by Deb Stratton
Alien
Zoo
Deb Stratton
Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2019
Alien Zoo
Deb Stratton Debbie S Stratton Debbie Stratton
All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in printed or electronic form without the express written permission of the Author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are a product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to any person, living or deceased is coincidental.
ISBN-13: 9781091506596
Stratton, Debbie S. ~ Buffum 1966
First Printing: August 2019
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition: July 2019
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
― Rob Siltanen
“By the way...have you looked at the sky today?
It’s about to get good.” - Deb
Dedication
♥To Niki
For all the long talks about Aliens
♥ Frank VanKamp
Thank you for encouraging the people around you to always keep trying & go after their own dreams
♥ Paddie & Lois
Because you get me
♥Molly & her beautiful Bloch family
My Biggest Fans
Noah ♥ Sydney(Baby Moon) ♥ Cory
To everyone else & Andy♥
Thank you for reading this book
I am grateful
To Bev
Thank you for sharing your message with the world♥
Deuteronomy 4:19
And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
EVERYONE WILL PRAY WHEN THEY FACE THEIR FINAL MOMENT
SOME WILL NEVER PRAY UNTIL THEN....
What will you do?
Introduction
I wonder where the road ahead of me will go.
I have no fear because I have never
known anything different.
I am trying to
be strong and Face
the darkness
overhead.
The ships are getting closer.
˙ɹǝsolɔ ɓuıʇʇǝɓ ǝɹɐ sdıɥs ǝɥ⊥
˙pɐǝɥɹǝʌo
ssǝuʞɹɐp ǝɥʇ
ǝɔɐℲ puɐ ɓuoɹʇs ǝq
oʇ ɓuıʎɹʇ ɯɐ I
˙ʇuǝɹǝɟɟıp ɓuıɥʇʎuɐ uʍouʞ
ɹǝʌǝu ǝʌɐɥ I ǝsnɐɔǝq ɹɐǝɟ ou ǝʌɐɥ I
˙oɓ llıʍ ǝɯ ɟo pɐǝɥɐ pɐoɹ ǝɥʇ ǝɹǝɥʍ ɹǝpuoʍ I
Chapter One
Right before my eyes, the world changed. The sunset spread out above me. It was the feeling that went with it that bothered me the most. The physical earth was not changing but my vision was. My view of the sky seemed different. The skies were sprayed to keep humans from seeing them at first. I knew they were there.
I spent a lot of time looking up. I was obsessed with it long before I knew the truth. The truth of them. They were always there. Watching.
Looking at them every day was tiring. I felt that I was ready for the big event. I became bored with the same clouds. The same ships. The same everything. Then suddenly what was normal changed. The sky was different. Strange clouds and colored skylines that had never been seen before started appearing. I remember the normal skies of summer. Just a big stretch of blue with either white puffy clouds or rain. It was not really that complicated. Now it’s different. There is no limit to the twisted sky formations that we see. The rays from the Sun often reflected pink and yellow hues. One sunset was always more amazing than the last. What caused this new display was still a bit of a mystery.
Some say it is from the chemicals they are spraying and some say it is related to the ships. I say it’s both.
My day had been filled with mowing the grass and fixing the fence. They watched me as I did my chores. Every day it was all about my routine. It was also about theirs. The constant pattern of ships flying over to observe neighbors and friends. It became normal to everyone after a few months.
They especially took to Mike. I could see them down the road above his pond. Almost at a standstill while he fished in his rowboat. He didn’t mind them much. He just kept enjoying his afternoons on the water.
Occasionally it caused some bad dreams. You know, about the day they actually land or take me up. Most of the humans I knew were serious in preparing for it. They spent an extremely large amount of time stocking up on food and securing their homes.
They were ensuring their own survival if the worst would happen. The worst meaning that they would come down and hurt people.
If the end times were near, those houses would not bring much safety. It would only put off the inevitable. Surviving in a small space to... well, just survive. Life would never be as they knew it again. Those above would become the enemies vs what they have always been, which were watchers.
Most of my thoughts had always strayed and wondered what their goal was. Why they were so fascinated by the people down here. The last few months they became obvious.
Before their visits began, I had no idea that they even existed. The days were good and fairly normal. Now normal was frightening. Humans were doing things they would not normally do. The crime rates were increasing daily and time was passing quickly, counting down to the day it would all change. Again.
