Return of the Aliens Read online

  “Why would the leaders be hiding if the aliens were going to stop this?” Alicia cried into the phone.

  “I…I don’t know.” Autumn scanned her apartment, wondering if the angel would appear but she was alone. “I don’t know what’s going on. I was told there would be no nukes.”

  “Really? By who?” Alicia asked with hope in her voice.

  “Uh…”

  Autumn’s eyes caught sight of Tehran. It was day in Iran, so it was hard to make out the faint glow from the craft, but she was sure she saw it. They’re not supposed to glow. They never glowed before. This couldn’t be good. The bad feeling in her gut told her that this couldn’t be good, even if the reporters were wondering if the aliens were going to intervene to stop Israel and Iran from sending out their nukes.

  “Maybe they’re going to save us after all,” Alicia said.

  Autumn swallowed the lump in her throat. Someone or something better intervene…and fast.

  ***

  Alex heard the sirens just as he saw the report on the Internet that stated Israel and Iran released their nuclear weapons. The Russians who had vowed to come to Iran’s defense were getting ready to launch theirs as well. And just as he saw another incoming report that the alien craft had obliterated the capital of Iran, a hand wrapped around his throat and squeezed so tightly, it caught off his air supply.

  Alex reached up to pry the hand off of him, but the thing hurled him across the room. Pain vibrated through his body as he hit the wall and landed in a heap on the floor. Struggling to get to his feet, the electricity went out so he could only catch a glimpse of his attacker, but there was no doubt that it was the alien.

  The alien was real. And it was back.

  ***

  Devon gripped the arms of his airline seat as the plane dove forward. People around him screamed as their drinks fell off the trays in front of them and rolled onto the floor. The plane steadied and Devon gasped, unable to process just what, exactly, was happening.

  One of the flight attendants ran down the aisle. She caught up to the other attendant who’d tripped and landed on the aisle floor. She picked her up and cried, “The capitol is gone.”

  That wasn’t supposed to happen. Devon leaned forward and grabbed the woman’s arm. “Who attacked DC?”

  “The aliens,” she quickly answered before she and her co-worker hurried down the aisle.

  The plane dove forward again, and Devon forgot about his other questions. The lights flickered on and off, and the oxygen masks fell from overhead. Without thinking, he grabbed his mask and slipped it on, making sure to secure his oxygen flow. Then he turned to the woman sobbing hysterically as she tried to get the mask on her terrified child and did the task for her before helping her with her own mask.

  What’s happening? Why would the aliens attack DC? They were supposed to save the world, not attack it.

  But the aliens weren’t really aliens. Hadn’t he just learned that tonight?

  You have to make your choice, Devon. Whose side are you on?

  The immediacy of death and the great unknown loomed before him like a dark chasm. The time for putting off the decision was at an end. The nose of the plane rose again and then dipped back down. Devon gritted his teeth and braced himself for the end. God, save me!

  ***

  Autumn waited in the dark. The electricity was out, and the phone had been cut off. She didn’t fully understand what was happening, except the aliens were in the process of annihilating the capitol of every country in the world. But why?

  She put the phone down and walked over to her window. North Dakota was a far cry from Washington DC, and all she saw was absolute blackness. Everyone lost their power. The stars and moon shining in the sky gave the misleading notion that everything was peaceful. She took the cell phone out of her pocket and tried to turn it on, but it was dead. What was going on? And more importantly, why?

  ***

  Alex darted for his front door, but the alien jumped on him and they landed onto the floor. The alien pressed its hands up to Alex’s head and forced Alex to make eye contact with it.

  Kill her.

  “Who?” Alex yelled.

  It stared at him, and Alex had the sensation of his mind splitting in half. He screamed and tried to shove the thing off of him, but its grip remained secure. Kill her.

  Alex knew he was losing the battle so he went limp, giving up the will to live.

  ***

  The power came back on, and Autumn jerked. The cell phone in her hand lit up as well. She looked back out the window and saw the rest of Bismarck lighting up, as if waking up from a deep sleep. And then the sky lit up with a bright blue light. Amazed at the brilliance of it, she opened the window so she could poke her head out and get a better view of it.

  On the TV, shots from all over the world revealed that everywhere on the planet, it was as dark as night. The sun had been eclipsed and the only light in the sky was the same blue light she saw now. Perhaps more astonishing was the obliteration of the alien spacecrafts that had been hovering over all the major cities of the world since May. The nukes that had been launched were also destroyed.

  She peered back out the window. From the blue light emerged a silver metallic disc. A quick glance at the TV showed her that all around the world, everyone was seeing the same thing. And following the one disc were more discs.

  ***

  Devon didn’t notice the leveling of the plane and ascension right away. His eyes were squeezed tight, and his hands still gripped the armrests. A bright light lit up the interior of the plane, and for a moment, he thought this was it: he was dead and had passed onto the next life. But others around him gasped and the child next to him asked his mother what was flying next to them.

  Opening his eyes, he turned his attention to the window next to the mother and leaned forward. Silver discs flew out of the light.

