The School was holding a ball and we had to look presentable. It was mandatory this year. I really truly hoped that Kendra would go out with me.
Her mother Susan Gilles glared at me. I turned to Kendra holding a rake. Her dirty brown hair had split ends and she had the prettiest brown eyes, she wore a brown gardening outfit, her pink gloved hand tightened on her rake."Oh hi, Zach, what's shaking?"Me. My face was burning up. "Kendra? Can I ask you for a favour?"She fluttered her eyelashes. "Oh no, I'm all out of solids,"I turned red. "You see..." I saw the neon blue brackets circling her face. I flapped my hand across my face good thing she was checking her phone."Oh, I just got an text from Al-Abadi, he asked me to come to the dance." She said. She studied physics.Amir? Amir Al-badi was like the worst human being on the planet to me. I doubt this'll go well. Besides I was not that great compared to him. "Um...That's... great_""Unbelievable..." I put my hands in front of my eyes.Kendra snapped her finger and I stumbled."Hello?" She waved her hand in front of my eyes."I'm fine.""Tell you what,""What?" I said, my mind was far too gone to even remember. The female robotic voice was not making any sense and I wondered what other information she garnered from me.[ Zack, your heartrate is skyrocketing ][ Your testosterone levels are increasing ][ Would you please stop, robot lady? ][ I am Ash and I am deeply concerned about your well-being ]She had a sly grin tucking her phone back in her pocket. "I'll ask you to the dance and then I'll text him that I already have a partner, how's that sound?""Cool," I sounded a bit too disappointed. If this wasn't a dream. It seemed to good to be true. She probably did it to get away from Amir but what am I worried about? I heaved a sigh. "Cool.""Okay?"I definitely felt happy and sad at the same time, after that experience. Maybe it would not be such a bad day after all. Half bad. "I've got to figure this thing out.I checked up on Lois just in case she was having a bad dream. Her blue eyes rose."What is it?"She fidgeted. "When's mom coming back?.""I don't know,""Well is she coming?" She asked with a hope filled voice."I'm sorry Lois, she's dead." I said as straightforwardly as I could. "Please don't cry," I didn't hear another whimper from her again....I prepared for the dance in an old tuxedo and my hair tied with a lump in my throat."You okay muffin?" Dad held her shoulder when he noticed that she was not as peppy as before. I just hoped I would get out before things escalated."No, nothing."Dexter asked if I knew better because I watched them overnight. His brown hair showed better emotions than he did because it appeared duller now."You better get going.""Yeah, right.""Want me to drive you?""No, I'd rather just have the keys." I heard a knock on the door and I was surprised at Morty, he was wearing a navy blue suit with his curly hair undercut styled up and who do I see with him? It was Kendra, she was dreamy as always in a hot pink dress, she hugged his arm. Okay, that was normal, right?"Oh, you're going this year? That's cool," Morty nodded."Okay yeah...but where's your plus one?" I asked and they both looked at each other and roared with laughter."I'm going with Kendra," He shrugged and I frowned at her. "Dude, we're running late, we can pick up your date on the way," She said pointing a thumb.My jaw dropped at how she snubbed me."But I asked you first.""Whoa what's your problem?" He said adjusting his blue coat."You're my problem." I said. "I asked her first.""Is everything okay out there?" Dexter shouted."No." I have had enough of this BS."Relax, it's fine," She touched my shoulder. I couldn't believe it was her talking."Kendra_""Get your hands off my girl!" I stood back. He looked pretty hurt, my scowl deepened and I puffed in anger. I was not surprised that things just might turn out for the worst_ again. I couldn't believe she would rip me off like this but then again, I did say it was too good to be true but with my best friend? Over the top."Just leave okay? Have a good evening, you guys," I said through clenched teeth and wiped my nose watching them leave. I felt sick and this time it wasn't the box's side effects. I thought I saw the red in Kendra's irises. What was she doing with red contacts?"Come on Mort, we don't have time to waste."She said to my displeasure.[ May I be of assistance, Zack ?]"Yeah, you can be of real help to me, Ash."I knocked on Mister Wigglesworth's trailer and the door squeaked open. I winced, I was expecting a dark, gloomy old place but what I saw was a five-star mobile home with polished brown adjustable furniture and the TV was inbuilt. It could move up into the wall as well. "Whoa." I sat back on a bunk bed and hit my head bummed about today. I watched in awe at the James Bond movie and perked up at Frank stepping in. He was in a blue overall with goggles on."I'm sorry I broke in." I wondered who he was and why he would be dealing with these dangerous alien species. I just had a bad streak, rough night," I held a bunk frame, "I really don't wanna go anywhere else and I have questions.""I really don't want to go anywhere else, and I have questions," I confessed to Mister Wigglesworth.He sighed. "My name is Zed Sharlowke, and I come from a planet named Morphius. It was peaceful, we were invincible, unbeatable, until we met our match, someone who could outmatch us. Sadly, an Overlord named Blaze Gondomier had other plans for us. He had his eyes on Zoldor, but we could not live as another Klozarian colony. So the Morphian sage, Teyen, the best among us, bargained for our most prized possession: Zoldor.""Where's Zoldor?""Zol-DOR," he corrected and glared at a monitor that beeped."What the—!?" I frowned at the aerial view of my porch, everything highly defined. "You set up a camera on my porch?""It's for the neighborhood watch; it tracks any interesting movement," he explained, tapping a neon keyboard as it zoomed in on Kendra, who was wearing a purple dress and heels."Why is she here?" I wondered aloud."I'll call you right back," I said and went outside to meet he
