by A. R. Braun
Warm tears ran down her face. “This is fucked! My mom and dad, my brother, my boyfriend, they’re all dead.”
He frowned at her for a few seconds, and then eyed the road. “No shit.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t scratch your eyes out when you grabbed me.”
“You’re welcome for saving you.” He sighed. “What’s your name?”
She felt bad as she looked him over.
He did save me.
“Jenna.”
He nodded and watched the road again. “Rick.”
Wiping away tears with her fingers, Jenna looked at the blurry road for a few seconds.
Rick reached across and brought out a box of tissues from the glove compartment.
Jenna grabbed a few and dried her tears. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“Rick, what’s going on? What are those things?”
He sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time. All my engagements seem to have been cancelled.”
He frowned, looking at her for a few seconds before concentrating on the road again. “The Annunaki.”
“The what?”
“The ninth planet people.”
“But . . . aren’t there eleven planets?”
He shook his head. “This ninth planet, astronomers discovered it a few years ago. They call it Planet X. Some call it Wormwood, the giant comet. It should be the tenth planet, but Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, so it doesn’t count. The sun’s actually a star.”
“Wait.” She blew her nose. “How do you know all this stuff?”
“I’m an astrophysicist. It’s my livelihood. I’ve written a few books about the subject.”
Jenna tried to piece all of these grim facts together, but they just confused her more. Along with the fear and grief she harbored, she wondered if she’d have a breakdown right there in the truck. She decided to keep talking to alleviate the insanity that knocked upon her mind’s door.
“Why are they here?” she asked. “And why are they doing these terrible things?”
“They’ve already been here, thousands of years ago.” He looked at her for a few seconds. “You’ve read the Bible, right?”
She nodded. “I was confirmed a few years ago.”
“Then you’ve studied the giants.”
“You mean like Goliath?”
“Yes, but he was only one of them.” He sped up, but where was he to run? “The Bible says that giants were on the earth in the Old Testament. Back then, those were the tenth planet people, the Annunaki.”
“Why were they here bothering the people in the Bible?”
“Gold, that’s why. Their planet, subject to more atmospheric abrasion than Earth and other planets on more sedate orbits around the sun, loses atmosphere on a regular basis. This can be rebuilt from the abundant oceans they have. Because it’s a water planet, some elements become depleted. Molecules in the atmosphere containing gold are needed to retain the heat and the light the planet generates, keeping them bouncing back to the surface. Without these gold-based molecules, the planet dims and cools. So they travel from planet to planet, raping them of their gold.”
“Speak English, would you?”
“Mars used to be inhabited. The Annunaki flushed the gold out of the planet with water, flooding and depopulating it. Carl Sagan knew it, may he rest in peace. I’m glad he didn’t live to see this.”
“Why . . .” Jenna shook her head, not wanting to believe a word of this. “Why were the men in orange suits . . . eating people with the Annunaki?”
He shot her a grave look, then glanced at the road again. “Those are the half-breeds—the criminals—they aren’t scared of anything.”
“Huh?”
“Remember how the Bible says the ‘sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair’?”
She nodded.
“In the Bible days,” he continued, “the Annunaki would’ve looked like angels, being interpreted as the ‘sons of God’ because man’s stature was smaller back then, so the aliens would’ve been seen as even bigger giants than the half-breeds. The aliens mated with human women, and that’s how the half-breeds were created. King David was one of them. That’s why he was able to slay Goliath when no one else could.”
“ ’Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’ ”
“Exactly. Samson was a half-breed, too, had to have been. Anyway, a lot of what the Bible teaches is incorrect.”
She shook her head. “But how? God wouldn’t let false information be printed.”
“Oh, yes, He would, because He doesn’t exist. You’re young and naïve. The Bible we know is King James’s interpretation—he was a wicked man, by the way—and who’s to say the story didn’t change with each translation? You tell someone a story, he tells someone else, and the cycle repeats again and again. It changes a little each time. I hate to break this to you, but God is wishful thinking. Look at this stinking world of corruption and prison rape. Some of the people in the joint were innocent and wrongly convicted. A loving God wouldn’t allow that. A lot of the Biblical events were interpreted as holy events because, without the technology we have today, that’s how it would’ve looked to them. Take the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, for example.”
“What about it?” Jenna dried the last of her tears with a couple of tissues. She felt that if she cried any more, she’d dry up. Add to that her fear of this man she thought was crazy, and it was shaping up as the perpetual worst day ever.
“What truly happened was an Annunaki male walked past Sodom and Gomorrah, and a gang of Sodomites raped him. Well, the Annunaki’s technology was always light years ahead of ours, so they shot a death ray down that torched the twin cities.”
“But what about the angels that warned Abraham?”
“Like I said before, the Annunaki would’ve looked like angels in Bible times, just like fighter planes looked like long-haired, sharp-toothed locusts because of the designs painted on the front of them, and a tank looked like a horse with a lion’s head that spat fire to Saint John the Divine when he had his psychic visions of the future. When they made the Biblical people harvest gold for them, most of the time the Annunaki stayed in a tent where they’d created a similar atmosphere to their planet. When they came out of that atmosphere, they may have glowed a bit, making Abraham think they were angels.”
