Axel was a pragmatic guy. He had always tried to find the most logical and best way to answer any problem. And yet, he was one of the first to sign onto the plan that Marissa had proposed: Brining B-64 to Mason's house.
Well, it was more so bringing b-64 to the small red barn adjacent to their property, though it was more like fifty feet away from their backyard. It was small enough to not grab any attention, but big enough to not cause much discomfort.
That came with the issue of moving B-64 there in the first place which, of course, Axel had to solve himself. He was drowsy from staying up rather late, and he had close to no food inside him at that time, so he wasn't running on a hundred percent power at that moment.
So, he proposed the magnificent idea of transporting B-64 just along the forest line, where no cars could see him. They of course were all very tired, and B-64 even seemed to not want to do anything even a few hours after "Waking" up.
The remaining food that Marissa had brought was quickly devoured by Mason, who loved the taste of red meat (being the only meat that Mason really ate), and B-64, who seemed to have a striking connection to corn. After the remaining food was eaten by Axel and Marissa, they left.
The sun beat down on them as they continued on their way outside the mansion, and into the field. B-64 seemed to sweat as they walked along the dirt path, even wiping a clawed hand against his visor in an attempt to wipe away sweat, when there was none.
"Tell me again why we chose to do it now?" Marissa asked, trudging alongside Mason as they slowly went around beneath the trees. She was sweating head to toe, and her silky smooth orange fur was completely disheveled.
Mason looked at her with a glare, "You were the one to suggest it!" He told her, brushing a hand against his forehead and whipping back sweat. The heat was near the equivalent to when he first found B-64, and that was no joke. He wondered why it was getting so hot, since he had never experienced that kind of heat before.
He was also rather distraught looking. He was both in a desperate need of a shower and a good brushing, and he most definitely needed to clear some of the fuzz from his ears. Every step he took was like he was taking his last, and they stopped about halfway to Mason's house to rest.
Axel was definitely the most chipper out of them all. He was ready to go, and was even rather clean despite there being no cleaning supplies. His hair was all prim and proper, he stood with a straight back, and he walked with dignity.
B-64 trilled as they stopped by a small log, happily plopping himself down besides the base and relaxing. Mason observed him, feeling as though he were looking at something mystical, and enchanting.
Mason was a little creeped by the fact that he was effectively cuddled during the night by the protogen, but found that he really didn't care. He was comfortable, and most unlike him, he actually did not want to get out of bed and stop being around B-64's chest fluff, which was effectively like sleeping against a fluffy cloud.
But something was there that kept it from being overly creepy, and more like a motion of affection. Mason didn't really know what to think, but he knew that he didn't particularly care.
After resting for what seemed like just a few seconds but was in reality half an hour, they all left and finally reached Mason's house. They had all, minus B-64, had gone there before, so they knew where to take B-64 while Mason went to see his parents.
Marissa and Axel took B-64 towards the barn, and Mason entered his home to greet his parents.
"You're back early." Monica noted as he entered the living room, blowing a small blue bubble of gum. Mason shrugged, stretching and trying to appear normal. It didn't really work, but as Monica was engrossed into her game, he just entered the kitchen.
Hannah was nodding her head to the rhythm of one of those kids' games on Mason's old Ipad while eating a large tub of chocolate pudding from the store. Both his parents were eating as well, all groggy but awake nonetheless.
"Hey honey." His mother said, waving at him. She rubbed her eyes, laying down her fork, "I know this might be a tad tedious to ask, but can you take care of Hannah while we-" She mimes between her and Mason's dad, "And your sister go to town, please?"
Mason felt somewhat cheated that he couldn't enjoy the rest of the day inside the barn and instead having to care for Hannah, but then realized something: Hannah was four years old, she would not care, nor probably remember B-64 if she met him. This was oddly convenient.
"Yeah sure." Mason said, quickly, but not too quickly, turning to get a bowl and some cereal. Even after eating he was still hungry. His mom thanked him and they ate the rest of the meal in almost complete silence. Apart from the occasional squeals of glee from Hannah.
His mother sighed and finished her bowl with some unknown expression and emotion tetering between the line of some frustration and mild annoyance, to relief. His father finished as well and quickly departed to the car to warm it up.
"What are you getting?" Mason asked, though not all that much caring for an answer.
"Food!" Came Hannah's rather cute response. Mason's mother nodded her head, implying that Hannah was correct. She soon left to go to the car, and since Monica was already inside it, they left soon after.
Hannah was completely fine with eating her pudding, but Mason was anxious to get to the barn. He didn't know exactly why, though the fact that alien or not, whatever they had found was certainly something he should think about.
