The Brain Invaders

Chapter 23

“Don’t answer the door,” Cassie said.

“We can’t do that,” Kate said. “We need to help those humans, too.”

“And we need to kill the sea slugs they’ve brought to implant,” I said. “These should be the last two invaders. All of the others were here tonight so the sea slugs could be rejuvenated. If we can somehow get the sea slugs to come out of their bodies, we can kill them and end this nightmare.

The knocking got louder and faster.

“But how are we going to get the sea slugs out of them?” Kate asked. “We’ve got to buy some time until we can figure that out.”

“Let’s tie them up,” Kate said. “I saw some rope in the kitchen. That’ll give us some time to think of what to do.”

“Do you think we can handle them?” I asked.

“We’re going to have to,” Kate said. “We’ll spray them with hair spray and they should lose control of the brain for awhile. Hopefully it will give us enough time to tie them up.

“As far as the sea slugs they’ve brought to implant, that’s easy. We just open the container and spray them.”

Kate went to get the rope. Cassie and I were ready with the

hair spray and Ryan was doing the tying. He was a Scout and knew how to make a knot that they wouldn’t be able to easily undo.

When Kate returned, we opened the door. The two men walked in carrying a big red ice chest. They sat it down and looked around.

“Where’s everyone,” asked a short, fat man with black, hairy arms.

“In that garbage bag,” I yelled, pulling out my bottle of hair spray and aiming it right in his face.

“And that’s just where you’re going to end up,” Cassie said, aiming hairspray in the other man’s face.

The hairspray knocked them out, and we helped Ryan tie them up.

Then we opened the container. 

“Yuk!” Cassie said. “Did I ever tell you that I hate slugs? Remember Ronnie?”

“The kid with the runny nose?” I asked.

 “Yeah, him. Always looked like he had slug tracks on his shirt because he used it to wipe his nose.”

We sprayed the slugs. They slithered up the sides, trying to escape. Ryan used a broom handle to knock them back inside. Eventually, they shriveled up like all of the others. Nothing was left but microprocessors and a chalky mess. I stuffed the microprocessors into my shorts pocket and emptied the dust into the bag with the rest.

I looked at the box filled with microprocessors and the huge garbage bag filled with dust. “If Zach’s right and the CIA made these slugs, how were they going to use them as weapons?”

“If anyone can figure it out, Zach can,” Kate said. 

There was a knock at the door, followed by two knocks, pause, three knocks, pause, two knocks.

It was the code we had worked out. Zach was back.

Ryan opened the door. “Everything go OK?”

“Saw that guy on the red motorcycle again,” said Zach, carrying in the black box.

“Where?” Kate asked.

“In front of my grandmother’s house. That’s where I hid the black box. When I left her house, he was at the corner.”

“Did he drive up to you?” I asked.

“No. But he followed me here. Stayed about a block away from me the whole time. Wish I knew what he wanted.”

“I don’t think he’s one of them,” Ryan said. “He would have grabbed you by now.”

Zach noticed the two men tied up. “What’s up with them?”

“They still have slugs in their brains,” Kate said. “We forgot about the delivery. We killed the slugs in the cooler and tied them up.”

“We’ve got to find a way to get those slugs out of their heads,” I said.

Zach held up the black box. “Been examining this. I think I know how to do it. If I’m right, the slugs will slip out through their mouths after I put in a code.”

          “And if you’re wrong?” Cassie said.

          Zach didn’t answer.