Chapter 2: The Watch in the Woods
"Stay in the Rustbucket. Both of you. That's an order."
Grandpa Max's face was grim, etched with a seriousness Ben had only seen once or twice in his life. He grabbed a heavy-duty flashlight and a fire extinguisher from a side compartment, his movements precise and efficient. It was the way he moved when he was fixing a complicated engine problem, but this was different. This was not the familiar concern of a grandfather; this was the sharp-edged focus of a man walking into a dangerous situation.
"But Grandpa, what if it was an alien ship?" Ben's eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and an electrifying thrill. "We have to see it!"
"That's exactly why you're staying here," Max said, his tone leaving no room for argument. He looked from Ben to Gwen. "Lock the doors behind me. Don't open them for anyone. Am I clear?"
They both nodded silently. He gave them one last look before jogging off into the darkness, his flashlight beam cutting a shaky path through the dense trees.
The moment he was gone, the silence in the Rustbucket was unbearable. Gwen immediately went to the driver's seat, peering through the windshield. Ben paced the small floor like a caged animal.
"He can't just expect us to sit here!" Ben said, his voice a charged whisper. "This is the biggest thing that's ever happened! Ever!"
"He's expecting us to be smart and not run toward a potential explosion site," Gwen countered, her voice tight with worry. "For all we know, that thing could be radioactive."
"Or it could be awesome! It's our duty as citizens to investigate. What if there's an alien inside that needs help? A friendly one!"
"And what if it's an unfriendly one that wants to eat your face?"
"Then I'll punch it in its weird alien nose!"
The argument was familiar, but the stakes felt impossibly high. Ben stopped pacing and looked out the window towards the crash site. A faint, otherworldly glow was filtering through the trees, a sickly, pulsating green that painted the underside of the leaves. It was calling to him. This was it. The "something interesting" he had wished for. He couldn't just sit here and let Grandpa have all the adventure.
"I'm going," he declared.
"Ben, don't you dare!" Gwen hissed, turning to face him. "Grandpa told us to stay."
"He'll thank me later when I save a friendly alien and get us all a ride in a spaceship," Ben said, already pulling on his sneakers. He grabbed the small, cheap flashlight from the kitchen drawer and headed for the door. "You can stay here and be bored. I'm going to be a hero."
He slipped out the door before Gwen could stop him, ignoring her furious whisper-shouts. The night air was cool and smelled of smoke and something else… something metallic and strange, like ozone after a lightning strike.
He followed the eerie green light, his heart pounding a rhythm of fear and exhilaration against his ribs. The woods were dark and full of strange shapes. Every snapping twig sounded like a monster, every rustle of leaves a threat. But the pull of the unknown was stronger than his fear.
He broke through a final line of ferns and stopped dead. Before him was a scene of utter devastation. A deep, smoldering crater was gouged into the forest floor. Trees were snapped in half, their splintered ends glowing in the strange light. The air was hot and tasted of ash. And in the center of the crater, half-buried in the upturned earth, was not a meteor, but a sleek, metallic sphere about the size of a small car.
It was clearly a machine. Seams ran along its surface, and the green light pulsed from within these cracks. It looked like it was breathing.
Suddenly, with a hiss of pneumatics, a section of the sphere split open, unfolding like a flower. Ben ducked behind a charred log, peering over the top. A ramp extended, and from the dark interior, something was propelled outward, tumbling down the ramp and landing softly in the dirt.
It wasn't an alien. It was a smaller pod, which also hissed open. Nestled inside on a bed of black cushioning was… a watch.
It was bulky, mostly black and grey, with a green hourglass symbol on its faceplate. The green light from the crater seemed to coalesce around it, making it the brightest object in the clearing. Ben stared, utterly transfixed. This was it. The treasure. The source of the mystery.
He slowly, cautiously, walked down into the crater. The ground was hot beneath his sneakers. He approached the watch, his breath held tight in his chest. It seemed to hum with a life of its own. He reached out a trembling hand, his fingers hovering just inches above the faceplate.
"Ben, get away from that thing!"
He jumped, spinning around. Gwen was standing at the edge of the crater, her arms crossed, her face a mask of anger and fear. She must have followed him.
"You're going to get yourself killed!" she yelled.
"No, I'm not! It's just a watch," he said, turning back to it. His curiosity overwhelmed all other senses. He had to touch it.
He reached out again.
"Ben, no!"
But it was too late. The moment his fingers got close, the watch seemed to come alive. It sprang from the pod, a blur of motion, and clamped itself around his left wrist.
Ben screamed, more out of surprise than pain. A green light flared from the watch, and he felt a strange, cold sensation spread up his arm. It was locked on, tight as a second skin. He tugged at it, scraped it against the edge of the pod, but it wouldn't budge. It felt like it was fused to him.
"Get it off! Get it off!" he panicked, shaking his arm wildly.
Gwen scrambled down into the crater to help him, her own fear forgotten in the face of his. They both pulled and pried, but it was useless. The device was a part of him now.
Suddenly, the faceplate glowed. The hourglass symbol twisted and split, reforming into a diamond shape, and the dial popped up with a soft click, revealing the silhouette of a strange, muscular creature inside.
Ben and Gwen stared at the glowing watch on his wrist, the full weight of what had just happened crashing down on them. This was no ordinary summer vacation anymore.