by RWK Clark
“Damn, Kamryn. Wow.” He was growling deep in his throat.
She worked him into a frenzy, and soon he had to pull himself away from her before he lost his resolve. He pulled her to her feet and sat her on the couch.
“Don’t lie down; just sit there.”
She did, and soon he was on his knees before her, returning the favor. Her eyes were closed in ecstasy, her mouth wide open. Her fingers tangled themselves in his hair. All she was aware of was his lips and tongue, and she ground herself against his face. Suddenly her hips arched violently, and she rocked back and forth against his mouth in her orgasm.
He mounted her forcefully, and soon they writhed together like animals, sweating and groaning. She came again, along with him, and finally they both lay on the couch, spent and smiling.
After about fifteen minutes Josh spoke. “I am going to be done with the code and begin testing with a false signal by the end of the week, Kam.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Really, Josh?”
“Really.”
She sat up. Yes! Once they did the testing and got any needed troubleshooting out of the way, they could get the interfering signal sent!
“Let’s shower so you can get back to work. I’m not going to keep you.” She hopped up and gathering her clothes, began to quickly dress. He did the same while she grabbed her hygiene items. “I’ll see you back here in a few minutes?”
He smiled and nodded at her as she left the room. He was right behind her.
∞
Peter Wells sat in his office watching the latest CNN broadcast on the herding. Many of the cities were further along than Washington in the Process, but some of them didn’t have the homeless and addicted population Washington did. It had taken more time here to get done with the first leg of the herding.
The media didn’t expand much in regard to information; the video spoke for itself. The only thing they did state was that the second group of test subjects would be done in one week as well. Obviously the testing was designed to last only a seven-day period. The third group, low-income families with blue collar workers, would be next.
He picked up the remote control and shut the set off. He was so tired of watching, but it was the only way to monitor the progress. He couldn’t just ignore what was happening. For the sake of his own loved ones he had to keep current.
He had spoken to Josh and Kamryn the evening before, and Josh made him aware he would be done with the current phase of their plan within the week. Sure, it had only been last night, but maybe he was further than he thought he would be. He reached for the intercom and pushed the button.
“Sharon, please have Josh call me on my office phone,” he requested.
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
In less than thirty seconds his phone chirped, and he picked it up anxiously. “How is it going today, Josh?”
“Very well, sir. Still anticipated the same time frame, but I’m hoping the extra work will mean less bugs to iron out of the end result. With luck Kamryn will be able to put this to use by next week.”
Wells replied, “Yes. I was hoping things had perhaps gone a little better today, making for a better predicted outcome.”
“It’s a process, sir. It’s a process.”
He thanked Josh and disconnected. Rising from his chair, he walked to his window and looked outside. He wished he had a better view.
He thought about his wife, kids, and grandkids. He couldn’t let despair and depression take over now. They were too close. There was too much to lose by giving up.
Chapter 14
The second group of test subjects completed their testing, and the next herding phase was well under way. The topic of greatest concern on both the news and among those still awaiting herding had to do with those who had completed testing. No one had any idea who was passing or failing. For all they knew people were being taken into the facilities and finding themselves the victims of mass murder. The streets were filled with emotionally charged people, particularly when the thought that humans were marching willingly, if not struggling, to their own deaths. Many thought simply being killed during the actual herding process made much more sense.
As those who were members of blue-collar households were gathered, it became distinctly obvious that gathering the third group was going to take a bit more time. There were far more people in this class than the previous two, at least in the civilized parts of the world. Things began to take a bit longer for the Oppressors, and it was becoming apparent that their patience was wearing thin as far as the humans were concerned. Rather than fight those who struggled they began to murder them immediately. It was also speculated that many more humans were passing the tests than the Oppressors had anticipated.
Josh had completed writing the code for the infiltration signal right when he thought he would. Peter Wells, the President, and the President’s men all gathered and determined a proper testing method. They would use it to interfere with their own Internet and satellite services, but they would do it on a limited basis to fly under the alien’s radar.
Initial tests proved a bit messy. Nothing went as planned. If humans could not interfere with their own signal successfully, how did they expect to fly an effective dummy signal to the alien ships stationed around the world? Troubleshooting and rectifying the issues would be one of the most vital aspects of the entire project, and Josh and Kam found themselves headed back to the proverbial drawing board on the first day.
But this did not prove to deter anyone. They had come too far to give up now. The entirety of Project Native had become more of a do-or-die prospect than ever before. Testing the false signal was what the hacking portion of the job was all about, so it was in Kam’s hands, but without a properly developed code her hands were tied. So, Josh reset his focus, which he expected to need to do, and went about swatting the troublesome bugs which were buzzing around their heads, so to speak.
The world was into week three of the herding phase of the Oppressors takeover efforts, and the behavior of Earth’s people became more panicked and erratic than ever before.
