Sub Terra: Et Reditus

Six

September 2061

The young woman sat at a park bench in Theodore Wirth Regional Park as she took notice of the man walking towards her. As she discerned who it was, her face lit up with a smile. She ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"You took so long... I was so scared." She said, her body tight around his.

"This probably wasn't the greatest idea, but I sure as hell won't take you to one of those Nark infested little restaurants."

"I don't blame you," she said, walking away from the bench. "Not a bad idea for a third date. I just don't like the idea of being alone."

"Fifth." The man corrected.

"Alright, whatever you say, Mr. Know-it-all. Where are we even heading to? We can't just wander around."

"I see... hey, wanna head out to the little lake they have here?" He said as he caught notice of a sign pointing to Wirth Lake, exactly one mile away from that point.

"Mhm. It'll be so nice to eat our sandwiches while looking over the water. So beautiful!" She remarked.

"You're so cute, Jess." The man teased.

"I'm almost 19, Ryan. You're not even that much older."

"Being 22 is a pretty big deal, pumpkin. For example, I can drink, you can't." He laughed.

"Doesn't matter. Alcohol is nasty."

"A little sip sometimes doesn't hurt."

They continued walking as the sun descended closer to the horizon, giving the park a Stonehenge kind of effect when compared to the trees that surrounded the couple on either side of the trail they were on.

"So, you graduated high school, huh? What are you doing now?" Ryan asked.

"Why are you asking that? I'm doing nothing."

"Nothing? You can't be serious, now."

"You forgot how we met already?"

"Yeah, yeah, I came to your fire station to give a presentation on mental health. You aren't doing anything education-wise?"

"That's what I meant by nothing. Kids who graduate in Minnesota can't go to college. We have to train in some kind of emergency service or a trade. I have no choice."

"That's a shitty ass rule. I never knew that. I wonder what idiot would make that up."

"Narks."

"Shhh...." Ryan whispered suddenly.

"What? It's true. I-"

Ryan slapped a hand over Jess' mouth.

"Keep walking. Look to your left without moving your head, and keep walking." He whispered.

She obeyed him. Behind a long row of trees, around 30 yards away, was another trail, roughly parallel to the one they were on.

She right away noticed three massive extraterrestrial beings wearing police gear marching shoulder to shoulder in the opposite direction of the couple, with one of them holding a rope. A couple meters behind them were another group of Narks in the same formation, with one of them holding a cattle prod. In between them was a horrifying sight.

A thin, shirtless man barely able to hold himself up dragged his feet, as the other end of the rope was tied around his neck while he was being poked repeatedly by the cattle prod. The look on his face was one of tiredness and despair, as he fixed his eyes on the ground below him. His back was covered in red marks and there were even signs of dried up blood on his skin. The Narkephian officers spoke in their strange, mysterious language and even laughed. Their physically imposing bodies made the man look like miniscule compared to them.