The Invasion

The Encounter

Now this is the part where I tell you we made it
in time and stopped the Martians from attacking
and settling on Earth, right? And we all lived
happily ever after, right? Well, you would
assume so, considering that everything has gone
right so far. But you would be wrong. So very
wrong. In fact, I bet that you wish right now
that Kylan and I had an alternate ending to this
story. But I'm here to tell you the truth, not an
alternate ending I just made up. Nope, if you
want to make up your own story just to make
yourself feel better at this point then go ahead,
you would just be cheating yourself though.
What I'm about to disclose is much more
interesting than anything you can come up with,
I'm sure. The truth is always more surprising
than make believe.
So, where was I? Oh yes, I was at the part where
we figured out where the FBI's Secret
Headquarters was. We packed our bags and left.
Towards the middle of our trip we had to stop
and rest. So we did. We broke into a motel and
slept there for the night. I did hear a noise
outside that night, but upon further
investigation it was only the overhang outside
creaking in the wailing wind. In the morning,
we did what we always did, we ate breakfast.
But that's as far as you can possibly guess the
storyline, right here. Because the Martians had
found us (which explains the creaking outside),
and they poisoned our breakfast so that we
would fall asleep. Immediately. No pain or any
sign that we had been knocked out. At all.
Now we woke to find we were bound to each
other in a cell. There were what I assumed to be
two Martians guarding the door. Like we could
ever escape. The bars of the cell were made out
of diamond, and the only thing that can break
diamond is another diamond. And it's not like I
carry around a diamond knife just in case I get
into a situation like this. I had no clue the
Martians were ever going to attack, so I wasn't
ready or anything.
From what I read in the books at the library, I
determined that Martians don't really speak
English. They have an electronic translator
usually or a Martian that speaks English. If I get
lucky, they don't have a translator here so I can
talk freely to Kylan. The only thing that might
be helpful is if they don't know that we're
awake. Kylan began to stir next to me, but I
think that drug hit him a little hard and he went
right back to sleeping.
Staring at the cell walls, I became delirious for a
time. I wasn't thinking very clearly and I
became jealous of the diamond bars. Yes,
jealous of an inanimate object but I said I was
delirious, right? They knew what they were and
what purpose they served. They knew they
couldn't be harmed by anything but another
one of them: no disease, no weather, almost
always unchanging. Unlike Kylan and me at the
moment, we didn't know who we were yet and
are now forced to grow up too fast a take care
of ourselves. In the presence of the Martians we
are vulnerable and scared, and we can easily be
wiped out by disease, weather, and are
constantly changing whether for better or
worse. We lost so much just to be able to
communicate, move, think, and talk.
"I need to find a way out!" I just kept thinking. I
looked around again, determined to find a way
to freedom. There wasn't much in the cell; a
bed, a toilet, a sink, you know, the usual jail cell
stuff. Nothing that could help a prisoner escape.
I spent the rest of what I thought was day
waiting for Kylan to wake up, but he never did.
I spent the other half crying because I felt so
helpless and the other half blaming Kylan for
this because he wouldn't wake up and tell me
everything was ok. I knew deep down that
blaming him was wrong. I mean, he couldn't
stop the aliens from poisoning our food or
destroying everyone on the planet. But, it felt so
good to finally have someone to blame other
than me or no one at all that I couldn't stop
myself. I got tired enough toward what I
thought was night when I realized this: I
decided that I wasn't helping either of us by
blaming anyone and I looked around some
more for some sort of escape route.
I fell asleep that night still thinking, which also
meant that I didn't have quality sleep either.
During the day the guards never changed once.
Not to eat or sleep or drink. Not to go to the
bathroom either. Which I thought was weird,
but they were Martians so I guess anything is
possible with a race I have no clue about. I
woke up in the middle of the night to go to the
bathroom and find that the guards had been
replaced by dogs. Actual dogs. Which now,
come to think about it, wouldn't all the pet dogs
be running around free once all the owners
were dead? I guess the Martians trained them to
work for them. I went to the bathroom after I
found that the bonds holding Kylan and I
together were broken. I must have really been
tired to not notice someone (or something)
cutting through the leather that bound our
wrists. The dogs didn't really notice me, at least
they didn't look over. After I went to the
bathroom and washed my hands (like it
mattered now!) I fell asleep on the cot in the
corner.
By morning Kylan was awake and had so many
questions that quite frankly I didn't have the
answer to many of them. The guards by now
knew we were awake so there wasn't anything I
could do to deceive them anymore. I told him
about all my observations since we got here.
Especially about the weirdness with the guards
not changing and then at night the dogs. He
drank every detail in and once I was finished he
started thinking about escape too. I could tell
the guards didn't understand English; they
stared at us like WE were the aliens, not them.
Kylan and I spent the whole day figuring out
how to escape. Nothing is what we came up
with every time. Although, we were wondering
if the leader of the aliens would want to talk to
us ever. Or not, since it wouldn't matter
anyway. We would lose and they would win
whether it got rubbed in our faces by their
leader or not.
But the next day, surprise, their leader ordered
us to meet with him. We tried to but on brave
faces as we were walked, handcuffed, to either
our doom or some negotiation with the Martian
king. Kylan's face was contorted to look like he
was chewing something sour from the sedatives
and what I assumed to be nervousness.
Personally I put on a facade of both
determination, hate, and pride but I doubt I
pulled it off. I was no actor; the truth was we
were both scared silly and hated the thought of
meeting the person (or thing) responsible for
persecuting the entire human race which we
cared so much about. I hated their guts and I
knew they had to pay for what they did,
whether that was them sitting in the corner for
eternity or stooping down to their level and
killing them as well. I would start with the king
himself if I had the chance.
