The Leader (3 page)

He waited for a second and stared long
and hard at the air where the warmth flowed. Then a blurry image
with white extended wings came into view. The image didn’t clear,
no matter how many times he blinked, but he heard a distorted male
voice coming from it.

“
What? I don’t understand
you,” he told the thing.

The sharp icy pain in his arm made him
wince, but he was determined to make some sense out of this
apparition before him.

“
You don’t....” the thing
began.

“
I don’t what?”

“
...don’t have
to...”

Devon rubbed his arm, aware that it
was going numb, as if someone was squeezing it. “I don’t have to
what?” he demanded, willing the thing to finish its
sentence.

“
...be a pawn.”

Then the icy thing lashed out and the
warmth departed.

Devon examined the area where he’d
felt the freezing air, but he could not detect anything, either
good or bad. Scanning the empty corridor, he wondered what the
white-winged thing meant.

You don’t have to be a
pawn.

His gaze went to the camera hiding in
the circular fixture that hovered down from the ceiling. Further
down the hallway, in front of the stairwell door, was another
camera masked over by an identical fixture. Did the thing mean what
he thought? That it referred to how the government had been
treating him and Vanessa like pawns? If ever there was a definition
of pawns, it was them.

With another look around the hallway,
he headed for the exit, in a hurry to get out of there.

Chapter Four

Alex didn’t want to leave the
hospital. It was the first time since the vanishing that he was
able to get a good night’s sleep, even if the bed wasn’t very
comfortable. The alien wasn’t here. It didn’t hover over his bed
and threaten to kill him. He didn’t hear voices or a strange
humming sound. He felt no fear. He wished he could stay there
forever.

But he couldn’t, and on the day he was
due to go home, he sat in front of the overnight bag Autumn brought
over for him a few days before and tried to find the motivation to
zip it up. He hated his apartment. But more than that, he hated
being alone. If he wasn’t alone, the alien wouldn’t bother him at
all.

Someone knocked on the door, so he
called out, “Open.”

Dr. Reyes opened the door and smiled.
“How are you doing, Alex?”

“
Fine, all things
considered.” He tried to laugh but it came out in a half-hearted
chuckle.

“
Obviously, the last
prescription had a serious side effect.” The psychiatrist sat in
the chair across from him. “Did you notice any problems before the
heart attack?”

“
No. Things were okay
before then.”

“
Usually, if there’s a
problem with medication, it should appear within a couple days of
taking it, and you were on that for two months, right?”

“
Yes. I took two pills a
day like you said.” The last thing Alex needed was for the doctor
to think he’d been skipping his medication. He wiped his hands on
his jeans and took a deep breath. “I didn’t skip any
days.”

“
I believe you, Alex. I
want to make sure I know exactly what your symptoms
were.”

“
Right.” Alex shifted in
his chair and cleared his throat. “Well, let’s see. I fell asleep
watching TV. Then I heard a voice. The people on TV were saying
things that could not have been in the script.”

“
So you’re saying that you
heard voices from the TV.”

“
Right.”

“
And one of these was the
same voice you heard before that?”

“
No. It was a different
voice. And the voices on the TV were the actors. They were talking,
but they were talking about aliens eating people. But it was a TV
sitcom, you know? And the episode was about the woman snooping on
her neighbors. It had nothing to do with aliens.”

“
Oh, I know the episode you
mean. You’re right. No one in the show mentioned
aliens.”

Alex ran his hand through
his hair and sighed. “Right. Yeah.”
I’m
losing it. I’m going crazy. He’s going to confirm that.
Maybe it would be a good thing. If he was in a
mental ward, maybe the alien would leave him alone.

“
After you heard these
voices, what happened?”

Alex shrugged. “Um...I heard a
sound.”

“
What kind of
sound?”

“
A humming low sound. Kind
of like white noise.”

He nodded. “Anything else?”

“
I don’t remember much. I
was hot all of the sudden, like I’d just stepped into an oven, and
I couldn’t see well.”

“
Things got
blurry?”

“
Maybe. I’m not sure. I
think there was a sharp pain in the back of my neck, and it felt as
if my mind was being ripped open. It all happened so fast, and the
next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.”

