by Nelson Angel
“Good. Let’s call this old colleague's cooperation in a difficult moment.”
All four had a wonderful breakfast. After, they began cleaning up the kitchen.
Nate noticed that he didn’t have eggs and asked Sophia if she could go to the grocery store to buy some. He extended his arm, giving her some money.
“Sure I can. Can you come with me, Jack?”
Jack looked at Leonardo and noticed that Leo nodded his head.
“Right. We’ll be back soon.”
“Thanks to both of you,” said Nate with a smile on his face.
“And we will have time to check your equipment…” Leonardo appeared to be really curious to find out if Jack was right or not.
Sophia and Jack left for the grocery store. They bought everything they needed and returned to Nate’s home. On their way back, they decided to talk.
“Did you notice that everything looks normal, nice, and calm in this town?
Sophia could not believe what she was seeing.
“It’s like nothing is happening in the world. Stores are open, people are living their lives… I can’t understand this, to be honest with you.”
Jack was more suspicious than ever. Something was wrong.
As they are walking back to Nate’s house, they notice a police car and an ambulance in front of the building. Jack felt like his stomach was freezing, it was difficult to walk because he knew in his gut that Leonardo was involved.
Sophia stopped walking while looking at the vehicles and the house.
Recovered from the initial shock, they walked to the house and saw a white blanket covering a body. A police officer tried to stop them from accessing to the property, but Nate showed up at the front door.
“Let them in. They are my friends as well.”
Sophia collapsed on the spot, and Jack was sure that Leonardo had been killed by Nate. Nobody could say anything to convince him of the opposite.
He had lost a nice recent friend, Sophia was devastated and, right there, exactly where he was, he knew that he would not be able to talk to Jennifer. Ever.
Chapter 14: What now?
The scene is one of the saddest imagined.
Sophia is on her knees in the front yard of a house she doesn’t know belonging to, somebody she doesn’t know other than a connection to her friend who’d spoken about him. The problem is, her friend is covered by a blanket, on the ground, inert and without life. She’d lost her best friend, a friend she’d known since they were little. A friend who went to school with her. A friend that she loved like family.
Devastated is not enough to describe her feelings at that moment. She feels like someone took the ground from under her feet. She can’t do anything else than cry.
And Jack is next to her. A mix of feelings. He is lost because he is in another country and had lost one of the people he could trust. He’s also disappointed because he knows that he lost the only person willing to help him to get in touch with his girlfriend. He knows now that he’s not going to talk to Jenn again.
He’s also feeling guilty because he’s sure that Leonardo is dead because he tried to investigate what he’d told him earlier in the day.
He is angry because, no matter what people tell him, he’s absolutely sure that Nate killed Leonardo. He doesn’t know how and why, but he knows that Nate is guilty.
Jack is looking at Nate standing at the door with a sad expression, but he knows that that is mask. The only thing he wants to do is jump on Nate’s neck and squeeze until the last drop of life leaves Nate’s body.
But he can’t prove what he believes. He needs to wait and investigate. He can’t do that alone. He needs help, and because he is France, the only person he knows who can help him, needs more help than anybody else in the world.
Jack embraces Sophia and pulls her up. Holding her arm, he takes her to her room.
He doesn’t say a word as they walk near Nate. He doesn’t know how to fake his feelings, and he doesn’t want another enemy right now. Aliens are enough for now.
Jack sits Sophia on her bed in her bedroom.
“I’m going to prepare some water with sugar for you. Don't move, and wait for me here, okay?”
Sophia doesn’t say a word. She stopped crying as well. Jack believes that she doesn’t have any more tears to cry.
He goes to the kitchen and starts to prepare some water with sugar for his friend. At this moment, Nate walks in.
“I’m so sorry for what happened. Leo was a good friend…”
Nate is abruptly interrupted with Jack’s hand approaching his face with a sign of “be quiet.”
“Now is not the moment for this conversation. But I give you my word that we will talk about this soon. I need to take care of my other friend who’s still alive and needs me.”
Jack walks toward Sophia’s bedroom to help and support her. But he can't hide his anger and need for revenge, especially after what Nate tried to do in the kitchen.
He gives the water to Sophia who drinks it. Sophia relaxes a little and seems to come back to life.
Jack doesn’t really want to do this, but he needs to. Nate is out there and can hurt his only friend in Europe.
He sits next to Sophia and talks very slowly and softly to her.
“I’m going to tell you something, but I need you to be quiet and not to make sudden gestures. Do you understand?”
Sophia turns her head to him and keeps looking into his eyes. He continues,
“I believe that Leonardo has been killed by Nate. I told him something this morning before we left for the grocery store, and he said that he would be investigating my suspicions.”
Her voice is barely heard.
“What’s it about?”
They are both looking in each other's eyes firmly.
“I saw Nate using the equipment in his studio. It seems that he was talking to someone because I heard the same thing coming from the speakers. The thing is, they were not using words to talk. I’m not crazy.”