As we arrived in the King's chambers he
greeted us. I noted that he knew English. The
guards set out an elongated wood table with
exotic human foods stacked on top. Just like in
movies, there was a warm fireplace where a fire
was burning. But, instead of regular fire, the
fire was green and looked like the ancient Greek
fire. It smelled like what I imagine slime to smell
like when it burned. Quishmael, as the King told
us his name was, sat at the head of the table
drinking liquor from a jeweled goblet, but
didn't indulge in eating anything. I sat at his left
and Kylan his right. I hesitated to take any food,
but Kylan (the pig!) dug right in.
"Don't be afraid; it's not poisoned like the last
meal you ate from us was. That was just so that
you would fall asleep and come to our lofty
abode in peace. Now, do as your friend here is,
and help yourself. And if you behave like a good
little Earthling then maybe you can eternally be
treated this way," Quishmael said curtly,
obviously not up on the "Earthling" code of
manners. I couldn't afford to go against his
wishes, so I stacked my plate with rice, steak,
broccoli, and strawberries.
"Good, now that you two are comfortable, let's
get started. How did you escape my minions?"
Quishmael asked us, in what looked like as
sympathetic a face as any non-human could
muster.
"Well," I started. "I have anger issues and I shut
myself in my closet to calm down. I don't know
how you missed me, but you did." My voice
stayed as steady and even as I could make it.
I'm not sure if Quishmael thought I was on the
verge of tears or what and Kylan just stared and
chowed down on plate after plate of food
(which was very mediocre I might add). I tried
to tell the less important version of the truth to
him, but if there were lie detectors in this room
then I would be dead or worse almost
immediately. This guy was worse than J.D.
Salinger who wrote Catcher in the Rye, and my
eyes burned with hatred.
"My," Kylan began, obviously not holding back
anything to Quishmael; maybe it was the meds
that they had given him before or something in
the food now. But right then I realized I had
never heard his story of preservation and he
had never heard mine. I listened more intently.
"city was under a bomb threat, which happens a
lot. So often, in fact, that we had a shelter built
in our yard. It is completely bullet, infrared,
and bomb proof. Grass has grown over it over
the years concealing it from view; even I have
to feel my way to find it. I was there when you
raided our city. Unfortunately, my family hadn't
gotten home yet and they weren't in the
underground shelter when you came through."
Wow, so he must feel really guilty that he was
the only one that survived. That's why he never
asked me, so that I wouldn't ask him. Kylan just
stared at his plate for a few minutes. I almost
knew how he felt at that point. but just then he
looked up while Quishmael wasn't looking and
gave me a sly wink. Quishmael stayed quiet
while Kylan was looking down at his plate,
occasionally talking to a servant in low whispers
that deemed his cause important enough to
interrupt our dinner. Finally, Quishmael spoke:
"So, there are no more of you?" he asked
insensitively. Oh yeah, like that was going to
help any at this point! Like we would ever tell
him even if there were anyone else alive! My
face got hot and the fire already burning inside
me was fueled even more. I wanted to chop his
head right off then, but Kylan started to
whimper a little and answered for me,
"No."
"Poor Earthing kids. No friends to come save
you? But it's not like you can escape, I mean,
this prison is completely escape proof. I don't
even think I need to keep guards at your cell,
but you know, just in case." Quishmael replied
thoughtlessly. Now he was REALLY asking for it!
I looked around for something to throw at him
that would leave a big enough mark that it
would be worth it to risk my safety. Nothing.
Crap! Kylan glared at me with that look that I
learned to mean "control it!" I immediately
calmed down and ate instead. I could tell that
Kylan was mad too, but he didn't say anything.
Quishmael stayed quiet the rest of the meal and
released us a half hour later without another
word.
Kylan and I discussed this meeting when we got
back.
"That went relatively well," Kylan suggested
when we returned to our holding cell.
"How so?" I accused. "We were threatened,
possibly poisoned, talked to condescendingly,
and accomplished nothing!"
"At least we weren't killed..." Kylan muttered.
"Oh yeah, cause that's totally something at this
point!"
"Small victories can make a huge difference
sometimes."
"I suppose when you say it that way."
I was positive this time that there were no extra
safety precautions in the cell; no cameras, voice
recorders, or alarms. Kylan thought it was odd
that he called us there just to ask us how we
escaped him and if there were others.
"Yeah, I thought that too. Nice performance with
the whimpering by the way!" I complimented
him.
"Thanks! I went to a few acting classes at my
school, I just had to convince him that there
weren't any others so that he wouldn't go
looking everywhere and find the FBI's Secret
Headquarters before we got out."
"I doubt we're getting out, by what he said. If
what he said is really true which I'm guessing it
is. He wouldn't take any chances with us,
especially since these bars are solid diamond." I
tapped the one closest to us. Yep, definitely
solid.
"But that definitely means they're taking us
seriously if we escaped them once already." We
fell asleep after that. I was aroused by a wet
slobber all over my face and whining that
sounded like a dog. I opened my eyes to find my
dog Gypsy above me! Oh my god, we were going
to get our of here after all! She began to bark.
"Shhhh! You're going to ruin it!" I whispered to
her and she stopped. Being me I of course had
to go, so I went to the bathroom, washed my
hands because it actually mattered this time,
and aroused Kylan. I showed him Gypsy. We
looked around and found the keys to our cell. I
coaxed Gypsy to get them for us. Kylan quietly
unlocked the lock on our cell door and we left,
Gypsy on our heels. From there it was smooth
sailing, Quishmael was right, no safety
precautions whatsoever. We found our
hovercars and sailed into the distance.