Date on Earth: Saturday, October 7
I was feeling terrible, which wasn't surprising. After all, I had gotten kidnapped, was currently running away from aliens, and was absolutely exhausted from long hours of walking with no breaks. Not to mention the suffocating guilt that was constantly hovering over me everywhere I went.
But when I saw the town over the hill, it felt like there was finally a silver lining. Despite everything, I managed to feel ecstatic. Relieved. Even a tiny bit of hope that maybe things would start to look up.
Of course, I had forgotten that nothing good lasts.
"Seriously?" I exclaimed angrily. "Who called the cops?"
"Someone must've recognized us," Tristen said, hurrying over to a trash bin and dumping his food.
I refrained from screaming. Couldn't just one thing go right?
"What's the plan?" Tristen asked.
"There are only four of them," Tesha said. "You three are powerful enough to defeat them."
I raised an eyebrow. "'Defeat them?'"
"Yes. You all must stop underestimating yourselves. The Jh'ai have blessed you. But if you need assistance, I will be right by your side."
"Woah, woah, woah!" Asher said as Tesha reached for her gun. "We can't fight them!"
She tilted her head. "Why not?"
"Because," Asher emphasized. "They're not the bad guys. They just want to get us to safety.
"But if they capture us, they will be putting you three in even more danger," Tesha said, and I snorted. She was so clueless.
"Well–yes, but they don't know that. All they know is that we are missing and their jobs are to get us back," Asher explained.
"That still doesn't help our situation," I reminded them. "Are we just supposed to let them take us?"
"Of course not!" He exclaimed. "We'll have to sneak away."
"Run from the police?" Tristen said. "That rarely works, and we don't even have a car."
"Well, do you have any other ideas?" Asher crossed his arms.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, we'll try to run away. Only problem: how? The cops are literally at the front door."
"Is there a back exit?" Tesha asked. "We could slip out before they notice."
I shook my head. "Nope, only the two exits at the front."
"Unless..." Asher looked over his shoulder. "There might be an exit through the kitchen."
"Pfft, do you really think they'll let us in there?" I said condescendingly.
He smirked. "I never said anything about asking." I raised my eyebrows. It was easy to forget he wasn't as innocent as his appearance portrayed him.
"What if there isn't a door?" Tristen pointed out. "We'll be stuck."
"It is worth a try," Tesha said. "After all, when isn't there a risk?" She looked at me as she said it, and I found myself smiling softly at the use of my earlier statement.
Tristen sighed. "Well, whatever we're doing, better do it fast. Cops just got out of their cars."
Sure enough, when I looked over my shoulder, four cops had started walking over.
"Let's go!" Asher said, as he started speed-walking to the back. We followed him as casually as we could, trying not to draw even more attention to ourselves than we already had.
"Excuse me, you kids aren't supposed to be back there-" I heard one of the cashiers say before we made a run for it.
There were a few shouts as we dashed by. I dodged the hanging pans and metal tables, sucking in a breath as I stubbed my toe. How do people even work back here? I found myself asking after running into another table. Everything was packed so closely together, with no order.
Suddenly, a bulky man appeared out of the shadows, causing us to stop in our tracks. We all quickly changed directions to avoid the man. But Asher was too slow.
"What do we have here?" The big man sneered, a smirk plastered on his face. Every part of his body was covered in tattoos, like he had been slapped with a wet newspaper.
Asher tried to struggle out of the man's arms, but he just grasped tighter. "You kids shouldn't be back here."
Tristen stepped up, his hands held up. "We don't want any trouble-"
"And yet, you deliberately broke the rules." The bulky man's nails dug into Asher's skin, and he flinched.
"So sorry, sir," Asher said. "We, uh, thought this was the bathroom."
The man laughed bitterly. "Trespassing and lying. Very impressive."
"Look, Tattooed Man," I snapped. "Don't you think you're slightly overreacting? Would it kill you to let us pass, or are you afraid of four teenagers?"
"You better watch your mouth, little girl. It might get you in trouble one day."
I was about to retort when there was the sound of shouting outside the door.
