“Nobody panic.” Sam's voice was as calm as he could make it.
“Totem pole!” screamed Michael. He climbed on Sam's shoulders and then Johnny climbed up the both of them so that they now looked to be about fifteen feet tall, and they all started to scream to scare the bear away. The bear got back down on four legs, wondering how they had grown so fast. It wasn't about to attack something so big and so it limped off, heading west into the forest.
“I can't believe that worked,” said Randy in a shaky almost crying voice. “I thought you guys were gonna run away and let the bear eat me.”
All three fell as they broke the human totem pole. Michael imagined how scary it must be for Randy when he couldn't even run for his life, no matter how much he wanted to. Everyone started to laugh nervously and all agreed that it had been a close one.
Jake sat beside Randy at the edge of the tent. “Don't worry Randy that is never gonna happen. You can't run from a bear because they're too fast. We always have something exciting happen on every trip and that was it, so now the rest of the trip will be a piece of cake. You'll see.”
Randy thought about that. “A delicious piece of chocolate cake or a piece of cake covered with maggots and mold with nails inside?”
“Yuck,” said Jake. “I would say the delicious chocolate cake.”
Randy imagined the bear eating him. “Does it really work to play dead with a bear?”
“They say it works,” said Johnny. “But if he starts to eat you then fight back, hit him as hard as you can in the nose. If he's gonna eat you then you may as well fight.”
Randy shook his head. “I don't know how I'm gonna sleep with that bear out there waiting to eat me.”
They tied their backpacks to rope and pulled them high up into a tree so that the food wouldn't attract any more animals. They were all tired and ready to call it a night. Just over an hour later it was dark. The five were all inside the tent with the newly started fire raging outside, lighting up the night, sparks flying up and off into the darkness as if they were magical. It was quiet for a time as they all listened to the sounds of the crackling fire, and the sound of it was as soothing as a bedtime story. There was a shout in the far distance, barely audible over the crackling fire.
Randy zipped up his sleeping bag a little more. “Did you guys hear that?”
Michael listened intently. “All I can hear is the fire.”
“I heard it too,” said Jake. “Sounded like someone hollering like a mile away.”
Randy nodded. “Yeah, that's what I heard.”
“Don't worry about it.” Michael looked at Randy who looked scared. “It was probably just Bigfoot stubbing his toe and swearing in his Bigfoot language. Owayowyahooo!”
They laughed.
Randy wondered if they were joking. “You guys believe in Bigfoot?”
“I don't,” said Sam. “They always have photos that look like a guy in a black because it is a guy in a black suit. They never find any dead Bigfoot's, but what's even more important is that they never find any Bigfoot shit. Ever notice that? I'm sure they'd have to shit in the forest, where else they gonna shit.”
“Yeah shit,” said Johnny.
Randy laughed. “Yeah, and it wouldn't be tiny little rabbit turds either, it would be some big shit if they're nine feet tall. Shit the size of a football.”
“Hey Johnny,” said Michael. “What would you do if a flying saucer flew over and sucked us all into the ship, and they were so ugly that you couldn't even look at them?”
“I'd probably shit some really big shit in my pants.”
They all laughed.
Randy closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them. “If you guys have really found a saucer that would mean that aliens are real.”
“Even without the saucer you have to know they are real with all those stars and planets,” said Sam. “Even some of the scientists say so.”
There was another rumble of thunder in the distance.
Chapter Sixteen
IT WAS MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST. It was uncomfortably gloomy and definitely scary; something howled out there in the darkness. They all wondered if it was a wolf or a coyote. They could also smell a slight odor of skunk and that was all they needed to run into in the dark. They knew that if they couldn't find their way home it could take days for them to be rescued, if at all. They were all thinking the same thing. Why the hell did we follow them way out here in the middle of nowhere?
Harold, Timothy and Rolland were lost. They were together with their backs against an old oak tree, and because clouds had blocked the moon they couldn't see much of anything. A large branch cracked in the distance, and although they were all trying to be brave they were scared. Anything could be out there, a bear, a cougar or even a machete wielding maniac. Harold wondered if bears slept at night, but because they hibernated he didn't think so and he knew he couldn't fight off a bear.
“Do you think there are wolves out here?” asked Rolland. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, moving branches and things around in the night, making the situation even more frightening.
“Probably.” Harold scratched his head and then killed a mosquito on his arm.
“What about cougars? Cougars love to eat kids. Right at the top of their menu.” Timothy cracked his knuckles.
“You think that's funny,” said Harold. “You say that again and I'm gonna punch you in the face.”
It sounded like someone had broken a large branch, the sound of it echoed through the forest. They all felt like running but it was too dark, who knows what they would run into.
Rolland felt like crying. “What the hell was that?”
“I don't know,” said Harold. “I know monsters are not real, but if they were this is where they'd be. If they were real. And they're not.”
Rolland agreed. “Yeah, vampires too.”
Timothy shook his head which no one could see in the dark. “Why would you even say that? I wish I could sleep. It's like five hours before the sun comes up. And every second seems like a freaking hour!”
