by Ken Warner
“Yeah, satellites don’t do that.”
“Hang on,” said Sydney. The point of light had reversed direction. A moment later it accelerated and grew in intensity. “This is it! I gotta go!”
She pocketed her phone and moved out into the middle of the road. The light grew ever brighter, dark clouds gathering around it. Sydney waved her arms over her head. The UFO was nearly overhead now.
It stopped. Sydney waited in anxious anticipation, but the spotlight didn’t come. The craft moved farther up the road.
“What the hell!” she shouted. “I’m right here!”
The UFO kept moving, picking up speed now.
Sydney got in her car and started the engine. She took off down the road in pursuit. At the end of the street, the UFO kept going straight, but she was forced to turn. She raced to a crossroad and then turned left.
She was moving in parallel to the UFO now but had lost ground. Flooring the accelerator, she tried to catch up.
Glancing at the speedometer, she saw she was going over eighty miles per hour. Luckily, there were no other cars on the road.
Moments later, the UFO seemed to stop. Sydney found a dirt road that led in that direction; she hit the brakes and turned onto it, tires screeching. It was very dark here, and she had no choice but to slow down. But she was headed directly for the UFO now.
It started moving again as she drew closer. She drove as fast as she dared.
Before long, she reached another paved road and could not continue in the same direction. She turned left and then found another dirt road that led toward the UFO. Taking the turn at speed, she plowed into the corn stalks before straightening out and accelerating again.
The UFO came to rest again. She drove directly underneath it, then slammed the brakes, skidding to a stop. The car died.
She got out, waving her arms over her head again.
“I’m right here!” she yelled. “I’m all yours!”
The UFO started moving again, this time across the cornfield.
“Shit!”
Sydney took off through the field. She reached a stream, hiked up her jeans, and splashed across, then took off at a run.
But moments later, the UFO streaked across the sky and disappeared.
“Dammit!”
Feeling defeated, she headed back to the car. She got in and started the engine without a problem.
“Great. Now I don’t have the slightest idea where I am.”
She took out her phone and tapped in the Driscoll’s address. Turning around on the narrow dirt road was tough, but she managed it and headed back the way she’d come.
But as she approached the main road, the car died again.
“What the hell?”
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in her rearview mirror.
She got out of the car and looked back down the dirt road. The UFO was back and nearly directly overhead.
Sydney had to wait only another moment before the spotlight shone down from the center of the craft. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the pill she’d left there and swallowed it.
Suddenly, she found herself floating up to the spacecraft. She passed inside, into the dark chamber with the metal walls. The opening in the floor disappeared, and she was staring into total blackness.
There was a buzzing noise, and Sydney suddenly felt groggy but managed to stay conscious. She felt anxious now; her heart was hammering in her chest. A light breeze touched her arm and her hair, and she felt as if she were moving. A moment later, she found herself in a circular chamber, with pods lining the walls. There was a man in one of the pods. He was staring at her—he didn’t speak or move, but his face registered terror.
Sydney tried wiggling a finger—she could do it but didn’t risk any movement beyond that. Some unseen force moved her across the chamber, turned her around, and backed her into a pod. She felt something prick the back of her neck.
Other than the man in the other pod, she did not see or hear anyone else. She suspected the ship was probably moving by now but didn’t feel any acceleration. Over the next few minutes, she noticed a tingling sensation in the back of her neck that slowly spread to her head, down her back, and down her arms. She tried wiggling a finger again but couldn’t.
A jolt of fear ran through her body. She couldn’t move her arms or her legs and couldn’t shift her gaze. Her breathing was normal, and she felt her heart beating very fast in her chest, but she’d lost motor control completely.
For a moment, she felt her anxiety rise—why wasn’t the stimulant working? But the answer was obvious. Dr. Lee had warned her it could take “a little while” for it to take effect. It would seem the alien drug had been injected directly into her bloodstream, allowing it to go to work much more quickly.
Minutes went by. Still, there was no sense of acceleration. But after only a short time had passed, she found herself moving out of the pod again, across the chamber.
An instant later, everything went black. She couldn’t look down but noticed a glow suddenly emanating from somewhere below her. Now she could see the metal walls and knew she was back in the room where she’d first entered the UFO.
Sydney felt herself moving down, and she passed through the bottom of the craft. She was in the desert. As she descended to the ground, she could make out Monument Valley in the distance.
She stopped for a moment before her feet had touched the ground and then floated forward. Up ahead, she saw the butte with the opening in its face. She passed inside, still unable to comprehend what force was causing her to move.
There was a short tunnel inside the butte, with what looked like a freight elevator at the far end. She moved inside of that and was turned around to face back down the tunnel again.
Someone was approaching—she could see them only in silhouette at first. Her heart leaped into her throat—who was this?
But as he passed inside the elevator, she realized it was the man from the other pod back on the ship.
