Alien Busters: Alien Hunting (Alien Busters Series Book 1)

by Safa Shaqsy

  He let out a breath, “Don’t start with the I know you lecture.” He warned. “Well, it’s true. I have known you and Kraig since Soplea.” I replied, “I know how you pray before every mission, and how Kraig hates the infirmary, but pretends that he’s okay with it. I know how you put whipped cream on your coffee every morning and how Kraig likes cheese with almost every food he eats.”

  He raised his hands to stop me, “Okay, Okay. You win,” and we both tittered.

  When we stopped laughing, I glanced at the TV screen on the paused video and said, “I miss them.” “I know,” Andie said. “Now eat your Znacks.” I opened the bag and nibbled a chunk of the sweet soft Znacks, “Blueberries.”

  “Your favorite,” Andie said. That made me smile, that I actually had friends who knew me well and cared for me. It made me forget how lonely I felt every night before I went to bed, thinking about my parents and the empty house I was left with. Not empty for lack of furnishings, but the fact that no one was living with me.

  “And I bet you’re feeling better.” He said.

  He was right, I was feeling better, “I do feel better.” bumping my shoulder to his and he grinned.

  “Good.” He said as he tapped me on the shoulder and stood on his feet. “That means my time is up. Gotta go.” I stood and walked with him to the door, when I heard purring and crying from my bedroom.

  Andie turned to look at me with confusion, “What’s that?”

  My heart raced, “I think it was from outside,” I lied. He shook his head not believing me, “No, it was something else,” and headed to my bedroom door. I strode to get ahead and stood in front of the door to block him from entering, “No, Andie.”

  “Nat, please let me check what’s inside,” he said. “I told you, Andie. There’s nothing in this room.” I tried to convince him, but the purring became louder as the alien blew its cover.

  Andie raised his eyebrows, “Nat, stop lying to me. I heard something in your room. Now get out of my way,” he shot back.

  I shook my head, but he entered my lousy password beside the door. “Triple two, huh? You never learn.” He said and the door slid open. His eyes widened, and he started cursing, “What the hell!”

  The alien dashed to him and chomped his shoe, trying to tear it with its teeth.

  Andie stepped back shaking his leg to release the alien and yelled, “Get off me, you ugly alien!” “Andie, you’ll hurt it!” I warned. “I don’t care!” He yelled back and pushed the alien away from his shoe and the alien rolled on the floor and got away from Andie and hid behind the sofa. Andie ran to the kitchen and grabbed a gun that I always stashed in the drawer.

  Before he could aim down at the alien, I stood in front of him. “No!” I snapped with raised hands, and shook my head. “Please it’s…it’s harmless.”

  Andie stared at me with fury, strands of hair covering his forehead. He aimed the gun steadily. “Get out of my way, Nat.”

  “I won’t let you.” I said, “Please. Don’t.”

  He focused on my pleading eyes, and lowered his gun with care and licked his lips.

  “Thank you,” I said with a sigh and lowered my hands to my sides.

  He put the gun on the kitchen counter with force and asked, “Why are you hiding an alien?”

  “It’s…a silly story,” I said waving one hand. Andie stared at me with intensity, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m listening,” he said, as he leaned on the kitchen counter.

  I let out a breath, “Okay, remember the mission when we found the dead aliens?” He nodded with interest and looked at me. “When you told me to kill the baby alien...” I started. “No. No, no, no. Don’t tell me you didn’t,” he said. “Andie, I couldn’t. It’s a baby,” I replied.

  He snickered out of rage, and shook his head. “No, it’s an alien. Not a baby. You should have killed it.” “But I didn’t, okay? Stop telling me what to do,” I shot back. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, shaking his head. When he opened his eyes, he said in a calm voice and raised his palms, “Okay we can be rational about this. We can turn it over to the institute and they handle the alien. Okay?” He offered.

  “No, I’m keeping it.” I refused. The alien hid behind my legs and purred with fear. I felt its warm body behind me, and its heart raced at an abnormal speed.

