Well, here is the second chapter of Hideous Heavens.
It includes a rather… familiar scene (clue…)
Enjoy and review (don't be lazy! Is it that difficult to click "go" in the bottom of the page and write a few words? And don't worry; I'm not afraid of criticism or negative reviews!)
Chapter 2
The following days were very difficult for Kelley.
She had to return to her studies, to forget everything what happened. Every time she remembered the night they came, everything inside her went cold, and she quickly become depressed. She now knew that aliens do exist, that there is some kind of a government conspiracy, just like so many people have claimed over the years, but she also knew that she cannot disclose the secret…
Such knowledge was a great burden to carry, and she was having a hard time keeping it all inside her, without any hope of ever revealing her deepest fears and darkest secrets to anyone at all.
And soon enough it started to affect her concentration in the classroom.
All the while, she eagerly waited for her boyfriend to return from England. Although she knew she couldn't share her feelings even with him, she still wanted his comforting company, to feel his warm body press against hers during the night, giving her a feeling of utter security and erasing all the worries from her head.
But to make matters worse, he called the day before his supposed arrival, and told her that there were complications at the meeting, and it'll take him several more days to return.
From a young successful woman, Kelley Hombres turned into a tired paranoid caricature of her former self.
She continued to carry on her everyday chores - study, go shopping, clean the house… but every time the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, and sparse light streets began to light up, all the windows and doors in the house were closed and thoroughly locked. Kelley now kept a big butcher's knife near her bed at all times.
She was often unable to go to sleep, staring at the empty ceiling until a thin thread of golden light started to lighten the horizon, announcing the approaching dawn. At these times, she nervously jumped at every slightest noise she could hear from the outside – a passing car, airplane, or the kids of the neighbors having a late party in their house, behind the curve of the road a hundred meters away. Sometimes she would drop into sleep with relative ease, but when that happened, she usually woke very early, sweat pouring from her forehead, her eyes wide in fear. She repeatedly relived in her dreams the day she was abducted. Sometimes, her dreams carried her even further – she dreamt she was pulled into the silvery craft before the soldiers had a chance to pull her out. She was strapped, naked, to an examination table, and the horrible faces of the "Sectoids" hovered above her, laughing at her helplessness. And there was always a distant dark figure in her dreams, watching her delightedly with its red gleaming eyes…
Sometimes, right before waking up, she could feel cold, moist hands on her skin. She then always opened her eyes in horror, but the horrible feeling always faded away along with her dreams.
Yes.
Her life were now definitely not the same as before…
---
One day, everything changed for the worse, again.
Kelley was driving home on her way from the university, which was located deep in the bowels of Chicago itself. Her small red car of Japanese manufacture was speeding lonely on the road, heading out of the vast city.
Kelley was driving with a grim expression drawn on her face, as usual.
The words of her favorite teacher were echoing in her head: "Miss Hombres, if you won't start concentrating in my lessons, I'm afraid you wouldn't pass for a kindergartener, not to say anything about highschool teacher!"
The second thing that she was most afraid of these days had happened – her grades started to lower, only slightly, but lowering nonetheless. She only hoped that with the return of her boyfriend she would become more relaxed, so she could still correct her mistakes and graduate successfully at the end of the term.
Another car passed by her, almost clipping her car's left side-mirror.
"Watch it asshole!" she shouted.
The car turned slightly right, and now was blocking her way, forcing her to slow down.
"Come on! Let me pass you moron!" she shouted out of the open window, horning several times to hurry-up the idiot. But the car only slowed down even more.
Suddenly, Kelley realized another thing.
An identical car – shining black in color, long and sleek - was trailing her car behind, almost touching her rear bumper.
Now Kelley also noticed that both cars were lacking license plates!
She was so confused!
A bundle of contradicting thoughts passed through her head at hypersonic speeds.
Who were these guys? They had something with the aliens? Perhaps they are affiliated with the soldiers that stormed their craft, somehow? Or… or perhaps there are aliens inside the cars! That is a real possibility! What human being would be stupid enough to drive on the road without license plates, where every passing cop could arrest them? Or… well, perhaps they removed them just minutes ago, so no witnesses could remember them while they… while they do what? kidnap her? What do these guys want with her anyway?
She was going to find out very soon.
The three cars were by now crawling, their speed barely faster than that of a pedestrian.
And finally, the forward car stopped, and Kelley had to stop too.
She was now completely trapped, unable to escape the cars flanking her.
Now she started to regret that she didn't take her chance and turn sharply left while she still had the chance.
