Substitute Teacher

A short story

A flash of light lit up Johnny’s room.

“What was that? Lightning?” Johnny asked himself. He had been trying to get to sleep for school the next day; It was picture day, and he wanted to make sure he could take a shower.

He jumped up and looked out his bedroom window to see if he could see more of the lightning. The sky over the woods, which his bedroom looked out over, was clear of any clouds; all he could see were stars, a sliver of a moon, and a red glow in the trees.

“I wonder if the flash of light was an explosion,” Johnny thought to himself after seeing the red glow. When he and his friend Sam rode through the woods on their bikes, they would often find trash from high schoolers who had been out in the woods late, so a fire caused by one of them would not be unexpected.

Johnny went back to his bedroom door to see if he could tell if his parents had seen the light too. All he could hear were the previews for the show next week, followed by the teaser for the news. Over that, he could hear the soft snoring of his parents asleep in their chairs.

“Good, they’ll be there for a while,” Johnny knew they wouldn’t move until the late-night show woke them.

Anticipating a quick check of his bed as they passed by, he arranged his dirty clothes under the blankets to look like his sleeping form, then quietly opened the window. He was just climbing out when he remembered he had forgotten his flashlight. He went back for it and then climbed out his window.

***

Johnny walked to the shed behind his friend Sam’s house. Sam usually slept in there.

“Sam, are you awake?” Johnny asked as he quietly knocked on the door.

“Yeah, I’m awake,” Sam said, opening the door. “I was just trying to finish reading the book for English.” The shed was lit by a small battery-powered lantern on the floor. Behind Sam was an old army surplus sleeping bag in a clear spot surrounded by old rusty shovels and hoes, and other gardening equipment.

“I figured you would be in here, my dad said he saw your father’s car at the liquor store, again,” Johnny said.

“So why did you come over?” Sam asked, changing the subject.

“I wanted to know if you saw the flash of light?” Johnny asked.

“Nah, there’s no windows in here. It was probably just a bottle rocket from some high schoolers in the woods,” Sam said. “I need to finish reading this book before the battery is dead.” Sam pointed to the lantern that flickered and got a little dimmer.

“Haven’t you already read it?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah, but the test is tomorrow, and I need to make sure I know it,” Sam said.

“Come on let’s go look. It wasn’t a bottle rocket, and now it looks like something’s burning in the woods. Besides, you probably already have an A in the class,” Johnny said.

“Alright, let me get my bike,” Sam said.

***

“It’s right over there,” Johnny said pointing to a low mound of dirt. They had gotten off their bikes after a short ride on the dirt trail, into the woods.

“I know I’m trying to see if there are any things that could hurt us,” Sam said. He had been carefully looking around.

“Come on, leave your bike here, let’s go see what it is,” Johnny said.

“Ok, just a second,” Sam said, and then put the kickstand down, took off his helmet, and carefully placed it on the seat.

Johnny just dropped his bike where he was and then tried to sneak up on whatever was creating the red glow.

“What do you see?” Sam whispered; he was crouched down beside Johnny.

“I don’t see anything. It looks like whatever is causing the glow is on the other side of that dirt pile. Why are you crouched down?” Johnny asked.

“So whoever is over there doesn’t see us,” Sam whispered.

“There’s no one there, they would have heard us when we rode up,” Johnny said.

“You’re probably right,” Sam said in a normal voice and then stood up.

“Come on,” Johnny said and then started walking to the edge of the dirt pile.

“It looks like this was pushed up by whatever hit here,” Sam said as he crouched to inspect the dirt.

Johnny took a quick glance down and then started to climb the small pile while Sam looked very carefully for any hot spots or sharp pieces.

“Hurry up,” Johnny said back to Sam.

“All right, all right,” Sam said, starting the short climb.

“Wow,” was all Johnny could say.

“What?” Sam asked from a few feet behind him. “Oh … wow,” he said when he got up to the top of the dirt mound.

Below them in a small impact crater was a red glowing rock, about the size of a bus. Only half of it was visible; the rest was buried in the earth.

“Wow, that’s a big rock,” Johnny said. “And it’s hot, almost too hot to stay here.”

“Yeah, it is big. Didn’t we learn in science class that something this big would wipe out a city?” Sam asked.

“I remember something about big rocks wiping out the dinosaurs, but wasn’t that like as big as the moon?” Johnny asked.