“They glowed slightly when I saw ‘em.”
He nodded. “They saw Abraham, a potential slave, camping close by, so they thought they’d visit him to see if he had any friends in the cities. Turns out, his innocent cousin Lot dwelt there, along with his wife, his daughters, and their husbands. So Abraham begged them to have mercy, and the Annunaki dragged Lot and his family out of Sodom.”
“I’m not buying this. How many others believe these theories?”
“Not many—astronomers, mostly.”
Jenna shrugged. “I think you’re making this up. It’s an alien invasion, nothing more.”
“Whatever. You know what? You need to listen to me. I’m the only hope you’ve got.”
“Why should I? I wish I’d never gotten in this truck. You sound as crazy as the guys back there in the jumpsuits.”
“Crazy, maybe. The Annunaki’s food? Definitely not.”
Jenna did her best to scowl at him. “You don’t sound stable, you know it?”
“Fine. Stay in the dark.”
“If you want me to believe you, start making sense.”
“I’m just talking to the steering wheel, huh?”
Jenna sighed. “I’m not saying your theories aren’t interesting. Can you blame me for being skeptical, though?”
“I guess not. No one’s ever sprung this on you.” He went through a red light, because no traffic loomed anywhere. “Remember the flood?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the council of worlds, not God, sent the flood because of the Annunaki’s violence upon the earth. If a slave rebel
led while mining gold, an Annunaki warrior would rip his heart out of his chest as an example to the rest.”
“That’s crazy,” Jenna mocked, “rewriting the Bible and making up horror stories.”
“Then let’s hear your explanation of why this is happening, smart girl!”
Jenna took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s say you’re right. Then that’s horrible, tearing people’s hearts out during Bible times.”
“You’ve seen how they can be.”
“So why are they killing us if they spared Lot and his family?”
Rick sighed. “Don’t you get it? They’re pissed off because the slaves were so rebellious, and because of what the council of worlds did.”
“Who are they?”
“Give me a few minutes. I’m getting winded.”
Jenna shook her head. “So where are we going?”
Rick looked her over for a few seconds. “I’ve got the perfect place picked out.”
“Should we get a large boat? You know, a modern-day ark?”
“Hmm. Probably.” Rick thought for a space. “What confuses me is why they’re even here. The council of worlds was supposed to have quarantined them for taking our freewill.”
“Tell me about the council of worlds.”
Rick started to chuckle. He seemed to think better of it. “They’re the unseen moderators of the universe—mistaken for God, of course.”
Jenna mused that over. “Maybe the Annunaki’s technology became so advanced they overcame the council.”
“That’s possible. You know about the pyramids, right?” He waited for her to answer. When she nodded, he went on. “Those were the guides for where the aliens would land when they returned. So the people across the sea were probably decapitated and eaten first. The pyramids point to Orion. Their planet’s in that direction.”
“If this is true, we need a plan.”
An alien craft flew over the car. It didn’t even make a sound.
“Whoa,” Rick cried.
Jenna flinched. The craft landed in a suburb just off the highway.
“You want to hear my idea of where we should go?” Rick asked.
“I don’t know,” Jenna said. “Lay it on me, I guess.”
“We’re going to visit the Waltons.”
“Who?”
“They own Walmart, the number one company in America. The Waltons are the richest Americans alive. They have a fortified compound in case Armageddon hits, including bomb shelters stacked with riches. The selfish assholes are probably sipping martinis while the aliens eat the rest of us.”
“But . . . would they let us in?”
“I just happen to be friends with the jerks. You can buy my latest book, Secrets of the Annunaki, at any Walmart. Hell, I give to charity more than they do.” Rick regarded her intently. “And if anybody has the resources to build an ark, they do.”
“They live here in Arkansas?”
Rick nodded. “In Bentonville.”
“You know where the compound is?”
Rick glanced at her for a few seconds. “Of course. I’ve been to dinner parties with them.”
“How close are we?”
Rick smiled at her while he took an exit ramp. “We’re almost there.”
***
As the compound came into view, Jenna’s spirits lifted, just a little.
Rick beamed. “There it is.”
Jenna looked at him. “Are we going to call them on the buzzer outside the gate?”
“That or my cell phone; I’ve got their number.”
An Annunaki spacecraft came into view and hovered above the compound.
Rick blinked. “Oh, no. Please don’t do what I think you’re going to do.”
Jenna worried. She stared at Rick. “What are they going to do?”
As if in answer to her question, a glowing red death ray shot down and blew the compound to smithereens. An orange mushroom cloud of fire hovered above the devastation as the spacecraft sped away. Light from the explosion illuminated Rick’s face.
The spacecraft moved their way.
“Oh, fuck!” Rick pulled a U-turn and sped out of there. He pushed the truck to over 100 miles per hour. “Hold on!”
