BRIGHT (Larry Stylinson AU)

Chapter 4

Louis~

It was getting dark an hour later when I came across a card-carrying, charter member of the wack-a-doo species. To put it mildly.
I didn't mind so much that the pickup truck I stuck out my thumb at didn't stop. It was the can of Busch beer that sailed out his passanger window that I found quite unneccessary. It probably would have shattered the bone structure of my face if I didn't have pretty good reflexes. I ducked at the last second and watched as the full can exploded with a foamy hiss against the truck of a pine tree.

I decided I needed to teach that idiot truck driver a lesson about highway safety and etiquette.
I stared at the can and willed the spilled beer back into it. The i sealed the crack and pop-top, and holding it in my hand like a runner's baton. I started after the truck.
It took me a full ten seconds to catch up. I could have done it less, but Busch boy was doing a hundred or so, and the roads were windy that day.
I gave the surprised driver a big wink as I drew alongside his pickup's open window. "What the... how the?" He yelled over the howl of the wind.

"Hey, I think you dropped something," I said, and I tossed the beer can into his lap. "Don't drink and drive, you useless dink."

I was acting pretty smug- until I realized that my ability to sense danger was not nearly as advanced as my super speed and strenght.

Because suddenly it wasn't a beer-guzzling fool who was driving the truck- it was a plug-ugly alien with a series of wide eyes that went all the way around his head, atleast a couple of noses, and dueling mouths equipped with nothing but sharp fangs, dozens of them.

"So who's chasim whom?" He asked with one of the mouths. "And which of my mouths get to take a huge bite out of you first?" He asked with the other.

Speed is the key, I thought- and still keeping up with the truck, I stuck finger after finger into at least a dozen of the creep's eyes. Then I held on to both of his ears and yelled, "Who sent you after me? I want to know right now!"

The cretin actually started laughing. "You're getting ahead of yourself, punk," he said with one mouth. "I'm not after you, I'm still to come," he said with the other.

"Say again." I told him.

"Number 5 sent me, and you better go back the way you came. You better run the other way! You get it? You turn around, you boogie, or you die a horrible death in the near future."

Then the voice changed before I knew what was happening. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Please let me go," he wailed. "Please, please, I've learned my lesson!"

And i knew why- because suddenly he was the truck driver again, and I was practically tearing the poor knucklehead's ears off.

"Drive safe," I said, and let him go.

So- Number 5 somehow knew I was coming. What other power did Ergent Ed have that were as impressive as my own?

By Ten O'clock, completely wiped and with still no sign of civilization, I decided ti call it a night. I stepped off the road into the dark woods, kicking myself for staying up late to watch The Blair Witch Project a couple nights before. I found a level clearing about thirty yards in that was as good as a spot to camp as any.

I opened my minitent and made a little fire. Then I sat beneath the northern stars, popped against a fir tree, cold hot dog in one hand, warm Gatorade in the other. Ahhh, the great outdoors. Could it get much better?

I hoped so, because it was pretty lonely, actually. And scary, considering that I'm often hunted by aliens.

That's when I heard a bunch of footsteps just outside the firelight. Uh-oh.

"Quit tripping me, doofus." I heard a male's voice.

"That's not me. It's Niall," said a boy. "You know what a klutz he is."

"No it's not! It's Harry," said another boy again, "I'm not a klutz."

"You are such a klutz."

"Hello? Does anyone notice that it's like pitch-black?" Said yet another boy's voice.

"No Zayn, we didn't notice that."

"Hey guys," I finally called out to the intruders. "What took you so long?"

My best friends- in the whole universe- had just arrived.

Let the party begin!