It Never Left

It Never Left By Iyana Jenna Sean paid no attention to Jonah’s wet and shaky condition. Shaky, even when the young man seemed to be unconscious. Sean gathered him effortlessly in his arms, hauled him up, and fled as fast as he could out of the college building. He knew the enormous creature seemed as dead as death itself, shrinking, with its skin slowly drying up and becoming callused. But Sean didn’t want to risk it. He wouldn’t feel safe before they got outside and left the place immediately. Too bad his car was a wreck now. Sean hadn’t checked his other friends. The demise of the queen might kill all her spawn, and—sadly—perhaps every single body they took as hosts would perish, too. After running several hundred yards away from the building, Sean lowered Jonah’s body and examined him for any sign of a pulse. Small puffs of air, some even too small to be discernible escaped Jonah’s mouth, letting Sean know that all hope wasn’t lost. Sean shuddered out a breath. No, Jonah didn’t die. So probably the others had also managed to survive. Sinking onto the hard pavement by the road, Sean laid Jonah’s head carefully on his lap. What now? He couldn’t imagine walking, while carrying Jonah, all the way to Jonah’s or his house. Not with the boy still out cold. But Sean wasn’t sure, either, if Jonah would be strong enough to walk when he came to. Sean’s head was still buzzing with indecision when he felt a hand tugging at his shirtsleeve. “Jonah!” Sean had never been happier to see his friend stare at him. “How are you, man?” “W…w…” Jonah sounded parched but Sean didn’t have any water to alleviate the discomfort. “What is it?” Sean urged. He brought himself closer to Jonah. Jonah swallowed, closed his eyes briefly, and parted his lips. “Where…where are we? What happened?” “I don’t know,” said Sean. “I don’t know where we are now.” He smoothed Jonah’s hair off his brow, Sean’s eyes were soft, and he gazed around at the darkness engulfing them. No house was in sight and everything was so quiet. There were only clusters of trees standing together on one side of the road and an open field on the other. Sean wondered where all the people in the city had gone. If his notion was correct about them all surviving after the alien died, he and Jonah should have come across someone by now. Sean turned to Jonah again. He was still shaking. Sean lifted him a bit so he could tighten his arms around him. “Are you okay?” he murmured, wondering if he should propose they start moving now. Jonah was shivering. “Sean…” “Yes?” “Why are we here? What’s happened?” There was that question again. Sean frowned. Was Jonah in shock or something? “Jonah, you killed the alien queen in our campus. Don’t you remember that?”