The Brain Invaders

Chapter 2

I was face to face with a boy. My heart felt like it was going to explode. I wanted to scream but I knew if I screamed that they would all come running and I’d have dozens to escape from instead of just one.

"Sshh," gestured the blond-haired boy.

 I recognized him. He was a member of the Geek Squad. That’s what Cassie and I call the group of boys who sit a couple of tables over from us at lunch. They are really brainy, always winning Math Counts competitions against kids from other middle schools. And they always have the latest high-tech gadgets. 

"I'm not one of them. I swear. Follow me.”

I stared into his chocolate eyes. They weren’t oily looking like Mrs. McGee’s and the others. I had this gut feeling that I could trust him. And I always go with my gut. It’s why I’m at this social hall tonight. I had a hunch I would get some answers, just didn’t expect it to involve things crawling out of people’s mouths.

I’ll never forget the first day I ran into one. I was at the salad bar in the grocery store. I reached for the carrot strips and a woman reached for them at the same time. Our hands brushed and a chill ran through my body.

She looked like a normal person, but I knew she wasn’t. My gut again. Only this time, it wasn’t just instinct. My gut actually hurt. As in someone-punched-me-in-the-stomach-as-hard-as-they-could hurt. As in worse-than-the-time-I-got-hit-by-

a-fastball-in-the-belly button hurt. And, really freaky, the birthmark on my right arm turned dark red and burned, like it was on fire.

I’ll never forget that day. I wish it had never happened. I wish none of this had ever happened.

The boy with the chocolate eyes grabbed my hand and turned to walk away. It was weird. As soon as he touched me I felt safe. As though I had known him all of my life. But that was impossible. I had never talked to him before.

I followed him down the hallway, around the corner and to an exit.

“I’m Zach Myers,” he whispered. “I’ve seen you in school.”

“Alex Hampton. I’ve seen you around, too.”

 “Follow me. Gotta find the others and talk somewhere safe.”

Zach eased open the door and peeked outside to make sure no one was there. He stepped outside and held the door, slowly closing it after I was beside him. We were in back of the firehouse, facing an alley.

“See the garage three doors down? The one with the green roof?” Zach asked.

I nodded.

“That’s where we’ll talk. The people who lived there moved. The house is empty. It’ll be safe.”

Zach went first. I watched as he ran across the alley, opened the side door on the garage and went in. For a few seconds, I thought about ditching him and running home. Get the heck out while I could. But call me curious (stupid might be more like it) but I had to talk to him. Had to see if he knew what these things were. So I ran as fast as I could across the alley to the side door and slipped inside.

“Get away from the window,” Zach whispered, motioning me to go to the back of the garage where he and two other people were sitting in a dark corner.

“Just tell me one thing,” I said, plopping down beside them. “What are those things?”

"We call them brain invaders,” Zach said.

“Oh, of course,” I said. “Why didn’t I think of that. Makes perfect sense.”

 “Look,” Zach said. “I really don’t need your attitude. I’m…” He looked at the other two. “We’re trying to help. This is Ryan Fitzgerald and Kate Reed.”

They nodded.

“Sorry. I’m just freaked out by what I saw. I mean, I knew something was wrong with people, but I had no idea they had giant slugs in their bodies.”

The next ten minutes were a blur. Zach, Ryan and Kate explained that these things wanted to take over people’s bodies and control the world. I heard words like secret mission and ship wreck and divers and invasion. If I thought I was freaked out before, I was super freaked out now.

“Do you know how crazy this all sounds?” I said. “Right out of a science fiction novel. On second thought, scratch that. It’ even too crazy for that.”

 “Will you join us?” Ryan said. “Will you help us fight them?"

I looked at Ryan and Kate and then at Zach. “How?”

“That’s what we need to figure out,” said Kate, her dark almond-shaped eyes swallowing her olive face. “And we need all of the help we can get.”

I wanted to say no and run home and pretend that none of this had happened. But I couldn't. It was real. Seeing Cassie's dad and uncle, Mrs. McGee and Police Chief Sanders, and knowing there were sea slugs inside their heads made me want to puke. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to do something.

We agreed to meet the next night at Kate’s aunt’s house. She lived in the big yellow two-story down the street from Murphy’s drug store on Main Street. Kate’s aunt was visiting relatives and wouldn’t be home for a couple of days.

          It all sounded fine to me, until I remembered I had plans with Cassie.  “I already canceled our plans for tonight. I can’t cancel them for tomorrow night, too.”

“How about in the afternoon? Like 2,” Zach asked.

Two worked for everyone, so we swapped phone numbers and slipped out of the garage one by one, hoping not to be seen.