  Andie groaned, “Nat, please listen to me. If they found out about your alien, both of you will be punished.” “I know the rules and I’m willing to sacrifice,” I said, “Andie, my parents were experimenting with aliens. They knew something about them and I have to know what it was.”

  Andie stiffened at the taboo subject, but his face softened when I mentioned my parents. “You know Gale, right?”

  “Yes, I know and I’ll be careful,” I said.

  He looked at me for several seconds before he said, “Okay, I got your back this time.”

  “Thank you,” I said as I clutched my hands over my chest.

  “You owe me big time,” he said.

  “As long as no one knows,” I said, “and I promise the alien won’t be any trouble to anyone.”

  “Okay” he said. I bent down and patted the alien’s slippery head, “You see, Alien? You don’t have to worry about getting exposed.”

  It purred and ran to lick Andie’s shoe and he flinched. “He likes you,” I said.

  “Yeah, well. I don’t like it yet,” Andie said and moved to the door as it slid open, but before he headed outside he turned and said, “Take care.”

  “I will,” I said and he walked out of the door.

  Chapter Four

  “An Alien Buster cannot sympathize with aliens, if one found out about it, the leader will announce a punishment.” ~Alien Busters Manual, section one, page 14 In the late afternoon, I was searching for dog food on my Inhab screen. I scrolled the screen to search for a pet shop. There were a lot of pet shops in the city that I could buy from. The fact that we had pet shops was absurd, because we didn’t have enough animals in our city. When our ancestors travelled through space, they thought of carrying animals and insects in their vast spaceship. They took a few from every species, but couldn’t manage to take them all. There were many labs that held animals and forced them to breed so they can populate our city we would regain some Earthly elements. Then people started buying animals as pets and so pet shops were built. I never used the online shopping before. I could order online but the alien and I could use a little walk in the city. Alien was staring at me with its huge black eyes and rubbing its head on my leg. “We have to go to the shop” I told the alien, “And I’m not leaving you here. You have done enough damage already.” But how could I walk with it in the city without being caught? Then I remembered my sand outfit when I was a baby that my parents kept in a box inside the garage, hoping that someday we would take a trip to the sands outside the city. We never did. The sand outfit is for protection from alien attack and harsh climates. Maybe if it fit the alien, with a few sprays of makeup, no one will immediately notice that it’s an alien.

  “I have a plan.” I told the alien and strolled toward the garage followed by the alien. I looked for the box with the sand outfit. I wiped over some old dusty boxes and coughed the dust grains in the air. It took me a while to find the outfit and when I did, I lifted it up and looked at it. It was a red hooded jumpsuit. “This might fit you,” I said, opening the zipper of the jumpsuit and got the alien in it. The jumpsuit fit the alien, but the sleeves were a little too short, so its gray-blue spotted hands were visible.

  “Okay, you need makeup,” I said and looked inside other boxes and waved the dust away. There was a box of Mom’s makeup somewhere in the garage. She used to love wearing it. Unlike me, I didn’t use it and was not interested in it in any way. I found the makeup spray and started spraying its hands, face and feet with tanned foundation. The color on the alien almost looked real, but I couldn’t hide the nose holes and the big black eyes.

  “Okay, done.” I said, “You look less
creepy this way.” The alien walked stiffly with the outfit and sniffed the foundation on its skin. It sniffed the other boxes and tore one with its teeth and sank its head inside the box.

  “Hey” I called. It got its head out with a teddy bear toy in its sharp teeth and when it munched the toy, I heard a song I hadn’t heard in years. About an exploding star that exploded in one galaxy and the sound resonated for centuries. Memories rushed in with my parents when they taught me this lullaby and how I used to love singing it and hugging the toy.

  My chest ached from the nostalgia. It made me tug the toy from the alien’s mouth and searched for any tore off fabric with panic. Luckily, no harm had been made, and I sighed with relief.

