The Call of the Others

Chapter 16

“There you are!” Mr. Robinson yelled. They had just taken two or three steps outside the hospital, and there the class was, blinking at them with curious eyes. They looked normal. Joe looked around, and everything appeared how it had been before.

“Where are Cassandra and Martina?” Mr. Robinson asked.

“Martina’s staying overnight in the hospital, then she’s being taken home by her parents. Cassandra’s staying with her because they’re good friends or something like that. Can we visit them tomorrow? The doctor said we could,” Charles lied with outstanding ease.

Mr. Robinson blinked before he said, “Uh, yeah. Sure. Okay, let’s go to our hotel!”

Where were the aliens? It was as though they never escaped.

“How long do we have?” Alice asked. She had asked this mainly to Joe, but Mr. Robinson heard her and answered, “Until Monday. Your parents know that, right?”

“Yeah! I just kind of forgot,” Alice said, frightened that the teacher had heard.

The whole class headed back to the bus, and the six lagged behind to discuss things.

“How did you lie like that, Charles? I could’ve believed you,” Alice whispered.

“I planned it on the way up,” he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “It was good, huh?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“What did you mean when you were asking how long we had?” he asked.

“I meant how long we had to stop the aliens from taking over or whatever,” Alice said gravely.

“Three days, apparently,” Joe said, although they all knew.

Cary whistled. “Do you think we can get an extension?”

“This isn’t a paper, Cary,” Martin said.

“And Martina wasn’t a student. I think we’ve learned everything is possible.”

“What if HQ does come?” Joe asked.

“Eh?”

“Martina called HQ. What if they come?”

“Then,” Cary said, “we are so dead.”

“Maybe they’ll be nice?” Martin said. They stared at him.

“Then again,” he continued, “maybe not.”

The next day, Mr. Robinson allowed them to spend all day at the hospital with Martina.

“Technically,” Cary said as they proceeded to go to their passageway, “we will be with her. Her digested remains, anyway.”

“Lovely, Cary,” Charles said, opening the door. The room was absent of all people. The passageway was marked with caution tape, but Joe opened it with ease.

“Where are the doctors?” Preston asked. “This is awfully suspicious.”

“As long as we can help our little critter and get out in one piece, I’m not worrying about it,” Cary said.

“No one listens to me,” Preston muttered, so low only Joe could hear him.

Cassandra, I wish you were here to tell us what to do, Joe thought. I don’t know what to do.

Alice slipped her hand into Joe’s, which any other day before this would have made him ecstatic, but now it was only bittersweet. Soon they reached the end of the tunnel, arriving by Cage C.

“Cary? You locked him in?” Joe asked in disbelief, looking at the lowered bars.

“I didn’t want him to run away!”

“HE CAN’T,” Joe said, pointing to the thing’s leg.

“Well,” Charles said, pulling the lever, “let’s get her done.”

“Just how are you going to do that?”

“Martin, don’t doubt my skills, ‘kay?” Charles said, rolling his eyes.

“Um, Charles?” Martin squeaked. “That wasn’t me.”

“Then  who was—oh,” Charles said, turning around.

“IT’S MR. WOODWARD REINCARNATED!!!!!! HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!” Cary blurted out.

It appeared to be. A large, strong, and sturdy African-American man who looked enough like Mr. Woodward to be his twin, stood behind them. He wore the same badge that Martina had worn. Joe could see he had a gun in his holster, and in his face Joe could see that he was not afraid to use it. And he was blocking the exit. Great.

“Hello, boys,” Mr. Woodward’s clone said. “How about we have a little chat?”