We walked in the woods for quite some time before making it to a small city filled with broken buildings and glass shattered everywhere that I tried my best to avoid. "Where is your place exactly?" I questioned, I was unsure whether these were real people or aliens in disguise. "it should be this way" Cleo replied, gesturing to a small building with a tiled sign that said 'Arcade' in large, bold words. Great, they lived in an arcade.
"You live inside an arcade? Do you guys play video games in there? Pretending aliens aren't taking over the world?" I questioned. I couldn't imagine my hideout being an arcade; it would be too chaotic with the loud blaring video game music. My type of hideout would be a quiet yet clean place where you could focus on keeping yourself safe. "why are you such a bitch?" Leo walked beside me, on my right side. "Am I the only one whose life has been turned upside down by these green creatures?" I countered loudly as we were close to the arcade "We all have our lives taken away from us, Ella." Shawn chimed in, his clear glasses in his hand as he cleaned them with his flannel shirt.
"Say hi to The Danger Zone!" Cleo turned around with her hands spread out, as if she was presenting the most impressive thing. Instead, the arcade appeared dirty from the outside, with the light from the sign on the building tilting with blue and red wires poking out. On the brick walls were graffiti with drawings of swear words and various random things. "looks like shit" I commented with my arms across my chest, unimpressed with the place.
"Wait till you go inside" Cleo said, pulling out the keys from her pockets, she unlocked the door with a soft click. As we entered, darkness was the only thing you could see. Santiago walked to the light switch and flipped it upwards, the light lit up with dazzling LED lights that flashed rainbow colors, I closed my eyes shut from the bright lights as they stung my eyes. Once I opened my eyes, I analyzed the arcade. On the left side of the room there were a row of at least 10 old vintage arcade games plugged in, you could see the pixel characters dancing in the glass screen. "see those awesome games over there? Keep your hands off of them." Leo nudged my shoulder harshly "Good, I don't need any distractions getting in my way" I glared at Leo as he walked away.
"Over here is where we keep the cooler," Shawn pointed to a brown door "cool" I replied, I started to wander around the arcade once more. The dark carpet had bright designs of neon triangles and circles that got your attention. "Are you hungry" Cleo inquired "I'm good" I replied to her before I walked away to a desk on the right that had a collection of books "Those are for me.... Unless you're a nerd, feel free to read them" Shawn said from behind, I nod in response.
The arcade had a lot of space that if you wanted to, you could fit 10 cars inside. "Jealous Ella?" Leo taunted while he and Santiago were focused on their game "yeah totally" A sigh came out from my throat while I looked around the arcade, it was bright and loud, I prefer to live in the old cabin. "The bathrooms are over there, if you need anything let me know" Cleo pointed to the direction where the bathroom doors were located "Shawn will make the food" Cleo said before she headed back to the door where the food was stored.
"Ugh this game is so stupid!" Leo yelled in frustration, causing him to bang, shake and kick the arcade game hard. "What's wrong?" I asked Santiago when he walked away from Leo "The game won't start. It's broken or something" Santiago calmly said, he went to the orange bean bag and sat on it. I sigh as I approached the angered teen "I told you, you are forbidden here" He declared with his arms crossed and his teeth biting his lips. I ignored him a knelt down to see what had happened, my eyes brightened when it appeared to have a loose screw, "Do you have any screwdrivers around?" I asked Santiago when I got up from the carpet. Santiago gestured his hand to a cardboard box that had 'tools' written on with a black sharpie.
I looked inside the cardboard box and got out the appropriate screwdriver that would help the arcade game to start back up. "Yeah like you know what you're doing" Leo scoffed "I do, actually. My dad was a mechanic." I explained to the boy while I tightened the screw securely "try it now" I stood up from the carpet, the game immediately started up "this won't change my mind about you" Leo said with his hand around the arcade controller "see if I care"
"Guys! Food is here!" Cleo exclaimed as she walked out of the room with Shawn by her side, who was carrying a large silver pot filled with spaghetti. "Alright!" Santiago made his way to the pot eagerly "Give me some!" He yelled while eyeing the pot "Go sit on the floor near the bean bag and wait, okay?" Santiago did what Cleo instructed him to do, he grabbed all of the bowls for us. Shawn dished out equal proportions so there will be no fighting over who got more spaghetti or not.
