Devon laughed. “Satan? As in the devil?”
“Is there another Satan?” The angel looked Devon straight in the eye, and Devon stopped laughing. “You want the demon to leave you alone? Then choose God. Otherwise, the demon will stay with you.”
Uncertainty crossed Devon’s face.
The angel turned his gaze to her. “You won’t see Marianne again unless you also make the choice for Him.” He reached out and touched the cross that hung on Marianne’s necklace. “Your sister’s been spared from what’s to come, but her faith can’t save you.”
“Save me from what? The demons?”
“From the great deception,” he answered.
Before she could ask for clarification, all the angels and demons disappeared.
“Is he still there?” Devon asked.
She sighed. “No. And yes, he often leaves me wondering what else there is, so don’t be surprised he left before we could ask what the great deception is.”
“Cliffhangers are my life.”
She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but he glanced at his watch.
“I better go. I have a flight to catch.”
“Wait!” She grabbed his arm before he could open the door. “What happened at Area 51 with my friend?”
“What friend?”
“Alex Cameron. You injected him with something. What was it and what else did you do to him?”
He hesitated.
“Don’t I already know too much to turn back?” she demanded.
“You can’t tell others this.”
“Alex is my friend, and he’s being tormented by an alien. I owe it to him to help him. I got the angel’s answer, but I need to know what you did to him at Area 51.”
“I’d have to know exactly who you’re talking about.”
Grumbling, she picked up her purse and pulled out her wallet. She flipped through the photos until she got to the one of Alex and Marianne. She practically shoved it in his face. “That’s Alex,” she said in disgust. It shouldn’t surprise her that Devon had done this to more than one person. “I saw Alex’s medical charts in the room he was in, and you’re telling me you don’t remember his name?”
“We’re not given the names of the people who come to us.”
“So Alex was just a number to you?” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.
“They have to be just a number. It’s the only way to cope with what’s going on,” he softly admitted.
“Well, I got news for you. Alex isn’t just a number. He was my sister’s fiancé. He was supposed to be my brother-in-law, and he’s my friend. He’s suffering because of what you and your colleagues did to him. The demon masquerading as an alien won’t leave him alone. It even tried to strangle him while he was sleeping.”
Devon winced. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Then what was part of the plan? What did you do to him?”
“His genes are ideal for offspring. We extracted his sperm to make a baby. What the other people did to him, I don’t know. Then I was to tag him with an implant so we can keep track of him.”
“What?” She shook her head as she battled the mixture of rage and shock that coursed through her. “A baby?”
“A super soldier.” He glanced at his watch again. “Look, that baby is humanity’s best hope. My work at Area 51 isn’t as nebulous as you think, but I can’t get into all of that now. I really have to go. If you want, I can explain more to you when I get back in two days. If I don’t make my flight, there will be questions, and those questions can lead them to you. You don’t want that.”
He took his device off the dashboard and slipped it into his pocket. Then he opened the car door. “I’ll find you at work.” He shut the door and ran to his car.
Too stunned to do anything, she stared at the spot where the angels and demons had been moments ago. Super soldiers? What in the world were super soldiers? And what did that have to do with angels and demons or the great deception?
More questions. It seemed to her that the further ahead she got, the more she didn’t understand. She released her breath and grabbed her purse to find a cigarette. If this was the end of the world, she saw no reason to quit smoking. Right now, it was the only thing that kept her hanging on. She lit up her cigarette and finished smoking half of it before she felt calm enough to drive home.
Chapter Nine
Alex looked at the bottle of pills in his hand. Just the thought of taking more of them made his heart race with dread. He didn’t care what the list of side effects said. These pills made him hear voices. He’d skipped taking them that morning to see if the voices would stop and they had. Most of it was garbled, except for the random occurrences where he was told to kill someone. A female. It was always whispering, Kill her. He had no idea who “her” was, nor did he want to find out.
