The Dark Beyond

Paul's Valley Part 3: Casualties and Mysteries

He had horrible nightmares. Of UFO's hovering over them and causing havoc, of Miranda's screams when the missile exploded in the cave. Of his own terrible helpless cries. Green eyes following him around in the dark.
He woke up in a bed, in a small brown wooden room. There were no windows, but there was a small wooden door on the other side of the room. Wearily he began to check his body for damage. There were a few scars on almost every part of his body, but he wasn't really sore, and he didn't have a head ache anymore. He wondered how long he had been in there. He felt his phone in his pocket vibrating. As we sat up to check it, the door suddenly opened, and a woman with short blonde, curly hair, and deep blue eyes walked in. She seemed surprised that he was awake. "Can you.. walk?" She cautiously asked him. "Yeah," he said, "But... where exactly am I?" She put her hands on her hips and sighed before replying, "Well, you made it. You're in Paul's Valley."
Suddenly he jerked up, looking around. "Don't worry," she said. "We got that alien metal thing safe down in the HQ," she told him. "Your Commander told us about it." "Where are the people I was with?" Her face quickly became serious. "They're down in the hospital," she said. "You were too, but.. once you had gotten well enough, we had to move you out up here to make room. Most of them didn't make it." "Take me to them," he insisted, "...please." Slowly, she consented. "If you can walk... follow me." He followed her out of the door into what seemed to be a small cabin. There was a couch, facing a large TV, and a coffee table with on it, left unfinished in between the Tv and couch. They walked through this living room of sorts into a kitchen, with a door that he imagined lead out side. He was surprised when it didn't. It lead to a closet with a washer and dryer in it. The woman scooted the washer to the other side of the closet to reveal a trapdoor underneath. She opened it and began to descend down a latter.
      When they finished descending, they were in a small office looking room. Without a word, they went through the room to the door on the other side. It revealed a huge underground city. The ground was entirely made of sand, with little cars driving through the dirt from place to place. They had emerged from a small box shaped building. A little bit to their left, was a small four door car. She motioned for him to follow her inside. They drove around for a bit, passing by multiple small and large buildings. This place reminded him of Egypt. They finally arrived to the second largest building there, the hospital. With a concerned glance at him, she had him follow her into the unpleasantly crowded hospital. It was absolutely crammed. The walls were much too close together for Nelson's liking, and the Doctors, and patients, and people coming to visit said patients seemed to be constantly walking  through the hall. As the woman spoke to the receptionist, Nelson heard someone cry out in pain down the hall, and from another room, sobs. Someone had flatlined.
Nelson, after she finished speaking to the receptionist, followed the woman down through the crowded hallways until they reached the very end. He checked his phone now as they walked, and saw concerned texts from Anora. She had been texting him for a while asking if he was okay, but she stopped a few hours ago. He replied to let her know he was okay. To his annoyance, the message seemed to be taking a while to send. Not in the mood for some sucky ass reception, he thought irritably.
            "This is the room," she told him. He walked in almost reluctantly, afraid of what he would see. As he walked in, he saw Samuel sitting in a chair, holding his head. He seemed to be dizzy. Samuel sat next to someone hooked into a giant machine, which entombed this person's entire body except for their head. He could see who it was yet. "Nelson! You made it..!" Samuel said, smiling with relief. "I thought you might not have made it." "I almost didn't.." Nelson said quietly. He stared worriedly at the machine, and the person hooked up, trying to see the face. Half of the face was so burnt up he couldn't tell who it was. He felt a knot in his stomach. Samuel frowned sadly. "That's... Charles..." he said. "He's alright I think, but he's been going in and out of consciousness." Samuel stared at Charles  with extreme sadness in his eyes. "This is so terrible..." Nelson gulped nervously. "Where's Miranda..?" Samuel eyed him closely for a moment, then looked away. He seemed troubled. "S-Samuel..." Nelson started. He felt anger and pain begin to build up in his chest. He didn't think she deserved to die such a painful death. He began to feel the effects of denial coming over him. She couldn't be dead, right?
