It's not every day that you wake up to try and save the world from Armageddon. Unless your name is Cathal, or Cal as his friends know him by, and you are an alien from Planet Eachtrannach.

Cathal stood tall before the other players on the team. They laughed with him as he tossed his dirty jersey into the laundry bin. The locker room reeked of dirty socks and musky undershirts. Pity the laundress today; their undergarments bore grave evidence of the blood, sweat and tears sacrificed for the good of their school's game record.

"Did you see the new girl at registration today, Cal?" Mack asked while tying his sneaker on the locker room bench.

Cal grabbed the Gatorade off his locker shelf and chugged it down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand when he finished. The bottle now empty, Cal screwed the lid back on and shot it across the room towards the trashcan. "And he scores!" he cheered as the bottle landed safely inside the barrel.

"Yo, I saw her, Mack," Garrett interjected. "Dude, she's smokin'. All the dogs gonna be sniffin' at that skirt this year. Imma be that girl's number one stan if you don't jump on that, Cal."

"Who you guys talking about?" Peter asked. "The brunette Ms. Lang was registering this morning?"

"Yeah," Mack replied. "I think so. She does have brown hair, but it's laced with these wild, white-blond streaks. They look badass."

Cal rolled his eyes.

"What?" Garrett chastised, noticing Cal's disinterest. "You don't believe us? Seriously, for reals, this girl is hot. All long legs, Gucci bag, and high heels that accentuate that sweet little ass of hers. You gotta see her. Emph! Perfect!" Garrett brought his hands up to his lips and kissed them into the air.

"She sounds high-maintenance to me. Probably does the whole weekly mani-pedi thing, too." Cal answered, straddling the bench to sit down. "Girls like that are too much. Always taking selfies and posting them on Facebook. Looking pretty for the camera and starin' at themselves in the mirror. A guy will have better luck talking to a wall than expecting anything coherent from a girl like that. Thank you, ah, no thank you."

When Cal finished his rant he looked over and noticed Garrett and Mack taking selfies of their bare, ripped chests to post on Snapchat.

"Cripes," he cursed, tossing a used jock strap their way. "You two are worse than a bunch of cheerleaders on parade."

"Whoa! Fuck, gross," Garrett shrieked like a soprano. "Not cool, bro."

Peter laughed and shook his head. "Where do you come up with this shit, Cal? You got issues. No wonder you never get laid."

Cal grabbed Mack's towel from the locker room floor and whipped it at Peter, snapping him on his boxers. "Screw you, Pete, what do you know?"

"What the fuck, Cal? Damn, that shit stung," Peter hissed at him, throwing a dirty sock at Cal while pulling up his jeans. "I know this, you ain't had a girl in like forever. What's up with that? You got a piece stashed away somewhere we don't know about?"

"Piece?" Cal asked insulted. "Yo, this is why you never get laid, Peter. When you gonna grow up and starting treating women like they deserve? Calling them pieces ain't gonna get you anyone."

Smirking, Peter zipped up his gym bag and tossed it over his shoulder. "Whatever, man. I'm just trying to take care of my business on a day-to-day basis. I ain't got time for any long term commitments, if you know what I mean." Peter moved passed Mack and Garrett and exited the locker room. Garrett shook his head after him.

Meanwhile, Cal finished putting his own bag together and turned to leave as well. "Hey, Cal," Mack called out to him. When Cal turned around, Mack tossed him his cell. "Check her out, man. I got a picture of her on my phone. I heard she's in your health class this afternoon. Man, she's gorgeous. Her name is Aoife Lon. Just one look and you'll see what I mean. Trill."

Cal grabbed the phone mid-air and tried not to tremble in front of the guys.

It couldn't be. Without looking, though, Cal knew. He could feel it in his soul. It was them. They sent her and she had found him. But how? And what were their plans? After centuries of battling over Planet Earth, the Eachtrannach had triumphed over the Lon and for decades there had been peace between their planets.

Opening his eyes, Cal noticed that Garrett was standing in front of him. "You ok, Cal? You look like you've seen a ghost."

When Cal glanced down at the phone screen in his hands he swallowed the fear threatening to overtake him and forced a smile on his face. He looked up at Garrett. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Mack," he called out behind them. "Here." Cal tossed his phone back to him. "Looks hot. I'll check her out and let you know."

"I thought you might," Mack replied. "Catch you later."

"Yeah, later," Cal sighed, walking outside. "Garrett, I'll see you in class. I gotta run down the hall a minute."

"Sounds good. See you," he replied turning in the opposite direction.

