Chapter 2: The alien

It was a woman.

The impact had been big enough to make a small crater, with walls covered in plowed soil and a couple of persistent leaves. She was lying in the middle of it, on her side, rather peaceful, as if she was just sleeping. They had been able to identify her gender particularly by her small size; her face was hidden behind a muddled mess of blonde hair, although they could make out a couple of lips and a nose.

"Doesn't look like an alien," Lucas said. They stood a few steps away from the edge of the crater, shining their flashlights on the limp body. Eleven stood behind Mike, taking everything in as she peeked over his shoulder.

"Man, I bet you it's an alien," Dustin said. "That's just a disguise."

"No it's not,"

"Oh, you wanna bet?" he turned to his friend. "Three dollars."

"I'm not gonna bet for money!"

"Oh, okay. Your Wolverine Limited Series then?"

Lucas' jaw nearly dropped to his feet. "Are you crazy? That's a damn collector's item, man!"

"I know, that's why I asked."

"Guys, can you focus for a second?" Mike asked, shaking his head. "What are those clothes?"

"I dunno, maybe it's a hobo?" Lucas replied.

"Space-hobo," Dustin said.

"Man you're just full of sh-"

"Because they don't seem like woman's clothes to me," Mike quickly interrupted, starting to walk along the edge. "Or maybe they're like, expensive business clothes. What if she fell out of a plane?"

Lucas shrugged. "Well, then she's dead."

"But I don't see any blood," Dustin said. "Or broken bones."

"She probably died from internal bleeding."

"Could be. But I expected her to be, you know, more flat."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "You're just incredible."

Eleven had been quietly observing all of it until now, but now she carefully treaded forward, keeping her eyes on the motionless woman. By the time Mike finally understood what she was doing, she had already jumped into the crater. "El!" He yelled, pointing his flashlight her. "What are you doing?"

Eleven didn't reply. She kneeled down, slightly bowing her head, as if she was an animal studying its prey. The boys kept looking with open mouths as she wiped some strands of blonde hair out of the woman's eyes. In those few seconds there was a certain word that arose in her, although she couldn't quite tell what it was. Maybe it had to do something with the vague thing she remembered when Mike lied to her. Before she could further think about it, though, the woman's head slightly jerked. Eleven quickly stepped back as the boys yelped.

"Did you see that?" Dustin cried.

"Wait, was that the weirdo?" Lucas asked.

Mike opened his mouth to answer, but felt himself nearly freeze as the woman suddenly groaned. She slowly rolled on her back, as if she was just waking up, then moved almost unnaturally fast as her eyes popped open and she sat up. "My days, thought my head was explodin' for a sec…"

She noticed the boys and turned towards them. Expecting her to erupt in some kind of crazed chant they took a few steps backwards, but she just asked: "And what happened to you?"

"Huh?" Lucas said.

"Well, you sure look a lot younger than the last time I saw ya. Ow do, still playin' all the hits?"

"No way," Dustin whispered, "a British alien?"

Lucas gave him a subtle push. "Shut up,"

"Speakin' of which," the woman said, turning to Mike, "I actually found your guitar, Paul! It wasn't even lost! Well, sorta, considerin' you put it in a never-endin' time loop that nearly wiped out half of the universe, but we all make mistakes. Just be a little more careful where you put away your stuff next time, alright?"

Mike just looked at her dumbfounded, not quite sure what to say. Before anyone could say anything, the woman had already turned around and smiled to Dustin. "And you look absolutely fabulous, Ringo! Love what you did with the hair. Stylin' it a little less daft, aren't ya?"

Dustin just gazed at her. Mike finally found the sense to speak up: "Uh, ma'am, we're not the Beatles."

The woman frowned. "Aren't you? Well, now that you're mentionin' it, you lot look a tad young actually… oh, stupid, stupid!" She slapped her forehead a few times, then stuck a finger in her nose. "Oh, this isn't the sixties at all! Bit mushy, slight hint of a tech revolution, big haircuts, oh, and that nasty epidemic… eighties?"

"1983," Mike said, rather quietly. "1984 in a month."

"Oh dear," The woman now looked a bit worried. "That's a problem. A rather big problem, actually. I wouldn't say it is very good at all." Noticing Eleven, she frowned again as the girl cautiously took a step backwards. "No good… oh well, that's for another day. Would you lot happen to know how I ended up here?"

"Well, you fell from the sky out of nowhere," Lucas said. "We almost thought you were dead,"

"Did I?" the woman asked, surprised. "Glad I'm still in one piece then. A bit shaken up, I'd say, but alright. I'm slowly startin' to remember now…"

Mike sighed. "Look, ma'am…"

"Why do you keep calling me ma'am?"

"Excuse me?" He now looked at her as if she was truly crazy. Which he still considered an option actually, judging by how crazy this whole situation was getting. "Don't you know what you look like?"

