Read Alien in My Pocket #3 Online
Authors: Nate Ball
Alien in My Pocket #3 (5 page)
B
y the time Olivia and I were riding our bikes around the corner at the end of our street, the sky was brightening from deep purple to light blue.
“Just tell him your dumb dog ate it,” Olivia suggested.
“My dog . . . isn't dumb . . . and doesn't . . . eat . . . walkie-talkies,” I huffed, my pumping legs already feeling like they were filled with small rocks. “My cat, maybeâ”
Olivia gave me a look.
The air around us was still moist and cool, but you could feel the heat of the day working its fingers into the air.
Olivia shook her head. “Then tell him the tiny alien who secretly lives in your room needed your walkie-talkie to radio his home planet and call off an epic invasion of Earth.”
“The truth . . . is not . . . an option,” I sputtered. “At least . . . wherever . . . Amp . . . is concerned.” Gosh, I was in bad shape!
We were downtown in less than fifteen minutes. The preparations for the race were already well underway. A news van was setting up for a live report from the starting line. Police officers were setting up traffic barricades. EMTs were leaning on their vehicles, drinking coffee.
We parked behind the library. While I caught my breath, Olivia secured both of our bikes to the bike rack with an impressive-looking lock and chain.
We had arrived at the same time that two other kids from our class were dropped off, Nino Sasso and Max Myers. They approached us as Olivia finished locking up our bikes. I noted that Max had only one eye open.
“Half my brain is still asleep,” Max mumbled. “And the other half is dreaming.”
If anybody else had said this, it would have been funny, but Max was too big and scary to laugh around. Laughing at Max was dangerous.
We all walked to the information table to check in for the race. I noticed Nino and Max had their walkie-talkies. They didn't seem to notice my lack of one.
Olivia insisted she go first, with Nino and Max in line between us. She could be bossy that way.
My out-of-shape heart kicked into high gear again as I tried to decide how to break the news to Principal Luntz that my walkie-talkieâno,
his
walkie-talkie!âwas torn apart and in about forty-five pieces. I watched as Luntz glanced at Olivia's walkie-talkie and made a mark on his clipboard. She turned from the table and walked right up to me.
“Good luck, McGee,” she said, looking me in the eyes.
Without looking down, she pushed her walkie-talkie into my left hand. After a moment's hesitation, I took it. Oh! I was going to show Principal Luntz Olivia's walkie-talkie, like it was mine? Simple, yet so sneaky!
Sure enough, when it was my turn and Luntz said “Walkie-talkie?”, I held up Olivia's. He barely glanced at it. He just made his check mark. “Good to see you up so early, McGee,” he said.
It was all I could do not to do my happy dance.
I just peeled off from the front of the line and walked quickly back to a waiting Olivia. “He fell for it,” I said.
“Of course he did,” she said, taking her radio from me. She blew out a big breath. “You probably won't need a radio anyway. Portable toilets are over by the community center.” She smiled at me. “Don't fall in,” she said, and clapped me on the shoulder. She headed off for the racers' registration table, where she would be helping late-arriving runners turn in their paperwork and get their official runner's numbers.
Olivia was right: I didn't need a radio. I was instantly so busy guiding the growing crowd to the portable toilets, giving out directions to the hand-washing stations, and pointing lost runners toward the registration table that I forgot I had ever had a walkie-talkie.
Just as I thought this Young Volunteers assignment was going to go off without a hitch and Amp had won extra time to get his quantum radio in working order, I heard something that made my stomach dry up like a sponge.
“ZACK MCGEE, PLEASE REPORT TO THE REGISTRATION TABLE IMMEDIATELY!” the sound system blared. The voice was familiar but staticky. “ZACK MCGEE. REGISTRATION TABLE. NOW!”
Me?
I stared up at the speakers that were strung above the closed-off street where I stood. “Oh, no,” was all I could think to say.