“No, those were a few miles across. That thing looks about the size of a short bus; that should have hit at least hard enough for me to feel it at my house.” Sam said, staring at the rock.

“I think it’s cooling down,” Johnny said. They both had moved their hands to block some of the heat; now Johnny could move his away from his face, a little.

Multiple click sounds came from the rock, and it almost looked like it shifted a little.

“What do you think that was?” Johnny asked.

“I don’t know,” Sam said, still staring.

As they sat there looking, the clicking became louder, and then eight round spots on the glowing rock irised open. The holes that were revealed were about the diameter of a bowling ball but were completely black.

“I think it’s time to go,” Sam said, starting to back up.

“Nah, I want to see what comes out,” Johnny said.

“This is the part in the zombie-space-alien movie where the heroes should run,” Sam said.

“I will — in a second,” Johnny said, not taking his eyes away from the rock.

As he watched, a puff of smoke came out of each of the eight holes, followed by a shiny spike.

“Run,” Johnny said as he turned.

“I told you that,” Sam said from a few steps ahead of him.

Johnny stopped to grab his bike after he had made it to the bottom of the mound, then looked back. The spikes were attached to a long, jointed metal rod. It extended out until there were three visible segments, then the spike end embedded itself into the dirt. All the segmented rods settled for a moment, and then they started to move until the rock they were attached to rose out of the hole, looking like a giant daddy long-legs.

“I hate spiders,” Johnny said, and then hopped on his bike and started peddling like a madman.

“What?” Sam asked, stopping after hearing Johnny’s comment. “Oh, that’s not good.” Sam turned and jumped on his bike. He had just stood up on his pedals and was starting to push down when the one he was stomping on dropped all the way down, without any resistance. Looking down, he could see the rust had finally stopped pretending to be solid metal and had split, leaving the remnants of his chain dangling.

“Oh shoot, oh shoot,” Sam said and then jumped off his bike and yelled, “Johnny, my chain is broken.”

Johnny stopped and turned around. “Quick hop on,” he said as he scooted to the front of his banana seat.

Sam hopped onto the bike and then turned to watch the giant alien-spider-rock while Johnny peddled as fast as he could to get them out of there.

***

“Oh man, Oh man, that was close,” Sam said when he got off Johnny’s bike, back at his shed.

“Yeah,” Johnny said. “It didn’t follow us, at least.”

“Nah, it was too interested in my bike. I watched it, and when it came out of the crater, it saw the bike, and then it looked like it started tearing it apart,” Sam said, and then started to look upset. “Man, my dad is gonna kill me when he finds out I lost my bike.”

“Just tell him you loaned it to me because … uhmm … my tire was flat,” Johnny said, thinking fast for a way to help his friend.

“Yeah…” Sam thought for a second. “That, that will work, he won’t like it, but he probably won’t hi… I mean, he won’t be too mad.” He looked relieved. Then, after standing for a moment and not knowing what to say or do, he finally said, “I need to get back to reading the book for the test tomorrow.”

“Ok,” Johnny said, trying to keep from shaking from fright. He turned and headed back to his house to try to get some sleep. They both knew that they would be awake all night listening and watching for giant space spiders.

***

“Hey, Sam,” Johnny said when he sat down at his desk. “I stopped by your uhmm, house, to give you a ride on my bike, but you weren’t there.”

“Did we dream the … the … meteor last night?” Sam asked.

“I don’t think so. My bike still had some mud on the side from where I set it down,” Johnny said.

“My bike was standing up next to the shed this morning. It was just like I left it yesterday, after school, except there was a brand new chain on it.” Sam said.

“Alright, class, settle down, settle down. Your teacher is out today. I am your substitute teacher, my name is Mr Killjoy.” The sub said, turning to write his name on the chalkboard.

“Today we are going to explore the benefits of silence,” Killjoy said. “To do that, you will sit at your desk silently. You can do homework for another class, read, or just sleep. I don’t care, you will just be silent for the next forty-five minutes.”

“Yes!” Sam whispered and grabbed the book he had a test on in the next class.

Johnny put his head down and quickly started to softly snore.

“No questions,” Killjoy said to a girl who had raised her hand.

“But I need to know …” the girl protested.

“No questions, if you need to go to the bathroom, go, but I am not here to entertain you … you … children,” Killjoy said.

She sighed in frustration and then found something to do from her backpack.

***

“That sub was strange,” the girl from the classroom said.

