by Ken Warner
“Yeah, at least,” said Miguel.
“Makes it the ideal place for the Malor to set up shop,” said Sydney. “It’s unlikely anyone would see them out here.”
“For sure,” Miguel agreed.
They grabbed their water bottles, locked up the car, and followed Miguel out into the desert. There was a trail that led from the overlook area down into the valley below.
The first hour was reasonably easy going. It was somewhat winding and hilly, but they were able to walk the trail without any difficulty. After that, the path became more difficult. They had to climb in places, and Sydney felt sure they would have lost the trail at this point without Miguel. They were walking on bare stone here, with no dirt or vegetation to show any clear evidence of a well-trod path.
After another hour, they came to the top of a ridge. From their vantage point, they could see for miles in every direction. Sydney looked around but could see no signs of life anywhere nearby. She had a feeling very few people ever ventured out this far into the desert.
Miguel pointed to the east.
“You see that big mesa out there? With the smaller butte over to the right of it?”
“Yeah,” said Sydney, squinting a bit and holding her hand out in front of her to block some of the glaring sunlight.
“Okay, now right between them, you see that thing gleaming in the sunlight?”
“Oh, yes!” said Brian.
“Yeah, I see it,” Sydney agreed.
“That’s it,” Miguel told them. “That there’s the alien camp.”
“It’s tough to make much out from this distance,” said Brian. “I should have thought to stop and buy some binoculars somewhere.”
“I can get us closer if ya want,” said Miguel. “But it’s gonna be tougher going from here.”
There was a steep slope directly in front of them—Sydney thought it wouldn’t have been too bad to descend, except that it was covered in what looked like gravel.
“We have to go down this?” she asked apprehensively.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Miguel replied. “Best way is to loop around through the hoodoos to the south of here. Makes the trip a little longer, but it’s safer that way, I’d wager.”
“Hoodoos?” asked Sydney.
“Yeah, they’re these tall spires of rock, some no taller than you or me, some as high as a house. A lot of them have these big stones balancing on the top, not too sure how that happens. But anyway, there’s a whole field of them over this way, and going through those, there’s a trail that loops around. Saves us having to go down something like this here.”
“Lead the way,” said Brian.
They set out again.
The trail followed the top of the ridge for a while and became quite narrow in places.
“Careful through here,” Miguel warned them. Sydney was right behind him, and Brian was bringing up the rear.
But suddenly, Sydney slipped on some loose gravel. She tried to catch her balance, but her foot slid out from underneath her, and she found herself sliding down the slope.
Sydney screamed.
“Sydney!” Brian yelled.
She came to rest several feet from the top.
“Don’t move!” said Miguel. “Hold still, and I’ll try to reach down to you.”
Miguel dropped to the ground, flat on his stomach.
“Hold my ankles,” he said to Brian.
Sydney saw Brian squat down by Miguel’s feet. Miguel slid partially down the slope and held his hands out to her.
Sydney reached out with one hand, but in shifting her weight, loosened some of the gravel beneath her. She started sliding again, and this time couldn’t stop. Picking up speed, she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Chapter Eleven: The Camp
Moments later, Sydney hit solid ground and rolled a few feet away from the slope. A bunch of loose gravel had landed with her, and she inhaled a mouthful of dirt, coughing it back out again.
“Sydney!” Brian yelled from the top of the slope.
“Are you okay?” That sounded like Miguel.
Sydney got to her feet. She had cuts and scrapes on her hands and legs, but nothing felt broken.
“I’m okay!” she yelled up to them. “But I’m kinda stuck down here!”
“Hold on; I’m coming down to you,” Miguel shouted back.
“Miguel, no…”
It was too late. Miguel was on his way down, bringing another shower of gravel with him.
He tumbled to the ground moments later. Sydney helped him to his feet.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she said with a grin.
“I don’t think I’m going to try that,” Brian yelled down to them. “Can I get to you going through the hoodoos?”
“You could,” Miguel called back. “I’d be hard-pressed to give you directions, though. I know the way myself, but it’d be tough to explain.”
“You two go on ahead, then,” Brian said. “I’ll watch your progress from here.”
“We’ll be fast,” she called up to him. “Right?” she added more quietly to Miguel.
“I’d imagine so,” he said with a chuckle.
They set out again, Miguel in the lead.
“Have to confess, I don’t know the way from down here,” he told her. “I went through the hoodoos before. But I know we gotta keep heading east, so I don’t think I’ll get us lost or anything.”
“I have total confidence in you,” she told him.
“Alright, then.”
They wound their way through the rocky ground in silence for the next twenty minutes. This area was relatively flat, with a few rolling hills and boulders strewn about. She could see more mesas and buttes up ahead.
“Getting close now,” Miguel said, finally. The terrain was growing more uneven again. They followed a dry stream bed for a few minutes and soon found themselves in something of a valley.
“I think if we climb that ridge on the far side of the stream bed, we’ll probably be able to see the place,” he said.