The elevator door closed, and the bottom seemed to fall from beneath them. She could feel their downward acceleration now and thought that they must have been moving at extreme speed. Moments later, she felt them slowing down, finally stopping with a light thud.
The door opened again. There was a much longer tunnel here, and while there was enough light to see, she couldn’t tell where the light was coming from.
She moved out of the elevator, leaving the man behind, and progressed down the corridor. Metal doors lined each side. About halfway down the hall, she found herself floating into a large room. It was dark here—she couldn’t see the far walls. There were exam tables here, all empty.
The unseen force moved her to one of the tables, tilted her onto her back, and lay her on the table. There was an odor—she couldn’t identify it. In the next moment, everything went black, and Sydney knew no more.
Miguel followed Brian through the Arizona desert. They’d been walking for almost an hour already. The sun was minutes away from setting.
There were many small buttes and mesas in this area—well, small by comparison, Miguel thought. They were much smaller than the formations of Monument Valley but still towered over his head. They wound their way between them.
For three nights, they’d trekked out here and spent the night in the desert. And for three nights, there had been no activity on Sydney’s end.
“Alright,” said Brian when they reached the southern end of their target area, “I’ll be in touch.”
“Be safe,” Miguel replied.
Brian continued to the northern end of the area. They each had a walkie talkie and a dedicated GPS device, so they could stay in touch and relay their coordinates to each other if anything happened. Miguel also had his cell phone and the RFID receiver Brian had supplied him. The cell phone was pretty much useless out here, with no Wi-Fi or cell service. But it connected to the receiver over Bluetooth, and the app Brian had sent him showed the direction of any active signal. Right now, it displayed only a blank screen.
The app for the receiver was set to give him a notification if it received a signal, but he couldn’t help checking the app every few minutes anyway. It continued to be blank.
After a while, he felt drowsy and got up to walk around a bit and keep himself awake. The hours slipped by with nothing to break up the monotony.
But at two in the morning, he heard Brian’s voice on the walkie talkie.
“Miguel, you there?”
“Hey, I’m here—what’s up?”
“Sydney’s got something,” he said. “Be ready.”
“You got it!”
Miguel felt his heartbeat increase in anticipation. He pulled out his phone and the RFID receiver. The app’s display was still not showing any signal.
Miguel wondered how long it would take the UFO to get here from Kansas. Who knew how fast that thing could go?
He kept his eyes peeled to the northeast, looking for anything that resembled a satellite or shooting star. The minutes dragged by, and nothing happened.
“You got anything over there?” he asked on the walkie talkie.
“Nothing so far,” Brian replied.
Miguel felt his anxiety increasing. This was taking a long time. Twenty more minutes passed, and he was growing impatient.
Suddenly, he saw a shooting star streak across the sky.
“Hey, did you see that?”
“What?”
“Shooting star just went by, looked normal from here, though.”
“I missed it,” said Brian. “I’ve got no activity here. I tried calling Sydney, but she’s not answering.”
A few more minutes went by, then Brian’s voice came over the walkie talkie again.
“I’ve got a signal!”
Miguel checked his phone. It was still blank.
“Nothing here,” he said.
“I’ve definitely got something—it’s directly south of my position. I’m moving toward it now. If you head due north, you should find it!”
“I’m on my way!”
Miguel hurried into the night. It was dark, but the moon had risen, providing ample light to see by. He kept the receiver app open on his phone as he moved. He’d gone only a few hundred feet when it picked up a signal—due north.
Within minutes, he saw lights up ahead but had no view of the source of the light. Seconds later, he rounded a rock formation and caught a glimpse of the UFO dead ahead. He backpedaled, hiding behind the rock to assess the situation. But at that moment, the spacecraft rose into the sky and streaked off into the night.
Miguel moved cautiously to its former position; he didn’t see Sydney anywhere. He pulled out his walkie-talkie.
“Brian, are you there?”
“I’m right here,” said a voice behind him.
Miguel started, turning to see Brian approaching.
“You scared the shit out of me!” Miguel said, his heart now pounding in his chest. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“Sorry,” Brian said with a grin.
“Where is Sydney? Did you see her?”
“No, the UFO was floating right here when I arrived. I waited to see if she’d come out, but then it took off. They must have taken her off before I got here.”
Miguel checked his phone.
“The signal has disappeared,” he said. “But the butte with the tunnel to the elevator must be very close.”
“Yes,” Brian agreed. “Let’s have a look around.”
They searched the area very cautiously, keeping their eyes open for any unwelcome surprises. There was a butte close by.
“This doesn’t look right,” said Miguel. “Too wide.”
He turned slowly, taking in his surroundings.
“There,” he said finally, pointing to the east.
Brian followed him. There was another butte, taller and narrower than the first.
“I think this is it,” he said.
They started moving around its perimeter. Miguel found a depression in one side of it. He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. They examined the surface.