When he got to his locker, Cal pulled out his stash of chocolate and bit off a chunk. Then he reached into the back of his locker and grabbed the stash of pills hidden behind his books, popping open the bottle and taking two before running to his next class. If a Lon was in town, he'd have to stock up. No telling how fast they'd try to deplete him.

Losing against the Lon would mean an end to the human race. He had to stop Aoife before she established a strong hold here on Earth.

The gods help them all.

_______________________

Tapping her long, pointy, pink nails on the desktops as she went, Aoife sashayed down the aisle and slid seductively into her seat at the back of health class. She didn't know anyone yet, but that would change. Several eyes were already on her this morning. She could almost taste their desires. They were so predictable, these puny humans.

A little sway in the hips, some cleavage oozing over the top of her blouse and a smile went a long way with the male species, especially those infested with raging teenage hormones. Cloaked with human beauty, it took nothing for Aoife to wheel them in and put them under her spell, and she was going in for the kill.

The helicase enzyme the Sqia, her planet's elite scientists, mutated was going to be the downfall of the Eachtrannach if it was the last thing she did. All she had to do was find a way to inject it into Cal's bloodstream. The potion would take care of the rest and then her family, and millions of other Lon, could join her on Earth.

Aoife fondled the hard plastic vial in her pocket, spinning it around in concert with her thoughts. The Sqia had assured her that it would work. They had been tinkering with this particular formula for centuries. It had been difficult, but when they found a way to interrupt the stabilization mechanism of the polymerase C enzyme, a roar of triumph erupted from their lab. It was an easy transition from there to unravel the other six polymerase enzymes and devise a way to induce instead of replication, apoptosis, or cellular destruction. The Sqia's potion was stored inside of an Epi-pen. All it took was a faked doctor prescription and Aoife could carry it on her person at all times while in school. As soon as she had the opportunity, she was going to strike.

When a wave of nausea throttled Aoife's stomach she hunched over her desktop and groaned. Scratching her eyes, she looked up and saw her nemesis enter the room. He looked around apprehensively and quickly caught her eye. Aoife growled low in the back of her throat.

"Are you ok?" the girl sitting next to her asked. "You need some Advil or something? Do you have cramps? I have ibuprofen if you need some." The girl rummaged in her purse and pulled out a small pill bottle, shaking two blue liqui-gels from it. "Here, these work fast."

Aoife smiled weakly at the girl. Women could always count on their own in times of need. "Thanks," Aoife replied pitying the girl and what would happen to her when the serum was unleashed. Aoife didn't need the NSAIDs but took them anyway so as not to appear rude. Opening her water bottle, she sipped some down with the pills and nodded her head gratefully at the girl. "I'm Aoife, by the way."

"Songbird," the girl said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Songbird?" Aoife asked, not sure if she heard the girl correctly. "I've never heard of someone with that name before. It's pretty," she complemented, trying to feel the girl out. Perhaps she could be helpful down the line if getting to Cal proved difficult.

"Thanks," the girl replied with a small smile. "My mother picked it out. I'm told I liked to sing songs when I was young," she chuckled to herself. "I also loved to fly around the house from one crazy activity to another. I guess you could say my name fits."

"Hmmp," Aoife mumbled at this. "Ok."

When her eyes began to tear, Aoife looked away and cursed Cathal under her breath. "Dammit." His presence was over-activating her levels too quickly and she could feel the itchiness in her eyes increase by the second. Trapped in this desk, she'd be sent to the principal's office for sure if the teacher noticed her red eyes before the bell rang.

As if he could sense her staring menacingly at his back, Cathal turned around to glare at Aoife. Knowing the effect he was having on her, he smiled. The only satisfaction Aoife had was realizing that if she was suffering so was he. When he leaned over to drop his head on his palms, she knew he was feeling fatigued. Still, he didn't look in near as much pain as she was. She could already feel her muscles growing weaker. If she didn't leave now, she wouldn't be able to walk by the end of this period.

Raising her hand, Aoife asked to be excused and then hustled out of the room. Stopping at her locker, she groped her drops like a man slurping water after a walk in the desert. The saltines she swallowed down afterwards gave her a little sustenance as well.

Dag-nabbed, Cathal.

This wasn't a good start to her mission.

When the bell rang over her head, Aoife threw her hands up to cover her sensitive ears. She was still getting used to the loud noise on this planet. Damn humans. Always so annoying.

When the classroom doors around her banged open, however, Aoife grinned through the racket. This would be the perfect opportunity. With the crowds of kids roaming the halls to get to and from class, she could slip up on Cathal and jab him in the leg before he knew what hit him.

Loosening the cap on her pen, Aoife kept her hand in her pocket, her device at the ready for when he'd appear.

------------

Songbird tripped over her untied shoelace, falling into Cal on their way out of health.

