Unraveling the Truth

Chenzhou, China, 2003

The thick forest surrounded the small village, disconnected from the outside world. The only way to keep in touch with current news was to go to the nearest city, which was 60 miles from there.

Far away from the village, an old wooden house stood alone. The house was inhabited by an outcast, years ago the owner of the house was taken. When he told the village leaders, they were afraid, the village leaders then banished him from the village to prevent other people from being taken, from that day on he spent all his life alone, in the woods.

Early in the morning, the man who was now very old, prepared to embark on a long journey, a journey which would take him half a day to accomplish. He locked his old house and began to walk northwest of his house, away from the village and into the forest. He followed an unseen path, a path only he knows and no one else, the path had not been tread upon for quite some time. He walked slowly as his frail, tired body was in pain. The trees seemed to pity him and provided shelter from the hot sunlight. It was high noon when he came to his destination, he walked out from the forest onto a clearing. The sun shined down onto him showering him with unbearable heat. In the middle of the clearing was a grave, he walked nearer to the grave and looked down on it. He then picked up the leaves and put it aside, after he finished he sat down beside the grave, catching his breath. Then he began to speak.

 "Ling Ling…" he said softly in Mandarin, the mans native language "I'm sorry for what I did, I can never forgive myself"

He fell silent as if awaiting an answer from the grave.

"I had to do it, there was no other way" he continued. "I had to give our son away, I don't want him to be taken like me"

A sudden gust of wind disrupted his insane conversation. Mysteriously behind him stood the boy, the same boy who talked to Lisa. The old man somehow knew that the boy stood behind him and anger rose from within him.

You're here to take me again, aren't you" the man suddenly exploded.

The boy seemed to understand what the old man was talking about.

 "No" replied the boy talking in the old mans language. "I'm not here to abduct you, I'm here to help you"

The man stood up and spun around to confront the boy, rage overpowering him. He then suddenly lunged towards the boy. As he prepared his fist to punch the boy, the boy merely stood there refusing to move. Then with one swift strike his fist was almost in contact with the boy's face. But at the precise moment the boy closed his eyes. And the old man shot through the boys body, like as if no one was there. Surprised, the old man stumbled and fell face first on the ground. The boy opened his eyes, turned around and slowly moves towards the man. The man tried to get up but found it extremely difficult to move. The boy crouched down and flipped the man around.

 "If you promise not to do that and act sensibly, I'll release you understand"

The man slowly nodded, forced to obey to his demands. The boy then let the man go of his mind control, and the man felt he could move again. At first instant he backed away from the boy, fearing him as he had showed great strength.

 "Who are you?" the old man asked

"My name is Spyke" said the boy. "I am not one of them, as I said earlier I'm here to help"

"Help?, no one can help me" said the man "I've done horrible things, my whole life I live in fear of them"

"I can help, inside of your brain is a tracking device, it lets them know where you are" replied Spyke "I can deactivate it, that way they won't abduct you any more"

"You can do that?" replied the man, hope arising in his heart "But why would you want to help?"

"The reason why I want to help is to finish what she started…" Spyke looked up to the sky. "This way she won't have to do all this work when she comes back"

Spyke then walked to the man crouched down and touched his forehead with his three fingers. Then by command the device fell out in a short stream of blood. The man felt released, like a heavy sentence has just been lifted, tears fell from his weary eyes.

 "Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me" said the man "I'M FREE!!!" he shouted "I'M FINALLY FREE!!!" wiping the tears off his face.

The old man slowly got up, tears still flowing, he walked slowly to the grave and knelt beside it. Spyke stood behind him.

 "I'm free now Ling Ling, I'm free" he said softly

"Was she your wife?" Spyke asked

"Yes"

"What happened to her?"

"She died while giving birth to my son"

"You have a son?' replied Spyke "Was he taken as well?"

"No…" said the man "I gave my son away when he was still a baby"

Spyke moved next to the man and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't want him to be taken, so I gave him to my Uncle in Shenzhen"

"It's not your fault, It's their fault, they are the cause of all this" said Spyke, anger rising in him

"I named him Cloud…" said the man, but Spyke was already gone, disappeared into the thin air.


Inside Eric Crawford's Office, Ellsworth, Maine, 2003

General Beers stood inside the darkened room, with him was another man. They were looking around the room.

"How do you like the place?" asked Beers

"It's ok, but it's a bit dark though." replied the man "If I'm to take over the project, I'll have to install lights"

"So you agree to take over then?" questioned Beers, moving towards him

"Yeah, ok General I'll take over the project" said the man

"It's good to know that you're handling this project, Nigel" said Beers, shaking Nigel's hand to seal the deal.

