I
Mick, we are in a swamp.
Bullrush baited, thick
in the thicket, vibrant
and violent. We
...
[+]
I had seen him before. I never expected anything to happen. We were from different crowds. We hung out with different people. Sure, I knew some of his friends, but not well enough to get close to him. Now he and I are together. And believe me, it was only because of a strange occurrence that happened in our little town not so long ago. If I hadn't lived it myself, I would never have believed it.
It was a Sunday morning. I was following my normal routine. I got up, ate breakfast, and was about to clean the house when this all began. I was in the kitchen, and I happened to look out the window above the sink. In the distance, seemingly near the park in town center, I saw a giant red bubble float slowly to the ground, as if landing.
I packed a bag with hiking supplies since I wasn't positive as to where I would end up, or when I would be back home. I left my house and headed toward where the bubble landed. I found it in the park as expected, but larger than I thought. I had no clue as to what it was or why it landed here. I didn't want to take any chances; I hid in the bushes and watched.
After a good while, I noticed a small door-like area on the bubble open. Soon after, four small creatures stepped out. They resembled humans, only they had red eyes and little red bubbles at the end of their fingers and toes. All the children in the park ran to their parents, trying to escape these strange-looking unclothed creatures.
Each creature had a red bag over their shoulders. One of them reached into this bag and pulled out a small seemingly mushy red ball. He threw it at one of the mothers. Within a few seconds ten of these bubble-like balls were thrown at her. The mother turned stone cold, staring straight ahead and directly at the creature that I can only call a bubble-thrower. The mother seemed to be waiting to be told what to do. The bubble-thrower walked up to her, handed her a bubble, and pointed toward her child.
The mother threw a bubble at her own child; she was now one of them. Or a clone of them.
It seemed that these bubble-throwers were after humans; they were out to get us all and take over the earth. I turned to head home, but ten of the creatures were already entering my neighborhood. I still don't understand how so many of them fit into such a small craft. I quickly turned in a different direction and went to a cave my father, an explorer and inventor, discovered just outside of town before he went on his last adventure. I sat down to think.
Quite a few hours went by. I was sure that the bubble-throwers had taken over the entire town. I had to do something quickly, before they went to take over another town. I left the cave and snuck back into town. I was right, everyone had become clone bubble-throwers.
I saw my best friend, Erin. I grabbed her and pulled her behind a building. She went to scream for the others, so I quickly covered her mouth. After about five minutes, she began to throw up. I let her. Soon, I learned that the clone bubble-throwers had to keep throwing bubbles, otherwise they would change back to humans.
Once Erin finished throwing up, she looked at me and said, "Jean, is that you?"
"Yes Erin, it's me. Be quiet. We must go."
As we started to leave the area, two clone bubble-throwers spotted us. We started to run, but Erin tripped and was caught. I kept running. I had no choice, ten of them were after me, and one of them was him, Paul. He had dark blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes. But he was one of them; they had made him a clone too.
As I reached the edge of the forest, they continued to follow. I didn't want to lead them to the cave, so I quickly climbed a tree. That didn't stop them from throwing those bubbles at me, even if they missed since I was high up in a tree.
After what seemed like an eternity and a million bubbles, I had an idea.
I jumped down from the tree, landing right in Paul's arms. All the others were yelling, "Smash her" or "Bubble her." I stared straight ahead, pretending to be one of them. There were no original bubble-throwers around; they didn't know you had to keep throwing bubbles to remain cloned. I bluntly said to Paul, "I've seen you before, haven't I?"
"Where?"
"Mall. School..." Then I kissed him. I don't know why, I just did. It worked. It directed his attention away from the bubbles.
"She's one of us," he said to the other clone bubble-throwers. He set me down from his arms and I led him deeper into the forest toward the cave.
Since I had figured out with Erin that human clone bubble-throwers could become human again once they stopped throwing bubbles for five minutes, I hoped it would work for Paul. Thankfully, it did.
When Paul finished getting sick, he looked up and saw me. He came over to me, looked intently at me, and said, "You saved my life."
My response as I handed him a bottle of water, "It was something I had to do."
"We have to save the others." He stood up and was ready to run off and be a super-hero or something.
I stopped him and said, "Not Yet."
"What?"
"We can't do anything without a plan."
"What are we supposed to do?"
"I'll show you."
I led him to the cave. As we entered, he asked, "What is this place?"
"A cave my father found. It's the most crucial part of our plan."
"And what is our plan?"
To answer, I handed him some notes and drawings I had made earlier.
After he had looked through everything, he came over to me, kissed me, and said, "You're brilliant."
I blushed.
We went to work on our plan, secretly gathering supplies and building what I prayed would work. It felt like the last hope for humanity.
Finally, we were ready. I suggested we get some rest, so we both went to sleep for a bit.
At dawn we got up and drove off in the glass box-shaped car I had designed and we somehow managed to build in such a short time. Attached to the back was a giant dome with the word "bathroom" written above the door. Once a person entered the door would lock behind them. They couldn't get out, unless we let them out.
It felt like some weird scene from a budget science fiction film but was too real.
When we reached our place of attack, we set up and waited. Soon, some clone bubble-throwers began to throw bubbles at us. We pushed a few buttons and a bunch of ball shaped rocks and baseballs were shot at the clone bubble-throwers, knocking them out. Once they woke up, they were getting sick. They ran into our fake "bathroom" dome, trapped in one place as they threw up, becoming uncloned.
After a few hours of this battle against the clone bubble-throwers, the original bubble-throwers scrambled together, returning to their space bubble which took off much faster than it landed. I imagine they were going back to their home planet or maybe even another planet to try and take over somewhere else. Either way, we had succeeded – the bubble-throwers were gone, after only two days of occupation.
Paul and I released our fellow townspeople, who thanked us continuously. The mayor gathered video evidence and told Paul and me she would be in touch for statements to give whomever she figured out to report this attack to. The world would be ready in case the bubble-throwers and their bubbles ever returned to earth to try again.
Then, Paul and I walked off to talk about the whole wacky experience, leaving the aftermath in the mayor's capable hands.
I will always remember that day when the strange creatures landed on our planet. It was the the event that brought Paul and I together, making us ready for anything.