on his face, and she uncurls enough to say something to him.
Bad man, Ethan reads from her lips. Blue brain. Don't let him in.
'What the hell is going on?' Ethan finally asks, snapping to get Henry's attention.
The man holds up one finger to tell him to wait, as he finishes his business at the buzzer. A minute later, Hannah and Lex's biological father, Ted, comes in. He's followed by a few other people, ones Ethan recognizes from his father and Ted's shared office, as well as one woman that Ethan doesn't recognize.
The adults start talking, and Ethan stops trying to pay attention.
Hannah tugs on his sleeve, and shakily signs a brief explanation, mostly having to finger-spell since there are a lot of words she doesn't know how to translate.
'Musical A-L-I-E-N-S,' she signs. 'Bad songs.'
Ethan looks to Henry for confirmation, but he and Ted have both disappeared into the basement. The others are heading toward the liquor shelf by the dining table. Hannah sits back down on the couch and brings her knees to her chest.
'There's something else, isn't there?' Ethan signs to her, snapping his fingers and repeating himself when she doesn't respond.
'Webby,' she signs, not elaborating. Ethan tries not to roll his eyes. He's about to sign something when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. It's a text from Peter, asking where he is. Ethan goes to answer, but Hannah snatches the phone from his hands.
'B-L-U-E,' she finger-spells with one hand while keeping his phone out of reach in the other. 'T-H-E-M.'
'Give me my phone back,' Ethan signs, annoyed. 'It's Peter.'
'Not Peter,' she signs back after shoving the phone in her pocket. 'One of them. Singing… like Lex.'
Ethan sighs, running his hands over his face. 'Are you sure?' Hannah just nods, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. She sits back down next to him, biting her lip. 'Wait- Lex is one of them?'
Hannah nods again, clearly on the verge of tears, and Ethan hurriedly pulls her close in a hug. She shakes in his arms, and he can feel her crying. She slowly calms down, but that's only because she cries herself to sleep.
Ethan wraps a weighted blanket around her and goes downstairs to Henry's lab, where he and the other adults are arguing over something. Most of them are facing away from the door, so Ethan can't read their lips. Henry and Ted are facing him, though. They both look upset, and Ted is speaking quickly.
Henry sees Ethan lingering in the doorway, and goes over to him. He quickly and expertly catches Ethan up to speed.
'Are you fucking kidding?' Ethan asks him. 'You and Ted are going to go out there and fix this? What about Hannah? She needs you guys!'
'I'm the only one who knows how to use the device,' Henry explains. 'And Ted won't let me go alone.'
'Teach me how to use it,' Ethan demands. 'I'll go. They have my brother. They have Lex. Hannah can't lose you guys, too.' Henry brings his hand up to respond, but he's distracted by something behind Ethan.
Are you sure? Ethan reads from his lips, and there's a hard look in his eyes. He's not talking to Ethan now, and the teen turns to see what's going on. Hannah is standing there, a dark look on her face as she nods.
'It has to be him,' she speaks and signs at the same time. 'Webby says so.'
Ethan turns back to Henry, who sighs before leading him over to one of the lab's counters. There's a small black device laying there— it looks a little like the walkie-talkies he and Peter used to play with, but without the little antenna that sticks out of it— and Henry puts it right into Ethan's hand. He guides one of the teen's fingers to a button on the side, the same one Ethan used to press to talk into a walkie-talkie.
'Press this when you get close to the meteor,' Henry signs, letting go of Ethan and the device. He looks grim. 'You have to be less than five feet from it, or it won't work. Press the button, then run.'
—
Ethan nervously approaches the old Starlight Theatre. He'd only been to see one show there— an ASL version of some musical Ethan didn't end up liking anyway— but he's familiar with the layout thanks to Peter, who often had drama club meetings there. He slips in one of the back doors, busted wide open already.
Probably not a good sign, but he ignores it for now.
Reaching the main auditorium, his attention is focused on the giant rock sitting half-buried in the stage. Ethan can feel the breeze blowing in from the hole in the ceiling, and is glad he's wearing all his layers tonight. He approaches the meteor, climbing the stairs.
Movement catches his eye, and he looks beyond the meteor to see Peter and Lex staring at him. Their eyes are practically glowing, the same shade of blue as what Henry had warned him about. Something of the same color is dripping from the corner of Peter's mouth, and Ethan cringes.