The news reported the suicide count around the world to number in the hundreds of thousands. Bodies were being collected by local authorities all over, and no proper services were held for anyone. The Oppressors had designated body drop sites, and collectors were made to deliver bodies there regularly, where they were piled up until they reached a specific number. They were then mass-buried in the earth just as they had been found.
Out of sight, out of mind seemed to be the outlook of the invaders trolling the planet.
Smaller towns were virtually cleaned out after the third herding phase, and citizens waited on pins and needles for the third week of testing to be completed. In the meantime, the Oppressors simply scouted and re-scouted the cities and surrounding areas to which they had been assigned, tracking down anyone who belonged in the first three groups but had managed to escape capture. According to the news, these individuals were held at the facilities, crowded together, waiting for all testing to be complete so they could be subjected, just as everyone would.
It seemed that the Oppressors had overlooked one particular group of individuals, and this group consisted of many, many people. Convicts and criminals holed up in jails and penitentiaries all over the world were somehow unrecognized by the aliens. Once aware of their existence, Superior had sent extra forces into these places, and their testing took place right where they were. This eliminated the hassle, and danger, which transporting the outcasts would potentially bring. Just as in life before the Oppressors, the outcome of these forgotten lives remained unknown. It was speculated that the public was only told that the crooks were being tested. If the aliens were weeding out the strongest and best, keeping these men and women alive for life on the new planet would be like shooting themselves in the foot.
The fourth day into the week of Phase 3, Josh announced that the code could be re-tested, and once again the powers that be accompanied him
and Kamryn for the tests. The second bug they encountered proved to be small compared to the first. The signal was implemented, but it kept crashing.
Back to work for Josh.
By day six they were able to try it yet again, and while it worked on close range satellites, it proved to fail when it came to reaching as far as they needed it to go.
This was a worldwide project after all. More work.
Day seven of Phase 3 came and went, and groups of middle-to-upper class families were herded and hauled in for testing. Herding this group was set to take place over a three week period to ensure the capture of everyone in the group. Dead bodies, both from suicides and Oppressor elimination continued to pile up, and the aliens continued to seek out anyone who had successfully escaped.
On day two of Phase 4 Josh and Kamryn sat in their office, which had become a prison cell to them now. They cherished the testing times because they got to breath outside air, even though they never saw the light of the sun.
Josh was tapping away at his keyboard like any other time, but his patience was wearing thin. He would burst out in profanities every now and then, and even though the office was air-conditioned, he seemed to have a perpetual film of sweat on his upper lip. Kamryn, too, was nearly at the end of her rope. She found herself pacing, even losing patience with Josh on more than one occasion. Today was one of those times.
Kam had been at the cafeteria drinking sludge-black coffee. She had made small talk with a few of the other employees, and even attempted to engage herself in a game of cribbage with a co-worker. Halfway through the game she had felt as though she might crawl out of her skin. It just wasn’t right that she was playing a card game at a time like this, even if it was just to pass the time until she could fully implement her strategy. She apologized to the woman she was playing with, saying only. “I just can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She had risen from her seat and left the cafeteria in a huff.
Now she was walking back to the elevator. What was Josh doing, anyway? Did she seriously need to light a fire under his ass? She thought he would be finished with his part of the job way before now, and it was beginning to feel like they were going to be herded, tested, and gotten rid of without ever putting her plan into action.
It was a good plan! No, it was better than good; it was great. Not to mention it was the only way. He needed to get on the stick. She jabbed at the elevator button impatiently, over and over, until she heard the ‘Ding!’ which announced it had arrived. As she stepped onto the elevator she realized her forefinger was bleeding. She had broken a nail pushing that damn button.
Furious, she lit from it and puffed her way to their office. He had better not be sleeping. Maybe he needed more help getting this job done than he had been willing to admit. It was time to have a serious talk with Josh.
She opened the office door and tore right in, slamming and locking it behind her.
“Josh, we seriously need to discuss what the heck is taking so long with this project!” She grabbed the back of his desk chair and spun it around.
His eyes were red-rimmed and wide. He was obviously mad that she had so rudely interrupted his work, but his voice gave away nothing. “What’s wrong with you, Kam?”
She plopped into her own chair. “What’s wrong with me? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me!” She pointed her broken, bleeding finger at him and continued. “We are in week four of testing and herding, and while you have gotten rid of some of the bugs, we are only running in place! If you need extra help, why don’t you just say so! I know what my job is, and I can do it. So, why can’t you? I mean really, dude, you have a college education and I barely graduated high school!” Her face was red and flushed, and Josh could see she was obviously very pissed off. This fact only served to irritate him.
“Do you have any idea how hard I am working? I drink so much coffee that I have a perpetual stomach ache, I haven’t showered in three days, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I slept more than three hours! What the heck is the matter with you? You’d better grow up and do it fast!”
Right then it occurred to Kamryn just how she sounded and how she was acting. Her breathing was ragged as this passed through her mind, and suddenly she broke. She put her face into her hands, spun in her chair, and sobbed. She didn’t want him to see her cry after acting like such an ass to him.
