The Brain Invaders

Chapter 20

When we got on the bus, everyone was talking. Apparently Mr. McCleary died of a brain aneurysm. At least that’s what his minister’s daughter, who rides our bus, was telling everyone. She said her dad was called to Mr. McCleary’s house last night. Said his wife was a mess.

Cassie and I looked at each other. I knew that we were both thinking the same thing – did the sea slug in his brain kill him? If so, could the same thing happen to our parents? What if their sea slugs blew up in their heads?

The bus ride is always noisy, but it was extra noisy today. Everyone was talking about today’s assembly where Principal Douglas would kiss a pig. At the beginning of the school year, Mr. Douglas put up a challenge. If the entire middle school brought in 500 items for the local food bank, he’d kiss a pig. When we passed 500 items, he upped the ante and said if we brought in 800 items, he’d not only kiss a pig but shave his head. So, today was the big head-shavin’-kiss-the-pig day and everyone was excited. 

The morning flew by, and Cassie seemed a little better at lunch. The assembly broke up the afternoon, and I did laugh when an area farmer brought in one of his pigs for Mr. Douglas to kiss. He called her Miss Piggy. The local newspaper and television station were there, and I kept thinking that there was a much bigger story to cover than some pig kiss.

 By the end of the day, I was drained. I needed to get away from people. My stomach was killing me and I couldn’t stop thinking about poor Mr. McCleary. If only we had found a way to stop these things before he was killed by one.

After school, I called Zach to run through the battle plan one more time. He said that he was meeting Ryan and Kate soon and asked if I was sure I wanted to go through with it. I told him I didn’t think we had a choice.

Cassie and I met at our thinking spot, a set of stone steps in the middle of a cemetery not far from where we lived.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I said.

Cassie looked at me and nodded, but it was more a nod of resignation that determination.

“I could just go and tell your parents that you weren’t feeling well, that you were throwing up and decided at the last minute to stay home. You could join Ryan and Kate and Zach. It’s not like your parents would go home and drag you to the fire hall. They’ll figure that they’ll just get you the next week.”

Cassie sighed. “It’s tempting. Really tempting. But I wouldn’t feel right. I’m scared. I’m so, so, so, so scared. But I also don’t want my bestie to go this alone. I’m in all the way, however this turns out.”

Cassie and I sat on that step for a long time, neither of us saying much of anything. I patted the stone step. If this step could talk, it would have stories to tell, I thought. This is the place where Cassie and I came whenever we needed to talk. This is where we’ve shared our deepest, darkest secrets. Girl stuff, which means boy stuff, which means don’t-tell-a-single-soul stuff.  

 But today, there really wasn’t much to say. Only something left to do. And we were both nervous about the doing part.  

I looked behind me and saw a newly dug grave in the distance. I think I’d rather be dead, I thought, than be controlled by a slimy, slithering slug.

Our plan was to grab some pizza before heading to the fire hall.

 “You hungry?” I said.

“Not really.”

“Me neither.”

  So we sat on our step some more until we could sit no more. Time had run out.

Cassie and I had gone over the plan many times, but I was still nervous. I knew that one wrong move, and we were dead meat.

“Ready?” I asked as we approached the fire hall and saw our parents waiting outside.

Cassie took a deep breathe. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Hi girls,” Mom said as we approached. “Are you ready to have some family fun?”

The pain in my gut was unbelievable. It took all my concentration not to wince or double over.

As new players, we were given a bingo card at the door, just like Kate had explained. I took a deep breath as I took the card that I knew was laced with poison, a poison that would put me to sleep so they could put a sea slug in me. Cassie took her bingo card, too. We sat beside our parents. So far, so good.

           The Invisible Glove we had coated our hands with seemed to be working. We had put it on right before we left the cemetery. It formed an invisible shield, preventing the poison from seeping into our skin. Cassie was right. It was better than the gloves I got from the dentist. They might have noticed them.

Once we noticed heads dropping on the table, we knew that it was time to fake being asleep. Cassie’s head dropped and then mine. We positioned them so that we were looking at each other. Now, all we had to do was wait, wait for the leader to start calling the bingo numbers and for the sea slugs to squeeze out of their human hosts.

I had described to Cassie what she was going to see. She had seen Zach’s DVD. But I knew that nothing could prepare her for the horror she was about to be in the middle of. I was terrified. I was scared that Cassie would freak out and blow our cover.

“It looks like our new players are asleep,” the leader said. “Time to come out. B-15.”

I wondered where B-15 was. To the left of me? To the right? A part of me wanted to look and a part of me didn’t. I had told Cassie not to open her eyes. I

knew that if she did, she would lose it. I told her that when it was safe to look, when all of the slugs were out of the bodies, I would touch her arm. Then, we could begin our attack.

“N-330,” the leader called.

I could feel the chair next to me, Mom’s chair, being pushed back from the table. N-330 must be the number of the slug inside Mom, I thought.

I pictured Mom putting the chip in her mouth, her body shaking. Then I heard it thump on the floor. Mom was asleep and the sea slug that controlled her brain was probably slithering out.

I sat there, facing Cassie with my back toward Mom. Then, I felt something.

Something was on my shoe, crawling up my leg. I was sure it was a sea slug. Mom’s sea slug. But why? What was it doing?