by Tod Eten
‘OK lets go’ Aya said.
‘Just one problem’ Seth said pointing at the door, ‘we are still locked in here.’
Aaron ambled to the door and with an almost a casual kick sent the cell door crashing out into the courtyard beyond, ‘not a problem’ he rumbled.
‘Get to the truck I’ll be back in a minute’ Aiden said as they ran across the now deserted courtyard.
‘Where the hell are you going?’ Seth demanded.
‘Got to get our things we will need them’ Aiden replied.
‘Then you will need a hand’ Seth said and without another word Seth, Elden, Aaron and Long followed Aiden up the stairs two steps at a time. In the corridor they came across the first body. It was a gruesome sight it looked as though the body had been sucked dry leaving only a grey husk clothed in desert camouflage. They now passed more bodies scattered along the corridor all the same as the first. Finally they reached the door of the room where their belongings had been.
From behind the closed door they heard a blood-curdling scream which came from the other side of the door. Aiden on opening the door saw Jamal on the far side of the room surrounded by three Jinni. His terrified eyes locked on Aiden’s pleading for help but it was already too late for a moment later his face turned grey and began to collapse in on itself like a deflating balloon as the Jinni drained the essence from his body. Aiden felt his stomach churn and thought he was going to throw up but Seth grabbed his arm urging him on. The five of them quickly scoped up their things which were still lying on the table and made their way back down to the courtyard where they found the truck, its engine running. Demitri who was at the wheel waved for them to get aboard, then gunned the engine. The truck shot out through the open gate and into the desert beyond.
They drove through the night constantly looking behind for the dreaded sight of jeep headlights. Some time before dawn they reached the foothills of a range of mountains which Aya said they would need to cross. Which meant that they had to abandon the truck and continue on foot.
‘But this is no good!’ Demitri said shaking his head, ‘we cannot leave this truck here they will follow us easily.’
It was Gagan, as usual who came up with a plan. They stopped the truck at the base of the hills. The group then got out and started out on foot up the hills with Aya leading. Only Aiden Seth and Long remained behind lashing the truck's steering wheel firmly in place with some rope. With this done Long then jumped up into the cab and starting the engine. He then set the truck moving forward once more heading back out into the desert. Once he had got the truck travelling at a good speed he wedged a rock on the gas pedal and leapt from the cab letting the truck drive itself on towards the horizon. Long then carefully made his way back to where Aiden and Seth were standing being careful not to leave any tracks. The three then made their way back into the hills following behind the rest of the group.
‘Hopefully that should delay them for a while’ Seth smiled as they followed behind the rest of the group.
‘Let’s hope the truck keeps going and they follow it all the way to Egypt’ Aiden said with a grin.
The group followed Aya deeper into the hills all the while nervously glancing back at the desert behind them looking out for any signs of pursuit. But all thoughts of pursuit were temporarily forgotten when little Skyla tugging at her mum’s hand pointed up at the skies.
‘What is that?’ Birdget exclaimed pointed up at the night sky
Everyone looked up and saw what looked like a star that was slowly falling to earth.
‘There’s another’ Hoshi said now pointing at another star.
‘There’s another over there’ Gagan pointed.
Aiden felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck for he could now see dozens of stars that were slowly falling to earth.
‘What can they be?’ Demitri asked transfixed.
‘It is the Anunnaki, they have come!’ Aya said her voice flat.
‘Are we too late then!’ Faith cried out.
‘No Faith our destination is near but I had hoped that we would be there before their arrival, come we must move on’ Aya said urging them on.
They set off again fear quickening their step. Pursued by extremists and now seemingly surrounded by aliens from another world it seemed that the odds were were beginning to stack up against them. By dawn the group had travelled deep into the hills, the desert now lost from view. As the sun began to rise the tired and hungry travellers crested a large hill and there before them rose a range of ochre coloured mountains.
‘That is our destination’ Aya said pointing to two twin peaks that were close by.
‘How far away is it?’ Faith asked expectantly seeing their destination so close.
‘Less than day’s walk no more’ Aya smiled and so did everyone else their spirits lifted by the news. ‘But we will need to rest first’ Aya continued looking at the weary group.
