And it's
happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
Sees to the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well I guess this is growing up …
– from Damnit by Blink 182
The library was the perfect place to talk, considering that the shit heads that populated the school only went in there when teachers forced them to… the three sat down and Sam and Casey re-laid the story to her.
"–And they chased us but we got away." Finished Casey.
"So, all of this started when Mrs. Brummel did a wet'n'wild in the boys' locker room?" Stokely asked, arching a brow slightly.
"I think so. Everybody's been acting really strange," Casey said. "Especially the faculty."
"It's like they all turned into fuckin' pod people," Sam cracked.
"To what people?" Asked Casey, looking at her.
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers," said Stokely with a smirk. "A small town gets taken over by aliens."
"… I was joking," Sam said slowly.
"What if it really happened?" Casey asked.
"What if what really happened?" Stokely asked.
"What if something's taken over our school?"
"The Body Snatchers if just a story somebody made up, dingus," Stokely scoffed. "It's located in the fiction section of the library.
"Yeah, and so is Schindler's List." Sam smirked.
"Right," Casey said, and then looked back at Stokely. "Look, all fiction is based on some sort of truth, right? What does Ms. Burke teach us in English 101? Write what you know. How do you know this writer guy–"
"Jack Finney," said Stokely.
"–Didn't encounter aliens in his high school, which led him to write a story about an alien invasion?"
"Because no one would believe him if he said it was true," Sam thought out loud, looking at Casey. He was on to something here!
"Your conspiracy theory is flaw." Stokely shook her head.
"How so?" Casey asked quietly.
"Well, Jack Finney's Body Snatchers is a blatant rip off of The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein, so you can completely disregard your statement…"
"Whatever," Casey shook it off. "The point is they're here, they've been here, and they'll be here again."
Stokely stared at Casey for a moment before smirking. "You know, Casey, I think you've been racked on the flag pole one too many times."
"Back off, Stokes," Sam said in a quiet yet threatening voice.
"How do you know there's not a conspiracy?" Casey continued, totally ignoring the bickering girls. "Maybe the X-Files is right. Where do all these movies come from anyway? How do we know these writers, these directors, haven't been visited by aliens?"
"Maybe they're aliens themselves," Sam picked up. "Maybe they're simply preparing us for what's to come."
"It's fiction, okay? Science fiction." Stokely growled.
"But what if all this science fiction stuff is a trick?" said Sam, now seeming to believe in it just as much as Casey. "I mean; that's an oxymoron in the first place."
"Exactly!" Casey declared. "Everyone is getting hung up on the science part which has nothing to do with it. They're really getting us with the fiction!"
"So aliens have just been setting us up over the years, creating this happy, make-believe, little existence with their E.T. and their Men In Black movies just so nobody would believe it if it really happened?" Stokely questions.
"I think so, yeah…" said Casey.
"You're not buying any of this, are you?" Sam asked.
"No, I'm not… but," she smirked. "It is kinda cool."
The three paused as another message rang out from the speakers above head. This was the third one today…
"Would the following students please report to the office… Gabe Santora, Tye Malloy, and Samantha Warren…"
Sam gave a low moan and sank deeper in her chair.
"… Okay, so what's missing?" Casey asked, turning his attention back to Stokely, when all that was said and done.
"Well in The Body Snatchers they were pods," said Stokely. "But where are they? And where are the pods?"
"There are no pods," Casey lowered his eyes. "They're coming as something else…"
"Well," Stokely thought. "In The Puppet Masters, they were parasites."
Sam raised her head, eyes suddenly wide and alert. "What? What?" Casey asked her, and both he and Stokely were staring at her strangely.
"The thing you found," Sam exclaimed, looking at him. "Casey! The thing! The fish thing you brought into bio lab!"
Stokely and Casey exchanged a glance, and then they all stood up and left the table quickly.
Sam nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind them as they walked through the hall, heading for Mr. Furlong's room.
"I filled Stan it," it said… and a split second later she realized it was Delilah. Stan walking beside her, looking incredulous.
"Come with us," Casey told them. "Sam's on to something."
Delilah gave Sam a strange glare. "Really?"
Sam offered her an overly sweet, overly fake smile, and then turned her attention back to where she was going.
They entered the Biology Lab, Sam at the head of the group, but she stopped short when she saw the tank. Casey almost ran into her, Stokely almost into him, Delilah almost into her, and Stan almost into her.
"What? What is it?" Stokely asked.
"They're gone," Sam said, taking slower steps until she was right up to the tank. She touched the glass, carefully with her hand. It was filled with waters, but the creatures were nowhere to be found.
"Maybe he sent them to the university?" Stokely guessed.
"Doubtful," said Casey, walking around the tank.
"Where else could it be?" Stokely asked.
"What?" Delilah asked. "What is it? What are you talking about?"
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" asked Stan.