As the afternoon came to a close chaos continued around me. I learned to shut it out and take myself back to a place when the past was comfortable and relaxing. I opened my window to let the breeze in. I laid on the bed reading my new book Urban Bigfoot. I had to laugh at myself for reading a book about Bigfoot when my world was in dysfunctional. It was nice though to envision old camping days and hikes.
Some Bigfoot researchers believed that Bigfoot is linked to the paranormal or alien in nature. I had never realized that before. This book was the story of one woman lost and abducted while out in the woods. It was a wonderful story to escape to.
I let the curtains blow in and out in the evening air while the watchers hovered above.
Some neighbors called the neighborhood “The Zoo”. It didn’t feel that way when I escaped to my room. My bed was my haven. It was my place of peace and it brought old memories back of when I was young and craved the fresh air and nice evenings. My Mom would always open the house up on summer evenings for the breeze. I loved the smell of it. I loved the smell of people cutting grass before sunset.
That became less and less due to the gas restrictions and shortages. It existed but without the internet or news there was no way of finding out what was causing it all or if there was a remedy.
I lived more than an hour away from my parents and worried about them often. I wished they could be closer to me while this was happening. Every neighborhood was its own zoo and on their own. Resources were tapped out for extra protection from criminals and people that were not able to cope with the changes.
The Zoo. The definition of that word was completely accurate. An establishment that maintains a collection of a species, typically for observation.
I was the go-to for most of the people in the neighborhood, having served for many years as a Police Officer. Serving and protecting was nothing new for me. It was natural to want to care for others. I was the first female officer in the area.
My morning run was always filled with neighbors calling me over to their fences to hear the latest news. It was the typical small town gossip. “Did you hear that so-and-so was drunk again?” “Did you hear that Justin is going to move away?” It was the same every single day.
I had analyzed the numbers often. If my town had two hundred people and there were two ships, the ratio was not that large of “them” to us per square mile. Unless there are many more that we cannot see. All of the ships were small. There were no reports of large motherships or battleships that people expected.
I watched them out of my window while I read. I was easily distracted and tried to focus on the book. The evening was welcoming them. It was an expected surprise just like fireflies. Once the sun began to set the show begins.
No one knew where they were from. I had my own thoughts about it and it wouldn’t matter if I did know. I couldn’t change it. I wanted to, but I was just a girl in a small Missouri town. I was not really the type of person that could save the world. I let the reality of life around me sink in.
The lyrics to Imagine played in my head. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people cheering all the world. You may say I’m a dreamer...but I’m not the only one…eh. Sometimes my positivity slipped out the window.
Some humans were immune from the watching and were not always a target. It was comparable to the trips to the “animal zoo” I had made when I was young. Some humans favored the primates and others penguins. It seems to be the same with them.
I preferred not to be a favorite. But I was. I made it several years alone. The courage I wore that was represented by my badge was a match for my faith. I was terrified at night. I locked and double locked doors and windows while I slept. The feeling in my soul made me believe that they would hurt us all eventually.
I tried very hard not to spread fear among my neighbors. I didn’t let others know my concerns about the ships.
There was something about that sunset though. It had a feeling that came with it. It brought a few tears to my eyes as I watched it completely come to an end.
Chapter Two
Three years ago a National Emergency was declared. I was on duty when the call came out. There were multiple sightings of flashing lights in the sky and mass panic across the state.
“Everyone please stay in your homes and wait for further instructions.” I said.
How I chose to use my patrol car speaker was bringing people outside instead of actually keeping them in. It was almost the same as severe weather watches. People would come out just to watch something happen.
It was the longest night of my life. Patrolling the neighborhoods in the dark after a mass power grid outage. I advised everyone to stay in. The situation had no hope for immediate improvement.
The watchers had been nearby for a few days before becoming transparent. It was like the fog had lifted and revealed a new world. Too often in that world of crime and fear, I had seen the dark. As with any public service employee my strong mind was easily swayed with flashbacks from the past. PTSD was unpredictible and annoying to me. I had memories burned into my memory that would never go away but were more gentle to my soul the more I thought of them.
I refused to give up and took to the streets on foot after the gas shortage began. Checking and helping everyone in the neighborhood. There were babies without diapers after a few weeks. The stores were empty. Milk was nonexistent. Days went by and schools were shut down. No one went to work and the streets stayed dark and filled with the glow of candles.
