PART FOUR

Fitzhugh had fallen onto the floor of the gym locker room, a depressed place. He didn't know how long he was there, trying to recover from his fall but the gym doors began to open and two young, gym teachers came in. Light flooded in but it couldn't reach him. He wouldn't be seen unless they came all the way in. "While they're playing, I want to check the lockers before next period."

"You never know what's dropped out of them. Last week we found some king of drug."

Fitzhugh heard them but couldn't get out. The lights went on and this made him awaken to full alert status. He crawled, turning over onto his belly. He made it to a bench with two side walls, not really enough cover but it had to do for now. The two gym teachers looked around, checking locks. Fitzhugh stood up, shook his head, and held onto the side of the bench for support. Huge sneakers passed him. He ran out the open doors and onto the waxed gym floor. He inched his way along a row of bleachers and moved slowly. A giant volleyball bounced above his head and flew off. He stopped. Girls laughed at the volleyball game they played. Fitzhugh began to move after a boy retrieved the ball. The game began again and Fitzhugh ran behind jumping giant figures who were too busy to bother seeing him.

He ran to a door which was swinging open and closed with a slight breeze from outside. With no time to worry, he timed it so that he could run when it was open. He ducked outside and ran to a cement black top. A giant black boy bounced an orange basketball right near him. He ducked at a cornerstone and saw that a game of shirts and skins was in progress, also so important to the kids that none of them saw him. As the black boy dribbled, another boy tried to knock it away. The giant dribbled around the new kid but another knocked the ball from his hand. "Foul!" As Fitzhugh ran, the huge orange basketball tumbled after him, fallen.

"Where's the ball?"

"I'll get it!" The black boy ran for it. Fitzhugh reached the end of the blacktop and looked over his shoulder. The orange mass rolled straight at him. He jumped off the cement onto a grassy hill. The ball rolled off after him but bounced in a different direction. Fitzhugh laid low in the grass until the boy passed to get the ball.

Also outside somewhere, Phil put the cigarette box in a glass jar and put it on the grass. He then put a red, cracked brick he found in the dirt on top of it. Barry climbed out of the box but was in the jar. "That will hold you."

Barry called out, "I'll suffocate."

"You'll only be in there for a half hour. Sit still."

Barry sat in the jar and sarcastically added, "Only a half hour."

Phil, in his gym clothes, ran to his teacher. The small, stocky man yelled, "You're late again!"

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Well, you have next period free, so now you'll just have to stay and make up the time."

"But..."

"Either that or you'll fail."

Cohen came up behind Phil, "Failing gym is pretty lame."

Phil turned to him, "What's the verdict?"

The teacher moved out to direct the whole class, "Let's choose sides for the football game."

Cohen looked at Phil, "It's a deal. After you're done, give us the boy."

"All right."

"Burgon, Deed, you pick sides."

Fitzhugh ran off the grass into a dirt field. He passed a large square in the ground and looked up, noticing a giant baseball game. A giant with a mitt on was backing up toward him. A runner stopped on third base, which made the bases loaded. Fitzhugh ducked near a rock. The runner watched as his batter hit a home run. Fitzhugh watched as three giants passed third base. He started to run but the ball came flying to the third baseman. The last runner slid toward third. Fitzhugh ran as a trail of dust covered the entire area. He saw a huge foot sliding out of the smoke at him--followed by the giant attached to it. Fitzhugh ran around it, into more dust. He ran out of the field and into the football field.

Soon, the bell ran inside. Mark, Dan, and Betty ran to a space behind an open door. Valerie and Steve ran down a hall. Val yelled, "They're all over the place!"

They run under a door. Val looked about, "Storage room. We're safe for now."

"Unless that janitor comes back."

Kobick walked into in his office where Greyson sat on top his desk. "Well?"

Greyson said, "Our connection says he will have both the little people and the dealer."

"Good, good. And since they are one and the same, that shouldn't be too difficult."

"He isn't sure they are connected. I would say they're not."

"I'm not interested in what you'd say," Kobick pouted.

