“Have you seen Josh recently? He looks terrible, like he hasn’t slept for weeks,” Alice asked.

Alice turned to look where Josh was sitting, and when he noticed her look he glared hard at her. “Yeah. Just checking, but he definitely still hates me.”

“Well, I still owe him that kick in the balls you know," Julia replied, "I was fully serious when I said that. Maybe that will straighten him out.”

Alice looked to Julia, “What balls?” She said with a straight face for a moment before they both cracked.

They both laughed, and Josh smoldered more. Alice knew she was being a little mean, but frankly she was past caring. Josh had been silently glaring at her for over a month now, and Julia told her that he was still trying to trash her behind her back whenever he could. He should just leave her alone, she was perfectly happy to pretend he didn’t exist. People didn’t listen as much to Josh anymore, but some still believed him despite everything. All he had to do was stop!

“Alice?”

“Just zoned out for a second. Sorry, what did you say?” Alice said shaking off her negative thoughts.

“I asked how the chemistry homework went. It took me like three hours to do. Did you understand the part…”

They kept chatting about classes until the end of lunch when they had split up since they were in different classes. Josh’s eyes followed her as she walked out of the door.

— — — O — o — O — — —

“And that’s all, folks. Remember to stretch, don’t want to get cramps later.”

Alice touched her toes, and her lungs burned slightly as she took deep breaths. The long run today had been more intense than normal. The girl up front had taken a wrong turn and they had ended up running six miles instead of the planned four as they tried to find their way back. It had actually been pretty exciting, but everyone was tired after they got back.

Alice picked up her backpack and waved goodbye to everyone as she made her way back up to the school. She stood on the curb, waiting for her dad to arrive. Times for Julia’s theater practice were pretty inconsistent, so sometimes she got out early and they chatted and other times Alice left before she came out. Alice perked up as she heard Josh’s voice from around the corner of the building.

“...How can you say that? Let’s just try again. I’ve just been having a rough time recently. I’m sorry if…”

Alice jolted as she heard Julia’s voice respond,

“It’s over Josh. I told you that last year. Especially after you bullied Alice in the beginning of the year. What did she ever do to you? I don’t even know why I came here.”

Josh’s voice grew angry,

“So now it’s all about Alice again, huh? Why is it always her?” His voice grew mocking as Alice stood frozen around the corner, unsure of what to do.

“You know, now I know why you broke up with me. You’re not into guys at all. Too busy with your new Girlfriend.”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything about it, it’s not like that. We’re just friends.”

“Who do you think you’re fooling?" Josh said sharply, "You two practically spend practically every spare second together. You’re practically throwing yourself at her. The only way you could be more obvious is if you two started kissing in the hallways.”

“You don’t know anything Josh. Just because I don’t want to be with a prick like you doesn’t mean I’m not into guys!”

Alice heard angry footsteps coming her way and panicked, looking around for a way to escape. But it was too late. Julia rounded the corner and froze as she saw Alice standing there, obviously guilty and panicked. Her face flushed a deep red and voice squeaked as she spoke. “Alice?”

Josh rounded the corner, still sneering only to freeze as well as he saw Alice. Julia edged away from Josh until they stood in an awkward triangle.

“So, um. Alice. What did you hear?” Julia hesitantly spoke up.

“A lot. Enough to know that Josh doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You’re my best friend, something Josh wouldn’t get that with those followers he has trailing around behind him all the time.”

Josh shouted in rage as his neck flushed red,

“Shut up! All of this is your fault. Everything! You ratted me out, stole my girlfriend. This is all.”

He took a step forward, but Alice didn’t let herself step away and stared him down.

“On.”

He was within spitting distance now.

“You.”

He was big and muscular, and enraged. He raised his hands towards her neck as if to choke her, madness in his eyes. Alice took a step back and put herself in a fighting stance. She had trained as hard as she could when she was trapped in a box by the ADF right after Harmony. She could handle this prick.

“Hya!”

