Visions

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I was always a pretty normal teenager. Kind of popular, too...I guess. I used to go to the mall, hang out with my
friends, stuff like that. I had good friends. I even had a boyfriend.

But I left it behind. All of it, gone.

Maybe you could still see the average part of me hanging around somewhere. My looks wouldn't give any hint that I
was anything but normal. Shoulder-length wavy blond hair, green eyes, medium height. Nothing interesting.

Until I met Trei. He was -and unbelievably, still is- one of the weirdest guys I ever knew. Trei was one to keep to
himself, ever since he transferred to our school he sat by himself at lunch, worked alone on projects,
everything...alone. Everyone liked it that way, too. He never bothered anyone.

He even looked creepy. He had dark brown hair, almost black, and the strangest gray eyes I've ever seen in my life. But at least they had something in them, unlike the other guys in my classes, who usually looked vacant. I guess I have to admit that Trei was smart, too. One of the smarter people in class. Not to say that I went to school with a bunch of idiots, but...well, they weren't the brightest crayons in the box.

By now you're probably wondering what I'm talking about. Well, that's why I'm going to tell you everything. I'm tired of hiding. I want to go back to my home, back to...back to my life. I won't run any more.

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'This is so boring,' I thought miserably. I hated science. Resting my chin on my wrist, I let my eyes wander. I looked around the room. This guy, Marco, sat near the front of the room and snickered to a few of his friends, probably about some recent wisecrack. One of his friends didn't laugh. I think his name was Jake, but I'm not really sure.

I looked at my boyfriend, Josh. He might have been just as bored as I was. I couldn't tell by sitting behind him. Then there was Trei, all the way in the back of the classroom by himself. I turned my head slightly and looked at him. The whole corner of that room seemed dark, like the sky before a storm. What had happened to Trei in the past to make him so...isolated?

The clock was still ticking, I looked up and checked. But there were still a few hours left before it was time to go home.

"'Lyssa? Hey, are you alright? Alyssa?" I sat up. I had slumped forward, all the way onto the table. I looked at my lab partner, Janna.

"I'm...just bored, that's all," I answered.

"You really should pay attention. This affects my grade too," she pointed out. I nodded.

"I know. Sorry. I'll try to follow the lecture," I told her, making a dry joke. It was basically the same thing that
happened every day. Janna was a very smart person. I suppose she still is. Whenever I got the least bit distracted, she'd pull me back into the lesson. I usually got annoyed at it.

I took a quick glance at Trei from the corner of my eye. He was staring at me like I was some viscous creature. A severe chill went through me. With a slight shiver, I looked around and saw that everyone had their book opened.

"Um...what page are we on?"

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Science was over, and not a minute too soon. I met up with Josh in the lockers.

"Hey," I said cheerfully.

"Hi," he answered. Too quiet to be him. Something was wrong, I could tell from his tone of voice.

"Something wrong?" I asked in pure concern. Josh didn't answer. I repeated the question. Still, he didn't say anything.

I wondered to myself what was up with him. A locker door slammed, books were thrown on the floor. The loud noises made me jump in surprise.

"Josh, is everything okay?" I walked towards him. He looked at me sadly.

"'Lyssa...um..." For a moment, a look of total shock crossed his face, almost undetectable to people just passing by. But I could see it. In an instant, he turned away and pulled out the books for his next classes.

The halls were clearing out by now. I began to approach him again.

"Alyssa, I'm sorry," he said sullenly.

"Huh? Sorry about what?"

"I just...I think we need to take a break, you know? From each other." I opened my mouth to speak, but he slammed his locker shut and walked away. He left me in the empty hall, speechless.

I grabbed my jumbled pile of books and rushed to my math class, forgetting to put the lock back on my locker. I didn't care if someone stole something from it.

The late bell rang moments before I got into the class. I dropped my books on my desk and sat down with a heavy sigh. Thank God that Josh wasn't in the class to see how pathetic I looked. But Trei was, still staring at me with that dark look that he always had. The room got a lot colder when I looked at him.

No, it was all in my imagination...right? I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the worksheet that the teacher just handed out. But something inside me was just pulling my attention away from the problems, towards Trei. There was definitely something strange about that guy. Right then, I decided to find out what it was.

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"Give me a break, Alyssa. You're getting paranoid," my friend Kat said. "I'm sure that Josh had a perfectly good
reason to dump you."

"But he just called me yesterday afternoon," I objected. "Three times. I finally had to convince him to go start his
book report. Why would he change his mind about me so suddenly?" It was lunch time. I sat there, fiddling with the school's 'food' and talking.

"I don't know. Maybe you said something accidentally?" I shook my head.

"No, I don't think I said anything to offend him. But maybe I just don't really remember..." I looked at the next table. Josh was sitting there. He avoided my eyes at all costs. What had I done to him?

"Alyssa...come on Alyssa, it was probably something stupid. By next week he'll have forgotten all about it," Sara told me. I smiled weakly.

"I hope you're right." Terry leaned over her tray and looked at me.

"'Lyssa, me and Allie are going to the mall after school. Do you want to come? Maybe get your mind off of Josh?" she offered.

"Sure. I'll just have to go home first and tell my mother," I replied. Terry smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it wasn't you," she told me. "But you're not going to be upset like that all day, are you? I mean, it's one break-up. There will be plenty of others...guys, I mean." I laughed.

"Is that an actual smile for the first time today?" Natasha asked in mock astonishment. "See? You're better already!" I realized that I was killing my macaroni, but by the time I got to eating it, it was already cold. I dropped my fork back onto my plate.

"You gonna eat that? No? Thanks," Kat said, spooning up what was left of my mutilated macaroni.

"I didn't know you like cold macaroni," I said, laughing. Kat shrugged.

"Well I kind of developed a taste for it, since I never get to eat it any other way in school."

"Yeah, you always talk too much and then stuff everything in your mouth before it's time to go," Terry mocked. A
normal lunch period. People talking and joking with each other...my kind of good time.

Trei walked by, quiet and secluded as usual. He glared at me as he walked past, going to sit at the only empty table in the lunch room. Wherever it was every day, he would always find it.

"Ugh, that guy just creeps me out," Natasha mumbled. Everyone quickly agreed with her.

"Hey, speaking of being creeped out...have you noticed how mean Rachel's gotten? I mean, she nearly got into another fight yesterday! She's going to get suspended some time if she doesn't lighten up and stop taking things too far," Terry said.

"What bugs me is that she used to be really nice!" Kat piped up. She and Rachel were friends a while ago. I don't know what happened. They were almost inseparable. But friends grow apart, eventually. Now they hardly spoke to one another.

