Meap Me in St. Louis

Chapter 4: Big Mitch

HEATH

The game was evacuated shortly after the giant craft arrived. Whereas most of our other classmates got in their cars and drove off, the six of us took off for downtown. We must be a sight to see: Jack and I are still in our drumline uniforms, Eghosa has her dance team skirt underneath her accompanying jacket, and Elle is wearing face paint. Sam and Skylar are the only two of us dressed "normally".

There are a few police cars stationed all around the outskirts of downtown, with their occupants still inside assessing the situation and radioing their fellow cadets. We take a route that won't get us spotted by any of them, eventually reaching the unidentified object. Put simply, it's a big-ass red spaceship, hovering a few feet above the ground. It has a rather cartoony appearance, like someone drew it into existence. As terrifying as this scene would be to the average bystander, I've gotta say I'm quite mesmerized. Considering how much I love sci-fi, a giant spaceship, even something as out-of-this-world as this, never fails to impress me.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Jack asks, as we all marvel at the craft.

"Yeah," Eghosa replies, unable to take her eyes off it. "Still working on believing."

"Didn't we already do this whole space thing?" Elle asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's right, you guys went to space last year," Skylar mutters. That was something she wasn't there for.

"Eh, sorta," I reply, giving a "so-so" hand motion. Long story that I'm too lazy to get into.

"Well, whatever it is, let's just hope it's not hungry," Sam says.

A door on the ship's underside opens, releasing a wave of both real and cartoon smoke mixed together. A ramp lowers, and a figure walks down, only its shadow visible to us through the smoke. When it emerges, it reveals itself to be an alien creature wearing a red, robotic suit with spiked shoulder cleats and a red cape. The creature's head is white with a handlebar mustache and blue eyes, and the top of his outfit has pointed ears that resemble a devil's horns. He, too, looks like a drawn cartoon character. Upon reaching the ground, he looks around the area, his eyes eventually landing on us. His expression is calm, collected, yet he walks with grandeur and a sense of self-righteousness, as if he believes he's more important than anybody else.

Sam's the first of us to speak to him. "Wow, you are one ugly motherfucker."

The alien ignores this comment. "Man, why does it seem like everywhere I go, I run into a group of children?" he asks himself, speaking clear, perfect English. Our bizarre outfits probably catch him off guard for a moment. Then he shrugs it off, puts on a friendly smile that I can't tell is fake or real, and says, "Greetings, children of this Earth. I am Mitch, and–"

Skylar interrupts him. "Look, I'm sure you have a FASCINATING story to tell us about why you're here. But, you see, none of us are really in the mood to deal with an alien invasion tonight, so why don't you skidaddle on back into your spaceship and go bother someone else, preferably on another planet? That'd be lovely, thank you."

Mitch scoffs, as if taken aback by Skylar's assumption. "Young miss, I do not mean to intrude or invade," he replies. "I'm here simply because I have lost a very important item to me, and I've tracked it down to roughly this location within the multiverse."

"You're from another universe?" Jack asks. I have a bazillion more questions than that just from the acknowledgement of the multiverse alone. Everyone seems shocked to hear that term used in a serious context.

"Yes, I am. But that's besides the point. Anyways, I'm looking for a small vial used to extract Cutonium. Would any of you happen to have seen it?" He holds up a photograph showing a device with a blue ray gun on top of a large needle connected to a test tube.