Chapter 85

The Little Brat

At Mr. Osmond's house, in Mr. Osmond's living room, Jason lay on Mr. Osmond's couch watching TV, while Leo paced restlessly nearby.

I've been informed that millions of people called in to work this morning asking if the world had ended. To answer their questions, no. No such luck. Get your asses in to work, the TV announcer said.

Yeah, I hear you. Damn aliens can't do anything right. The second voice responded.

“I never expected the end of the world would be this boring,” Jason said. “Can you quit pacing? You're making me nervous.”

Leo left the living room and wandered around the house, unable to relax or even sit down. He knew he should try to calm down, but couldn't. On a bookshelf next to Mr. Osmond's desk, he found “Homemade Bombs Made Easy,” and paged through it. It was gibberish to him. He continued to look around and found more books on guns, bombs, and makeshift weapons.

Odd, a man who'd never used any weapon Leo was aware of, would have so many books on how to make them.

The hours crawled by at a snail-like pace. Leo got several implant messages, all to the effect that nothing of any consequence was happening. If the aliens were doing anything, they were being awfully quiet about it.

Leo texted his sister once that morning to make sure everything was okay.

She'd texted back. No. I have this stupid creep brother who keeps bothering me.

So Lydia was fine. Little brat.

For lunch, they helped themselves to food from Mr. Osmond's refrigerator. Leo knew he should play more School's Out or do some last-minute preparation, but couldn't force himself to do so. At this time in his previous life, he'd been fighting to survive. He remembered sneaking around, finding an oversized hoodie in a backyard he was sneaking through, and putting it on.

“You can just stay here, or get a ride to the church if you want,” Leo told Jason when the clock's hands finally moved around to 3:00 in the afternoon. “I'm going to go home and check on my idiot sister.”

“No, that's fine,” Jason said. “I'm coming with you.”

The walk back home was uneventful. If anything, after all the excitement of the non-end of the world, things seemed calmer than normal.

Not only was Lydia home when they arrived, but she'd brought her friend, Kayla, a pretty blond girl

“It's a monster! Run!” Kayla screamed when she saw them and the two girls ran from the room.

The TV, of course, was on.

Die, implant-wearer scum! Then sounds of a chainsaw.

Leo felt a tentacle against his neck. “Eeee.” He jumped over three feet, flinging himself away from the tentacle before realizing it was his sister holding some kind of rubber octopus. Leo yanked the rubber octopus out of her hands and threw it at her, hard enough for the toy to hit her face with an audible thwap, before it fell to the floor.

Lydia ran away laughing. “I know what you were going to tell me. It was easy to guess. You're that crazy implant kid.”

“What makes you think so?” Leo asked.

“When I said I felt sorry for the implant kid the Monday before last. It was the look on your face when you said 'he must be stupid'. And you've been completely insane since September 14th. That's when the crazy implant kid supposedly got his implant.”

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“Your brat sister's pretty smart,” Jason said.

“Don't remind me,” Leo said. “Fine. Lydia, you're right. On September 14th, I put on an implant, and I lived for fifty years. I saw the human race go extinct. It was a bit traumatizing, and yes, I've been spending the past month trying to warn everyone and prepare, which hasn't been easy.”

Leo thought of everything he hadn't been able to do during that time. It would have been neat if he could have fixed his bicycle, for example. He couldn't remember the last time he'd ridden a bike. Not to mention fixing Dad's motorcycle and learning to operate it. All the things he'd never do, unless he had saved the world, which he strongly doubted.

Leo followed Lydia into the kitchen. “In my previous future, on this day, I went to school, and all hell broke loose. I snuck back home, thinking if I could make it home, everything would be okay. When I made it home, the front door was open and the place was deserted. By anyone living anyway. There were gnawed-on bones in the kitchen and a scary amount of blood.” Lydia stopped next to the kitchen table, curious enough to stay put and listen. “I don't know who or what the blood and bones belonged to because I couldn't force myself to look, or even go into the kitchen. That's when I left the house and never returned. I searched for you at the refugee camp but didn't expect to find you. Even back then, I knew on some level the bones must have been yours, Lydia.”

Lydia shook her head. “You're crazy. I'm not dead, I'm standing right here, and I'm telling Mom you need a shrink.”

“Things are different this time around, and I don't claim to understand it or know what's going to happen next. And not knowing scares me.” Leo grabbed his wallet, pulled out the almost weightless tinfoil-looking implant, and slapped it on the table. “That's why I made this for you. It's an implant and it will help keep you safe.”

“I knew it! You did make one!” Jason shouted. “You lied to me! And you can't even stand your sister. She's a little brat!”

“I'm sorry, Jason, but she's my sister! And I didn't tell you about it because I knew you'd get like this. I'm making one for you, I promise. Just be patient.” Leo turned back to his sister. “Lydia, put on the implant.”

“No!” Lydia shouted, backing away. “It made you crazy and I'm not going near that thing!”

Imp responded.

Forcing an implant on another person is against the rules, Leo. If you persist in this, both the second implant and I will self destruct.

“My apologies,” Leo responded. Then he said out loud, “Lydia, put on the damn implant. Please!”

“No! I'm telling Mom!” Lydia ran from the kitchen. They could hear her pounding on Mom's bedroom door.

Leo slumped into a kitchen chair and realized he was shaking.

“That wasn't how it was supposed to go,” he said to himself. Things were spiraling out of control. That he hadn't slept in the past few days wasn't helping.

“Come on, Leo. You know I'll make better use of it than your sister,” Jason said.

Leo sighed. He had to admit his friend was right. “Okay, Jason, here's the deal. I give you the implant and show you how to use it. You help me look after Lydia, and you make a second implant. If Lydia wants it, it's hers. I'm making an implant, and I'll offer it to her as well.” If one of them got killed in the next month, Lydia would still get an implant.

Jason quickly nodded.

Leo handed Jason the implant.

With no hesitation, Jason slapped the implant on his left wrist. It sank beneath his skin as it merged with his body. Moments later, Jason grinned. “Hi, Imp. I'm Jason.”

A loud, frightened, unhappy yowling filled the house. Lydia's cat, Sparkles, had gotten up and was standing on top of the easy chair. The cat's hair stood up, and it looked terrified. It turned around, ran away, and hid underneath the couch.

“Sparkles, what's wrong with you?” Lydia called. “Kayla, what are you doing with that knife? And why are you drooling? That is so gross.”

“What the hell?” Jason asked.

“Quiet!” Leo mouthed at Jason.

Jason nodded quickly.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Leo's fragile hope that they had somehow averted the apocalypse collapsed, and he just wanted to cry.

Leo's pack was by the front door, and there wasn't time to go back for it. He moved as quickly and silently as humanly possible, grabbed a pan from the sink, and crept into the hallway.

It was the smell. That's why the cat yowled. The smell of Afflicted, a smell the cat knew well, thanks to its previous experience with the Early Bloomer Afflicted lady, and with a better sense of smell than a human, it had noticed the smell before Leo.

Kayla was changing.

Leo crept into the hallway. Kayla was standing there, holding a small knife she must have gotten from the kitchen. Her back was to Leo as she faced Lydia, who was standing in front of Mom's bedroom door.

“Kayla, what are you doing? You are acting really weird,” Lydia said.

Leo got within striking distance of Kayla. He raised the pan and swung.