Julia came flying from the side and shoved Josh to the side, and he stumbled. Her form was terrible, and Alice wasn’t ready when Josh shifted focus. His eyes were wild, seeming to barely see his surroundings. As Julia went to shove him again, he drew back his fist and punched her in the head with full force.

Time slowed down as Alice watched the impact slow to a crawl. She watched frozen as Josh’s fist snapped Julia’s head to the side, landing directly on her cheek. Julia’s body spun in the air as Julia’s body continued its forward momentum, only her head remaining motionless. Julia fell slowly to the ground and Alice felt her breathing quicken and her heart race. The world narrowed.

The headless monster was standing next to her, the massive eye in the center of its chest staring her down in the stairwell. The Infected. It stood over Julia, fist poised to crush her into paste. Julia’s body kept spinning and she hit the concrete, grass. Concrete. Josh, no the monster stood over her. It was going to kill her. It had killed them. Alice had to stop it. She wouldn’t let any more of them die.

Alice leapt forward and put her full body behind a right hook across the headless monster’s chin. There was a flicker of confusion, but it went away as the monster went to turn towards her again after the blow. Julia was now behind her, Alice had to protect them. Alice kicked the monster with a hard roundhouse kick to its knee and heard something crack. The thing fell to the ground, the eye on its chest glaring at her. Judging her.

Alice felt something brush across her skull. Wind? No, the creature’s telepathy. She had to stop it! She leapt forward and leapt on top of the creature and brought it to the ground. She began pounding the eye in the center of its chest as hard as she could, but nothing she could do could stop its glare. The eye kept shifting positions for some reason even as she straddled its form. Always judging her, mocking her. She had to stop it from killing the others. It’s hand came up to ward her off, but she brushed it aside. She had to kill it before it stood from… it… the… the grass? Shouldn’t there be concrete? Why was she outside?

In a daze, Alice looked down and realized that her hands weren’t stained with inky black fluid. With alien blood.

Her hands were red.

Alice stood shakily to her feet and started hyperventilating as she looked down at the broken body of Josh, who was out cold. Julia was face down on the grass, and Alice rushed over to her in a panic as people in the distance began to cry out and shout. Alice flipped over Julia with shaking hands, only to sag to the ground as she saw that she was breathing. But a massive bruise was already welling up on one of Julia's cheek. Alice hugged her, and began to cry again as all of the emotions washed over her at once as she realized what she did. And what she had almost done.

— — — O — o — O — — —

Alice tried to suppress her reaction as she rode in the back of the ambulance with Julia. Julia was still out cold, but the EMTs thought she would be fine. Her dad eyed her in concern as she sat there staring into nothing. Her hands were still shaking. They had brought a second ambulance for Josh after they heard what happened. They had been much more concerned for him than they had been for Julia. Alice’s hands were still red, there hadn’t been time to clean them. They should have been inky, not red. What had come over her? She barely even remembered what happened. Why had she done that to him? It had all felt so real…

They arrived at the hospital and Julia was wheeled off for a scan while she was told to wait in the lobby. Someone looked at her hands, but left her alone once it was clear she wasn’t injured. Only a few bruises from where she had hurt herself hitting Josh. It was almost nostalgic as Alice looked around. It was almost the same as the lobby in Harmony, with only little differences. Even the overworked and tired expressions of the nurses were all the same.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Her dad sat next to her and just put an arm over her shoulders. She leaned against him, and continued to stare into nothing.

“Alice Lovelace?”

Alice looked up and saw the two police officers from Halloween standing there. Alice felt her dad’s arm around her tighten.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with us. I think you know why.”

He glanced down to the dried blood covering Alice’s forearms. Her hands were still covered, why hadn’t she washed them clean? Her dad started arguing with the two men, but Alice could only focus on her stained hands for a few seconds. She looked up and tuned into the world again after a few seconds,

“...Criminal! You think my daughter attacked a big muscular guy like that! It’s obviously self defense. Her friend is in the hospital right now! That lunatic knocked her out!”

The officers looked uncomfortable, but didn’t budge.