"What happened to the last guy who handles this project?" Nigel curiously asked

"Well she got a life sentence for killing her lover and her father" replied Beers

"Ouch, she must have been something"

"Yeah, a major pain to work with too"

"Well at least now you got nothing  to worry about"

"I hope so Nigel, I hope so" said Beers "Come on, I'll show you the rest of this facility"

"Ok let's go explore" replied Nigel

They both walked out of the darkened office and into the hallway.

"How big is the place?" asked Nigel

"Its not that big, a couple of rooms here and there, I'm going to show you the most important room in this facility" replied Beers

"Which room would that be?"

"It's the room where you'll spend most of your time, I call it the observation room"

"Observation room?" Nigel looked puzzled

"You'll see why I call it that" replied Beers

They continued to walk down the hallway, side by side. They then pass by the chamber when Allie was put into.

"What's that for?" asked Nigel, pointing to the chamber.

Beers stopped suddenly. "That chamber over there, well they used it to store and observe their live specimen".

"Live specimen?, they caught one of the Aliens?"

"No, but they picked up a little girl, who was a hybrid"

Nigel looked into the chamber, visualizing a little girl trapped inside it. "Is that possible General?"

"I think so, the little girl demonstrated powers beyond all our expectations"

"Powers?"

"Yes, she could make your greatest fears appear in front of your very eyes"

"Wow, that powerful"

"Yep"

They continued to walk down the hall.

"So, where is the little girl now, General?" Nigel subsequently asked

"Well, put it this way, she somewhere in the stars Nigel" replied Beers

"In the stars?, what does that mean?"

"A week ago, she and her parents were running away from us…"

Nigel nodded to show his understanding

"…they were hiding at Lubbock Texas, at an old house" he continued on "I brought an entire brigade to try and take her"

"An entire brigade? isn't that a bit too much?"

"There was a wall of civilians protecting her, I had no choice"

"Then what happened?"

The general looked over to Nigel and was able to see his curious eyes, he shook his head.

"When we advanced to get her, a whole fleet of motherships  appeared in the sky, circling above of us"

"That must have been one heck of a spectacle"

"It was one amazing sight, the lights flashing, it was…..mesmerizing"

"Mesmerizing?"

"Never mind, anyway here we are"

The both of them entered the room, the room was lit pretty well, the people in the room were working very hard, two men were staring at a very large screen pinned up on a wall.

"This is where you'll be working most of the time" said Beers

"Here?"

"Yes, here, why you got a problem with the room, too bright for you?" Beers replied sarcastically

"No, I don't have a problem with the lighting, it's just that you called this the 'Observation Room' and I was kind of expecting telescopes and stuff" Nigel replied a bit annoyed by Beers sarcasm

"You see that big screen there?" Beers pointing to the screen pinned up on the wall

"Yeah…."

"You see those little dots on the screen, they represent people that have been taken"

"Wow, that's a lot of people" Nigel scanning the screen, trying to count the dots that were there. "So how many people have been taken?"

"I don't know the exact value, that is something these people will know" pointing to the men and women around them.

"I'll ask them later" replied Nigel "So what is the current objective of the project?"

"Current objective is to continue monitoring the skies and check whether there any new abductions that happened in the past few weeks, check to see whether there are any new sightings" replied Beers

"What about the military's objective?"

"That is classified"

"Not even between old friends?" Nigel Replied with his sad puppy dog face

"Not even between old friends" Beers repeated

Nigel was about to say something when a soldier entered the room and inaudibly whispered something to Beers. Beers face instantly changed, he had a concerned look on his face.

"Something came up?" Nigel asked

"Yes, I have to go now, I'm sure you can manage this project on your own" Beers smiled and then he walked out the room with the soldier.

"Ok, time for work then I guess" said Nigel

He walked up to a man working on a laptop and observed him work away on his laptop.

"What are you doing?" asked Nigel

The man was surprised, he turned around and looked at Nigel. "I'm just keeping an eye on the people who were taken"

"Ok carry on then" Nigel replied and walked over to the big screen, still feeling amazed by the sheer number of people who were abducted.
Shenzhen, China, 2003

The city was busy at this time of day, people were moving from one place to another in flocks, the traffic was terrible. Just outside of the industrial area, where the houses are, it was much quieter. Some people were washing their cars, some were hanging up their washed clothes whilst other showered their garden. To the south of the industrial area, lay a neighborhood, all was not well in this neighborhood. It was a very disturbed neighborhood, thieves crawl everywhere, gangs go there to duel and even worse it holds a memory, a very dark memory of ones past.

