“Yep. Me and Earl. We shared brains.”
“Earl?”
“That’s what I call him. My alien, Earl. Earl’s not the nicest of fellas. Earl doesn’t think much of our race. Earl did some bad stuff to get into my brain. Earl is a real bastard. But when Earl connected to me, I connected to him.”
“You’ve allowed the sketch artist to draw what happened to you. I’m sorry, Ryan. It sounds awful.”
“Earl is proof that karma is real for the people of our planet,” he continued quickly, obviously wanting to move on. “What we’ve been doing to monkeys and rats and mice for years is coming back on us.”
“You mean testing.”
“They think we’re lower than animals. Nah, insects. If we could test weapons on insects—roaches, ants—that’s what we are to them. Just a place for them to test out ways to kill. So they can use it on other worlds. Turns out there is a whole lot out there that they want to conquer.”
Kate held her breath. She should have recorded this for the president to hear himself.
“How is it that you remember? And adults don’t?”
“Oh, they don’t think we’ll remember. They put our little brains through quite the process to forget what they do to us up there. They think they’re gods compared to us. But that’s the one thing they haven’t quite perfected yet. Kids still remember.”
So did my mother and nephew when they were children. Until the government I serve took their memories away.
“Then you understand your vital role in this, Ryan. Did… this creature show you why the abductions have begun again?”
“Because they got it right this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you ever play Age of Blood?” He leaned over the side of the chair to dig into a container of video-game cases, pulling out one with a US soldier fighting a massive green orc decked out in ornate armor. “It’s starting to show its age, but it was one of the first to let you be a general, commanding armies. And it explains the mistake Earl and his buddies made.”
“Come again?” Kate squinted.
“In the game, you’re a general. And if you don’t keep pretty tight control of your armies, they start to unravel. Uprisings, desertion, you get the idea. Earl and his peeps obviously did not play Age of Blood. They thought they could take people from isolated places, juice them up with the weapon of choice, and then drop them off in different climates to see how effective they were. But they didn’t keep tabs on them. No one guarded the henhouse, so to speak.
“They thought their armies would just scatter around the world, and they could test their weapons from time to time to see how people died around them. They didn’t count on the government rounding them up in places like that town in Colorado and keeping them from the masses. And, they didn’t count on their brains frying.”
Kate tapped her fingers on her leg. “Are you talking about the comas? The ones who… were…”
“Activated? Yeah, Earl and his boys didn’t count on that. Once those people got triggered to see what damage they’d cause, they’d sure as shit do it for about a minute or two, but their puny little brains couldn’t handle it. Straight to coma city, and then they were just useless. So, of course, the defects had to all be gathered up. Basically an intergalactic recall.”
Ryan extended his arms. “But they’ve been working to improve their products, and you’re looking at the new and improved version. Trigger me, and I don’t die. No screaming headaches, no bleeding ears, no coma. I could dance a jig for you or put together a puzzle after I command people to kill.”
He thumped the cover of the game. “Thus, this time, they stole a play out of the ol’ Age of Blood game book. No more defects. Four of us, supercharged, plopped down in every civilized nation. I watched them do it. And once our major general connects with us, he tells when to fire at will. Once he triggers us, we can do it on our own.”
“You mean kill people.”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it. Once my agent pals moved me to Washington, they realized pretty quickly that the riots breaking out outside my building weren’t just sparked by political ideology. I remember waking up from a weird dream and just watching it from my window, wondering why it seemed like the whole neighborhood was on fire. When they moved me to another location, I blacked out, and three rival gangs suddenly decided it was time for full-on warfare. It didn’t take long for the Men in Black to realize something was sparking it all.”
He rested his head on his fist. “He dreams, I black out, and people die. That’s when I got a one-way ticket underground. It’s Christmas every day down here, so they think overloading me with distractions will stop me. But I’m not in control. I suggested they sink me to the bottom of the ocean. Instead they stuck me this far underground. Apparently there’s a limit to our reach.”
Kate’s voice was stuck in her throat. “You said, ‘He dreams.’ What does that mean?”
“Our major general. He woke it in me. Just like he’s awakening the others. He’s already met one of us in person. They’re together, actually.”
“Together?”
“He’s got a little girl with him now.”
Kate stood up so quickly she almost knocked the stool out from beneath her. “Did you say a little girl?”
“Yeah. Once they touched, I felt it. I don’t know if he’s connected to all of us yet or not. I guess once he’s fired us all up, all over the globe, the next wave blows in. I can see by the expression on your face that the Comic-Con deal probably isn’t going to happen.”
She took a step towards the door. “I will do everything in my power to help you. You’re thirteen, you should be at Comic-Con. I want you to get out of here—”
“You just don’t want bloodshed in the streets of San Diego, I guess,” he said. “Well, it was worth the try. I would have liked to have seen it.”
“I’ll find a way to get you there one day—”
“You don’t get it,” he said, those eyes haunted now. “There won’t be any more. There may not be one in two weeks.”
“I will come back for you, I promise,” she said, practically running across the room, her heart beating loudly in her ears. As she reached the door, she heard the La-Z-Boy foot rest lower. “I know that you know, Senator, who our major general is.”
He was standing now, his hands in his pockets. “I can see him. We can see him in the dreams. Like I said, I know when he first made physical contact with the girl. But I don’t think he understands quite yet. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. I don’t think he can see us. And I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right; he has to die in order for everyone to live—”
Ryan then shuddered and gripped the side of his chair.
“Ryan, what’s wrong—”
“Go,” he said, throwing his arm in an arc. “Go now!”
Kate suddenly remembered Flynn’s words. Because of what happens when he gets in those trances. We never know when he’s going to unleash.
“What is it?”
“Run past the agents if they’re outside! Go!”
“What’s happening—?”
“He’s dreaming,” Ryan said, clutching the chair. “And I can’t hold him back.”
Fire burned, gleefully licking the dry grass—
A storm churned over the water, preparing to launch against the city—
Two men in a dark corridor strangled each other as an elevator closed nearby—
Hospital rooms filled to capacity, the rapidly deteriorating patients now in tents outside. As always, eyes watched, including Lily’s, the writhing of the black-scaled snakes all around her.