Return of the Aliens Read online

  Devon rubbed his arm, aware that it was going numb, as if someone was squeezing it. “I don’t have to what?” he demanded, willing the thing to finish its sentence.

  “...be a pawn.”

  Then the icy thing lashed out and the warmth departed.

  Devon examined the area where he’d felt the freezing air, but he could not detect anything, either good or bad. Scanning the empty corridor, he wondered what the white-winged thing meant.

  You don’t have to be a pawn.

  His gaze went to the camera hiding in the circular fixture that hovered down from the ceiling. Further down the hallway, in front of the stairwell door, was another camera masked over by an identical fixture. Did the thing mean what he thought? That it referred to how the government had been treating him and Vanessa like pawns? If ever there was a definition of pawns, it was them.

  With another look around the hallway, he headed for the exit, in a hurry to get out of there.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Alex didn’t want to leave the hospital. It was the first time since the vanishing that he was able to get a good night’s sleep, even if the bed wasn’t very comfortable. The alien wasn’t here. It didn’t hover over his bed and threaten to kill him. He didn’t hear voices or a strange humming sound. He felt no fear. He wished he could stay there forever.

  But he couldn’t, and on the day he was due to go home, he sat in front of the overnight bag Autumn brought over for him a few days before and tried to find the motivation to zip it up. He hated his apartment. But more than that, he hated being alone. If he wasn’t alone, the alien wouldn’t bother him at all.

  Someone knocked on the door, so he called out, “Come in.”

  Dr. Reyes opened the door and smiled. “How are you doing, Alex?”

  “Fine, all things considered.” He tried to laugh but it came out in a half-hearted chuckle.

  “Obviously, the last prescription had a serious side effect.” The psychiatrist sat in the chair across from him. “Did you notice any problems before the heart attack?”

  “No. Things were okay before then.”

  “Usually, if there’s a problem with the medication, it should appear within a couple days of taking it, and you were on that for two months, right?”

  “Yes. I took two pills a day like you said.” The last thing Alex needed was for the doctor to think he’d been skipping his medication. He wiped his hands on his jeans and took a deep breath. “I didn’t skip any days.”

  “I believe you, Alex. I want to make sure I know exactly what your symptoms were.”

  “Right.” Alex shifted in his chair and cleared his throat. “Well, let’s see. I fell asleep watching TV. Then I heard a voice. The people on TV were saying things that could not have been in the script.”

  “So you’re saying that you heard voices from the TV.”

  “Right.”

  “And one of these was the same voice you heard before that?”

  “No. It was a different voice. And the voices on the TV were the actors. They were talking, but they were talking about aliens eating people. But it was a TV sitcom, you know? And the episode was about the woman snooping on her neighbors. It had nothing to do with aliens.”

  “Oh, I know the episode you mean. You’re right. No one in the show mentioned aliens.”

  Alex ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “Right. Yeah.” I’m losing it. I’m going crazy. He’s going to confirm that. Maybe it would be a good thing. If he was in a mental ward, maybe the alien would leave him alone.

  “After you heard these voices, what happened?”

  Alex shrugged. “Um...I heard a sound.”

  “What kind of sound?”

  “A humming low sound. Kind of like white noise.”

  He nodded. “Anything else?”

  “I don’t remember much. I was hot all of the sudden, like I’d just stepped into an oven, and I couldn’t see well.”

  “Things got blurry?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. I think there was a sharp pain in the back of my neck, and it felt as if my mind was being ripped open. It all happened so fast, and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.”

  “Those don’t sound like the symptoms of a heart attack,” Dr. Reyes commented with a frown. “And it doesn’t match the side effects that are possible with that prescription. Do you drink alcohol or take any other medicine?”

  “No.”

  The man leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and said, “Level with me, Alex. I need to know what’s going on for your well-being. Do you take drugs?”

  “What?” Alex practically shouted, hardly believing his ears. “No! How could you even think that?” He fidgeted in his chair and ran his hand through his hair again. “No, I don’t take drugs, and I never have.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just had to ask. You know, to cover all my bases.” He sat up straight. “I can’t explain why that happened to you, but it’s not because of the pills. Nothing in any of the trial studies reported any of those side effects. I think you’re safe going back on the pills. I’m going to write you another prescription. I believe you’re due for a refill anyway.” He stood up and wrote on a pad he dug out from his pocket. He ripped the piece of paper and held it out to him.

  Alex stared at the piece of paper and hesitated. Which was worse? Could it be that the pills were not responsible for this hospital stay? Finally, he took it. When he picked up his prescription, he would carefully read the list of possible side effects.

  “And I think we should look into doing some psychological evaluations. It’s possible we could be dealing with a mental illness.”

  Alex swallowed the lump in his throat. He expected this. Glancing up at his doctor, he asked, “Will I go to the mental ward?”

  Dr. Reyes smiled. “No. Most people with mental disorders take medicine that enables them to cope in the real world. You are mentally capable of going about your life.” He patted Alex on the shoulder. “Be sure to see me for a visit in two days. If you have any complications before then, give me a call. Okay?”

