Olympus Drive Book 1: Everything is Fine

Chapter 34

Luke

"I'm sorry you had to meet my brother. He's very weird," I say to Grant, as we sit in the student union, ostensibly studying, but I'm not really paying attention. I'm more distracted by what's going to happen tonight. If we're gonna see Helen and our dad again. When he left he told me to listen to Basil. That was it. listen to your brother. He'll be mad we all went back to our families. But we needed to. Didn't we? I want this. I want this life. I don't want that one.

"He was fine ---I looked him up on ratemyprofessor. Everyone loves him," Grant says, looking at his phone.

"Yeah, that's 'cause he sleeps with half of them. He's really bizarre don't talk to him," I warn. I don't want that part of my life interfering with this part of it. "You've met my parents, that's enough."

"Do you guys not get along?" Grant asks, frowning.

"No we're fine we just—I don't know. I like you, and I like my parents and you guys are the part of my life that I prefer to believe is real, not---my siblings," that feels bad to say. But it's true. I want to be normal. I am so close to having everything be normal. "I just don't want anything to mess us up."

"We're not gonna get messed up," Grant says, smiling, "Good things last, right?"

"Right," this will be fine. "My brother is just a pain—that's all. Be glad you're an only child."

"Be glad you have people there for you, annoying as they may be," Grant counters, dryly.

"You're right. My sister is cool. You can meet her and her husband sometime when they aren't busy," I say, shrugging, and looking back down at my books.

"Cool---do you want to work on this more tonight? I do not feel ready for Chem," Grant sighs.

"I actually have to watch my brother's kids tonight," I mutter. 

"I thought you said he only had a daughter?"

"He did. We recently found out he has more. I'm honestly surprised we've only found one," I say, flatly, looking up.

"Okay," Grant nods.

"Oh fuck," the doors to the student union are closing. Titans are stepping inside, blocking the upper and the lower exits. There are a lot of people in here. Innocent people. And a remarkable lack of water. I hate doing this. The ugly fleshy things don't have a whole lot of liquid in their bodies.

They start screaming as every last drop of fluid keeping them alive is sucked out their eyes, splattering to the cracked tile floor of the union. They crumple, as their bodies turn into mere husks, then slowly disintegrate into dust.

"What is that?" I appreciate that what alerted Grant to the mayhem was not the screaming (it is near mid terms) but instead the accumulation of alien fluid on the floor.

"I don't know. That's weird. I gotta go pick up my brother."

"From where?"

"School," I say, looking at my phone. The High school partially exploded. Only one student casualty confirmed. I'm just assuming it's Hector.

A text from a Basil comes in Can you get your brother? I have the kids and I really can't leave class. Thanks.

Sure I just love going to the icky morgue to get our icky brother.

"Do you want me to come?" Grant offers nicely.

"No, it's fine. What's more you don't want to come. I'll see you in class," I say.

A half an hour later I have successfully broken into the city morgue, locking the mortician and other important people out while I check the icky freezers for my icky brother.

I start throwing open all the doors.

"Get out here you little shit. We both know you're not dead."

"Yeah no shit," Hector says, crawling out wrapped in a blanket, his skin still knitting itself back together after being blown up, "Did you bring me clothes?"

"Do I look like Basil? Get in the duffel bag," I say, dropping the bag.

"Ew," says the actually dead person whose skin is only half together from being blown up.

"Duffel bag. Now." I point at the bag, "I'm gonna carry you out of here."

"Aren't you going to get in trouble for stealing bodies from the morgue?"

"Aren't you supposed to be quiet since you're dead?"