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Current Location: US 34, Western Iowa

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It starts the usual way: A flash, a bang, a person standing, disoriented, near a long stretch of deserted road.

But this man falls to his knees-

(thousands of voices; screaming, crying in his head; anger and despair and everything in between, and he can’t fight, can’t ignore, can’t resist them; stop, stop, Goddess why won’t it STOP)

-and clutches his head, letting loose an agonized shout of surprise.

Then it's over, and it's like it never was.

Jamie lowers his hands, noticing in a detached manner that short strands of blond hair come away in his fingers, and sits back on his haunches, blinking. The last thing he remembers is laughing at a joke -- a bad one, with three tavern wenches and a statue -- and climbing a ladder to get at the apples high in an Olau tree. His shirt still smells like the orchard: sun and fruit and green, growing things. Had he fallen? Is this a fevered hallucination brought on by his broken body and healing magic gone wrong? Grace never could get the hang of it. She’s probably given him an extra thumb.

No. All’s right with that.

Digging his fingers into the earth beside the road, he watches it sift back to the ground. It's chunky and rough, but not dry. Even so, it's clearly not the smooth, dark soil of Olau. Jamie sniffs his hand, frowns and pulls himself to his feet. The road crests a hill to the west. Maybe there's something on the other side to explain what's happened; maybe not. Nothing to do, he supposes, but to start walking.

He'll get back to the pain (voices) in his head later. When the mood strikes.

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"What?" Baffled, Jamie searches Eleanor's vacant eyes as she approaches. "What are you doing?"

To see Eleanor like this, the girl who is usually strong-minded and certain of who she is, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. It must be magic, the sort he's never liked. She keeps coming, marching obediently, and looks as if she intends to take his arm so they can return to their cage together.

Jamie slams his hand on top of hers before she has the chance. "Eleanor," he tries. "Wake up." But even he knows it's not as simple as that, and a tickle in the back of his mind, a foreign presence spreading its tendrils and seeking entry, makes him jerk his head to the side and stare at Ethan. The heat is similar but different, the sensation coming from outside not within. Gritting his teeth, he squeezes his eyes shut and pushes it away, dragging Eleanor back toward the grave digger. "Stop," he growls warningly. "Let her go."

He glares at the man and anchors Eleanor to his side, reaching out with his hands and mind, the attempt amateurish but determined. It's nothing he's ever done, nothing he's ever experienced, but there seems to be a lot of that going around.

The gun isn't far from their feet. It's always good to have a back-up plan.

Ethan flinches visibly, then looks surprised again.

"My my," he surmises. "Not quite as impressionable as your bitch friend."

He fixes Jamie with a far more penetrating gaze and tries to seize mental control again. Compared to the almost tentative touch of the previous attempt, this attack is like an industrial vice clamping down on Jamie's mind. And the strain of it shows on the man's face.

"Get. Inside."

Eleanor just stands there, arms and head hanging limply, like a puppet whose strings aren't being pulled at the current time.

The strain of it shows on both their faces. Before now, Jamie had never thought that something could be simultaneously ice cold and burning hot, but that's exactly what he feels inside his head as he fights the attack. He senses sweat running down his face and tastes blood in his mouth as he throws all of his effort into resisting the invasion. It's a violation of the first degree, and only when he feels pure, undiluted rage wash over him does he begin to get the upper hand.

That scares him almost as much as having someone else in his head.

"INSIDE," Ethan roars, red and angry, unable to process why this man is unaffected. It becomes too much for him, and in the space of an instant, the normal man before them morphs into a hideous creature of too many limbs and eyes and tentacles.

"Great Merciful Mother," Jamie manages, touching his head with one hand and clutching Eleanor with the other. His knife is looking fairly useless by comparison.

Edited 2008-11-19 19:55 (UTC)

The creature has never encountered such an adversary before, and it's forced to seek support from its brethren, wherever they might be. They respond immediately, uniting their mental faculties with their comrade's for an unstoppable hive mind assault upon the young Olau man.