  Alex nodded and stared back down at the paper.

  Once the doctor left, he tucked it into his pocket and got to his feet. He needed to get his things and check out.

  Another gentle knock came from the door.

  A relieved smile crossed his face. “Hi, Autumn.” After the stress and horrors of all he’d been through, he needed a friendly face.

  “Are you ready?” she asked, looking concerned.

  “I guess.” He zipped up his bag and swung it over his shoulder. “Can we stop by a pharmacy to get my prescription filled?”

  She waited for a long moment, as if carefully weighing her words. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Dr. Reyes said they had nothing to do with my heart attack.”

  She bit her lower lip. “I don’t believe you had a heart attack.”

  “The emergency doctor said I had one.”

  “Doctors can be wrong.” She shrugged. “What would happen if you don’t take the pills?”

  “It could come back.”

  “The alien?”

  “Yes.”

  With a heavy sigh, she studied his expression. “It’s not an alien, Alex.”

  “Then what is it?”

  She hesitated for a moment, shifted from one foot to another, and finally said, “It’s a demon.”

  He laughed. “That’s old-time superstitious nonsense.”

  “Is it? You said the thing attacked you and gives off an evil vibe.”

  “Yes, but the aliens aren’t the good guys they’re pretending to be.”

  She shook her head. “The demons are masquerading as aliens.”

  “That’s really farfetched. Weren’t demons around since Biblical times? If these things were going around pretending to be aliens, then why haven’t we seen aliens before now?”

  She stood still for a moment and thoughtfully replied, “Well, there w
as Roswell.”

  “Okay. Fine. That was in 1947. That wasn’t way back in the past.”

  Shrugging, she admitted. “I don’t know why they’re doing it now. I just know they are.”

  “And you know they’re demons because...?”

  “You’re going to laugh, but... Well... There’s this angel I’ve been seeing ever since we went to Area 51.”

  She was right. He couldn’t stop the chuckle that rose up in his throat. “I’m sorry, Autumn. I mean, I get that the aliens aren’t what they seem, but there’s nothing weirdly spiritual going on. These are just things from another planet that aren’t the good guys they’re pretending to be.”

  “How can you be sure?” she asked.

  “Because then there’d have to be a God, and there is no such thing as God. Now look, the idea of other life forms on other planets is realistic. Given the multitude of planets out there, there’s bound to be something.”

  She bit her lower lip and glanced uncertainly out the window. “I used to believe that.”

  “And...?”

  Shaking her head, she returned her gaze to him. “I’ve seen too much, been through too much... I see them, Alex. I see an angel and I see dark shadows hovering around certain people. These shadows are sinister. They call themselves The Watchers.”

  “See? There you go.” Relieved to have made his point, he scanned the room for any of his belongings he might have missed while packing. “The aliens would be our watchers. That’s what they’ve been saying. They planted us here and have watched our development as a species.”

  “But wouldn’t that make them good?”

  “Not if they have don’t have good motives. That’s what this is about. Why are they watching us? What do they plan to do with us? Not all parents are good to their children.”

  She pressed her hand to her forehead. “I don’t understand it. Nothing’s made sense since Marianne disappeared.”

  “That was the same time the aliens showed up.” And the same time the alien began hovering over him while he slept at night. He shivered, hating how drastically his life had changed...and not for the better. “I know. Nothing has made sense. It’s like one day our lives were in order, and suddenly we’re spinning out of control.”

  “Yes. That’s exactly how it feels.”

  He sighed. “Look Autumn, you’re my solid connection to any normality that was once in my life. I don’t want to upset you. Can we agree to disagree about the spiritual thing?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. In times like this, we need to stick together. You know, as friends.”

  “I agree.”

  Appearing relieved, she held out her car keys and asked, “Are you ready to go home?”

  No. He wasn’t. But he’d take the pills and be fine, if the side effects listed on the information sheet didn’t include the symptoms he’d experienced that put him in the hospital. If Dr. Reyes was right, then he would take the pills because he couldn’t stand the thought of having to deal with that horrible alien ever again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Devon drove Vanessa home a week later, once she was put on medication to help with her bouts of depression, as her doctor termed it. It fit, Devon thought. Who wouldn’t be depressed in their line of work? He glanced at her. She was huddled in the passenger seat, looking small and alone. He remembered her first day at work. She’d been full of life and energy. He had no idea they’d start exposing her to the deeper levels so soon.

  They must be getting desperate. It was the only explanation why they were speeding up their plan. The aliens weren’t supposed to show up this soon. They were supposed to wait for another ten years. But what if they aren’t aliens? What if they had a more sinister identity?

  He recalled the icy sensation on his arm and shivered. He hadn’t felt it since, but he’d become aware of something that seemed to be close by. He often saw some slight distortion in the air around him. At one point, he swore he saw a black shadow fade in and out of his vision.

  I’m going nuts.

  Swallowing the lump in his throat, he glanced back at Vanessa and asked, “You want to talk about it?”