Sophia put both her hands on Jack’s face.
“They were making noises like clicks, right?”
Jack was surprised to hear that.
“How do you know?”
“I heard that too. And I told Leo about it. I was feeling so guilty because I thought that Leo died because I was crazy. Now I know that I’m not. You heard it too.”
Jack nodded his head.
They hold hands and look at each other like nothing else existed in that room. They know that both share the same feelings and suspicions.
They both know that they want the same thing… The truth!
Chapter 15: Studying Nate
Jack and Sophia are determined to find out if Nate is involved or not on Leonardo’s death. They want to be sure before taking any action. For that reason, they decided to study Nate.
They want to know what he does, where, when, how he behaves when doing anything. They expect to get clues from their observation on Nate.
At the same time, they know that they need to be careful. If Nate in fact killed Leonardo, he can do the same to one or both of them.
Jack takes the lead on the matter.
“We need to take turns in different places of the property and never lose eyes on him. At least one of us needs to be near him all the time. Wherever he goes. At the same time, we need to be careful enough to not let him suspect anything about our investigation”.
“What will we do if he goes to the studio? It’s pretty ‘particolare’ (private) and we can’t be there for no reason.”
“You are right. I can be there with him and use an excuse that I want to learn how to do something in case he needs extra help.”
“Not bad. But do you really think that it’s going to work?”
Jack stopped for a bit. He tries to run all simulations available on his knowledge to check if the plan is good or not.
He can’t think for too long.
They both hear a loud noise coming from outside. They run to the
front door to see what’s happening, and they notice that the spaceships are moving again.
They fear that a second attack is about to happen.
Jack notices that Nate is not nearby.
“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”
Sophia nods agreeing.
Jack runs to the studio hoping to find Nate there. To his surprise, Nate is walking to the front door.
-“I heard some noise coming from outside. What’s going on? Can you see anything?”
Jack looks disappointed because he didn’t see anything since Nate was out of the studio already.
“I was looking for you to call and be with Sophia and me. We’ve already lost a friend and we can’t afford losing another one.”
Of course that 's not the truth, but Jack has been cautious not to raise any suspicion with Nate.
“Thanks for your concern. Where’s Sophia?”
“She’s outside waiting for us.”
“Let’s go there and see what’s about to happen.”
Something clicks in Jack’s mind.
“How do you know that something is about to happen?”
Nate looks at Jack with a calm and relaxed expression.
“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? I can hear a loud noise. You are running to my studio. The only conclusion I can draw is that something is about to happen.”
They walk to the front door where they meet Sophia and look out to that horrible view of what’s happening.
The spaceships are positioning themselves in the same way they did before in the last attack.
Sophia can’t hold in her fear.
“They are doing the same thing. They are going to attack us again!”
Jack’s attention is exclusively on Nate. He still doesn’t understand how Nate can keep so calm and relaxed facing an attack.
The attack starts. The same horror they’d witnessed before, happens once more.
And once again, Bramans is not attacked. Not a single laser shot on the city.
Jack keeps his eyes on Nate during the whole attack, and he can swear that he sees some pleasure on Nate’s face, which makes him angrier and more suspicious.
Jack walks to Sophia who is horrified, grabs her arm and points to Nate with his head without making a single noise. She also seems to notice some pleasure and contentment on Nate’s face and in his eyes. How could someone be happy watching such a horrible event?
The attack ends, and Jack and Sophia are more and more certain that something is wrong with Nate.
They will investigate harder to find out what.
They want the truth and nothing else.
Chapter 16: Nate revealed
Nate is not affected at all with everything happening around him. The attacks are killing thousands and thousands of people, innocent people who didn’t do anything wrong to die the way they’re dying. And yet, he shows no remorse or affection.
“You know what? I’m going inside to my studio to try and find a clue about what may happen next.” Nate turns away from the group, trying to walk to his studio.
Jack is not capable of holding his feelings any longer. He’s tired of having all these suspicions and being quiet about them.
“I’d like to go with you. In case you need some help, I’ll be able to help you.”
“I’m not going to need any help, Jack. I’m pretty sure about that.”
This time, it’s Sophia who gets into the conversation.
“Why are you so reserved about your studio, Nate? Are you hiding anything from us? We only want to help.”
Jack helps Sophia pressuring Nate too.
“This is true. Every time we talk about your studio, you always change subjects or avoid answering questions. What’s going on, Nate?”
Nate is calm and seems to not pay attention to what Jack and Sophia are saying. But he wants to know what they have in mind.
“And why are you both so interested about my studio? What are you not telling me?”
Jack and Sophia look at each other and, nodding in agreement, decide to say everything to Nate.
Jack takes the initiative.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but these attacks never hit Bramans. They’re destroying every city in the world but Bramans. And your antenna looks suspicious. All antennas point to some satellite. So, they’re always at an angle to the ground. Your antenna is the only one pointing up to the sky, to space, to be more precise.”
