Beyond the Pack - Wyatt Lykensen

Chapter 16 - It's not rocket science!

Zed's POV

We watched the aliens as they walked up the path to the school. A-li smiled at us, "I hope you take this opportunity to learn from our advanced intelligence." Then she pushed on the door clearly marked pull. She grunted and pushed harder before leaning back, exhausted.

"Uh, you have to pull." Said Bree helpfully. A-li hesitantly pulled the door and it swung open easily. "Yeah. There you go." I said. Then we went inside. 

Addison ran up to me grinning, "Aren't the aliens amazing? They have a non-hierarchical approachto leadership. They're a fashion-forward, peaceful people."Just hearing Addison go on and on about how great they were really ticked me off.

"Okay, well, they did kind of blow up Seabrook, right?" Addison frowned, "Well, it was an accident, Zed. I mean, just imagine the courage needed to come to a new planet. I mean, I'm just nervous about going away to college alone. Well, not alone. With you." I nodded, "Right.I am so getting into Mountain College, and we are going to be together forever."

"There's no way they came across the galaxy just to cheer. Why are they really here?" I muttered once we caught up to the aliens. Wynter growled at them, "Better watch your step." A-spen smiled pleasantly, "We will watch our step. Thank you for the warning. Smile." They held up one of their small wrist-screens, probably trying to take a photo. We all posed, "How cool, an alien camera. No fleas!"

Then A-spen took a photo and a weird feeling came over us, like we'd forgotten something. Willa gasped, "Whoa. What just happened?" But the aliens just ignored us and left. Bucky walked over to Addison and Wakai.

"Addison, you can't help those invaders." "Back off, Bucky." Bree said, "Your cousin's the cheer captain now. Not you." Addison smiled, "Thanks, Bree." "But Bucky is right." Wakai and Willa said in unison. Bucky started, "I'm right? Yes, of course I'm right." Wakai smiled, "A little right. I don't trust the aliens, Addison. Last time outsiders swooped into Seabrook, our moonstone was stolen. And this time, we might lose our shot of getting into Mountain College."

Bucky nodded, "Which is why we need to protect what's ours. The Seabrook Cup, my legacy.
Me, in general. Right, Willa? Or should I say, Wacey?" Willa cringed, "You should not." Then they left for class, leaving me alone to talk to Eliza on the tablet.

"Don't worry about the aliens." She said, "I'm not afraid of a little competition." I nodded, "I have a real shot of getting into Mountain College. I just... I wish you were here to help me with the exceptional student application." Eliza smiled, then the screen flickered off and her voice came form behind me.

"I am here. Turn around." I whipped around to find a rusty robot with a screen attatched where the face should be. On the screen was Eliza! "I whipped up a little something with the spare parts laying around Z-Corp." She said modestly. I grinned, "This is amazing, Eliza!"

Bonzo walked up and screamed, cursing in zombietongue. Eliza laughed, "No, the aliens didn't imprison me in this robot body. I did this." Bonzo calmed down and said something to me. I laughed, "Yeah, I would have made myself taller too."

Eliza frowned, "At least I didn't fail my driver's test, Bonzo. Twice." Bonzo looked hurt and muttered something. Eliza softened, "Sorry, low blow. You're a genius." Then she refocused her attentions on me, "Uh, when's your application due?"

I cringed, "Uh, today, so not technically last-minute?" Eliza took a deep, calming breath. "Okay, let me get this straight. The only way you can get in is as an exceptional student?" I nodded. "Okay, hold on." Eliza said, "Let me pull up your transcript."

She typed something into her computer and all my files and statistics appeared on the screen. "Hey, check it out." I said,  "I'm ranked third in our class for grade point average." Then suddenly the screen beeped and suddenly my class ranking dropped. I frowned, "What? I'm ninth now? No, that... that's wrong." Then it beeped again and my ranking dropped even further. 'I'm ranked 18th?" I said, distressed.

I frowned, "Wait, okay, this doesn't make sense at all. All these grades ahead of me are... 
otherworldly." Thn something clicked. Principal Lee walked up to me and pulled me to the door of the alien's classroom. "They did the entire course in 23 minutes." Principal Lee said. "It only took them that long because they couldn't figure out how to work a pencil sharpener."

