Unmarked road, near Sedan Crater

Nevada

1:17 PM

I woke up the third time with my stomach growling for sustenance. This makes it what… two days without food? Yeah, that’s right. My first thought of food was to have deep-fried fish—succulent Coren bellyfish, smothered in a seasoned creme sauce, steamed vegetables and a house lager. Alas, I wasn’t able to have that moment of comfort. I was still bound. I groaned as my stomach growled again, and I fully opened my eyes to the truck’s floor. The collar was on my neck again. As I realized that the truck was moving and bouncing against the road, the cuffs were scratching further into my skin. Besides shaking from starvation, I felt warmer for some reason.

Oh hey, you’re awake.> Kantra’s voice was a whisper in my head, he’s the one I don’t want to use as a wake-up call. I know you can hear me. Russ alerted me the drugs were being absorbed and I had to come over. Oh by the way, Russ, you owe me thirty capas.>

Decathan grumbled disappointedly and heard coins clinging. I wondered what bet they had made.

Thanks so much, Nodus, I thought back, now for reassurance all I need is you and your shadow walker powers to split these humans to dust.

Kantra huffed.

Well, while you’re sitting there being a POW,> Decathan interjected, All of us are sitting here waiting for the permits to be finalized. Comet and I are just about to loose it from the boredom.> Boredom showed in his voice; I wish I could feel the same.

And Denverbay is the head writer? I pressured, not hard to growl in my mind.

I had never heard Kantra that distressed from a Councilman. I wonder what happened between them? The truck bounced and I muttered in pain from the neck brace. My arms were still above me and I felt nothing from them.

Russ, are my arms okay?

Yes. The nanites are moving blood through them but your arms are dormant until they’re lowered, so they’ll hurt after. The stitched bullet hole in your shoulder is nearly healed by your doing, not seeing any clots. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.> I thanked him.

Tilting my head up, I blinked to adjust my eyes to the fluorescent lights. In front of me was the woman from before, still bound and clad in her gown. Her body was still beaten up and her cuts were showing signs of infection. Obviously these humans didn’t care about her well-being, she was just something to dissect later on. She was wide-awake and was trying to get attention from Jessica sitting next to her on a crate, but it was fruitless. When she stopped and looked at me, I thought she was gonna have a heart attack as she gasped and asked who the hell I was. Still no answer from Jessica.

Jessica saw me and smiled. What made it sick was she blew a kiss at me. What a devil, in a bad way. I gagged at the thought of her lips touching mine again, then beamed her a crazy man’s stink eye. Jessica rolled her eyes and kept on ignoring blondie and went back to reading a thin book with pictures, but being a bitch as she was, she pushed blondie’s head to press against her neck collar like an annoying bug. Blondie whined and shut up afterwards.

On the other side of the truck, near the driver’s end, was a bound human male. Awake and quiet, he appeared to have minimal bruises on his lower arms. From the muscle growth on his biceps I labeled him as a retired military man, he had characteristics that were hard to ignore, or a washed-out bar bouncer, whichever works. He looked straight at me with eyes of deep loss and evidence of dried tears, but didn’t register the same reaction as blondie. His interest in me was unimportant. He looked at me for a second then down to the floor.

The eyes struck me a little off. The standard reaction when humans see a being from another world was utter fear and speculation when humans see a being from another world, but he didn’t care one bit.

And why was he, a human civilian, in the truck with us?

Agent Roland stood next to him hanging onto the overhead railing, and clasping on an assault rifle for emergencies. He saw me and spoke to Jessica, “Told you that dosage was not enough. What do you wanna do?”

“Leave him be. Let the freaks deal with him,” Jessica said still reading.

What does that mean?> Kantra asked.

Means that we’ll get some dirt, Nodus. Any idea where I’m heading?

Maps show an air base north of your location,> Kantra said. Odd that’s still in operation.>

No I mean exactly my location, redskin. I’ve studied Terra Firma’s maps, don’t leave me out of the loop.

Kantra growled. Nevada. United States. In the middle of a desert. Good enough for you, grouch?>

Thank you. Man do I hate that guy.