For dinner, Leo tried to tell a scary story but instead it was boring "That was lame" I bluntly said while I put my fork in the spaghetti, Leo glared at me "Yeah okay. Go back outside to that old, musty cabin" Leo said to me, Cleo intervened "sorry for his behavior." She apologized "would you like to tell us a story? It doesn't have to be scary" She offered
"I don't have any stories to tell" I replied to Cleo's offer. I took a bite of the spaghetti with my plastic fork, it was editable but didn't taste well with the lack of garlic "That's okay," Cleo reassured "However, I can inform you guys about all the different types of aliens" Shawn place his bowl on the spaghetti and got interest on the topic of aliens "Do you know what they look like?" I nodded, taking a sip from my water bottle to wash away the tomato sauce.
"There are three main types of aliens" I begin to say "First, there's the green aliens. They aren't as dangerous as the others, however they have sharp teeth that will do damage to you" I paused before continuing "Second are the grey aliens. They can control people's minds" I informed everyone "last but not least, are the pink ones. They are the most dangerous ones as they have all of the powers, best to stay away." I finished with a sip of water.
"Are you serious?" Santiago's voiced trembled in fear. His fork clattered against the bowl that his spaghetti was in "why would I make that up?" I calmly questioned while swirling my fork in the spaghetti "How do you know so much about them?" Cleo asked in disbelief "As I said before, I saw them before" I answered her with a shrug.
"shes lying" Leo declare with a roll from his eyes, not fully believing me. "d-do you guys here that?" Santiago stuttered while he scanned the arcade "hear what?" Shawn asked the scared teen, the only thing I heard was Leo's irritating voice. A loud bang was heard from outside of the arcade's front door making the atmosphere tense. A muffled voice saying help was added onto the loud bangs.
I unzipped my bag to get my knife that I had took from the cabin out. Standing up, I went to the door and ignored everyone who told me to stop what I was doing. I cautiously opened the front door, a girl with bright strawberry hair came rushing in. "T-there's an alien out there!" She stuttered In panic, her chest was moving up and down due to her loud breathing. Her white gloves she wore turned into a crimson red, meaning she got attacked.
Glancing back outside, I decided to walk out there to see the supposed alien. I walked around the whole building while gripping my knife in my right hand, ready to face off the threat. I listened closely to see if there was any suspicious noises, indeed there was. A loud leaf crunched "show yourself!" I called out for the alien
I followed the loud screech that came from behind the arcade, the back had large black trash bags that had maggots and worms sliding on it. My face scrunched up in disgust as the smell filled my nose, I took a deep breath and searched around the back. While I did that, I felt a slimy sensation on my shoulder, I whirled around to see what it was, before me stood a tall green alien with pitch black eyes. I reacted quickly by bringing out my knife and stabbing it's hand, but my plan backfired as the blade stabbed into my shoulder "SHIT!" I yelled in pain
The alien took a hold of my wrist with Its slim green fingers, the nails of the aliens were razor sharp and had the coloration of black. I took my chances and cut two of the aliens fingers off, the yellow blood fell on the garbage bags, attracting the insects.
Glazing at the yellow stained knife, I smelt the oder that came from it, it had a mixture of onions and decaying mammals. The alien roared with it's mouth opened wide, the sharp teeth exposed. If the alien were to bite into me, I would be a bleeding mess.
It was easy to distract the alien as I saw a dead rat and threw it behind the tall alien. The alien looked away from me, this was my chance to kill the green creature. I aimed my sharp knife towards its big head and threw it, perfectly hitting its head with much force. The alien fell down to the ground, it shook the floor with a thump.
I made my way to the dead alien to retrieve my knife that was stuck in its head, with struggle, I managed to get it out. As soon as the knife was pulled out, the ground was filled with the yellow blood, I jumped back so it wouldn't go onto my shoes. This was by far the tallest alien that I have defeated, I have a feeling it wouldn't be the last.