  “You have to bite on everything?” I scolded, “You are very lucky that you’re not sleeping outside.” The alien bent down with its hands on the floor and leapt on me to gnaw on the toy. Its sudden jump made me stumble back and fall flat on my back. The alien was on top of me gnawed the toy as I tried to get it out of its mouth. It pulled the toy with its teeth and the toy glided from my hands as I let go of the alien and it ran to the door.

  “No!” I stood up and ran behind it to the living room to find the alien chewing the toy behind the sofa. When the alien chomped down on the toy, the lullaby music started. That made me stop and gaze at the alien who put the toy down on the floor and pointed its ears as it listened to the music. I got closer to it and kneeled down, “You like it?” I asked. It licked the toy and stared at me for approval with those glistening eyes. “Fine, you can have it. As long as you don’t tear it up, like the rest of my furniture.” I warned.

  It sniffed the toy and cried with the music. I laughed, “You know what? I’ll call you Star.” I patted on its head. “Star,” I said to myself. “I think I could get used to that name.”

  I walked down to the city with Star walking stiffly in a sand outfit. I felt sorry for Star, having to wear a heavy suit in a very hot afternoon. The sun had almost set, tinting the city’s buildings with a hint of orange. People were staring at Star with disgust while they walked on the pavement and I guessed that was because of Star’s outfit and his weird gait. I called it a he, because he had blue skin in his inner ear. My parents told me that if an alien had purple skin in its inner ear it meant it was a female and blue for the males. We walked in a pet shop and I asked the worker there to escort me to the dog food aisle. As I was choosing the right dog food for Star in the big screen, he was about to chomp one of the dog food pictures on the screen. “Star,” I called in low voice to stop him.

  Luckily, he stopped and sat on the floor and kept staring at me.

  “Behave,” I warned Star and eyed him. A bald employee came up to me and said, “Do you want any help?” She stared at Star for a moment and chewed something in her mouth, “You have a weird looking dog for sure,” she said in a bored way.

  “Umm, he has skin problems. Doesn’t grow hair.” I whispered to her. She grimaced at Star, “Oh, sorry for that.” She said, “Don’t worry, we got the right food for him,” and she air gunned to Star. She reached to press on one of the dog foods, and turned to me as she leaned on the screen. Like her work was boring, “This is the best food for your dog. It has all the minerals and vitamins, et cetera, et cetera, that he needs for his growth” She said it like she memorized it from a slip.

  “Umm, okay?” I said. She forced a smile while chewing her gum and bent down to pat Star’s head, “You’re one ugly thing, aren’t you?” She said it like she was talking to a two-year-old. Star opened his mouth to bite her hand, but she pulled it away in time with a shriek.

  I tried to suppress a laugh, satisfied by his hostility. “He’s picky,” I said. She straightened up and looked at me, “Oh, okay, whatever,” she said, “Do you want anything else?” She asked with little patients.

  When I thought about it, Star was doing his business on the bathroom floor and that made me clean the floor several times a day. “Actually, I need a litter box and a special shampoo,” I replied.

  “No problem. Anything else?” She asked with annoyance. I stared at Star licking his hands and back to her, “That’s all. Thanks.”

  She rolled her eyes, “I’ll put the products on the counter,” she said and walked away from view. I turned to Star and hissed, “What’s wrong with you? You almost chopped her hands off.” Star got to my legs and rubbed his body. “Really? Now you’re using your cuteness to distract me?” I scolded, “I’ll deal with you at home. Let’s go.” I walked to the counter and paid for the items. I carried the shopping bags and headed outside with Star following me.

  When Star and I reached home, I placed a bowl of food on the floor, and he ate quietly. I sat on the sofa to watch one of my parents’ videos in the Alien Busters Institute lab with different types of aliens inside separate glass cages. In the video, dad wore a white lab coat and special lab glasses. He held a clipboard with one hand and kept taking notes about the alien in one of the cages as he observed it. He seemed stressed and kept ruffling his short black hair and wiping his forehead with his hand. He finally looked directly at the camera that I guess mom was holding. His eyes were filled with sorrow or confusion. “Darling, can you get it closer to the alien?” he asked mom behind the camera. “Okay” mom sang with shaky voice.