They made camp at the foot of the mountains beside a small stream that Aya led them to and despite the danger posed from the Anunnaki and their pursuers it was decided that they needed to see if they could find some food. They set of in groups of two with instructions from Aya ringing in their ears to be both vigilant and silent. Aiden partnered with Long made his way up the mountain in the hope of finding some goats that they could hunt. They had been wandering around for what seemed like hours to Aiden. The sun already climbing high in the sky when Aiden thought he saw some movement on the mountain slope just ahead of them. He signalled Long and the pair of them crept slowly forwards towards the mountains edge. As they drew near to the edge they spied a small herd of mountain goats on the slope ahead not more than thirty paces away. Aiden carefully notched an arrow and took aim at the nearest animal but before he could shoot the goats were spooked and fled away along the slope. Long grabbed Aiden’s elbow and indicated the mouth of the valley that was about seventy feet below them and turning his head to where Long was pointing Aiden saw three figures enter the valley. Both of them instantly lay flat against the ground so as not to be seen and watched as the three figures walked up the valley. Aiden knew immediately guessed that these were none other than the Anuannaki, for the clothes they wore were just not of this world. The middle one of the three who was taller by a head than his two companions wore some kind of red suit with a yellow pattern that covered him from head to foot, his two smaller companions had similar red suits but with black instead of yellow patterns. All three carried what looked like spears and seemed to have an assortment of tools and weapons attached to the suits they wore. The trio walked up the valley as if they owed it, there was no fear in their step no hesitation in their movements. The tallest of the three whose suit had the yellow patterns brought them to a halt just below where Aiden and Long were hiding. Aiden could now better see the suits they wore. The suits looked like some kind of armour and all three wore helmets that were flat on top with a single narrow slit in the face to allow them to see. The tall one spoke to his smaller companions in a guttural alien tongue who in turn picking up his spear swiftly hurled it with astonishing speed over sixty paces where it impaled one of the goats that Aiden had been stalking. With what sounded like amused laughter the three now made their way towards the dead animal. The alien who had killed the goat then retrieved his spear and taking another instrument from off his suit he bent down doing something to the animal as the other two watched on in silence. After a few moments the alien stood once more. Then the three figures looked at dead animal possibly studying it. Then all three moved on leaving behind the surgically dissected corpse of the goat spread out on the ground behind them. Aiden and Long remained hidden until the three figures had disappeared from view.
‘Anunnaki’ Long stated simply.
‘Must be’ Aiden agreed.
‘I will go get that’ Long pointed at the goat carcass.
‘You can’t what if they come back!’ Aiden protested quietly.
‘We must eat’ Long said and not waiting for further argument he se
t off down the slope.
Aiden watched as his companion literally flew across the slope leaping from rock to rock quicker than any mountain goat. On reaching the carcass Long snatched up its dissected remains and set off back up the slope. Aiden watched Long his mouth now open in astonishment as he leapt up the slope as fast as he had when he had being going down only this time he was carrying the additional weight of the goat. Before Aiden had drawn breath Long was standing beside him once more carrying the goat parts and not even out of breath.
‘But how?’ Aiden said lost for words.
‘I just knew I could’ Long said in explanation as they quickly set off back to the others.
‘But how could you move with that speed?’ Aiden finally said ‘And you did it carrying the goat coming back!’
‘As I said I just knew I could do it, so I did it.’ Long shrugged, ‘Toth said that we could do such things did he not.’
‘Yes he did’ Aiden said looking at Long.
When they got back to the others Aiden described their encounter with the Anunnaki and how Long had managed to get the goat.
‘That is amazing my friend’ Demitri said when Aiden had finished, ‘but now what can we do with this?’ Demitri said pointing at the dead goat when Aiden had finished his tale.
‘What do you mean?’ Aiden asked puzzled.
‘We cannot make a fire to cook this not with those Anunnaki near here.’ Demitri said rubbing his chin.
‘But we need to eat!’ Faith exclaimed.
‘The smoke from the fire it will be seen for miles around’ Demitri replied pointing to the sky.
‘If you can all gather some large flat rocks for me I think we can manage’ Aya said.
Everyone did as Aya had requested and soon with her guidance they created a small round platform with the rocks. Then Aya once more started to say those strange words and weave her fingers in the air and as she did so the rocks began to heat up until they were glowing.
‘There you are Demitri fire with no smoke’ Aya said with a smile.
Demitri not needing to be told twice quickly skinned and cut the goat and placed the pieces on the hot rocks where they started sizzling and giving out a smell that made all their mouths water.
‘What about the smell’ Aiden said suddenly worried, but Charmine was already weaving her fingers and soon they felt a breeze that blew the smell of the cooking meat up into the mountains. The cooked goat tasted as only food could to those who are starving and the hungry travellers wolfed down the meat with gusto. Even Demitri who had complained that he had no spices to put on the goat smacked his lips in pleasure as he ate the tasty meat.
‘It is already afternoon, we are not going to be able to travel up there in the dark! We could end up walking off the mountain’ Aiden said to Aya between mouth fulls of food, looking up at the mountains before them.
‘You are right and we will all need our strength for the climb ahead’ Aya said now looking at the mountains herself.
