Time passed by in a rush, that you barely could realize what just happened.

The last thing he saw before being knocked out by something rammed into his back was the bright light of an unidentified flying ship, which some people would call an alien spaceship. All he remembered was his mother's lifeless body, the continuous beeping of the EKG machine and his desperate cries in response to not believing what just happened before his eyes. And all this in a life of a mere eight-year-old.

Peter felt his skull humming, while at the same time a severe headache set in. Slowly opening his eyes, all his senses returned. He heard muffled voices in the distance, perceived the smell of iron and felt cold metal on his cheek. Finally, he also got his sight back and recognized the dirty metal floor on which he was lying. He caught sight of bare gray walls that looked futuristic but at the same time run down.

Peter straightened up and for the first time was able to properly analyze his surroundings. Where the heck was he? He had just been on a field outside the hospital that he had stormed out of during his state of shock over his mother's death. That's when his memory finally kicked in.

Panic-stricken, he looked around for his backpack, which he had been carrying on his back the whole time, in it his Walkman. To his relief, he finally found the backpack next to him on the floor, along with the Walkman. Peter took a breath and looked at the recorder for a while, while he had his mother's face in front of his eyes and heard her voice in his mind.

Take my hand, Peter.

These words echoed in his head and almost choked his throat. Never in his life had he seen a loved one die before his own eyes. He never wanted to, and yet it happened. Peter suddenly heard footsteps that tore him from his thoughts. He packed the Walkman into his backpack in a flash and zipped it up.

His breath caught as he saw a darkly dressed stranger with long unkempt hair coming towards him. He was of human shape, but did not look like a usual guy you would see in public. Peter thought of running away, but where to? He didn't even know where he was. All this certainly didn't look like an abandoned warehouse, a gutter or an old cellar. Places where 'normally' children get kidnapped.

,Get up," the stranger then commanded.

Before Peter could hardly react, the guy grabbed him harshly by the collar and dragged him through the dark corridor, where at its end a light was visible, leading into another room. To his own surprise, Peter didn't resist at all and remained silent. He probably already suspected that it would soon be over with him. He knew how this would end: He would die somewhere alone, without anyone ever noticing. He had seen enough movies and read enough books about it. Instead, his last gaze fell back on his backpack, which he had to leave behind in the dark hallway.

Yet just when he thought he was going to die, he found himself in another room filled with guys talking loudly and rudely to each other while drinking. Suddenly Peter felt fear for the first time, because they didn't look like they were particularly nice. Many didn't look like humans at all, either. And they were all wearing the same dark clothes. Peter felt the guy who brought him here pushing him so that he could barely keep his balance.

"Look at this fat catch!" the guy shouted into the crowd and everyone immediately looked in Peter's direction, who almost tripped.

Many stopped talking to each other, but still there was an enormous commotion in the room. Most of the guys were grinning at Peter, while he only felt pure fear. In a moment he would really be dead, he thought to himself.

"Men, we're going to be rich!" a guy shouted from the crowd as he raised his glass of alcohol.

Laughter broke out and another added: "We could sell him as a slave for a few thousand units!"

Peter didn't know what the last word meant, but he had understood the beginning anyway. To his regret.

Suddenly, one of the crowd approached him, causing Peter to immediately take a few steps back until he bumped into the wall behind him.

,He would also do for a good snack", he heard the threatening looking guy say.

"Who's for sharing him?" another guy interjected, and the crowd agreed.

Peter swallowed and looked the guy in front of him right in the face, while he didn't move an inch. What a disappointing death: being eaten alive by some cannibals, he thought to himself at the same time, hoping that it was all just some stupid nightmare.

,Hey, if one of you assholes even touchin' him, I swear I'll shoot the shit out of y'all! Got it?!" a voice then interrupted Peter's thoughts.

The crowd immediately fell silent and everyone looked towards the entrance of the room, even the guy right in front of him moved away from Peter. Finally he could also see who the voice belonged to, which had just saved his life. Peter saw a guy of stocky build, instead of hair he wore some kind of red weird thing on his head and his skin was colored bluish. But he was wearing the same dark red clothes as everyone else. For a while there was complete silence in the room, before another man stepped forward, who was also dressed in such a uniform, but at least looked like a human being, unlike the others.

,You heard the captain. The boy's his cargo," he said, looking in Peter's direction, who was still looking at him in complete bewilderment.

He turned away from the group with the supposed captain and Peter looked after them before running out of the stuffy room towards exit.