Feeling the surge to its power, the beast screeches in triumph, showing off several rows of razor sharp fangs and spraying slaver everywhere. It advances on Jamie, tentacles whipping about frenziedly, preparing to finish him mentally and physically...

BLAM!

The creature stumbles. And suddenly it doesn't look so sure of itself.

BLAM!

This time a gout of viscous green fluid plumes from the back of its misshapen head, accompanied by pieces of brain and shards of skull. In the last second before it topples forward and crashes into the ravaged earth, it's bug-like eyes shift left and down until they come to rest on Jamie's partner, resting on one knee at his side.

"Call me a bitch will you?" Eleanor says, from behind her smoking handgun. Her expression is grim, but there's a hint of a smirk upon her lips.

The last tethers of control were released from her mind when the creature became ragingly preoccupied with Jamie. She was fully aware of what was going on, she just couldn't do anything about it until that moment.

Now that it's down, Jamie is having a hard time looking away. He flicks his hand under his nose, wipes blood from his lip, and shudders.

An inhuman shriek comes from the woods behind the first house.

Another echoes from their left flank.

Jamie shakes himself and grabs Elanor's arm. "Time to leave," he shouts over the noise.

He'll thank her later.

"Right."

If they get out of this alive there'll be thanks all round. For now though, gratitude is also the last thing on Eleanor's mind.

"Where to?" she yells as they run for the bike. "These alien freaks are prob'ly controlling the trees with their telepathic voodoo. They aren't gonna let us out unless we end them."

The blood-curdling screams are rapidly getting closer.

"So let's end them!"

Easier said than done. Jamie practically leaps on the bike behind Eleanor, who barely waits for his weight before taking off, and is scanning for the other two ugly beasts when they round the side of another house and hurl themselves at the bike.

"Faster,' he hisses, pelting a knife at one of their enemies. It strikes what he thinks is a shoulder, but doesn't slow the creature down.

"Okay!"

The bike accelerates. And so do the aliens. Seeing their progress in her wing mirror, Eleanor twists around to take a couple of pot shots at them. Her aim isn't as true this time though, and the bullets that do hit the mark only serve to enrage the creatures more.

Before she has a chance to get any more rounds off, the beast that was once Emily flings a tentacle out and loops it around Eleanor's wrist. The hard yank that follows nearly unseats her, and causes the bike to swerve violently.

"Fuuuuck!" she screams, and jerks her arm free.

Grabbing the unmanned end of the handlebars again, Eleanor manages to keep their ride upright, but she's forced to drop the pistol in the process. She and Jamie would not have walked away from the ensuing wreck if she hadn't sacrificed it.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Don't panic!" Jamie hisses in her ear, struggling to maintain his balance as the bike dances unpleasantly under them, but he's starting to get seriously concerned.

The beasts just. Keep. Coming.

And they're out of easily-reached weapons.

Spittle flying, the monstrous things make an unholy cry of anticipation as they close on their intended victims, cutting them off before they reached the pass between an outbuilding and fenced enclosure. Not particularly warming to the idea of becoming their dinner, Jamie jerks his head to the left, eyes the building (some sort of barn?) and makes a split-second decision.

One he'll undoubtedly have to make up for, later.

If they live.

He slams into Eleanor's back and grabs the left handlebar with no small amount of force, sending them hurtling into the barn.

"WHAT ARE YOU DO—"

Eleanor's frantic cry is cut off by a thunderous crunch as they plow into the barn door. There's nothing she could do to avoid it. Fortunately, the old timbers are no match for the Honda and its impetus. The wood shatters and the bike explodes through in a shower of splinters, still carrying the pair of huddled but unscathed riders.

