Chapter 10

Freyja locked the door to the Armory and then stared at the tattered shreds of her tank top and bra on the concrete floor.

It had really happened.

Her cat had been infected by an alien and then bit her which gave her superpowers. She had read the little shit’s mind and seen that his people’s grand plan to take over the Earth absolutely sucked. Then...she had turned into a sphere made of swords with legs to scare the shit out of the little worm.

That did all actually happen, right? No wonder he thought this would drive me insane. It doesn’t seem possible.

She picked up the bits of fabric and tossed them in the trashcan under the work bench. She was so glad she had taken off her cooling jacket before trying to catch Odin in the towel. There was no denying her clothes had been destroyed. Her jacket wouldn’t have stood a chance either.

She took a moment to look around in her head and found there was nothing in the memories she had from touching Odin’s mind that explained what she should do other than ‘be eaten alive so you don’t lose your mind.’ Freyja decided a better plan was to test out her powers a bit. She had planned to take a break from working this time of day, anyway. Why not spend it seeing what she could do?

That morning Freyja had found a large mirror with the glass facing a wall in the house. She figured that had saved it from being cracked or caked in cat pee and rat poop. Currently, the mirror was leaning against the sides of the two gun safes closest to her makeshift kitchen and bedroom. So, she planted herself in front of it and put her hands on her hips.

“Right, only I have no idea what to do with myself. I like how I look. Maybe something practical?” She thought out loud.

Freyja didn’t even have to focus hard for every muscle in her body to bulge. In seconds she was built like a body builder which stretched out her jeans enough to pop several of the seams loudly.

“Wow,” she said flatly.

She lifted the hem of her shirt and whistled upon seeing her abs. Sure, it might come in handy if she needed to throw a small car, but making herself super buff was a bit over the top. It wasn’t like she didn’t have much muscle to begin with. The folks at the gym weren’t surprised she wanted a membership, even if it was just to use the place’s showers. If she was still in the city after cleaning up the Old Man’s house, she planned to use more of the equipment instead of spending fifteen minutes on one of the treadmills to keep up appearances before showering.

That’s right. That old asshole died yesterday, Freyja thought to herself. And there’s a pending alien invasion. Why should I give a fuck about cleaning up the Old Man’s shithole of a house?

Freyja shook her head and returned to normal.

There was no way she would keep what happened to Odin from Gunner. He was her big brother and deserved to know. He needed to get his family out of the city. She looked through the memories she had stolen and found the little worm had been told to send a signal in ten days after taking over his Host. But, it was clear his people had lied to him multiple times.

Who was to say they ever gave him the real plan?

What if he was a sacrifice to test out what happens when they bite a human? They have drones they watch stuff with, right? Probes they send out to study lifeforms on different planets?

Her mind raced.

If the Hive was watching Odin after he infected the cat they would have seen him attacking her and her fighting back with the shovel, as well as her shapeshifting. Sure, the worm didn’t know English until after he bit her, but that didn’t mean other members of the Hive hadn’t picked up the Earth language. They knew the Old Man kept a building full of guns behind his house. They knew what a gun was, and thanks to the worm’s memories, Freyja knew the Hive was also aware of the mechanized infantry suits.

That’s probably what they really want in the Armory.

“Shit.”

The Hive had their traditions and whatnot that kept them from just outright going HAM with their shapeshifting powers when taking over a planet. They liked the sport of using local weapons to some extent. She didn’t particularly like that she knew that, but the knowledge was handy, at least.

Freyja swapped out her ruined pants for a different pair and called her brother. It went to voicemail so she send a text message.

“We need to talk about the cat. NOW.”

About five minutes later her phone rang.

“Freyja? What’s wrong? You used periods. What happened with the cat? Are you okay? Is the cat okay?”

“It’s...it’s weird, uh, I’d rather tell you in person. Can you come by the house?”

“Yeah, Zoe wanted to say ‘bye’ before Damien took her back to Grandma’s house,” Gee replied.

“Okay, when can you be here?”

“About an hour. That good?”

“Yeah, sure, that works,” she said before they each hung up.

She racked her mind. Freyja needed to think of a way to win Odin over. Not only convince him he shouldn’t just walk into traffic or let someone from the Hive chop off his head, but sell him on actually helping her. It wouldn’t be easy but she had to think of something. She already knew he doubted the Hive’s intentions regarding his mission. Not only had they killed his previous Host when they probably didn’t need to, the Hive had kept information from him about his current Host that had cost him the mission and would have cost him his life if Freyja hadn’t been angry the worm hijacked her cat.

That cat was the only thing worth a damn the Old Man left.

Her eyes fell on the box of soft cat food soup cups she had bought. Odin looked old, so she figured if he couldn’t eat hard food she’d give him the liquid stuff, but he had chowed down on the kibble without a problem. Now, however, she knew from the worm’s memories that the cat did have problems with his teeth.

Problems the worm fixed, she thought.

Having a talking cat sure would help her sell the whole ‘alien invasion’ thing to her brother. She didn’t want to shapeshift in front of her him and his family, especially little Zoe. She really didn’t want to traumatize the four year old.

Therefore, the soup was worth a try. She’d bribe him with food and maybe talk him into helping her. If he refused she’d leave him to his fate and go against the Hive on her own. It wasn’t like she had a shortage of guns or anything.

Freyja grabbed one of the cups and left the Armory