Stop, I'm not happy anymore
you bring heartache and anger to the core
I have nothing to give inside me now
I have nothing to give inside me…
– from Ordinary Girl by Earshot.

"Watch out," Casey peaked out from behind his hiding spot. He saw that Zeke had entered, and Marybeth and Stokely were on either side of him. "It's her!"

"Zeke, don't believe her," counted Stokely. She pointed at Marybeth. "It's her!"

"She attacked me," Marybeth argued. "Please, Zeke."

"What's going on here?" Zeke asked, totally confused.

"Zeke, it's her," Stokely repeated.

"She's lyin', she's trying to fake you out," said Marybeth… and as she continued talking, she stepped out of her hiding in the shadows. "We don't know what she is… Gay, straight, alien."

"Just… answer me this, Marybeth," said Zeke, watching her. "Why are you naked?"

"Does it bother you?" Marybeth asked. "My body? I'm getting used to it myself…"

"I saw you take the test," Zeke said in disbelief.

"Oh Zeke," Marybeth chuckled. "How the hell can you be sure what you saw? It was sweet of you to bond with me… to be nice to me… was sweet. Will it work again baby? Do you like what you see?"

Suddenly Zeke wielded a pen of scat in Marybeth's direction, but Stokely grabbed his arm, catching him off guard. Casey could see, even from the distance away he was, the creatures crawling underneath her skin, digging around like flees on a dog. She tried to infect him, but Casey jumped out. He gabbed her and threw her inside the fence enclosed storage area Sam had mistaken for a cage-like thing earlier.

Marybeth disappeared.

"Is Sam infected? Where is she? Take this." Zeke gave him a pen full of scat.

"Hiding," Casey answered. "From Marybeth… no, she's not… one of them… at least… I don't think…"

"Sniff it," Zeke ordered him.

"You're out of your fucking mind!"

"I'm not taking any chances," Zeke said, sounding a wee bit over the edge. "I leave for five minutes and when I come back everyone's a fucking alien… either I'm gonna Men In Black your ass, or you're gonna fucking sniff it!"

"Okay, okay," Casey grunted, twisting off the cap. He snorted it… nothing happened. "Happy now?"

Zeke nodded and ran away to find Marybeth… he did, after all, have the brunt of the scat. Casey slipped away to find a place to hide. He turned down a new row, but stopped and rested against one of the lockers.

"Jeepers," he whispered to himself, shaking his head sharply. "I think I'm seeing two of everything…"

Then he stopped, falling silent. He'd heard a noise… he knew he'd heard a noise.

"Zeke?" he whispered. No response. He whispered it a little louder. "Zeke?"

He gasped and his eyes shot wide and frightened as he saw a shadow creeping along the wall, coming towards him. He swallowed hard and held the half-empty pen of scat tightly in his hand, his heart thumping in his ears. The shadow turned the corner… and… it was only Sam.

"Sam," Casey breathed a sigh of relief in her name. "I thought you were Marybeth…"

Sam didn't respond. Instead, she slowly, cattily, walked towards him, until she was standing at his feet. She shrank down until she had knees bent and her backside touching her heels.

"Stokely… they got Stokely," Casey told her quietly. "She's an alien…"

"I know," she whispered… and, with a gentle smile she slipped her face beside his and brushed their cheeks together, ever so softly, until her lips were an inch or less away from his ear.

"Sam…" he whispered.

"Hmm?" she responded.

"Where were you hiding… before… when we first ran in here?"

She stopped, and was very still for a very long time, the only thing that moved was the blinking of his eyes and her soft breath on his neck. Finally, she moved again. She brought her head back and looked into his eyes.

"You're so afraid," she whispered. "Always so afraid… you've been afraid all your life… and ever since the day I met you all I wanted to do was take away that constant fear. I vowed to protect you, Casey, at any cost… and I think… I've finally found a way."

"Noooo," Casey moaned, very quietly, swaying a bit. "Sam, not you… please, not you…"

"You're not all alone, Casey," she said, setting both hands on either of his shoulders to hold him steady. He looked so faint… "You're not. I'm here; I'll always be here. I've tried so hard to cure you of your pain… and now I've finally found the way. I wouldn't have believed it had I not felt it for myself!"

"Sam," he clamped his eyes shut tight. He couldn't stand this, not her, just make her go away!

"Look at you!" Sam went on. "You're even afraid right now! You're afraid of me – your protectorate – and you're afraid of the cure."