“Be that as it may, we need her to come in until we figure out what really happened.”

“Fine, but I’m going with her.”

“How old is she?” The officer said.

“...Nineteen,” Dad responded reluctantly.

“Then she is an adult and will be interviewed as such. You can come to the station, but she will be held separately until we get the full story.”

“This is outrageous! You… You… You’re doing this now? You incompetent…”

Alice stood, still feeling out of it. “It’s fine dad, I’ll go and you can call our lawyers. They can sort this out. Just make sure to call them.”

Dad’s flushed face flashed with realization, and he nodded. “Wait here a minute. Then we’ll go to the station together.”

He stepped away and the two officers shifted, looking as if they wanted to grab and escort her out of there without waiting. What was their deal? Alice felt herself become more anchored to reality as Dad finally came back.

“Alright, our lawyers told me they’ll deal with this. But it might take a while before things are fixed.”

With that, Alice and her Dad were led into the back of a patrol vehicle and driven to the police station. There at the front desk flashing his badge was a man Alice recognized. One of the ADF from her protection detail in civilian clothing. He nodded to her subtly as she was led past him. It seems the secretary wasn’t liking the man exerting his authority.

Alice hoped she could get out of here quickly. They still hadn’t told her if Julia would be okay. They led her into a room and sat her in front across from a frowning detective with a little notepad. It had taken a while as they took her pictures and fingerprints.

Alice was sure the fingerprints and mugshots were going to be the first things the ADF would erase. Her hands were finally cleaned too. She flipped her hand over and over inspecting her pale skin. It was so surreal. The detective’s pen hovered over the paper as he looked at her. He started speaking immediately as he sat down. Overwhelming her before she could stop and think rationally.

“Alright, so let’s start at the beginning. We have some interviews from the scene. Word is that conflict has been building between you and your classmate Josh Taylor for the school year. There was a prior incident where Josh Taylor was disciplined for his behavior? Let’s start there.”

Alice remembered her ADF training and cleared her throat and tried to speak with disinterest. They didn’t want her giving away info in case the local PD questioned her like this. The detective would needle her more if he sensed weakness.

“Lawyer. I want my lawyer first.”

The man frowned deeper.

“Now Alice, can I call you Alice? This is a serious situation you’re in here. It’s best for everyone involved if you cooperate and tell your side of the story first. We’re on your side for this.”

Alice nearly scoffed, but held it in. The ADF had told her about this part as well.

“Law-yer.”

The man huffed and stood.

“Fine. We’ll wait until your father manages to hire somebody. If you had one before, they would be here already. But in the meantime you’ll be waiting and wasting time for everybody.”

— — — O — o — O — — —

The door opened up again and Alice opened her mouth only to freeze when she saw who it was. Mr. Taylor stood there with his wide grin, pulling up a chair and sitting down.

“Funny seeing you here, Alice. I told you we would see each other again. Not quite the way I expected, but it’ll do. Nice work you did on my son earlier.”

Alice felt a chill run down her spine as the smiling man complimented her earnestly.

“What… What do you want? How are you here?”

“Why, I’m here for you Alice! I thought you knew that already. I’m your…”

He leaned in and whispered as if it was a secret. “...Lawyer.”

He sat back. “You can tell me anything. Anything at all.”

Alice looked to the door, but there was no one there. She looked to the tinted glass to the side hoping somebody would come in. She was getting uncomfortable.

“Oh, there’s no one coming.”

Alice looked back to Mr. Taylor. His expression and smile hadn’t shifted the whole time they spoke.

“I know a lot of people, and they helped arrange this private conversation.”

Alice gulped.

“I thought I’d let you know how so very… vulnerable you are. I could kill you right now, and nothing could stop me. It would be very inconvenient, but not impossible.”

Alice jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall.

“Ki… Kill me? Why? What… What did I ever do to you?”

“Besides beat my son within an inch of his life?”

You would think his words would be serious, but he still said it with that same damned grin the whole time. As if it was the funniest joke he had ever heard.

“No, I can see that not even you believe that one. So tell you what, I’ll be straight with you.”

