Battlefield

by J. F. Jenkins

  Great, Orlando’s fists clenched at the thought. The last thing he wanted to do was save the world while he went to class, but maybe Alan would be gracious enough to let him off the hook.

  “Your ship is here?” Orlando whispered. The halls were thinning out now, and he walked slower as he tried to read his schedule and maneuver his way around at the same time. His mouth barely moved. No one else seemed to notice or care though. He was as invisible as ever, just as he preferred.

  “It is, and always following this location on your planet. Surely you’ve noticed it. The red object in the sky that never leaves?”

  He nodded. He'd noticed it, sort of. It reminded him of the sun as it passed along the horizon, only on a much smaller scale. Like a large star, only it was always present and always red. The connection between it and Alan had been made, but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Now he knew.

  “I receive a great deal of information from it frequently. There are members of my tribe stationed all over the planet. They seem to think this area will be one of the most important fields,” Alan said.

  “Great...”

  “I do not understand how this is a good thing.”

  “Sarcasm,” Orlando mumbled under his breath. He stopped outside of his next classroom just as the bell rang. With a deep breath, he walked in.

  To say the day was long would have been an understatement. There were no words to describe how it was going. Every time he tried to focus on his lectures, he found his mind wandering to what Alan had said. His new school was a possible headquarters for the enemy? There was no way Lyssa could have known, but it felt too creepy to be a coincidence. He vented his feelings through his doodles.

  He was working on one doodle in particular at the lunch table. Four classes under his belt, and he was ready for the end of the day. Three more to go. He was grateful for the late lunch. It made the remainder of the day seem much shorter.

  In the past he always sat alone, making sure to find a table in the back corner of the cafeteria near the windows, and this is what he did today as well. Most importantly, he made sure to pick a table that was obviously not already claimed by a clique of some sort; the last thing he wanted to do was invade on anyone else’s territory. He had a lunch from home that he had thrown together at the last minute, figuring it would be better for him to play it safe rather than sorry. One could never be too sure what kind of slop the school would try to serve under the guise of food.

  Alan was nearby, standing and observing the students with great interest. Orlando glanced up and saw the Peyton boy walking with the Tait girl. Typical, of course the all-American jock would date the perfect cheerleader. Gag me. It was like they had been pulled out of some old fifties sitcom.

  Peyton and he made eye contact, and the other guy actually waved, and then glared at Tait when she said something to him. He walked over to Orlando and took a seat at the table across from him.

  “Yes? What can I do for you?” Orlando asked, looking up from his drawings.

  “Nothing, I just want to sit here. I mean, if that’s okay because I don’t want to intrude on your personal bubble or anything,” Peyton said.

  He closed his notebook and gave Peyton his full attention. “You’re not. Am I going to be playing third wheel or is she sitting elsewhere?” He stared at Tait with a raised eyebrow.

  She rolled her eyes. “Third wheel? Ew, no. Peyton’s my twin brother. You’re not on much of a winning streak right now, are you?” She sat down in the seat between the two boys.

  Orlando offered her the most sarcastic and large grin he could fit onto his face. “I’ve got a higher score than you, Ra-Ra Barbie.”

  “I take it you two have met,” Peyton said as he watched the exchange between the two. It was clear he couldn’t tell if he should be sticking up for his sister, or laughing at her. Finally deciding on laughing, he started to work through his lunch. “Ra-Ra Barbie, I’m going to have to remember that one.”

  Tait threw one of her French fries at her brother and another at Orlando. Peyton ate his; he, on the other hand, took the fry and sniffed it.

  “What? Have you never seen a French fry before?” she asked.

  “Is it really French? Your educational system is more cultured than I thought,” Alan said, once more reminding Orlando of his presence. It took everything within him to not reply to the alien and remember that he was invisible. If I keep ignoring him, he'll go away.

  He tossed the fry back at the alien so he could play with it if he so chose. “Nope, never. I live under a rock obviously.”

