𝑊𝐴𝐿𝐾𝑀𝐴𝑁 | 𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑁 𝐼𝑁𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐼𝑂𝑁 ✔︎

Too Late

Shoreline Lake Campsite
______________________________________

Before Jett even has a chance to wake up on his own, he's thrusted around frantically by his shoulders.

He wakes up in a gasp with wide eyes. When he sees the thing shaking his shoulders is Marcus, he drops his head with relief.

"Holy shit. You can't jump scare me like that when there's aliens around." He pinches the bridge of his nose. Marcus holds up his hands awkwardly. "My bad. I gotta show you something though."

Jett just rubs the sleep from his eyes before nodding. "Okay, yeah."

The two exit the tent and the curly haired boy examines the sky. "Wait... what time is it?"

"Oh, yeah sorry. It's still like the middle of the night but this just couldn't wait." Marcus shrugs before jogging over to the campsite parking lot with Jett following.

The two walk until they reach a blue Camaro with it's headlights on. "So... one of the keys were actually left in a vehicle?" Jett laughs.

Marcus shakes his head. "Nah, I just hot wired it. But now we can actually-"

"Hot wired?" The curly haired boy's eyes widen in shock. "You. You hot wired a car? The captain of the basketball team who's almost failing history?"

Now it was Marcus's turn to blink in shock. "Harsh. And yes, I did. My dad and I have been working on car's since I was little. It was no big deal for me. But, y'know, thanks for assuming I'm not smart because I'm just a 'jock'."

Jett had noticed Marcus's shift in tone, and the guilt flooded him instantly. "Oh shit. I'm... sorry. I didn't mean anything by that. Sometimes I kind of say things without thinking and the words just continue to spill out of my mouth and I have a hard time shutting up and-"

"You mean like right now?" Marcus laughs. Jett clears his throat and nods awkwardly. "Like right now."

"But anyway, this is great. We can finally get out of here. Should we wake the girls yet or-"

Before the brunette can finish his sentence, a loud screech is heard for the forest beside the lake. The boys both jump at the sound and stop their conversation entirely.

Marcus lowers his voice to a whisper. "Yeah. I think we should get the girls and get out of here. Are you okay to run and get them while I load the stuff into the car?"

Jett glances at the forest again and back at Marcus. "Okay, yeah. Let's hurry."

The two boys separate instantly and Jett runs back down to the tents as quietly as possible. The film obsessed teen unzips the tent slowly before shaking each girl awake.

Before they can say anything, Jett holds a finger up to his lips. "Marcus has the car started. We need to leave. Now. We can explain more once we're out of here."

All three girls glance at each other in worry before nodding at the boy. They all make their way out of the tent before up to the parking lot.

As the four teens plus Blue reach the lot, another screech is heard, only closer. They all freeze in fear. "Jett. What do we do?" Margot says through clenched teeth.

The screeches grow closer, which causes the boy to shake. "I-I don't know."

"You don't know?" Brooke huffs.

Jett looks around frantically, trying to find a way out of the situation. They were pretty much cornered as the noises grew closer and closer.

His body continued to tremble in fear, causing the girls to show some concern. "Jett? Calm down, okay? We'll get out of here." Bell reassures. Jett attempts to convince himself of this unlikely truth, but he can't bring himself to it.

Just as the noises almost reach them, something blares across the parking lot. A car alarm.

Jett shakes himself out of his trance and glances over to the far left of the lot, where a small yellow car was honking like crazy.

"Now's our chance." He mumbles as the group runs behind Jett, leading them to the Camaro. Marcus arrives there right about the same time as the others.

"Everyone get in. That won't distract them for long." The tall teen huffs while hopping in the driver's seat. Everyone climbs into the car while Jett stares at the forest again in fear.

"Jett." Bell says to bring him back into reality. The curly haired boy snaps out of his trance and climbs into the passenger seat. And with that, the group zooms away.

Everyone in the Camaro lets out exasperated breaths. "Holy shit, that was terrifying." Brooke mumbles. Margot nods. "Yeah... at least we're okay for now."

Bell glances up at the passenger seat to see Jett playing with his hands. "You okay, Jett? You kinda... froze back there."

The brunet turns back slowly. "Oh... y-yeah it's all good. I'm fine."

Bell just nods and Marcus can't help but grow a bit suspicious of the boy's mumbling. The group drives for awhile before Marcus decides to play the radio.

"C'mon... something good." The athlete mumbles while switching between stations. As he changes, Jett can't help but over hear something.

"Wait! Go back! Go back!" He yells out of nowhere. Marcus gives him a questionable look but does so anyway.

"I repeat, we apologize to anyone out there hearing this now. We're trying our best to figure out what these creatures are and what they want. As we said before, we evacuated Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and pretty much all of San Jose to Fisherman's Wharf. All ships have been loaded with residents of these places and we've departed them from the docks as of four hours ago. The boats are traveling across the North Pacific Ocean at this time, making their trek to Japan. We're hoping heading somewhere distant will help us find help amongst other countries. We might have a chance at stopping this thing. Once again, we apologize to any listeners who missed the deadline. Our thoughts and prayers are going out to you tonight."

And with that, the radio cuts to static.

"They... left us behind." Jett huffs. Margot lowers her head into her hands and sobs. Brooke just rubs her back comfortingly before crying as well.

"What are we gonna do now?" Bell wipes her eyes.

Jett plays with his hands. "There has to be a way. They didn't just leave us-"

"You're not listening, Jett! They're going to fucking Japan! We're done for!" Bell screams, quite out of character. Jett just quiets himself down and wipes his eyes as well.

Marcus scoffs. "We don't need to be yelling, or taking our anger out on each other. We've made it this far as kids... there must be someone else out there with experience. Maybe they have a solution."

Everyone in the car just sulks in their own feelings for awhile silently.

As the group enters Emerald Hills, something is visible down the road. Marcus slows down the car a bit. "What is that?"

"Marcus, I don't know if slowing down the car is ever a good option anymore." Jett mumbles in fear. Marcus glances over at the boy questionably before picking up his speed again. "Right, sorry. We're safe man."

But that thing in the road wasn't nothing. As the Camaro nears it, it's clear that another car is in the road, without its headlights on.
______________________________________

Ooh shit!! I hope you all are enjoying this! Stay tuned!