11 Hours

The Next Day

  " Get up Brown."

I opened one eye, and there he was. Bryson had his arms on both sides of me as he hovered over me.

" C'mon Brown," he said.

" F-five more minutes." I yawned.

He chuckled then turned me on my back.

" Fine, let's take a look at your leg, then you're up Brown," he said.

I finally fully opened my eyes and sighed.

Bryson sat next to my legs, then slowly pulled the leaf off my wound.

" Well looky there," he said.

I sat up to look at my wound.

" Try to stand up Brown," said Bryson.

I sighed as I looked at my leg. I moved my legs to the edge of the bed—my toes were barely touching the floor. Bryson got up off the bed and stood in front of me with his hands out.

" Here," he said.

I reached out and grabbed both his hands as I pressed my feet up against the floor and used my upper body strength to slowly get up off the bed. As soon as I stood up, my legs turned to jello. I began to fall until I felt his arms wrap around my waist.

" Whoa there. Easy, easy," he said softly.

Bryson lifted me back up and locked his hands with mine.

" Now, take it slower this time," he said.

" I did take it slow!"

He sighed then gazed into my eyes.

" Just try," he said.

I sighed and tried to move my leg towards him.

" Look, I think I saw it move," he said happily.

I shook my head and sighed.

" Brown...." he said as he grabbed my chin.

" You never came across as a quitter to me," he said.

I looked him in his eyes and nodded my head.

" I'm not. This....this is just harder." I said.

Bryson and I practiced walking for probably 15 minutes. Even though it was a short period of time it felt like forever. Also as we were together I couldn't help think about the night before.

" I want you, Brown."

" Lies," I told myself.

But I knew that the conversation about last night would have to wait. We had bigger things to worry about. Bryson and decided we needed to make our move and take care of those mutant grasshoppers.

After our mini walking lesson, I sat down on the bed and Bryson went downstairs.

Minutes later I began to smell something rather ravishing. I couldn't help but get up and go to the door to take a peek downstairs. As I slowly opened the door I noticed Bryson was cooking veggies with seasoning in a cast-iron skillet. After getting a good whiff my stomach began to growl. I then remembered I hadn't eaten since last night, and that squirrel didn't fill me up. I opened the door and clutched onto the railing as I went downstairs.

" I knew you'd be down here soon enough." Bryson laughed.

I shook my head in disbelief.

" So how are you even doing this?" I asked.

" Cooking? I mean I found the stuff in the cabinets and found veggies in the garden behind the house," he said.

" Garden?!" I said.

" Yep. I was going out to gather food before you got up and I found myself behind the house," he said.

Bryson opened the drawer to the right of him and took out an oven mitt. He began to wave the smoke away from the stove, then wrapped the mitt around the handle of the skillet and placed it onto the wooden table.

" You mind holding this?" Bryson asked.

I shook my head then Bryson winked at me. I held onto the skillet as Bryson went back over to the drawer and pulled out another mitt. He came back over to the table, grabbed the handle from under me, and turned the skillet towards him.

" Imma need you to put that mitt under this so it won't damage the table," Bryson said as he held the oven mitt in front of me.

" Sure."

Bryson nodded his head then slowly lifted the skillet with both of his hands. I quickly slide the mitt underneath the skillet, then Bryson put the skillet back down.

" Kay....Breakfast is served," he said.

There were already forks on the table, so I grabbed one and began to eat out the skillet.

" So, the alien thing....when are we gonna come up with a plan?" I asked.

Bryson ignored my question and kept eating.

" Bryson!"

He slammed his fork down and glared at me.

" To be honest, I don't feel like saving the world again," he said.

" I'm not doing this for the world, I'm doing this for my friends and family," I said.

He sighed and put his hands on his forehead.

" You're right....we can call Robert later."

" Well we know that those aliens are being produced in the ship," I said.

" Any weaknesses?" Bryson asked.

" None that I know."

Bryson looked up at the ceiling as he ran his tongue across the top row of his teeth.

" Maybe Robert found out some more stuff about them," I said.

Bryson nodded his head and called Robert.

" Yello!" said Robert.

" We need more info on the grasshopper aliens," Bryson said.

" I don't have much. All I know is what it's mixed with," he replied.

" And that is?" I asked.

" Grasshopper and Butterfly," said Robert.

" Butterfly?" I asked.

" Yeah. There's a little alien mixture in there because of its height and pretty much that it's an alien," he said.

" So anything else about the ship?" Bryson asked.

" The ship that landed in front of your school is the mother ship. That means that the queen or king is in there somewhere," he said.

" Anything else?" I asked.

" Sorry kiddos, that's all I have for ya," he said.

" Ok, we can't defeat them on our own. We need weapons." Bryson said.

" You do remember the facility is in Southern California, right?" Robert said.

Bryson sighed and got up off the table. I looked up at him then back down at Robert.

" You guys are smart kids. Use your heads," he said.

Bryson and I nodded our heads.

" Also, you should know that you guys need to shut them down promptly," Robert said.

The 3-D call suddenly ended. I sighed and leaned back in the chair.

" Well, it's time to come up with that plan," I said.

Bryson nodded his head and sat down in the seat across from me.

" Well, we need to make weapons," Bryson said.