CH 6. Sniff, sniff, sniff, go reporters.
The next Monday going to school, Allison noted she and her Mommy were getting strange looks from other parents. A pair of mothers who were about to go inside, stepped aside of the doors and let them go first. Tommy took a step to walk up to her and his mother held him back. No one got near them.
Inside, Cameron said goodbye to Allison. Allison took her place on the mat. Only half the class was there. Cameron left at a stiff walk, ignoring the wary looks from others. Cameron also noted their heart rates and breathing were up. Seeing a few women talking and eyeing her suspiciously, she began to wonder if Allison would be safe in school.
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Pete came on the classroom with his mother. Allison waved to him and noticed his mother came over with him.
"Pete," his mother said firmly.
Looking embarrassed, Pete looked down and said, "Thank you for saving me, Ally. I did something dumb."
"It's Ok, Pete," Allison said, happy someone was still talking to her.
"Allison, is your mother still here?" the woman asked.
"Mommy left already, but she'll be back to get me after school," Allison told her.
"I want to thank you for saving Pete's life. I don't care how you did it, I am grateful you did. Have a good day, dear."
Allison smiled back at Pete's mother. When she left, Miss Flanders got their morning class started.
Allison made sure she behaved herself. When they played duck-duck-goose, she only ran and moved as fast as the other children. She sang and played and had a nice day at school. When they were getting ready for their parents to come get them, Allison played 'tea party' with Jenny and Gabby at a small round table. Gabby was a bit clumsy, which made Allison laugh.
"Jenny, your mother's here," Miss Flanders called.
"Bye, Jenny," Allison and Gabby said, waving as Jenny left.
At the door, Jenny's mother grabbed her and and led her out scolding her. "I don't want you playing with that freak!"
The words weren't loud, but Allison heard them. Allison gapped at the doorway. Miss Flanders pretended not to hear.
"Ally, you cup is empty," Gabby said and pretended to refill her cup and knocked it over. "Ohhh!"
For some reason, Allison didn't feel like playing any more. Seeing the look on Allison's face, Gabby's face scrunched up into a whine. "I'm sorry, Ally."
"It's OK," Allison said, and righted her cup. "Hey, Gabby, do you think I'm a freak?"
"No, you're Ally," she said.
Gabby's mother was next. Allison said bye to Gabby, and noted Gabby's mother informed Miss Flanders they would be changing schools. Miss Flanders asked why.
Gabby's mother glanced at Allison and said, "I don't feel my daughter is safe here," she said, and left.
Sitting alone now, Allison stared at the little plastic table, doing her best to ignore other parents who came in. She blocked her ears to conversations parents had as they picked up their children. She couldn't hep but notice a couple mothers looked at her as if tasting something bad.
"Allison... Allison, your mother is here," Miss Flanders called.
Seeing her Mommy, Allison bolted up and ran to her. Not thinking, she vaulted up into her mother's arms and wrapped her arms around her neck.
Cameron held her child. Although Allison wasn't crying, she seemed upset. Miss Flanders tried to hide it, but Cameron could see she was upset also. "What's going on?" she asked heavily.
Miss Flanders played with her hands and said, "Some of the parents ... well, they are afraid of Allison."
Casting Miss Flanders her blank-robot stare, Cameron said in her flat tone, "Allison is not the one they should fear." She then marched out, holding her child.
"Why, Mommy?"Allison asked in a sniffle. "Why do they say things like that about me?"
Cameron had walked out the front door to see three other sets of parents on their way in. They moved aside. Cameron figured now was the best time to answer Allison. In a clear voice, Cameron announced, "Allison, humans fear what they don't understand. You are different and you are better than they are. Remember that."
The group gapped at Cameron as she strode away. One of the men outside wearing a lanyard with his press ID on outside his light sweater it snapped a picture. He followed at a discrete distance.
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Greg Hanson followed the woman holding her child. The woman he knew of as Mrs. Connor, walked into a gated community. The guard and the men hanging around the gate greeted her and opened the gate for her. She put her pink haired child down inside, who also greeted the men and thanked one of the men for the chocolate he gave her.
Greg watched until they had gone up the street around a curve out of sight. He was hoping to see which house was theirs. No luck, he'd just have to follow them. He walked up to the gate and waved to the guard.
"Hello, I came to see Connors," Greg said with a smile.
"Your pass?" the guard asked and held his hand out.
Greg's smile weakened. "I don't have a pass. Mr. Connor didn't say I needed one."
"Be on your way then." the guard said crisply.
