The Doomsday Strand

Chapter One

It always started with a series of knocks on the door at precisely 5:00 AM. Hunter would be sitting on the couch, enjoying a cup of black coffee and toast while reading the latest novel he had picked up. Whenever he heard that specific pattern of knocks: two knocks, followed by a pause then another 3, he would put down his book and walk to the door.

Hunter opened the door on that particular Monday morning to find a brown envelope sitting on his doorstep, the same kind of envelope he always found after those knocks.

For months, he had been on the job and had never seen who or what delivered the envelopes, until that day. He looked down the hallway, towards the elevator and staircase, and saw a cloaked shape that stood over two meters tall.

The Shape at the end of hallway stood still for a moment, studying Hunter with a pair of red, reptilian eyes. It gave a respectful nod, then went down the stairs dragging behind it a long, thin tail which it quickly hid under it's cloak.

Hunter wasn't surprised by the Thing's appearance. He suspected it was a reptile all along from the inconsistent nature of his courier's foot ware. On some days, it was a pair of boots that jingled. On others, high heels that made click clack!

Reptiles were shape shifters, they let people see their true form only when they wanted to, which made Hunter wonder why his courier revealed his true form to him. It could have been a sign of trust, thought Hunter. Maybe They were getting comfortable with him. Or maybe it was just what they wanted him to think.

Hunter opened the brown envelope and emptied it's contents on the table. It contained what every other envelope contained: a photograph printed on high quality paper and an audio cassette tape. He picked up the tape, inserted it into his portable cassette player and pressed play. A few seconds of static played, followed by the sound of that cool, collected male voice Hunter was used to hearing every week.

Good morning Mr. Black,

Your target this week is Jack Philips, a 23 year old college student. Mr. Philips, along with his girlfriend, went camping on the July 4th holiday weekend in a secluded area in the Mojave desert. On the night of July 5th, he and his girlfriend were abducted by a Compadian research team and experimented on.

Mr. Philips was returned on the morning of July 6th. His girlfriend, however, was not. Ever since this incident, Mr.Philips has been spreading word of extra terrestrial activity in the area he was abducted in, leading to increased visits from conspiracy theorists and ufologists.

As you know, the Compadians are very sloppy when it comes to masking their presence on Earth. Their craft is easy to spot and they are in constant violation of human abduction protocols. Should knowledge of their existence come out, it would cause great international panic.

Eliminate Jack Philips along with any others responsible for spreading information of the Mojave incident. You have been a very reliable agent so far Mr. Black, but I must remind you that failure to complete this task will result in your immediate elimination.

Best of luck to you.

Hunter chuckled at the end of the tape and realized what the reptile's appearance had meant. They were trying to scare him.

Hunter was the kind of agent known as a Debtor: someone who was forced to work for The Agency to pay off a debt. Debtors were known to start off strong in their duties out of fear and desperation, and then approaching the end of their tenures, succumb to guilt and fail. Hunter was approaching the end of his duties as an agent, and he knew that The Agency wouldn't allowed him to fail just as the others did. Hence the end of the tape and the Reptile's appearance.