As I made my way through the growing sea of people, all of whom seemed to be rushing one way or anotherâit really was a bit chaotic for an early-morning raceâI could only think that Principal Luntz had somehow found out about my destroyed radio.
I was so nervous I thought the truth might finally become my only option.
“W
hy didn't you answer your walkie-talkie?” Max Myers shouted at me.
The crowd was beginning to feel more like an unruly mob. People were moving in every direction imaginable. Max grabbed me before I reached the registration table. The crowd was now swarming with confusion, and it suddenly seemed very loud.
“Olivia told me to find you,” Max yelled at me. He was holding me tightly by the shoulders. He seemed panicked. “She made me promise. I had to use the sound system. There's not a moment to spare!”
“Wait. Why?”
“She had to leave,” he roared.
“But we just got here a half hour ago.”
“I don't know. She just said something about going to your friend's house,” he said.
“Wait! What friend? What's going on, Max?”
“It must have something to do with the announcements!”
Just then, someone bumped me as they rushed past, but Max steadied me with his meaty hand.
“I don't get it,” I said, leaning in to be heard. “What friend's house? What announcements?”
“She said you would know what friend,” he said. “She was freaking out like everybody else. I don't know, this could be the end, McGee.” Max pulled up his T-shirt collar and started chewing on it. He looked like he was in full panic mode.
As the crowd jostled and flowed around us, my mind raced. Amp? She went to see Amp? Why on earth would she leave a Young Volunteers event to see Amp? The world had suddenly gone totally bonkers.
“What did the announcements say, exactly?” I shouted.
“Someone or something keeps hacking into all the police radios, walkie-talkies, TV broadcastsâeverything! That's why everybody's freaking out. I can't believe you didn't hear. Where's your radio? I have a bad feeling about this stuff, McGee,” Max said, pressing his beefy hands into the sides of his head. His eyes were watery. “If I don't see you again, it's been nice knowing you. I'm glad you were on my baseball team. You're a good teammate. A good catcher.” With that, Max gave me a bear hug that nearly snapped my spine.
“I'm so lost,” I wheezed. “Are you moving or something, Max?”
He released me and stepped back. “That weird, squeaky voice that's been broadcasting says the alien attack will begin at anyâ”
“WHAT?! DID YOU SAY A SQUEAKY VOICE?” I hollered, grabbing Max by his boulder shoulders.
“Sorry, buddy,” Max shouted, knocking my hands away with a two-armed flick. “I'm going home to be with my family. Might as well eat all the ice cream, since who knows if we'll make it through theâ”
I was gone before he finished. Now I ran through the crowd, pushing my way when I had to. My brain felt like it was melting. I couldn't get enough air to my lungs.
I tried to think really hard, mentally telling Amp to shut up. Maybe he could hear my thoughts, but as soon as I started I knew it was a dumb idea. He might be able to do that in my room, but not in this crazy crowd all the way downtown.
I just needed my bike. I hoped Olivia had thought to leave my bike unlocked. I finally broke free from the buzzing swarm of humanity as I rounded the corner of the library. I sprinted to the bike rack. I'd ride as fast as I could and be home in ten minutes.
But both our bikes were still locked up!
What?!
Just then the crowd seemed to stop. They all froze and looked up. The air filled with Amp's high-pitched voice. It seemed to come from every direction at once. It filled the air like squeaky thunder.
“ATTENTION, ERDIAN COUNCIL! CALL OFF THE INVASION OF EARTH BY THE ERDIAN FORWARD GUARD. THIS IS ADVANCED SCOUT AMP OF THE SPACE CRUISER
DINGLE
. I REPEAT, CALL OFF THE INVASION OF EARTH. RECALL THE FIRST-WAVE INVASION STRIKE FORCE IMMEDIATELY! PLEASE CONFIRM RECEIPT. OVER.”
The world around me was plunged into silence. Nobody moved.
I stared, open-mouthed into the air like I was in a trance.