  The camera refocused on the alien zooming closer. Then it stopped. My mouth gaped at the peculiar alien. It had long antennas that looked like tangled hair, green skin with sharp razor thorns on its spine, and large black eyes, like Star’s. Though it looked like a different species. The alien screamed revealing long sharp teeth and stared at my dad. The camera was turned to capture dad staring back at the alien with terror, like he’s about to do something. His Adam’s apples moving. He looked at mom behind the camera and said, “I’m going inside.”

  “What?” Mom asked with a laugh, “You’re not serious.”

  “I am” he replied, looking regretful, “You stay there and record the evidence.”

  “Will, it’s too dangerous, I won’t let you,” Mom replied. “Debra, please” he pleaded and took his glasses off and clutched them in his hands. “This is the only way and we don’t have much time.”

  “Will?” mom called, almost saying something, but a male voice interrupted them. “The only way to what?” asked the male voice. Dad immediately looked to his right, with wide eyes and the camera was off.

  I couldn’t identify who was speaking, and I never knew what they were about to do or what exactly happened after that day. There were so many questions in my mind that were never answered. But could it be that they were doing their research without anyone knowing what they were doing? What about their public speeches about their research and their findings? Why did they give the lectures if they didn’t want anyone to know about the research? Is it possible that they were doing other illegal things that no one knew about? Or did they just hide the research results and evidence until the day the wanted to reveal it?

  I let out a breath and stared at Star that was on his way to my lap, by digging his claws in my legs’ flesh. I felt a stabbing pain when he climbed all the way and got his face closer to mine. He placed his hands on my cheeks, pressed with its claws into my flesh and looked into my eyes.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked and he purred like he understood my words and climbed down. “What are you trying to tell me?” I asked as I followed him to the door. He scrutinized at the door and started scratching it with his claws. I didn’t understand what he was doing or what he was trying to tell me. “It’s night time, you can’t go out,” I said. He stopped, but kept looking at the door, not moving. “Star?” I called. He shot his ears upward and started running to the hallway. “Where are you going?” I called and followed him to the garage. He leapt on one of the boxes and tore it with his teeth and I noticed that its teeth are no longer baby teeth, now they are long and sharper. I ran to the box and pulled Star from it, “No” I scolded, “What did I tell you about ripping up my stuff?” I put him down and looked a
t the ripped box, and noticed a small silver box. I opened the silver box with anticipation and pulled out yet another box. This one was smaller and plastic. It was one of the ancient music boxes people used generations ago. “Star, look what we’ve found” I said, as I carefully examined it.

  I walked to the living room and tried to open the box with waving a hand at it, but it didn’t work. “How on Zelea, do I open this?” I asked Star, who was sitting down beside my feet. I opened the box. That’s when the music started. Star jerked his head up fluttering his ears. The music was slow and had low bass that made me start tapping my foot on the floor, following the rhythm. This music was what my mom always listened to when she was alive. Sometimes we would listen to it while she was cooking dinner, singing together with our invisible voice amplifier and dad would join us.

  I felt the pain in my chest. I closed the music box and placed it on the coffee table a little forcefully without even realizing it. I sat on the sofa and placed my hands over my eyes as I sobbed. My cheeks were wet and I kept sniffing and gasping loud enough for Star to hear. I hadn’t realized that grief would strike me again. I wished I could join my parents, but that would make me selfish and irresponsible. I had something that kept me alive every day, something that made me want to wake up every morning that gave real meaning to my life. I never knew it would be an alien who would keep me sane.

  I felt Star’s claws on my legs and uncovered my eyes to see him climbing to my lap again. He pressed his palms on my wet cheeks and looked into my eyes. Does Star know that I’m sad? He placed his head and body to my chest as I felt his wild heartbeat and his steady breathing. Then he lowered himself into my lap cuddling his own body.

  “We’ll find out what happened to my parents’ research and what happened to your parents,” I whispered to Star, “I promise.”

  Chapter Five