School by Nathaniel Hardman (top reads .TXT) 📕

matter what the talking heads said about how fast and how high they would be flying compared to the earlier news helicopters. And three more of those birds, in Atlanta...

It was about fifteen minutes later when the aliens noticed something in the sky. The news camera caught what they were looking at – a speck flying just under the thick clouds that were threatening rain at any moment. The news had said that the Predator could fly as high as 50,000 feet, but this one was flying much lower than that, probably to stay under the clouds.

“That’s a mistake,” Jeremiah said.

The aliens continued moving, but Jeremiah could see the one in the middle, the switcher, kept his eyes on the drone.

“Is he doing a spell?” Lori asked.

“No, he’s...” Jeremiah paused. The switcher DID have his wand in his hand. The view on screen didn’t show his mouth; maybe he was saying something.

Jeremiah stared. The alien seemed to come into clearer focus while the other images on the screen faded. Jeremiah hardly blinked; he couldn’t take his eyes off the alien, who almost seemed to glow. Then abruptly, the alien raised his wand into the air, and a ripple blasted out.

The camera angle swung up to follow the spell. The ripple was quickly lost, but the camera focused in on the Predator above. Five seconds passed.

The plane flickered.

A dragon appeared.

If Jeremiah had been drinking something, he would have done a comical spit take. As it was, he breathed out an “Oh my,” as the dragon wheeled and flapped wildly before diving down toward the city.

The dragon leveled off its dive into a fast glide toward downtown Atlanta, and in a few seconds, it disappeared into the city.

“Well, I think there may be a lesson here about what not to do when you know someone can turn flying things into alien monsters,” Jeremiah said. He looked over at Lori, and she met his eyes. Her face was a mask of despair.

“How are we going to get our kids back?” she whispered.

“We’ll figure it out.” Jeremiah said, putting his arm around her. The news coverage went back to the aliens who had turned around and were riding their spiders back north as fast as they could go.

Jeremiah stared for a long moment at the orange spiders as they scurried along. “I think...I have an idea. Kids, just hold on for another few days.”

THIRTY FOUR

Jeff’s eyes and mouth snapped open, and he gasped.  Ushegg was leaning down over him, his lips pulled back in a delighted smile.  “Jeff!” he said. “You’re obogu!”

Jeff shoved him back and rolled out from under the desk, rubbing his nose. “Were you plugging my nose?! You’re such a WEIRDO.” Ushegg stared back quizzically. “I mean, uh, you...” he mimed plugging his own nose, “My nose?”

Ushegg’s smile grew wider even as his eyes widened in mock innocence. “Quothu it was Nacho,” he suggested, pointing to the tousled figure who was just sitting up under the desk next to Jeff’s, slipping on glasses over squinted, sleep-crusted eyes.

Jeff rolled his own eyes. “What, I mean, why… is… you here?”

“Mmm”, Ushegg hummed, nodding, “Get up, and tsherc the others.  Today you can choth your xaexeir. Uoshr some food.”

“Did you catch that?” Nacho asked.

“Well, I caught that he’s a lunatic. Who plugs someone’s nose to wake them up? But I think he wants us all to come with him. And he said something about food.”

Jeff walked with seven of his classmates through the city on the north side and out onto a wide open plain covered in the orange/blue grain that made up their diet. Back in the class, it had looked for a minute like only Nacho would come; no one had forgotten the shigg fieldtrip. Or the rock caterpillar fieldtrip. But he was promising good food and assuring them that this wouldn’t be dangerous. Then Suzy suggested it might help them figure out how to get home, and then half the class was standing to go. Why do they all follow Suzy and not me?

They walked for a long time through the grass, leaving the road behind, idly swinging the shovels Ushegg had handed out. A couple of guards followed along behind.  Shen pointed ahead and asked, in Alien, “What is that?”

Ushegg beamed. “Chik chec!”

Rising up from the grass was a mound.  It was maybe twelve feet tall and twenty feet in diameter, with only sparse tufts of grass growing on top. At two points along the base, Jeff could see holes, wide enough for a large rabbit or a raccoon.

A flicker of movement in one hole caught his eye, and he squinted.

Everyone stopped walking, waiting as the guards caught up, and Ushegg frowned. It was reassuring to Jeff that the guards looked so relaxed. Ushegg’s confidence meant little to him, but the guards… they had some sense.

“Okay,” Ushegg said, rubbing his hands together. “Jeff and,” he pointed at Nacho, Peter, and Shen. “Go ggyequt up the quiars and start secerc.”

“Digging? Secerc is digging?!” Jeff mimed digging and heaving with his shovel. Ushegg nodded enthusiastically. “No! Ri!” Jeff pointed to the hill and struggled for words, “You not say what in!”

“Chik chec,” Ushegg said.  His tone suggested Jeff was being very slow.

In the end, they went, shovels held up before them like spears. At the base of the mound, Jeff exchanged an uneasy look with the other boys before leading the way up the hill.

From the top, Jeff looked back at Ushegg, who had taken the remaining kids and spread them out in a wide circle around the hill. When he saw Jeff looking, he smiled and made exaggerated shoveling motions.

Jeff sighed, planted the shovel, and jumped on it.

The dirt was not rocky, and Jeff and the others made quick progress.  He thought