Sam and Johnny were at a lunch table outside when the annoying girl from class came up to talk to them.

“Hi Sally,” Johnny said. “Yeah, he was strange.”

“Hini Similly …” Sam tried unsuccessfully to say, then swallowed his bite. “I mean, uhmm. Hi Sally.” Then he put his head back down, concentrating on his lunch.

“Hi Sam,” Sally said, then set her tray down and sat.

“Did any of your teachers know what happened to Mr Brown?” Johnny asked.

“No, they were surprised to hear that we had a sub today,” Sally said.

“Mine too!” Sam said in a rush.

Sally and Johnny looked at Sam, hearing his discomfort.

“Maybe he’ll be back tomorrow,” Johnny said.

“Yeah, maybe,” Sally said and then started eating her lunch.

“Dwid you saw the mretror? I mean, did you see the meteor?” Sam asked.

“No, was it bright?” Sally asked.

“Err … uhmm …” Sam struggled to say.

“It was really bright, and it landed in the woods behind our houses,” Johnny said when Sam couldn’t talk.

“And no one else saw it?” Sally asked, the disbelief was obvious in her voice.

“No, just us,” Sam said, looking up just long enough to answer.

“When we rode out to where it hit, legs came out of it, and then it started walking,” Johnny said.

“Hmm, I think you were watching War of the Worlds,” Sally said.

“No, we really saw it,” Sam said, defending Johnny,

“Well, I think I need to go to the … uhm … library,” Sally said standing up and taking her lunch.

The boys were quiet while she walked away.

“Do you think she’s right? Did we dream it?” Sam asked.

“No! We saw it! It was real!” Johnny said with finality.

***

“Do you want to go back to see it?” Johnny asked Sam. They had ridden back to Sam’s place after school, and now they were standing outside of the shed.

“No, I need to study, I snuck some fresh batteries out of my house this morning so I should be able to read all night,” Sam said, not looking up.

“You can come over for dinner at my house. I think my mom is making hot dogs tonight,” Johnny said.

“Ok, let me just put my backpack in there first …” Sam was interrupted by something falling in the shed.

“What was that?” Johnny asked.

“I don’t know,” Sam said without looking away from the shed door. He dropped his bike and then slowly walked over to the door where he listened.

“Do you hear anything?” Johnny whispered.

“A humming sound,” Sam said with his ear to the door. He then reached for the handle and slowly opened it.

As the door opened, a light in the ceiling turned on, revealing a bedroom. Where there had been old rusty garden tools around a space for a sleeping bag, there was now a bed, a nightstand, and even a desk. There were even some posters on the walls.

“When did you do all that?” Johnny asked with amazement.

“I ddddin’t,” Sam said, trying to finish a sentence.

“Welcome home, Samuel,” a voice said.

“Who’s that?” Sam demanded.

“Schrank, at your service,” Sam realized that what he thought was a plush toy guinea pig standing on its hind legs on the nightstand was actually talking. “Did we do a good job repairing your wheeled transportation?”

“My what?” Sam asked.

“What, oh,” Schrank said to a little headset that was attached to him. “My shipmate says that it’s called a … bicycle. Was the repair to your … bicycle … adequate?”

“The new chain?!? Yeah, that was great.” Sam said, finally understanding. “But what happened here?”

“After repairing your transportation and delivering it to you, we saw your room. According to the broadcasts you send out, this dwelling did not seem to be correct for a boy of your age, so we decided to make some adjustments, while our ship is being repaired.” Schrank said.

“Adjustments? This isn’t an adjustment, this is completely remade,” Sam said while Johnny just stared.

“Where did you get that poster?” Johnny asked when he finally said something.

“My father is going to … to ….” Sam said, starting to freak out.

“Your father will not see anything different. This is only this way if you open the door. It is your bedroom, no adults allowed,” Schrank said.

***

“Are you up yet?” Johnny asked as he knocked on the shed door.

“Yeah, I’m awake. I even have a bathroom in here, so I got to take a shower so I won’t smell,” Sam said excitedly after opening the door.

“Wow, that’s cool. Come on, we’re going to be late,” Johnny said.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there. I just need to grab my books,” Sam said, and then went back to his desk and packed up all his school books.

***

“Alright, class, settle down and find something to do, I will be your …” Mr Killjoy started to say, then sniffed. “Hmm, I think I need to ask you all some questions. Has anyone made some new friends from … uhm … out of town, in the last few days?”