We watched in fascination as A-li tried to use the sharpener and screamed, then as A-spen worked it out and sharpened the pencil, "Look, the utensil is functional again."

"The aliens stole all my class rankings." I grumbled as we watched Coach replace all my athletic records with A-lan's, "And beat my athletic records." Coach spotted us and walked over, "Oowee, Zed, A-lan just obliterated your best times. He ran crop circles around you. Bench press records, blew yours away. High jump, he's a VFO. Very Identifiable Flying Object. He has six-pack abs!"

A-lan laughed from where he was standing on the stairs. "I can get to eight, Coach. Just give me time." He said, making Wakai laugh. Wyatt and I growled in unison. "And the best part?" Coach continued, "The laws of gravity do not apply to them." A-lan did something on his screen and began to float. He chuckled, "I'd be happy to dunk on you, Zed." Coach laughed, "That'd be fun to see."

Eliza sighed, "Well, there goes your chance. Now monsters will never get in." A-lan walked over to our group with A-li and A-spen, unaware of the contempt radiating out of both me and, for some reason, Wyatt. "Yes, being better than others is very enjoyable." He said proudly. I glared at them, "Hey, aliens. You are ruining my chances to get into Mountain College."

A-li frowned, "Oh! I do not like this conflict. Cannot wait to leave this discord." Wyatt raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, okay, so then why don't you just go back to your own planet?" A-spen started crying violently, "Because it was destroyed! We don't have... a home!" Wakai hugged A-spen consolingly. I cringed, "I... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I really am. You know, as tough as things have been for zombies, we've always had Zombietown. 

Wakai nodded, "Is there anything we can do?" A-lan stared, "You would help us?" I nodded, "Of course. A-spen grinned at me, "You are so considerate!!"

Later, me and the ElizaBot were with the aliens in an epty classroom. "With our Luma Lenses,
we probed all the minds of Seabrook." Said A-li proudly. "Mind probes? Why would you do that?" Eliza asked suspiciously. "To learn about cheer, obviously. Cheer." A-spen said quickly, elbowing A-li.

"Okay, but what about people's privacy?" I asked, "I mean, you can't just scan people's..." Then I looked into the screen, or Luma Lens, and saw a picture of my biology test. "Hey, what is that?" I asked. "Oh, your biology teacher's brain scan." A-spen said calmly. "Is that my test?" Eliza rolled over in intrest, "A D-plus? That is... Ouch. I could beat that easily."

A-lan sighed, "You were unfairly marked. Your answers correctly highlight the purpose of brains for zombies. Your teacher does not understand zombie culture." He pressed something on the screen and the grade changed to an A-. "That's the grade you should have gotten." A-lan said.

"Just like that?" I asked, "Thank you." "So there is something you can do for us." A-lan said. He showed me a picture of the moonstone, "This image appears in many scans. What is it?" I frowned, "That is the moonstone. It is the most precious thing in Seabrook. It's the life force for werewolves."

The aliens looked at each other, "Instrumomo." I shook my head, "But stay away from it, because the werewolves won't let any outsiders near the moonstone." A-spen sighed and hugged me, "You are so caring!" I grunted awkwardly, "Okay, well..." A-spen giggled and let go.

A-lan nodded, "Zed, we shall reward your help by improving your application." A-li grinned, "It's not rocket science, but knowing rocket science won't hurt." A-spen frowned, "What does that expression mean?" I grinned, "It means that the universe has sent me an intergalactic alien dream team to help get this zombie into college!"

Wynter's POV

Later, I was walking along when I saw the ElizaBot talking to Zed and Bonzo. Then Bonzo and Zed did a growling handshake and left, so I walked over. "Eliza, is that you?" I asked. She turned around, "Cool, right? You know, can't beat zombie tech." I giggled, "Well, I mean, I wouldn't underestimate wolf tech." I said, taking off my moonstone necklace and spinning it as I thought. "Hey, I was thinking, um," I said nervously, still spinning the necklace, "Maybe we could have like, like a, you know, remote study date or..." My moonstone trilled and stuck to the ElizaBot, frying it's systems. The screen went black.

"Oops." I cringed. I looked around, "Zed?"