So after he finished his bowl of cereal, rather quickly even in comparison to what he had already eaten, he decided to ask Hannah to go with him. He couldn't just leave her inside the house. He had already learned his lesson on what a four year old with no sense of consequences could do to a home without supervision.
The sun seemed to be less bright as they walked out, and Mason noticed dull grey clouds staining the vibrant blue sky. He wondered what happened to the blistering heat of their walk, but he was not ungrateful. In fact, he was the opposite, he just found it weird.
Mason knocked against the barns door, Hannah chewing on a small piece of candy that Mason had used to get her to put some sandals on since her paws were still somewhat delicate, and the area around the barn was rather rocky.
"Mason?" Axel asked from within the barn, and Mason.
The barn door creaked open with a chilling sound, and out popped Axel's head. Even the vibrant colors seemed to be dulled down by the near pitch blackness from within the barn, the only light the illumination frommB-64's visor.
"It's fine. My parents left with my sister, you can open the door completely. God it must be dark in there." Mason said, holding on Hannah's hand tightly so that she wouldn't wander off from being to bored.
Axel shrugged, but pushed against the dark red barn door and completely opening it, brightening up the pitch black insides, "Thank the lord you opened that thing, I swear." Marissa told them, sitting up from a hay bale.
Mason rolled his eyes and stepped to go inside, but he found that Hannah didn't move. In fact, she was frozen in place, staring at B-64 with such wonder and amazement in her eyes that if it were a cartoon, there most certainly be stars in her eyes,.
And not a second later, Hannah forgot that she was supposed to stay near Mason and ran towards B-64 with such speed that she kicked up dust. B-64 seemed surprised to see the miniature rabbit staring up at him with awe after three seconds of seeing him.
But, being overly friendly was his thing, so he waved happily at her, his visor showing pixels that easily resembled a patient and a parent-like smile. Mason walked over to them, a grin on his face as he observed the near-constant stream of happy noises that seemed to come off of Hannah.
"What are you!?" She asked, her hands tugging at her ears and bringing them against her chest. She was a rather smart four-year old, having a firm grasp of the english language, so it wasn't too much of a surprise that she recognized that B-64 was nothing like anyone else there.
Despite this, she did not know how to read, so Mason had to tell her, "He's a protogen." He explained.
Hannah looked at him with wonder, "What is that?"
"I... I don't know."
"Oh."
"Hey-" Marissa began, slipping on top of one of the hay bales, "Didn't you say that you're parents and sister left to go into town? How far is... That far?" She asked.
Mason leaned against one of the support beams of the barn, bringing his right hand up against his chin, "Well, twenty-five minutes into town, about thirty back, and forty minutes to get food and stuff with them stopping every five minutesb to talk with people, I'd say two hours.
"Those numbers don't add up..." Axel said, looking at Mason with a perplexed expression.
"Round them then, jeez. I'm sure that both of you are hungry?" Mason ask both Marissa and Axel, as though they did eat, they didn't eat much since they had to pack to get to his house rather hurriedly.
"Yeah." Both said simultaneously.
B-64 trilled, his pixelated green eyes changing from a crescent moon to something that seemed to resemble corn, yellow cob outline and green stem in all. Mason picked up on what he was asking, and told them all to get inside his house and into the kitchen.
Hannah stared at B-64 the entire time, and about half way through, seemed intransed by his tail: It was nearly her favorite color, gold. The longer, spiky top of the tail was the best part of it in her opinion.
She normally wouldn't think that purple and green went well together, but it somehow worked there. She still stared even when they entered the house and into the kitchen, where she felt an intense need to show off all her things, including her house.
Once she saw that Mason was distracted by grabbing corn from the pantry, she hurriedly started towards her room to get her toys and show them off, but tripped because she was accustomed to wearing sandals inside the house, and accidetin;ly turned the TV on.
"-invasion. The United States government is still deciding on what to do with this new found information, but it is known that the ships heading through Earth's Atmosphere are hostile and armed. Stay inside it-"
Mason seemed to shrivel as he heard a distinct rumble sound resonate through the TV, swiftly turning his head to look at it. He felt a chill creep up his spine as he walked into the living room, gaze fixed on the back of the TV.
His friends and B-64 soon joined him, and all stared in horror as a large, black metallic structure slammed against the earth's surface, and into a town, Nyxel. The same one his parents are in.
And as they watched on, all felt a cold creep up on them as the camera still rolled, their building shook as the waves reached them, and as cold, lifeless hands started to claw their way out of the shuttle
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So, yeah. Might be a bit shorter of a chapter, but hey, I got something out after a but more than a weeks hiatus. Have no clue when the next one'll come out, but it should in a couple days.
Also, who here has had Corn, lathered in butter sprinkled with salt? Because we can agree (Hopefully) that it is the metaphorical bomb!
Anyways, thanks for reading!
~ Candle