"Please stop it…"

"Casey, look at me!" she ordered… and, for Lord only knows what reasons, he did. "I love you, Casey… I love you… as so much more then a friend… and I know you love me, too. You may spend all day chasing after that skirt Delilah but in the dark hours of the night when you're alone with only the moon to keep you company you think of me, and imagine me lying next to you."

Casey shook his head slowly. "Don't do this, Sam…"

"Fine," she said sharply, her hands moving down to the front of his shoulders and pushing him back against the locker hard. "If I have to be cruel to be kind then so be it, Casey!"

He shrank back but he couldn't escape her, his possessed friend. But a glimmer of hope shinned through, as he saw Zeke peak over the corner… holding the gun posed to fire at the back of Sam's head.

"No!" Casey cried.

The Sam Thing snarled and looked over her shoulder, red feelers snaking out of her mouth, and saw Zeke there… but she had not enough time to run or fight back before she was struck in the head by the handle of the gun, as Zeke had switched to holding the barrel at Casey's request.

She gave a low grunt and fell to the side of Casey, her legs entangled with his.

Zeke came over and helped Casey to his feet.

"What is up with girls and hitting on me when they're infected?" Casey asked, wide-eyed and seriously unknowing. "Geeze…"

Though Zeke had no time to answer, as the giant mutated thing that had been Marybeth was now looming above they. They broke into a sprint, each on the other side of the isles of lockers, but The Queen Bee caught Zeke and, ironically, hurled him into the very isle Casey would hide in…

Sam groaned. She was lying on her back, on the floor, her head hurt like a mother fucker, and some asshole wouldn't stop nudging her shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"Sam?" a soft voice and the nudging stopped.

"Casey?"

Her eyelids parted, just a little, to confirm her suspicion. There was Casey, on his knees on the ground beside her, a hand still resting on her shoulder. He looked pretty bad… like he'd been in a fight…

"Are you… you?" he couldn't help but smile a small, hopeful smile.

"No, Casey," she said, sitting up with a little bit of his help. "I'm Barbara Walters… with one hell of a hangover. What kind of question is that?"

His smile grew full now, with one little cough of a chuckle, and he threw his arms around her in a hug. She hugged him back, feeling a wee bit confused… yet comforted, somehow, by the warmth in him and his holding her.

"… My head hurts," she groaned, after a long moment of silent nothing.

"That's because you got hit the head," he said, voice barely above a whispered.

"… That's right… Casey!" Sam gently pushed him away from her, but let her hands still rest on his shoulders, so he let his hands stay on her sides. "That's right! Zeke… he hit me…with… a gun, the handle of a gun… because… because I wasn't me." She looked at him with wide eyes. "I remember now! I wasn't me! I was someone else! I was in my body but I couldn't move; someone was doing it for me… or, I should say, instead of me."

Casey nodded. "The aliens…"

"Marybeth," Sam gasped. "She… Where is she?"

"Dead," said Casey. "C'mon, I'll tell you about it later, let's just go check on Stokely now, okay?" another warm smile.

"Okay," said Sam, with a quick nod.

Casey helped her to stand up and they both stumbled through the mess Marybeth in Queen Bee form had made of the locker room, until they came to the fence enclosed storage area. Inside, Stokely was lying on the floor, out like a light, with little aliens shriveling up and dying into dust on the floor.

Casey undid the lock and when they stepped in the aliens had dissipated entirely. He pushed around their dust with his foot and then they knelt down in front of her and Casey pulled off another perfectly done wake-someone-up-by-nudging-their-shoulder-until-you've-annoyed-the-piss-out-of-them.

Stokely opened her eyes, and blinked them several times.

"Good morning, moonshine," said Sam, playing on Stokely's gothiness with moonshine rather then sunshine.

"Are you okay?" Casey whispered.

"I think so," she said in a groggy voice, and began attempting to sit up. "I hope so."

Again, Casey smiled stupidly, so happy it was finally over, and he got everyone – even the shit heads – back. When Stokely had managed to sit up, Casey started it, but they all ended in a group hug.

Everyone jumped and gasped, as there was a loud crashing sound on the side of the cage. Casey jerked around and cried: "Zeke!"

Yes, only Zeke… clinging to the chain link, blood all over the side of his face, but still, only Zeke. "Is it over?" he asked.

"Yeah," Casey said. "It's over…"

Both boys smiled, and then Zeke laughed.

… He actually laughed.