Codename Alpha

Chapter 17

Neither of us dared even breath as the alien who turned on the light spoke. We were both hidden behind the car, so that the only way it could see us is if they looked directly under the car.

"Oh, ich dachte du machst nur Spaß!" they exclaimed. I didn't even dare peek through the car windows, instead just staying crouched below the door, with my head down. I could see out of my peripheral that Max was peeking over somewhat, but I didn't want to risk making any sounds at all. I could also smell the alien. Thankfully, they didn't carry the scent of blood or anything freaky like that. Rather, they smelled strongly of alcohol. It was strange, reminding me of a strange yellow drink that I had seen in a Burning Man celebration many years ago. "Ja, ich verstehe es jetzt," the alien shouted, bringing me out of my thoughts. I gripped the two license plates tightly, making sure not to drip them and give away the fact that this alien was not alone.

I was somewhat relieved by the sound of a click and a strange machine, which I quickly recognized as the garage door closing. Still, I held as still as possible, waiting for the alien to leave. Whoever it was also waited for the garage door to close fully. When it finally did, they said "Wow, das hätte schlimm sein können," in a quiet tone before turning the light off and closing the door behind themself. I listened carefully for the sound of their pawsteps as they walked away, to some other corner of the house.

I waited for a few seconds before moving at all. "Are they gone?" I whispered, as quietly as possible.

"Yeah," Max said. He didn't sound entirely sure of it himself. Nonetheless, I turned to face him better and stood up slightly, thankful to see that the door was indeed closed. I breathed out a sigh of relief. I could only imagine how lucky we were to not have been spotted by the alien. They had either been not paying attention, or we were hidden well enough.

Before there was time to do anything else, I noticed that there was a light tapping sound coming from the garage. Max picked up on it as well, and we both quietly walked over to where it was coming from. It still felt like every click from my claws hitting the concrete floor could be heard across this house. Nonetheless, he tapped on the garage door in return. I was very thankful to hear Marine on the other side.

"Are you guys alright?" she whispered. The garage door certainly didn't help, but she was still audible.

"Yeah, just had a near-death experience," Max presumably joked. "Listen, we'll find a way out. Stay in cover away from the road, but close enough to hear us in here, alright?"

"Understood, I'll be around the corner."

I looked around the rest of the garage, to see if there was any evident way to escape. "All told, I think that could've gone far worse," I commented quietly. The garage seemed to be just that - an ordinary garage. The car sat in the middle, with numerous metal shelves on our side of the room, lined with all sorts of items. I also noticed that there was a small rectangular window also on our side, above the shelves, which is where the light in the room was coming from.

"Honestly, if they had spotted us, I'm not really sure if the results would be outright bad. That alien looked... familiar, I guess? They were wearing this white tank top and gym shorts. Not exactly your archetypal evil alien. Well... we still need those license plates," he added, still talking in a quiet tone. "You replace them and all that, I'll figure out a way we can get out of here. And be quick, I don't want to spend any time here at all."

"Got it," I responded. Quickly, I moved to the back of the car, and crouched. The minor worry I had of this car's license plate being different, for whatever reason, disappeared when I saw it was the same; albeit with different numbers, digits, glyphs- whatever the symbols were on the plates I was carrying. I carefully set those on the ground, and got to work removing the two screws keeping it in place. Once it was loose, I carefully, and as quietly as possible, pulled it and the license plate off the car, setting it carefully on the ground. I picked up one of the plates from the truck, and screwed the new plate into place.