Mr. Taylor stood to his feet and straightened his tie for a moment. He stared at her for a moment before a red line became visible down the center of his skull, running vertically down the center of his face over his nose. With a *crack* the red line furrowed inwards after which it began to split open horizontally. A mass of tentacles shot out from the opening, thrashing and latching tightly a foot away from his face.

Alice backed away, breathing heavily as the alien stood there silently as its tentacles replaced the face, whipping and thrashing with wet thwacks of tentacle on human skin sounding throughout the room. After a moment, the tentacles receded and the man’s face sealed back together. There was a red furrow in his face, and his skull was indented inwards at the front. But with a sick *crack* the skull reshaped and the red line healed into smooth whitish skin.

Alice pointed an accusing finger at the smiling Mr. Taylor.

“You’re… You’re one of the Infected. You survived?!”

“Why of course little Alice. And I met you personally while you were there. If only for a short while. You remember Officer Nick, don’t you? Questioning you on your unfortunate incident. Well nice to meet you again! And even with an upgrade, as you can see here.”

He gave a happy little spin. Alice could see now how his face was frozen in that smile. She did remember Officer Nick. He had spoken to her briefly in Harmony. She had been sure he had been human. But Ted Taylor’s expression was frozen in that smile. Just like the ones back in Harmony had been frozen in boredom.

“And I prefer Spawn. It’s closest to the image we use for our species. Quite insulting you humans haven’t named us properly yet, really.”

“Are. Are you here to kill me?”

“No, not yet. I’m not here to threaten you.”

Alice looked at him, in suspicion.

“I’m here to threaten your family and friends! And maybe their families too.”

Mr. Taylor’s voice dropped low. “If you tell the ADF or anything what or who I am, then they get hurt. Proportionate response you know. Should I start with dear old dad, or your new little friend first?”

Alice’s breath hitched, “Why… Why are you doing this? Why threaten them? Please, just…”

“Oh, no. I’ve been on the run and bored for over a year now. I’m not letting go of the first source of entertainment I’ve had in ages.”

“Entertainment? That’s all. You’re doing this just So! Why shouldn’t I tell them? The ADF will protect the others too.”

“Maybe. But do you really believe that? They will sequester you away for your protection. Maybe even your father for your stability. But will little Julia be saved? Her family, and two cute little brothers? Will the ADF think they are important too? All I have to do to get them is wait a few weeks at most.”

“They… They…”

They wouldn’t. They only cared about the mission. Julia would be left to die, and they would lie to her and say that Julia was fine. They might even use Julia's family as bait to help capture this thing.

“What do you even want from me?!”

“Nothing, I just want you to wonder. Wonder when next I will appear. What I'm thinking and planning of next. A fun game of back and forth between us. Goodbye little Alice. And remember. Not a word to anyone or people start getting hurt. This little game is between just the two of us.”

With that, the alien, the Spawn left. Alice was reeling. What should she do? The ADF was supposed to protect her, and they let this happen. Let it into the room unopposed. She had no doubt they would have pulled out all stops if they say Mr. Taylor’s transformation. She couldn’t tell them or Julia was dead.

A few minutes later the detective walked in, still frowning with another man in a suit next to him. Her dad was close behind.

“Alice, this is your lawyer. I can’t be here for this part, but make sure you listen to him," he said, "He’ll guide you through and help you get out of here.”

“Okay.”

“Alice, are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost.”

Alice started giggling as the stress overflowed. She really had seen a ghost. She had thought all the Spawn had been dead until just now. Wasn’t that so funny?

“Are you okay?” Dad said in concern.

Alice’s laughter petered out. Her voice squeaked as she tried to shut down her dad’s concern.

“I’m fine! Just fine. I just want to get this over with.”

“Alright, but we’ll talk afterward.”

“Okay.”

Her dad left and the lawyer sat to her side, and the detective the opposite. The lawyer sat at attention as the detective began, choosing his words more deliberately this time.

“Alright, let’s start at the beginning…”