        Another doctor walked in at the moment, and began to do something with all the hookups in Charles' machine. When the doctor finished, and was about to leave, Nelson called out to him. He turned around. "Yes?" "Was there a girl in here?" He asked him, "Redheaded, curly red hair?" The doctor cast a concerned look at him. "I can see you're concerned for this woman..." The doctor said. He had a German accent that began to stand out more as he talked. "So... I'm really sorry to... sorry to tell you..." But Nelson had heard enough. He slammed his fist on his knee, wincing in pain as he did so. "Damnit...." he muttered. Samuel eyed Nelson with a frown. He rubbed his shoulder. "Are you alright man..?" He asked him. "This isn't right.....!" Nelson grimaced. "She didn't deserve this..." "I guess this is the.. hard part of living our.. lifestyle now," Samuel said. "This is why I hate aliens. We need to figure out how to beat them soon man. We need this mission to succeed." The Doctor frowned sadly. Nelson felt tears in eyes beginning to spill over. He heard the door open and footsteps walking in. "This is my fault..." he muttered to Samuel. "We couldn't help this," Samuel reassured him.
       The footsteps he'd hear were from a relatively short man, just barely shorter than average. He was decent build, with long brown hair that covered his eyes and went down to just above his shoulders. When he spoke, his voice sounded familiar. "You two okay?" Samuel looked up. "Yeah... Thanks man... for getting there when you did.." The man nodded. When he spoke, he spoke slowly and methodically, though not in an unkind way. "Hey, Nelson, why are you crying?" "It's my fault she... died.." he muttered pitifully. "He's not had to deal with a death on the job yet," Samuel explained to the guy. "Why do you know my name?" Nelson asked. "You don't remember me?" The guy asked, "I know it's been some years... and I've changed.. but it's me. Paul." Nelson eyed the guy carefully. "The same Paul... we used to play Xbox with?" He asked slowly. Paul nodded. "This is where I ended up," he replied. "I'm sorry for your loss... Might I ask.. who you lost today?" Nelson clenched his fist, trying and failing to hold his tears in. "I can't right now..." Nelson murmured softly, turning his face away. "Miranda," Samuel said, "I didn't see what happened, and my memory is foggy anyway.. but she didn't make it. The red headed girl." "Oh... her..." Paul said, "Oh... I'm sorry dude..."
        "Don't waste any tears on me," a familiar female voice said from outside the door. Nelson quickly looked up, wiping the water from his face. Surely enough, Miranda walked in, very much alive. He couldn't help himself. He jumped up and ran over to her, picking her up and hugging her tightly in the air. He held her there for a minute, inhaling the now weak, sweet orange perfume as it invaded his senses. "I'm so happy you're alive....!" He muttered as he finally put her down on her feet. She smiled shyly at him, very clearly flustered. "...me too..." she said softly. "How did you make it?" He asked her. "Charles," she said, pointing towards him. "He pressed some button on his rocket and it made the missile turn back around, and it blew up in front of him. So he took it almost head on and I just got knocked back from the force of it. I just got a few small burns on my arms and stuff. I was kinda ready to die.." She glanced hopefully at him. "But now I'm kinda glad I didn't..." Nelson eyed her curiously. He feared he may have given her the wrong impression. He was definitely very fond of her, and he thought she was hot, but he was dead set on Anora, no matter what he thought about any other woman. Paul eyed them closely, smiling slyly. "I'm sorry," he said, "I know it was probably a bad time to pull a prank. Didn't know you two were together." Nelson was about to object but Samuel interjected saying, "You were in on the prank too, Doctor? I just couldn't remember anything because of how I hit my head. But shouldn't you have known?" The doctor shook his head. "Before he slammed his fist, I was just gonna say I was sorry to tell him that I haven't seen her. Not that she was dead." "Sorry.." Nelson muttered, a bit embarrassed. Miranda only smiled a small smile at him, blushing still. "I don't know how to tell Anora about Charles though.." Samuel said slowly. "She's gonna be so upset." Nelson eyed him closely. "I think it's better she hear it from me, actually," Nelson told him. Samuel stared for a moment, as if to say something, but then put his hand back on his head. Miranda had a strange expression on her face, but said nothing, instead just putting her hands in her pockets.