The rapid, metallic clang of gunfire echoed through the dimly lit alley. My shoulder screamed in pain as I dived behind a stack of wooden crates, the harsh breaths escaping my lips accompanied by the frantic thumping of my heart. Kendra's earlier appearance, now in the form of a lethal killing machine, had caught me completely off guard.From my hiding spot, I fumbled for the rifle, desperately needing some firepower to defend myself. The darkness was my only ally as I felt her approaching, the whirring of her robotic limbs reverberating in the eerie silence.Morty had fallen, unconscious and vulnerable, and I couldn't allow this menace to reach him. My other wound, from her previous attack, had miraculously healed again, a testament to the unsettling side effects of whatever had been injected into my system. A disturbing thought crossed my mind: was I becoming something more than human?The inhuman footsteps grew fainter as the Klozandroid continued to advance. She had morphed into a
Mister Wigglesworth sat up from his chair "You lost the machine!?" He looked dismal and I raked my hair feeling terrible and all the same useless."I'm sorry, I just didn't want Morty to get vaporized. But we can find her, right?" I encouraged.He worked on his computer fixated. "No, Klozandroids are extremely hard to pursue, especially one that shapeshifts," He said and I gulped. "I don't have much time. Ash gave me 2 days and this is the second." He searched his monitor for anything suspicious on the map. "And they are extremely dangerous," His eyes stirred momentarily and then he passed me a small cardboard parcel. I took it and read the label, unfolding it to pick out a key. It jingled in my hand. "What's this for?" I read the caption and, it had the VW sign. I realized that letter V was actually a boomerang. A decoy."It's the key to the Volkswagon Bug,""You want me to ride that hunk of junk?" Seriously? I'd be the laughingstock of the entire town. I wouldn't want Amir to see
"Step 1. Be unpredictable,"The robots were a challenge. One spun and tried to kick me, I clasped its foot in-between my hands and my knee went down and my foot pushed backwards against the ground.My hands crackled with electricity. Its eyes flashed, and I staggered forward when the other one booted me on the back of my head. I almost blacked out when I collided with the first one. I dropped and crawled away with a hand on my head and shuddered. Then my senses spurred on and I spun my body up, on my hands to evade a sweeping kick and flipped back blocking a heavy fist and I slammed my foot into the red bot's knee, it sparked after I crippled it.Their eyes flashed red. More emerged from the suitcase doubling up to fourteen_as much as I could count. "There's too many!" I said disoriented by them shuffling again. Mister Wigglesworth clenched his fist. "It's not about the size of a dog in a fight, it's about the size of the fight in a dog!""I am not a dog!!" I blocked my face on the
"You think it's broken?""Ha ha, as soon as the Box gets to Mister Wigglesworth, then we're good," I held it carefully and it wore on me like a sleeve. I pushed it off."What the hell!?" Morty pulled, it stretched like rubber and flickered sewing itself on to me.Seymour pawed at the remains in fascination."Zack!!" My dad was home and his voice was getting louder as he came by."Yeah, Zack!!" I snuffed at Lois's voice. She can barely put her sentences together and copies anyone who talks."Help," The alien stuff was creeping up to my face and I wheezed craning my neck away from it.He checked the house for any anomalies and glared at me. "What in the world are you wearing?"I hid the boot behind the rails."It's his costume," Morty said casually patting my head. The substance scaled up my neck and I hooded my face and I huffed at the holes he poked on it."Polkuhgeist,""It's an award-winning costume all right," Beck blew a raspberry at me holding a white package and a bottle of cho
The jets stopped for a moment, I spun over falling from the sky, diving in one direction, I was losing altitude and the red exclamation points were filling up my view. I glared at the trees.[ 3000 ft...2000 ft...500ft ]"Glider," The wings on my suit extended as I was plummeted and the traction in the wind pushed me back to a standing posture as I reached the dark park's proximity. I was hyperventilating. I searched the flaming field, the ship was a huge wreck. I lunged after her."A new knight?" She appeared confused and twirled her weapon. Well it doesn't matter,"We ran toward each other. She kicked me away brawling with Mister Wigglesworth. In the collision, I saw her claw emerging under him spinning rapidly and I shot it, the other whirled around her gripping my throat."Whoa!" I spun upside down and hit another tree. She dunked me into a puddle. He broke free of the collision and she screeched at the laser he shot in her eyes, he spun her arm around her neck and the claw ope
My dad had a project so he would be out for a wek, I didn't enjoy the look of things after three days, Beck expected me to stand up to Aunt Deirdre to leave and he kept bugging me. He had a hard time communicating his needs so I ended up doing all the talking. "Beck, you can't just tell her to leave, it's wrong." I was starting to worry about dad not coming home, there hasn't been any calls every five minutes or messages, I was getting a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe the project had been further delayed. "Where are you?" I called, Mort's family were leaving for Cancun and Beck signed up late for summer camp, so he was staying at home. THIS NUMBER DOES NOT EXIST1 week pushing, I never expected things to get gloomier from there. I called his other friends were starting to show up at our house, even his colleagues who made the trip with him. The project had been finalized."Maybe he got lost," Lois sniffed. She hadn't been sleeping in since the fifth day and I noticed that she w
] I held my breath as they walked out of the place. I swallowed and reached the path they followed, and I paused where they stayed observing people in mechanical nimbi, it was like a ring but people were stuck in the middle with their hands and legs bound. There were monitors above them. I walked closer and saw tubes positioned around on the floors avoiding each other like roots and red lights flowed through them. I heard them screaming in agony and I grimaced at the videos of what may have been their most terrible experiences, being played over and over again. "Please..." A woman cried. "Please I can't take this anymore." She cries out when a Klozar aimed a spear at her throat. Another trooper turned a knob and the people started to shudder. The psychological torture was getting worse. Just then, I saw a monitor where there was an empty nimbus, it was still playing and what I saw shook me. She was putting on her helmet on her blonde hair and kit. She was in a brown tartan shirt, glo