"Let's try to talk about something else. Oh, did you see..." I turned around, feeling eyes on me. As I suspected, Trei was still glaring at me. Or was he? Did I just imagine that he was looking at me? Was he just looking at the wall? He got me so confused. I looked back at my friends.

"Sheesh! I am so glad it's almost time to go home!" Sara exclaimed. Almost everyone agreed. "This day has been too long."

"You just can't wait to see Andrew after school!" Terry pointed out. Sara blushed.

"Well, uh, I...um...oh, hush!" Terry laughed as Sara's face turned redder and redder.

"Oh come on! Most of us already know that you have a crush on him!" Terry pointed out.

"Is there some kind of rule that you can't like your older brother's friend or something?"

"Well, he is majorly cute," Natasha said.

"'Tasha, stay away from him. If you go out with him or anything, Sara's liable to tackle you," I joked.

"Oookay, new subject!" Sara said.

The bell rang. I grabbed my tray back from Kat, who had nearly cleaned off the macaroni and was in the process of grabbing the chicken from it. I stood up, said good-bye to those of my friends who got to stay another ten minutes, and walked away.

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I started to fidget in my seat. The bell was just about to ring, and I would have to practically run to my locker to get my books before someone else blocked me from it. I couldn't miss my bus again today.

Everyone was staring anxiously at the clock. Well, almost everyone. Trei wasn't. He was staring at the floor. He almost looked like he was worried about something.

The bell rang. I almost didn't notice, jumping out of my seat and shoving past everyone to get to my locker. I took out my math book. I hate homework. Stuffing it into my bookbag, I zipped it up and made a mad dash for the buses.

I wondered where I would sit. I usually sat with Josh. But not any more.

"Alyssa! Over here!" I looked at Terry and smiled. She made room in her seat by moving her bookbag and I sat down.

"Hi. Thanks," I said.

"No problem. You okay?" I looked at her questioningly. "I mean, the whole Josh thing..."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll live. So I'll call you when I get home so we can get to the mall? I'm sure my mom can drive us."
Terry nodded.

"Great! Allie and I will get over to your house and your mom will take us from there!" Terry smiled. "I've been saving some money so I can get that new CD I wanted."

"Cool."

"Do you know if the CD store still has stuff on sale?" I shrugged.

"We'll just have to find out."

I got off at my bus stop. It was only a block or so away from my house. I walked the rest of the way every day. Unless it was raining, then my mom would pick me up from school.

I heard a noise from behind me. The soft, almost indistinguishable sound of leaves barely being rustled on the ground. I stopped. The noise stopped. I started walking again, so did it. Panic arose in my stomach as the rustling got louder, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I nearly screamed as I turned around.

"Don't say anything," a male voice hissed. I turned around completely, and found myself staring at Trei.

"What-"

"Sssh!" he whispered.

"Why?" I whispered back. He pointed to a parked black car with tinted windows.

"See them?" I nodded. "They're after me." I looked from Trei to the car and back to Trei.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Run," he said simply. He grabbed my arm and dragged me along as I heard car doors open and slam shut.

"There he is!" someone yelled from behind us.

"Get him!" another voice cried.

"The girl, too!" My heart almost stopped beating. Trei gripped my arm tighter and we ran, through trees and around bushes, crashing through peoples' yards and almost getting hit by a few oncoming cars as we ran through the street.

"Are you trying to get us killed?!" I shrieked. "Who are they?!"

"They're Yeerks. Aliens. They want to invade Earth," he explained.

"Are you kidding me?!" I demanded. He shook his head.

"It's for real. They crawl into the mind and control people. There's no way to tell who's one of them. They look
like...slugs," he continued breathlessly.

"You're telling me that they're evil slugs from space?! Are you nuts? Do you think I'm stupid?" I snapped.

"It's true, every word of it!" Trei insisted, stopping to throw his bookbag down, taking a small gun out of the front
pocket. I gasped and said a few words that need not be repeated as Trei handed the weapon to me and took out an identical one. I looked from him to the gun, astonished that I was actually holding it. Trei turned and started shooting at the men behind us.

They opened fire. I panicked.

"What do I do? What do I do?!" I shrieked.

"Kill them!"

"I'm not a freaking assassin! I don't kill people!" I snapped. Trei sighed and continued shooting. I shut my eyes tight and the shooting ceased quickly. I took my hands away from my eyes, thinking that my heart would explode from beating too fast. This whole day was insane!

"You could try and be a little more helpful next time."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm new to this whole killing evil space slugs thing," I said dryly.

"We got lucky, they had guns and not..." Trei stopped and took a deep breath.

"They have worse stuff?" I asked. He nodded.

"Dracon weapons."

"What weapons?"

"Dracon. It's...like a laser, I guess."

"Terrific! They're trying to invade Earth with the upper hand and they have better technology than us! Anything else? Are they immortal, too?"

"Thank you so much for your sarcasm, Alyssa."

"Is there any advantage that we have over these...these...um..."

"Yeerks. Yes. There are rumors...that a group of rebel Andalites-"

"Anda-whats?!"

"Andalites. Different aliens. They're on our side."

"Ah. I see. Is Earth the major alien hub or what?"

"Well, there's a group of 'Andalite bandits' that have been raiding Yeerk events -Sharing meetings, feeding cycles, Yeerk projects- all over this area. I came here to check it out."

"So...is that the reason you came to this school?"

"Actually, it isn't."

"So what did you come here for?" I asked. Trei looked at me with the same glare that he gave me every day.

"I came to find you."

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"What do you mean, came to find me? Why me? Of all the people in the whole world, why me?" I asked. Trei hesitated before answering.

"The Yeerks have a secret project. Completely under wraps. I don't even think that Visser One-"

"Who's a Visser One? Better yet, what's a Visser One?" I cut in.

"A Visser is a high-ranking Yeerk. There's Vissers one through thirty-two, I think. Something around that. And then there are sub-Vissers. It's just a ranking system. They're not any more dangerous, but they do get extra protection. Whole armies maybe, depending on rank." I nodded slowly, halfway understanding what he was saying.

"So, um...what were you saying?"

"Well, the Yeerks have a secret project going on. It's been there for a long time, actually. It's a military training
facility. Under heavy, heavy protection as of late."

"Why is this place so important?" I inquired.

"They train most of the Yeerk armies there, from a very young age."

"And? What does this have to do with me?"