  She continued to stare out the window, her head resting against the glass. “85 to 90% of the world’s population is marked to die, and we’re on the list.”

  “We don’t have to be. There are still places to hide.”

  Laughing bitterly, she asked, “And where would that be? They have cameras and listening devices everywhere.” Then she stopped and looked at him. “Are they listening to us now?”

  “No. I have a way to block them. They think we’re listening to the radio.”

  She sighed and turned her attention back to the window. “Why did you call the ambulance? Why didn’t you let me die?”

  “Because I have a hiding place in Alaska. I’ll take you with me when it’s time to hide. I have plenty of food and water stored up there. When they start taking people to the internment camps, we’ll head out. That’s when things will get ugly.”

  For the first time since he’d found her by the empty bottle of pills in her office late that Saturday night, a hopeful look crossed her face. “You really have a place you can hide?”

  “Yes. I’ve been carefully stocking supplies there. It’s a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. There’s no plumbing or electricity, but it’s somewhere to go.”

  “It beats what the Illuminati have planned.” She wiped the tears that trickled down her cheeks. “All this time you think the government is there to help its people, but it’s not. You sign up to help people but you find out your mission is to scare them into obedience. And all for what? So they can control our lives and then get rid of those who resist? We’re like a bunch of lab rats to them.”

  “Not everyone in the government is corrupt.”

  “No. But a lot take bribes. I have to wonder if most of them even know as much as we do.”

  He shrugged and turned onto another street. “Politics and money go hand in hand. He who has the most money controls what happens at the higher levels.”

  “And no one can stop it?”

  “How? The world leaders, the Bilderbergs, the Trilateral Commission, the United Nations... Even the aliens are in on it.”

  Her lower lip trembled. “What are we supposed to do?”

  With a resigned sigh, he said the only word that had echoed through his head for years. “Survive. Hide, wait, survive. People are taking measures to hide. I’m not the only one. We have to be our own hope.”

  She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the window.

  “When the time comes, you can go with me to Alaska. You don’t have to lie down and die. You have a chance.” She didn’t answer, so he added, “Just let me know if you’re interested, alright?”

  She nodded but continued looking out the window.

  How he wished she didn’t have to go through this. How he wished none of them did. He longed for innocence. The time when he was young and thought the world was a happy place where people wanted to help each other. Sure, there were a few bad guys, but the government was there to help protect and preserve freedoms. It’d all been an illusion. Once he got his job, he became aware of so many things.

  He rubbed his forehead and thought he saw a shadow in the backseat when he looked at his rearview mirror. It vanished as soon as he saw it...or thought he saw it. Maybe he was going crazy. Maybe he was seeing and hearing things that weren’t there.

  He glanced in the mirror again. Nothing was in the backseat. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned onto the street where Vanessa lived. Once he carried her suitcase to her apartment, he asked her to call him if she needed anything.

  “Okay. I will,” she softly replied, glancing around her living room as if she’d never seen it before.

  “I mean it. About that place in Alaska.”

  She nodded but refrained from making eye contact.

  Unsure of what else to do or say, he gently closed the front door and left.

&nb
sp; ***

  In the dark room lit only by thirteen candles stood the Bilderberg Group, one hundred and thirty of the most influential people around the world. They surrounded a man who had his eyes closed as he rested on the table in the center of the room. They wore cloaks and chanted. The power shifted through the room, subtle at first but undeniable.

  The thing formed, dark at first but grew lighter until it assumed the image of a man and stepped forward. “The Master’s DNA.”

  He held his hand out and one of the Bilderberg members stepped forward. He handed the needle to him.

  “Soon. Soon we shall inherit the Earth,” the creature said, carefully concealing its black wings lest the others see them. With slow methodical steps, it went over to the man lying down. “Our leader. What was started in Eden, let it now come to completion. Let that which God tried to destroy be achieved. Let man become as God, knowing both good and evil and having the power denied him for so long.”

  He injected the man with the DNA, and the Bilderberg group held their breath in expectation. Finally, all that they’d worked for and sought was about to come to pass. The air was thick with tension as they watched, waiting to see if their Leader would accept his host.

  A subtle shift wavered through the group, making them aware something was there, but they were unable to see it. It, however, wasted no time in assuming its host’s body and settled comfortably into it. The man had been trained to accept the Leader, and now the Leader was merging into a physical existence.

  With a smile, the Leader opened his new eyes and sat up, seeing things through the eyes of a mortal, feeling things only a man could touch and being confined to a third dimensional world of existence. The limits were binding but necessary. The time had come. The final battle would be soon. He must act in haste. He stood, quickly adapting to the fragile body that was moment by moment wearing down. Mortals. Such frail things. Quickly snuffed out. Disposable. Weak. Pliable. Perfect for his purposes, for as long as he intended to keep them around.

  The one with the carefully concealed black wings who had injected the DNA into the Leader’s new body gave the Leader a knowing smile, hiding a chuckle as the Bilderberg members stared on in awe and worship.