"The police are here," Tristen said frantically, and I refrained from rolling my eyes. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
I rushed to the kitchen door, closed it shut and locked it. To be extra safe, I used all my strength to pull one of the metal tables in front of it.
There was a gasp and I turned my attention back to the man. Tesha was holding her gun to his head, and his eyes widened in fear; something that looked out of place with his intimidating body.
"Let go of the boy, please," Tesha said calmly, somehow sounding both innocent and deadly at the same time. With no hesitation, the big man dropped Asher and quickly stepped back.
I felt my eyes widen as well.
"Where is the back exit?" Tesha demanded, moving the gun closer to him.
He threw his hands up. "Be careful with that! Exit's up ahead to the right, okay?" He exclaimed. "Although I don't know why you four are bothering to run away. The cops will get you."
Asher snorted. "Please, if the latest events have taught us anything, it's that anything is possible."
"We need to go, now!" Tristen told us, and we all rushed to the back door, running forward and taking a right.
Tristen reached the door first, and he pushed it open. We were hit with cold air and darkness when we stepped outside. The door opened to a dark alleyway with trash littering it. More commotion had started from inside the kitchen, meaning the Tattooed Man must've opened the door for the cops.
The others must have noticed it too, because we all started running down the alley. When we reached the street, we were instantly spotted.
"Hey, over there!" One of them shouted, and we immediately ran the opposite way. I bumped into at least five people, not even bothering to apologize.
Two more police officers appeared out of the alleyway, shouting for us to stop running. Little did they know that stopping would mean dying. And call me crazy, but I didn't want to die just yet.
Asher's legs started getting wobbly, and I linked my arm with his, saying breathlessly, "Try to keep up next time."
He sighed. "Yeah, yeah."
We continued to run, but we knew we couldn't do it forever. After hours of walking, our legs were spent. And even with the huge adrenaline rush, my lungs felt like they were on fire.
"We need a new plan," Tesha stated, somehow not sounding like she was out of breath.
I looked around. All we needed was somewhere to hide. Or a vehicle to drive away.
"There!" Asher exclaimed. To our right was one of the police officer's cars, the door wide open.
"We're gonna steal a police car?" Tristen exclaimed as we darted towards the vehicle. "That's illegal!"
"So is running from the cops!" Asher responded. "Besides, it's their fault for leaving the door open."
Tristen groaned. "Fine, but since I'm probably the only one with a driver's license, I'll drive." Tristen took the driver's seat, while I took the passenger's seat.
"Go, go, go!" I chanted as Tristen put the car into drive and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The car jerked forward, and I quickly put on the seatbelt.
The car screeched to a halt as two more cop cars appeared in front of us. "Backwards, backwards, backwards!"
Tristen reversed quickly, looking back the whole way. Tesha squeezed her eyes shut as he popped a curve while making a tight curve. Tristen changed the gearshift again and moved forward.
Sirens could be heard in the distance as we drove down the road. Fortunately, because of the time, the streets were not backed up. Unfortunately, that meant it was easier for the cops to spot us.
"Drive faster you moron!" I yelled as the flashing lights of the cop cars caught up from behind us.
"I'm goin' five miles over the speed limit!" Tristen exclaimed. "We're already running away from the cops, now you want me to speed too?"
"Yes!" I screamed. "That's the whole point of having the stupid car! And since when do you care about the rules?"
"I care when breaking them could throw me in jail!"
"Well if they catch us, we'll be going to jail anyway, so you might as well PRESS THE FREAKIN' PEDAL, THEN MAYBE WE'LL BE ABLE TO AVOID PUNISHMENT!"
"I AM PRESSING THE PEDAL! HOW DO YOU THINK WE'RE MOVING?"
"Woah!" Asher said as the car swerved. "Keep your eyes on the road!"
"OH I'M SORRY," Tristen screamed. "YOU WANNA DRIVE?" He smashed the accelerator button, and the car lurched forward. The gauge kept on going up until it was at 100 miles per hour. The force of it pinned me to the back of my seat. Everything outside blurred as we passed it to the point where I couldn't tell if we were in the blobs were trees, or buildings.