There was no response; the class just sat staring at Killjoy.

“Anyone? Anyone?” Killjoy looked around, waiting a moment for a response. “Come on, I can tell someone in this room has a new friend from … out of town,” Killjoy said.

Still, there was no response.

“Alright, sit there and don’t move, I’ll have to do this the hard way,” Killjoy said and then started walking down the first aisle between the desks. There were five rows of desks with five desks in each row. As he walked along, he would stop and sniff at every desk.

At the end of the first row, he stopped and then said to them, “Alright, you guys put your heads down.”

Johnny, sitting in the third row, turned and looked at Sam sitting next to him, giving him a questioning look. Sam just shrugged.

Killjoy did the same sniffing until he got to Johnny, where he took a longer sniff and then said, “Go stand over next to my desk.”

Johnny went over to where Killjoy told him to go.

When he got to Sam, he told him to stand next to Johnny. He went on and then found one more boy that he told to stand next to the other two.

“Hey, Paul,” Sam said to the other boy.

“Hey, Sam, Johnny. Do you know what’s going on?” Paul asked.

“No, I don’t,” Sam said.

“Where’s our teacher?” Paul asked.

“I don’t know, he wasn’t here yesterday, and no one knew why,” Johnny said.

“All right, everyone else, leave,” Killjoy said after sniffing the rest of the class.

“What do you mean, leave?” Sally asked.

“Walk out the door, and go,” Killjoy said.

The class all just sat there.

“LEAVE, NOW!” Killjoy yelled.

The whole class jumped up, knocking over chairs, and started running towards the door.

“Not you three,” Killjoy said to the three boys.

The door slammed when the last kid went through the door.

“Alright, you three, tell me about your new friends,” Killjoy said to them.

“What? we don’t have any new friends,” Johnny said.

“Don’t lie to me, you three reek of them,” Killjoy said.

“What are you talking about?” Johnny asked.

Paul, seeing that something was definitely off with the substitute, started shuffling towards the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Killjoy asked, turning towards him.

Seeing the opening, Sam grabbed an eraser and threw it at his head. When it hit him, it left a cloud of chalk dust. Johnny took the opportunity to kick Killjoy in the shins and run for the door.

“Oww,” Killjoy said and started coughing because of the chalk. “Cough, Cough. They aren’t what they seem,” Killjoy was able to say around a coughing fit.

***

“What was that about?” Paul asked.

When the three had run out of the classroom, they had grabbed their bikes and ridden out to the edge of the woods, where there was a dirt trail with some very cool jumps, and where they knew there would be no adults.

“I don’t know,” Johnny said.

“Do you think it’s about the thing we saw in the woods?” Sam asked Johnny.

“What did you guys see in the woods?” Paul asked,

“Just a meteor,” Sam said.

“That’s interesting, I saw some little green men a couple of nights ago. My parents kept me home because they thought I was sick.

“Wait, you saw Martians?” Johnny asked. “We saw a talking cat.”

“No, we didn’t. It was a talking guinea pig,” Sam said.

“It was a cat, I know it was a cat,” Johnny insisted.

“What do you mean by a guinea pig and a cat?” Paul asked.

“A guinea pig made some changes to my … uhm … room and then told me about it,” Sam said.

“It was a cat,” Johnny said.

“Wait, the guinea pig, or was it a cat, fixed your room? What do you mean, did it clean your room or made your bed? I could imagine a cat making a bed, but not a guinea pig,” Paul said.

“Tell me about the martians,” Johnny said.

“They wanted to take me to their ship,” Paul said. “Did the guinea pigs play on a wheel or what?”

“It was one guinea pig, and it transformed my she … I mean my room to a real bedroom,” Sam said.

“That’s cool, but how are my martians connected to that freak of a sub, and why does he care about guinea pigs?” Paul asked.

“I don’t know, but I need to get back to school. I need to take a math test next period,” Sam said.

The other two boys just looked at him. Finally, Johnny said, “Ok, but let’s meet back here right after school.”

***

The rest of the day was uneventful for the boys, and the substitute teacher was nowhere to be seen. Their normal homeroom teacher was back and said that he had been feeling bad until this morning, and then felt better and decided to get back to class.

“I want to see your room,” Paul said. “I want to see what a guinea pig can do to a room.”

“It was a cat,” Johnny said.

“Uhm, ok,” Sam said hesitantly, not wanting to show anyone else how he lived.