  “What does it mean?” a woman behind him asked her companion.

  “I don’t know. Maybe when we land, we’ll find out,” her companion replied.

  That’s all they could do, Devon thought. Wait and see what this meant because nothing the aliens planned…nothing the world governments planned…was anything like this.

  ***

  Autumn picked up her phone and tried to dial Alicia, but the recording told her the phone was disconnected. The phone lines had to be down, and Alicia didn’t have a cell. Frustrated, Autumn sat in her chair and decided she’d try calling Alicia later.

  ***

  The pressure in Alex’s mind departed. He gasped with relief. The pain was gone. Mercifully gone. He opened his eyes and saw the dead alien lying on the floor four feet from him. Startled, he turned his head and saw a tall blonde female alien standing before him. She wore a long blue dress that covered her from head to toe, and her hair hung in soft waves around her shoulders.

  “What just happened?” he asked.

  “They have been destroyed. They will not afflict mankind anymore. We came in time.” She held her hand out to him.

  Still unsure but not sensing any malice from this alien, he took her hand and stood up. For the first time since May, he felt a renewed calm flow through his body. After the hell he’d been through, this was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

  “Who are you?” he dared to ask.

  “The Sumerians called us the Anunnaki. We are the Ancients who created you. We built the pyramids as a sign we would one day return.”

  “But the other aliens claimed to be our creators.”

  “It is in their nature to lie, to assume the role of the creator when they are the created. There are many intelligent life forms out there, but not all should be trusted.”

  She touched his head and a light sparked from her fingers and traveled through the synapses of his mind. At first, it was soothing and healing, erasing the damage the pills and alien had done over the past months. But then, something in his mind seemed to open, and he understood every minute detail of how the human body w
orked. In that instant, he became aware of every cell in his body, and he became aware of the malignant tumor growing in his brain.

  “I’m dying,” he whispered.

  “No. Not now. Being the creators, we have the power over life and death.”

  Her hands caressed the back of his head, and she hummed a soft and beautiful tune that reminded him of bells. Then he felt it. The healing power reaching out from her and seeping into him. The tumor shrunk until it was gone. The power reached out to everything in his body, healing old scars from childhood, the cavities in his teeth, and the carpel tunnel in his wrist. His body felt vibrant and new, and he’d never felt more alive than he did at that moment.

  “You have been restored,” she announced.

  He blinked, unable to believe what had just happened to him.

  “You are safe now,” she said. “We come in peace.”

  ***

  The leader emerged from his ship in front of the United Nations, aware that the world watched and waited for him to speak. He stood six feet three inches tall, lean, and handsome. He wore a blue robe that shimmered in the lights that shone down on him from the building. His steps were slow but purposeful. Should there be the perfect image of mortal man, he filled the necessary requirements, and by the smile on his face, the discerning person could detect his pride.

  He stood still for a minute, examining a wall that contained words that embodied the supposed purpose of the United Nations. He turned to the nearest camera and quoted, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war any more.” He made a shooing motion to the flags and one by one they fell off the poles. “Today this is fulfilled before your very eyes.” He paused for a moment and glanced at the wall before he turned his attention back to those who watched him. “I have returned.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  That same night

  Devon stood in the McCarran International Airport, surrounded by other passengers. All the flight status monitors lining the walls read the same thing: delayed. No flights were coming in or going out, and judging by some reports on the television about some airplanes going down, he suspected they’d experienced a series of carefully coordinated attacks put on by the governments of the world to point the finger at terrorists.

  Except it occurred to him that several people around him were trying to call their loved ones on their cell phones and they couldn’t get a hold of them. That, in itself, wasn’t necessarily alarming. But when he realized some of the passengers were crying out for other passengers who’d been on the plane with them, he worried. It was reminiscent of the day when millions around the world disappeared. Only, it wasn’t similar. Not in all aspects. Before, there hadn’t been a major attack and a bright blue light that lit up the night sky as if it were noon. No. This was different. The question was just how was this different and why.

  As he wandered through the crowd, he caught snippets of conversations from the people around him.

  “I was sitting right next to her,” a woman cried to another one. “One minute she was there, and then she was gone.”

  “I saw him vanish right before my eyes,” a man told one of the airport employees. “He was right in front of me. I didn’t imagine it!”

  And on and on the conversations around him went. No one had disappeared around him on the airplane. He hadn’t seen anyone vanish the first time either. As terrible as it would be to be one of the people who disappeared, he couldn’t help but wonder where they went. And more importantly: was he next?

  A familiar woman pushed her way through the crowd. Alarmed, he stepped back. She wasn’t supposed to come here to meet him. He was supposed to connect up with a private flight to Area 51. A sense of dread washed over him as she approached. He couldn’t avoid her. She saw him. Swallowing, he tried not to think about all the things she’d done to him at the underground base at Dulce.

  “Devon,” she said, her lips curled into a seductive smile. “I thought with all the—” she glanced around the crowded terminal—“distractions, I should bring you to your destination.” She slipped her arm through his and winked. “I promise I won’t bite.”

