Touched by an Alien

else.”
    “I wish, I truly wish, I could explain it so you’d understand. So you’d change. People can change, A-Cs and humans alike. But maybe you can’t. Maybe you never could or you’ve forgotten how. And for that lack or loss, you have my sympathy. And my pity.”
    “I don’t need your pity.” He was angry again, and the parasite started to move toward me. I was out of spray, and I let the cans drop.
    “No, maybe you don’t. You need my soul. But you can’t have it.”
    “KITTY!” Ah, that was what a bellow should sound like.
    I wasn’t sure what part of Terry had been transferred to me, if it was her or just my own feminine intuition, but as I turned my head, I ducked.
    To see Christopher pitching a fastball to Martini. Martini had the bat, and he connected with the ball. It sailed toward us, possibly the best hit I’d ever seen, home run all the way. I ducked lower.
    Mephistopheles turned to look as well, his mouth still open. He made an excellent catch, denying the hitter a trot around the bases. I covered my head with my arms.
    The explosion was immediate, and I was lucky—Mephistopheles let go. I dropped straight down. And landed in Martini’s arms, just like always. He ran. Everyone was running the other way now, dogs included. “We have to kill him,” I shouted in his ear.
    “Stop yelling, I’m not deaf! And, trust me, he’s going to die.”
    I looked back. Mephistopheles’ head was exploding, and the explosions were moving down his body. “What did you send into him?”
    “High-powered, self-contained nuke.”
    “Jeff, that means we’re all going to die.”
    “No,” he said as he slowed down. “We won’t.”
    “It’s got a lot of Everclear in it, along with our technology. No spread, no afterlife, perfectly safe.” Christopher was next to us. “Did you get the parasite?”
    “Sort of.”
    “Sort of?” He was shouting. I chose to believe it was because of the explosions. “How the hell are we supposed to be sure it’s destroyed?”
    I thought about it and looked up at the ceiling above where Mephistopheles’ head had been. “We have to get up there.” I pointed to the spot where the parasite was clinging. “Or make it come to us. Jeff, put me down.”
    He did, unwillingly. “What are you going to do now that’s going to give me a heart attack?”
    “You don’t get heart disease, Christopher already told me.”
    “I think I’m going to be the first.”
    I looked around. “Lorraine, Claudia! Over here!” They came over. “Girls, it’s going to be up to us. I need more Ever-Hold.”
    Someone dumped a case at my feet. “Ask and ye shall receive, girlfriend.”
    “Thanks, James. Nice to see you.”
    Reader grinned. “Nice to be seen. Quite the rave you’re throwing. By the way, all the empaths wanted me to tell you that they got your messages, loud and clear, the first time you emotionally screamed them out, and you didn’t need to keep shouting at them.”
    “Oh, duly noted. Next time the world’s in danger, I’ll be sure to whisper my emotions.”
    “I wasn’t complaining,” Martini said. “I was too busy wondering if I was in love with a crazy girl or a girl who was crazy like a fox. I picked fox,” he added with a grin.
    “Not a lot of time,” Christopher said meaningfully.
    I tossed two cans to each girl and took two for myself. “Mom! Need you and a gun, now!”
    My mother shoved her way through the crowd. She had her shoulder holster on. “What are you doing?”
    “I’m really hoping you’re a sharpshooter.” With that, I ran back to stand under the parasite. Lorraine and Claudia came with me. “Get ready. It’s going to drop, most likely on me. It can’t connect immediately, it needs a few seconds.”
    “We’re ready,” Lorraine said, as the parasite dropped down, right toward me.
    I wanted to duck or run, but I sprayed instead. So did the girls. But we didn’t have to. Mom shot it fifteen times before it hit the ground. My mother, the Annie Oakley of Antiterrorism. Maybe one day I’d be as good as her, but at least the last few days had been a decent start.
    The girls and I sprayed all the parasite parts until they dissolved. Reader had to bring over reinforcement cans, but finally it was all gone, the last bits of the devil incarnate destroyed by things most would say he’d invented himself.
    Ironic justice. I could dig it. And it would make a great title for a monthly comic, too.

CHAPTER 63
    THE NEXT FEW DAYS WERE A