Apex Read Free

mist.
    Scott was already awake, jostling Melanie into consciousness. He whispered to Jack, “Help me. She’s not waking up.”
    Before he could get to his feet, Melanie started to twitch. Her arms became more animated by the second. By the time Jack got to her, her arms were being flung around wildly. Her legs were twitching of their own accord too. The growing dark patch on her pants meant she was wetting herself.
    Jack asked, “What’s happening to her?”
    “I don’t know but it happened to you just a few minutes ago.”
    Then she sat up like she was possessed by the devil, and took in a deep, painful gulp of air. She looked around with wild eyes as she started to hyperventilate.
    Behind him, Jack heard a muted shuffling sound. He turned in time to witness the middle aged couple doing an unconscious prone dance together, like they were making snow angels, except there was no snow and the angels would have looked more like demons based on the spastic jerking of their limbs. Then they shot up into a sitting position and drew in huge lungfuls of air too.
    It scared the hell out of Jack.
    He was sweating profusely, shivering even though it was easily ninety degrees. He looked up into the clear blue sky and saw the sun directly overhead. Only then did he realize they’d been passed out for at least twelve hours.
    He staggered over to the crater as Melanie and the couple started to come to their senses.
    He wasn’t prepared for what he found though.
    The crater was empty.

    Schemes
     
    As they walked back into town Jack said, “We should get checked out by a doctor or something. Whatever knocked us out can’t be good for us.”
    “No shit, Jack. It was some kind of alien aerosol and it put us all to sleep. We’re lucky to be alive.”
    Melanie shook her head adamantly. “My mom thinks I spent last night at Jessica’s house. There’s no way I’m going to tell her the truth. My dad would kick the crap out of me if he knew I was out with you two.”
    Scott added, “You’re right. The first thing a doctor would find in our bloodstreams would be drugs. I can’t let my mom know that about me.”
    Jack shook his head. He should’ve known his friends would take the easy way out. But, in a way, they were right. If a doctor found something strange inside of them, they’d be forced to recount what had happened last night. That could go only one of two ways. Either they’d become tabloid news and have to endure public ridicule, or else they’d be taken seriously and quarantined by the CDC or some shady government agency.
    Melanie said, “Dan and Molly already said they’d deny ever meeting us if we went public, so we’d have too much working against us from the start. I don’t blame them either. They’re probably living outside of town for a reason. They probably don’t want other people in their business. Going public with this would be a nightmare for them.”
    Jack said, “Just promise me you’ll both get checked out if anything odd happens.”
    “Of course,” Scott lied.
    Melanie added, “You worry too much Jack. Let’s get some lunch and then we’ll sleep on it.”
    Jack chuckled. “Are you hung-over from last night?”
    “Actually, I feel really good. I’m just starving and tired.”
    “I’d be hung-over if I drank that much.”
    “I should be too. Maybe the alien spoor defeated my hang-over.”
    “Don’t even joke about alien spoors.”
    Scott said, “I’m going to tell my mom I was at your house last night, Jack. You can tell yours that you were at mine.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”

    Busted
     
    Jack walked through his door knowing fully that he was in deep trouble. The police car in his driveway could mean just one thing; he was caught.
    He already knew he couldn’t say he’d stayed with Scott last night. His mom wouldn’t look into his story but the sheriff would. The sheriff was useless but because he was perpetually bored, he’d dig deep whenever he thought he was onto