Sophia complements Jack’s statement.
“And I also heard your ‘click conversation’ on your radio this morning. I can tell it’s a conversation because I heard the same clicks coming back from the radio. You were doing this back and forth.”
At this point, Nate is not smiling anymore. All of sudden, too fast for any reaction, Nate’s left hand breaks, and a different material emerges shooting a spear into Sophia's chest. She’s so surprised that it takes a while for her to fall down, fatally injured by the spear.
Jack has no reaction. He was not expecting this. Nate didn’t have any weapon in hand, and it never crossed his mind that Nate could be anything else than a human.
In a flash of light, Nate is very close to Jack and punches his face so hard that it's difficult for Jack to stand. It’s not a normal punch. After feeling the first impact of the punch as Jack is falling to the ground, he also feels that his strength is been removed from his body. It’s a strange feeling. Jack is on the ground, collapsed and incapable of moving his body. It’s getting really difficult to think. He feels that Nate is dragging him inside the house. It gets dark. He comes back to awareness and notices that both Nate and himself are inside the studio. The place which started everything.
He’s trying to focus his attention to find out what’s really happening around him. It’s really difficult. Something is blocking his mind from doing any task one hundred percent. He tries to move, nothing happens.
Jack notices that Nate is on the radio and making those click noises. He also hears click noises coming back from the radio. It’s definitely a conversation.
Nate looks at Jack and sees that he’s awakened. Nate walks toward Jack who can’t do anything.
“I believe that you are getting all the answers right now, right? But let me explain in more detail so you won’t annoy me anymore with questions later on. Yes, I’m talking to the mothership in space. More precisely, I’m talking to my commander, like you say here on Earth, telling him the success of the second phase of the plan. Are you surprised?”
Jack can barely speak.
“Phases, how can you destroy us?”
Nate holds Jack’s head with no care. It seems that he despises needing to be close to Jack and he tries not to hide that anymore.
“Of course. The first phase was showing our ship to the telescopes and destroying all satellites to cut communications and integration between you humans. You got so dependent on technology that you can’t do anything without it. The second phase was destroying all cities, except for this one because I’m here, with most humans and important buildings that could deliver some reaction. I’ve acquired all the information needed to assist the attack during all these years living among you vermin, a species hardly more capable than your pets. And the third and last phase is to spread a poison in the air with nanotech technology that will destroy all humans. You are our creation. We manipulated genes from chimpanzees to create you to do the hard work for us. We needed slaves. But you became an experiment that failed miserably. All greediness, wars, stupidness, self-proclaimed intelligence above all, and a sense of importance that doesn’t truly exist made us decide to finish this experiment before you contaminate others that evolved in the right path. You are a threat to the universe. Luckily you were never capable of developing technology to leave the planet, proving that you are more ignorant than you think.”
- “So, you killed Leonardo?”
- “Of course. And it was really easy, as usual. He thought that he could convince me that he was trying to help, exactly li
ke you tried before, and offer me help. I told him that we needed to go to the antenna to check if it was operating properly. By the time we were there, it was easy to grab him and throw him down, head first, to break his neck and kill him giving the impression that it was an accident.”
None of this explanation matters but Nate wanted to see Jack’s expression when explaining how his friend was killed by him; this way he could feel more satisfaction in seeing human’s feelings flourishing.
While Nate spoke, Jack notices that he’s able to move again, barely, but he can move. He feels his legs, his arms, but he decides to wait for the right moment to strike.
“What did you do to me? Why can’t I move my body? Why didn’t you kill me like you did to Leonardo and Sophia?”
“Ah, stupid human. You think you know everything, but you know nothing. If I want, I can release a poison on my skin that paralyzes humans. Remember that we created you, so we know how to dominate you completely. And I didn’t kill you because I want a pet to witness the end of this race. It’s so much more enjoyable to have somebody to suffer when I want.I also want a payback for all the suffering I had on this wonderful planet among inferior animals like you. Earth will be a better place for more evolved races without the presence of humans. The universe will thank us.”
The radio sounds again, and Nate stands up.
“Let me do what is really important. But don’t worry, I’ll be back.”
Jack realizes that this is the perfect opportunity for him to act. He stands up, jumping from the ground, grabs a chair, and by the time Nate turns back to check, Jack smacks the chair on Nate’s face.
“If I can’t talk to Jenn, you are not going to talk to your alien friends.”
He runs outside because he wants to break down the antenna. This way, Nate will not be able to communicate to the mothership.
The problem is, Nate is walking from the studio toward him. Jack is not completely recovered, but he needs to think fast to stop this alien ending the human race from the face of the Earth.
He scans the garden and notices some branches to the right side and metal pipes, or what appears to be pipes, on the ground there. He grabs one of the pipes to fight for his life.