  “Hey, you know what?” Peyton interjected quickly. “You should come to the football game tonight.”

  He raised an eyebrow, trying to decide if this guy was serious or not. “You want me to come to a game?”

  In the past, he’d always idolized the football team. Growing up, they were the coolest guys he could ever aspire to be. He’d been fairly decent at it in middle school even, and upon making the JV team his freshman year at Morningtide, he’d learned more than he ever wanted to about the team. Still, he enjoyed the sport. It’d be a good chance for him to go out and maybe even live a little.

  “Sure, why not? We usually check out this shop called Nan’s afterwards. They’ve got awesome malts and pie. It’d be a good chance for you to get to know some more people.” The smile on Peyton’s face suggested he was being genuine enough, but that didn’t change one minor detail about Orlando’s current situation.

  “I’m supposed to be grounded. Who knows though, maybe she’ll be so shocked I actually want to go that I’ll be allowed out of the house,” he said.

  “Mom got you on a tight leash?”

  “Yeah, something like that. So you might see me there, you might not. I’m not going to make any promises.” He shifted in his seat, glad the whole school didn’t know everything about him. It was too soon for the grapevine to know details about his home life.

  “I won’t hold my breath,” Tait said.

  Just for that, he had to find a way to come and prove her wrong, or he felt like he had to for some reason. He wasn’t sure why, but he was determined not to meet whatever mental image she had of him. Sneaking out wouldn’t be hard to do. Lyssa would never notice he was gone. She barely noticed when he was there.

  Alan added more of his own commentary. “Wouldn’t it be wise to join your comrades tonight if you are able to leave? You do have a task to perform. Wait, ask if this...game...is going to be played here?”

  This was a question he didn’t mind asking for his alien boss. “Is it a home game?”

  “Yup, just make something up. I mean, you gotta mesh and meet people here. They can’t punish you forever,” Peyton said.

  “I like the way you think,” Orlando said with a small laugh. Was he actually cracking out of his shell? This Peyton kid was good at getting him to relax and drop his guard.

  “If you bust out, I’ll buy you pie. I imagine your house is like Fort Knox. I mean, if you can believe everything you hear,” Tait added.

  “Yeah, I’ve got about five dogs set to kill,” he said.

  “Itty bitty miniature poodles that fit in a purse, right?”

  “It saves money on paying for a bodyguard.”

  “Cute. Well, if I see you, I see you. If not, there’s always Monday.” She gave the boys a soft, playful salute before picking up her lunch and leaving the table. She went around the room on what Orlando could only assume was official cheerleader business because she stopped wherever there was another girl in uniform.

  Peyton watched his twin sister leave and then shook his head. “No comment, man, so—” He started to ramble on about something, but whatever it was Orlando missed completely because Alan started to talk over him, and loudly. It was like his voice was projecting right into Orlando’s head with every word he spoke, and it was headache-inducing.

  “I am sensing something strange here. It’s familiar. I need to investigate this, but I will find you later tonight to help you with y
our infiltration at this...” he paused. “Game, football, yes? I will find you then.” He frowned when he didn’t get a response from Orlando. “Do you understand what is going on?”

  Orlando managed a slight nod, trying to make it match in time with whatever Peyton was going on about. He gave a weak smile. “I gotta get going to my next class. Sorry, we’ll continue talking about this later.” He gave Alan a glance, trying to find a way to communicate that he knew and heard everything. His want to “infiltrate”, however, wasn’t there. That sounded hostile, dangerous, and a little scary. Why couldn’t he just go to a football game and enjoy it, and what he saw was what he saw?

  Three hours later and he was finally home. He let the door close loudly behind him. Lyssa would still be at work, and he would be alone. He could get away with anything for the next couple of hours. One of the cats wandered by to check out the noise, and he bent over to pick up the enormous orange-and-white fluffball, carrying him into the den.