Some stayed inside so much that it looked like people were just disappearing. They weren’t. They just chose to stay inside and live off of the hope of a miracle. That life would be normal again.
The National Guard and Marines were deployed to the area. All towns were closed off from travel temporarily. I stood guard on my own. Without pay. Without sleep. Without concern for my own well-being I kept going.
A handful of families began boarding up their windows and painting them with black paint. It reminded me of a story my Grandfather had told about the wars. About the emergency drills and hiding. It was almost the same.
Without power and internet, it was hard to communicate. Other countries with the same type of occurrence were not able to give fully all the information. They did know that all areas around the globe were reporting hovering crafts and lights in the sky. The most observed ship was shaped like a triangle. It was clear and nothing was visible except the lights on each corner. It could be as large as a city block when it came down really close. A transparent ship made no sense to me. If I could look up and see through the ship, where were the passengers?
All airline traffic worldwide was halted. The week that the power grids in the United States shut down was the last of any air travel. The world became silent.
Months later, life was a little easier after people began to accept the new visitors. To my knowledge, there had never been an actual landing. It was just a constant flow of ships above. The watchers were always there. Hovering. Looking at the human activity. The power grids were mysteriously restored and people began living harmoniously. It was very similar to just functioning daily while being watched. Months and then a year passed by.
What did I care for? I just kept going. Mowing with my newly filled gas cans, working and living life the best I could. Everything could change in a matter of minutes. I still mourned the life I had lost. I missed the old crime-fighting days, when it was just me against the bad guys. Now people were different.
Race and religious differences no longer caused uproars. Social media was also gone. The internet was never recovered. People actually just started living again. Kids were riding their bikes. Laundry was hung out on the line again. The days past became a way of life. I was amused and concerned at the same time about it all. There was no future prediction for what would happen. We had no information on who was running the show up there. They had made no introduction or peace treaties. The watchers just watched. The Earth was their entertainment, and we were part of the show.
“Hey, Fynn! Welcome back to the night shift!” Frank said.
I looked at him with the look I was famous for. I was always kind but in a serious way. I never used to be. Life just changed me.
“I have never understood why you have so much excitement for being out in the darkness all night.” I said.
“Well you know what they say about night shifters. I’ve something to show you tonight. I think I found some evidence of landings in the woods behind Pete’s.” Frank said.
I was super excited to hear that. It would make the night go by a little quicker. There had been no proof of any landings up until now but I welcomed the investigation.
The night shift we organized typically began at six o’clock, which was still daylight. The ten-hour shifts ruined my evening time at home but were well worth it when the surrounding families slept better and without worry.
Fynn was the name my father chose when my Mother wanted Lynn, and he wanted Fred. It was odd to some but I liked it. Odd names were my favorite. Names like Rumor or Stormi were fascinating to me. We had few names like this in our area. With a strong German heritage there were mostly Franks, Bobs, Tims and Jims. Those names did not really seem very German to me but that’s what we have so I went with it.
The summer air was perfect at night for us to take a lunch break at the outdoor picnic table. It was hard not to look up at the shiny objects hovering above. Sometimes, I thought, I had a stalker. A stalker watcher. It almost seemed obsessed with me. Maybe I would find the love of my life in that ship. Maybe he would laugh when I call it a ship and it�
��s really a saucer. Why would anyone ever think to call a UFO a saucer? I wondered what they would look like. Does romance exist across celestial boundaries? Frank could tell I was thinking deeply. I just laughed at myself and thought about my future love affair.
The shiny ships were much different from the transparent ones. I could almost see that there was something in there. At least it made sense. A solid ship could carry them but a see through ship was just mind-blowing. It could just appear to be that way and there could actually be riders in there. Maybe they were drones of some sort. I really did not know. I knew nothing. I wished that I did.
As the lunch break ended, the ships slowly glided away. Looking for their next subject to observe.
“Fynn just quit lookin’ at them. I just don’t get you girl!” Frank said while he kept eating his sandwich.
The church in town made bread for everyone so we could use their jams. Bread was also not something we had available in large quantities. The stores were still mostly empty but some smaller ones kept trying to stay open. The best thing about living in a small town and in a farming community was the amazing cooking abilities of the residents. Canning and bread making were on the list of things to do before this ever happened and so it was still happening based on supplies available.