"I was a soldier there. Since I was three. They were extremely brutal. About three years ago, maybe four, someone raided the base. They kidnapped a few of the soldiers. I was one of them. They explained to me that the Yeerks were evil, that we had all been convinced that we were the enemy. They also told us that they were a special organization designed to defeat the Yeerks. But they needed soldiers. We were to be those soldiers.

"The Yeerk facility couldn't risk us getting away alive. They followed us out of their base and attacked the truck that we had been dragged into. They blew it up. I think I was the only one to make it out."

"That's awful! But I still don't know why I'm such a big deal in this!"

"The children chosen for this training were all selected from birth. I'm not sure how we were chosen, but we were. After they took me, my parents died. I kept saying that I wanted to go home, but they told me that the enemy had killed my family."

"I'm so sorry, Trei..." I trailed off. "Please, continue."

"They had raided the military facility some time earlier, about six or seven years earlier, and rescued some of the younger kids. The facility trained both male and female children." He paused. "Alyssa, you were one of those soldiers selected to be trained by the Yeerks. You came to the facility at two and a half. I was about five at the time."

"But if you're older than I am, how are you in my classes at school?"

"I changed my records. As I was saying, you were being trained. But the other organization that took me, called
Stryfer, kidnapped you in their first raid, seven years before I was taken if I remember correctly. You are fourteen, right?" I nodded. "Okay."

"What happened after that?" I asked eagerly.

"I guess they felt pity for you young children. You were no older than four at the time. They sent you home."

"I still have one question, Trei. Why did you find me? How did you know what to look for?"

"Well, it was kind of a vision. I have these...these flashes. Of people, and places. About a month ago, I saw a word and a number: Selle 825. I looked it up in Stryfer's database, but I didn't find anything. Then I decided to hack into the Yeerk facility database and I found it. There was a Yeerk, Selle 825, assigned to one with the code name 'Lisse.' I didn't know what it meant at first."

"I didn't really understand it until I had another vision. It was your face, Alyssa. And your school's name. So I enrolled in the school to find you. When I first saw you, though, I didn't know if I had made a mistake or not. I severely hoped not. I didn't need to waste any more time."

"So you've been spying on me since you came? You really were watching me all those times?"

"Yes," he told me. "I know I was right about you now, too."

"How?" I asked skeptically. There was no way he could tell something like that about a person. Was there?

"Everything about you. You remind me of your older brother."

"I have an older brother?" Trei nodded.

"He's a few years older than me. By now, he's probably infested though. Already part of the military." Trei paused and took a piece of paper out of his pocket. He handed it to me. "That's a picture of him," he said as I unfolded the paper to see a close-up of a very handsome man, sandy-colored hair like mine. But with brown eyes instead of green. My hands began to tremble as I studied the picture. He looked like me...

"But..." I began.

"It's hard to believe for you, I guess. But Alyssa, I swear to God that it's all true." I nodded.

"Not sure whether I believe you or not, Trei, but this photo is some damn convincing proof to me," I whispered.

"Alyssa, I have to tell you..." I looked at him as he trailed off.

"What?"

"You can't go back. They know you, they've seen your face. You can't ever go home." I stood in shocked silence. The picture fell from my stiff fingers to the ground. Trei picked it up and put it away in his pocket.

"W- what do you mean?"

"You can never go back to your family, your friends, your school...never again. If you do, it could be trouble for you and them."

"I wouldn't want them to get hurt, but...never? I can't even watch them worry about me?" God, I sounded conceited now. "I mean, um..."

"I know what you're saying. But the answer is no. It's just too dangerous. I'm sorry." I began to stutter, trying to find words. Anything. I couldn't say anything. Never was such a long time...and my mother...she had already lost my dad, and my little brother. Now me.

And my friends...what would people say, that I ran away? I shook my head, realizing that I was thinking too far ahead. "Just try to deal with what's going on," I reminded myself. I looked back at Trei and had in mind only one question.

"So what do we do now?"

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"What do we do now?" Words that would ultimately change my life. It's amazing how five meaningless words can define the rest of your life. Kind of scary, actually. But not as scary as what was waiting for me.

"The base," Trei stated calmly.

"Base?" I inquired. Trei sighed.

"I'm going to take you to the base. Stryfer headquarters... we have to do some training," he explained. He was acting so...so calm. How could he be like that after what just happened?

"How are we going to get there?" I looked around. We were in a clean, suburban neighborhood. Nothing was out of place, except for us and the bodies of the dead Yeerks on the ground.

"We're going to borrow their car."

"Oh, okay...what?! First you kill them, and then you steal their friggin' car?! Are you insane?! Can you even drive?" He got into the driver's seat of the black car and opened the door to the passenger side. I reluctantly got in and repeated my last question. "So can you drive or not?" Trei shrugged.

"I guess we'll have to find out."

"Help," I whimpered quietly. I couldn't believe myself. For all I know, he could have escaped from a mental ward a month ago and was just claiming to know all this stuff. Was he crazy? Was I crazy? Maybe both of us were. But as soon as he stepped on the gas and the car went speeding down the road, I knew I was leaving my life behind.

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An hour later we were in a moderately rural...um, place. It didn't seem to belong to any city, and I didn't think that
anyone really owned it. On both sides of the small, one-lane road was flat land. No buildings were in sight.

"So where's this base? Are we close?"

"It should be around here," Trei said. I looked around.

"I don't see it," I told him. "All I see is land...and road."

"You don't think they would be dumb enough to put an anti-Yeerk base above ground, do you? That would be...well, crazy."

"Yeah, like I haven't seen anything crazy today," I mumbled. Trei glared at me silently. Suddenly the car spun off of the road and into a ditch. I was flung into the door. Trei threw his door open and got out. I did the same.

"We have to walk from here," he explained. "Just follow me." I nodded and did what he told me to. I won't give
details as to where we went, but after a long walk we arrived at, well, a place that looked just about the same as
everything else I had seen there. But there was a small grove of trees nearby.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"Almost," Trei answered. It was clear to me that he didn't want to talk, and I got quiet. We stood there for a while, like we were waiting for something that just wouldn't come. Then the ground in front of us began to lift up, a hatch
opening under it. I jumped back as my feet were caught on the edge of the rising ground.

Soon, the hatch was open enough for us to walk in. Trei went inside first, but I was hesitant to follow. He looked at me then disappeared from my view. I looked around for a minute, half expecting a Yeerk to pop out of the trees and attack me. Suddenly feeling a chill run down my back, I ran inside and the hatch closed behind me.