‘This looks as good a place as any to stay the night, it is hidden and there is water and we can keep a watch up on that rock there’ Aiden said pointing.
‘I agree we all need a rest I think’ Demitri said as he tended to the food.
‘Yes we will stay here the night and set off at first light’ Aya agreed to everyone’s relief.
Chapter 18 - Eden
At first light Aiden and his group began making their way up the mountain following the trails that wound their way up the slopes. As they climbed higher they slowly escaped the claustrophobic heat of the hills below enjoying instead the welcome touch of the cooler mountain air. Below them they could see the hills that they had travelled across the night before and beyond in the distance the barren desert stretching out to the horizon. The ochre coloured rocks of the mountain glowed in the early morning sun as Aya once more led the group towards their destination. With the arrival of the Anunnaki they all kept conversation to a very quiet minimum, each keeping a nervous watch out for any danger. Aya stopped the group a few times when she thought she heard or felt something, but happily they were false alarms and so they continued on. It was Skyla who seemed best able to sense things around them and Aya would often turn to the little girl asking if she thought there was anything bad nearby to which Skyla would shake her head and say no. So it was that they continued on their cautious climb up the mountains following a narrow twisting path that wound ever higher. Though the cooler air of the mountain made a welcome relief the climb still took its toll on the travellers who soon needed to rest every twenty minutes or so but despite their aching limbs they trudged on. It was early afternoon when Skyla grabbed Aya’s hand to get her attention.
‘Aya, there are a lot of people ahead I think’ the little girl said pointing up the path.
Aya looked to where she pointed stopping the group.
‘But they are nice’ Skyla added.
Aya indicated for the group to stay where they were. Then together with Aiden she made her way quietly up the path crouching low as they approached the crest. What they saw on the other side made them both blink, for as Sklya had said there were people in the next valley, a lot of people! Looking over to the far side of the small valley they saw even more people making their way up another small path a narrow river of humanity that disappeared up and around the side of the mountain.
‘Who are they and where are they going?’ Aiden said astounded.
‘I don’t know who they are but I know where they are going, the same place we are!’ Aya said.
‘So what are we going to do?’ Aiden said looking at the crowd of people waiting patiently to follow the others up the path. Taking a closer look at the gathering he could see that it was made up of the young and old alike. There were many families with their members helping the older and very young. There were also many different cultures and races present. There were fair haired fair skinned Scandinavians next to Africans dressed in tribal dress. There were Asians walking along side Polynesians, there was even a group of Scots men in kilts carrying an old woman who looked like she was a Red Indian. It was like a small scale representation of the whole of mankind Aiden thought to himself.
‘So we are not the only ones who are looking for Eden!’ Aiden said.
‘I never said we would be, let’s stand’ Aya said getting up.
Aiden stood up and they both stared down at the spectacle below captivated.
‘Well they are not Anunnaki that’s for certain’ Aiden said.
‘So who are they?’ Seth asked joining them with the rest of the group close behind.
‘They are like us’ Skyla said waving back at woman dressed in a sari.
‘Aya, Aya’ a figure detached itself from the crowd below them and started to up run towards them waving his hand.
‘Hey that’s Zafer I think’ Seth said shading his eyes to get a better view.
‘Aya’ Zafer shouted happily, ‘you made it!’ he said as he reached them panting, shaking their hands with that familiar grin. ‘We were getting so worried!’
‘We had a few delays but we are here now’ Aya laughed, Zafer’s happiness infecting the whole group.
‘But how did you get here?’ Seth asked confused.
‘We followed Aya’s directions of course! And we find many many people who are going to same place as us, you see’ Zafer pointed at the throng of people below. ‘But come come my family is here and Onan is here, look there he is.’ Zafer said pointing at a figure who waved back at them. ‘Come, come’ Zafer said leading them down into the ranks of the gathering below.
‘There must be hundreds of people here’ Gagan said as they walked down the path.
‘So that was what you were talking to Zafer about when we got off the ferry!’ Aiden whispered to Aya who smiled.
‘Aiden my friend’ Onan came rushing up to them shaking Aiden’s hand, ‘what a good adventure this is yes, but you are hurt’ Onan exclaimed on seeing Gagan’s face, ‘what happened, are you OK?’ Onan said looking
closely at Gagan.
‘I had an accident’ Gagan said with some embarrassment.
‘He is fine’ Hoshi said gently brushing Gagan’s face making Gagan blush.
‘Ah yes with a doctor like you I am sure he will be!’ Onan smiled back.
‘Here they are’ Zafer interrupted as his family, who had detached themselves from the crowd, made their way over to the group.
‘This is our mother’ Zafer said introducing them all to a small old woman dressed in black whose face had been aged like leather by her years in the sun but whose eyes still twinkled.