"Okay, it all started yesterday," said Casey. "When I found this thing, this new species–"
"Which is now missing," Stokely added.
"We think that aliens are taking over our school," Casey got to the point.
But Stan only laughed… "What? Come on!"
"You saw what Brummel did the shower," Casey defended.
"And we saw her dead body in the closet," Delilah said, her voice barely audible.
"And they've been calling students into the office all day," said Sam.
"Students with the most influence on them," added Stokely. "Including the new team captain."
"Looks like you chose the right time to quit football," Delilah said nastily.
"… You think aliens have infested our school?" asked Stan, obviously not believing a word they'd said. "Give me a fucking break!" Stan cried.
"Do you have a better explanation, Stan?" argued Casey. "Good."
"I mean, just listen to yourselves," Stan rattled on. "Teachers are aliens? That's not just idiotic, that's fuckin' psychotic! Come on guys, this is nuts!"
"Then why don't you leave, Sparky?" Sam pressed. "What are you hanging around for if you're so sure you don't believe us?"
"Yeah," snapped Delilah, missing the point entirely. "Go win the Pulitzer or something!"
"Oh blow me, Delilah," Stan barked. "'Cause I'm sick of your shit!"
"Well then get the fuck out of here and take your little freak dyke," Delilah pointed at Stokely. "With you!"
"Fuck you, tit bags!" Stokely cried.
"You!" Delilah shouted back.
"Score one for Stokely…" Sam muttered.
"Oh and you should know," barked Delilah, turning to her now. "Queen Bitch!"
"Delilah, shove my fist…" Sam said tiredly, as if this was all getting very old.
Delilah turned on Sam and began to scream, but Casey interrupted her, showing a volume to his voice no one knew existed.
"Will everybody calm down? Please?"
There was a pause, everyone just store at Casey, before Stan bounced back. "All right Casey," he said, and then began with the mocking: "Let's go "alien" for a second… why here? Why Ohio?"
"If you were going to take over the world," Casey began. "Would you blow up the White House, Independence Day style, or sneak in through the back door?"
Suddenly there was a scream. Delilah yelped and jumped around; Sam tripped and nearly fell, but grabbed the side of the fish tank for support. Zeke entered, clutching his stomach like a mutant baby was going to pop out of it like in Aliens, and Marybeth followed, giggling girlishly.
"Case, man," said Zeke, straightening up. "The only person in this school that's an alien… is you."
"Fuck you, Zeke," Casey said. Sam smirked proudly, and wrapped an arm around Casey's shoulders. Zeke faked a hurt expression.
Again they all jumped, as the door came open, and Mr. Furlong came waltzing in. "What's going on here?" he asked, looking at the cluster of teenagers in his room. "Shouldn't you people be in class?"
"Well, it's like this Mr. Furlong," Zeke began, and if Sam had been closer she would have struck him. "Casey, here, thinks you're an alien."
Mr. Furlong chuckled a little, his eyes slipping over to the student is question. "Really?"
"The whole faculty, actually," Stan finished.
"Is that true, Casey?" Mr. Furlong asked. Sam's status of holding her friend had gone from proud to protective in 2.2 seconds.
"The, uh," Casey stuttered. "The thing I found yesterday… where is?"
"I sent it to the university," replied Mr. Furlong, emotionlessly.
"Do they know what it is?" Sam asked, narrowing the space between her thin brows and her baby eyes.
Mr. Furlong didn't respond. He just sighed deeply, staring at Casey and Sam.
After a long moment, Zeke sighed. "Look, sorry to impose and disrupt, Mr. Furlong–" said Zeke, walking towards the door. Mr. Furlong grabbed his arm, stopping him in mid-walk. Sam could tell he was holding on very tight, not only because of the way the shirt curled, but because of the shocked looked of pain on Zeke's face.
"If you would kindly take your seats, this will be over quite quickly," said Furlong… and when nobody moved, he shouted in an angry tone. "Now sit down!" and as he shouted he threw Zeke down.
Casey rushed at Furlong, but Furlong was too quick and grabbed him up by the throat and raised him off the ground. Sam tried to run to Casey's aid but Stokely stopped her by throwing her arms around Sam's waist and holding on so tight bracelets would leave bruises. Sam struggled, but couldn't escape the hold of the other girl.
Delilah panicked, and tried to run past him while he was preoccupied with strangling Casey, but he caught her still and struck her so hard she fell down over a table, which Marybeth was already hiding behind.
Meanwhile Zeke pulled the blade from the paper cutter, sending little bolts and pieces flying carelessly. A split second or so after, Sam broke free from Stokely and dashed a crossed the room. She grabbed the hand the teacher had around Casey's neck, pried a finger loose, and bit it with all her strength.
Furlong bellowed and smacked Sam so hard a crossed the face that she fell to the floor. Carelessly he threw Casey a crossed the room, where Stan caught him, and then reached down and lifted Sam up by the back of her shirt, his arm bent over her head. He lifted her up until the very toes of her feet pointed downward were hanging above the ground. The collar of her shirt was choking her like a noose. She clawed at it, but couldn't get it to loosen.