What was inside was straight out of a science fiction movie. A lot of people in lab coats, machinery that I had never seen -and most likely never heard of- before, plenty of doors in the room, stuff like that. The room was dimly lit, and fairly quiet. The stillness of the room surprised me for the amount of people there. They all stopped and looked at us.

I fiddled with the strap of my bookbag, which I surprisingly still had, even after the chase. I felt awkward with all the people staring silently at Trei and me. Finally, someone started walking towards us.

She was farely tall, with dark red hair and probably brown eyes. It's not exactly easy to tell what color people's eyes are with the distance factor that we had. Dim light doesn't help, either. The woman looked at me, and then smiled at Trei.

"I see you've brought someone back with you, young Trei," she said. He nodded.

"This is Alyssa. Alyssa, this is the head of our base, Professor Idia." She shook my hand.

"Nice to see you again, Alyssa."

"Um...yeah, same here I think," I muttered. Professor Idia gave Trei a questioning look.

"She's been living as a civilian since you brought her away from the Yeerks," Trei explained.

"Oh, that sums things up for me. So I guess you'll be wanting to do a little training?" Trei nodded solemnly and looked at me. I shrugged indifferently. Hey, I couldn't go back to my life anyways. Why not?

"You ought to know that we're not exactly known for being lenient," Professor Idia told me. "You may have to work hard to become your best. Emotional tactics, though, are our main goal. Are you okay with that?" I silently pondered my options, which weren't too many. This could be the rest of my life that they were offering. If I chose the wrong answer, my life could get seriously screwed.

"Y- yes ma'am," I said at last, my throat suddenly feeling very dry. What if I really wasn't cut out for it? What if I
couldn't handle this training? There were so many 'what if' questions in my mind that I felt I would have collapsed if they were actual weight on my shoulders. Professor Idia nodded.

"Good. Trei? Show her where she'll be staying." Trei nodded.

"Come with me," he ordered. I picked up my bookbag, which I had unconsciously thrown on the floor, and follwed him.

He led me through a few different halls. They were all starting to look the same before he came to a closed door. Opening it, I saw about six more doors, two on each wall. He pointed to one that had the number '03' on it.

"That's your room," Trei told me. I nodded and pushed down on the metal door handle. The door slowly slid outward. I stepped back as the door swung in a wide arc and looked inside. It was small, with only a plain bed, a desk, and two other doors. I walked in and put my bookbag on the cold tile floor. Slowly, I opened one of the two other doors inside. It was a closet. I opened the other. A bathroom.

It was nice, in its own way. Quiet. It looked like no one had lived there for a while. But I didn't mind. I looked back at Trei.

"Professor Idia wants to talk to you in a few minutes," he told me. Then he walked away, and I was left alone.

"I'll just have to get used to this, I guess," I mumbled. I took another look around my new room. There was a small intercom in the top corner. They'd probably call me on it if I was needed. There were no windows in the room. It would be impossible to put them there, though, since the building was underground.

The white flourescent light in the ceiling gave the room a kind of eerie look. Almost everything in it was white. Or
silver-colored. The doors were all made of metal, the walls of the rooms and halls were white, same as the lights and the tiled floors. It was kind of creepy.

I remembered what Trei told me and left the room, walking back through the hallways. I counted three halls, and then I was back in the main room. Professor Idia was standing there.

"So?" she asked.

"So what?"

"Do you think you can live?" From the slight smile on her face, I could tell that the question was only halfway serious.

"I guess I can manage," I responded with a shrug.

"Okay then." She paused for a minute. "Is there anything else you think you'll need?"

"Well, I'd feel comfortable if I had some of my clothes here," I said. Then remembered my mother. "And my mom
could stand to know that I haven't died or anything. I mean, with my dad gone, and my brother dead..." It was true. My parents had been a happily married couple until my younger brother had died. Then they didn't have him to break up their fights by having a fit any more, and they decided to split.

"Alyssa, I can agree to the first part. But no one can know that you're here, it's too dangerous. For you, for us, your family... and for the world."

"Could I at least-"

"No." I sighed. "But we can arrange for you to pick up a few of your things, if you'd like. I don't want any of my
trainees feeling reluctant to do this. You have to put your heart into it." Professor Idia smiled a little. I could tell that I was going to like her. But as for the rest of the situation...I didn't know.

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It was night. Somewhere around 11:15. I was usually asleep by that time. Instead I was on my way to my house to practically steal stuff. My mom would probably be out looking for me, most likely worried to death. Or she might have been out having a drink. It didn't matter, as long as the house was empty. To my relief, when we got to my house no one was there.

Professor Idia and Trei were the only others who came with me. I nodded to them and quietly stepped out of the truck we had driven. I slowly went to my window and was glad that we only had a one-story house. Quietly I slid the window open, because my mother never had the sense to lock it and I never remembered to. It came open easily.

I threw my now-empty bookbag into the room and climbed inside. The room was dark. I sighed and started piling up some stuff that I knew I'd need. Sneakers, jeans, my jacket, a few shirts. Essential clothes in general. There wasn't very much. I wasn't one to obsess about clothes. I did grab my hairbrush and a few hair ties, though.

There was still room in my bookbag. I ran to my dresser and grabbed my pictures. Most were of my family, but I had a few pictures of me and my friends, and other stuff. I stuffed them into my bag and remembered that I had some money in a drawer somewhere. I went through my top drawer until I found it: all of the money I had saved up for two years by doing chores, odd jobs, and babysitting. I don't know why I wanted it, but I did.

I took another look around my room and saw a pad of paper on my dresser. It went against everything I should have been doing, but I scribbled a short note on the top sheet.

"Mom," it said, "You know I love you. And I always will. I'm sorry that I have to be saying this, but I have to leave. I
don't know for how long, but I promise that I'll come back...when I can. Don't worry about me, I'll find ways to let you know that I'm alright. We may not talk for a while, but know that this is the best thing I could do, for myself, for
you...for the entire human race. Once everything blows over, I'll come home and tell you everything. For now, I love you.

-Love, Alyssa"

I forced tears back as I wrote and put the note where I was sure my mom would see it. Then, finally, I zipped up my bookbag and carefully dropped it on the ground outside. I climbed back out through the window and closed it. Getting back in the truck and leaving my home, I knew that this was it. This was my new life.

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"This may be very intense for some of you, be warned. If you're not able to deal with it, then you'll go to another area. We're focusing on emotions here, the ability to be impartial to friends or family. You may find yourself fighting against them. I won't lie to you about that. And no one will be there to push you forward." I sighed. Professor Idia had already given me that speech.