Nelson took out his phone to call Anora. He called her twice, each time getting no response. He frowned. "She not answer?" Samuel asked. Nelson shook his head. "Who ever she is, maybe she'll get back to you all later," Paul said, walking towards the door. "Follow me. We gotta talk about what this Cherry girl found out." Samuel nodded. "Will
Charles be okay?" "Hopefully," The Doctor said. "It's looking kind of iffy right now, but we'll do everything to keep him alive." With that, they headed out of the hospital into the underground city that was Paul's Valley's EED HQ. "So Paul," Nelson said, as they walked, "What's your position here?" "Me?" Paul asked, "I'm the Head guy here. I run this place. Me and my beautiful wife Renè. She was the blonde girl that took you down here." As they left, they followed Paul to another one of those mini four door cars, and they all got in. Paul and Samuel up front, Miranda joining Nelson in the back. She glanced shyly at him from time to time. Damn I feel bad, he thought as they drove off. I was happy to see her, glad she wasn't dead... but I'm afraid I for real might have given her the wrong impression.. He checked his phone. Anora hadn't texted or called him back. Miranda seemed to be rather interested. She asked him, "She hasn't answered?" Nelson shook his head. "Must be this damn reception down here." It was just then that Samuel's phone vibrated. He glanced nonchalantly at. "Well she texted me," he said, looking at his phone. Nelson raised an eyebrow, focusing on on Samuel. "What did she say? Does she not see me trying to talk to her?" Samuel shrugged. "I.. well.. she's asking if we are okay.." Nelson frowned with frustration. "That is kinda weird," Miranda commented, poorly hidden interest coloring her voice and facial expression. Samuel glared at her but said nothing. Why is she not answering me? He thought. Maybe her phone was fuckin up. She'll probably text me any second now. "We're here," Paul said, stopping the car beside a heavily guarded building. The men guarding it immediately saluted Paul as they stepped out of the car. "Cherry should be in there to discuss what she found out," Paul said. "This shit is crazy," Nelson said as they walked in. "It's like I got knocked out in Knoxville and came back to some crazy dream or some shit. Have you always been in the EED?" Paul nodded. "I started just before Samuel did, all those years ago. Damn." Paul smiled and shook his head. "I can barely remember way back then. When we all used to play Xbox together back in the day." Samuel smiled with nostalgia. "Seems like it was forever ago," he added in. "We gotta get back to that soon," Paul said. "But right now; this Cherry chick. Where did y'all meet her? Any idea how she figured that out so fast? And has she always been that weird?" "I have no clue," Nelson said. "She was in California when all that shit went down, she just came out of nowhere with some space suits and gave them to us. I myself don't know much about except she's kinda... odd." "Yeah she's a freakin weirdo," Miranda chimed in. "Well whatever it is, it's coming in handy right now," Paul said. "She's always been weird around alien technology. Commander Moran told me y'all would be able to figure out what she's hiding?" "That's the plan," Samuel nodded. "It's through here," Paul said finally, having lead them through a long, twisting, metal hallway to a single door. He opened it up.
Inside they saw, inside a gargantuan otherwise empty room, a giant, classical looking flying saucer. It was pitch black, and although it seemed to be powered off and made no noise, it levitated just above the ground. Nelson, Samuel, and Miranda all stared wide eyed at it. "Don't get to close," Paul warned, "It has occasionally let off some kinda magnetic fluctuation when people get too close to it, and it knocks everyone in the room unconscious... best case scenario." Around on the other side of the saucer, Cherry sat at a lone desk, wearing similar metal gloves like Zach had worn to handle alien technology. She was holding two metal sheets with the extraterrestrial language on it, her green eyes studying them curiously. As always, she had a cherry stem in her mouth. She turned quickly around once they had gotten close to her.
