Chapter One
Niall turns around to me and spreads his arms out wide. "And that," he says, loudly to the neighbourhood. "Is why I love you."
I laugh, and run into his arms, feeling his warmth in the cold night. My scarf comes up around my mouth, over my nose. I breathe in deeply, his mild scent comforting me.
Niall's arms around me always made me weak at the knees. He never really understood that though. He only sees me as his best friend that's been there forever. But that's okay, I guess. I'm happy to keep my emotions under wraps.
He removes his arms from my torso, and carries on down the road, right in the middle, the fog around him, getting caught in the moonlight. He looks quite eerie.
"But god, when you get started on your theories, Jess, it's just too much!" he's yelling now, his voice echoing from the buildings either side of us.
I laugh again, and start to run after him. I think how glad I am that I had gotten him away from the party before he could get any more drunk than he already is.
"Niall, slow down!" I call out to him.
For once, my command rings in his head, and he stops dead in his tracks. But it isn't like that. It's different.
My pace slows as I try to figure out what's happening. Then I hear something really weird. Like a robotic, droning sort of computerised voice.
I break back into a run and join Niall at his side. When I see what's facing him, I gasp.
A large, metal thing stands opposite Niall, and it has some sort of eye stalk that is moving back and forth, from one of Niall's eyes to the other.
"Please," Niall says, raising his hands up, his face sheet white. "Don't hurt me."
The Thing pauses, and the voice comes back. "You will be scanned for intelligence."
Niall blinks hard and flinches as the Thing shines a bright light in his face.
I take a moment to look behind the Thing. More Things stand at its side, enveloped by the fog. One of them catches sight of me, and rolls towards me. Well, I assume it rolls. It appears to have small wheels underneath it, upon which it moves around.
Before it reaches me, I start backing up. I don't feel scared of these things, as Niall seems to be. Not scared of what they might do to me. I feel… almost perplexed. I know they're no good, I know I have to get away. But I'm not scared.
I hear heavy footsteps coming rapidly up behind us, and a buzzing noise that lasts about three seconds before switching off again.
"Stop!" the voice belonging to the legs yells to us. "Stop now!"
I turn around to face the person, and see a mad looking man in a brown suit. He slows down as he gets to us and throws himself in between Niall and the Thing.
"What do you want? I can help you, just tell me. And don't hurt them," the mad-man juts his head towards us.
The Thing adjusts its eye stalk to the mad-man's height and the light switches off. Niall just stands there, completely dumb-founded.
"You are not needed at this time. We only need the boy," it says, in a monotonous fashion.
Two more of the Things break away and go to Niall's side. They stand facing each other, with Niall in between, and some sort of magnetic force shoots out from one of the extra stalky things on their fronts. Niall is caught up in it, and they take him back to behind the first Thing.
I suddenly find my voice, and take a resolute step forward.
"What are you doing to him?" I say coldly
The first Thing moves its eye stalk to me. "He is needed for experimentation. He is of importance in our plans."
"No, no," the mad-man says, getting slightly angry. "No, you don't need him. He's not important at all."
"Oi," I say, storming up to him. "He's important to me!"
"Shh," he says, whispering to me. "That isn't helping."
"Well it's true," I hiss at him, then turn back to the Thing. "Let him go. Let him go, now."
"You will stand down," the Thing responds. "He is needed."
"Give him back!" I lunge at the Thing, but the mad-man holds me back. "Give him back to me!" I'm screaming now. They have Niall. They're taking him for some sort of experimentation, and I am not going to let that happen.
"Please, just give the boy back," the mad-man says calmly. "I'll go with you. You don't need him."
"He is a key part of our plans. You are irrelevant," the Thing says, with a sense of finality. Then they all turn and roll away.
"No!" I scream at them. "Come back! Niall!"
As I watch on, they start to rise, then take to the sky and disappeared. I look up at where they should be, but aren't. My eyes widen – I can't believe what I've just seen.
"Okay, well, that complicates things," the mad-man says to himself. "Uhm," he looks down at me, still suspended by his arms, close to tears at the loss of my best friend. "Right."
I look at him in disbelief. "What? How does that help anything?" I say. There's a slight pause, and I break down in tears.
"Oh, no, please, don't, uhm," he looks at me with concern, like he doesn't know what to do. "Please stop. Don't cry. Look, here, come with me."
I allow myself to be guided down the road by this complete stranger. Under usual circumstances, I would have socked him by now. But I had just encountered talking, flying robots, and seen them take Niall away. My beautiful Niall.
The mad-man walks me towards a police phone box, that's lit up in the night. I hadn't noticed there ever being a box there, but I dismiss it.
He lifts his arm toward the blue box, and snaps his fingers. I don't see how this is going to help us, until the door flies open. Again, I dismiss the strangeness of what is happening around me, and follow in his grip as he takes me inside.
The last I remember is collapsing in the floor of the box, with strange beeping and lights flashing around me. The mad-man's face hangs over mine, still with that concerned look plastered on it.