“You have to understand that Sam’s family is … different,” Johnny said, trying to ease Sam’s discomfort.

“Yeah, my father says your dad is a drunk,” Paul said directly. “And my mom said it’s a miracle you’re not a bully or something worse with the way he beats you. But you’re the nicest guy in school. Even when the cool kids try to bully you, you just brush it off. Let’s go see your room.”

“Ok,” Sam said, feeling a little better with the off-handed compliments.

***

“Wow, this is so cool, you get to sleep in the shed. It’s like your own little house,” Paul said when they got to Sam’s house.

“Wait, it gets way better,” Johnny said.

Sam opened the door.

“Whoa,” Paul said when Sam had stepped back from the door. “That is … some room.”

“Yeah, it is. I slept better last night than I have since before … my mom died,” Sam said.

Paul was quiet from the shock of Sam’s statement and tried to cover it by looking at the room.

“Ok, so this was done by either a guinea pig or a cat,” Paul said after staring at the room for a moment.

Just then, the back door of Sam’s house opened. Out stepped a creature. As it stepped out, it saw the three boys, then turned and ran.

“There, that’s what I was telling you about, a guinea pig,” Sam said.

“No, that was a cat,” Johnny said.

“No, it was a little green man, but what was it doing in your house?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, what was it doing in my house?” Sam asked.

“Maybe … it redid your house. Let’s go see,” Johnny said.

***

“Dad, are you home?” Sam called out as he opened the door. There was no response.

“Wait here. I’m going to go see if he’s asleep on the couch,” Sam said to the other two.

Sam came back out after a few minutes.

“He’s not in there, and I don’t see anything different in the house,” Sam said.

“Can we look?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah, come on in. There might be a few Cokes in the fridge,” Sam said, and led them in.

The house was a mess. The back door opened into the kitchen, where there were unwashed dishes everywhere, most of them looking like they had been sitting there for years. A trash can was overflowing with paper plates and empty pizza boxes.

“Well, the guinea-pig-cat-martian thing didn’t clean up,” Paul said.

Sam continued through to the living room without a comment. In there, things were about the same. The living room had old take-out containers, empty beer cans, and other unidentifiable trash strewn all around. There was a couch with an old, stained blanket and some dirty clothes balled up at one end for a pillow. On one of the cushions and the arm, there were a few deep rips.

“Those are new,” Sam said, indicating the cuts.

“So what was the alien doing here?” Johnny asked, not seeing any indication of anything having been done.

“Where’s your dad? Is he still at work?” Paul asked.

“No, he should be here. I think he got laid off a few days ago,” Sam said.

“Was that why you had all the bruises last week?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah,” Sam said and then hid his face from the other two.

Paul and Johnny started looking around the room to give Sam a moment.

“Did you have a cat, or some other animal?” Paul asked when he found something on the floor behind the couch.

“No, when my mom was alive, they said I wasn’t responsible enough, and then after she died …” Sam trailed off in his telling.

“Well, something died over here,” Paul said.

“What? What do you mean?” Sam asked, then walked around to where Paul stood.

“What is that?” Johnny asked when he saw what was on the floor. “Aww, cool it’s still bloody.”

Paul pushed it with his foot. “I think it was a rat,” he said.

“Does your dad have a gun?” Johnny asked.

“No, mom didn’t want one in the house,” Sam said.

“Well, something put that hole in it,” Johnny said.

“And ate some of it,” Paul said.

The boys went through the rest of the house and didn’t find anything different, and best of all, no more dead animals.

“So what do you think?” Paul asked.

“I don’t know, but I think … “ Sam started.

“I think we should all have dinner at my house,” Johnny said.

***

“Hey, Johnny. Hey, Paul,” Sam said when he got off his bike at school.

“Hi Sam,” Paul said.

“Hey,” Johnny said. “Did you see your father?”

“No,” Sam said, not elaborating.

They locked up their bikes and then turned to head to class, but were stopped by the weird substitute standing behind them.

“Hello, boys,” the sub said. “No need to run, I just want to talk.” He said quickly, as it was obvious the boys were about to run.

“Ok,” they said almost in unison.

“What did the creatures look like?” The sub asked.

“A guinea pig,” Sam said.

“A cat,” Johnny said.

“Martians,” Paul said.

“That’s interesting. Martians?” Killjoy asked.

“Yeah, I think they’re cool,” Paul said.

“How come we all see something different?” Johnny asked.

