A Risk I'm Willing to Take

Six

I checked my backpack one last time for everything I needed. I pulled out a notepad and a pen. I ran my thumb over the purple feathers on the end. I smiled. Sometimes the simplest gifts mean the most.

I zipped my backpack up and hoisted it back on. I grabbed my camera case and started heading towards the growing crowd.

Everyone who had intentions of storming the base were meeting at the south east corner of the property.

So far no military had met us but they made it very public we were not welcome.

It's illegal to shoot and kill someone who's trespassing if they're fleeing or not armed. As far as I knew no one had been stupid enough to try to challenge the US government to an arms battle.

I tucked a stand of my hair behind my ear and clicked my pen. Time for interviews.

I walked up to a tall guy with an impressive shark tattoo on his upper arm. His blonde curls were tied up in two space buns. I was jealous. My hair was still too short to do something that cute.

I tapped him gently on the shoulder.

"Hmm." He turned around to face me.

I stood up tall but I was still only a breast bone height.

"I'm Gemma Emery and I'm interviewing people present at the Storm Area 51 event about their reasons for attending and what they hope the raid will achieve."

"Wait Gemma Emery like the singer?"

"Well yes, but I'm also a Journalism major at Mississippi State."

"That's so cool. I'd love be in your article."

"Awesome." "Can I get your name and email in case I need to contact you for follow-up interviews?"

I handed him the notepad and he wrote them at the top of the page.

I read over it and saw he had included his phone number too.

"So Tyler, what made you decide to come to the event today?"

Tyler glided his golden sand dollar back and forth on the chain around his neck.

"I think I came because I wanted to prove a point. The media is dominated by people our parent's age and they have been calling this a joke. They said because it was a social media event, no one would come."

I looked around at the crowd that had now doubled. There were easily two thousand people here and we weren't even storming for another hour and a half.

"I see."

I finished writing some notes.

"And what do you think of those people who are doubting the legitimacy of the Millennial generation's ability to organize?"

"I think I'm tired of those people feeling like they can tell me what I can't do. They want to act like we're still dumb kids who can't make any power moves but were not. I'm 23, but I'm still told I'm not allowed to have an opinion."

"I definitely understand that." I wrote some more notes.

"Finally, what do you hope to achieve in this raid?"

"I want to see what they're hiding from us. What are the government secrets?" He shifted his weight. "Plus I mean if even one person gets out of there with official documents it'll show that we're not to be messed with."

I wrote my final notes and clicked my pen. While I held my pen and notepad in one hand I held the other out.

"Thank you for your time."

He shook my hand and flashed me one more smile. He knew he was cute and he was probably hoping I'd text him later.

I spent the next hour interviewing three more people.

Another college student who was equal parts Criminal Law major and sci-fi fan. She read up on the law and told me that the government would be stupid to try and prosecute us if we stole any property because they'd have to admit to the existence of it first. She showed me the tattoo on the back of her neck of a moon. She was right it was pretty impressive.

I also talked to a man in his early thirties who really just wanted to see an alien. He also was very anti our current government and wanted to remind them that they worked for us. He didn't have any tattoos but he had a blue mohawk so he still got cool points in my book.

The last person I talked to was a thirteen year old girl. She was really cool. She wanted to be a politician one day. We talked for at least ten minutes about the importance of our generations protesting. She also recognized me so we got loads of silly selfies.

With the last twenty minutes I stood back and took pictures of the scene unfolding around me. There were people everywhere. It was just a sea of multicolored protesters. Sci-fi fanatics and those just wanting answers.

Then with two minutes left before the rush was to begin I stood about ten feet in front of the crowd and just began to take pictures.

I got amazing shots of the people run out towards me, arms raised and yelling their battle cries.

I had thought on the drive to the desert that I would just get my interviews and my pictures and leave, but in that moment I felt compelled. I couldn't just leave. I was curious too. This was a once in a life time experience, I wasn't going to let it slip.

So I slung my camera bag over my shoulder and started running.

My feet thudded as the made contact with the hot sand beneath me. Dust flew up from under my slip-on shoes. It was the end of September but in the middle of the Nevada desert it was still very hot. I regretted wearing jeans.

Once I got to the base I saw most of the crowd going right towards the bigger buildings. I stopped for a second and looked around.

A small building caught my eye. I can't even explain what pulled me towards that building. All the buildings looked the same with their pale orange stucco sides and thick metal doors. Cameras were everywhere.

Whatever it was that was pulling me I couldn't ignore it. I ran to the left across a clearing to a building with a door on the side.

I ran up to the door only to spot the lock. It was a pretty simple padlock but a barrier none the less.

In one fluid motion I pulled two bobby pins out of my pocket. I carried them everywhere for my hair but they were also incredible handy for picking locks.

Not many people knew I was skilled at picking locks but then again not many people would think to ask.

Really I could pick a lock with one bobby pin but the second one made things go a little faster.

After about a minute of carefully setting the lock it popped open. I pulled it off the door and opened the latch keeping the door shut. I replaced the lock in the ring on the door.

I knew this was a large scale raid but if I could discourage as many people as possible from interrupting me that would be great.

I wanted to snoop around and take some stuff. Even one classified file could make for a sensational article.

I quickly ran in the door and shut it behind me. I stood with my back pressed against the door. I shielded my eyes with my hand.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjusted to the fluorescent lights but once they did I was in for a shock.