Spyke looked at the house, a two storey house, common to the neighborhood.

This is the tenth house I've been to, I better get an answer or I'll just use the other way

He walked up to the door and knocked on it twice, he then waited for a response. No reply came from the house. He knocked again. "Hello?" he shouted "Anybody home?". Still no reply from the house, frustrated he turned around and was about to leave, when the door suddenly opened and an old lady came out.

 "May I help you?" said the old lady in Cantonese

Spyke turned around and felt relieved to have his call answered. It took him a few seconds to learn and understand Cantonese.

"Yes, I am looking for a person" replied Spyke "He's living with his uncle…" using the information that he had extracted from the old mans head a few days ago. "His name is Cloud"

"Cloud!" she replied surprised "Why would you want him?"

"I have something important that needs his cooperation"

"He died" she replied.

Spyke could tell she was telling a lie "Died?, when?" playing along to her game

"Six years ago, in a terrible accident…" Pain flowing into her heart as she was reminded of that past. "The whole family was killed in a fire"

"Fire?, at least can you tell me where he used to live?"

She hesitated but then she complied with his demand. "At the end of this street, there is a dirt-road that trails to a mansion, that is the place"

"Thank you" replied Spyke

She mustn't recall of this meeting

The lady walked into her house and was about to close the door, But then her eyes came in contact with Spyke's. Spyke's eyes turned entirely black for a moment, a mere second was all it took. She would never remember of this incident, he had forced false memories into her head to mask this meeting. He then slowly walked away, leaving the lady who was still concentrating on where Spyke's eyes were.

Spyke walked slowly to the end of the street, thinking of what he has done.

Maybe I shouldn't have done that, what harm can an old lady do?

A dog then barked at him as he passed by a house.

Why am I doing this, for her or is that just an excuse

He then looked over to his shoulder, he saw two men following him. They were getting closer and closer by every passing step. Then three guys came out from the driveway just in front of Spyke. One of them was holding a baseball bat. A sure sign of trouble.

"Hey" one of the three men in front of Spyke shouted in English

Spyke took no notice and pretended he didn't hear him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" the man shouted again.

This time Spyke glanced at the man. The three men now moved towards Spyke, the two men behind him already close. Spyke was surrounded. No way out.

"It's dangerous for a kid walking alone in this neighborhood" said the man again "But we can help…"

Spyke didn't reply, he stopped walking and stood still, looking down to the ground. The five man now surrounding him, giving him no way to run.

"We'll protect you…" the man said again "But it's gonna cost you"

"Go away.." Spyke replied "I don't want trouble"

"Sorry but we can't go away, you see we outnumber you five to one, you don't stand a chance, either you pay us, or we'll take it from you" the man replied, the two men behind Spyke smiled.

"I don't like either option" said Spyke "I don't want to regret my future actions, so you better go NOW"

"Look who's talking" came from behind Spyke "I say we teach him a lesson"

"Ok, so you don't want to go with either option huh, I guess we have no choice but to force you to understand" replied the man who spoke earlier "Get him boys!"

The two men behind Spyke took out a small knife and lunged towards Spyke. The man with the bat swung the bat directly to Spyke's face. Whilst the two remaining stood by and watch.

Spyke didn't move when they lunged at him, he merely smiled and looked at the man who Spyke assumed to be their leader.  Then his face turned serious and time seemed to stop, the three who attacked him seemed to stand still. The leader watched in horror as the three men stood still like statues, he tried to make a run for it but realized that he was under the same influence. Spyke moved towards the leader, stopping in front of him.

"You think you can compare to me!" Spyke partially shouted "I laugh at your insolence, I may be a kid but heed this 'Judge not a book by its Cover' ", Spyke closed his eyes releasing his grip on all of them.

"Now GO!, before I change my mind" Spyke said but not as a child but as a grown man who possesses great powers.

They then ran, as fast as their legs could permit them, especially the leader. Spyke then continued on with his quest.

How long will this take me, I can't do this forever…

It took a few minutes to reach his destination. The large half-burnt mansion stood in front of him, he walked through the gates and into the garden. He walked up to the front porch and stopped.

It's half-burnt, what the old lady said was true

An urge overcame him to check the back of the mansion, it was like something was calling him to go there. He obeyed his urge and discovered an even bigger garden then the one in front of the mansion. Something at the edge of the garden caught his eye, he walked over to the place, passing by the withered trees that was along the way. When he came nearer, it seems that there were four large stones placed side by side. He stopped in front of the stones

Graves

Spyke closed his eyes, he opened his eyes and the whole surroundings have changed. The garden was beautiful, the trees were full of bloomed flowers. He heard shouting from inside the mansion, he walked over to the mansion. A small boy was suddenly thrown out from the doors. A man came out after the boy and shouted at the boy.