"Perhaps you could call him for me?" Greg asked.
"Be on your way," the guard said firmly.
Greg could see the other men hanging around were eyeing him and moving to the sides. They obviously didn't want him here. "Maybe if I could ask you a few questions?" Greg asked, holding up his press ID.
"Hey fella, do you know what 'be on your way' means?" one of the muscular men asked as he came out of the gate.
Greg backed up, and another man came out. He held up his hands. "Hey guys, I don't want any trouble, I just wanted to ask if you knew about that car accident Halloween night. You know, the one where that car hit nothing, and no one seen anything?"
"We know nothing about it," Mr. Muscle said as he walked slowly towards Greg, backing him up.
"It was on the news. Rumor has it that car hit a little girl, the car was wrecked but she walked away. Come on, car versus girl, and the girl wins?"
"Keep moving," Mr. Muscle replied.
"Hey, this is a public sidewalk," Greg retorted as he backed up. "I have every right to be here!"
"Keep moving," Mr. Muscle said, and tapped him on the shoulder.
Greg stumbled back. He pulled a can of mace.
Mr. Muscle pulled a machine pistol from his loose fitting shirt. "Drop it," Mr. Muscle intoned.
Gregs' mace was yanked out of his hand by Mr. Muscles' brother. He was shoved back again as the machine pistol disappeared.
"OK, OK!" Greg cried and ran back a few steps. "What are you guys, mafia or something?"
"Keep moving."
"Yeah, OK, keep moving, right," Greg agreed. He walked down to the next block.
Making his way back to his car, Greg got in and called his office. "Hey Charlie, did you get a picture of that car?"
"Can't find it, I've looked in every tow yard, Greg. It's gone. What did you find out?"
"Well, I saw Mrs. Connor. She looks pretty hot for having a young kid. Kid's hair is pink too. She lives in a gated community with gorillas guarding the gates. They're packin. Something is up, Charlie, I can feel it. Overhead a couple parents at the preschool, according to them, that girl is a witch."
A laugh sounded. "Yeah, OK, Greg. I guess that angle will sell papers just as well as the UFO angle. We still need a source to make the story. Any of those parents talking?"
"Not yet. I asked a couple questions and they clammed right up. Almost like they were afraid to say anything. I'll hit the bars the next few nights. Maybe buying a few drinks will loosen some tongues."
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Allison wandered out back where Gramma was doing her exercises. Playing with the toy bird, she made it fly around in front of her, then land it on a bush. She left it there as she went over and sat by Gramma who had finished her crunches.
"I miss school," Allison said with a pout as she plodded down.
Breathing hard from her exercise, Sarah grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off her face. "I'm Sorry, hon. Your daddy did warn you not to use your invisible hands, didn't he?"
"Yeah," Allison mussed. "But Gramma, it's not like I did anything bad. Everyone was happy when I made the toys fly around. I don't understand what happened."
Sitting cross legged on front of her Sarah said, "I'm sure the other children liked your show, but you made the adults nervous. Nervous people become scared. Scared people can become violent. That's why your Mom and Dad took you out of school, so you won't be in danger." Sarah explained. She then cheered up and said, "Hey, sweetie, we're moving soon so you can go to another school. I'm sure if you are good there, and don't use your invisible hands, everything will be fine."
Allison thought about Gramma's reasoning. It sounded right. "OK, Gramma. I made a mistake, didn't I?"
"You did, but now you know better," Sarah assured her.
Allison nodded. "I won't do it again," she promised.
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Greg had hit the jackpot. The third local bar he'd gone in, he met a man talking about 'the accident'. A few rum and cokes later, his source gave him all the details. This guy had seen the boy run out into the road.
"And like a shot this girl ran out from the other side, I mean zoom!" the man said with a flail of his hand. "Don't even think she touched the ground. She ran right out in front of that car with him, and smash! At first, I thought the car hit them, but it didn't!" Leaning over to Greg, the man said in his slur, "You know like in those movies when a car just smacks nothing and crumples? That's what happened! It smashed into nothing, pieces flew all over! This young woman leaped over some cars on the side to hug the pink haired kid, the boy ran screaming back to his folks. Never seen nothing like it."
Greg nodded as he recorded what the man was saying. "That's amazing, but that car must have hit something."
"You're gonna think I'm crazy," the man said pointing at him. "But I saw that car." Holding up his hands, fingers splayed, he said, "I saw four giant hand prints in the front of that car. I mean big ones, bigger than any hands got a right to be!"