He put the bottle back in the medicine cabinet and slowly stepped back from it. He didn’t have to take the pills. Everything was in his mind. He was sure of it. The alien didn’t always appear when he didn’t take them. Maybe he imagined it. Maybe there was no alien hovering by him. Like Dr. Reyes said, he’d had no marks to leave physical evidence to prove an alien tried to strangle him. That alone was enough to know it was all in his mind.
Mind over matter. He could beat this thing. He could. It was all a matter of getting control of his thoughts and fears instead of the thoughts and fears controlling him.
The door to the medicine cabinet closed, and Alex saw his reflection in the mirror. He breathed a sigh of relief. No alien. It was just him. There. That proved it. He hadn’t taken a single pill since he woke up, and the voices stopped and the alien hadn’t returned. Closing his eyes, he took deep breaths to slow his heart. Tentatively, he opened his eyes. No alien. With a grateful laugh, he turned and saw no alien hanging out in his bedroom either. Good. Finally, things were beginning to feel normal. He was getting control of his sanity again.
Turning off the bathroom light, he retired to his bed.
***
“Flight 876 going to Minneapolis/St. Paul is now boarding passengers in rows 10 through 15.”
Devon grabbed his eReader and stood to wait in line. On the TV monitor by the chairs where several people watched in shock, he saw images of Israel attacking Iran and Iran’s retaliation. The aliens would jump in and save the day. Then people would beg for the one world government to come in and save them from annihilation. The aliens would be the heroes and people would gladly submit to them, and by the time they woke up and realized who they submitted to, it would be too late. The position of power and control would be firmly in place. Those who dissented would be removed, and when that happened, Devon would make use out of his cabin.
He glanced at the eReader in his hand. The book he’d been reading would soon be banned. He was surprised it hadn’t been already. That book taught that man had a right to freedom. It spoke of redemption. It spoke of man inheriting the Earth. It had the message the aliens wouldn’t want people promoting. But then, why should he be surprised? The Bible was the most controversial book ever written.
Devon walked up to the woman at the gate and showed her his ticket. She nodded, smiled, and directed him to the doorway that led to his plane.
***
Autumn picked up the phone on the third ring. “Alicia?”
“Girl, where have you been? I’ve been calling you all night.”
“Yeah, well, I had to meet someone and then get something to eat. Do you know they aren’t taking cash anywhere now? It’s a good thing I got a debit card.”
“Haven’t you been listening to the radio?”
Realizing her friend sounded scared, she dropped her purse and coat to the floor and went over to the TV so she could turn it on. “No. What’s wrong? Did Israel strike Iran?”
“Yes. No one expected it. I mean, they were supposed to have talks tomorrow, you know?”
Autumn’s mouth went dry when she saw the breaking news on the TV screen. It was eer
ily reminiscent of the day her sister vanished, only this time, there was a war raging in the Middle East. She gripped the phone in her hands. “Iran is going to set off a nuclear bomb?”
“Yeah, and to think they weren’t building those, huh? The Russians are telling Israel to stop attacking Iran, but Israel won’t back off until Iran does. Why aren’t the aliens stopping this? I thought they came to help us reach our potential,” she said as she choked back a sob.
Autumn watched as the camera settled on the white house in Washington DC. The alien craft that settled above it seemed to be glowing. She squinted. Had it done that before?
The reporter spoke into his microphone and glanced at the camera, looking as alarmed as Autumn felt. “The president and vice president have already evacuated for safety. Other leaders of the world are heading for their respective places as well.”
“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.
Amy swallowed the nervous 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 Israel and Iran set off 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 wall. Pain vibrated through his body as he 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 hurriedly 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 bombing the capitol of every country in the world. But why? All the leaders were hiding, weren’t they?
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 when it rang again. “Alicia, are seeing what I’m seeing?” she asked her friend, still uncertain as to what this new development meant.
“Yes. More aliens. But these are different. Do we trust them?”
Autumn thought of the angels. Was it possible these aliens were really angels? “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
***
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 blond woman 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 Sumarians 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 the same.”
“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 worked. In that instant, he became aware of every cell in his body, and he became aware of the malignant tumor growing in his mind.
“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 healing 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.
The Leader Page 5