“Okay…” she replied, somewhat apprehensively.
“I know it looks a little steep from down here, but it won’t be too bad,” he reassured her. “There are plenty of footholds and little plateaus, and it’s not too far up.”
“If I go first, do you promise to catch me if I fall?”
“Well, sure,” he said. “You look like you hardly weigh a thing. I’ll catch you. But I’m pretty sure you ain’t gonna fall in the first place.”
Sydney started her climb. The first few feet were a little scary, looking up ahead of her, but sure enough, she found it wasn’t too tough at all. Within a few minutes, they crested the top of the ridge.
Sydney gasped. Miguel was right: they had a clear view of the Malor encampment from here.
“Get down!” he whispered urgently when he joined her at the top. He’d dropped to his stomach.
Sydney lay down next to him, staring out at the plain before them.
Dead center in the camp was a metal obelisk—this was what they’d seen glittering from afar. It was some sort of tower, but Sydney could not tell what its purpose might be. There was a blue light glowing in the center of it that seemed to be pulsating with some regularity.
Next, three saucer-shaped craft drew her eye, off to the right from the tower. They seemed to be hovering there. To the left of the obelisk stood a large metal structure that looked like a large barn or garage of some sort.
The area was crawling with Malor. Dozens of them were scurrying about the camp; they appeared to be quite busy with whatever it was they were doing. Some were doing some sort of work on the tower, others moving objects between the saucers and the building.
“That’s definitely the Malor,” she whispered to Miguel. “This is where they brought you?”
“I’m pretty sure,” he said. “You see that butte out beyond the tower there? Down by the base, there’s like a shadow. I think that’s the entry to that cave where they took me. But I haven
’t dared to get any closer to this, so I can’t say for certain.”
“Yeah, I can see it,” said Sydney excitedly. “That does look like a cave!”
They watched for a few more minutes, then she said, “I think that’s enough. We should probably head back. I’ve got to tell Brian about this and see what he wants to do next.”
Sydney found the descent back down to the stream bed quite a bit more harrowing than the trip up had been. But they made it without any further mishaps.
They set a quick pace heading back the way they’d come. But as they rounded the next corner, Sydney froze: two Malor were standing there.
In the instant it took Sydney to register their presence, Miguel yelled “Duck!” and pulled her to the ground. A moment later, there was a metallic crackling sound, and something hit the stream bed beyond them, spraying debris everywhere.
“Run!” Miguel yelled.
Sydney didn’t need to be told twice. They took off, farther down the stream bed.
“What the hell was that?!” Sydney yelled.
“Some sort of weapon!” he said.
She’d noticed something in their hands but hadn’t realized what it was.
As they rounded the next bend in the path, bits of rock to her right went flying, shattered by some unseen force.
“We gotta get out of this stream bed,” she yelled.
“If we climb the walls, we’ll be sitting ducks!” he shouted back. “Let’s hope for open terrain ahead!”
They ran another hundred feet, dodging invisible projectiles every time they heard that metallic crackling until suddenly they emerged onto an open plateau. And standing across from them were ten more Malor, each pointing a weapon at them.
“Well, shit,” said Miguel, as they pulled up short.
The two Malor who had been chasing them caught up. One kept a weapon on them, while the other bound Miguel’s hands behind his back with some sort of handcuffs. Sydney wasn’t sure how they worked, but the Malor held them up to one of Miguel’s arms, and a glowing beam of energy encircled first one of his wrists and then the other.
Sydney started backing away and would’ve run, but the Malor in front of her fired his weapon near her feet. The shot sprayed her with dirt and debris, and she stopped, while the second Malor bound her wrists, too.
The Malor marched them across the desert floor, and ten minutes later, they arrived at the Malor camp. They brought Sydney and Miguel inside the building, into a small chamber, and closed the door behind them, leaving them in total darkness.
“Well, this sucks,” Sydney observed.
“Yeah, no foolin’,” said Miguel. “What do we do now?”
“We wait, I think,” Sydney replied. “Brian was looking out for us. I don’t know if he’ll have seen everything that happened here, but it won’t take him too long to figure out that something’s wrong. He’ll know what to do.”
“So, what’s your relationship with him, exactly?” asked Miguel.
“Oh, he’s my boss. Well, I mean, he was an old family friend. But now he’s my boss, too.”
“And what is it the two of you do? Well, when you’re not tracking down alien abductees?”
“I used to be a nurse, and Brian owns a computer security company.”
“Uh-huh. And so, how do you think he’ll know what to do?”
“Oh, well, his company’s done a lot of work for the government, so he has contacts in the Defense Department and the military and what not. Don’t worry; he’ll find a way to get us out of this.”
“I sure hope so,” Miguel said. “’Cuz these here folks did some sick shit to me last time I was here, and I’d prefer to avoid going through that again if you take my meaning.” Sydney thought he sounded almost hysterical.
“Relax, Miguel,” she assured him. “It’s going to be okay. Brian will get help. I’m sure of it. And besides, they’re keeping us above ground. You said they brought you to some sort of underground bunker for the exam, right?”
