No Aliens Allowed (Flight Knights, Book 1)

Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

The Crash

If I hadn’t seen it sticking out of the ground with those blue eyes glowing in the middle of it, I would have never believed it myself.

But it was . . .

**

Today my best friends Hanna Stevens and Mark Adams and I did something we never do. We ran through the wooded hills of Grissom Falls and took a new path home—through the DANGER ZONE.

Why’s it called the DANGER ZONE?

That’s easy.

On the other side of the trees sits a secluded airbase surrounded by fences and barbed wire. And the fences are plastered with signs that read;

~~~~

DANGER ZONE

Government Experiments

STAY AWAY & KEEP OUT.

~~~~

Yeah—Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; are we nuts or what?

No, we’re not nuts. It’s just our best chance to give Ben Johnson and his gang of bullies the SLIP.

Those guys are the worst of the worst.

I can’t count how many times they’ve chased us home after school. I’m sure it’s in the hundreds. But I stopped counting in fifth grade when I turned ten, and now I’m twelve. So, if you do the math that’s a lot of days in almost three years.

Anyway, what could go wrong in the Danger Zone? It’s not like we plan on crossing the fence.

**

“Parker,” Hanna called my name insistently. “I think this is the craziest thing we’ve ever done.”

I was pretty sure Hanna was right but I didn’t want to admit it. Like I said, what could go wrong?

“Yeah, I agree,” declared Mark. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“Guys, don’t worry,” I said reassuringly. “We’re nowhere near the fence yet.” I looked back between the trees. “Besides I think we’ve lost them. I don’t hear a thing.”

But that suddenly changed, when the highest pitched—most painful—SHRILLING sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life filled the sky.

Without hesitation, Mark and Hanna and I covered our ears.

The pain was immense—worse than any earache I’ve ever had, I can tell you that.

I frantically looked around but couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from.

My first thought? We were closer to the fence than I thought and triggered an alarm.

But I quickly ruled that out because hardly a second later the SHRILLING sound ended with a thunderous explosion in the distance.

The ground RUMBLED and SHOOK

My second thought? Maybe the government was testing something underground.

I immediately looked at Mark and Hanna. The three of us stood as still as we could.

Everything around us went completely silent.

“Okay . . . what just happened?” Mark muttered nervously.

“It definitely wasn’t an earthquake,” Hanna said confidently, “did you hear that explosion before the ground shook.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “But what was it then?” My mind whirred with thoughts as I considered different possibilities. Then I had it. “I’ll bet it was a plane crash.”

It seemed like the only logical explanation since there was an airfield just beyond the trees.

The three of us looked at each other with an eerie uncertainty.

Hanna pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “I don’t have a signal.”

“Come on,” I insisted, as I took off running through the trees in the direction of the explosion.

“Hey, Parker,” yelled Mark, “where are you going?”

“I’m gonna go see what it was. Don’t you wanna know?”

Hanna and Mark filed in behind me. And about 50 yards down the hill I suddenly stopped. I had to. There was a tree in the way. As a matter of fact, there were hundreds of trees in the way.

Hanna and Mark ran into me.

“Whoa,” muttered Hanna. “This looks like a war zone out of some Alien Invasion movie.”

She was right. Over an area the length of a football field the trees were completely severed in half. Many of the stumps were smoldering with streams of gray smoke spiraling up into the air. And fine particles of dust and dirt were floating to the ground all around us.

“Holy smokes . . . look,” blurted Mark, pointing down the stretch of flattened trees at a cloud of smoke and dust billowing into the sky.

“You’re right, Parker,” whispered Hanna. “It was a crash.”

The three of us stared in silence.

Then the weirdest thing happened. I had a creepy feeling come over me, like something in my life was about to seriously change. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. I just felt it.

And then another weird thing happened. I couldn’t stop staring at the crash. I felt like I was being drawn into it. Pulled into it. Summoned by it.

That’s when I saw something move…