On my side of the truck I smelled unwashed humans. To my left were two creatures the same as blondie, wearing human civilian clothes. Tails were laid against their legs. Both looked young and ripe with life, possibly love partners by the look of the matching pendants around their necks. I had no problem guessing that they suffered the same drugs I had.

Then the one next to me, the male, was groaned low from a long nap. His unkempt hairdo shielded most of his face while the female kept on sleeping. It would be hard to handle me being so close to them.

“Looks like the gas is wearing off as I predicted,” Jessica said after she turned a page. “No thanks to you, greenie, all our anesthetic is gone. We’ll need to see how fast you gained immunity.”

Let her try, I can have my nanites hide your secrets so hard they need a maze specialist,> Decathan chimed. Even if that’s true, humans will find out and adapt. Trust me, if you’re not aware of how humans think, watch all their movies and motion pictures in the “science fiction” section. Those punks are smart and aren’t aware of it.

I lost track that I smirked and Jessica noticed. I stuck my tongue at her. If you two could only see what I’m seeing, I thought. You might get a kick how ugly Jessica is, Nodus.

Don’t start, Jaruka, just don’t get on my case.> I have a way to irritate his social life, especially Kantra’s opposite-sex relationship issues. I reminded him of how ugly his first mate was.

No I’m serious. I have no problem talking to Wringheart to install retina scanners. She will do it in a heartbeat, I bet…

The male creature waking up cut me off. I ignored Kantra and Decathan asking what’s happening. The male’s tail began moving to relieve the pain in its joints. Roland caught wind of it and readied his rifle for anything. I was trying to come up with excuses when his tail landed on my thigh, no chance to brush it away.

“Uh… my head,” he said, raising his head up. The collar held his neck secure and he hummed from the restraint. He opened his eyes, jerked his shackles, and his fear increased. Kantra ordered me to not move or make a sound but tell him everything, and I did. Thinking fast, I relaxed my head and used my skin dreads for cover, like I didn’t care.

“Scott,” the shackled male human said. “Scott calm down, I mean it. Don’t hurt yourself.”

The one named Scott didn’t do what he was told. “Mike? Ah, Mike, what the heck is going on?”

“It’s what the Secretary told everybody. Just try to keep quiet. Look, Katie is waking up. Tell her what I said.”

I felt Scott looking to his left, “Oh, God, Katie, you okay dear?”

The creatures speak the same language as the humans? Kantra thought so the same thing. Universal language for a parallel dimension perhaps?

I could sense that he was trying to reach for her. “Almost there… Wait, give me a sec. I got an idea.” I saw his tail lift away, but stopped after a few inches, he saw his nonhuman next door neighbor. I still didn’t look up.

Scott cursed so loud he might’ve woken a soldier out of a coma. He started to squirm where he sat, but the shackles on his ankles kept him planted. The woman in the gown shrieked while the one called Mike screamed at Scott to shut it. I heard the woman next to him wake up like a shot and scream at me.

Scott was still begging them to explain everything. I could tell that Roland was getting agitated; he tapped his foot and flicked the rifle’s trigger.

“Alright, I had enough. Roland, do what you want to shut them up,” Jessica ordered.

“You said it,” Roland agreed. And he set his rifle over us on the shelf and faced Scott. Scott ordered him to remove the shackles or else he would wail on his ass, but he got more than he bargained for. I heard a bone crunching punch with cries of pain, and then Roland went for Katie, making her cry. Roland screamed, “Shut up you freaks or else you won’t live past supper!” I winced at the sounds—beating up a dimensional being was a new low for humans.

“What the hell? Stop that, this is madness,” Mike cried out and lashed at his braces. Roland turned and glared at him. He pointed at Mike and the crying blonde, both fell silent.

“That goes the same to you two. Pipe down.” Roland went back to his spot.

Okay that’s it, I’m getting mad. I’m calling in Sketch,> Kantra said at last. I gasped mentally. Of course, why haven’t we thought of him before? Kantra called for him and in a second, I heard the atmosphere crackle through my mind, a side effect from shadow walker teleportation magic.

