Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Signs or it's characters (Merrill, Randa, Graham, Morgan, Bo) so don't sue! Err… you won't get much; maybe come beat up looking pencils, some newspaper clippings……
(A.N. Sorry this took so long. My computer crashed and I had to retype this.) : (
Chapter Four: Fear and Faith
Randa tried desperately to pump up the gun, but only a few drops came out. It was out of water. Merrill looked at her hopelessly. She shrugged, out of ideas. One of the aliens
snatched the water gun from Randa's shaking hands, tossed it out of sight, and hissed at them in a language neither could understand. The creature beckoned them to follow. A malicious glare
in it's eyes warned the two hostages not to try anything stupid.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at one of the smaller crop circles. In the center was a scarecrow mounted on a tall pole. The alien produced two ropes, looped them around the pole, and then proceeded to tie the wrists and ankles of the two captives to it.
Merrill and Randa sat in silence for a while as the creatures patrolled the circle.
"Ok, so maybe coming out here alone, after dark wasn't such a good idea." Merrill thought "I could just kick myself! It's like the guy in every horror movie who goes back into the house to see if the killer's still there!" He began to tug at the scarecrow, but his efforts were only rewarded by a sharp hiss from one of the aliens who was watching. He glanced over at his companion, who was also deep in thought.
Randa watched as the creatures gathered in a huddle and began whispering to one another. "What are they saying?" she wondered. "Their probably getting ready to ship us off to God-knows-where." She bit her lip, determined not to cry in front of her ex, and drew in a sharp breath.
"You ok?" Merrill asked.
"Well, aside from the fact that we're stuck in the middle of a field, late at night and being watched by 'The Creatures from the Black Lagoon', yeah, I'm fine."
"That's good."
"I'm sorry, it's just so…ironic.", she admitted, her voice quavering a little. "I mean, we both just managed to survive last night and yet, here we are….What do you think their gonna do with us?"
"I don't know. If they were gonna kill us, they would've done it already. But then again, I could be wrong."
Randa winced and deliberately turned away.
"Hey." Merrill said softly, putting his free hand on her shoulder. "At least these aren't the guys from South Park. You know, the ones that made Cartman start farting fire?"
Randa let out a nervous smile. "Always the eternal optimist.", she thought. "He can always crack a joke no matter where we are. In fact, I was beginning to miss that about h-Hey wait! What am I thinking?"
"Besides," Merrill continued, gesturing at the bickering aliens. "Now that they're not watching, we could probably make a run for it." He began to tug at the scarecrow again. "Give me a hand with this." The two pulled until the scarecrow came out and fell to the ground with a soft thud. Fortunately, none of the creatures seemed to notice. They stud up as quietly as they could. Merrill held up his fingers and mouthed the words. "One, two, three"
Meanwhile, back at the house, Graham stood in the living room, gazing out the window and wondering where his younger brother was. "Merrill should've been back a long time ago." He thought. "What could've happened?" Many answers to that question raced across Graham's mind. All of which made his stomach turn flip flops. "It's all my fault. I never should have let him go out there alone." A sudden movement upstairs caught Graham's attention. As he climbed the steps, he heard a soft cry form Bo's room. He opened the door to find Bo sitting on her bed, crying and Morgan trying to console her.
"What's wrong?" Graham asked.
"Bo had a nightmare." Morgan replied. "Dad, where's Uncle Merrill?"
"He just went to go check on something."
"Dad, that was two hours ago."
"You don't think something bad happened, do you?" Bo asked worriedly. Graham sat down on the bed next to his children
"Remember what you learned in Sunday school, about having faith even though you're scared?"
"Since when do you believe in God?" Morgan muttered.
"Since today, when you asked me if someone saved you. Someone did. Remember that story I told you about Noah and the ark? Noah and his family were probably pretty sacred after being trapped on the ark all through the flood. But they weathered the storm and God eventually made the waters dry up and put a rainbow in the sky, just to show that everything was gonna be alright."
After putting the kids to bed, Graham went back downstairs. He looked out the window but still saw no sign of his brother. He sighed, looked toward the ceiling, and after a few minutes, he decided to do something he hadn't done for quite a while. "I never ask you for much. I know you helped us out today. I thank you for that. But please, look out for my brother. After all you've taken from me…. I just don't think I could stand to lose anymore….."
Graham sat down on the couch and fell asleep, hoping someone had heard him.
(A.N. Whew! A very talkie chapter, I know. But I wanted to be concurrent with the theme of the movie. More coming soon, I promise. R and R! Flames will be put out with a glass of water.) : )