Chapter 13

“No one brought snacks?” Krysten moaned as she limped along at the back of the pack. “I’d eat the raw ass off of a cow right now.”

“Ooh,” Samira covered her face and waved back at the blonde. “Don’t mention meat. I couldn’t take it.”

Jen squealed. Everyone realized they had just followed and been watching their feet more than the light of their flashlight. They looked up. Jen’s splashing cut through the water.

“Nut!” She pleaded. The flashlight in Krysten’s hand waved into the back of Emmy’s head. Maura pulled the brunette aside and their alien lover was illuminated on the other side. He hung from the branch of a pine tree. The lake spread out on their right. The river was at least knee deep.

“Braxdirth!” Nut squealed and dropped. Splinters burst out of the tree.

“Girls stay back!” Adam shouted.

“Adam!” Maura yelled. She ran. They all cleaved through the water towards Nut. He hopped, favoring one foot and inching away from Adam’s voice to the water’s edge.

“Nut!” Samira had more rocks and less mud under her feet. She broke out on the river’s edge. Krysten turned the light.

“What’s she doing here?” Emmy squealed. Nut couldn’t throw up his hands. He grabbed Samira who was throwing herself in the line of fire.

“You won’t hurt him!” Samira shouted. “He’s ours.”

“He’s infecting your brains, drugging you, and feeding on your thoughts!” The agent’s gun was lowered.

“Braxporg.” Nut said feebly. He was trying to kick down Samira’s pants.

“I can’t wait!” He was pushed off by Jen who was shaking.

“Listen!” Agent Parker shouted. “Girls, you can’t have both. If you keep giving into Nut, he’ll keep feeding off of Adam. Adam will waste away and die.”

“Don’t believe her!” Krysten waved her hands. “She just wants him for herself! Look at the fucking skirt she’s wearing!”

Adam stepped in front of Agent Parker. She hissed that it was a bad idea.

“Girls! My girls! I need you to choose.” Adam said. “I love you and I’ll do whatever you need for your babies. If we keep Nut, your children will be special in ways no one else’s will be and you’ll lose me.”

“You don’t believe her!” Krysten said. “She’s some government slut who’s going to autopsy him and take his liver for something governmental!”

“Um, Krysten? That’s stupid.” Emmy said. “Jen put him down. Jen! Put Nut down!”

“OK,” She nodded. “I will.”

Nut flailed but he seemed weak. He was starving. He couldn’t even reach up for Jen’s ear.

“This isn’t your choice.” He turned on the agent. “It’s theirs. I have to take responsibility and do my job as a dad. If that means I live for my children or I die for them.”

“Easy peasy.” Maura shook off her force marched tiredness. She took two long strides and stomped her pink muddy boot down into the lakefront sand. She kicked a field goal from the 50 yard line.

“Maura!” Samira shrieked. The Indian girl turned and grabbed Maura. The alien bounced and rolled in the shallow water of the lake.

“I’ll finish it.” Emmy declared in a heartbeat. Krysten grabbed her.

“No! You can’t!”

Nut panicked. He was kicking and flailing with energy he pulled out of his deepest reserves.

“I can’t hit them if I take that shot!” Parker said. “Adam. You deserve a long life.”

He wouldn’t have let her. The perfect shot’s window closed. Jen rushed out. The water was frigid. She cleaved the waves and grabbed Nut’s hands.

“No! We don’t want to do this without Adam!” Maura begged. “We can’t!”

“Way to go, Jen! I love you!” Krysten’s cheer turned into a shriek. Jen hand Nut’s wrists and walked deeper.

The fights changed. Emmy held Krysten back. Maura and Samira wrestled down to their knees. Maura got the upper hand in an instant. Agent Parker unloaded her gun. Adam rushed and grabbed Jen.

“I made you pie.” She said and hugged him.

Braxians did not float. Parker ran over. The seven gathered on the shore. Emmy held Krysten. Maura pinned Samira.

“Are any of you itchy?” Parker asked.

“I’m hungry.” Krysten frowned.

“My feet are killing me.” Emmy added.

“I wanna get fucked.” Maura said.

“I need help getting up.” Samira wouldn’t look away from the water.

“I need to warm up.” Jen shivered. Adam hugged her tighter.

“It’s OK, the fire is right up the hill--” He turned on Parker. “Dad!”

“What happened to our Dads?” Emmy feared. They didn’t get an answer. Everyone got to their feet, with help, and cuddled around Jen as they went up the hill. It took several hands to keep Krysten from walking to the water.

The light of a cell phone screen winked out in the lakeshore sand.

“Get away from my son.” Mrs Towers held her husband’s rifle improperly. Scared of the kick it floated a half inch off her shoulder. If he pulled that trigger, she’d be knocked flat on her ass.

“Samira!” Samira was shocked to see her mother and father rushing to grab her.

“Mom put the gun down.” Adam said tiredly. “We need more logs on the fire. And blankets. Jen’s cold.”

“My boy!” Mrs Towers dropped the gun and rushed over. Agent Parker stepped aside. Maura’s parents stepped out of the second tent. Emmy’s came next. Adam’s father was out after.