The driver's door of the front car opened, and a young man wearing a black official suit, complete with a black tie, stepped out. He approached her immobile vehicle with a slow, calm pace, of a man who is in total control of the situation.
She also noted how neatly his hair was combed, and how not a single speck of dust adhered to his shining expensive shoes.
He stopped near the open window of Kelley's car.
"Miss Hombres?" he said in a quiet emotionless voice, not bothering to bend his head closer to the window so she could hear him better.
"Yes, that's me!" her voice was sounding very nervous, unlike the man who she was speaking with. "And you are…."
"Call me John"
"Allright, John, who are you exactly and what the heck do you want from me?" she couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. The experience with the aliens apparently hardened her a lot more than she ever suspected.
"I am… a CIA representative. We received a… note, indicating a certain… incident at or near you house, nearly a week ago. Am I correct?"
Kelley did not like the man's manner of speech. He was calm, but too slow in his talking, and always paused slightly after saying several words. She could also discern a slight accent in his speech, but she couldn't identify it.
"Yes, John, you are quite correct. Now, you are here to…"
"To take you to… a safe place, where the government representatives will take a good care of you" after seeing the displeased look on Kelley's face he added, "It is useless to resist. We have an arrest warrant in case you do. We really mean you no harm, but you see… we need to carefully monitor and observe all those who had… who had contact with… well, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about…"
Kelley indeed knew what he was talking about.
She also understood the hopelessness of her situation. She isn't strong enough physically to resist a healthy male in his 20's, and his buddies that undoubtedly were sitting inside the cars, waiting for John to give them the signal.
And worse yet, they were apparently operating completely legally, with orders directly from the legal authorities. Or were they?
"Can you show me a CIA badge or something? And also, this arrest warrant you were talking about?
The man put his hands into his jacket, and presented her with the proper papers.
As far as she could discern there was nothing wrong with them. Yet somehow, she couldn't trust these men. She recalled reading somewhere about people who claimed the government is hiding the existence of the aliens since 1947, when an alien craft crashed in the USA territory. She never believed the "government conspiracy" claims before, but after seeing aliens with her own eyes, feeling them as they carried her to their craft, this possibility looked real enough.
So who are they? Are they here to… silence her? But that… commander or whatever told her that night that she doesn't have anything to worry about if she doesn't open her mouth! Or did he? She tried to frantically remember his exact words, but she couldn't. Too much had happened that day, and the details that she could remember most clearly were also the ones she preferred to forget.
"Well? Are you going to step out of the vehicle?" asked 'John'. His voice did not betray the slightest clue of impatience or emotion. It was just a question, plain and simple.
"OK, you got me" she said while opening the door and stepping out of the car.
She slammed the door shot and shot a slightly angry look at John.
"This way please" the man pointed to the car he was driving before, and started walking toward it in his calm, confident pace.
Kelley looked upon the overconfident man.
Now it was the time to make her escape.
She started to run. Her only hope was to get lost somewhere in the sandy hills, where their cars couldn't follow her. Her situation was nearly hopeless, and she knew it, but the impulse of the moment continued to drive her further and further without looking back.
Suddenly, she felt something sting her back, penetrating right through the clothes.
Everything started to spin; her vision got foggy and lost its focus. She tried to run further, but she was slowing down with every pace, until she was merely dragging herself on, resisting the urge to drop, powerless, to the earth.
But as the drug reached her brain, she could not resist any longer.
Her body fell to the ground and lied motionless, a small silver arrow protruding out of her back…
John approached her, a small arbalest in his hand.
This arbalest was a very rare black market item – an ideal tool of assassination.
It's arrows were quick and lethal, and although it didn't had the range of a sniper rifle, it had a numerous advantages over his modern counterpart – it was quiet, it was without flash, he was without recoil, and it could be loaded with different kinds of arrows.
Fortunately for Kelley, the arrow that struck her was a soporific one, merely putting her into dreamless slumber rather than causing any serious damage.
'John' motioned a couple men who stepped out of the car a moment ago, to help him carry her limp body.
As the men, dressed similarly to John, approached the scene, John grinned delightedly.
Mission accomplished… His superiors will be pleased.
Then, the grin disappeared from his face like it was never there, and the three lifted Kelley and started to pace toward the parked cars.
(If you've read the story 'Familiar Foe', you would notice a slightly similar scene to the one in which the cars stopped Kelley. ^_^
That's all. REVIEW. I need to know what my readers think about my work – that's the only way I could tell whether my writing was good enough, or that I have anything to improve, or to add)