"Hand prints? You think something put it's hands up to stop that car?"
"Didn't see anything, but they was there," the man stated. "The kid in the black costume with the pink hair, her father took her away. After they all left, an ambulance and a tow truck came The lady driving the car was taken away in the ambulance, the tow truck took the car."
"Do you remember what company the tow truck was from? Name, symbol, the color?" Greg prodded.
"Yea, it was green. No emblems, just plain green. You know that dull green the Army uses?"
"Olive drab," Greg supplied. "That truck had no markings at all?"
"None. It was one of those roll-backs. They scooped the car up and left. The car was trashed. I'll tell ya too, if that car hadn't hit nothing, it would have splattered those kids all over the road."
"Whatever that car hit saved their lives," Greg concluded.
"Sure did!" the man agreed. "I'll tell ya another thing too. It was that pink haired girl pretended to be a witch who done it. Heard tell she made stuff fly in school. She came flyin out there, feet not even touchin the ground. SHE wrecked that car and saved the boy's life! Heard tell she's a real witch."
"Didn't get any pictures, did you?" Greg asked.
"Nope. By the time I even thought about it, most of it was over."
"OK, so what did the cops say?"
"Cops?" the man asked. "Weren't no cops."
Greg's eyebrow raised. "A potentially fatal accident, and no cops showed up?" he asked.
"Naw, just those army looking guys. You know, green shirts, camo pants."
"Yeah, I know," Greg agreed. The accident wasn't the real story. It was only the tip of the iceberg. He had to get inside that gated community and find out what the hell the army was doing here. He had a gut feeling it was some kind of genetic research.
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The next couple days, Greg poured through papers and looked up anything having to do with the name Connor. Charlie had come up empty with finding the car. Greg was sure that by now, the car had been crushed and gotten rid of. The only thing he found out about the accident in the papers was a woman had hit a tree on that street. Charlie went to go see her. The women had a new car and refused to talk to him.
Digging back in the old newspaper files, Greg caught a break. A picture of bank robbers, terrorists the paper called them, had blown up a bank twelve years ago. Supposedly, they had all died in the explosion, but Mrs. Connor's face was one of those terrorists. She looked identical to the woman who had left the preschool with her daughter. Coincidence, he thought not. According to the paper, her name was Cameron Phillips. The other two were Sarah and John Connor.
A more recent news item also caught his attention. He didn't find it in the files, but on a Youtube video marked 'metal woman climbs out of a wreck'. Here, he watched Mrs. Cameron Connor extricate herself from a crumpled car. The video claimed she was a 'cyborg', and her legs were circled in red and the picture blown up to show her bare metal legs as she dug for something in the wreck.
"You should see the new broadcast that goes with that video," Charlie said as he came in to sit down.
Greg nodded to the screen and said, "We know the Army's involved. Looks like they are making cybernetic soldiers. Mrs. Connor is not human, neither is her child."
Charlie let out a snort. "Aliens," he said. "They are working with the Army, this is proof, dude. How else can a five year old girl step in front of a car and destroy it? We're going to clean up on this story."
"Not us, our aliases." Greg said, correcting him. "I don't want to get disappeared. We'll turn it into the Sun over in England. They will love this, and we won't have a target on our backs. Besides, this story isn't over yet. I want to know how a cyborg can have a child, and where in the hell they came from."
.
The move to Palmdale was smooth, and in the middle of the night. The new community was set up a few miles from the Deitrich Academy on Air Force base land. The commander there wasn't happy the Army was taking over a piece of it's land, but bowed under the pressure from above.
Once everything was set, a convoy rolled out the back gate and down a dirt road that met the highway for their trip. By morning, there was nothing left of the gated community but open gates and for sale signs.
The new community was settled between rolling hills at the edge of an Air Force housing complex. What would have been officer housing was now the new residence of the Connors.
Allison didn't really like moving, she had the feeling they had to move because of her. She hadn't realized how bad it was just to use her Hands where someone could see them. She decided this time, no way was she going to use her Hands outside the house again. She hated loosing friends.
To help her feel better, John and Cameron took Allison to a nearby park. Allison played on the swings with John pushing, then went down the tunnel slide a few times. Although the monkey bars looked tempting, Allison stayed off those, seeing a couple boys were up there.
Seeing a some girls weaving dandelions into bracelets, Allison asked if she could join them. The woman with them had her go pick some. Allison coaxed her mom to come over, and soon they were all making green and yellow bracelets together. It was a fun day.