"Put her the fuck down, Furlong!" Zeke said, coldly.
"This is all for the best, Zeke," said Furlong, cold and emotionless, but he cast Sam aside even so, throwing her over the same table he had thrown Delilah moments ago and turning on Zeke.
Sam lay on the ground, coughing. Her neck was bent by the desk against the back of her head, and she curled her legs up so that her feet were flat against the ground but spread quite far apart and her knees were locked together side-by-side. She heard the teacher scream, and opened her eyes, still breathing heavy. She saw Delilah sitting up, leaning against the table behind them, and Marybeth hunched over her. Delilah was just closing her mouth and Marybeth's face was so close to hers…
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Sam said, breathlessly.
"Not at all," Marybeth smiled, and sat down on the ground on the opposite side of Delilah in which Sam was on. Sam shrugged, and figured Marybeth just didn't get the joke.
Sam's eyes drifted lazily to her left, where she stopped and screamed. Fingers! Fingers with red feelers sticking out of them were crawling towards the three girls!
Delilah and Marybeth looked when she screamed and saw them, too. All three jumped up, but the fingers just tried to crawl up their legs. They stood there, all three of them, swatting them off like crazy, before Sam got the brilliant idea to stomp on them like bugs. When they say it worked; Delilah and Marybeth did it, too.
They only jerked their heads up to look when they heard the sound of Zeke impacting with the tank. Sam watched it shatter into a million pieces, sending little bits of glass halfway of everywhere, and water soaked Zeke and the floor.
Mr. Furlong trudged over to Zeke, looking like he could kill with a stare. He grabbed Zeke up by the front of his shirt and threw him on the table where the aquarium had previously been. His eyes rolled back in his head, like Couch Willis' had, and he opened his mouth wide, one of the things Casey had found crawling out of it.
Armed with nothing else, Zeke yanks a pen filled with white powder out of his pocket and held it up. He braced himself for a moment, before slamming it through the teacher's eyes.
Mr. Furlong retched, letting go of Zeke and backing away until he was behind a far off table. Zeke swatted the thing of him and stomped on it, much like the girls had been stomping earlier. Stan tossed Zeke the blade from the cutter, and the little crowd of teenagers slowly advanced to where the teacher lay to inspect him.
They all looked down, breathing heavier then usual, at the fallen teacher. His eye had swelled up and there was foam and puss all over the place.
Yep… he just might be dead…
"… Isn't this usually the point where someone says 'Let's get the hell out of here'?" Stokely asked, breaking the silence.
"Let's get the hell outta here!" said Stan, stepping around everybody and heading to the door. Everyone followed, except Casey who crouched down to retrieve one of the fingers that had not been crushed.
"Gotta have proof," he whispered.
"Aliens are taking over the fuckin' school!" Stan was ranting.
"Figured that out all by yourself, did ya, Sparky?" Sam responded sarcastically.
"Alright, everybody, here's the deal," Stan said, wisely ignoring her. "Run straight to the parking lot. We'll all go together and try to stay calm." Every nodded, and he pushed open the door, Sam and Casey on everyone's tails.
The walk through the halls was strange. All the other students were starring and whispering, or too busy consuming mass amounts of water to notice, either way. The group walked on nervously and fast, ignoring the already infected population, until they reached the parking lot.
"My car," said Zeke.
"Where are we going?" Casey asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Anywhere but here," sighed Sam, throwing herself inside the back seat of the car. Casey climbed in next, then Stokely, then Delilah… Marybeth slipped in to sit in the middle up front, and Stan was just about to get in with Zeke and Marybeth in the passenger seat when the football fags spotted him…
"Hey Stan," called Gabe. "Where ya going buddy?"
"We're, uh…" Stan looked back at Zeke for help.
"Just get in the fucking car," Zeke said in a low, even voice. Stan began to, before Gabe started talking again.
"You sure you don't wanna play with us?" Gabe asked.
"Nah, Gabe–" Stan said, but he had no chance to say anything else because a second after his door was closed Zeke floored the gas.
"What the fuck is going on?" Stan griped again, turning to look past Marybeth at Zeke.
Zeke lit a cigarette and said, "Let's see if anyone's talkin'." He clicked on the radio, to find only static… obviously, that was not what anyone was expecting. He spun the dial in all directions but there was nothing, nothing at all.
"You gotta be shittin' me…" Sam said, starring at the car stereo.
"Who the fuck are these guys?" Stan complained, and she raised her eyes again to see a police blockade. Zeke slowed the car as they approached to see and think.
"No, Zeke, they have the cops!" Sam cried.
"Fuck this shit!" Zeke nodded and then floored the gas again and swerved the car off the road, past the block, then back onto the road and speeding down it.