Battles and Conversations

The creature was enormous. Sunset could feel her legs shaking.

Where on Earth had it come from? Or maybe it wasn’t from Earth at all, and had arrived with the aliens.

It was reptilian, but as large as an elephant.

This was going to take some doing.

-10001-

Greg rushed into the house, finding Jeremy in the living room.

“What is it?” he said. “I just got your text, or I’d have been here sooner.” He looked around. “Where’s Laoren?”

“She’s gone,” said Jeremy. “We’ve got a big problem on our hands.”

-10001-

The creature’s tail swung down, destroying a bench.

Sunset looked upwards.

“Headline news, I suppose.”

She looked around. No film crew, no journalists. They must all be preoccupied with the alien arrival. Nobody left to capture her epic battle with the Lizard of Doom.

“Alright,” she said. “It’s super-powers time!”

-10001-

“And she had this alien hidden in the house all along?” said Greg.

“For the last four days,” said Jeremy.

“And she didn’t tell me?”

“I don’t think she wanted to tell me either, but they had to because I was in the house so much.”

“Does Mel know?” Greg was pacing by now.

“No idea. I texted her too, but you know what she’s like.”

“Any idea where she went?”

Jeremy passed him the evening’s paper.

“The school, I’d imagine.”

“Good lord. Any news on what happened there?”

“No idea,” said Jeremy. “Sounds like the journalists were more focused on the spaceship and the chaos than a single alien with a human girl.”

“Some people really need to sort out their priorities.”

-10001-

Sunset reached for her phone. She unlocked it, and scrolled down to the Address Book icon.

The monster’s head swooped down, and she narrowly missed it. Another swoop, and the phone was knocked from her hands.

“You asked for it,” said Sunset. And as she spoke, her head began to fade away. Tiny particles floated from her. Her hands started to melt into particles as well. Eventually, she was a cloud, floating on the wind. She reformed on the creature’s head. She punched it firmly.

The creature roared, and swung her away. Seconds before she hit the ground, she crumbled again, and reformed, fully standing, on the ground.

Not waiting to catch her breath, she picked up the phone again. She found the entry she wanted – “Lunar Mist” – and dialled.

-10001-

“Right, get Mel back here,” said Greg.

“I told you, she didn’t answer,” insisted Jeremy.

“Then we’ll go and get her,” said Greg. “What’s she got on today? Riding? Hockey?”

“She didn’t say.”

“Then find out! Who’s in her riding class?”

“I don’t know, do I?” Jeremy was becoming agitated. “I’m going to try phoning Laoren. At the very least, we should find out if she’s alright.”

“Alright, you do that.”

-10001-

“Pick up, pick up,” said Sunset, tapping her foot impatiently. An enormous tail swung through the air, knocking the wind from her stomach, and tearing her suit along her chest. “Handy that I wear clothes underneath,” she said, and turned to the creature. “But still, budget or not, I LIKE this costume.”

She disintegrated again, and reformed on some scaffolding above. She grabbed a rope, crumbled, and appeared on the creature’s lower back.

Ignoring the roars, she set about attaching the rope to one of it’s finger-sized scales. It wouldn’t hold for long, but it’d do.

She threw the rope to the creature’s right, and crumbled. She reformed underneath the monster, and grabbed the rope before she hit the ground. She ran back, throwing the rope up around the other side. She scattered once more, gathering on the creature’s back just in time to grab the rope again.

She recovered the end of the rope she’d left on the scale, and tied it to the other side. She then set about wrapping the rope around its scaly neck. Having tied the other end of the rope to the knot, she realised she needed more rope. She crumbled again, reforming on the scaffolding.

She needed a moment to breathe.

-10001-

“No answer,” said Jeremy.

“Think she’s in trouble?” asked Greg. “Or just avoiding you?”

“Could be either, really.” He rubbed his eyes. He was tiring quickly. “We may have to contact her parents.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“She’s taken off with an alien, to a potentially dangerous situation that contains, lest we forget, a million journalists,” said Jeremy. “They’ll find out sooner or later, and if they find out sooner, they can help us.”

“You’re right,” said Greg. “Tell you what, let me e-mail my lecturers to let them know I won’t be in tomorrow …”

“Greg,” said Jeremy quietly. “There won’t BE any lectures tomorrow. Didn’t you hear what happened to the University?”

-10001-

The creature had not taken kindly to being tied up. By the time Sunset had found another length of rope, it had started running through the streets. The rope kept its head facing upwards, and it was running into more obstacles than usual.

“Oh, God,” said Sunset, seeing where it was headed. It was running down a road that led directly towards the local University.

Sunset scattered immediately, and raced towards the creature, trying to overtake it.

She reformed in front of it, and tried grabbing one of its legs. But Sunset’s strength was not super-human, and the creature, feeling her underfoot, stamped down hard. It stopped, turned around – its tail swinging through the University walls, smashing windows and knocking down bricks – and started scratching away at Sunset, trying to get a grip on her.

Sunset tried to crumble, but she was too tired. She could feel her hand melting away, but the creature’s claws tore at her suit, and then her face and legs.

She could vaguely hear a voice, so, so distant.

“Leave her alone!”

She saw a streak of green above her, and finally, she was able to crumble.

She allowed herself to slowly drift home.

-10001-

“Couldn’t find any contact details …” Jeremy trailed off. “Greg?”

“I’m upstairs,” replied Greg. “We’ve got another issue.”

Jeremy ran upstairs, following Greg’s voice. He was standing in the door to Mel’s room.

“What is it?” asked Jeremy, but then he saw the carnage on the bed.

“That solves that mystery, then,” said Greg, barely able to speak. “Melinda is Sunset.”