"Well, I remember some things, but… I sort of forgot. Drives me round the bend, really." She cracked an awkward smile. "Memory's still restorin'. I got the big chunks, but I'm afraid the missin' pieces are takin' their time."

"Uh, okay. I guess… in case you didn't notice yet, you're a woman."

"Oh, am I?" The woman raised her eyebrows. "I already felt like somethin' was off… does it suit me?"

"What?"

"I'm so sorry, honestly. This is all just a tad new to me. Not to mention that I was a white haired Scotsman just an half hour ago,"

Mike blinked a few times. "What are you-"

"Long story, I'll explain later. So, four kids out in the woods, late at night," the woman said as she climbed out of the crater. "Don't you all have parents worrying about you?"

"None of your business," Lucas scoffed. Dustin nudged him, causing his friend to cast him a frustrated glance. "What?" he mouthed.

"Alien," Dustin whispered.

"Oh, shut up man, really. She's crazy,"

"Crazy or genius?"

"What are you even-"

"We're looking for our missing friend," Mike said. "He disappeared three days ago."

"Did he? Well, that's no good. But I guess I can handle another problem. I like to challenge myself, after all."

"Do you mean you want to help?"

"'Course I want to help!" the woman said, almost offended. "What else would you expect me to do, sit around doin' nothin'?"

"But we don't even know who you are!" Mike almost shouted. He waved for Eleven and helped her climb out of the crater, then quickly followed her as she started to walk into the woods.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you… once I remember. But so far there's one thing I'm absolutely certain about and I don't want to ignore it."

"…and that is?"

She abruptly turned around, scaring the kids as they stopped in their tracks. "I've forgotten almost everythin'. I'm practically rediscoverin' myself and to be honest with you, that scares me to death with all these new and sudden things, but I do know that whenever someone needs help, I never refuse. It's a bit like… like floatin' in a big, open ocean and this is the only certainty I can clin' to. Makes sense?"

"I guess so…"

"Brilliant! Now then, you said your friend went missin', but where?" she asked as she went on, the kids following.

"Guys, I don't feel comfortable with this." Lucas whispered as they came together to deliberate. "I mean, I don't know how it seems to you, but I think she's nuts."

"Dude, she's an alien with memory loss,"

"Could you just quit that shit for one second? Aliens don't exist!"

"Why not? We found a girl with psychic powers, right so-"

"Just leave Eleven out of this," Mike said. "I don't think she understand what is going on either. Do you, El?"

Eleven shook her head.

"But what if it's a trap?" Lucas asked. "I mean, maybe she really is a lunatic. Maybe she's the same psycho who kidnapped Will and now wants to kidnap us-"

"No, I don't think so." Mike replied. "I think she really wants to help. She has forgotten who she is, but maybe that's just like… a shock, from the fall. If she helps us, that could help her to get her memory back."

"So what, you just go ahead and trust a weird woman you found in the woods?"

"Why don't you ask the weirdo?" Dustin proposed. "She would know if she's a threat, right?"

All three of the boys turned to Eleven, who seemed rather overwhelmed by all the new attention. Mike nodded in an attempt to comfort her. "El, do you… do you think she's a threat? Is she with the Bad Men?"

Eleven looked at the woman, who, after a couple of meters, now seemed to trail off and suddenly stopped to rummage around in her coat. "No," she finally said. "No Bad Men."

"That settles it then," Mike said.

"I really don't know how you guys expect this all to help find Will, but alright," Lucas muttered. "Just don't say I didn't warn you,"

"Dude, maybe if she's found her spaceship, she'll take us with her!"

"Jesus, Dustin, she's not an alien!"

"No? You want to give it a shot?" Before anyone could say anything, Dustin had already turned around and shouted: "Hey, ma'am, are you an alien?"

"Well, yeah!" The woman turned around, an indignant look on her face. "Don't say that like it's offensive!"

Dustin almost couldn't hide his triumphant smile. "Told you,"

"That says nothing. She's just confused."

"Guys, let's give it a rest, okay? We'll have to go on and look for Will. The more people we got, the better."

"Okay, fine. Shouldn't we be getting home anyway?"

"In a sec. Let's just go have a look at his house,"

"But what the heck are you expecting to find there!"

"Oh Jesus, are you gonna keep complaining? Come on!" Mike groaned. Not giving Lucas the chance to respond, the turned and started to follow the woman, Eleven and Dustin quickly following him. Lucas sighed, then threw his hands in the air and went after them. For sure, it was now practically impossible that things would get any stranger, right?