Ethan's about twenty feet from the meteor now. He takes a step closer, and both Peter and Lex say something. Neither use sign language, which is unlike either of them. They're too far for Ethan to properly read their lips, but he can guess along the lines of what they'd said. Probably something about him joining them, how the meteor can't be destroyed, something like that.
Victorious, self-righteous taunting.
He takes another step, tearing his eyes away from them as they start to look confused. Another step.
Fifteen feet from the meteor.
Ethan glances back to the things possessing his brother and girlfriend, who are more than confused by now. They're getting closer to the meteor, too. He can see their lips moving, probably singing to him. There's more movement out of the corner of his eye, and Ethan barely turns his head to see his parents and neighbors nearby, some of his school friends.
He takes a few more steps, slowly at first.
At ten feet away, he dead sprints the last bit when Peter and Lex lunge forward. One hand on the meteor, Ethan slams his thumb against the button Henry had told him to press, then shoves the device deep inside a crack in the meteor.
He runs, ducking under his father's arms and back down the stage stairs. The ground starts to rumble beneath his feet, and Ethan stumbles. He lands on his hands and knees in the aisleway, and turns to look back at the meteor.
His parents, Peter, Lex, and everyone else are all collapsing to their knees, eyes screwed shut and mouths wide open in a united scream that Ethan can't hear. Then it all stops. Everyone falls over, unconscious, except for Ethan.
He doesn't know if he could handle checking to see if they were still alive, to see if the device really worked to stop whatever infection was trying to spread, so he just runs.
He runs back to his car, and speeds through the town to get back to the Hidgens-Foster house. Sitting in the driveway for a few minutes, he lets himself cry over what he'd seen. The looks of pain on his family's faces as they fell, Lex and Peter's glowing eyes, the horde of people trying to stop him from reaching the meteor. That… that blue shit dribbling from Peter's mouth, almost like blood had from Ethan's the last time he'd gotten into a fight.
Some of Ethan's classmates and neighbors were clearly dead, only to be reanimated by the infection. One of his teachers had his guts ripped out, hanging from his open belly, everything stained bright blue.
These are all images that will be forever imprinted on Ethan's brain, but for now he shakes it off and dries his tears. Getting out of the car, he heads back up to the house, only to stop short when he sees the military men standing with Henry and Ted on the front porch. Hannah's watching from one of the front windows, her eyes wide and fascinated.
Henry has a look of relief on his face when Ethan walks up, and starts to introduce one of the military guys to him. The man interrupts to introduce himself in ASL. He's got long hair, tied back in a ponytail, and his signs are quick and precise.
'My name is General John MacNamara, United States Army,' he signs and speaks. 'Dr. Hidgens said you were deaf. So is my husband. I've also been told you're the one they sent to stop the infection.'
'Yeah,' Ethan signs back slowly, glancing at Henry again in confusion. 'My name is Ethan Green. I think it's over…'
The front door opens from behind Ted and Henry, and Hannah comes barreling out to hug Ethan. He hugs her back, but keeps his eyes on the General.
'It is,' he confirms. 'Everyone who didn't receive life-threatening injuries upon infection should recover fully within the next three days. The rest of my team is rounding everyone up as we speak. The people in this house are the only ones in town who managed to avoid infection.'
'My parents?' Ethan asks hopefully, as Hannah finally lets go of him. 'My brother… and Lex?'
'Rebecca and Mason Green have been accounted for,' MacNamara says, and the young man next to him holds up an iPad, showing everyone else the list of names, getting longer by the second. 'We have a record of a F—'
"Peter," Ethan says aloud, rather angrily. Hannah, Ted, and Henry all look surprised to hear him speak. He hates doing it, but this is important. He quickly goes back to signing. 'His name is Peter.'
MacNamara regards him for a moment, then turns to his companion and says, Do it. Ethan smiles gratefully at him.
'Peter Green,' he continues. 'Alexandra Foster. Both accounted for and in stable condition.'
—
It's nearly a week before MacNamara's team lets Ethan's family (including Lex) out of quarantine. In the meantime, he stays in Lex's room at her dads' house instead of alone at his own.
Lex shakes as she cries in his arms, only pulling away to shakily sign apologies. Apparently she can remember everything she'd done while she was infected, although no one else can. No one— not even Henry or the General— knows why. Ethan stays one more night at her house, then goes home to his parents and brother. They have a rather awkward family dinner that first night back, but things quickly return to normal after that.
Life goes on, and the almost-Apotheosis is all but forgotten.