32
Evan had only seen a body so waxy and fake-looking once in his life. His father’s, when it had been all made up and laid in his coffin at the wake. Bad as that had been, this felt almost worse. Teena and Leo were completely frozen and lifeless. And there were still six more aliens, five of them holding the devices that had made statues of his friends. If he weren’t still down on the ground, he’d be a mannequin, too.
He reached next to him for his bat, yet again. His security blanket. Then he skittered backward in a crab walk, away from the cluster of aliens, and got to his feet, still taking steps back from the aliens as he rose.
He cocked his bat like he was at home plate and felt the pull of a tear at his eyelid. He wiped it away, squinting at the aliens like they were opposing pitchers. They were, in a way. One at a time, the aliens hurled the tiny green balls at him. Evan gritted his teeth and smacked each ball into the horizon. The aliens paused to watch them soar. He hoped they were scared shitless.
Evan breathed deeply as the last alien held up its green ball, seemingly taunting Evan as he rolled it around in his clawlike six-fingered hand.
The alien let go of the orb, and it zipped toward Evan, catching him off guard. He swung, and he missed. Panic froze Evan’s heart, and he grabbed for the ball as it hovered for a split second in mid-air. He lobbed it back at the cluster of aliens, and they frantically tried to grab for it, their claws clashing in air. Before they could get it, green fumes burst forth.
The gas froze the aliens, same as it had Teena and Leo. The emptied ball fell to the ground. With light footfalls, the same kind he’d once used to sneak downstairs early on Christmas mornings, Evan crept up to the aliens. Inches from them, he could see every crease in their skin and could sense no feelings or emotions behind their netted, bulging eyes. He looked back at Teena and Leo, frozen in time. Maybe Sarabeth was the same way, or worse. And what about the rest of the town?
His earlier tear finally poked its way out of his eye. He pulled some perfume from his backpack and misted the air at the center of his six frozen attackers. The droplets floated then fell from the March sky onto the aliens’ wet-looking skin. The gooey purple coating quickly went gray, like one of those time-lapse nature videos that showed flowers blooming and dying in seconds. Then he was alone in a cloud of dust-colored confetti.
And that was it. He waited for other aliens to rush out of the ship to kill him, waited for another burst of fire, a greenie attack, something. But nothing happened. He sat down on the ground and put his head in his hands. He was on his own. The guy who couldn’t get a girl was the last guy on Earth. Awesome.
“Dude, what are you sitting there for?” Evan looked up to see Leo cracking his neck, then his knuckles. Next to him, Teena was stretching her arms over her head like some kind of post-apocalyptic yoga instructor.
“You guys aren’t dead?” Evan said. He jumped to his feet and, without thinking about it, hugged them both. Leo slapped his back like they were bros. Teena held on to his arm longer than necessary. He covertly brushed away the tear on his cheek.
“Just stiff,” Teena said. “Did you kill the rest of them?”
Evan shrugged. “It was nothing.”
It was still hard to talk to her. Better, Evan thought, to just get on the ship, and free the residents of Tinley Hills. Teena had affirmed that he was not the guy for her, so maybe he would rescue some other girl who recognized his good qualities. Someone who didn’t mind that he wasn’t as funny and laid-back as Leo, or as cool and popular as Cameron Lewis. It could happen.
Leo and Teena were halfway up the ramp. “You coming, dude?” Leo called.
Evan nodded. He’d plan his new life later. He flipped his trusty bat up onto his shoulder. If they survived, he would have it mounted over his fireplace.
It should have been a big deal, stepping onto the alien’s ship. But Leo just loped through like he was sliding into class late. Teena hopped over the oval door’s bottom edge, like she was stepping over a puddle. Why did she have to be so completely cute? Behind her, he kept his head down and soldiered forth, onto the ship. He wished that things were different, and that Teena felt for him what he felt for her.
But he could win only so many battles. And there were more to come. He could feel it.