Rolland screamed like a girl as he jumped up. “Something just crawled on me!”
“Give me your hand!” said Harold. “We need to get away from this tree.” They followed one another until they were about a hundred feet away and discovered another tree to lean on.
Timothy was breathing hard as they tried to settle down. “What did it feel like? Do you think it was a rat? Or was it something small like a spider?”
Roland thought about it. “It was no spider. Maybe a rat. Or a snake. Do you think snakes crawl around at night?”
“Probably they can't walk. Ha.” Harold didn't like spiders. He never liked spiders because of the time they tied him up and dropped spiders on him and the worst part was when they crawled on his face. “How many spiders do you suppose are out here? Thousands?”
“Probably. I'm freaking starving,” said Rolland. “If that rat comes back I'm gonna eat it.”
Harold imagined it. “I'd like to see that. Kentucky fried rat.”
“Probably millions of spiders out here,” said Timothy. “Did you guys see that show where this guy was in the desert in a tent, and while he was sleeping a spider went in and ate half his nose?”
Harold scratched the back of his neck. “Timothy, you're making that up.”
“I swear I'm not. He woke up in the morning and the spider had eaten half his nose.”
Harold imagined spiders all around him. “You're telling me that there are nose eating spiders out here?”
Timothy nodded. “Yup, well maybe not here because that spider was in the desert but who knows what's out here? Could be penis eating spiders for all I know.”
“That's it,” said Rolland. “I'm not sleeping tonight.”
“Ah!” screamed Harold. “Something's on me!”
And with that they all screamed.
Chapter Seventeen
OUTSIDE THE TOYOTA IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL EVENING with the crescent moon hanging
in the sky and few clouds in the distance, but inside the car the atmosphere was tense. Stella was driving her husband to his first AA meeting; he had agreed to go but the way he was balking she wasn't sure if he'd go in or not. She felt that if he didn't get his drinking under control they would be doomed as a couple, and Randy would end up a product of a broken home. But he was an adult and she couldn't force him to do anything. The biggest problem was getting him to admit he was an alcoholic or to at least admit he had a drinking problem.
Stella turned into the long driveway of the old red-brick building; years ago it had been used as a schoolhouse but now it was where all the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings were held. There were about a dozen cars in the parking lot as she pulled in beside a new Chevy Malibu. There was silence for almost a minute as she stared at John who wouldn't meet her eyes.
“We need to go in John the meeting has already started.”
John thought about that. “Then maybe I should come back another time.”
“And maybe tomorrow I should call a divorce lawyer.”
He sighed. “There's gonna be people in there that know me. If I go in there they're gonna know that I have a drinking problem.”
Stella thought about that. “Believe me people know you have a drinking problem. They see you staggering in the house so drunk that you can barely walk. Everyone knows you have a drinking problem except you.”
John sighed again and closed his eyes. This was a lot more difficult than he thought it would be. What must Randy think of him? “Alright, alright, let's go in.”
“I'm proud of you honey.”
Chapter Eighteen
RUMBLES OF THUNDER WENT OVER THE FOREST, with the occasional bolt of lightning lighting up the sky. The air was fresh with a light wind that was increasing. It was a mild night with the scent of pine trees, and when the wind changed there was a light smell of smoke from a campfire somewhere off in the distance. A red fox with a dead rat in its mouth stopped to listen to the sounds of nature, remaining vigilant to predators. It watched as lightning struck a nearby tree, and with that it ran off taking its lunch with it.
Beep, whirr, clink.
The weather wasn't going to amount to much, a brief shower and a bit of a light show, except that the bolt hit near where the saucer was stuck into the cliff, a moderate amount of energy actually going down and into the disk. The saucer lit up the night as if the disk was suddenly pure energy and then almost four minutes later it blinked as a light bulb would before burning out and then darkened once more.
More sounds commenced to originate from the saucer, peculiar noises as if someone or something was moving around in there, sounding a little like a bowling ball rolling on bubble wrap with the occasional pop. Then hollow metal grinding against soft sand. The noise was increasing in intensity as it originated from one particular location inside the saucer. A ball of gas was released that smelled a little like burnt cinnamon; its blue haze surrounded the ship but soon dissipated. A loud bang as if a hammer hit steel and then again silence.
Inside the saucer the walls suddenly lit up, adjusting in intensity, looking a bit like they were made of flowing white metal, cascading from left to right. A metallic looking silver ball pushed its way out of the wall, falling onto the floor with a light thump, its shiny surface reflecting the inside of the ship in miniature. A small black pyramid shape with golden scratches on it emerged from the sphere and fell onto the floor making a noise as it did so; greenish sparks emerged from it that jumped and slid across the floor, quickly dissipating. The sphere was a little smaller than a basketball and as it rolled around it left small golden sparkles of light behind, a little like shavings off metal. It then rolled over the pyramid, absorbing it back into itself.
“Keecradiusdas,” it said to itself. It bounced twice; visible black echoes hit the walls and bounced back to it, carrying information with it. It was attempting to access the ship's condition and status. It detected several problem areas. It bounced several more times as it focused on one area in particular.