We were in a small, dark room. There were six of us in all, Trei and me being two of them. They all seemed so
confident here, like they had been through this before. I felt so small compared to them.

"Great time to be having doubts," I thought, mocking myself with the words. But doubt or none, training was about to begin. I just hoped that I was ready.

                            _________________________________________

It had been a while since I had seen the sky. Since I had seen anything other than white walls and familiar faces. I think that the seclusion from the world was getting to me.

We had been in training for about two months. It wasn't very easy. Professor Idia had warned me that it wouldn't be easy, I should have listened to her.

"We're in the midst of a war. Two races...battling for the right to control Earth. If the Yeerks win, they will destroy the planet," Professor Idia was saying. I shook my head and stood.

"We're as much a threat to Earth as the Yeerks are," I said. Professor Idia gave me a questioning look. Trei hissed at me to sit down and shut my mouth. But I just had to keep going. "We're an environmental problem, just like they are. If they win, they'll destroy our planet and move on to the next, overthrowing the beings there and killing that planet as well. Isn't that what we're doing now?"

"What do you mean?" Professor Idia asked.

"Humans took the Earth from the animals. And we're killing it. And after this planet's dead, we'll find some way to go to another that we can live on. The only difference is that we won't control other people, like the Yeerks do. We'll kill them." Everyone was silent. I looked around, cleared my throat nervously, and sat back down.

We soon left for our lunch hour. I was walking out of the room when professor Idia grabbed my arm.

"Alyssa," she said. I looked calmly at her. "I don't appreciate outbursts like that." I swallowed hard, trying to keep my face emotionless.

"I was just-" I stopped when she slapped me on the cheek.

"Keep your opinions to yourself," she hissed. It was part of the Professor that I hadn't seen before. I stood up straight and glared at her.

"Yes ma'am," I growled, looking at the floor. She lifted my chin, and I thought I saw a smile on her face.

"You're doing well," she said. "Better than I thought when you first came here." I was silent as she spoke. "I think you're ready to go on a mission." I blinked. "I'll talk to you about it later." I nodded and walked out of the room.

                              _________________________________________

"What'd she say to you?" Trei asked.

"Not much. Something about a mission," I told him, shrugging casually. He nodded.

"She tell you what you'll be doing?"

"Not yet."

"You'll probably be coming with me," he muttered. I looked up from my food.

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"She talked to me a few days ago about something...some kind of assignment. She said that I'd need the help of another person. I bet she meant you."

"Maybe," I agreed. "So what're you going to do on this...ah, assignment?"

"Nothing major. We'll just be destroying a small base near there."

"Oh, is that it? Are you sure? Maybe she wants us to kidnap the President while we're there?" I asked sarcastically. Trei didn't say anything, but there was a trace of a grin on his face. Maybe while I was becoming more like a soldier, I could give him some humor lessons.

                              _________________________________________

"Professor Idia!" I ran up to her as she walked down the hallway. She turned around.

"Hello Alyssa. Is there something I can help you with?"

"You were going to talk to me about this assignment...?" I asked slowly. She didn't say anything right away. Then she nodded.

"I remember! You're doing very well in your training, Alyssa. I want to let you go with Trei on his next mission. He's leaving to-" she began, but I cut her off.

"Destroy a base, I know. So you're letting me go with him?" She nodded.

"Yeah. You sure you can handle it? This is pretty big for a beginning soldier."

"I guess I can. We'll just have to see," I told her, smiling. She laughed.

"You're a lot like I remember you."

"Thanks...I think," I replied. "I've got to go now."

"Okay. You're dismissed, soldier." She turned around and continued walking again. I went back to my room.

"This is weird," I thought. "Why am I getting so excited about being called a soldier? Why do I really care so much about going on a mission? ....I guess I've changed more than I thought."

There was a knock on the door.

"It's open," I said. The handle slowly turned and the door pushed open. Trei peeked his head inside my room.

"Did Professor Idia brief you on the mission yet?" I nodded.

"Just a little while ago," I replied.

"We're leaving in two days. So we need some extra training, and I guess we'll need to pack some stuff too. I'd get started as soon as I can. Never know how long we'll be gone." I leaned on my bed frame.

"Okay. I'll be ready."

                              _________________________________________

Two days later, I was ready to go. Trei and I were talking with Professor Idia for any last minute details.

"I wouldn't recommend making many friends. You'll eventually have to leave anyways," she told me.

"No emotional attachments. Right. Got it." I repeated.

"You're already transferred into the closest school. A private school. So you'll be wearing uniforms," she further explained. "This should be a pretty easy mission, considering what I've given you. And the information, too."

"So we're ready to go now?" I asked.

"Yes. Have a good flight."

Twenty minutes later, we were on a plane and heading for our new school. The fight would only be about an hour and a half long. That's how late we'd be for our classes. I leaned back and tried to get a little rest.

                              _________________________________________

"Remember: we're brother and sister. You're Errin and I'm Tim. Don't get close to anyone. We don't know how long we'll be here. Only as long as it takes to destroy the base. It could take days, or weeks, maybe even longer. That's doubtful, though. Just-"

"I know," I interrupted. "Keep a low profile. Can I just ask one thing?" Trei looked at me. "Why do we have to wear these stupid uniforms?" I looked down at my burgundy pleated skirt and jacket, over a plain white shirt. I hated it.

"This is what we have to do." I nodded and walked away from the dorm houses, into the large, old main hall. The soles of my shoes made a hard clicking noise on the tiled floor. The echo carried through the hallway. I looked at a small piece of paper in my hand, a homeroom assignment. Professor Idia made sure that Trei and I were both in the same class.

"112. I guess it's this way," I said, pointing to the left side of the hall.

"We just transferred from another school out of state. Far away. No details," Trei reminded me.

"Right, I got it." I stood outside the door of the class. Nodding to Trei, I took a deep breath and opened the door. The teacher, a man who appeared to be in his mid-ourties, looked at us.

"You must be the new students." I looked at the large class. There must have at least been thirty-five people there. "Class, these students just transferred into our school. I'll let you introduce yourselves."

"I'm Errin. Nice to meet you all," I said somberly.

"My name's Tim. It's a pleasure."

"Okay. Errin, you can sit in that empty seat beside Tonya. Tim, why don't you sit at this desk?" Trei looked at his seat, second row from the front. I looked around for this Tonya girl, finding her motioning for me to sit beside her. She looked a little like me, but her hair was red. I walked to my new seat and sat down.

"Hi," Tonya said cheerfully. "This school's pretty big. Do you think you need someone to show you to your classes?" she asked.

