Among Us

"Are we alone?  Will aliens ever find us?  And what happens if they do?"  The TV in played in the background, positing these deep questions in front of Katie and Aaron.  "I don't know, but I sure intend to find out as long as you tell me, television!  The best shows always come on late!" Aaron whooped, showing far more enthusiasm for the show than Katie, who rolled her eyes.  "You've been making me watch these shows for three years and I still don't believe in aliens," she replied.  "Why on Earth would an alien come here?"  "Because we have water slides?  And fried pickles.  Duh.   Can't get these in outer space."  Aaron picked up another fried pickle, and dunked it in a weirdly colored sauce that caused Katie to reflexively cringe.  "If you were any more gross I'd kick you out."  "This is my apartment!" Aaron protested.  "And I invited you here!  If anything, I should kick you out for not eating more fried pickles.  I'm going to gain way more pickle weight than I'm comfortable with."  The threat did not entice Katie to eat the greasy circles in front of her.  "With the way you put those things down I'm surprised you can still pass the fitness exam."  Katie stretched out, then tried to figure out if watching the alien show or Aaron was going to be less nauseating.  She chose the TV.  "I'm in the best shape of anybody on the force," Aaron said, flexing. 

"Besides, they can't kick me off the force because nobody else would want to be your partner," he teased.  "Some people might not like being caught in constant firefights.  You're lucky I think it's exciting."  She hit Aaron with the pillow, and he blocked it with his arm.  "Too slow!"  Undeterred, she dipped a finger in the sauce and wiped it on his nose, laughing.  The irradiated colored liquid dripped off of his dark skin, and onto the couch.  His mouth widened in false outrage as he studied the stain.  Then, he turned his attention to Katie.  "This is basically poison!" he yelled.  "Who knows what this will do to my skin!  I'll probably grow a second nose!"  "Good, then maybe you'll think about washing your uniform more often."  His eyes narrowed, and he raised a pillow high over his head.  Just as it was about to come down, his phone rang. 

"Work," he said, dejected.  "Looks like we're needed."  "Ugh," Katie said, shaking her head.  "Can't they call someone else?  It's almost midnight and I'm in my pajamas!"  "We were on call," Aaron shrugged.  "Plus Davos and Rema were out on another call, so there's really nobody left."  "We better get overtime for this," Katie grumbled, standing up.  "What's up with Davos and Rema?  What are they doing?"  "They're out investigating more of those bodies," Aaron said, shaking his head somberly.  Katie's face recoiled at the thought.  She had seen the pictures, and they were gruesome.  Suddenly she wasn't feeling as angry about having to take over a call for them.  "No idea what keeps happening to them.  I've never seen people...implode.  It can't be drugs.  It's gotta be something else..."  Aaron was lost in thought, until Katie broke the silence, suggesting "Maybe they ate too many of those pickles."  Aaron glared at her.  "Do you have a spare uniform I can borrow," Katie asked, unphased.

Aaron walked down the hall to his room.  He changed, and brought Katie out a uniform that was clearly going to be two sizes too big for her slender figure.  "This thing is going to swallow me!" she complained.  "It's this or your pj's."  "Drat."  Katie went down to the bathroom, and changed out of her navy pajamas and into the oversized clothes that Aaron had brought her.  The cap nearly covered her entire face, masking her auburn hair and green eyes, so she left it behind in the bathroom.  The paints were overly long, and covered most of her boots, which she wore everywhere.  Katie shook her head at the sight of herself and rejoined Aaron in the living room.  "I left you a surprise in the bathroom," she said.  Aaron made a disgusted face.  "You look like someone who shrunk but wasn't expecting to shrink that day.  Maybe they were taking a day off from shrinking and had an accident, or something."  Katie threw another pillow at him, then darted out of the apartment, and ran down the stairs to the squad car below. 