“Look here,” said Brian, tracing his finger along the rock.
Miguel saw a thin line running vertically up the butte as if someone had cut into the surface with a fine saw.
“This doesn’t look naturally occurring,” said Brian.
“The tunnel to the elevator is inside here,” Miguel told him. “I’m certain of it. This is where they took me.”
“Sydney must be in there,” said Brian.
“Yes, she is,” said a voice behind them.
Miguel and Brian turned, Miguel pointing his light toward the source of the sound. A man was standing only a few feet away, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head, covering his face in shadow.
“Who the hell are you?” Miguel demanded.
“You may call me Salvatore,” he said. The light caught his eyes, and Miguel gasped—the pupils were slits, like a cat’s—precisely like the man in black, but this was someone else. “Your friend is in grave danger, and it is up to us to save her.”
Chapter Twenty-one: The Bunker
Sydney opened her eyes. It was dark. Where was she?
It took a few seconds for the memory to surface. She was inside the underground alien bunker.
This didn’t look like the same room she’d been in before—there were more exam tables, and they were arranged differently. Most were empty, but a woman was lying in one; she was naked.
Sydney realized that she was naked now, too, although she had no memory of her clothing being removed.
She was able to wiggle her fingers—the stimulant must have taken effect. Slowly sitting up, she took in more of her surroundings. This room was only dimly lit, and she could not see beyond the exam tables.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the table, she dropped silently to the floor. She found her clothes folded neatly under the exam table. As quietly as possible, she got dressed, then tip-toed over to the other woman.
She was young, probably in her early twenties, with dark brown skin and short, dark hair. Her chest gently rose and fell with her breathing. Sydney didn’t want to risk trying to wake her for fear that she might scream. She’d probably be unable to talk or move, but she didn’t want to take the risk.
Crossing the room, she found she could see the area a few feet ahead of her, although she still could not locate a light source. The wall suddenly loomed out of the darkness.
Sydney walked along the wall for ten paces, twenty, and then after thirty paces found an opening. There didn’t seem to be a door, but she could not see beyond the entrance. Turning back, she could still see the exam tables. She walked through the opening and found herself in the hallway where she’d first arrived. There appeared to be a metal door in the space through which she’d walked, but when she tried to touch it, her hand went right through it.
The walls seemed to be some kind of stone, but they were perfectly sheer and smooth to the touch. There were doors along both sides of the entire corridor.
Sydney hurried to the next door and moved through it. Inside was another room with several exam tables, but nobody was there. She went into two more rooms, finding them empty, then found a man in the third room she tried.
She moved across the room to him as quietly as possible. He was Chinese, maybe fifty years old, and completely naked. She could see that he was breathing, but his eyes were closed, and he seemed to be asleep.
Sydney continued down the corridor, peering into every room she passed. A few were empty, while she found people in some of the others—no more than two people in any room.
Near the end of the corridor, she found a room that differed from the others: It was brightly lit. The walls and ceiling were polished metal. The space was empty, except for half a dozen exam tables. There was a woman on one ta
ble, but she was clothed and strapped to the table.
Sydney rushed over to her. The woman opened her eyes and gasped.
“Sh—please, don’t scream,” she whispered.
“Who are you?” the woman asked quietly.
“My name is Sydney.”
“You’re not with them? The people who run this place?”
“No—they abducted me.”
“You got out? How are you able to move around?”
“It’s a long story. Do you know how long you’ve been here?”
“It feels like forever… I have no idea. Weeks. Months, maybe—I have no way of measuring time. They took me a few days after the invasion.”
“Have you been awake the whole time?”
“No—I was in a different room when I got here—it was dark, and I couldn’t move or talk then. And they kept me naked, just like the last time this happened.”
“You’ve been abducted before?”
“Yes, but I’ve never been able to remember much from that time. Just the dark room. And the aliens…”
“Like the ones from the invasion?”
“Yes, exactly like them.”
“Have you seen anyone this time?”
“Yes—but they’re not aliens.”
“What?”
“They’re human, just like you and me!”
“Are you kidding me?! Humans are working here?”
“The first time this happened, I thought aliens had abducted me—I could swear I saw a few of those gray ones. But it’s all foggy… This time, I’ve seen only regular people. Doctors and nurses.”
“No aliens?”
“None.”
“Have you seen anyone besides medical personnel?”
“No, I don’t think so… wait, yeah, I did see a man once. I think he was a security guard or something—he was wearing a black suit. And sunglasses, which was strange…”
Sydney gasped.
“What is it?”
“Did the man take off his sunglasses? Have you seen his eyes?”
“I only saw him once, through the door there, and it was only for a few seconds. He didn’t take off the sunglasses.”
“Have you seen any other abductees?”
“A few—they come and go. I’ve been in this room the whole time. Sometimes they bring people in here for a little while. They’re always unconscious, though. And they never stay long.