"…so you fell out of your spaceship?" Dustin asked. He'd been cross examining the woman ever since they caught up with her, although there weren't many questions she could answer – either she'd trail off in a nonsense rambling or she would get stuck after a couple of words. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, however, he had already found out she had seen the submerging of Atlantis ("someone just pulled the plug"), hated pears ("nasty green round-curved invaders") and actually had been a white-haired Scotsman half an hour ago.

"Sort of, yeah." the woman replied.

"Wow. What does it look like? Is it a flying saucer?"

"What?" She pulled a weird face. "No, she is not a saucer. She's more of a box, honestly."

"With guns and lasers?"

"No, 'course not. What would I need those for? I'm here to solve problems, not to create them."

"Oh. Alright." Dustin said, disappointed. The idea of a spaceship without any guns just seemed weird to him – not only because it looked cool, of course, but also because there were tons of dangers out there. You'd just have to watch Alien to prove that point. Would Ripley have survived without any guns?

"But it can travel through space, right?"

"Space and time. Weren't you payin' attention?"

Dustin put his hands up in a innocent gesture. "Sorry. That's so cool, though. So… where is it right now?"

To his surprise, the woman shrugged. "Wouldn't have the slightest clue. She seemed a bit shaken up by all the change, so I wouldn't expect her anywhere in the near future. Silly old box."

"Right, because you… were a man half an hour ago."

"Does that surprise you?"

Dustin shrugged. "Well, kinda. It's just like complete regeneration, right?"

The woman suddenly stopped in her tracks, looking very impressed. "Exactly! What, are you top of the class at biology or somethin'?"

"Uh, no. I just know 'cause Wolverine can do it too."

The woman resumed walking, shaking her head. "'Course you did. If there's somethin' no one could beat humanity to, it's delegitimizin' everythin' they don't believe. Just promise you'll remind me to show you that time-travel is real, alright?"

Dustin smiled. "Awesome."

A few meters behind them Mike and Eleven followed, with a very annoyed-looking Lucas at their heels. Eleven didn't seem scared by the weird woman; quite the opposite. She kept staring her, a surprised look on her face. Mike grinned. "You like her, don't you?"

She quickly looked down, not feeling the need to answer. Mike shrugged. "I think she's alright. A bit weird, but alright."

"Mad?"

He looked up, surprised. "Uh, yeah, I… I guess. You don't know her, right?"

She shook her head, although it took her longer to reply this time. "No."

And perhaps this wasn't entirely true, because this particular word, "mad", didn't occur to her until she had stared into the woman's eyes. They had reminded her of something, but she still didn't know exactly what it was. Quite frankly, it scared her. She couldn't tell Mike about it. Not yet.

"Maybe she's-"

"Oi, Paul!" the woman shouted as she turned around. Mike sighed, then replied: "I'm not Paul McCartney, ma'am, the name's Mike!"

"Really? I see… I like that name, honestly. Mike, you said your friend got lost around 'ere, right?"

"Yeah. Eleven said she'd seen him, but she took us to his house just before we found you."

"Did she now? Are you Eleven?"

Eleven hesitantly took a step forward when the woman approached her. Mike actually found himself rather surprised at the woman's careful, calculated movements. Within a matter of seconds, she seemed to lose all of her restless enthusiasm and kneeled down before the girl the way a policeman would kneel down to comfort a lost child. Even Lucas seemed surprised, although he certainly did his best to hide it.

"So, Eleven, you think he is at his house?"

She shook her head. "Hiding."

"Hidin'? That's odd…"

"She said that to us too," Mike said. "But it can't be. I mean, the police would've found him then, wouldn't they?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Depends."

"On what?"

"I don't know." The woman got up again. "Lots of problems, lots of questions, excitin', isn't it?"

"Not what I would call exciting," Lucas sighed. "Look, it's getting really dark, maybe we should just get home."

"Uh, guys?" Dustin asked.

"You don't think she's making this up, do you?" Mike scoffed. "If she's bringing us here, there's a reason for it."

"But what reason? Do you see Will hiding around here, because I don't!"

"That's because he is hiding, you idiot!"

"Oh, you're just-"

"Guys!" Dustin screamed. The boys turned around. "What?"

"Look." He pointed at the road, which suddenly seemed to explode in blue and red lights as a couple of police cars drove by, loud sirens blaring away the peaceful silence of the night. For a second they stared at each other when the cars disappeared again, before Mike was the first to speak up: "Shit."

"Should we check it out?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, definitely. Come on, where's that weird woman?"

"Hold on, she was just here-"

They suddenly noticed the woman, who was already on the road running in the direction of the police cars, coat flapping behind her like some kind of superhero cape. The boys looked at each other again, dumbfounded. "Eh, what?"

"There's no time. Let's go,"

And off they took again, each one trying to recollect their thoughts as they pedaled as hard as they could to keep up with the strange woman. But there was one thing they were all absolutely certain about: with these two new weird guests, it was hardly possible things would be ever the same again…