You called, my commander?> Sketch asked in a sly tone. I had never personally met him but knew about him from word of mouth. Endeavor calls him Sketch because of his incredulous habit of ability to draw his spells on paper and use them as catalysts for magic. I even tried his species’ food once, like their spice-filled stews, but I gag every time I breathe in their atmosphere of noxious gases. Because they are gifted with magic, the Zaktis are the perfect scouts for reconnaissance missions.

Project what you hear,> Kantra ordered. Zaktis have advanced hearing and are able to hear extremely well to track animals on their planet. Sketch can read the vibrations in the sound, form a mental image of how the sound bounces against objects, and project it with a magical white haze with the opacity of fine sand. It’s his signature spell, crafted by him, and practiced by him. It’s so precise that it can pinpoint a heartbeat from a single mass. Okay, we got visual, Jaruka. I’m counting seven bodies including yours.>

Correct, I thought. Do you see the woman sitting on the crate with her legs crossed?

Yes.>

That’s the sick bitch that kissed me before shoving a tranquilizer in my neck. Take note Russ, I want you to scrub my lips raw. Decathan laughed and ran his mouth off that it was the most ridiculous thing that he had heard from me yet. Decathan’s people don’t touch each other’s lips, but rather… eh, never mind.

Kantra cleared his throat, I also see three unknown creatures from your description. Pardon me for judging, but they look human with added parts.>

Don’t change the subject, Nodus. They are not human, believe me. Him making a wild assumption that didn’t make sense made me shake my head.

“Scott, I’m scared, and my shoulder hurts,” Katie moaned. “You alright?”

“Jaw hurts, but I’m fine,” Scott answered. “Why would they agree to something as barbaric as this?”

In response, Jessica got up, setting her reading material on the crate. She was inches from the rifle above me. “Okay, since everybody is conscious, listen up.”

“Oh I do want to listen up,” Scott yelled. “Like why the hell would the Secretary of Defense issue this plan, and who is this guy?”

“Good questions, but never interrupt me again. It wasn’t the Secretary that issued it; it was the President himself that called it. He believes it’s a good measure to ‘quell the contamination.’”

“Is he serious?” Mike said incredulously. “That’s not like him, he would never decide it. Well he did make some stupid ones the last four years, but nothing like this.”

“He did, Mr. Sanders. Get over it.” A certain tone in her voice said otherwise.

Scott heaved his chest, “Then what about him? What’s his story?” I hate it when everything else was of more importance, yet my story is what takes interest and fogs up the vital details.

“This man is our guest and has juicy backstory. Ain’t that right, Mr. Teal?”

I growled to make my point and Scott tried to scoot away.

“Now, now, that’s no way to act.” She approached me and grasped my dreads. The strength lift me up and banged my head against the wall. I stared at her with my jaw locked up. “Is there something you want to get off your chest?”

She wants me to speak their language. Forget it.

“In that case, I’ll help you.” She hunkered leaned down, closed her eyes, and puckered her lips. Inching closer, she moaned louder.

Awe, hell no!

“Get those nasty lips away from me or i will bite them off!” With that right in her face, she shot back, but still smiled like a psycho. Agent Roland chuckled but the captives screamed and gasped, not sure which one came first.

She shook her head, “Tisk, tisk, tisk. Such rage.”

Awe, I think I’m going to be sick,> Decathan sighed. Who knew human bonding customs could be so disgusting.>

“Anyway, as I was saying, you five are being transported to a facility safe from public eyes. It is necessary to understand what is happening and what can be done to slow it down.”

“And that gave you the right to attack me and my friends in my own house? Even when you…” Mike was silenced by Jessica’s finger.

“Sir, it was necessary. We’ve read reports that these two are unstable and can ‘cast magical spells’ or some other wild accusation. Measures had to be taken seriously, we had to silence to witnesses.”

“It’s true,” Katie said, looking pissed off, but her motives were less sinister than Jessica’s. “We can cast magic. I can do it right now to prove a point.” She shook her head to hold off crying I believed. “Why did you kill McDermit like that?”

