Chapter One: Of Nerds and Aliens
The last thing Marla could remember was running through the halls she had been previously been escorted down with her fellow alien best friend, Paul...well when we say running… We mean being pulled down the hall… By Paul… Who was shouting and swearing like it was the only language he knew. After having something hard and wooden collide with her head, that was when everything went away from her.
The next thing she knew, she was awake and being carried by Paul to a government vehicle. This was where she was put in charge of controlling both the gas and brake pedals whilst Paul drove. This was where she was now, hours later, pressing the gas pedal and trying not to fall over due to Paul's swerving and close encounters with the occasional vehicle. It was dark, so luckily, the roads were practically dead. She jumped a little when she heard the horn of the car go of long and loudly.
"Christ, Paul! What the hell?" She yelped as she moved locks of her straight black hair with pink and light blue streaks from her eyes before glancing up at the male from under the dashboard.
"There's a fucking RV in the way!" He growled as he focused on the road before him.
"Then just go around them then you fucking dipshit." She sighed as if it was the most obvious thing to do.
Paul rolled his eyes but did as he was told. He pulled onto the opposite side of the road and whizzed passed the RV. Moments later, Marla and Paul let out a scream as their car hit something that caused it to roll and shake them like a they had been stuck in a tumble dryer on full power. After what felt like forever, both the screams and the car finally came to a stop.
"You… Okay, sweetheart?" Paul panted as he got out of the car and pulled her out after him.
"Yeah. I'm good… I think. You?" She repainted as she walked with him to a safe distance away from the car.
"I'm good." He sighed with relief before pulling a cigarette out of his backpack pocket and tossed Marla a black and pale snake skin grip vape mod with a shiny red tank full of liquid of the same colour.
"I wondered where that went." She muttered before turning it on and taking a drag from it as she watched Paul put his cigarette to his lips and about to light it.
She then heard two male voices and looked towards the car crash site to see two headlight wearing nerds looking at the wreckage.
"Maybe you should call for help." One stated sheepishly.
There was a pause for a few moments before another voice stated, "It's ringing."
"I wouldn't do that if I was you…" Paul said as he lit his cigarette and took a drag before stepping out of the dark with Marla stood behind him as if she was trying to hide.
Both the British illustrator Graeme Willy and writer Clive Gollings froze in what they were doing as they saw two aliens walk into their line of sight. Both grey skinned and skinny. One male and one female from the looks of it. The male had a big head, wearing shorts and flip flops but had no shirt. The female had a smaller head with short black hair with a longer side fringe with pink and light blue streaks in it. She wore a plain black romper with a off the shoulder sleeves and thin straps holding it up in her shoulders. On her feet were a pair of snake skin design gladiator sandals that went to her ankles.
"Put… The… Phone… Down…" The male said slowly as they advanced the two.
The heavy set male who had the phone to his ear, let out a slight shocked laugh before falling backwards into a heap on the floor. The ginger one looked between his friend and the two aliens.
"Aw… Fuck…" Paul grumbled with a eye rool as Marla sighed.
"What… What did you do?" The ginger male spluttered nervously.
"Nothing...he fainted." Marla stated she she moved so she was beside Paul.
"Yeah but you made him faint." The ginger accused.
"Yes, but it's not like we set our phaser to faint …" Paul gave his unamused dry sarcasm.
"You have a phaser?" the human gasped, falling for the sarcasm.
"No ... I don't ... look ! Listen …Hey ... I really need your help. Ok?" Paul asked in annoyance as he walked over and lifted on of the unconscious male's legs up. "Can we get this guy back in your wagon?"
"What ... whe … You're an alien! " Graeme stated the obvious, making Marla roll her eyes.
"To you… Yes, we are." She said as she bent down to pick up Clive's other leg.
"Are you going to probe us?" Graeme squeaked in freight.
"Oh for fuck sake…" Marla growled as she released Clive's leg along with Paul.
"What are we doing? Are we harvesting farts? How much can we learn from an ass?" Paul exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in annoyance.
"What ... I ... what …" Graeme stammered in confusion.
"I'm sorry, what's your name?" Paul asked, calmly.
"Um… Graeme Willy."
Paul then motioned to the unconscious male. "What's his name?"
"That's the writer, Clive Gollings."
"Okay cool. I'm Paul and that's Marla."
"Paul?" The male's eyebrow went up in confusion.
"Yeah." Marla sighed.
"It's a nickname, it stuck. our ship crashed and i... dog ! It doesn't matter. Look, can we get Clive Gollings back on the RV and get the hell outa here, please?" Paul begged.
"I can't be …" Graeme was fighting his denial.
"We're in a hell of a pickle … And if you don't help us, we could die on this road tonight." Marla sighed.
"I don't know, we're in a quite tight schedule …" Graeme mumbled, sounding unsure about not only about his current situation but with himself in general.
"Sometimes… You just gotta roll the dice." Paul said calmly. "What do you say?"
"Okay." Graeme said after a moments silence.
"Okay. Perfect, great! " The two aliens grinned in relief.
"Okay, help me, help me grab him." Paul said as he went to pick up one of Clive's legs.
Graeme took ahold of Clive's arms as Marla went to grab his other leg.
Marla paused and winced. "This man's peed his pants."
"Yeah, he's got child's bladder." Graeme said sheepishly as they hauled him up.
"Oh, fantastic …" Paul groaned as they all shuffled towards the RV, all whining about the dead weight.