Chapter 18

"Thank you." Megan grabbed his hand.

"I need a new shirt." Cameron looked down before his gaze fell on the culprits.

"Yo-you c-can have mi-mine." The gunman quickly took off his overshirt before nervously extending his hand.

Cameron grabbed the shirt and nonchalantly took his off. The others were scared to meet his gaze, but they still noticed his chest free of wounds. He dried up the blood with the old shirt before redressing. When he turned around Megan noticed his eyes have yet to revert.

'That's not good.' Megan looked for some shades.

"Leave your phones, and if you tell anyone what you saw I'll find you." Cameron looked over his shoulder.

The trembling robbers reached into their pockets and put them on the floor carefully. Cameron nodded to the car as they rushed for the doors without concern for their fallen comrade, or the gun on the floor. Cameron walked up destroying all the phones but one.

'I'll call when we're on the road.'

"Put these on." Megan handed over the glasses.

"Why?" Cameron asked.

"Your eyes dumbass," Megan replied.

Using the back of the phone Cameron gazed at his reflection. He wasn't aware of the physical changes that occurred till now. Megan explained the hair that would typically come with it as they continued down the alley.

'I wonder how long it will last this time.' Megan glanced at Cameron.

"Are you sure about the hair?" Cameron asked.

"I thought it was permanent the first time. If you don't get a haircut soon you'll see for yourself." Megan teased.

"Growing it out will help alter my appearance," Cameron replied

'He's definitely dense in this state, but at least he's not being a dick again.'

"I still think we can do without the glasses. You know people can tattoo their eyes right?" Cameron inquired.

"They can, but it doesn't glow like that," Megan replied.

'I thought it was just a glare from the case.' Cameron examined his eyes once more.

"People these days would assume I'm cosplaying, but I see your point." Cameron repositioned the shades.

The exit of the alley was appearing, and they began the search for the dispensary. It didn't take long to find their destination, but Jordan appeared to be running late. When he finally arrived it was without Cameron's car.

"What happened?" Cameron asked.

"I could ask you the same thing. Been in California for a few hours, and you already look like a douche." Jordan snickered at the sunglasses.

"There was an incident," Megan mumbled.

"Then we should hurry. Here you go." Jordan handed Cameron a fake id.

"Where did you get this?" Megan asked.

"Not that hard to find in a border city," Jordan replied while retrieving some cash.

"That's for the car," Jordan told Cameron.

'I knew we would ditch it eventually, but didn't expect to get anything for it.'

"Resourceful as always," Cameron stated.

"I'm gonna head inside if you wanna stay with the car," Jordan replied.

Not wanting to have a misunderstanding over his eyes Cameron went for the back seat. Before Jordan reached the door Megan stopped him. With the new ID, she wanted to get a few things to ease his mood. Watching her fade into the store Cameron was confused.

'She would never smoke. Maybe it will calm her down.'

Cameron was glancing around to ensure no cops patrolled the streets. With the coast clear he closed his eyes to think. A minute barely passed when something broke his concentration. The hair stood on the back of his neck followed by the sound of an owl hooting

'It's daytime.' Cameron opened his eyes searching for the source.

The street light across the street had a white owl perched atop of it. It was staring right at Cameron through the window. People passed on the street without paying it any mind, and it never broke its stare.

When meeting the owl's gaze a blood-curdling scream echoed in Cameron's head. Vague images appeared of men clad in bio suits retrieving instruments from a surgical tray. All around him stood peering eyes as a beeping screen displaying vitals.

Once the sounds of horror ended there was a dark cell. The floors were cold, and the wall resting against his back was metallic. As the images began to go blurry Cameron looked around frantically, and saw the owl dissipating.

'What was that? It felt so real.' Cameron stepped out of the car to catch his breath.

Jordan exited the store with several bags, and Megan came out with one of her own. They saw Cameron standing next to the car without his shades and a concerned look. Megan ran up to see what was wrong, but couldn't discover any wounds.

"What's wrong?" Megan asked.

"I'll tell you on the way." Cameron regained his composure and returned to the car.

On their way to the outskirts of town, Cameron began filling them in on the unusual encounter. Megan was skeptical when hearing his story. They barely got any sleep in two days and have experienced some traumatic things. If he was experiencing hallucinations it wouldn't be surprising.

"You think it has to do with the lights?" Jordan asked.

"You're still going on about that?" Megan retorted.

'You just wanted to interrupt.' Megan crossed her arms.

"I know you saw the ones on the mountain so don't play dumb," Jordan stated.

"Anything could've caused that," Megan argued.

"I hate people like you." Jordan sighed.

"What does that mean!" Megan hit the back of his headrest.

"Idiots who think we're alone in the universe." Jordan declared.

"Not this bull shit again. We would've found something by now. " Megan crossed her arms.

"You do realize that we're still finding new species on our own planet?" Jordan retorted.

While they argued the existence of other life in the universe choppers were landing at a marine base in the Mojave desert. Now that the sight at the reservation was cleaned they wanted to return to base to analyze the data. Exiting the chopper first was Mika to assist Murphy.

"Mobilize the men," Murphy relayed.

Once the soldiers were out of view the CO escorted them to the elevator. The doors barely opened when a man was handing over a dossier on Jeffery. Murphy was flipping through it as they entered control where the head of S3 was waiting.