Roland smirked in a chills-ran-up-my-spine look, “It’s my partner’s fault, not mine, she has a problem with lesser authority.”

“It’s still murder!” Mike exclaimed with rage boiling in his voice. “You killed Ashley right in front of me!”

Scott and Katie gasped. From their faces I gathered that they knew her. A friend that had housed them when they arrived to this dimension I thought, and Mike must be this Ashley’s love partner. “Wh-What?” Katie said shuddering.

“It’s true, guys. I was the last to pass out. Ashley was about to run when she got caught in this bitch’s line of fire. Then as she crawled away… she came, laughed… and shot her in the head.” Mike glared at Jessica with rivers of tears becoming glossy on his cheeks. “She was my wife!”

Roland, being a hot shot, lit another one of those cigarettes. “That woman got in the way.” He blew a puff of smoke at Mike and made him scream in cold-blooded agony. Scott and Katie followed. I was bewildered by their emotions, but I didn’t care. It was their life, not mine. I have my own crap to deal with.

It was odd that Mike didn’t stop screaming. His chest heaved as if something was tearing his flesh off, and the agents also noticed this behavior. It reminded me of that woman getting shot by Jessica… getting that strange tattoo. Oh no.

Jessica’s wrist beeped and she looked down at it. “Right on time.” She went to the front and rapped on the window. The doors opened. “Quick, stop the truck. The civilian’s alarm is going off!”

The vehicle stopped suddenly, the scrapes on my limbs, neck, and my stitched shoulder felt the full force of the brakes. The level of screaming from Mike was just like the woman from before. The tattoos might be popping up in the civilian population, I thought. The truck bounced a little until it came to a complete stop. Jessica and Roland began unshackling Mike and hastily dragged him to the big double doors, then someone outside opened them. Nodus, are you getting this? I asked them.

Yeah we see it. We might not have much time, Sketch’s magic is beginning to dwindle on us.> Kantra ordered Sketch to use up all his magic, even if he had to tap into his life force. Sketch confirmed to live for the mission.

“Ah! Please, somebody, STOP THE PAIN,” Mike screamed, a sharp sting of pain made him arch his back. Outside it was the afternoon, the sun was in my face, and we were in the middle of a vast rocky mountainous desert landscape. The agent threw the guy out like cheap meat and he landed hard, kicking up dust, then the truck moved up several feet from him.

I could see Mike completely, and he was in a lot of pain. Scott and Katie were trying to see and barked at me to move back. “Oh my god, not him too,” Scott said softly. Not him what?

“Jessica, I demand you to tell me what is going on. What is happening to that human!?” I yelled.

“Observe, Teal, everything will become clear,” Jessica said and faced Roland to say, “get a pair of scrubs afterwards.”

Two soldiers—still in masks but lighter armor to fit the different climate—took point and aimed their weapons at Mike at a distance. My guess was that he was going to attack them and they open fire. The human kept on thrashing and screaming, complaining that his whole body was on fire.

Sketch, focus on the guy, I want Russ and Nodus to see this, I ordered with a hunch.

Mike turned to us. On his arms I saw thick worm-like tendrils slither under his skin, even under his clothes. He screamed about whatever was making his chest hurt, he decided to rip his thick sweater off with his bare hands. What I saw verified my suspicions. A different styled bluish-white glowing tattoo was sprayed across his chest, the design vaguely resembling a bunched up creature. I cocked my head when it got brighter and brighter, making his voice grow in unison.

There was one last shriek of plea from Mike until the unthinkable happened. The tattoo exploded with this bluish-white liquid, coating and sticking to his skin, and growing as if it was alive. The liquid ate his clothes and exposed his skin, then engulfed his entire head leaving his mouth and nose holes uncovered, followed by the rest of his body.

Decathan exclaimed. I tried to thinkspeak, but I was too transfixed.

A circle surrounded the human in the ground with unknown symbols and the same glow as the living liquid. Then a translucent dome formed over him; he kept whaling in pain and thrashed around like a mad man. The sight of it made me wish I had food in my gut to throw up, but not feel the raging hunger in me. Evidently I whispered, “By the goddess,” in my native tongue. I held my breath.

