Chapter 2

Sarah turned and stared at John.

"How in the world do you know that?! And what do you mean 'Don't blink'?" She yelled.

"I...I don't know." John frowned. "I…I just do. And if you blink or look away they move. Incredibly fast. Which is why I am staring at them right now. We can't get away by running."

"Well, then, with your new pool of amazing knowledge, would you happen to know a way to get away?!"

"Let me think..." John was more confused than he could ever remember being. And that was saying something. "Umm...Oh! Do you have your cell phone with you?"

"How in the world is a cell phone going to help? If you're thinking about calling someone, I highly doubt they'll put much credit into a phone call that claims we're about to be killed by stone angels!"

"Just trust me."

Sarah handed him the phone.

"Thank you. Now keep an eye on those angels."

What are you going to do?"

"Take a video."

John set the cell phone up on a tombstone. He angled it just right to get all the angels in the view. Then he started to record.

"Ok. Come on. Let's go."

"But the angels will chase us."

"Not while the video is running. After it runs out...well, let's hope we're far away by then."

They ran. Faster than they had ever run before. They were breathless when they got home. Panting, they rushed into the elevator. They collapsed against the wall.

"John, how in the world did you think of that?" Sarah panted, holding a stitch in her side.

"I don't know. All those facts just sort of came to me. Weird. Never felt like that before. I was like there was a door in my mind that just opened..."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I confuse myself too..."

The doors opened and they walked out, hurried to their room, and double locked the door behind them. Sarah collapsed onto the sofa and John went to stand at the window.

"I think we should take turns staying up tonight." John said. "We can split up the night. Sound good?" She didn't respond. "Sarah? Sarah!"

She was sitting on the couch, completely still, rigid and sweating. John ran over and shook her. She didn't move. He felt for a pulse. Her heart was beating wildly, but she wasn't breathing.

"Sarah! Come on!" John reached for a phone.

Suddenly, Sarah gasped. She collapsed over onto the sofa. "Water" She croaked out.

John ran over to the sink and poured a glass of water. He rushed back over and gave it to Sarah. She gulped it down.

"What happened?" John demanded. "You sort of passed out. The same way you describe my daydreams. Except you were stiff and you weren't breathing."

Sarah frowned, still panting from the episode. "It was like a dream. But it was so real. Almost too real. I saw a giant…room, I guess. It sort of looked like the hangar of the Death Star in Star Wars. Not exactly, but sort of. There was a man chained to a post. He was surrounded by a bunch of...things. Aliens. Some of them were horrible. I saw a few of those angels that were in the graveyard too. There was another man talking to the one chained up. He looked cruel. That's really the best way to describe him. 'Well, Doctor' he said. 'How does it feel to be completely helpless while your Earth is being prepared for destruction?' The other man, the one chained up, smiled. It was strange. To see him so bruised and bloody but smiling. 'Oh, I haven't lost yet.' he said. 'After all, this Earth has some things left in store that even I don't understand.' The cruel man laughed. It was an evil laugh. 'Tonight, Doctor. Tonight the last hope for this Earth will be eliminated. And then nothing can stop us.' And then I woke up." Sarah shivered. "I feel like I just ran a marathon. I think I'll go to bed."

John nodded. "Ok. I need to think."

Sarah went off to her room. John walked up to the window. Twilight was approaching quickly. 'Good.' He thought 'Twilight is a good time to think.'

So many thoughts were racing through his head. What were those angels? What had Sarah seen? And, most confusing for him, how had he known those things?

As he stood lost in thought he suddenly realized that it was completely dark. Twilight had passed. But he hadn't been standing there for more than a couple minutes. Where had the time gone? He then realized that he was clutching a pen. He didn't remember picking it up. He looked down and noticed that he had written strange marks all over his arm. About 20 tally marks. For the first time in his life, he couldn't remember doing something. And it scared him. He stared at his arm, trying to make sense of the marks. Something outside the window caught his eye. He squinted. Had something just moved?

Suddenly...BANG! The front door bulged inward! It sounded like someone was trying to break it down.

Sarah came out of her room, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"What's going on?" She yawned. "Who's banging?"

"I don't know" John said. "They obviously aren't friendly though."

"What are you going to do?" Sarah asked. She was surprised at how calm she was. John was calm, and that helped her.

"I don't know." John said. He hated saying that. "Wait and see what they want, I guess." Inside, though, he felt like panicking. First, Angel statues trying to kill them, then strange marks on his arm, time disappearing, and now someone was trying to break down their front door!

During this time, whoever it was had been steadily banging on the front door. Just then, it finally gave. It fell in with a crash. Five stocky figures walked in. They stopped in front of John and Sarah. One of them removed his helmet. His face, at least John assumed it was a he, was like a rhino's. Completely gray, with a long snout and a horn on the end. Simply put, he was very ugly.

"Mo-jo-ko-jo-so-lo-mo-no." The creature said.

Somehow, John found that he could understand this. And it wasn't very good. The creature had said, as far as John could understand, "Suspects, confirmed. Prepare for execution."

"Uh-oh." John said.

"What?" Sarah asked.

John didn't respond, mostly because the creatures were raising their guns to fire. Sarah gave a scream as orange light began to materialize at the end of their guns.