A Different Kind (29 page)

“No.” I looked to my cuffs. I wanted to make them open the way Logan had with his, but I couldn’t focus. I was thinking too hard.

The aliens clamped the manacles back around Logan’s wrists, and they placed the metal ring around his head. He continued to struggle, but he couldn’t get free. They hovered around him, calmer than before.

“Logan! Logan, what’s happening?”

“My telekinesis isn’t working.” He grunted. Logan strained against his restraints. “I think it’s this thing they put on my head, it’s making everything…foggy.”

The Greys continued to observe Logan. They poked him with their globular fingers. I heard him flinch away. One of them leaned over his face, placing his hands on Logan’s head. Logan yelled out. I watched the thing poke him in the eye. Logan thrashed about. I shook within my restraints, once again trying to free myself.

“Logan!” I screamed.

“Payton,” he said in a breathy voice. “Payton, it’s fine. They just…they know I’m a hybrid. I’m okay.”

I took a breath. I tried to calm down, but there was nothing Logan could say that would make me think anything was fine.

The Greys pulled Logan’s contacts out. They stood over him, analyzing the soft lenses, rubbing the material between their fingertips. They seemed fascinated by them and appeared to be talking amongst themselves, though they never spoke a word aloud. Logan turned to me. I caught glimpses of him between the creature’s thin grey bodies. He stared at me with black eyes and tried to smile. I took a breath. I tried to smile back, but the tears tumbled down my face.

This was it: We were never going back home.

As if he could read my thoughts, Logan said, “Least we’re together.”

I nodded, sniffling back a sob. I was glad I didn’t have to go through this alone, but terrified of what would come next. What would happen when we got to their planet? Would we be able to escape? Would they eat our souls? I shivered.

My thoughts were diverted as a red light began flashing overhead. The Greys looked up. They were communicating again, looking at one another and gesturing with their hands. They stared at Logan, then me. Then they left.

I cranked my head to the other side, watching as the metal door rose. They shuffled into the hall, leaving us alone. The door shut behind them, and I turned back to Logan.

“What’s happening?”

Logan shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe they went to check on their injured friend.”

Considering the flashing red light above us, I doubted that was it.

“Logan, what are we going to do?”

He sighed. “We have to get out of these restraints before the ship leaves earth.”

“How do you know we haven’t done that already?”

“I don’t, but I remember my mom telling me that when their ship took off it made her feel sick to her stomach. Since I haven’t felt like puking yet I think maybe they were trying to prep us for flight.” Logan fought against his restraints. “Damn it.” He huffed. “Whatever this thing is they put on my head, it keeps me from using my powers. You should try to get yours open.”

I stared at the cuff around my right wrist. I figured I had enough anxiety storming inside me to float every metal object in the ship. I took a few deep breaths. I focused on making the cuff snap open. It didn’t. Instead other things started to float around me. Medical tools laid out on a nearby table did acrobatic flips in the air, but my cuffs didn’t budge.

“It’s a heavier metal,” Logan said. “You can do it; you just have to feel it.”

I remembered how much harder it was to lift the dog figurine than it was to make the paperclips float. I remembered how even after I’d made the locker doors rattle and knocked over the cart of basketballs in the gym, the cars in the parking lot didn’t even shiver when I’d walked past them. The cuffs around my wrist were heavier than that tiny metal dog; part of me wondered if they were heavier than my car.

“Payton, just relax,” Logan called.

I closed my eyes, breathed through my mouth, then exhaled slowly through my nose.

I can do this
.

I felt the metal. It felt like it was a part of me. My hands were fisted at my sides. I pictured the cuff opening. My fingers uncoiled.

Pop.

CHAPTER

33

T
he cuff broke free. I let out a huff in relief and lifted my hand. After that the other three cuffs quickly followed. I jumped off the table and pulled the metal band from Logan’s head. It clattered to the floor. The second it slipped free Logan’s cuffs opened. He jumped off the table and wrapped me in a tight hug. I buried my face in his shoulder as he squeezed me. I wished I could have held him longer, but we didn’t have time. Logan pulled away and held me by the shoulders.

“What do we do now?” I asked. “I’m guessing we can’t just find some escape hatch and jump out.”

He shook his head. “No, we’re too high up.”

Logan exhaled. He looked around the room. The red light above still flashed, casting the room in momentary bursts of crimson. My eyes looked down at the scaled center tiles of the floor, then up at the light above.

“Wait, what about the light beam? It got us up here; can it send us back down?”

Logan grabbed my face and kissed me, hard. “Payton, that’s brilliant.”