When the sphere stopped in the center of the ship it commenced to spin incredibly fast and as it did so all the sparkles commenced to float as if weightless, hovering and moving around slightly. The globe turned almost black, and would make any scientist staring at it think that it resembled a black hole surrounded by a light green atmosphere. Each sparkle of light joined with another creating a large ball of light. Then the sphere instantly reversed. Subsequently the sparkles slowly commenced to break apart and adhere to the walls, and what had resembled flowing metallic water stopped flowing. The sparkly polyhedron shapes now covered every inch of the ship; with some exchanging places with others, each having their own specific tests to perform. Then each and every polyhedron shape particle was pulled in by the craft, disappearing for a moment inside it and several seconds later they exited, now all joined together in the shape of the disk. Having tested every part of the alien ship, the see-through image in the shape of the disk hovered near the sphere. Two sections of the ships schematics were black, with no sparkles.
The ball that resembled polished silver circled the 3d image several times scrutinizing it, shooting tiny beams of purple light into it, making strange almost musical sounds, as if it was talking to and answering itself. It flew up onto the top part of the wall and disappeared into it, and when it exited it appeared satisfied, the sounds it was making now sounding upbeat. Only one part of the floating image remained black and it again sunk into the wall, but this time when it reappeared the sounds it was making sounded negative, perhaps even sad. It immediately started to spin, and out of the sphere shot eight probes like a spider's legs; it walked around as if it was trying out its new appendages.
The foreign entity crawled through the forest like a spider on a mission and beams from its legs probed miles down into the earth's surface as it searched for a particular element that could channel such high energy. It spit out small perfectly round circles of yellow light that hit the forest floor, each broke apart into small particles that echoed off the trees and rocks and things, and then the energy and information from it returned to the sphere. It made disappointed sounds as it crawled deeper into the shadowy forest.
What sounded like a wind chime in slow motion originated from the now slightly glowing orb, emitting a noise that reflected its curiosity as a deer approached it. The sphere stopped and examined the animal, taking a scan of its insides. The deer was curious although apprehensive; the animal didn't know what to make of it. The deer moved closer as the thing was completely silent. The whitetail froze as the entity moved over a tree root and when it moved again the animal took off on the run.
The globe pulled in its legs and commenced to rise and then hover; it slowly made its way through the forest about three feet off the ground, casting a purple light as it went, its light disappearing amongst the trees. Within several minutes it rose over the forest and flew north.
Chapter Nineteen
“HEY, SOMEONE'S GOT A FIRE GOING I CAN SMELL IT.” Harold spotted the fire between the trees. They weren't prepared to be in the forest and they were all worried about the long night ahead if they didn't find their way out. Last night had been terrible and they weren't looking forward to another one. Perhaps whoever had started the fire could tell them how to get out.
“Must be someone camping out here,” said Rolland. “If we hadn't been fighting we probably wouldn't have lost Sam and those other morons.”
Harold was apprehensive. “Hope it's not a hunter with bad eyesight.”
Timothy nodded. “Yeah, where the hell were Sam and those other idiots going? Not smart being this far out in the woods. I hope they're lost too.”
“I don't think so,” said Rolland. “They sounded too happy to be lost.”
Harold also nodded. “Maybe we'll find their dead bodies on the way home.”
“Yeah, or maybe they'll find ours.” Timothy was scanning the area to see if he could observe anyone near the fire.
Jayden step
ped into view with his gun. “Get over here!”
The three turned, screamed and bolted, running as fast as they could for as long as they could, sustaining plenty of scrapes as they fell and sideswiped trees. They had never run so fast in their entire lives. Timothy ran into a tree and almost broke his arm and as they ran as they looked back and didn't see anyone following them.
Rolland was almost crying. “Are they coming? Do you see them?”
Timothy was trying to catch his breath. “I don't know and I don't want to know.
“I think we lost them,” said Harold. “My freaking blisters have blisters.”
Neither Brody nor Jayden had moved an inch; they were much too tired to chase those kids around. Jayden knew that they would now have to move deeper into the forest and he was already so tired that he could sleep for a week. They stared at one another for a time until Brody raised his eyebrows.
“You could have fired a couple of shots over their heads,” said Brody. “That would have stopped them.”
Jayden shook his head. “We're already wanted for robbing the bank; we don't need to add attempted murder. I've never seen kids run so fast. I wonder what the hell they're doing out here?”
“Who knows but I was counting on that ransom money. I could have got two Ferraris.”
Jayden just blinked. “Brody, I'd be happy if you made sense even once a day.” He watched Brody as he was again wrestling with the bear.
“Look how big the bear's teeth are?” He showed Jayden the bear's teeth.
“Kidnapping needs to be planned out anyway. And now we have to move at least another twenty miles deeper into the forest.”
“Hey, why didn't you shoot that big bear when you had the chance?”
Jayden put a small branch on the fire. “Shooting a bear with a handgun would only make him mad.”
The Saucer Club Page 7