"I'm sure I can manage on my own, thanks," I replied.

"Oh. Okay then." And class started.

                              _________________________________________

"Hi." I turned around. A rather tall guy stood there. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He was kind of good-looking too, I guess.

"Don't get attached to anyone," I reminded myself.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"So...you like the school so far?" he asked.

"It's okay," I replied. He nodded.

"My name's Brad. I hear yours is Errin."

"Yeah."

"So why'd you decide to come here?" he asked casually. I looked at him for a minute, then started walking.

"Got to go," I called over my shoulder. The bell rang and students poured into the hallways. I was sure that the guy didn't see me any more.

                              _________________________________________

I paced in my room, looking at the clock every few minutes. It was getting close to midnight. Finally, the numbers turned and it said 12:00. I opened the window in my empty room and climbed out of it. I seemed to be going through windows a lot lately.

Without even reaching the gutter, I remembered that my bag was still inside. Trei had most of the weapons that Professor Idia had given us, but I kept some of them hidden in my room. I felt strange carrying them.

Carefully I climbed down the gutter, running to the far side of the courtyard to meet Trei. He was waiting for me.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded.

"As I'll ever be," I said.

"Then let's go."

We headed for the base. Trei claimed that he knew where it was, and that he had a map so we could find it. I hoped he was right.

                              _________________________________________

It was about forty minutes of walking before we got there. I looked around, seeing only one building near us. It was a big, old factory.

"So this is the base, huh? What do they do here?" I asked.

"It's a training facility," Trei answered.

"It's not as big as I thought it would be."

"Good thing too, because they would have triple the security," he told me.

"So...we just go in?"

"Not through the main doors. But there's got to be a way to sneak in. There usually is," Trei answered. He walked silently to the side of the building. There were two garage doors, both closed, and some guards posted beside them.

A truck rolled towards the doors, the weight of it making the gravel underneath crunch. One of the garage doors slowly opened, and it closed after the truck was inside.

"Trei?" I looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"I think we have a way in."

                              _________________________________________

"It's absolutely nuts, I know. But it could work." I sighed and studied my fingernails, waiting for Trei's comments. "Well? What do you think?" We were in the courtyard at the school the following day.

"You're right...on both accounts. We can figure out a way to pull it off." My eyes lit up.

"Really? You don't think it's a bad idea?" I asked. He nodded.

"It's crazy, but not impossible. It seems to be our only option," he answered. "First thing we'll have to do is figure out the schedule of those shipments. Then the rest depends on getting to a truck and kicking the driver out. Simple."

"Doesn't seem as difficult when you lay it all out, does it?" I laughed. Then, hearing the sound of the bell, I said, "I guess we'd better get to class."

                              _________________________________________

I tapped my foot impatiently, fidgeting constantly in my seat. Tonya looked at me.

"You okay?" she asked. I nodded.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You're distracting me. Could you try and calm down a little?" I nodded, forcing myself to sit still. It wasn't easy. Calming down never is.

The bell finally rang. I grabbed my books and did all to keep myself from running out of the classroom. I saw Trei in the hallway.

"Trei!" I called. He glared at me. "Er, I meant Tim," I corrected myself.

"You can't let yourself forget...Errin. Don't do that again," he warned.

"Okay, fine. Sorry. I just need to talk to you about this...um, school project that we're doing."

"Project?" I nodded.

"You remember. That project we were workign on? We should get started tonight."

"Oh, right. How about you start first, since it was your idea?" he suggested. I shrugged.

"I guess. It doesn't really matter to me, just as long as it gets done."

"Good. I'll work on it tomorrow night then, and we'll take turns."

"Agreed." We walked to our separate classrooms.

                              _________________________________________

It was dark outside when I left. Together, Trei and I had made a plan to steal a truck and just sneak in to the base we were trying to destroy. But first we had to figure out when they came, and where they came from. The 'where' part would have been easier because there were only one or two roads that lead to the Yeerk base.

"No problem," I whispered to myself as I climbed out of my window, empty-handed this time, and started on my very long walk.

Walking to the base took about 40 minutes. I timed myself. "This part of the mission shouldn't be so hard."

I waited for two hours for any kind of truck to arrive. It was unlikely that one would be there every day, but you never know. So I sat and looked around for two whole hours, almost going out of my mind with boredom. After coming to the conclusion that nothing was coming, I went back to the school.

                              _________________________________________

"Well?" Trei asked. We were on our way to class the next day.

"Nothing. Hopefully you'll have more luck. And you might want to take something to do with you. It's kind of boring waiting for trucks. I was there for almost two hours."

"Okay," he replied. "Thanks."

                              _________________________________________

Trei came back the next day with no good news to report. There had been no truck delivery, just as I had expected. This mission could turn out to be longer than I thought.

Things went along for about a half a week. Finally, the week after we had first spotted the truck at the Yeerk base, another one came. So Trei and I decided to put our plan into action the next week. That seemed to be the truck pattern.

We checked and double-checked and triple-checked our materials--except for the explosives, of course. Trei and I reviewed our plan over and over again, discussing all the major details and changing a few things around. We discussed the possible situations that we could get into, and came to the conclusion that we were completely ready.

But we weren't.

                              _________________________________________

Trei and I snuck out of our rooms again. It was kind of becoming routine. I wondered if any teachers noticed this unusual behavior from us. Hopefully not, because any of them could have been Controllers.

We went back to the Yeerk base with our tools: weapons, materials for breaking in, and the explosives.

"So...let's get this done," I muttered. We stood in front of the factory-turned-base. I looked down the long road that twisted and turned from the highway. I could just barely see the highway in the distance.

Beside the road stood some crates. When the delivery trucks came, they took those crates when they left. Our plan was so perfect...we couldn't fail. There was no way we could fail. That's what I thought at the time.

I helped Trei create a road block with the crates. There were easily twenty or more--these Yeerks really knew how to use up their upplies. Soon, we had an almost-waist-high barracade that was as thick as two of the crates. I sighed.

"Now that that's done...what next?" I asked.

"We wait," Trei answered.

"Good plan." So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, I saw headlights. A truck came into view. It rolled slowly along, careful not to make much noise, I guess. It slowed at the block that we had set up. The horn sounded once. A lot of cursing came from the driver as he opened the front door and stepped out of the truck. Trei nodded to me, and we both sprang from behing the blockade.

Trei took the driver seat, while I hid in back. I looked out the small window available in time to see Trei run through the crates as the truck's driver ran to the side, cursing at us. Trei sped up, the truck shaking upon impact with the crates. I winced.