Jenna looked in his rearview mirror and saw the fire rage.
Rick pounded on the dashboard. “Shit, shit, shit!”
Jenna asked, “What are we going to do now?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
Then Jenna looked up in horror. Annunaki spacecrafts filled the sky.
“I’m going to turn onto this dirt road up ahead. We need to hide in the forest or something.”
“There won’t be a boat out in the woods.”
He looked at her. “So?”
“They’ll flood the earth for our gold, or the council of worlds will punish them with a flood.”
Rick turned onto the gravel road. “They overcame the council of worlds, remember?”
Jenna wheeled around and looked out the back window, then turned and glanced at him. “Rick.”
“I’m trying to concentrate on this shitty road here.”
Jenna tapped on his shoulder. “Rick!”
“What?”
“They’ll leave eventually, right?”
“I . . . suppose. After they eat everybody and steal their gold.” He looked at the gold wedding band on his left hand. He quickly ripped it off, lowered the window, and threw it out, along with his gold watch. She did the same with her class ring and herringbone necklace with a gold locket containing a picture of her boyfriend.
Rick turned onto a road that led into the forest, probably a path hunters took. The ride became bumpier than the gravel road they’d just turned off of. After driving for about ten minutes, he parked at the edge of a heavily wooded area.
They got out. Jenna shivered from the cold, pulling her hooded sweatshirt tight over her. Rick motioned for her to follow him into the woods. As they entered a pitch-dark area, he gathered logs and sticks for a fire, using a small flashlight on his key ring.
“Rick?” Jenna asked. “I’m scared. I can’t see anything.”
Rick lit his Zippo lighter and handed it to her. “Better?”
“A little.”
“Oh, shit. I should’ve grabbed the bigger flashlight from the truck. Wait here. I’ll run and grab it.”
“No!” Tears streamed down her face again. “Please don’t leave me!”
Rick sighed. “Oh, all right. Come on.”
***
After they’d retrieved the flashlight and ventured back into the woods, they sat deep in the forest, in a clearing. Rick had built a fire, and they warmed their hands in front of it as they sat side by side. Jenna started to sob again.
Rick slid his arm around her.
Her head on his shoulder, she looked up at him. “What if we’re the only ones that survived? What if they leave, and we’ve got nothing to go back to but dead cities?”
“They will leave. When they’ve raped us of our gold, they’ll go rape some other planet of theirs.”
“I don’t want us to be the sole survivors!”
Rick embraced her. “Honey, I’m sure there’ll be more survivors. What about all the people that live in cabins in the woods? What about the Pineys in the Pine Barrens?”
Jenna pulled away. “But we were the only ones on the roads.”
“You don’t see them ravaging the forest, do you?”
“Not yet.”
“Hopefully, they won’t.”
“But what if they do . . . and . . . and we’re the only ones they don’t find? I don’t want us to be the only people alive. That’ll drive me crazy.”
He laughed through his nose. “Oh, thanks.”
She put her arm around him. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying, it’ll be creepy, that’s all.”
“Well. . . . I suppose if that happened, we’d have to . . . repopulate the earth.”
Jenna pulled away, looking at him as if he were an Annun
aki.
“How old are you?” he asked her.
Jenna sighed. “Sixteen.”
“Oh.” He thought for a few minutes. “Then we’d have to wait a couple of years to repopulate. I’m no child molester.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but gross. You’re middle-aged and crusty.”
He chuckled. “What I’m saying is completely hypothetical. I’m sure we won’t be the only ones. If we get through this.”
“God, are they going to come out to the forest and kill us?”
“I don’t think so. There’s no gold in the forest.”
“It looks like they want vengeance to me.”
Rick nodded. “That too, the bloodthirsty bastards.”
Jenna sighed and shook her head. She was beginning to wish she’d been killed and eaten.
***
Later, as they slept by the smoldering embers, Jenna woke with a feeling she was being watched. She grabbed the Zippo from her pocket and lit it.
Jenna gasped.
Three Annunaki warriors looked down upon them. They’d lifted their masks slightly, and she saw their bloody teeth grind for a spell, eliciting shivers down her spine.
Jenna screamed.
Her cry woke Rick. Bleary-eyed, he slowly rose. The giants snatched him up while he shrieked. They beat him, and one of them bit into Rick’s throat.
Her mouth opening in a silent scream, Jenna bolted from the campsite and kept running until she came out of the forest. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” She thought she’d screamed the words, but she’d barely spoken above a whisper.
Jenna didn’t know how, but she found the truck. Next to it, the Annunaki had parked one of their massive spaceships. She opened the truck door and climbed behind the wheel. Mercifully, Rick had left the keys in the ignition. She fired it up and sped out of there.
After driving until the sun came up, she stopped. More tired than she’d ever been, Jenna parked the truck in a forest, then came out, walking until she found a deserted motel. She hurried into the office, grabbed a key from the key ring, and went to sleep in one of the rooms, careful to lock the door.
***
Jenna woke early the next morning, and the horrid reality came back to her. She put her face in her hands.
