Here's the first chapter to 'Love Under the Stars'.

Enjoy :)

Julie felt relaxed when the cool air hit her sweaty skin as she left the gym.

It was already well past dusk when she left. A large, full moon lit up the clear, navy sky and was surrounded by some stars. She could just make out a few constellations as she walked to her car.

No one else was walking about outside to or from the gym's parking lot. So, it was pretty quiet out. The only light source being from the light that poured through the large windows in front of the gym building and a few random streetlamps that were in the parking lot.

The young woman was halfway to her car when she suddenly got a strange feeling. Almost as if she was being watched.

She paused and started to look around, with her keys pointed out between her knuckles. Her previous training also made it like second nature to be aware of one's surroundings.

Julie's eyes scanned the dark lot but didn't still see any sign of anyone or anything.

She relaxed a little and went to resume her walk back to her car. When suddenly, she felt a sharp, strong pinch in the back of her neck. The young woman gasped and reached up to the area behind her neck that was now stinging like hell.

That's when she felt some strange object protruding from her skin on the back of her neck.

As she went to pull whatever it was out, she started to feel lightheaded. Julie clenched her teeth with a hiss as she pulled it free from her skin.

Then she brought said object around to look at it.

It was a small cylindrical tube with a small needle at the end. She didn't have time to ponder on what it was, though she had a vague idea. Before her limbs started to give out and she collapsed to the ground.

Her vision started to darken in the corner of her eyes as she hit the asphalt. She distinctly heard a soft thump onto the ground behind her.

The former marine tried to turn over to see who it was but found herself unable to move much. Her body felt like lead, and she was fighting to stay conscious.

It must've been only a few moments before she vaguely saw a very strange pair of feet enter her line of vision as she laid there.

They were wearing some strange kind of metal sandals and there was something off about their skin. It wasn't the usually peach color. Instead, it looked like possibly a yellowish color, and she swore she saw black claws on the end of their toes.

Julie's bright blue gaze weakly looked up from their feet. What she saw made her heart start to race. Whoever they were, they were decked out in some strange armor and what looked like an even stranger mask.

She knew they were wearing a mask, because the lamplight was shining down on them and bouncing off of their metallic armor.

She also heard the strangest sound coming from them too. It was hard to describe at first through her hazy mind as she fought to stay conscious.

But it sounded like these odd clicking noises.

As the strange being started to crouch down to her level, everything went dark. And Julie lost the battle to stay conscious and finally passed out. The last thing on her mind was, who was this person?

/

When she later awoke, her head was pounding a bit.

Julie grunted as she struggled to push herself up on her arms. As her vision started to clear up more, she soon came to realize that she wasn't alone. There were multiple bodies standing around her.

The area was poorly lit. But she could make out several other people.

She then felt a pair of arms grasp her shoulders and help her up. The young woman was a bit shaky on her legs at first. But was eventually able to stand unassisted after several moments.

"You good?" They asked.

Julie slowly turned around to face the source of the voice.

She saw a tall, dark-skinned woman standing before her, wearing blue scrubs. And right now, her dark eyes were filled with concern as she looked down on the much shorter woman.

Julie nodded, "Yeah, but what the hell is going on? Just what happened?"

The other woman was silent for a moment, before speaking.

"I'm not entirely sure myself. Like you, and many of the others here, I woke up in this strange room. There is this strange sliding door at the front of the poorly lit room. But it's apparently locked. Because no one has been able to get out." She said.

Many of the other woman were in various states of confusion, shock, and fear. Some were even sobbing, unsure of what was going on.

All were clearly civilians on what Julie can see. And the woman addressing her, must've been a nurse or doctor, considering she was decked out in what looked like medical scrubs.

"Do you remember what happened, before you passed out?" Julie asked, the dark-skinned woman in front of her.

"Only that I was just leaving my shift at the local hospital when I felt this shar pain in my neck before it was lights out. Then like you, I woke up here." She stated.

Julie nodded, " Same, I had just left the gym and was on my way to my car in the parking lot when I too felt this sharp and painful pinch in the back of my neck. I reached behind me and felt this strange object sticking out of my neck.

It looked like maybe a tranquilizer of sorts. I didn't have much longer to think about it. Before I started feeling the effects. But what I did see before I passed out completely was...odd."

The other woman crinkled her eyebrows.

"Odd? In what way?" She asks.

Julie opened her mouth but paused. She wonders if it was a good idea telling her what she saw before passing out. But the fact that they along with what looked like a bunch of other young people were stuck in this room, she may as well say something.

"I saw this...strange man standing over me, before I passed out. It's...a little hard to describe him. Only he was wearing strange attire. He looked..." She stopped herself before saying anymore.

The other woman waited for a few more moments for a response, before saying something.

"He looked what?" She pushed.

Julie's bright blue eyes went to the other woman's face.

"He...just looked different. Kind of hard to describe really. All I can say is...he didn't look quite...normal." She finally got out.

"Did he have strange looking skin?" Another voice asked.

She whipped around, only to see what appeared to be a young man making his way through the crowd.

He couldn't have been older than his late twenties and had a build to him. He came to a stop behind her. The young man appeared to be decked out in a security or police uniform.

It was odd seeing him here. Since majority of the crowd seemed to be mainly young woman. But as she checked the crowd, she had noted there were a few young men too.

Eventually, she did answer his question.

"Yes. Though it is a weird question to ask. I did see that they did have some strange colored skin to them. And it looked like they were wearing this...strange kind of armor too." She reluctantly replied.

He eyed her for a moment, before slowly nodding.

"I thought I saw some strange armor as well on an individual, before passing out. Couldn't make out all that much due to my vision becoming blurred. But it's nice to know, I'm not the only one who saw something strange and out of place." He replied.

Julie took in everything he said, before scanning the area again out of habit.

The room was just big enough, so everyone wasn't on top of everyone. But still crowded enough that they couldn't walk around all that freely. And the whole area appeared to be made up of metal. Almost giving it the impression of being a cell of sorts.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had every reason to believe that it is exactly as it was, a cell of sorts.

And she, along with all these other people were prisoners. The question remains unanswered. Why were she and this group of people taken? Most of all, who was behind it.

Julie couldn't help but feel all her answers maybe beyond that door. But a part of her believes, she will not like the answers she may receive. A persistent feeling nagging her and telling her, there was something abnormal about all of this.

Until Next Time ;)