"That's gonna leave a dent," I whispered.

We pulled up to the closed door of the factory. It began to open wider...wider...there! We were in! Trei parked the truck and got ut. I quietly opened the back door and followed him in through the service door.

"Where are we going to put these things?" I asked, pointing at my bag. Trei stopped.

"One of them goes here."

"Are they timed?"

"They're all controlled by this," he said, taking out a small detonator. I nodded. Slowly, I took one of the small black squares out of my bag and stuck it near the floor by the stairs. Trei flipped the top open and began to set it. "Now it'll explode if I push this." He showed me the button on his detonator unit.

"Well don't," I told him. "I kind of expected to get out of here as a whole person."

"I didn't plan on pushing the button until we were out."

"Oh," I muttered. Then, added as an afterthought, "Duh."

We went along, setting the bombs as we went. We had set about thirteen so far.

"I guess we should put one there," Trei told me. I reached into my bag.

"They're all gone," I said.

"Oh. That's even better. Now, let's get out of here." I nodded and turned...facing about six Controllers, who all had Dracon guns pointed at my head. I paniced. This perfect plan wasn't so perfect as I thought.

"Great. Now we'll be infested. And the Yeerks will know Stryfer's location. They'll win. This is just perfect," I thought bitterly. It was an ironic ending, I guess.

Then again, maybe not.

"Set it on stun," one of the Controllerd ordered. "We just want to capture them, not kill them."

"Right," another agreed. He switched the dial on his gun and...

Darkness.

                              _________________________________________

My head was pounding. I opened my eyes and sat up. I was on the floor of a dirty cell.

"Finally." I looked up and saw Trei. "I was wondering when you'd wake up." I looked around. We were the only ones in the cell, but we weren't alone. All around us were other Yeerk prisoners, locked up. Many of them, I guessed, were traitors. Far worse than us.

Someone was coming. I heard the slight echo of their footsteps on the concrete floor.

"What do you think they'll do with us?" I asked Trei. He shrugged.

"I doubt that they'll infest us. Killing us would just crush the hopes of hosts. We wouldn't be much use as Controllers."

"Why not?"

"Just like the Yeerks, the Stryfer buildings have BioFilters installed. But ours give off an alarm if there is a Yeerk in the head. We would be just like regular hosts, but stronger willed and harder to control." I nodded.

"I get it. So they'll probably..."

"They'll kill us." A grim fate awaited us either way. Kill or be infested. But I'd rather die than have a Yeerk in my head.

The footsteps got louder. A shadow fell across our cell and I looked up. I knew who this was. The leader of the invasion of Earth. We had seen many pictures of him at Stryfer. But I never thought I'd see him in real life.

"Let's see our little caged rats," he said, a mocking smile on his face.

"These are the soldiers, Visser Three," a guard told him.

"They're children," the Visser muttered. "These...these children snuck past security and almost destroyed the base?!" I cracked a smile. Obviously, he was surprised at our abilities.

"Y- yes sir," the guard stammered. "They had w- weapons with them...we believe that they're from Stryfer, sir, but they aren't talking." I looked at Trei.

"They know about-"

"Yeah. Long story. But they haven't figured out where the base is hidden. And we plan to keep it that way."

"So..." Visser Three hissed, looking at us, "Another plan from Stryfer foiled, eh? And now they're sending children after us? How low can they get?" I felt anger bubbling up in my chest like a wave of heat. My throat burned with it, my vision was clouded by it. That's what anger does. It seeps into your brain and controls your actions, almost like a Yeerk does. And angry people do crazy things.

"Not as low as you, Yeerks. Stryfer doesn't control us. We can at least control ourselves! You disgust me!" I spat. Trei nudged my back with his foot, a warning. I stopped talking. The Visser was silent for a minute. But then...he started to laugh.

"I see that we have a little firecracker locked up in here," he chuckled. "But girl," he then said, "If you say another word, I will kill you myself." I stared calmly at him, a sudden confidence coming into control. It surprised me.

"What will we do with them, sir?" Visser three looked at the guard, then at us.

"Kill them. In the morning, in front of an audience. It will bring down the hosts' spirits." Trei had been right. But...could we escape from it?

                              _________________________________________

I don't know how much time passed when another person came. It felt like years, but it could have been half an hour for all I knew.

He stood in front of us, hands behind his back, and smiled.

"These are the intruders?" he inquired.

"Yes, Sub-Visser," the guard told him.

"Two kids...they can't be older than fifteen." He stared at us for a minute then turned to the guard. "Release the girl."

"What? But she's...they're Stryfer soldiers. Visser Three has ordered their execution," the guard objected.

"I want her to deliver a message for me." The cell door opened.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Don't question my orders. Release the damn child!" the Sub-Visser snapped. The Controller opened the door, grabbed my arm, and led me out of the cell. The door closed behind me. I stood weakly and looked at the Sub-Visser. "I have a message for you to deliver," he told me.

"What?" I asked, not having the energy to argue with him.

"Tell your Stryfer friends that the Yeerks will win. Tell them that we have your friend, and when he dies, the hope of millions will die with him. Tell your friends at Stryfer that," he hissed. I glared at him silently. He grinned. "Let her go." The guard released me. My knees trembled and I rubbed my arm. "Show her the way out." The Sub-Visser's orders were obeyed...they let me go.

                              _________________________________________

I ran. Like a coward, I ran. Back to the school. Immediately, I picked up the phone and practicaly hammered the numbers with my fist. I was calling Stryfer for assistance.

"I need to speak to Professor Idia!" I cried out of panic.

"Please hold."

"Yes?" It was Professor Idia. I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"This is Alyssa," I told her.

"Oh, it's you! How's your assignment coming?" she asked. I sighed.

"Not very well." Taking a deep breath, I told her the whole story.

"So Trei was captured? What about you?"

"I was too, but they let me go," I told her. She was silent for a minute.

"Alyssa," she said somberly, "Pack up your weapons, your explosives, everything. Get out of there--wherever you are, leave! Now!"

"But-"

"DO IT!" She hung up. I slammed the phone down and packed up everything I had brought with me. It all fit into my duffel bag. I picked up the bookbag full of other things I had been given by Stryfer and ran from the building. I realized what Professor Idia meant. They would have followed me, thinking I had gone back to Stryfer. And they'd try to destroy it.

I ran faster.

"Errin!" I stopped. It was...

"Brad?! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you the same question," he told me. I tossed him my bookbag, not completely sure that I trusted him with the weapons inside. But he didn't have to know they were there, did he?