"...hey," she said. Glancing between them and the metal sheets. She eyed Nelson with a strange expression. "Your blade is in here," she said slowly, getting up a bit awkwardly to get it from a case under the desk with her metal gloves. She took it out, and went over to hand it to him. "So what does it say?" Paul asked her as Nelson strapped the blade on to his back. Cherry took a seat, twiddling her thumbs and remaining silent for a while. Then, she finally replied, "It said something along the lines of this... Something about something called the 'Annunaki' being locked away. Something about a war... billions of years ago.. and a device landing and crashing at this location...." Cherry paused. She took out her phone and got
on to google maps. "It looks like I could do some math and... yup it crashed over here." She held her phone for everyone to see. "I know that place," Paul said, crossing his arms. "We had an extraterrestrial crash discovered buried deep underground there... but we had it moved to Toronto, Canada for them to try their luck." "How did you figure all that out from that crap?" Samuel asked, pointing at the metal sheets. The extraterrestrial writing on them seemed like gibberish to them. Cherry glanced down at her phone, which now lit up. "Let me answer this," She said quietly, walking outside the door to a answer the call. Paul crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Well it looks like Toronto is the place to be," He said decidedly. "But we should definitely try to figure out where or how she figured all of that shit out. It seems kinda sudden. We also definitely need to get you guys some weapons. If you would follow me to the armory, we can get you prepared for the journey. I'll be coming with you, of course. Come on. Let's go get Cherry." As they left out of the room to go get Cherry from her phone call, they were a little surprised to see she wasn't out there. "Where did she go?" Paul asked. They all shrugged and started looking around for her in the building, calling out her name and asking for her. A few people said they'd seen someone like her leaving the HQ in a hurry. Paul seemed baffled. "Why did she run off??" He asked. "I have no clue.." Samuel stammered. That's kinda suspect as fuck, Nelson thought. I wonder if she's the one Mari was talking about... the other hybrid..? She does have green eyes and.... Is she trying to get me to follow her or something? His thoughts were interrupted by Samuel's phone ringing. When they all looked to him, he quietly said, "It's.. Uhm Anora." Nelson raised an openly suspicious eyebrow. Miranda tried and failed to hide a smile. She seemed quite bad at hiding her smiles. "She hasn't called you yet?" She merely asked Nelson. He shook his head. "You're making things worse, if you haven't noticed," Samuel said, clearly annoyed, "I don't know why...." He stopped to answer the phone. "Yes..?" He said. "... Im fine... i don't know.. Nelson's right here.." "May I speak?" Nelson said with deceptive calmness. Miranda eyed him curiously, her hands stuffed in her pockets as seemed to be a habit of hers. Samuel nodded. "Hey Im putting him on now.." he said. He handed Nelson the phone. However to his great surprise, as soon as spoke, she hung up on him. He stood there in complete shock. Did Anora just hang up on him for no reason? Is she mad at him? Why is she only talking to Samuel?? "Wow. That's really crazy," Miranda chimed in. Samuel stared nervously at Nelson. "I... I don't know.. w-what to say..?" Paul, who had chosen to remain silent, finally spoke this time. His voice was stern. "Let's finish this... 'squabble' later. That girl is hiding something and we need to catch her and figure out what. Samuel, stay back here just in case, and see if anything is missing. Be mindful of the saucer in there so you don't set it off." Samuel merely nodded quickly and darted off back to the room they had been in. "Come on you two, let's split up on the surface." They ran and followed Paul. They got up to the surface and onto the streets of Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. "Hopefully she couldn't have gone far," Paul muttered, immediately running towards the city. They emerged from a cabin that was right on the outside of the city. "I guess we should look the other direction," Miranda suggested, and he followed her away from the city, towards sparse trees. "You think she's hiding out here somewhere?" Nelson asked as they jogged, looking around for any sign of movement. Miranda shrugged. "What's up with her?" She asked. Nelson hesitated in his response slowing a bit. "W-what do you mean?" Miranda slowed to match his pace, which slowed to a bit of a walk. "Cherry," Miranda said slowly, "But I imagine you had another in mind?" Nelson sighed uncomfortably. "I don't know..." he muttered. "Why is she only talking to Samuel..?" He eventually asked, trying to hide the sadness in his voice. Miranda shook her head, eyeing him with a frown on her face. "I don't know.. are you okay?" Nelson shook his head reluctantly. "I'm just kinda worried...." he said, slowly. He had been trying to ignore it. But the more he tried the worse it seemed to linger on his mind. "She's crazy," Miranda said softly. Nelson glanced at her but said nothing. He didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry," Miranda said slowly, "It's just.. you're too sweet to be left hanging like this... if I were in her shoes... I mean.. I'm just saying... you would be the only one I would be calling right now." "Miranda.." Nelson said slowly, frowning a bit. "I'm sorry," she eventually said, staring away. "But.. Thanks... I suppose," he added eventually. He had to be wrong. There's no way.. right?