“Are you OK?” Adam’s mother was focused entirely on her son. He had to maneuver the blondes around and get them into the seats. The fire was down to embers. They had gathered a lot of excess before they had dug the firepit. Adam knelt and started feeding it. His mother tried to help but she was not a camping and nature kind of woman.

“What the hell was that?” Mr Zucker clasped his daughter and sat down next to Jennifer. “That monkey thing?”

“Monkey thing?” Mrs Zucker asked. “What do you--There’s a corpse twenty feet down the hill! What do we do with her?”

“Mom stop.” Emmy said. “She’s the only one who knew what--”

“She killed him!” Samira burst into tears.

“She killed her partner?” Mr Henson said. “Why?”

“No, the monkey thing.” Mr Zucker said.

“I killed the monkey thing.” Jen said. “We called him Nut.”

Agent Parker snorted. “My brother called his one Nut.” She shook her head. “He said Nn-Nut a lot. He was talking about Adam.”

“What’s going on! What about my son?” Adam was subjected to a hard and violent hug.

“There was an alien.” Mr Towers was the last out of the tent. He carried blankets and knelt to wrap up Jen. “Like a long armed monkey. In the trees. Our son, stopped it from grabbing that woman.”

He clasped Adam’s shoulder and shook him.

“My son--Why would it want her?” Adam’s mother looked around.

“We need to get them home. Get them to a hospital.” Dr Ramamurthy said. “They’ve been out all night, soaked with cold water. Underfed. We can sort this out in the morning.”

“But we can’t.” Krysten said. “The big church thing tomorrow. If we don’t have Nut...”

“We don’t need him.” Jen said. “We have Adam.”

“It’s true?” Mrs Towers said. “All of you?”

“Jen was first and I hate her for it.” Maura beamed.

“You were planning the rites tomorrow?” Agent Parker said. “They want Adam to be their human sacrifice.”

“What?” Adam’s mother was up on her feet.

“We didn’t know.” Krysten defended her sister.

“I did.” Jen said. She looked up at Agent Parker. “Thank you, thank you for letting us save him.”

“We’re not saved.” Agent Parker said. “I had been trying to save boys like Adam and kids like Emmy since it happened to my brother and all of my friends. I never saved my brother. I always thought getting the girls was helping them. I’m not sure I believe it anymore.”

“Why not?” Adam asked.

“Because,” She looked down at her dead partner. “I never believed we were supposed to collect the alien. Destroy and dispose. They’d been lying to me.”

“What do we do?” Adam stood up as the fire roared high. He looked over everyone.

“You have to be a kid. Be a dad.” His mother looked around. “Just be my boy.”

“We need to look after these girls.”

“If we go back, Mom and Dad, and the church will find a way to take our kids from you. We’ll move with the church and the chosen ones will come with us.” Jen said. She looked at Agent Parker. “Or is it just our mom?”

Parker didn’t answer. “And I can’t take you to my higher ups. I don’t know what they’ve done with the girls I saved. I had assumed they went back to their families. I never checked I couldn’t let myself find out the truth.”

“There are police and--”

“It all calls back to my bosses.” She said. “I know how to stay off their radar.”

“So what?” Mrs Henson asked. “Are you saying we run?”

“No,” She said. “I’m saying you move. I have the tools to help. Get all of the money you can over the next few days.”

“Leave everything?” Mrs Ramamurthy hugged Samira tighter.

“As long as the girls are safe.” Dr Ramamurthy said. “I’ll do anything.”

“As will I.” Mr Zucker said.

“And you’re going to be our guardian angel?” Mrs Zucker growled. “I know what you are.”

“Yeah,” Mr Towers said. “She’s one of Adam’s.”

“What?” Adam asked.

“Cool.” Maura grinned.

“Let’s get these girls fed. It’s a long walk back out.” Mr Henson clapped.

Maura turned red and squeezed Adam’s hand trying to break bones. Her epidural was wearing out and she hadn’t cracked a joke in forty five minutes. The air erupted in the screams of Adam’s first son.

“Alright, Maura, one more, keep pushing!” Dr Kilkenny came highly recommended. Maura was about to recommend his face off. That was the best she could think of.

“It’s a boy!” The nurse separated Adam and brought him to the tray the baby had been lain in.

“Aaaggghhh!” Maura went super saiyan as her daughter was born. The screams of babies were echoing in the room. Maura sweated and heaved as she fought to reassert her lungs. Adam carried the boy. The girl was prepared for Maura’s arms.

The weighing and the checkups and the rest of the clamour was a blur to the young parents. Soon their family was coming in to see.

“I hate you so much.” Emmy waddled in. “Twins and you get out of the pregnancy thing four weeks early?” Her harsh tone disappeared when she was close enough to coo and babble at the new babies.

“He’s so beautiful.” Adam’s mother tickled the baby in Adam’s arms. “Did you agree on the names?”

“We have.” Maura beamed. “Noelle? Liam? It’s time to meet your family.”

In the middle of the room, a beautiful thirty three year old woman stood. Her belly was distended, half as far along as the blonde sisters on either side of her. It had been twenty weeks since Thanksgiving. The discussion, the distrust, the disbelief didn’t clean up after one fraught night of explanations around the campfire.