He was silent for a moment, then let out a sigh. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“See? If they were going to examine us, they’d probably be bringing us down there.”
“That’s a good point,” he conceded. “But I worry what they’re planning to do with us up here.”
Sydney wondered the same thing.
She didn’t actually know what Brian would do, but she truly did feel confident he’d find a way to get them out of here. He’d found a way to free Jaden and Malia from Area 51, and that time he’d had no choice but to act alone—federal agents were the ones who’d abducted the twins, to begin with. But now, in this situation, she was pretty sure he’d be able to get help from someone in the federal government. She knew they’d been rounding up rogue Malor and didn’t think they’d be too happy with them setting up an encampment like this.
“Hey, I’m sorry for freaking out like that,” said Miguel.
“No need to apologize—I don’t blame you,” she replied. “I’m kind of freaked out right now myself.”
“After my abduction, man, it was rough. I kept having these headaches and the nightmares… It helped a lot when I finally realized I hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing. But I was in tough shape for a while there.”
“I know what you mean,” Sydney told him. “I’ve been having the same problem since the invasion. My dreams are terrible. It’s hard to sleep.”
Just then, the door opened, and a Malor came into the room. He grabbed Sydney by one arm. She got to her feet, and he led her out of the room.
“Hey! Where are you taking her?!” Miguel shouted. But the Malor closed the door behind them. Sydney could hear him yelling from inside the chamber as the Malor led her across the building.
There was an open area at the far end. Several other Malor were waiting for them. Floodlights lit the place; it was so bright, Sydney had to squint to see anything. The Malor released her, and the group of them formed a circle around her.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
They said nothing but stared at her intently.
“What the hell,” she said.
She didn’t understand what was happening—they were just standing there, looking at her. It occurred to her that perhaps they were attempting to read her mind or something—she’d learned during the invasion that they communicated telepathically. But to the best of her knowledge, their telepathy didn’t work with humans.
Several minutes went by, and then the group broke up. One of them grabbed her by the arm again and led her back to the small chamber at the front of the building. It was empty now—she didn’t know where Miguel had gone.
But only a few minutes later, he returned, too.
“I don’t know what the hell that was,” he said.
“Did they stand around you in a circle and stare at you?”
“Yeah! You, too?”
“Mm-hmm. I have a feeling they were trying to communicate. They’re telepathic, apparently, but I don’t think it works with us.”
“Oh, well, then I guess maybe I shouldn’t have kept shouting at them like that…”
Sydney chuckled.
They sat in silence for a while. Sydney didn’t know how much time had gone by, but it felt like hours. She felt famished, and she could’ve used a restroom.
Noises were coming from inside the building, and more from outside, but nothing unusual—Malor moving around, doing who knew what.
But suddenly there was an explosion.
“What the hell!” shouted Miguel.
There was a great commotion in the building that sounded like it had moved outside. Suddenly, Sydney heard gunfire.
“That’s no alien weapon,” said Miguel. “I think you’re right—your boss called in the cavalry!”
There was more gunfire, and Sydney heard the metallic crackling of the Malor weapons again. Then there was another explosion—this one was closer, and she could feel the ground shake.
A minute later, footsteps approached their chambe
r. The door flew open and silhouetted in the light flooding through the opening stood a man—a human, wearing a camouflage uniform.
“I’m here with the U.S. military,” he said to them. “This is a rescue operation. I need you to listen very carefully. My team and I are going to escort you out of this structure. But I need you not to run. When we get out the door, we need to stop and wait there until we’re given clearance to proceed. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” said Sydney.
“Loud and clear,” added Miguel.
“Alright, let’s move,” the soldier said, helping them to their feet. Their arms were still handcuffed behind their backs, making it difficult to stand up on their own.
They followed him through the building and out the front door. There was a group of four other soldiers waiting here, heavily armed. The soldier who’d rescued them held out his arm in front of them to make sure they didn’t go any farther.
Chaos had engulfed the camp. Sydney could see Malor running around, trying to get to their flying saucers. It looked like human snipers were firing at any of them who moved close to the craft.
Suddenly, there was another explosion.
“That’s our cue,” the soldier told them. “Move out!”
The soldiers set out at a run, in single file, keeping Sydney and Miguel in the middle of the group. They darted across the plateau and up the same dry stream bed Sydney and Miguel had used to get here earlier.
Sydney could hear more gunfire and explosions behind them. Minutes later, they came to an open area, and she saw there was a giant military helicopter waiting for them.
“Quickly now, get on board,” the soldier told them.
Sydney and Miguel boarded the aircraft, along with the rest of the soldiers. Moments later, they took to the air and flew to the top of the same ridge Sydney had slid down hours before. There was a broad plateau to the north of where she’d had her mishap, and the helicopter set down there, near a group of military vehicles.
Brian came running over to them as they disembarked. He gave them both a big hug.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to see the two of you again!”