"I don't see her anywhere around here," he said after they had searched for a while. "Yeah," Miranda agreed. "I mean sheesh, it's like she just up and flew away." "Maybe she did.." Nelson said slowly. Miranda eyed him curiously. "I don't follow?" She told him. "Mari... thats what he wanted me to call him or whatever. He told me.. that someone somewhere in the EED was also another hybrid. A girl he said. With her disappearing like this..." Miranda crossed her arm, an indecipherable expression coming over her face. "Hmmm," She merely said, "Well why was she supposed to be here?" "You know... he was rather vague about that.. he called it an experiment. For some war. It sounds like a use us and get rid of us type deal to me. I don't know how he convinced the other one.. I guess Cherry. But I should probably warn her. She's probably not realizing she's being used as a tool." Miranda frowned. "What?" Nelson asked her. After a moment of thought, she said, "So then.. uhm... so does that mean she has like information about our secret HQ's and how to infiltrate them? And she's going to tell them?" "Damn you're right," Nelson agreed. "See I was afraid to say anything though.." "Do you think it really matters though?" Miranda asked. "You saw how strong they are. Even with all my training and your half alien strength it's like we couldn't really do anything..." Nelson crossed his arms defensively. "I'm not quitting and joining them," he said firmly. "I didn't mean that," Miranda immediately told him, "All I mean is maybe we should just like run. Like. Maybe we should try to get stronger some how." "They'd never run away," Nelson said. "I'm not leaving them either. So I don't know. I guess we're better off warning them." Miranda stared for a moment, before a sly smile came over her. "What?" He asked her. "I told you female aliens have boobs!" She said, playfully punching his shoulder. Nelson chuckled. "Whatever you say," Nelson replied, "But like that's weird. If they have four arms and eyes, would that mean they have four boobs too?" Miranda laughed out loud, for the first time Nelson ever heard. It was carefree, and a little bit goofy. Also, something about it made him want to smile and laugh too. "I'd rather not imagine that," she said, still giggling a bit. "See, you made me imagine giant four armed four boobed aliens that shoot weaponized milk out of their titties." Nelson found himself laughing aloud. "I don't know why that was so funny to me," he laughed, "But let's hope we do not have to fight that."
They made their way back to the cabin, where they eventually met Paul back at the HQ. Once they told him they hadn't found anything, they immediately returned to Samuel to see if anything had happened. Of course, it was the same as when they left. "Nothing missing," Samuel said, "Except some papers I think I saw earlier." "Damn," Paul grimaced. "Those were her notes. Okay. I'll take you to the armory. Go get suited up. I have to make a few preparations, but in either tomorrow night or the following morning we're heading out to Toronto. I have a bad feeling about all of this." As they followed Paul, Nelson began to wonder if he should tell them. He didn't want them to start thinking he was an alien at all. He didn't want one shred of doubt in their mind. Reluctantly, he decided against telling them anything. He didn't want to join the aliens. "What's on your mind?" Miranda asked him, pulling him away from his train of thought. "I don't know. Just worried I guess," he told her. He noticed as they walked behind Paul and Samuel, who were both silent, that she walked close enough to him that they're hands rubbed against each other occasionally. He was about to put some distance between them when a thought entered his mind.