Fitzhugh ran blindly across the football field. A group of boys tackled another who had the football. The group landed right in front of Fitzhugh with the tackled boy almost face to face with him. Fitzhugh moved back, away from the boy and then ran.

"All right, take it from here."

The boy shook his head and the others prompted him into continuing the game. The lumbering giants stood and formed a front line. They counted numbers off for a hike and Fitzhugh finally heard the, "Hike!" The boys all ran.

Fitzhugh watched, "Just like on Earth."

The quarterback threw the ball but it was too high and went sailing over the intended boy. The ball smacked across the top of the jar, removing the brick. The brick fell over and so did Barry within the glass. Phil looked at this, "I'll get it!"

"No, you stay here," the teacher snapped from the sideline.

Barry got behind the box while another giant boy ran to recover the ball. Then he stood up to try to twist the lid off. As the boys began to line up, Fitzhugh chanced a run across the field--toward a goalpost far behind them. He reached it but saw giants chasing the boy with the ball. They came running right at him again. Other boys blocked for the runner. To Fitzhugh it seemed as if skyscrapers were moving through the area. Dirt came flying up at Fitzhugh who hid behind the white goal post. Other boys tackled this runner and they all tumbled in a heap just short of the goal post. Fitzhugh saw them all and realized the giant boys were once again caught in a moment of confusion. He ran.

Barry was busy trying to unscrew the lid. He was so busy, he failed to see a pallid, white spider crawl on top of the lid. Huffing, Fitzhugh ran to the brick for a hiding spot but at this range, he couldn't help but notice the jar. "Barry!" He scurried over to it, "Boy, are you all right?"

Barry banged on the jar, "Mister Fitzhugh. Get me out!"

"Hold on, I'm gonna tip it over. It'll be easier to..." spotting the spider, Fitzhugh yelled and then picked up a broken branch. "Hold on, Barry!" Fitzhugh ran at the side of the jar and pushed it, Barry aiding him from within and pushing against the other side. The spider, tense, crawled off. It must have been a baby spider, Fitzhugh thought. It was very small. "Are you hurt?"

"No, but Mister Fitzhugh, I'm running out of air."

Fitzhugh dropped the branch and walked to the lid. He began to twist, "You'll be out in no time."

Valerie and Steve slipped out from under the door of the storage room. Val swallowed, "Why not call the others. See what they found."

"Good idea. I'll..." a giant hand grabbed both of them.

Cohen snatched up Valerie and Steve, sneering at them. The two of them have learned by now that to struggle in a giant's hand was useless. Better not to fight it. They would just have to await their fate. The boy giant laughed. He dropped them into a pocket on his black leather vest and zipped it up.

At a drain opening, Henn came to two men that were in white overalls. "This will do the job?"

"It'll get the mice and whatever other pests may be in there."

"Good, good. That's what I want it for."

Barry fell from lack of air. "Barry!" Fitzhugh bit his tongue and turned the lid with all his might. He started to sweat but finally the lid came off. He went inside and pulled Barry out by his arms, "Barry...are you, can you hear me?"

Barry opened his eyes, "Mr. Fitzhugh. You did it."

"Get some air first before you sit up."

A football crashed into the grass nearby. Barry saw it, "No. We have to go. I...can make it, sir."

"Good, lad, come." Fitzhugh stood up from the boy and helped him stand, "I'm glad you...you're okay." The pair walked off to the field. "We're going to the ship to call the others. I'm afraid my radio is not in the best of shape."

"That means we have to cross them."

"It's easy. I've done it before." Fitzhugh looked up as the giants lined up again, "Quick. Before he says hike!"

"Hike!"

Fitzhugh thought it was too late but Barry had already started out. He followed as fast as he could. They ran across the field as the giants ran in the opposite direction. "Keep running!" The pair raced off the field to grass. A sneaker stomped by them, running after the boy. A baseball player hit a ball and ran. A boy threw it toward home but it wasn't a far enough throw.

Barry saw the ball, "Lookout!" He pushed Fitzhugh and the ball smashed between them. They ran to a metal pole.

"Where are we now?" Barry's question was answered by a huge basketball crashing down in front of them.

