Special Agent Illinois scanned the mass of Merwinsvillians gathered outside the entrance to the Flee-a-seum. Satisfied it was safe, he nodded to Mayor CROM-WELL. The mayor stepped to the front of the TransPodium and greeted the crowd. There were as many Merwinsvillians as the day before, and they cheered loudly as the mayor pulled out a large, golden pair of scissors.

“Ugh. Again with the giant gold props?”

Slumped between Herbert and Sammi near the back of the TransPodium, Alex wasn’t happy. He could only think about how this might be his last day in Future Merwinsville, at least for a while. If his mother stuck to her decision (and she always did, especially the ones for his own good), by this time tomorrow he’d most likely be setting up a tent in the park four blocks from his house.

The mayor gestured for the three of them to come forward and do the honors of letting the crowd enter the Flee-a-seum.

Herbert and Sammi stepped up and took the giant scissors.

“C’mon, Alex!” Sammi said.

“Quit moping,” Herbert added. “You can cut the ribbon, okay?”

Alex looked at the two of them holding the stupid giant scissors. A question popped into his head: Is this how El Solo Libre would spend his last day in Future Merwinsville?

The answer, he realized, was no.

“No thanks,” he said. “I’ve got some stuff to do.” Alex stepped to the back edge of the TransPodium and looked down. Its back end hovered over the vast, empty Flee-a-seum field on the other side of the ribbon.

Alex looked back and smiled at Herbert and Sammi. He held his nose and cannonballed off the TransPodium.

“I’m really starting to hate it when he does that,” Herbert said.

Alex hit the ground, rolled to a stop, and smiled as he looked across the empty field. If this was his last day in Future Merwinsville, he was gonna make the best of it. He started walking toward the exit at the far end of the field—then heard something that stopped him in his tracks.

“Five! Four! Three!…” Oh, no. The mayor was leading the crowd in a countdown. Alex suddenly realized he’d made a big mistake.

“…Two! One! WELCOME!”

The crowd’s roar boomed and bounced off the empty stadium seats. A half second later the entire population of Merwinsville flooded onto the Flee-aseum field—and were charging right at Alex.

Alex began to run for the exit and made it halfway across the field when he tripped. The crowd was like a tidal wave about to wash him away. Trapped, he stood up and looked back at them. Perfect, he thought. So this is how he’d spend his last day—drowning in his fans.

BONK! Something hard hit him in the head. “And they’re throwing things at me?” he said.

Looking up, he saw that what hit him was the bottom rung of a rope ladder, which was attached to a sleek AirCar hovering overhead. Chicago waved down to him.

“Grab it!” Chicago yelled. “Quickly!”

Alex grabbed it and immediately began to rise above the crowd. As the mob reached the center of the circular field, a few jumped up and grabbed his leg and hung off him. Alex shook them loose and watched them drop safely to the field below.

Chicago circled skyward as Alex hung on, swinging widely over the Flee-a-seum field, which was now swarming with Merwinsvillians.

“Yeeeehaawww!”

Alex climbed up and hopped into the mayor’s shiny SkyLimo. He grinned at Chicago, then noticed the very large, rather strange-looking woman sitting behind him.

“Alex, this is GOR-DONNA, from Total Universal Inside Access: Merwinsville! I told her all about you, and she wants to interview you! How awesome is that?”

GOR-DONNA extended a flabby arm and shook Alex’s hand. “From what I can tell, you’re the one true AlienSlayer. I’d love to get your story.”

Alex studied her for a moment, then turned to Chicago. “Okay. But I’m driving.”

“What?”

“You heard me, Chi-town! Move it on over!”

Chicago slid over and Alex jumped behind the controls. “Okay, where do you wanna do this thing?”

“How about the SlayerLair?” GOR-DONNA said quickly.

“Sounds like a plan! First round of Mega-Choco-Bomb Rootbeer Marshmallow Smoothies on me!”

Alex gunned the ship and it zoomed across the sky, nearly smashing into a MonitOrb floating over Main Street.