  Her eyes flashed for a moment, and he swore they turned reptilian. She had to be a Reptoid.

  He cleared his throat and faced forward. He hoped she’d assume the fear emanating from his body was because of the second round of vanishings.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said, walking so close to him that her hip bumped against his.

  Suppressing a shiver, he focused on breathing evenly and slowly.

  “We’re leaving through that gate up there,” she whispered in his ear.

  He forced his attention on the gate that was blocked off by a group of military personnel. People were hovered around the twenty guards, asking questions about the latest developments. Devon couldn’t understand why so many guards were needed, but he knew better than to ask the woman anything. She’d never give him a straight answer.

  “Right now isn’t the time to go into it,” one of the guards told the group. “You’ll have to wait for the President to address the nation.”

  “How do we know the President isn’t one of the people who vanished?” a man asked, his face red with anger. “Last time we lost a few Congress members.”

  The group rumbled in agreement as the blonde woman and Devon pushed through the crowd. When she and Devon reached the guards, she showed them the top of her right hand.

  “Scan me,” she said.

  Curious, Devon watched as one of the guards took a scanner out of his pocket. Devon didn’t recall seeing anything like that before. The guard slid it over her hand, and it was only in the laser light that Devon noticed a symbol of a pyramid etched into her skin. The guard read something off the scanner, and though Devon tried to see what it was, he couldn’t catch anything substantial. From what he saw, it looked like a background report.

  “Ms. Keegan.” The guard nodded and stepped aside to allow her and Devon through.

  Keegan. So that was her name. In the years Devon had known her, he’d never once heard her name. But if she was a Reptoid, then the name was a front to give her a human identity.

  As soon as she and Devon passed through the wall of guards, the guards closed the gap so that the passengers were sealed off from entering. Devon glanced back, noting the anxiety and anger on the people’s faces. He could identify with them. Nothing in any of the secret plans he’d learned included any vanishings, and as if one wasn’t bad enough, now there were two. Just how many more would there be before it was over? And what, exactly, did ‘over’ mean?

  Keegan led Devon through the door that took them down the ramp that led to the plane. “You’re always so quiet.”

  Daring a glance at her slight pout, he said, “I don’t have much to say.”

  She laughed and squeezed his arm. “You’re just the dark, silent type. You know, I can’t resist a man of mystery.”

  He turned his attention to the open door of the plane. Like she didn’t know everything about him already! Well, everything except that he remembered the things she’d done to him. He prayed this wouldn’t be a repeat of one of those times. It was bad enough his trips to Dulce left him feeling violated. Area 51 had been a reprieve. He glanced at her again. “We are going to Area 51, aren’t we?”

  She stopped in front of the door and pinned him against the wall, purposely pressing her body against his. “Unfortunately, yes.” Then she brought her hand down to his penis and stroked it while she licked the side of his face.

  Bile rose to his throat, and he fought the urge to throw up.

  “I bet you taste good,” she whispered, her voice not sounding quite human. “You’ve always been so much fun to play with, but I guess you people think it’s rude to play with dinner.”

  When she let go of him, he finally took a breath. His stomach still rolled with nausea, but at least she was no longer touchi
ng him.

  “Come on,” she said, motioning to the door. “We have work to do if we’re to get ready for the big event.”

  “Big event?” he asked, his interest piqued.

  Only several times during his career had he heard whispers about something big coming to Earth, something that would force everyone to unite against a common enemy. What, or who, this enemy was, he never found out, but the leaders of the world seemed to be desperately working with the aliens to thwart what they deemed a threat. Then an idea occurred to him.

  “Is that what happened tonight? Are we being attacked by something bigger than the aliens?”

  She let out a laugh and placed her hands on her hips. “You’re so cute. Honey, tonight you all got saved. The thing to worry about is yet to come.” She turned to the door of the plane. “Now, come along.”

  Though she held out her hand to him, he ignored it and entered the plane, surprised by the few people on board. What did they need with a 747 when they had a total of five people, minus the pilot and co-pilot, on board? He scanned the cabin and sighed with relief when he saw Vanessa. Good. His co-worker was there. Keegan never did anything to him as long as Vanessa was with him. That meant this trip wouldn’t result in one of those episodes at Dulce.

  Once he sat across the aisle from Vanessa, he glanced at the front of the plane where Keegan ordered the flight attendant to shut the door. The other three people sat a good five rows behind him. He barely recognized them from Area 51, and they looked as uneasy as he felt. He faced forward and saw Keegan wink at him before she sat in first class. Maybe it was good they weren’t in a smaller plane. The more distance between him and Keegan, the better.

  Turning to his co-worker who was rubbing her temples, he whispered, “Do you know what’s going on?”

  She looked in his direction and spoke in a low voice. “I was stuck at this airport since this afternoon and saw the aliens blowing up the capitols around the world on the TV. The power went out and shortly after that, a bright blue light lit up the whole sky as if it was daytime. Then she came to get me right before the power came back on.” She pointed to Keegan and shivered. “Something’s not right with her.”