  “Jimmy, how nice of you to come out and say hi.” The cat meowed at him. “Good to see you too. How are you today?” The animal struggled in his grasp the second he sat down on the white leather loveseat. “No, Jimmy. It’s time for some cuddling. Your brother had a long day today and needs a hug.” This earned him back claws in his arm. “Ow! Jimmy!” He scowled and dropped the cat onto the floor again and watched him run away.

  The phone rang while he nursed his wound. “My first day was fine, Lyssa. Go enjoy your break,” he said as he washed off the blood on his arm.

  “What’d you learn?”

  “That our house is bigger than my new school?”

  “Anything else?”

  He sighed. “Mas palabras en mi clase de Espanol?”

  “Are the kids nice?”

  “Sure, I’m totally BFFL with the quarterback of the football team, and I’m pretty sure his hot, twin sister, who’s probably the head cheerleader, hates my guts. Drama, let me tell you.” He wanted to add: and I found out that my school is the headquarters for an evil alien tribe that’s trying to wage war here on Earth. “You know, the usual. Oh, and I’m totally popular. I got checked out by a lot of underclassmen.”

  “Sounds like you had an eventful day then,” Lyssa teased. “I’m glad you’re adjusting so well. Now, I don’t want you to flip out or anything, but I’m not going to be coming home right away after work.”

  How convenient. “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I actually might be in kind of late.” She was hesitating. He knew instantly what she was going to say. “I kind of have a date with a co-worker tonight.”

  “Oh?” She hadn’t had a date since high school, and that was five years ago, and because his parents weren’t around to look after her, give her a hard time, and make sure the guy she was seeing was worthwhile, that meant it was his job.

  “And I don’t even get to meet him first? Lyssa!”

  “Because I know you’d grill him to the point of no return, and I’d like at least one pleasant date first.”

  “Fine, but if you’re not home before midnight—”

  “We’re just going to a movie, all right? Then maybe some dessert.”

  “And you mean actual dessert, right? Like ice cream or cake? Not lacy thongs and kinky whipped cream time?”

  “Orly, really!”

  “I just want to make sure he doesn’t violate you.”

  “He wouldn’t be violating me, thank you very much.”

  “Well, I don’t want you to be easy either.”

  “I’m not a—. I have no intentions of letting him touch me tonight all right? See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you in the first place. You’re freaking out on me.”

  “Well, someone has to make sure you stay closed for business.”

  “I’ll be home later. That’s all I have to say about it, and there’s nothing you can do about it either.”

  “Fine, whatever, bye.” He hung up the phone before she could say another word. On a positive note, now he didn’t feel so guilty about breaking out tonight.

  Chapter Seven

  Alan felt bad for lying, but he knew Orlando would not have understood the real reason behind why he had come to his place of education, if one could call it that. The curriculum was false and subdued for the age of its students, and there was no instructional equipment to be found. What made sitting in a desk all day profitable for a young mind?

  Orlando did not seem to be well-versed when it came to matters of the heart, which was the reason Alan was there. His betrothed was inside, somewhere, hidden amongst its walls, or maybe underground. While his mission to help the Earth people was important, he felt a lot more devoted to finding her and bringing her back home again.

  Once there, he could get her protection from her tribe. She was a member of the Blue Tribe, the enemy, but their engagement could be enough to get her asylum in his country. And he needed to do this before she became too involved in her home's dirty dealings. Nothing might be able to save her then.

  There were tunnels under the school just like there were under the town where his recruits lived. It couldn’t have been a coincidence, not that Alan believed in that sort of thing anyway, but the tunnels littered through this area were there for a reason. He wasn’t even convinced the Earth humans had made them.

  There was artificial light guiding him through the underground maze. They were complex, and there were signs that offered directions with addresses and building names, but they didn’t mean much of anything to him. He didn’t know what Northtown Mall meant, or what the YMCA was. It was stupid of him to go into a place he was unfamiliar with. He only had one tool to guide him, and it glowed brighter and brighter as he got nearer to his fiancée. He subconsciously rubbed the bright blue and glowing bracelet he wore on his right wrist.

