Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 24 - Up the Creek

When the door shut, they were completely in the dark. Brian turned on the small flashlight on his cellphone and swept it around.

There were rows upon rows of tall, steel shelves, each containing crates of varying sizes on wooden pallets.

"Whoa. How are we going to find what we're looking for?" Brian asked.

"This is just where they keep the big stuff. The smaller items are kept over there." She pointed to the far end of the building.

As they walked past each row, Brian wondered what sort of gear was in this warehouse.

They reached the other end of the building and saw four doors. Jessica led Brian through one of these, into a room where small boxes lined a shelf. Jessica began looking through the boxes. As she did so, one of them fell, dumping a bunch of small dome-shaped objects on the floor.
Brian walked over and put all of them back but one, and examined it. It was silver in color, and about the width of a coin. It had what appeared to be a button on it. "Jessica, do you know what this is?" he said, holding it up.

She scrunched her face a little. "I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever seen one of those. You should probably put it back. It could be dangerous."

As she finished speaking, they heard a banging sound from somewhere in the warehouse. They both froze, listening. It was silent for a moment, and then the lights in the building turned on. They began to hear voices. Brian carefully peered out the door of the room. In the distance, he could see several men with guns. They were spreading out.

"They have guns!" Brian whispered.

Jessica's eyes widened, and she crouched low.

Several thoughts flashed through Brian's mind. This had been a stupid idea. He should have just told Aunt Carol about the broken phone. Why had he suggested they break in, anyway? He wasn't usually that spontaneous. It must have been because he was with Jessica. Was he trying to impress her or something?

Brian, you should be thinking of how to get out of this situation, not exploring your feelings.

My feelings? What? Brian frowned. I should probably just come out and tell them who I am. The worst they could do is just take us to Aunt Carol, right?

Be careful.

Thanks, Mom.

He peered out the door again. The closest man was about 50 yards away and approaching. Brian crept over to Jessica and whispered, "I'm sorry I got us into this. I'm going to walk out there and talk to them."

"No, don't," she said, gripping his hand.

The moment she grabbed his hand, something strange occurred. She disappeared.

Jessica gasped. "What—what happened?"

Brian shook his head. "I'm not sure." He looked down to the hand she had grabbed, and realized that he had also disappeared. Then he remembered the little device he had been holding. Jessica must have pressed the button down when she grabbed his hand.

Good thing it wasn't a bomb, Brian thought.

Yes, that would have been a less favorable solution.

"It's that thing I showed you," he whispered quickly to Jessica. "Let's get out of here!"

They stood up, and silently crept out of the room. The man was now about 20 yards away.

Brian saw an empty space under one of the nearby shelves, and they carefully moved to the spot, as the man continued to approach.

The man walked right past them, and began searching nearby rooms. When he had finished checking the last one, he turned back, stopping right in front of Brian and Jessica. "Sector 10 all clear," he croaked into his radio.

A second man walked around the corner and spoke. "Another false alarm?"

"Yeah, probably rats. I keep saying they need to re-calibrate those motion sensors."

They talked at length about women, hunting, and sports, and had just worked their way back around to women, when a voice shouted, "Let's clear out!" The men started to walk away.

Brian and Jessica waited until they were at a safe distance, and then followed, doing their best to move silently.

They were able to leave the building in a similar fashion to how they entered, sneaking through the door just before it closed.

The men piled into what looked like a military vehicle and drove away.

Still invisible, Brian and Jessica began working their way up the hill toward the tree house. They soon found that walking while invisible, on uneven terrain, was difficult because they couldn't see their feet, so they unclasped their hands. Visible again, Brian put the device in his pocket for safe keeping.

They reached the top of the hill, and took a few more steps before stopping, and staring.

They looked at each other.

Their car was gone.