Commander, I’m sorry,> Sketch apologized. There’s too much sound, I can’t pinpoint the source. My magic is overwhelmed.>

Dammit, drink that potion and restart the process,> Kantra grumbled. Jaruka now you’re in charge of the details. Hey, can you hear me? Jaruka, are you okay? Teal!?>

I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t speak. It wasn’t the sight that made me freeze, but what I felt coming from the dome. Now, technically I can’t use magic. Yes I am a magical being, Halcunacs are magical to the core. Even though I can’t perform it, I can still sense magical energies with sensitive glands in my brain. I felt a scary surge of energy from Mike that made me think that I was having a heart attack.

That feeling lasted for a minute while I writhed quietly in my bonds. I’ve known other species that get a moment of highness from magic. This wasn’t that. I wanted to run from the energy, nothing about it felt right. When it subsided, I shook my head and looked back, only to see a horrible connection. Mike’s body developed serious muscle growth in junction with developing the same armor patterns as the others. I could see the tail from his spine—the same armor pattern—and wagging. The girth of his belly shrank in seconds to show off well-defined abs. I got an intense whiff of cooked fat coming from a massive puddle of black stuff to the side. The glow intensified, signaling that it was near completion.

Being a magical being I had to learn the rudimentary ideals of magic, from the basic to the ridiculously advanced. It hit me that I recognized that form of magic. The human symbols in the circle, the liquid suit keeping his body from exploding from the chaotic energies, the subtle body changes like the elf-like ears: the magic is deemed illegal by the Department of Experimental Magicks. I’ve seen it happen before on innocent people who want power but pay ultimate prices; literally destroying who they were originally, or dying in the process.

Any attempt of producing that magic is subjected to immediate execution on site. Did that probe my cheating client gave me sent me false information? What sparked the asteroid’s descent without magic? I hoped that if I live through this, the real answers would show up.

A sharp ping in my head woke me from my trance. Jaruka, dammit, wake up. Inform us,> Kantra barked.

I gathered my thoughts but it sounded like I was being enlightened. It’s impossible, down right ridiculous. You’re not gonna believe this, but the unknown creatures are the humans. It’s a genetic magical transformation! That guy transformed into a high-class magical creature!

They told me to slow down and repeat myself, which I hate doing. They were silent for an uncomfortable minute as Mike’s body emerged from the suit. The suit pieces floated in the air and collected into a single mass. An animal was created, becoming more real than its counterpart, a snow rabbit from Terra Firma. Think of it as a ball of fluff with two long ears on its head and a bigger fluff of fur as its tail. It had glowing blue eyes, and it talked.

Unlike anything I’ve ever come across.

Jaruka, are you serious?> Decanthan asked.

I’m dead crogen serious, Russ. This changes everything. Wait until Denverbay gets a load of this shit!

He ordered me to talk to them for the sake of information. I had no other choice, but my morals against humans stuck.

Jessica approached me. The bitch smiled and said, “Now you know.” What have I gotten myself into?

1:40 PM

Witnessing Mike’s transformation reminded me how horrible ours was. It was far more disgusting and scary than seeing my body transform back in my Inner Sanctum’s cabin, the screaming was the icing. It might have been be that he didn’t know about the tattoo at all. Maybe that broken neck thing was a misunderstanding. Mike looked beat after the transformation, but my mouth dropped because of how young he now looked. His muscles were toned, his hair grew out to a dark brown sheen, and his beer belly was replaced with a six-pack like Scott’s. He became a bodybuilder’s poster boy.

My anger rose as I saw those soldiers dress him in too-tight scrubs, they brought him back into the truck, and braced him to the wall as before. He looked severely weakened. Did I look like that when I came out? I thought. One soldier outside shoved the rabbit into a sack and took it to another truck, I guessed that it was the same place where Arana and Keeji were kept. The other soldier closed the doors to cut off the view of the desert, and locked them.

