Regroup



Regroup is the nineteenth chapter of the Main Story.

Note(s)
Any dialogue that is not being spoken in English is represented with italics and bold text.

Plot
Bethany got home to find her mother watching a crime documentary.

“You were out very late, where had you been?” she asked her daughter.

“Uh, I was hanging out with Zack and Samantha, but.....we got lost and it took us ages to get back to the bus station,” lied Bethany. Her mother gave her a bit of a look, due to this excuse and from the dust on her clothing that Bethany had gotten on her from visiting the alternate timeline, but wasn't in the mood to be questioning her daughter at this time of night.

“Alright then,” she said. Bethany yawned.

“I'm going to bed, night.”

The next morning, Bethany was downstairs eating breakfast with her younger brother. The TV was set to the news while her parents were upstairs getting dressed.

“And in other news, we've received reports of discoveries of three bodies, but coroners are not only unable to recognize them, but they describe them as having an 'inhuman' bodily system,” said the news reporter. Bethany almost choked on her cereal.

“You alright there?” asked her brother. Bethany coughed.

“Yeah, ahem, I'm fine,” stammered Bethany with a drop of sweat on her forehead.

“In local news, we've had a report of what appears to be a burgerly murder,” said the news reporter again. Bethany stopped eating as the TV changed to show an aerial view of her hometown.

“Neighbours report hearing what sounded like struggle and a woman screaming, with agitated voices being heard afterwards. After police arrived and examined the scene, we found the house containing some unusual items for a household, along with several bloodstains over the floor. However, this doesn't appear to be human blood, so we are unsure as to what happened but police are looking into it.”

Bethany stood up and quickly took her bowl to the kitchen before dashing to the living room to put her boots on.

“Hey, where are you going?” called her brother, who hadn't been paying attention to the news.

“I just remembered that I was going to meet up with some of my friends and I'm late!” replied Bethany as she got up and left in a rush. Her looked at the clock reading 7:56am.

“She's an early bird,” he said as he shrugged.

Bethany hurriedly walked towards the house that was shown on the news, getting rather out of breath as she went, having to stop to take a puff from her inhaler on the way.

Once she got to the road, Bethany could see the house surrounded by police tape warning pedestrians to stay away. Still gasping for air, she didn't know what to do now. Does this house even have anything to do with Samantha, or is it just a freak burglary that has nothing to do with extraterrestrial life?

Close to Samantha's house, the three Oviphomos were still asleep in the tree with the five Anoterran Cats. Mizhults wasn't asleep because Technosumes don't need to, she was just thinking to herself all night, listening to owls and other Earth life around.

Now, she could hear what didn't sound like any Earth animals, it sounded like wheezing.

“Bethany!” announced Mizhults, making everyone else jump in surpise. Xenia jumped the most, losing her balance from the branch and was left suspended by her hair.

“Um, good morning?” grumbled Kaysaph out of reflex, rubbing her eyes.

“No, I don't wanna go skydiving again!” shouted Xenia in surprise as she pulled herself back up onto the branch, Samantha groaned slightly as she shook herself out of sleep.

“Mizhults, what's the matter?” Kaysaph sighed.

“'Mizhults hear Bethany! Bethany came back!'” she called.

Several seconds passed.

“I don't hear her,” said Kaysaph. Mizhults jumped up and started crawling down the tree in a hurry.

“'Oh my gosh. Cats, stay here, hiding until I come back, alright?'” called Samantha as the three Oviphomos jumped out of the tree and chased after Mizhults.

Bethany was beginning to think about what she was doing. Crime mysteries aren't exactly unheard of, so a mystery doesn't exactly point to extraterrestrial activity as she walked up the road where Samantha's house is.

Down the road, Mizhults was scuttling with Samantha, Kaysaph and Xenia in pursuit.

“Stop!” shouted Samantha as she turned direction towards her house, surrounded by police tape and policed cars. Samantha ducked under the tape, but was stopped by a police officer.

“This is a crime scene miss,” he said.

“Mother Ellenseren was murdered in there!” shouted Samantha. The officer gave her a strange look.

“I'm going to have to ask you to leave this scene immediately,” he said firmly. Before Samantha could say anything else, Kaysaph took her arm and led her away from the scene.

“Hey! Samantha! Kaysaph! Xenia!” called Bethany, out of breath from her running.

“'Bethany back! She help us!'” called Mizhults as she ran and jumped up to Bethany's shoulder. Samantha sighed and put her finger behind her ear.

“Bethany, I think we need a long talk,” sighed Samantha, putting her finger behind her ear again. “Let's go back to the forest.”

Bethany was sure something terrible had happened, but followed the three Oviphomos back into the forest. She took her phone from her pocket and texted Zack: “Hey Zack, I'm sending you my location, come here ASAP,” and sent it to him, thinking that Samantha needs as many friends as she can get now.