"Under the hoop," Fitzhugh looked up, "RUN!"

They move off the area altogether. In a vent, Dan told Mark and Betty, "I can't get Steve and Valerie. Maybe they're in trouble."

Mark, keeping a watchful eye out for movement in the drain in case any more rats were around, said, "So are we!" He spotted a cloud of whiteness coming at them through the pipe. "RUN!"

The trio ran down a drain pipe but giant rat growled at them, emerging from another pipe! They stop just under it. Dan grunted, "Don't move!"

Betty gasped, "I can reach out and touch it!"

"Tell the phone company," Mark flinched.

The gas came up to the rat and it turned toward the cloud and backed off from it. This allowed the three to run. Dan snapped, "Move it! Find an opening!" They pace to another vent but smoke started to fill in from it.

Mark coughed, "We'll be dead in a few minutes."

Dan coughed, "I know. That stuff's a killer!"

"Well, come on," Betty pleaded, "There's got to be way that's clear!" They follow her and the deadly white mist follows, enveloping in on itself in large swirls.

At SID headquarters, Kobick and Greyson were arguing when a knock came to the door of Kobick's office. Both yelled, "COME IN!"

The door opened and Cohen came in. Kobick demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Without a word, Cohen put his hands to the desk. Steve and Valerie fell out of his hands onto the desk--and landed on their backs. Steve got up, "Take it easy, creep," he yelled to the boy.

Val straightened her skirt, "Kobick, do me a favor and don't give him a reward. He'd only spend it on drugs."

"No, he won't. Not anymore."

Steve laughed, "You mean he and you, you and he...oh man. He's an informant? A what...a thirteen or fourteen year old boy."

"Why not?" Greyson defends, "We had to get the dealers."

Kobick frowned, "Who is he? Why are you helping him? Are the drugs you're using from your planet or are they grown here?"

"Kobick, my old friend," Steve laughed, "You've finally cracked up."

Greyson says, "We know what the plants look like."

Kobick tells him, "It will go badly for your group, captain, unless you tell us how you grow them, where the plants are, and who the top man is..."

"We have other ways...ways I don't like to use but..."

"Wait a minute! Will you two slow up. Just hold up. We're not in league with any two bit pusher!"

"Can you prove what they say?" Greyson asked Cohen.

Cohen brushed back his hair with his hand, grinning, "No, no, I can't."

Greyson frowned, "Exactly what have you found out?"

"That Farley is the connection to the top dog. And that the dealer will meet his suppliers tonight at the baseball park."

Kobick grabbed a pad, "Well that is news. We won't need you little monsters to tell us."

"Greyson," Steve began, "...you said you know what the plants look like? Do you have a picture--or a drawing maybe?"

"Well...why? Yes. Yes." Greyson opened a file cabinet and took out a photo. Carefully, he placed it before the two littles.

Val and Steve walk up to it as it lands. Val searched her thoughts, "That looks familiar to me."

Kobick heard that, "Further evidence of your guilt."

Steve snapped his fingers, "Of course it does--we've both seen it."

In the vent, Betty, Dan, and Mark ran to another opening. Dan coughed and looked out, "Looks clear."

Mark glanced over his shoulder at a widening cloud of the killer bug smoke. "Let's get..." From the opening, they heard a motor. Outside, an exterminator turned on a machine. It pumped vicious white smoke in at them. "We're penned in!"

They back up but the mist behind them overtakes them. Both clouds meet with the three in between. Mark coughed and fell.

Betty stooped over him, "Ohh Mark! Mark!" She coughed as she tried to find out if he was still conscious.

Dan took off and waved his jacket in a futile gesture to create room to breathe. "Come on! You two get up!" He helped Betty lift Mark up. "Mark, you have to stay up!"

Betty coughed, "Oh Dan, it's no good!" Mark falls from her grasp as she dropped her arm from around him, too weak to hold him. Dan pulled Mark up but now Betty fell.

Groggy, Dan yawned, "We...have...to...keep..." Dan slumped over with Mark. The three of them laid in the drain with heavy mist surrounding them and they almost vanished within it.