The truck moved and the guys in black went back to where they were originally. They encouraged small talk if it didn’t involve a face smashing. It looked like the perfect opportunity to distract everybody with my magic. My thoughts saw it playing out, but the truth was that it wasn’t a good idea. That rifle in the guy’s hands was so close to me that it snuffed any attempt to charge my mana. I had to stick to what they had said earlier.

I took the risk of calling out to Mike, “Mike, are you okay?”

His skin was pale as printer paper and he shook from the total lack of energy. The green scrubs didn’t fit him, they were tight around his thighs and chest. His tail was stuffed to the right side of his leg. He looked up at me with droopy eyes. “Food, I need… food,” he whispered.

“Ah hell, forgot,” one of the soldiers said quickly. Above me on the shelf he grabbed a bottle of some kind of orange smoothie stuff and a couple of wrapped protein bars. He fed them to Mike who savored the flavors, sounding a little better after every slurp and chew. The agent finished feeding Mike and went back standing near the driver side, hugged his rifle, and leaned on the wall for support from the bumpy road. Moments later Mike stopped shaking and took a few long breaths to calm down.

“Damn,” Mike moaned. “Is that what it feels like? To have your whole body ripped apart and put back together?”

Scott and I nodded and he shook his head in disbelief, “I saw what you guys saw, but it was my old house in Sugarloaf. And I talked to my totem. Oh, God, he sounds just like my brother-in-law.” He paused, and stared straight at the blond agent, “Wait until I get out of this and break your neck.”

The agent didn’t look, or even react. What a dick.

Then Mike looked down and started crying. I wept too. God I miss Ashley.

“Mike, I’m so sorry,” Scott said softly. “Ashley was a good woman. It’s senseless for what happened to her.”

“She just apologized… I’m supposed to protect her and I wasn’t able to. This fucking sucks.”

Tell me about it.

Mike grimaced and grunted as his chest convulsed for a second. He felt his new mana heart pump fresh mana for storage. Interesting enough, I saw a small blue glow emit from his chest like E.T. There were three seconds of illumination. I made note to check if that happens to me and Scott.

Speaking of aliens, the guy next to Scott was no doubt one. I looked over my boyfriend to see the guy’s head and arms, looking very serious as he stared at Mike. His eyes were all black with a bright gold iris, and they were filled with critical determination, sadness, and anger. The brown dreads (I thought it was hair, but it’s wood) draped behind him, few were wrapped with bracelets of random colors, and there were a few were partially hiding his manly features. His face was human-like with a square nose and a strong jawline. The clothes looked human, but I doubt they were, his white tunic with the alien symbols looked puffy on the arms and the shirt on his chest was pressed down with a utility vest.

Although, from my standpoint, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy to invade earth. He seemed… defeated and ripped off. I tried to think of why he was with us, and if he was connected with the Wave.

He shook his head after getting a good look at Mike, and then he caught me staring at him. I’m telling you, those eyes are powerful. They petrified me. I looked away and hid behind Scott. The alien snorted.

I felt Scott’s tail wrap around mine as if we were holding each others hands. He was worried about me and the green guy. He tried to come closer to me.

“Don’t worry, I got you,” he said and nudged at the alien. “I have no problem casting a spell to get away from him.” Scott wasn’t serious; he knew he’d be shot if he did.

“So this is what a tail feels like,” Mike mumbled as he looked at his trapped tail, squirming against his thigh.

“You’ll get used to it,” Scott nearly smiled. “Watch out when you sit. Hurts really bad when bent wrong.” Mike took note.

The blonde woman near Jessica shook her head, looking rather distraught, “I don’t like it. I don’t like my tail, my skin, my ears, and that mutant animal that keeps bothering me.” She sniffled, her face was streaked with dried tears. “Ever since that asteroid crashed, my whole life blew up right before me.” I never saw terran ears as low as hers, not even my own, hers were almost lifeless.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Scott blinked. “Yeah, I know you. You were at the bar. Remember me? When I came to see what was the matter?”

She looked up with glossy eyes and a changed expression. “Yeah. Yeah I remember you. God you changed you so much.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” I looked back and forth at the agents. So far so good. “Since we have time, what happened to you?” Scott asked her.