Eleanor brakes immediately, bringing them to a skidding halt on the hard-packed earth floor before they reach a stack of moldy hay bales. There are a lot of choice words she would like to say to Jamie right now, but none of them are aired. Her eyes are fixed on a rack that sits nearby, its contents incongruously shiny amongst the rusty farm machinery and cobweb-strewn tools that line the walls of the barn's interior. The items held there are clearly alien technology of some kind, and some of them look like weapons.

"Yes!" she whoops. "Firepower!"

She dismounts hurriedly and runs over to the storage unit as the monsters crash into the barn and begin to close in on their position. She selects something big and heavy that's vaguely rifle-shaped and boasts a barrel that would rival a cannon, and hefts it onto her hip. It's going to to take her a few seconds to figure out how it works though.

"Use your brain mojo to hold them off!" she yells at Jamie while she pushes random buttons on the weapon's body, trying to bring it to life.

Peeling himself off the bike and relaxing his fingers from the death grip he'd had on both Eleanor and the handlebars, Jamie dashes sweat from above his eyes and lets out a sharp bark of laughter. They're still walking. More to the point, he's still walking, even if it's just because Eleanor has been distracted by something shiny.

Lurching to the right, he spins and fixes her with a confused look. What's she talking about?

Oh. Right. Monsters.

Giving himself a firm mental shake, he rapidly considers how, exactly, he could do what she's proposed. Whatever this thing is, it doesn't seem to be something he can control yet, something he can use for his own gain. But hadn't he done just that earlier? It had been defensive, sure, but he'd turned the tables on Ethan when he'd try to get in his head. The trick is to use what's already there.

Jamie smiles, a bit, and begins to imagine, to see, all of those images that had been crammed into his head when he saw the knife. Once they're there, he squeezes his eyes shut and throws them toward the only other beings in the barn who would recognize them, who had been there.

But this time they're experiencing it through the eyes of their victims.

There's a sick pleasure in it, but Jamie will have to worry about that later.

The alien creatures pull up short of Jamie, and then recoil sharply. They look confused at the unexpected mental imagery, and their dreadful shrieking ceases for a few moments. All of which surely gives Jamie's partner the time she needs...

Still struggling to activate the gun she chose, Eleanor, not for the first time in her life, curses her mother for never being around she's needed. With all her MiB training, she'd be able to turn this stupid thing on.

"Gah!" Eleanor cries, and throws the weapon down in frustration.

Of course, that's when a deep bass note sounds out from the gun and translucent strips along the receiver start to emit a soft blue light. A higher-pitched whine follows, and the glow quickly intensifies. Eleanor glares at it for a long second, then heaves it back up again. She may be unamused and none-the-wiser to its operation, but she's not going to leave it lying there.

"Okay. We're in business," she says, wrapping her finger around what she assumes is the trigger mechanism.

"DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

A gigantic WHUMP! snaps Jamie's concentration, and a flash of light precedes an almost liquid beam of energy that sizzles and cracks through the air. Then it's over, and pieces of hay fall around his shoulders and cloud his vision like snow. It smells fresh, he notes absently before flicking a concerned glance at Eleanor.

Or where she should be, rather. She's curiously absent.

And so is the front wall of the barn. It's just gone, melted away like candle wax.

The creatures, however, are still very much in attendance, and advance on him with palpable menace.

"Eleanor..."

As it turns out, the weapon's kickback is just as impressive as its blast force. Not only did the recoil cause Eleanor to miss the targets by several feet, it sent her flying comically into the bales behind them.

That's where she lies now, wheezing, disoriented, and covered in hay. Though she's still clutching the enormous rifle, she's clearly not going to be able to take a second shot until she's recovered from the winding.

Jamie doesn't have that much time.

He's rapidly becoming aware of that.

"ELEANOR!"

When she doesn't move and only looks at him with wide, wild eyes, Jamie realizes that whether or not they continue to be ambulatory when this is over is entirely up to him. Luckily, he's been paying very close attention to Eleanor during their time together, and as a result, is more familiar with the concept of firearms that he would have been this time yesterday.