In seconds his hand was on her back as he attempted to comfort her. “Shhh. It’s okay. I know how you are feeling. Just cry it out.”
She kept her face turned from him, but she let him take her into his arms, and she buried herself in the solace of his embrace. Her body was wracked with sobs, and his white button-down shirt was getting soaked from her tears. He felt so hopeless and powerless. All he could do was hold her in her time of need. The world had to have her firing on all her pistons. She couldn’t have a meltdown now. He was all she had. It was vital that he be there when she needed him.
After a few minutes Kamryn pulled away from him. She reached for a box of tissue on her desk and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. It took another three or four minutes for her to completely stop crying, but finally her eyes met his. She looked a mess.
“I’m sorry, Josh.” He said nothing back, he only shook his head in a gesture of ‘No apology needed.”
She rose and began to pace the office. She had perfected this skill.
“Kamryn, we are all under a massive amount of pressure. We can all tell time, and we all know the clock is ticking, but we have to focus on what we have instead of what is going. Phase 4 is going to be a three week phase, minimum, and the Oppressors are so busy trying to find the ones that got away that we are the last thing on their minds. They have extra men at the prisons and jails. These are positives. Keep your eyes on these things.”
She nodded at him, and once again apologized. “Go back to work, Josh. I’m going to the gym to work off my fear and frustration.”
He replied, “That’s a great idea. I’ll see you when you get back, okay Kam?” With that he turned back to his desk, scanned the screen with his eyes, and began typing again.
She watched him only for a moment before grabbing a clean change of clothes and her hygiene items. She might as well shower when she was done working out. She was going to be down there anyway.
“Do you want me to bring food back for you?” She asked this timidly, not wanting to interrupt him even further.
He didn’t even speak. He just kept tapping away and shook his head ‘no’.
She left the office grieving over how she had treated him. Not only had she blown up, but she had insulted his intelligence and capabilities as well. He didn’t deserve any of what he had just endured.
She arrived at the gym, put her things in an unsecured locker, and hit the weights with a vengeance. It was time to get her focus back.
Chapter 15
After her final set of reps on the last weight machine, Kamryn let go of the weight and relaxed on her back on the bench. She wiped sweat from her chest and face, then dropped the towel on the floor next to her and closed her eyes.
Suddenly, she was in her small one room apartment. She was sitting at her computer working diligently. She knew what she was doing. She was hacking into the Ameribank security system in an attempt to confuse it and plant fake video footage. This would enable the ‘client’ who had hired her to break into the bank without giving the police any kind of alarm, and it would block his activities for a full eight hours. He would get away with millions.
She worked away, getting closer and closer to her goal. She knew exactly what steps to take, and each step was taken as smoothly and successfully as the one before it. Before she knew it, she was calling her guy.
Now she was talking to him in her room. She was telling him that she would control the bank system remotely while he pulled the job. Her stomach fluttered with excitement and eagerness. This job would pay her a huge amount of money. She could get a new place to live, maybe even a car…
Kamryn suddenly jerk
ed awake. She sat up quickly, and leaving her belongings in the locker forgotten, she ran from the gym. She needed to get to the office and talk to Josh. What about video feed? She hadn’t even thought of this aspect of the Oppressors system, and she knew they had one. That was how they were keeping such close tabs on the street people. It was how they had discovered the prisons.
She got off the elevator and ran down the hall to the office. All she could think was how desperately they needed satellite footage of Washington and all the other cities. It had to be fed into the ship’s system while they set up attack. Without this the Oppressors would be laughing their heads off watching the silly humans set up their strategy. Heck, they were liable to simply blow the whole place to smithereens.
She flung the office door open. “Josh, listen! I just thought of a vital point I had not even considered. I have a lot of work to do!”
Josh jumped in his seat and spun around. “Damn, Kamryn. Wow. You scared the crap out of me. What are you talking about?”
“Video! We know they have it. It runs off the same alien system we are attempting to infiltrate. I have to get satellite images of the victim cities to feed into the ships during our set up and attack or they are going to have front row seats to our entire plan!” She sat hard on the couch, breathing heavily and sweating. “We have to talk to Wells right away!”
Josh’s eyes had grown as wide as the saucers hovering in the sky. “Oh, man. I get you. I’ll call him right away.”
Josh picked up his phone and dialed Wells’ extension. “Mr. Wells. This is Josh. We need to meet with you right away.” He stated a few words of agreement and hung up the phone. Grabbing his tablet and pen he said, “Let’s go, and take your paper. You may have said enough already. Let’s hope they’re busy.”
“Maybe the video is all they ever had. They would have to have super hearing to know our plans, and if that were the case they would be at the Pentagon already. The more I think about it, the more I believe they are dependent on video more than we think. They are monitoring us with some sort of cameras, but I’ll take paper anyway.