  As it grew brighter, he began to hear voices, and he slowed his pace. The tunnel was climbing, which meant he was coming to an exit. Approaching the open door, he peeked around the doorway. A storage room of sorts, most of the tunnels seemed to be connected to those, though this was larger than the one at the school. There were a few boxes and lots of supplies.

  “I don’t have to give you anything, human.” Alan recognized the voice immediately. It was her.

  “That was part of the deal. See, I give you what you want, and you’re supposed to give me the things I need to do my work. If you don’t, then I tell my superiors, who are actually your superiors, and then you get into trouble. Not the other way around, so don’t even try the ‘high and mighty’ attitude with me. I don’t care what planet you come from,” the young man she was talking to snapped back. He had a green aura around him. If he hadn’t been the charge of another tribe, she would have turned him into toast. Alan could never forget her fiery temper.

  “I don’t have it, so I guess you’re out of luck.”

  “No, Alona. You’re the one who’s out of luck. Now, I’m a pretty patient person, so I’m going to give you until the end of the weekend to do this for me. Ideally, I’ll have the supplies on what we like to call Saturday so I can work on my assignment this Sunday, but I’m a generous and forgiving man. I’m also a diligent worker and am willing to give you my day for working, as an added day for you to get me what was promised. If you don’t? I’m telling our boss, and then your precious tribe is going to be added to the list. I don’t think that would be too good for you, now would it?”

  “Fine, I will see what I can do. My recruits are not as efficient as you are. They have a lot to learn,” she replied stiffly.

  “Obviously.”

  “Can we still rely on your assistance with this next assignment?”

  “This time I’ll let it go, because like I said, I’m generous and forgiving. Next time this happens though, that will change. I don’t let people take advantage of me more than once.”

  “Understood.”

  It was quiet for a moment, and Alan waited off to the side, wondering if he should move away or move closer. Footsteps left the room, and a door clos
ed.

  She muttered quietly. “Pathetic Earthling.”

  “They’re just like us,” Alan said softly, taking the risk to enter the room.

  “You're here,” she breathed out, turning to face him. He hadn’t seen her in what could be compared to as months, but she still looked the same. Her blond curls were kept close to her head, pulled into a small bun, and she wore the same simple, light blue dress he often saw her in back home. All he could see different was the tired look in her pale grey eyes. Usually they were filled with life and energy.

  He stepped behind her and put his arms around her waist. “Alonauxoonamondae.” Hesitantly, he placed a kiss on her cheek. “I knew you were here.”

  “I’m aware of what you do and don’t know. I told you not to get involved and find me. You’re not going to change my mind. You know I can’t do anything about this,” she said.

  “I can protect you. Let me, before too much happens, and I can’t anymore. If you came back with me to my ship now, you won’t be punished when all of this is over,” he whispered.

  Alona faced him and put a finger against his lips. “It doesn’t work that way, and you know you’re in the wrong. This isn’t your tribe’s fight anyway. You can’t make the world better for everyone. Don’t get involved. I told you not to.”

  “I have to if we’re ever going to—”

  “Then maybe you should come over to my side instead of trying to get me to do something I don’t believe in.”

  “I do not believe that what you’re doing is right either. How can driving someone out of their home be good? Destroying another planet even, and involving them in a battle that isn’t their business either? That sounds rather hypocritical don’t you think? I know you don’t agree either.”

  “I have to. That’s the difference between you and me. You choose to. I have to. You shouldn’t be here.” Alona pulled herself from his arms and left through the tunnel.

  It didn’t take long for him to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, kissing her fiercely. Doing so would no doubt make her angry with him, he was sure of it, but he had to be close to her again just one more time. There was no way he could keep surviving without his fix. At least she reciprocated his advance.