Take Over Chapter 4 "A Friend"

Steve, TJ and Kyle quickly made their way to the front door.  Steve pulled it open, “Bren?”

“Thank God!” The girl gasped as she plunged through the door and hugged him around the neck. Bren hugged each one of them and then stood back and stared at them with tears in her eyes. “Where have you been?” she asked.

“Us?” TJ said. “Where is everyone else?”

Bren was too overwhelmed with emotion to answer.  She pushed pass Steve, went into the living room and collapsed on the couch.  She ran her fingers through her short, dirty blonde hair.  Then she looked at them with a big smile.

 “You don’t know how glad I am to see you,” she breathed.

“We got that,” TJ said.

“What happened?” Kyle asked, anxiously.

“Sorry. It’s just… I’ve been hiding for days now and I have not seen anyone,” Bren began. Then she asked, “Can I have some water?”

“We’re not sure that’s a good idea,” said Kyle.

“Why?” Bren looked at him strangely.

“Well, we think it might be contaminated,” Kyle told her.

“Contaminated? With what?” Bren asked.

“We saw the quarantine sign and… well…”

Bren looked confused, “What quarantine sign?”

“The one outside of town,” Steve explained.

Bren stared into space as she thought about this. That would make some sense, she thought. “You don’t have to worry about that.  I have been drinking the water and I’m fine.”

Steve sat down in a chair, leaned forward and asked again, “Where has everyone gone?”  

“Please let me have some water and I’ll tell you.”

Kyle went to the kitchen; got two glasses, went to the sink and filled one for Bren and one for himself. Then, before heading back to the living room, he grabbed some crackers.  He handed an appreciative Bren the glass and he began to eat.

Bren took a long drink and set the glass on the coffee table.  She brushed back a strand of hair from her face.  “Thank you,” she said to Kyle. “Where have you guys been?”

“We were up at the cabin, but I think you have a lot more explaining to do,” Steve said, showing his impatience.  He could not believe she was taking her time to fill them in on whatever was going on.

“I’m not sure what exactly happened,” she started, “Callie and I were over at Kim’s house.  We went to bed around midnight,” she looked at the ceiling as if trying to remember or make sense of what she had seen, “I couldn’t sleep.  So I got up and went into the kitchen for a drink of water.  I stood by the window and noticed a few trucks, large ones, pull up the street and stop.  I went into the living room to get a better look at what they were doing.  It was strange because none of the trucks had their lights on.  Then a bunch of people in some kind of space suit looking things, exited the trucks. Two of them took a big hose and started heading toward the house.  Some of the men had guns…I …I was so scared.”

She took a shuddering breath and hugged herself. TJ noticed she was shaking. “They approached the door of the house.  I ran upstairs, not sure of what they were going to do. I called out to Kim’s dad.   That is when I heard the front door behind me get forced open and a hissing sound.  I turned around to see that the men with the hose were spraying something into the house.  When I reached the top of the stairs Mr. Helgum was standing there.  He yelled to ask me what was going on, saw what was happening, then moved me to the side and, and….” she looked up at the boys, tears running down her face. “They shot him.  I panicked and ran down the hall.  Mrs. Helgum came out of their room. I yelled at her to run but she didn’t listen. She ran past me to Mr. Helgum. Kim and Callie came out. I tried to grab them but I was too late.  They screamed and I turned to see what they were looking at.  Mrs. Helgum was lying there in the hall, her hand stretched out toward us.  I went into Kim’s room pulling Callie behind me, but she would not move. I yelled at her to come and then she just… collapsed.  That’s when I saw the mist from whatever that man was spraying beginning to fill the room. I held my breath and went to the open window.  I climbed out on the roof and down the tree.”

Steve could not believe what he was hearing.  Had Bren told him this while everyone was still in town he would have thought it was one of the crazy stories she liked to tell.  This… this was too much.  Men spraying some weird mist, guns and worst of all, shooting Mr. Helgum.

Bren continued, “I hid in the bushes and waited, but they didn’t come after me. The next thing I knew it was day time. I was still lying there, under the bushes.  I must have breathed some of that mist or whatever and it made me pass-out.”

The boys stared at her in stunned silence trying to process all that they had just heard. 

TJ spoke first, “Where are the bodies?”

Bren looked at him, “I don’t know.  I went into the house and it was like it had never happened.  There was no blood, no bodies.  I ran out the front door and looked around.   I then went the Shellic house next door.  No one answered when I knocked.  I tried to call mom and dad but the there was no dial tone on the phone.  I got Kim’s bike and road into town. ”

It was painful for Bren to recount this living nightmare.  She knew it had to be done, but she also knew that these guys, no matter what sympathy they had for her, would never understand what she felt.  She had been completely and utterly alone. No other person had been left, no phone, no radio and no TV.  She felt tears welling up in her again, “Please tell me you guys are not a dream,”  she smiled at them, the thought of not being alone anymore was almost too much to bear. 

“Later that day the men came back. I was in town when I noticed their vehicles coming up Main Street.  I hid.  They stopped in front of the coffee shop and went inside.  I heard a woman scream and then I saw them carrying Sarah out.  I went to your house TJ, and hid in the old fort.  I didn’t know what to do.  Once they were gone I got some food and blankets and went back to the fort.  I stayed there all night and the next day, until I was sure they weren’t coming back.

“Then I got restless. I had to do something so I thought I would take Mr. Helgum’s car to get help.  It wouldn’t start.  Then yesterday morning they came back to town.  I did my best to stay hidden.  They went from shop to shop on Main Street and then house to house in the neighborhoods.  Twice I thought they were going to catch me.  Then they went over to the power station at the edge of town and worked there all day.  I decided then that I would follow them.” 

“Where?”  TJ asked.

“The old mine.  I followed them to the edge of town, but I could not keep up on the bike without being seen.  So I just went the way I thought they had gone.  I reached Dell, cut off and could see their dust on the dirt road.  I took a roundabout way; trying to stay in the trees,” Bren remembered how her heart raced when she came to the road leading to the mine.  She had almost turned around and given up.

“I left the bike in the bushes and hiked along a side trail keeping the road in sight.  Then I reached the bluff that overlooks the mine entrance.  I couldn’t believe it.  There were school buses, and trucks and men with guns all out in front.”

“Jasper’s mine?” Steve asked. 

“Yes.  I realized then I couldn’t do anything. Not against men with guns, so I came back here and hid, then I heard your jeep this morning.”