“You see what you want to see,” Killjoy said.

“What do you see?” Sam asked.

“I see a pony,” Killjoy said.

The boys started to snicker.

“Yeah, I know, but I always wanted a pony,” Killjoy said. This made it worse, and the boys started to laugh out loud.

“Why are they here?” Paul asked after he finally stopped laughing.

“They …” Killjoy started to say.

“They said they were repairing their ship,” Sam interrupted

“That’s probably true because I had an interaction with them a few days ago, but that’s not what brought them here. They are here to collect adults,” Killjoy said.

“Huh, collect adults, what like trading cards?” Johnny asked.

“No, not like trading cards. I have my suspicions, but I would rather not say. The important thing is we need to stop them,” Killjoy said.

“But they made me a bedroom, they’re not bad,” Sam finally said.

“That was probably a trade. Is there any adult in your life that’s gone?” Killjoy asked.

“He’s not gone, he’s probably looking for a new job,” Sam said. “Or drinking.” The last he said in a whisper.

“He’s a drunk,” Paul volunteered.

“But he’s my father!” Sam yelled.

“Hmm, then most likely they took him,” Killjoy said.

“I’m sure he’s just out,” Sam insisted.

“How do we find out if they took him?” Johnny asked.

“Well, you guys can go to their landing site and look. When did he disappear?” Killjoy asked.

“Yesterday, we saw the Martian coming out of Sam’s house,” Paul said.

“Guinea pig,” Sam corrected.

“Cat,” Johnny said.

“Well then, they haven’t … uhh … processed him. You can go to the landing site and look. They will detect me if I get anywhere close, and they will be ready for me,” Killjoy said.

“Alright let’s go,” Sam said, starting towards his bike.

“Not right now!” Killjoy yelled to him. “You need to wait until this evening.”

“Why? We should go right now!” Sam said.

“No, they will be there and protected. They leave looking for more …uhmm… adults at night. If you wait until this evening, then you can rescue your dad and any other adults, and we can blow up their spaceship,” Killjoy said. “Where do you live?” Killjoy asked Sam.

“Over near the trailer park on Watertown Street,” Sam said.

“An address would help,” Killjoy said, getting frustrated.

“His yard is the one that’s never been mowed, and there’s an old car in the grass,” Johnny said, trying to help.

“Ok then, I will meet you three there at 7 pm tonight,” Killjoy said.

“I still don’t believe they’re bad; they gave me a really cool bedroom,” Sam said, trying to keep from believing something happened to his father.

***

“Hi, guys,” Paul said when he rode up to Sam’s house. “I brought some supplies.” He dropped his bike and then pulled off his backpack. “Here, take some.” He pulled out a handful of beef jerky sticks. “And some of these.” He then pulled out a bunch of Doritos.

“Cool,” Johnny said.

Sam reached for a stick, then opened it and started eating. After their meeting with Killjoy, the day had dragged on for all of them. At lunch, they had sat around talking about what they could do. In the end, they realized that they didn’t know what they could do.

“Do you guys think Killjoy is ok?” Sam asked in between bites.

“Not really, he is definitely off, and I think he’s lying to us, but I think we can bring him to the martians and then let them deal with him. They must have good weapons,” Paul said.

“That’s a good idea,” Johnny said.

“What’s a good idea?” Killjoy said as he walked up to the three boys, still sitting near their bikes.

“Oh … uhmm …. just that … we would go back to my house later,” Johnny said, trying to come up with a cover story.

“Mmm hmm, well, are you guys ready?” Killjoy asked.

“I guess,” Sam said. “What are we going to do?”

“Just reconnaissance. I’ll give you guys these,” Killjoy said as he handed them each some kind of gun that was the size of water pistols. “But they are only for extreme emergencies. You should run before trying to use them.”

“What are they?” Paul asked.

“Guns, isn’t that obvious?” Killjoy said.

“Yeah, I can see that, but what caliber?” Paul asked while Sam and Johnny looked at them.

“They’re not from around here, and they are not traditional projectile weapons; they are energy weapons,” Killjoy said.

“Cool, a laser gun,” Paul said, then pointed it at the side of the abandoned car and pulled the trigger. There was a small explosion and a bit of smoke where it had punctured a hole through the door.

“Wow, cool,” Johnny said and then fired his too.

“Stop! I didn’t give them to you guys to play with. Those are deadly weapons and not toys,” Killjoy yelled.

“Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” Paul said with a laugh after he had hit the car again, leaving a third hole, making it look like a surprised face.

“So what does this button do?” Sam asked and then pulled the trigger. The laser pistol went from being a single shot to a continuous beam of energy that changed the ohh face to a smiley face with a crooked grin.

“STOP, STOP, STOP!” Killjoy yelled.

“Ok,” the three said almost at the same time.

“Now push that red button, that keeps it from firing; that’s the safety,” Killjoy said.

The boys all pushed theirs, resulting in a very quiet beep, and the red buttons turning green.

“If I push it again it’s active?” Sam asked while Paul did that. The green button turned back to red and then back to green when he pushed it again.

“Yes, it will activate it again. Until you are near the landing site, keep the safety on. I will go most of the way with you guys. If the unexpected happens and we encounter them, I will come running,” Killjoy said, then looked at each of the guns to make sure the safety was on. “Now that you won’t shoot off something important, you can slip those into your jacket pockets.”

Johnny and Paul did as instructed.

“Can I put it in my pants?” Sam asked. “All my pockets have holes in them.”

“Yeah, that should be fine, it won’t cause any damage for the short amount of time you’ll have it,” Killjoy said.

“What do you mean? The safety is on; what damage could it cause?” Sam asked.

“Oh, some of them leak a little,” Killjoy said.

“Leak!?!” Sam squeaked. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine, I shouldn’t have said anything. Just slip it into your waistband,” Killjoy said.

Sam did as he was told and put it in his pants, then shifted a little to get it comfortable. The pistols were small, so they fit in the pockets and waistbands of the boys.

“All right, are you guys ready?” Killjoy asked as he put his backpack on.

“Yep,” Paul answered for all of them.

“You’ll need to ride slowly until we get to the spot where I’ll have to wait,” Killjoy said, then he started walking towards the woods.

“Wait up,” Sam said as he jumped on his bike. The three boys raced to catch up with Killjoy. “How close can you get?” Paul asked.

“About five hundred feet,” Killjoy said.

“How will we know when we get there?” Paul asked as he tried to keep next to him on the narrow trail.

“I’ll tell you,” Killjoy said as he walked along, with his eyes scanning the forest. The other two boys finally gave up riding and started walking their bikes behind Killjoy and Paul.

“I think we’re getting close to where we saw the space spider. Do you need to stop?” Sam asked.

“Not yet,” Killjoy said.

“Are we there yet?” Johnny asked, imitating kids from a movie.

“Not yet,” Killjoy said.

“Are we there yet?” Johnny asked again.

“Not yet,” Killjoy said, now starting to get annoyed.

“Are we there yet?” Johnny asked.

“No, and stop asking!” Killjoy yelled, then he stopped and looked at something on his wrist. “Yeah, we’re there.” He corrected himself after realizing that he had gotten to the spot.

“Alright, boys, what I want you to do is ride up to the landing spot, look around, and then come right back here,” Killjoy said.

“Is that where we get to shoot something?” Johnny asked, with an excited look in his eyes.

“NO! I don’t want you to shoot anything. Just look. The creatures should be gone, so you won’t have to do anything except look, then come back here.” Killjoy said.

“Yes, sir,” Johnny said with a salute.

The three got on their bikes and then started riding towards the landing spot. Along the way, they were jumping any little piles of dirt that could be a ramp.

“It’s over there,” Johnny said after stopping in a cloud of dust and pointing to a clearing.

The other two dropped their bikes and then slowly walked up to one of the trees, and stood behind it. Johnny joined them at a tree on the other side of the trail.

“Do you see anyone?” Paul asked after he looked.

“No, do you?” Sam asked Johnny.

“Nope, let’s go,” Johnny said and then walked into the clearing. The other two boys followed him.

Where there had been a hole in the ground, now there was an old wooden shed about the size of Sam’s.

“That’s new,” Sam said, seeing the shed.

“What are those?” Paul asked.

“What are what?” Johnny asked, turning around.

“Those,” Paul said, pointing at a dozen coffin-looking boxes near the edge of the clearing.

“Hmm, I don’t know. They weren’t here before,” Johnny said, and then started walking over to them.

The first box he got to had a window in the top.

“There’s nothing in this one,” Johnny said.

Seeing Johnny going over to the boxes, Sam and Paul did the same.

“Nothing here,” Sam said at another box.