The woman felt like it was best; what else can we do in a truck? She was at her room at the resort with a couple girlfriends for the holiday vacation. They too had all their faith in Dr. Maggie Helen’s calculations and promise. Surviving the Wave and getting hit by an orb; fearing for her life and praying to get home safely; transforming in the hotel room and scaring her friends, unaware of the news. I nearly cursed when she mentioned Tom bashing and beating her for being a demon and her leopard totem partially rescuing her. Roland butted in and said that Tom had killed himself before he was caught. The woman said good riddance. I don’t know why I felt sorry for that asshole.

Then as she was laying in a hospital bed being treated for her wounds—they were extensive and made my stomach churn—she was gassed by the agents and was taken to the truck, being as scared as we were not too long ago. I was sad for her, most of her scars were scabbed but I suspected severe infection.

“Jesus,” Scott said afterwards. “You’re lucky to be alive. Keep that in mind.” The woman nodded.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Reba.” She sniffed again and flexed her hands. “Reba Colton. From LA.”

“Don’t worry, Reba, stick with us and keep your chin up. It’s a lot better than it seems,” Scott assured her, but it didn’t look like it brightened her spirits.

“I’m Katie by the way. This is Scott and that’s Mike,” I introduced ourselves.

A low growl came from the green skinned man; I had forgotten that he was there, listening to the whole thing. “And this whole time,” he said in perfect English, “all of you are… were originally human.”

All of us looked at him, including the agents. From the look of it, the man got a hit of intense realization. “What does that supposed to mean?” Scott said harshly.

“It changes things, you wouldn’t understand.” He moved his jaw to a scowl, and then didn’t talk for the rest of the ride. What the heck did he mean by that? I had a bad feeling about whatever that meant. Just ideas, nothing more.

He was dead quiet for the rest of the way as we all talked, trying to keep the stress down to minimum. Although, when I started talking about magic and what Mike and Reba are capable of, Roland and Jessica barked at me to not mention it. I followed without question. Not knowing the time made me feel jittery. It felt like hours, the road got bumpier and bumpier. Roland fed us with protein bars, and I knew that it was possibly the last meal of our lives. They tasted like cardboard with vanilla flavoring and the orange smoothie was Tang enhanced with B-vitamins and other nutrients. I realized that they probably had a very good reason for keeping us alive.

Just when I thought the drive was going to last forever, Jessica’s cell phone chirped.

“Jessica here,” she answered. “Yes… yes… understood. I’ll start running the rules to our guests?” There was a short pause, and then she nodded and hung up.

She got up from her crate and stood in the middle of the truck, “Okay, listen up, we are close to our destination in three minutes so it is best to follow these ground rules. I am only going to say this once. You will arrive at a hanger, then be escorted to registration stations. There you will be processed into the database and be taken to holding cells according to batch number, that means everybody in this truck will be in the same cell, including you.” She eyed the alien then walked to the doors, “If you want to stay alive, you must be quiet and willing to follow what we say. The soldiers will shoot you if you don’t cooperate in our no-tolerance zone. That includes your ‘magic.’ As for the alien, he gets special treatment with our commanding general.”

What did she mean by special treatment? Torture maybe?

The truck’s bouncing smoothed out to compact asphalt, it was a relief for my knees. There were a few hard turns and we stopped, pulling my arms and legs against the braces. I heard helicopters, other trucks, soldiers, and innocent people screaming. This must be it, I thought.

The double doors unlocked and swung open, revealing a tarmac and several dozen aircraft hangers. Masked solders were everywhere, there were weapons in their hands and they were ready for viral attacks. There were three other cars were behind us, one including the truck holding our totems captive.

This wasn’t a camp for terrans. I had been to military bases with Scott before, but I didn’t recognize this one..

“Oh dear God,” Scott muttered. “You can’t be serious. What kind of containment measure is this?”

Jessica rolled her eyes, “Welcome to Area 51, freaks, your new home and your prison for the foreseeable future,” she said with outstretched arms like she was welcoming us to her home. “File out!”