"I'm so sorry," she gushed, embarrassed at her own clumsiness. She reached down to pick up Cal's textbook which had fallen on the floor in their scuffle. Standing back up, she turned it over to him. "Here you go."

When she looked up, Cal lost himself in her honey-brown gaze. Like a cut of tiger eye, hers were as rich as the gemstone itself. Specks of gold and various shades of brown danced around her iris. Stepping back, Cal got a better look.

Songbird's hair was long and straight. Thick as horsehair, and not a strand out of place. Like a sheet of molten chocolate it flowed over her shoulders and cascaded down her back, ending abruptly over her well-defined derriere.

Caught staring, Cal chided himself when Songbird coughed intentionally to get his attention. Still holding the book out in front of her, Cal was reminded that she was waiting for him to take it. "You alright there, Cal?"

Smirking, Cal took hold of the book. "I'm good. Thanks.

Ouch!" Call grumbled, shaking his hand and looking up at Songbird.

Surprised, Songbird looked down at his hand, which was now bleeding before her.

"Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed. Looking back at her own hand she realized that in passing the book to him, she had accidentally scratched Cal with her ring. It was made of very old and care-worn silver metal. A moonstone on top covered a hidden compartment beneath it. Every now and then the ring caught on things, but this was the first time it had drawn blood. Looking horrified, and for the second time in so many minutes, Songbird apologized to Cal again. "I'm really sorry. I have to have this fixed. It's so old. I feel bad for scratching you. Can I make it up to you?"

"Make it up to me?" Cal asked, raising an eyebrow with interest. "What did you have in mind?"

"Uh, well," Songbird stammered. She hadn't actually thought that far ahead. "Wanna get a milkshake with me? My treat. There's a little ice cream shop a few blocks away. We could swing by after school and grab one."

"That sounds like fun," Cal started to reply, but then thought of Aoife waiting in the wings. He knew she'd pounce on him at the first opportunity she got. Being caught unprepared at Global High, he didn't have his communication device with him. There was no way for him to reach his commander to warn him of the Lon's presence. "But, how about we go now, instead of later?"

"Now?" Songbird asked timidly. "Don't you have to go to 7th and 8th period?"

"Yeah," Cal replied with a smile. "But for a milkshake, I might be convinced to ditch, especially if you're buying." He leaned against the door-jam and crossed his leg at the ankle. "What do you say?"

"I don't know," Songbird answered him. Cal could tell she really wanted to go but was worried about missing class. "I never cut before. What if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught. Come on," Cal pleaded with her. "you already signed into homeroom and no one really pays much attention after that. It'll be fine."

"Well, I guess," Songbird agreed, nervously biting her nails.

Moving off the wall, Cal grinned and grabbed Songbird's hand. "Yes! Come on, let's go!" Peeking around the door jam, Cal noticed Aoife lying in wait at the end of the hall to his right. Pulling Songbird down the hall to the left in a rush, they ran for the exit before anyone could stop them.

------------

Temper tantrums happen to two-year-olds, hence the term: 'terrible twos'. A toddler is forgivable. Century-year old aliens, not so much.

Aoife furiously stormed the halls of Global High but all traces of Cal were gone. Just when she had lost all hope of finding him, the 8th period bell rang and the halls began to fill with students on their way home. That's when she saw him.

Slinking back into school, she watched Cal cautiously approach his locker and open it. Removing his jacket, he pulled a sports bag from inside his locker and turned to leave. Before he could escape her clutches again, Aoife pounced, stabbing the Epi-pen into his thigh. Manically laughing at how easy the ambush had gone, Aoife forgot to look up at Cal afterwards. She wasn't ready for his reaction to her.

Roaring in anger, Cal grabbed Aoife by the arm and dragged her into the nearest stairwell. Forgetting the potency of their powers, neither was prepared for the punch of depletion that whipped across their human bodies. Within seconds of being so close to one another, Cal felt his energy levels drop and his muscles weaken. Likewise, Aoife's joints inflamed and her eyes started to tear. Scratching them with one hand, it looked like she was crying. Unable to hold onto her any longer, Cal was forced to let go of her arm.

"What did you do to me?" Cal whimpered, bending over to hold his knees. "My head is spinning." Looking up, the stairwell started to tilt and melt. Losing his balance, Cal stumbled, falling into the utility closet behind him. "Damn you, Aoife. What was in that pen?"

Clutching her stomach, Aoife tipped into the railing behind her. "I gotta get away from you. I can feel you sucking the life out of me."

"Who asked you to come near me? Why'd you come here?" Cal cursed at her. "Should of...shoulda...you should," Call continued, slurring his words as consciousness began to leave him.