It was a cloud covered night, and Aaron and Katie were the only cars on the road, their siren breaking the silences of the streets they drove down.  "What do we got?" Katie asked, trying to tuck her shirt in as far as possible.  "Looks like a robbery at the Deli on sixth."  "A deli?" Katie snorted.  "Someone must be hungry."  The rest of the trip to the deli was spent with Aaron speculating on what was going to happen on the tv show they were missing.  "I bet they finally prove aliens exist this time!  And I'm going to miss it!"  "I just really, really doubt it considering they've been saying that since we've been watching the show."  "You've never believed.  When you get abducted I bet your first thought is going to be 'Aaron was right, what a smart guy' and your second thought is going to be 'Ah'!"  Katie laughed, and they turned the corner onto sixth street, nearly abandoned at this time of night.  "I hope when you meet an alien that it eats you.  Or worse, tells you your future where I become more successful than you."  He scoffed.  "Then I'll know it's lying."  Turning off their sirens so as to not be heard, they rounded the corner onto sixth street and saw that the glass store-front window that was supposed to be adorned with a sign for Smelly's Deli was shattered. 

Broken glass littered the sidewalk and crunched under their feet as Katie and Aaron, guns drawn, turned off their siren and approached the Deli. A pale-yellow streetlight provided the only way for them to see through the darkness.  "Looks like we're the only ones around," announced Katie after surveying the street.  "Except for whoever decided to rob this deli. Who robs a deli? The margins on sandwiches aren't nearly as big as the margins on gold bars from a bank," Aaron replied.  "Less security than a bank?  Who knows.  Are they even still here?" Katie asked, peering inside. "The deli isn't that big, and it wouldn't take anyone who knew what they were doing long to rob.  Plus, we took our time getting here."  Aaron shrugged, then crouched and made his way across the sidewalk to the front of the deli and listened.  He could hear someone, or something, shuffling around, and the sounds of items being unwrapped.  He motioned for Katie to move to his position.   "Listen," Aaron whispered, "The noises are coming from two different directions."   Katie turned her attention inside the deli, and heard one person fiddling with the cash register behind the counter, and another person unwrapping sandwiches in front of the fridge. 

"More than one suspect," Katie whispered back.  Aaron nodded, and examined the broken storefront window.  "No sign of the object used to break the glass," he reported, giving the inside another quick glance so as to not be seen. "They must still have it with them."  "Why would they not just leave it?" Katie wondered, herself now giving the store a look.  Inside, the place was a mess.  There were two shelves positioned vertically that ran the length of the floor, stopping a few feet from the counter at the back end of the store.  Across from the counter there was a fridge, which was giving off just enough light to make out a human sized figure.  But where is the other person? she wondered.  The shelves were in disarray.  Drinks had been spilled in various spots across the floor, creating sticky puddles near the middle of the store where the foundation had tarted to sag.  Chips were everywhere; bags had been torn open and then discarded onto the floor.  "I'll go left, you go right. Watch the exit; there's a door back there" he ordered.  Katie nodded, and then they were silent.

Aaron breathed in, then took a tentative step over the knee-high wall, and swung his over leg around, then positioned himself behind the left shelf.  Katie did the same, except she didn't bring her leg high enough as it swung around, and her overly long pants caught on a piece of glass, cutting her.  She cried out, then covered her mouth with her hand.  Aaron's eyes opened wide as they heard footprints coming towards them.  Katie quickly moved to the shelf on the right, putting them on either side of the aisle where they heard the footprints.  Aaron motioned for them to walk around the sides of the shelves, and they silently made their way down, careful not to crunch on chips that were in their path.  Katie checked through the shelves and tried to see who was walking down the middle of the store, but found no one.  Aaron continued down the aisle, and reached the front of the counter.   Katie worked her way around her shelf so the front of the counter was visible, giving her the ability to cover Aaron if he needed it. Aaron counted down from three with his fingers, and popped up.

"Police!" he yelled. "Show me your...little hands?"  Little..what?  In one motion, Katie stood up and and slammed her arms on top of the shelf, twirling so her gun was trained on the counter.  She saw a teenage girl, with dark brown hair and tanned skin, standing in front of the counter, eating a sandwich.  The girl jumped, and her eyes widened at the sight of the gun being pointed right at her.  "It's just a kid!" she yelled at Aaron, putting down her gun.  Aaron stood, frozen.  "Aaron, put down the gun.  It's just-" she took a step towards Aaron, and saw the light from the fridge reflect off of three shards of glass that were hovering in the air, twirling.  Stunned, Katie stopped moving, her gaze fixated on the glass.  "I found an alien," he whispered at Katie.  "And I gotta say, I really wish they weren't real."