We came up to another car, and he smoothly changed lanes. I couldn't help but be impressed how he proficiently maneuvered around the other cars on the road at such a high speed. Not like I'd ever tell him that.
Tristen slowed down slightly, breathing heavily. Asher sighed and Tesha bent over, face green.
"That was too fast," Tesha said as she grasped her stomach. Tristen shrugged, taking Asher's advice and keeping his eyes on the road.
"Well, the good thing is, I think we lost them," Asher spoke as he looked back behind the car. Sure enough, there were no cop cars in sight, and I sighed in relief.
Tristen suddenly slammed on the brakes, making me jerk forward. I looked ahead to see what made him stop.
Three police cars were parked in front of us, blocking the road. Tristen attempted to put the car in reverse, but at the same moment, a few more cars blocked that way as well.
We were cornered.
A police officer stepped out of his vehicle, holding a device to his mouth. "Step out of the vehicle with your hands up immediately," the voice echoed through a loudspeaker.
I bit my lip. "Now what?"
Tesha looked down. "The only thing we can do now, since you refuse to fight, is to comply."
More cops poured out from behind the cop cars, pointing guns at us.
Tristen shook his head. "Screw this." He took his foot off the break.
"Uh, Tristen? What are you doing?" Asher asked as Tristen changed gear.
The voice started up again. "I repeat, step out of the vehicle with your hands up, or we will shoot."
Tristen ignored it, backing the car up.
"Tristen, we must listen to them!" Tesha exclaimed.
But his face was set in determination. "I'm not goin' to jail yet." Then he pressed the accelerator.
"ARE YOU MAD?" I screeched as we sped forward. "WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!" He continued driving.
The eyes of the officers widened as they realized what he was doing, and they scrambled into their cars.
I looked away and shut my eyes as I braced for impact.
But after a few seconds of no crash, I risked a glance. Confusion came over me when I saw the cars in front of us had disappeared.
"They moved out of the way," Tesha said quietly, a light smile on her face.
"Not out of the woods yet." The car accelerated, and I heard Tesha groan. We sped ahead, putting as much distance as we could between us and the cops.
After a few minutes, Tristen slowed down again, until we were at a nice steady pace. He was panting heavily, tightly gripping the steering wheel.
I refrained from groaning as well. "That was..."
"Amazing!" Asher finished for me, not using the word I would've chosen. "That was some awesome driving!" Tristen smiled slightly.
"Okay, I think we lost the cops for real this time", I said, hoping I wasn't jinxing myself. "Now, where the heck are we?"
"The outskirts of Brevard," Tristen answered. "Had a few basketball tournaments here."
The basketball statement caught me off guard, even though it probably shouldn't have. It just seemed so normal in contrast to everything that had happened the past few days. In a way, it was kind of scary how different everything was becoming. How different I was becoming; not only physically, but mentally. I couldn't even picture a normal life anymore.
"Diana, may I have the map please?" Tesha asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"No need to be so formal." I shoved the map in her hands. She turned it over, pointing to where we were.
"I am pretty sure we follow this road for a while," Tesha said.
Asher leaned back. "Hey, what do you know? We get to go on a road trip!"
"I hate road trips," I mumbled.
"I have a feeling I will dislike it too," Tesha said, and with her discolored face, I couldn't help but agree with her assumption.
Asher sighed. "There's too many Debby-Downers in here, which is really killing my mood. Welp, you know what that means!" He reached forward and pressed a button. Instantly, music started to play.
"Ooh, I love this song!" Asher exclaimed as I groaned. He started singing, "I found out that everybody talks, everybody talks, everybody talks too much."
He took a deep breath.
"IT STARTED WITH A WHISPERRR!"
I sighed. This was going to be a long road trip.
...
I wasn't even being overdramatic; today sucked.
After driving halfway through the night, the cop car had run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. That forced us to start the long trek along the road, and we couldn't even ask any of the cars that passed by to help up in case the driver recognised us.
My legs were sore, my lungs were worn out, and my brain was at the point of exhaustion that at any moment I could just pass out on the ground.
"Hey, Diana?" I heard Asher say. I growled.
"Not in the mood, Smiles."