Crawling up the stairs in front of her, Aoife distanced herself from Cal as fast as her nauseous body would carry her. One flight at a time, Aoife looked for an escape. She had accomplished her mission, now all she had to do was survive the blowback.

Getting away from Cal as fast as she could was the key to her survival. She had to get back to her locker. Her pills were in it. If she could just get to them she'd be fine.

When she reached the fire door two flights up, Aoife banged on it until a passing student let her in. Rattled, but feeling a little better now that she was no longer in Cal's close proximity, Aoife stood up and struggled to her locker, reaching it just in time. Desperate for relief, she sucked on the eyedropper the Sqia had provided her before the trip. Coursing down her throat, the elixir was like manna, waking her cells back up from their weakened slumber. Her strength returned, Aoife stood tall and laughed.

She had done it!

Cathal.

After today, he would be gone.

With the serum's ease of transmission and speed of infection, anyone who came in contact with Cal's body, or anything it had touched, would die within hours. Thereafter, anyone infected could spread the disease to someone else through every mode possible; air, touch, blood, saliva, or puncture. In a matter of days, the Earth would be free of humans, making it the perfect place for the Lon to inhabit it.

With a bounce in her alien step, Aoife took the front stairs two at a time down to street level. Exiting the building, she quickly hopped on her Kawasaki Ninja and revved it before racing off to her ship for home. Mine as well speed out of there in style. Laughing, Aoife took flight as Cal slowly died alone on the floor of Global High's stairwell.

------------

Upon hearing the end of their scuffle, Songbird raced down the steps and stood over Cal's wasting body. In shock, she watched his life force flicker before her eyes.

"Help me," Cal cried out to her, lifting his arm weakly towards her angelic face. "Songbird, please," he moaned.

Dropping to the ground next to him, Songbird grasped Cal's cold hand and held it towards her heart. "Oh my goodness, Cal!" she cried. "What happened to you? Who did this?"

Barely able to form words, Cal tried to explain what Aoife had done to him, who she was and why she wanted to destroy the human race. Shaking her head in disbelief, Cal knew Songbird was overwhelmed. Bringing one hand to her mouth, she used the other to wipe away an errant tear. "I don't understand. How can this be? Cal, you're not making any sense."

"It's true, Songbird," he whispered. "You've got to believe me. I'm not from this planet. I need your help. You've have to take me home. If I can just get home, I can reach my commander. He'll know what to do. Please-" Cal's voice trailed off, though, him being too weak to continue. He closed his eyes and felt a shudder rip through him. Gasping and desperate, he tightened his hand in Songbird's one last time. He pleaded with her, "Please, Songbird, please help me."

But it was too late. Songbird slumped back on her heels and started keening the death song her grandmother taught her long ago. Songbird wouldn't miss him, but he was nice to her. That was worth at least a song or two. Closing her eyes, Songbird rocked forward and back, letting Cal's soul leave to return to the ether.

Finally, when she was satisfied that Cal had fully exited his human shell, Songbird pulled a pouch from within her jacket and sprinkled some glistening grams from it over Cal's corpse. Within minutes, his form turned to dust. The poison hidden in her ring worked fast when it interacted with the after-death dust her leader had provided before her trip to Earth.

When Cal's body had been reduced to nothing more than a few specks on the linoleum, she opened the nearby utility closet and borrowed the janitor's broom and dustpan to clean up the leftovers.

Disgusting Eachtrannachs, she cursed to herself. Always such a mess.

Songbirds eyes began to glow. Glancing around the room, she neutralized any Sqia contagion left behind from Cal's body.

Then, thrusting the utensils back into the closet, and wiping her hands on her jeans, Songbird looked around and smiled. Not a trance of him or that serum anywhere. All in a quick day's work. Just as her boss liked.

Grabbing the brass handle of the stairwell door in front of her, Songbird giggled before walking through it.

Just wait until Aoife learned what Songbird had done to her. The Lon wouldn't be moving to Planet Earth anytime soon. Those little blue liqui-gels Songbird gave Aoife for 'cramps' would take care of the Lon as easily as their contagion had destroyed Cathal.

Meanwhile, Planet Earth would be under Songbird's watchful eye until her own people could arrive. It wouldn't be long now.

THE END.

-------

"Cathal" is an Irish boy name. It sounds like "Ka-hal".

"Aoife" is an Irish girls name. It sounds like "Ee-fa".

"Eachtrannach" is Irish for alien. It sounds like "Oct-trah-nuch".

Please remember to click on the small star below if you enjoyed this story. It helps bring the book to more people visiting Wattpad. It also lets me know you've enjoyed reading it.

Thank you for your support!