He rushed to a desk on the far side of the room. It was similar to the one in the crashed ship that we’d looked through their files on. He dragged his hand through the air; glowing green symbols appeared.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” I asked.

“Not really,” Logan admitted. “But once, when I was playing around in that crashed ship in the woods, I turned the damn thing on by accident. Not sure if I’ll be able to work it, but I think turning it on is the first step.”

I glanced at the door. I felt fidgety and picked at my nail polish to keep my hands busy. Part of me was waiting for them to catch us. I looked back at Logan; he scanned through pages of the Greys’ computer. Then, I heard this whooshing sound. When I looked back, the door had opened and three Greys stepped in. They spotted us within seconds, dark eyes narrowing on us from across the room.

“Logan, hurry.”

“I found it, but I’m waiting.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“I have an idea.”

I prayed Logan’s idea was a good one, because at that moment the Greys charged us. They opened their thin mouths, lips curling back. As they snarled I saw a row of fine, sharp teeth.

 “Oh God,” I whispered.

Then all at once it happened.

I heard this click and a humming noise. The aliens rushed forward. The light turned on. The brightness flooded my vision, and for a few terrifying seconds I saw nothing but white. Slowly the colors and shapes bled back into my sight. The light beam was on and the Greys were caught within it. Their fingers clawed at the light beam. They snarled and kicked, but they couldn’t escape.

Logan grabbed my hand, and I jumped. When I turned to see him standing beside me, I sighed.

“What do we do with them?” I asked.

“I don’t know. We can’t use the light to get us back to Earth while they’re in there.”

“Yeah, and I don’t exactly want to let them out.” I took a breath, then in a small voice I said, “We could kill them.”

Logan turned to me. He stared at me for a long moment. Then he blinked and cleared his throat.

“I’ll do it.”

Logan took a step forward, but I grabbed his arm.

“No. It should be me.”

“Payton, you shouldn’t have to.”

I shook my head. “Logan, they took me….” My words twisted into a knot.

Logan nodded. With an even pace, I walked to where the Greys were imprisoned in the center of the ship. I tried to gather my courage with a deep breath. They snarled at me, mouths opening to display sharp, needle-like teeth. There was a small table with strange surgical tools near where I’d been strapped down earlier. I focused in on a scalpel-like object and lifted it with my mind. It floated across the room and wavered between me and the Greys.

I aimed the knife at one of the creature’s eyes. The alien ceased its hissing and tilted its head, pausing to examine me. I hesitated. I’d planned to drive the knife straight through the creature’s eye, but I couldn’t. These weren’t animals; they were intelligent beings.

You’re just like me,
it said, sending its words straight into my mind.
Killing another creature to survive.
A sinister smile of razor-sharp teeth formed on the creature’s face. Suddenly I was bombarded with images.

There was a dark place. People hovered together in ragged clothing. The images of people clinging to one another in fear flashed through my mind, as did this cold, indifferent sensation. I felt emptiness, all-consuming and dark. I realized I was seeing their world through the Greys’ eyes.

The Grey ripped someone from the group. He dragged the man before the crowd and held him by the neck. The man started to pray. He begged for the Grey to let him go. Behind him a young girl yelled out. A woman held her back.

“Daddy!” she shrieked and clawed at her mother to let her go.

Her cries were filled with so much pain.

I felt what the Grey was feeling – nothing.

The Grey drove his hand into the man’s chest. I watched as he shuddered in pain. He was screaming with his eyes, though the only sound to pass his lips was the hopeless sound of his final breath. The color drained from his skin. The light dimmed from his eyes. His body did this unnatural jiggle, then slumped to the ground. As his body fell, what was left of him, his energy, his soul, was pulled into the Grey through his fingertips. This warm feeling slunk into the Grey’s veins and filled its body.

The images vanished. I gasped as reality came rushing back. The scalpel dropped, clinking against the floor.

You’re weak.
The thing spoke again, sounding in my head.

I filled with anger.

My mind lifted the scalpel and it floated before me once again. “I’m nothing like you; humans are not like you. We’re not perfect, but even in the worst of us there’s still something left worth saving.” I thrust the scalpel toward the thing’s empty, soulless eyes.

Wham
.

The entire spaceship rocked. I lost my balance and tumbled to the floor. I hit the ground with a smack and slid across the ground. I winced as my head hit the floor – hard. My side slammed into the wall. A screeching noise like the school fire alarm filled the room.

“Payton!” Logan yelled.