"Yeah, me neither. But I got to talk to someone before I go mad."
"Go talk to Tristen or Tesha."
He whined, "But they walk too fast."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you calling me slow?"
He shrugged. "Maybe."
"You are so annoying."
"I know."
He stayed next to me, and I could see how tired he really was. His eyes looked hazy and under them were dark circles. He leaned against his walking stick like it was the only thing holding him up.
"Here," I said, putting his arm around me.
"Thanks." He smiled lopsidedly, but he also seemed shameful. I shook my head. His pride is as big as the Tattooed Man.
"You know it's okay to get help, right?" I told him.
He looked at me. "What?"
I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to be ashamed every single time someone wants to help you out."
He cast his gaze to the ground. "You know, my friend Dion used to always say that." He seemed to smile in remembrance. "I get it, I really do. It's just that, my whole life-well, before this whole alien thing of course-people were always helping me with everything. Because I was in a wheelchair, everyone always pitied me and thought, 'Oh, that poor boy, he can't do anything for himself!'"
"They sound like that too?" I teased him, and he nudged me lightly.
"The thing is though, I was capable of doing things on my own. I mean sure, I needed help with certain things, but I didn't need to be babied. I wasn't helpless. And I guess I'm still stuck trying to prove that."
His words had touched a nerve in me, remembering that feeling when I had been labeled legally blind. And the painful feeling of helplessness that came along with it.
"On the day I touched the thing that caused all of this," I started, not quite sure why I was spilling it all on him. "I went to an eye appointment. At five years old, I was diagnosed with an extremely rare eye disease that led to blindness. For the past few years, my eyesight progressively got worse.
"On that day, I was officially blind. They gave me a stick and everything." I tried to blink the tears away, determined not to show any emotion. "I didn't want to accept that I'd be unable to take care of myself."
We continued trailing behind in silence until Asher said, "Do you think what happened was a miracle?"
I scrunched my eyebrows together. "What?"
"A miracle." Asher played with his hands. "I mean it sucks, 'cause now we're constantly being hunted by psycho aliens, but...ever since I could remember, I dreamed of being able to walk. I knew it wasn't logical, but I couldn't help it. Then one day, this freaky thing happens, and boom! My dreams come true." He looked up. "It healed me, like it healed you. I don't know if the positives outweigh the negatives, but I'd take all this any day if it means I can walk on my own."
"I...never thought about it that way." I tried to imagine myself still at my house, not being able to see a thing. It seemed like a nightmare.
Even if it meant I wouldn't have to worry about dying every two seconds, I don't think I'd ever be able to go back to my old way of living. But did that make this a miracle?
"We should stop here for the night," said Tesha, forcing me out of my internal conflict. I hadn't even noticed when we walked into the cover of trees. "We all need to rest."
Asher sighed. "Finally!"
We quickly cleared an area for each of us to sleep. When we had finally finished, I collapsed on the ground, waiting for sleep to come over me.
Except it didn't.
No matter how exhausted and worn out I was, I couldn't fall asleep, and it drove me insane.
Considering the amount of restlessness I heard, it seemed to be the same for everyone else.
Well, except for Tristen. He had fallen asleep almost immediately. And I couldn't help but envy his ability.
The still darkness didn't help the memories that seemed determined to spring up every time I shut my eyes. The pitch black monster that planned to eat me was bad enough. Now I had General McFrosty invading my dreams. And the promise I made to him.
Guilt once again swelled inside of me and it took everything to push it back down. I rubbed my eyes roughly and rolled over.
It would be over soon. They would be safe. I'd make sure of it.
For now, I just had to focus on following the map.
I felt like screaming when the sky started to lighten and I still hadn't managed to fall asleep for more than a few minutes.
Out of the blue, a strange beeping noise started up out of nowhere. I sat up to see the forearm part of Tesha's uniform glow.
"Tesha, what is that?" I asked her.
"It's a message." Without warning, she clicked it, and a small hologram popped up.
A strangled noise came from me when I saw it was one of the Axones that had kidnapped me.
The projection then started to speak. "Tesha and her friends, I do not have a lot of time, but I hope this warning will reach you."