“What did you do to my walkie-talkie?” I whispered.
As soon as I said it, I heard the crowd gasp. Someone even shrieked. I realized I had never heard a real-life shriek before.
“Hey, kid!” someone shouted from behind me.
I whipped around, thinking Principal Luntz was about to grab me by the back of my T-shirt.
It was a police officer. I instantly imagined he had been looking for me and would now handcuff me for all the trouble Amp and I were causing.
Amp's broadcast must have stopped him in his tracks like everyone else on the street. He looked from me to the radio and back to me. “Kid, you better get yourself home. I don't know what's going on, but we may be attacked by aliens at any moment.”
I couldn't speak. Technically, he was right, but I couldn't dip my toe into the truth now. So without another word, I turned and ran off.
“Is this really happening?” I gasped, as I became just another panicky citizen running around like a headless chicken.
Strangely, the only other thought that bounced around in my head as I chugged up the slope of Main Street was that Amp was clearly the worst roommate in history.
I
was in terrible condition.
My lungs felt like they were the size of grapes. Squished grapes. That had dried out in the sun for a week. So I guess they felt like raisins.
What seemed like just minutes when Olivia and I were on our bikes now seemed like three half marathons strung together.
It seemed like the entire town was outside, looking up. I saw all manner of people out on their lawns watching the skies. They had telescopes, binoculars, fancy cameras with long lenses, and smartphones with built-in video cameras. Some families were quickly packing up their cars, like they were leaving town in a hurry to escape the incoming Erdian space invaders.
This was nuts!
As I huffed and chuffed down the middle of the street, people called out the strangest warnings to me.
“Go the other way. You're headed right into their trap, boy!” a man hollered at me.
“Stop running so fast!” a woman yelled. “Aliens are attracted to movement.”
“Kid, put some goggles on to hide your eyes. Aliens always eat the eyes first! They taste like chicken!”
Huh?
I also overheard two nervous women speaking quietly as I ran by. “Sure, he looks like a regular kid, but he could be one of them in disguise, one of those body-snatching aliens.”
To which the other woman replied, “If he tries to eat our eyes, I will sock him in the face. No alien is gonna mess with my street.”
What? This was getting downright dangerous!
Amp was right: humans were unpredictable.
Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, news vans, and then the city dogcatcher zipped past me at unsafe speeds. Weirdly, these were soon followed by an ice-cream truck, which thundered by at about eighty miles an hour. That couldn't be good for business. As it rumbled past, I heard its jingling tune get interrupted by Amp's urgent voice. This time it wasn't in English, it was in Erdian, which sounded like a frog being stepped on repeatedly. Because I knew him, I could tell that Amp sounded desperate. Or frustrated. No, he sounded really annoyed. I even heard him say “floofy” at some point. I'm sure he was starting to realize that his lame walkie-talkie plan was failing miserably. The question was, would he shut up before anyone got hurt or run over to death by a nervous ice-cream truck driver?
I was slick with sweat and incredibly thirsty when I finally rounded the corner of my street. The growing heat of the day was cooking me slowly, like a tiny boy in a giant crockpot.
And then I stopped dead in my tracks.
It was crawling with cops and news vans!
They were everywhere!
I saw several men wearing headphones attached to those inside-out umbrella thingies. They were walking around, scanning the street, and I knew just what they were doing: they were closing in on the signal of whoever was broadcasting the ridiculous alien invasion news that was panicking the entire town.
They were closing in on Amp and my dang walkie-talkie!
And when they found Amp . . . then you'd really see adults in a panic. They would think the invasion was already underway (which, I suppose, technically, it actually kinda was).
I shot up the nearest driveway and decided I'd secretly make my way up the street to my own backyard by way of my neighbors' yards. Nobody would see me coming.
The bad news was my legs were rubbery with exhaustion, and the idea of hopping fences right now seemed impossible.
The good news was that I was in such a panic, I wasn't feeling any pain, only desperation.