I looked up to see him holding on tight to the desk. I looked to the Greys and found them floating in the light. The scalpel had missed the Grey.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Logan looked around the room. I got to my feet, but continued to sway. Unsteady, I braced myself against the wall. Logan made his way to me.

“I think there’s something wrong with the ship,” he said.

I fought against the extreme sense of vertigo, causing my insides to slosh around. Logan grabbed my hand and held on tight. His grasp was comforting and for a second I allowed myself to push away all my other thoughts. For a second I believed that we’d be okay. I remembered watching the Greys’ ship crash to Earth, falling through the stormy sky looking like a meteor, like a ball of fire.

“We’re crashing, aren’t we?”

Logan nodded; then reality hit home.

“Oh God, we’re crashing,” I said with a tremble to my voice. “But we should be okay though, right, I mean, we’ll crash and we’ll be okay…that happens, right?”

Logan’s expression was less than reassuring.

“Logan, tell me we’re going to be okay,” I pleaded. “You survived a crash when you were a little baby; tell me we’re going to be okay.”

“I survived a crash
landing
, Payton. We just got shot out of the air.”

“Oh God.” I closed my eyes. “This can’t be happening.” The ship jolted and my grip on Logan’s hand tightened. I shook my head. “No, no, no…the crash in Moody’s Woods, when we ran from the Greys. They survived, so it has to be possible. This can’t be the end.” I looked to Logan. “I don’t want to die.”

Logan looked desperate as he squeezed my hand. My heart sank. Then I saw hope flicker in his eyes. “Actually, I have an idea.”

Logan moved along the side of the wall. His hand ran over the smooth white surface, searching for something. He pushed. The wall became backlit by white light for a second. Two chunks of the wall fell forward, two large white squares. I didn’t understand at first, but then I saw it. They were seats with straps to hold us in.

“This’ll be safer,” Logan said. He held his arm out to me.

I practically fell on my face as I made my way to him. Gravity pushed my body forward, and I smacked into Logan hard. He helped me into the seat, strapping me in.

“Logan, remember when I said I think I’d like to try skydiving sometime…I take it back.”

He laughed and I leaned my head back as he sat beside me. He reached out and grabbed my hand. He squeezed it tight and I shut my eyes. I tried to find comfort in the shaking of the ship, tried to pretend it was nothing more than a bit of turbulence and would all be over soon.
It’s going to be okay
; at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

The ship shook again. I heard this humming and fizzling sound. The beam of light that held the three Greys in place went out. They toppled onto one another, smacking into the floor. They pushed their way to their feet and stormed toward us. Logan waved his hand, sending loose surgical tools flying through the air at them. The sharp instruments stabbed one of them in the eye. Black goo oozed from its wound and the Grey crumbled to the floor, dead.

The other two were still coming.

I didn’t think.

I just felt it.

The metal table I’d been lying on earlier uprooted from the ground. Its legs twisted as if they were made of taffy, then snapped free from where they’d been bolted to the floor. The table flew out, slamming into the remaining two Greys with such force it knocked their feet from the floor and the wind from their lungs – if they had lungs.

I slammed them against the wall. Their heads bounced off its surface like smooth grey basketballs. Logan glanced at me, but I didn’t take my eyes off them. Their limbs twitched, their eyes blinked, and still, they shook their disorientation away. They looked at me and hissed.

I remembered their faces from the first night I was abducted, and the second. I thought about the the man the Grey killed from the vision he’d given me. My eyes narrowed. I pushed the table forward until I heard a sickening crunch.

I’d killed them.

Crash
.

The grating sound of scraping metal echoed through the air. It was followed by this loud whooshing noise that consumed everything as if I were standing behind a jet plane.

My head knocked back into my seat. The lights flickered. Everything felt heavy, then everything went black.

I
’m not sure how long I was out. My memories of right after the crash were fractured and blurry. I remembered the acrid smell of smoke, the distant echoing sounds of shouts, and the fizzing and popping noises of broken electrical works. My body hung limply in the harness, my weight pressing into the straps. My eyelids were heavy and only opened enough to catch glimpses of the lights flickering in and out beyond a haze of black smoke.

“Logan,” I whispered, then I was out again.

When I woke next all I could see were undulating swirls of red and orange. My eyes focused in and out. The swirls turned into flames around blackened trees, then back into moving masses of colors. I turned my head and caught a glimpse of stars peeking through the spiraling puffs of smoke. Then I saw the white plastic of the man’s suit, the gas mask covering his face, and the blue gloves that covered his hands, which held on to the gurney I lay on.