Chapter 02: Manifestation

Mike didn't feel good that night. His body was in pain. Their doctor had said to expect puking, and fever. He puked alright. But it was always black, oil-like stuff that came out. Every part of his body was pain, and it seemed to never stop. But, it did, the next morning. He did his normal rituals, and had a shower. He felt his skin, seeing if there were any bruises from Dana. None! Also, his skin felt cold and hard; like steel. What the hell? He thought, feeling the smooth curves. Almost like a car's. He came from his room, dressed, to see Jay wearing a surgeon mask. "What is that all about?"

"I'm making sure I don't catch anything from you."

"You can't catch anything!"

"Yeh, right. Last time you said that I got the stomach flu. ...I think you should stay home."

"No way! I want to kick Dana's ass."

"Yeah, I'll see that happen." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, I sent some of that oil to an institute."

"So? It's just crap you fill your car up with." He got his backpack. "No big deal."

"No, it's not. It's not from this planet."

"Yeah, right." He pushed past her.

"Aren't you gonna eat?!"

"Not hungry."

That made Jay wide-eyed. Her brother always ate. He seemed to always be hungry. "I think that oil did something." She mumbled, and followed him out the door.

When they got to school, Dana was waiting. The boys got in a fight, and it came out a tie.

"I'm telling you, Jay, something's happening to us!" He was following his sister out of school at the end of the day.

"It's called puberty. Live with it."

"No, I mean...this morning...even now, my skin is cold and hard. His was cold and hard."

"Yeah, it's called you're going nuts."

He sighed, knowing he wouldn't get to his sister. "I didn't get a bruise."

She looked at him. "...Yeah, you're right. You even look...alittle metallic, actually." She said, getting on the bus.

"Now you're finally getting my point."

"No, I'm just saying you look more weirder than normal." She said.

He shook his head, and sat down next to her. "Fine, don't believe me." He mumbled.

Meanwhile...

Diana London looked into her microscope, checking the sample sent to her instituite again. It had the strangest properties. It seemed to have robot-like parts in it, in the place of bacteria and/or cells. She extracted some of the oil into a syringe, and placed it into a rat. The effects were immediate: the rat turned into some type of robot. She stepped back. She had never seen this type of thing in her life. She dialed a number on her cell phone "Yes, Roy? We have...something off." Her British-accented voice told her collegue.

It had become night at Mike's house. He had gone into the bathroom inside of his room, looking for Tylenol pills. He had a bad headache, and his body hurt all over. When he looked in the mirror, he almost screamed. His body was like a robot's skeleton, his eyes...a robot's. His hair had fallen off his scalp, and his clothes were torn. He couldn't even see a mouth on him anymore...only some sort of mask-like covering. "Oh...my...God..." His voice was robotic, but still Mike's. He ran out of the bathroom, hearing a clonk-clonk robotic sound to his feet, and got to his sister's door. He looked behind him, out the window to their car, the 'Yellow Banana', a Mazda RX-8. For some reason, he couldn't move, or stop looking at it. In his mind was some words, reading 'Scanning...' then 'Scanning Complete'. He then felt even worse. Something was growing on random areas of his body. He felt like he was growing as well. That scared him even more. He got out of the house as best he could, squeazing through the garage door he opened. He fell on the ground, his now-giant hand slamming into the 'Yellow Banana', and it flew across the block. "Shit."

Jay awoke to the sound of the garage door opening. Probably Mike sneaking out again... She didn't really care. Then she heard the car hit and explode outside. Then she was awake. She got out of bed, and ran towards the door. "Mike!!!" She called, opening it. She saw the Yellow Banana on fire, and on her driveway was...an exact copy of the Yellow Banana.