Random Short stories

#4 - Aliens

    The wind rushed around me as I soared across the highway, deserted except my companion and I. Our motorcycles stirred the skin of sand across the road as we traveled, civilization nowhere in sight. I had found "X", as he liked to be called, collapsed in a dumpster only a few hours earlier, disoriented and hostile. All gangly limbs and furious eyes X had stared at me with hate so strong, it felt tangible. He just sat there, staring into my soul with those galaxy colored eyes of his, a muzzle covering his mouth. In the hours since, an emergency threat was issued, claiming a hostile had surfaced, his description only containing that of the muzzle. 

X and I had grabbed the motorcycles, moreover, X had tried to steal one so I rented two and we headed out. I don't think either of us had a destination in mind, just away.  I looked ahead at X, his purple-blue hair cut short and waving in the wind because he had refused the helmet.  I wondered where he came from, X had yet to utter a word, preferring crude hand signals. And there were times when he seemed to glitch out, neon colors spreading across his skin and disappearing in the blink of an eye. 

It was only an hour more when the dreaded inevitable occurred, we arrived at a town.

As customary to little towns, a single holoscreen displayed news, normally it shifted between current events and local news stories, but today it seemed to be only one thing, the emergency threat from before. However, a new banner had joined the message, one hard to overlook. 

"One million dollars, or an equal amount in any currency, to any person who captures and delivers fugitive to the ETCD department of the federal government." 

A reward like that could pay off every debt I owed and then some. I turned towards X to contemplate my options and found him staring in wonder at a Garter snake crossing the deserted two-lane street in front of us. Hostile fugitive, my ass. No reward was worth turning over an innocent soul to the corrupt government.

"Hey," I called to him, gesturing to an inn down the road, "Why don't we rest a bit? It's getting late and our bikes need fuel."  All I received was a nod before he drove away. I had him put my scarf around his face to hide the muzzle, but X kept pulling at it and some of the strange tech could be seen, hopefully, no one would notice. 

We shuffled into the inn, tension filling the room as the front desk attendee looked us over with cautious eyes. I politely asked for a room, one bed, it was cheaper that way and I doubted my heartbeat would quiet enough for sleep to come. The man took a long drawl on his cigarette, blowing the smoke into our faces. Money and keys exchanged hands and I led X to our room,  taking good care to watch for security cameras.

X sat down on the spring filled old mattress, bounced a couple of times as the frame creaked beneath him, and fell back onto the comforter. He lay there as I stared out the window, the lobby was visible from our room as well as the vending machine and a soda sounded nice. I closed the shades and placed an extra blanket over X before heading down, carefully closing the door as not to wake him. 

I wandered down hallways smelling of must as I made my way to the vending machine. Everything seemed too quiet, when we entered the bar was full of noise that could be heard from our room, but now, walking toward the lobby, nothing could be heard. Before I rounded the corner to the front desk, I checked the mirror decorating the wall, as I had guessed, the desk attendant was talking to a man in a crisp black suit, pointing to the direction I had just come from. We had been made, so much for an ice old soda now. I watched in the mirror as the man in the suit turned toward where I hid, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror, a twisted smile creeping across his lips.

"Do not attempt to interfere with our mission or you shall be charged with aiding a wanted fugitive and taken into custody as well." His voice was that of a monotone monster, a cruel inhuman thing bent on destruction. I would not give up X to a person like him. 

I ran. "X, get up, we have to get out of here!" I yelled through the hallway, fumbling with the key to our room. He answered the door with groggy eyes, the side of his face red where he had been laying on his arm. 

 "They're here." His expression sharpened and he grabbed my arm, pulling me inside before locking the door. I wanted to tell him that wouldn't make much of a difference, but he looked so determined I would hate myself if I made things worse for him.

They broke the window first, and then the door, surrounding us in chaos. In front of me, X seemed to be trapped in a fit of colors, his entire body shifting like a broken skin on a video game, trying to find its a perfect fit. 

"Surrender now and we will take you into custody with no injuries!" Silence. Then, a gunshot. X was there in front of me holding the bullet shell, somehow he had caught a bullet aimed at my heart. He seemed to be "glitching" more now, his eyes full of fury. X clawed at the muzzle, desperately trying to remove it. Another shot. X caught it in the muzzle, and I watched as it seemed to crumble inwards. Where X's mouth should have been, a black hole resided.