They continued to check until Paul said, “This one has the crazy cat lady from near my house.”

“And this one has one of my neighbors,” Johnny said.

“Oh no, my father’s in this one, how do I open …” Sam started to say until he was interrupted.

“You don’t,” a guinea pig said from the clearing’s edge.

“You have to let him out!” Sam yelled.

“We had a deal, I made you a room, and you gave me your father,” the guinea pig said.

“Let him out now,” Sam said, and then dug in his waist-belt for the little laser pistol. “Let him out, or I’ll … I’ll … I’ll zap you.” Sam aimed the pistol at the little creature.

“That would be a breach of contract, and I will have to remove the changes we made to the shed,” the creature said.

“I’m going to zap you, let him out,” Sam said, shaking the gun at him in emphasis.

“It doesn’t work,” Paul said. He was standing with his pistol drawn and squeezing the trigger over and over.

“The safety on mine won’t shut off,” Johnny said.

Sam looked over at him and saw Johnny and Paul both trying to turn off the safety on their guns. “Fine, what do I have to do to get my father back?” Sam asked, dropping his hands in surrender.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, oww.” The guinea pig said and then started to bounce a little device between his hands, like he had just taken something hot out of the oven. After a moment, the creature changed from a guinea pig to a martian, then to a cat, and then to Killjoy. Then he was a mashup of the four different creatures. His body was Killjoy’s with green fur and a little guinea pig head. He kept bouncing the device until there was a small explosion, and then standing in front of them was a creature that looked like a garden gnome. “Lousy Grag tech, they are always exploding when you don’t want them to.” He was holding a laser pistol with a green light on the side.

“Do you think I would give you a gun that you could use on me. Wow, you guys are stupid,” Killjoy said. “Now time for you three to get in the boxes.”

“Who are you? Are you one of the aliens or are you Killjoy?” Paul asked.

“I’m Killjoy, and I’ve been hunting those aliens for a long time,” Killjoy said. “Now, if you don’t mind, get in an empty box.”

“Are you going to let these people out?” Sam asked.

“No, they are mine,” Killjoy said.

“Where are the other aliens?” Paul asked.

“They’re gone. Now enough questions, get in,” Killjoy said as he waved the gun to get them moving.

“What are you going to do with those people and us?” Johnny asked as he started towards where Killjoy told him to go.

Paul started to walk in the direction too, followed by Sam. Paul made a few steps and then fell and lay there on the ground, not moving.

“What did you do to him!” Sam yelled as he ran over to Paul.

Paul was lying with his face directed away from Killjoy. When Sam got to him, Paul winked and then whispered, “Help me up, but don’t let him know I’m awake.”

Sam struggled to pick him up, but then finally was able to get him up.

“When we get closer to him, drop me, and then we’ll rush him,” Paul whispered.

“Ok,” Sam said, and then started to slow down and prepared to drop Paul. He took a few more steps and then stumbled and dropped him. After he had made sure he hadn’t hurt him, he started running at Killjoy. Followed closely by Paul.

Seeing the two running towards him, Killjoy tried to shoot them, with no success.“Fire you frakin’ Grag garbage,” Killjoy said. Finally, as a last resort, he threw the pistol.

“Ooph,” Killjoy said as Sam hit him, followed by Paul and then Johnny.

“Let go of me,” Killjoy yelled after the three boys had untangled themselves.

Johnny had picked him up and was holding him at arm’s length.

“Not until you tell us how to let those people out,” Sam said.

“They’re mine! I’m not going let them out,” Killjoy said.

Paul walked over to one of the boxes and started to look at it. There was only one button. “Is this how you open it?” He asked as he hit the button. The lid opened, and the woman contained within opened her eyes and said, “Good morning.”

“No! They’re mine!” Killjoy yelled in frustration.

The rest of the boxes worked the same way, and the men and women were able to get out safely.

“Dad, I was so worried I had lost you,” Sam said when he opened the box with his father. His father sat up a little bleary eyed and Sam reached out and hugged him not intending to let him go.

“I’m so sorry,” his father said, hugging him back so tightly Sam could barely breathe.

“I love you,” they both said to each other.

“Let me keep him,” Killjoy said. “He’s a drunk; no one will miss him.”

“Why don’t we just put you in here,” Johnny said and then dropped Killjoy in a box that had just been vacated.

“Eww, it smells like humans,” Killjoy said.

“Tough,” Johnny said, and then closed the lid.