Eating up the distance between them with long, lanky strides, he yanks the weapon out of her hands and turns it on their enemies. After a few feeble attempts to get his fingers on the right spots, he picks up on the right combination and...

BAM!

Oh, it has one hell of a kick, but with his feet planted wide and his back strong and straight, he's ready for it. He yells with the effort, directing the blasts as he would line up a shot with a bow and arrow. The first is down before he has time to stop and think about it, and the second disappears in a waving mass of tentacles that had been seconds from ripping the weapon out of his hands.

Breathing hard, he lets it fall to the ground.

Edited 2008-12-04 18:37 (UTC)

The cacophony of screeching and plasma fire fades away. The only sounds left are the low hum of the rifle, the creaking of a roof that's a lot less supported than it was five minutes ago, and the arrhythmic heavy inhaling and exhaling of the two survivors.

Eventually, Eleanor catches enough breath to comment.

"Glory hog."

It's followed by a woozy half-smirk.

Jamie sends her a deceptively lazy smile over his shoulder. At the moment, he's not sure he can move.

"Is that your way of calling me a pig?"

Eleanor snorts. The irony is lost on her.

"No. Doofus. You saved the day. You're gonna look like the hero if this story is ever retold. And I'm gonna look like the inept comedy sidekick."

She hauls herself upright, onto legs that are still a bit shaky.

"That's okay though." A hand is placed on his shoulder to steady herself as she surveys the scene of their victory. Ashes wafting around in the breeze and a few scorched puddles of slime are the only remnants of the aliens. And the barn has no front wall anymore. "You did good," she assesses. "You deserve it."

She stands on her tip-toes and presses a dry-lipped kiss onto his cheek.

Jamie shifts and steals a more thorough kiss, the kind that's equal parts jubilation and disbelief.

"I'm not a hero," he tells her gruffly, "but I come from heroic stock. Mayhap I absorbed a few things."

He retrieves the weapon and smiles, offering it to her.

"I feel better about our chances with the trees."

"Yeah. Me too," Eleanor drawls, her eyes contentedly half-lidded in the wake of the kiss.

"I've got a feeling that we won't need to blast our way out now though. Unless there're more of those creatures still lurking around."

She gives him a grin. "Either way, I think we're set."

Smile widening, he gingerly picks his way back to the bike.

"Eleanor," he starts, making a C'mon let's go! gesture, "remember when you asked me what the plan was beyond getting the fuck out of the house?"

Eleanor lifts the gigantic blaster onto her shoulder and sets out to join him. She eyes him as she comes, and her response is a cagey "yessss."

This feels like a set up, but she decides to hear him out.

"I gave a poor answer. What I should have said was 'Let's happen upon our host-who-is-really-an-alien-creature-who-wants-to-eat-us digging a grave he intends to put our leftover bits in, then cunningly allow him to control your mind while I hone my own mental technique and he calls for assistance. Following a risky collision with the barn wall -- sorry about that, by the way -- we'll then lure our foes inside and reduce them to gooey puddles with the somewhat ironic help of the large blasting weapon they'd thought well-hidden.'"

Beat.

"I apologize for my lack of foresight," he finishes. Reaching for her free hand, he slides his fingers through hers and kisses her knuckles, grinning all the while.

"Oh yeah... the barn wall stunt."

Eleanor's eyes narrow. As his lips withdraw, she de-laces her fingers from his and clenches them into a fist.

"I'll break your jaw the next time you try something like that."

This time however, the follow through is just a gentle chin bump.

"You're forgiven," she chuckles, "even if you did conveniently forget about me blowing Ethan's brains out in your retelling." She shakes her head ruefully and settles herself into the bike's saddle once more. The alien weapon is handed off to Jamie and the engine is fired up.

"Like I said: glory hog."

It's only fair that the chin bump is followed up by a hair tousle.

"Hmmm."

Adjusting his grip on the weapon, Jamie shakes his head and holds on.

"I like AJ better."

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