"Run," I said. "As fast as you can. We have to get away from here!" I grabbed his hand and we got away. My heart was pounding, adrenaline pumping in my veins. Suddenly the whole school burst into flames. I was knocked to the ground, dragging Brad with me. He yelled something that doesn't need to be repeated.

I covered my head, being hit with pieces of wood and debris. He did the same.

After it was done, I sat up and looked at the ruined school.

"What the hell was that?!" Brad demanded. "What happened?!" He looked at me and took a deep breath. "Well?"

"I- I can't tell you," I replied hastily, standing up and brushing myself off. It was useless, though, my black pants had grass stains all over them. Too bad.

"What do you mean, can't tell me?! The school just blew up! I want to know why!"

"Brad." I grabbed his shoulders as he stood and glared at him. "If I tell you, you can't breathe a word of it to anyone. Not even to yourself. Can you promise to do that?" He stared at me. "Promise me!" I shook his shoulders, looking past him at the remaining flames of the school. He slowly nodded.

"I...um, I promise," he stuttered.

"Okay. It started a while ago..." I slowly explained everything from the beginning.

"Errin...that's nuts," he said after I was done.

"No, not Errin. Alyssa," I told him.

"Alyssa. Fine, whatever. You're crazy either way!"

"That's what I thought about the whole thing at first. But now...oh shit, Trei...come on!" I dragged him for forty minutes back to the Yeerk base.

"Where are we going?" he demanded.

"Yeerks...they have Trei."

"Who's Trei?"

"He was pretending to be my brother," I said.

"Oh. But why here?"

"This is a Yeerk military training base. They have him inside. They're going to kill him tomorrow."

"Let me guess: you want me to help you rescue him?" I shrugged.

"You can't be too much of a setback."

"So now I'm a setback?" I shook my head and kept running.

                              _________________________________________

"The problem is how to get in, right? Have you, ah, have you checked everything? Maybe there's a basement?" Brad suggested.

"I don't know. But we can try to find something." I nodded.

We had almost surveyed the whole base. As Brad and I came back towards the path to the ruined school, he fell. I turned around.

"Ouch," he muttered. "I guess I tripped on a rock." I walked back and gave him my hand. He got up. I looked down at what he fell over and realized something.

"That's not a rock." I pointed to the metal doors almost hidden in the ankle-high grass. "It's a way in."

We pulled the rusting doors. They opened, but not without creaking and groaning. I was afraid that we'd get caught. Someone was bound to hear the noise.

Luckily, no one came. Brad and I looked at the darkness behind the opened doors hesitantly.

"After you," he mumbled. I nodded and stepped down the stairs that were there. He followed me. We were in...the hard part would be rescuing Trei.

                              _________________________________________

"So where is he?" Brad asked.

"I don't know," I told him.

"Then wha-" I pulled him aside. Three Controllers rounded the corner, followed by a man in a business suit. I recognized him as the Sub-Visser that had let me go.

"We have reports that there are two intruders in the building," one of the Controllers said.

"Is that right?" the Sub-Visser responded.

"We think it may be the Stryfer soldier that you, ah, released."

"Could be."

"She'll want to retrieve her partner."

"Then take him out of the base. Ship him off to another one. No harm done."

"Against Visser Three's orders?"

"These are Visser Three's orders. Get the kid and put him somewhere. He'll be gone by morning."

"Yes sir." The Controllers continued walking, in a separate direction from the Sub-Visser.

"Follow them," I hissed to Brad, pointing at the three Controllers. And we did.

                              _________________________________________

They went back to the small prison for traitors...people like us. Stryfer soldiers, I mean. I stood behind the door, silently listening to whatever they were doing. But all I could hear was low mumbles.

The door was flung open, two men carrying an unconscious Trei from the room. I nodded to Brad, who was beside me. Once they had turned their backs to us, we followed them.

Brad stopped me three hallways later.

"How are we going to get them to release your friend?"

"You still have my backpack?" He nodded. "Give it to me." He tossed me the bag and I unsipped it, bringing out two weapons. I gave one to him and kept one for myself. Then I threw the bookbag on my shoulders and we continued following Trei's captors.

"What do you plan to do?" I looked at Brad. It was a silly question for him to ask. I didn't answer it.

                              _________________________________________

They were going to the garage that Trei and I had snuck into. We would have to make a move...and soon.

"Brad?"

"What?"

"When I say so, aim at the Controllers and start firing. But don't hit Trei, got it?" I asked. He just stared at me for a moment.

"What?! You're crazy!" he then cried. I clapped my hand over his mouth.

"Unless you want to get killed, you'll follow my orders. Do you understand me?" He nodded, wide-eyed. "Good. Remember, when I say so..." I pulled my hand away from him and turned my attention to Trei. He was still out cold.

I sighed and slid forward, very slowly and quietly.

"Ready...now!" I started shooting at the Controllers. There were only two, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of them.

Brad stood like a stone, not even blinking. One after the other, the two Controllers fell. Trei fell too.

"You idiot! Brad, you could have helped a little!" I said. Then, a memory...

                                               ~*~

"You're telling me that they're evil slugs from space?! Are you nuts? Do you think I'm stupid?" I snapped.

"It's true, every word of it!" Trei insisted, stopping to throw his bookbag down, taking a small gun out of the front pocket. I gasped and said a few words that need not be repeated as Trei handed the weapon to me and took out an identical one. I looked from him to the gun, astonished that I was even holding it. Trei turned and started shooting at the men behind us.

They opened fire. I panicked.

"What do I do? What do I do?!" I shrieked.

"Kill them!"

"I'm not a freaking assassin! I don't kill people!" I snapped. Trei sighed and continued shooting. I shut my eyes tight and the shooting ceased quickly. I took my hands away from my eyes, thinking that my heart would explode from beating too fast. This whole day was insane!

"You could try and be a little more helpful next time."

                                               ~*~

Brad was standing in the corner, leaning against the wall. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just being a little tense, I guess. You'll get used to it." Slowly, a grin spread across his face.

"S'ok. No big deal. Let's get your buddy out of here before they figure out that something's wrong." Brad and I went to where Trei was just barely awake. I looked down at him.

"Alyssa?" he asked slowly. I cocked a half-smile.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," I told him. I pulled him up. Brad and I led him out of the building.

"Alyssa," Trei said dryly, "This is one mission I would not like to repeat." I laughed.

"Same here," I agreed.

"I think I agree," Brad mumbled. That was it. My first mission...practically a failure. But for some reason, I didn't care.

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