"You are a little troublemaker" said the man  in  Cantonese "You will not sleep inside tonight"

A woman came out and tried to calm the man down. "Nam forget Cloud, come inside and eat dinner" said the woman.

"You stay out here!" shouted Nam "Let's go eat, leave the boy outside, don't give him any food"

They then walked in and closed the doors behind them. Cloud sat in front of the door, he waited there till morning. Spyke observed Cloud all night, he tried to help him but was unable to interfere with the past.

The door opened Nam walked out and kicked Cloud. "Get inside and clean the house" he shouted

Cloud went inside, Spyke followed him, passing through Nam's body. Inside, Cloud was ordered to scrub the floors. He knelt on his knees and scrubbed the floors, a boy then walked over to Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud you missed a spot" said the boy and kicked the bucket full of water, a wide grin appeared on his face. "Dad! Cloud messed up the floors again"

Nam came shortly and was infuriated by the mess. "You stupid boy, why do you have to make a mess, I have a very important meeting tonight, you will pay dearly for this" Nam went up to Cloud and grabbed his ear.

Cloud didn't resist and merely accepted the punishment. Nam dragged Cloud outside the house.

"Cheung, get me my cane" he said

Spyke stood a few metres away from Cloud. Moments later , Cheung came with a cane. He handed the cane to Nam.

"This is what you will get if you make trouble again" Nam then hit Cloud a few times with the cane.

Cheung, Fu and Xiao Mei watched and laughed as Cloud was hit with the cane. Cloud tried hard not to cry or show any signs of pain.

Spyke curled his hands into a fist. Trying hard to resist the urge to hit Nam.

"I think he's had enough" said Xiao Mei "Don't beat him up too much, he still have to clean up the mess"

Nam hit Cloud one last time. "Go and clean the mess now" Nam shouted.

Cloud laid there, cane marks all over his body. Nam grew impatient and kicked Cloud.

Cloud slowly stood up. "Why do you do this to me?"

"Why you little punk!" replied Nam "I raised you as my own son, and you dare question my way of upbringing"

"I don't see Cheung and Fu get beaten, why me?"

"You want to know why, it's because you are weak" said Nam "In this world, the strong survive, and the weak get killed"

"Why?"

"I've had enough of you, I didn't realize you would be this much trouble, I'm going to do this world a favor and get rid of you"

Clouds eyes widened.

"Yes, this world does not need a useless boy like you" said Xiao Mei

"The strong survive and the weak die" said Fu

Cloud could see that Nam was serious on killing him. And he was too weak to fight them

"Cheung, get me my sword" Nam shouted.

"Yes father" replied Cheung

"Please, I'll be strong, please don't kill me" Cloud pleaded

"If you bark like a dog then maybe dad will reconsider" said Fu

"Yes, I'll bark like a dog" said Cloud "Woof, Woof" kneeling to all fours

Cheung appeared with a sword. Cloud was still barking like a dog, Spyke was watching all of this fearing the worst.

"I'll give you a chance to run away" said Nam

Cloud stopped barking and tried to run away but his leg was badly injured that he limped, He limped to the back garden. Nam was laughing so was Fu and Cheung, they all followed him to the back garden.

"I shouldn't have accepted you as my son, if it wasn't for my brother that forced me"

Cloud stopped. "You mean to say that I'm not your son?" he asked

"You might as well know, since it's your death" replied Nam "You are my brother's son"

Cloud dropped on his knees, Nam took the sword from Cheung. He took it out of it's sheath and pointed it towards Cloud. He lifted the sword above his head, preparing to strike at any given moment.

Cloud looked downwards, pitting his anger toward his father and towards all of them. Spyke stood near awaiting for the deadly strike to end Cloud's life. It began to rain heavily.

"Die!!!" Nam shouted, thrusting the sword downwards to Cloud's head.  But then he stopped and dropped the sword, he then dropped on his knees, shouting in pain as his veins started to burst. Cloud still remained unmoved by what had happened around him. Then one by one, they fell to their knees, screaming in pain.

"The strong survive, the weak die…" said Cloud

"Help me!" screamed Nam "Help me!"

Cloud stood up and looked at Nam, then to the others.

"How does it feel to be weak" said Cloud

Then their veins burst open and they fell down to their deaths. Tears rolled down Clouds cheeks. He then dug up their graves and buried them in the corner.

Spyke closed his eyes, and opened it again, to reveal the withered garden.

Cloud…