“
Those don’t sound like the
symptoms of a heart attack,” Dr. Reyes commented with a frown. “And
it doesn’t match the side effects that are possible with that
prescription. Do you drink alcohol or take any other
medicine?”

“
No.”

The man leaned forward, placing his
elbows on his knees and said, “Level with me, Alex. I need to know
what’s going on for your well-being. Do you take drugs?”

“
What?” Alex practically
shouted, hardly believing his ears. “No! How could you even think
that?” He fidgeted in his chair and ran his hand through his hair
again. “No, I don’t take drugs, and I never have.”

“
It’s okay. I didn’t mean
to upset you. I just had to ask. You know, to cover all my bases.”
He sat up straight. “I can’t explain why that happened to you, but
it’s not because of the pills. Nothing in any of the trial studies
reported any of those side effects. I think you’re safe going back
on the pills. I’m going to write you another prescription. I
believe you’re due for a refill anyway.” He stood up and wrote on a
pad he dug out from his pocket. He ripped the piece of paper and
held it out to him.

Alex stared at the piece of paper and
hesitated. Which was worse? Could it be that the pills were not
responsible for this hospital stay? Finally, he took it. When he
picked up his prescription, he would carefully read the list of
possible side effects.

“
And I think we should look
into doing some psychological evaluations. It’s possible we could
be dealing with a mental illness.”

Alex swallowed the lump in his throat.
He expected this. Glancing up at his doctor, he asked, “Will I go
to the mental ward?”

Dr. Reyes smiled. “No. Most people
with mental disorders take medicine that enables them to cope in
the real world. You are mentally capable of going about your life.”
He patted Alex on the shoulder. “Be sure to see me for a visit in
two days. If you have any complications before then, give me a
call. Okay?”

Alex nodded and stared back down at
the paper.

Once the doctor left, he tucked it
into his pocket and got to his feet. He needed to get to it and
check out.

Another gentle knock came from the
door.

A relieved smile crossed his face.
“Hi, Autumn.” After the stress and horrors of all he’d been
through, he needed a friendly face.

“
Are you ready?” she asked,
looking concerned.

“
I guess.” He zipped up his
bag and swung it over his shoulder. “Can we stop by a pharmacy to
get my prescription filled?”

She waited for a long moment, as if
carefully weighing her words. “Are you sure that’s a good
idea?”

“
Dr. Reyes said they had
nothing to do with my heart attack.”

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t
believe you had a heart attack.”

“
The emergency doctor said
I had one.”

“
Doctors can be wrong.” She
shrugged. “What would happen if you don’t take the
pills?”

“
It could come
back.”

“
The alien?”

“
Yes.”

With a heavy sigh, she studied his
expression. “It’s not an alien, Alex.”

“
Then what is
it?”

She hesitated for a moment, shifted
from one foot to another, and finally said, “It’s a
demon.”

He laughed. “That’s old-time
superstitious nonsense.”

“
Is it? You said the thing
attacked you and gives off an evil vibe.”

“
Yes, but the aliens aren’t
the good guys they’re pretending to be.”

She shook her head. “The demons are
masquerading as aliens.”

“
That’s really farfetched.
Weren’t demons around since Jesus’ time? If these things were going
around pretending to be aliens, then why haven’t we seen aliens
before now?”

She stood still for a moment and
thoughtfully replied, “Well, there was Roswell.”

“
Okay. Fine. That was in
1947. That wasn’t way back in the past.”

Shrugging, she admitted. “I don’t know
why they’re doing it now. I just know they are.”

“
And you know they’re
demons because...?”

“
You’re going to laugh,
but... Well... There’s this angel I’ve been seeing ever since we
went to Area 51.”

She was right. He couldn’t stop the
chuckle that rose up in his throat. “I’m sorry, Autumn. I mean, I
get that the aliens aren’t what they seem, but there’s nothing
weirdly spiritual going on. These are just things from another
planet that aren’t the good guys they’re pretending to
be.”

“
How can you be sure?” she
asked.

“
Because then there’d have
to be a God, and there is no such thing as God. Now look, the idea
of other life forms on other planets is realistic. Given the
multitude of planets out there, there’s bound to be
something.”

She bit her lower lip and glanced
uncertainly out the window. “I used to believe that.”

“
And...?”

Shaking her head, she returned her
gaze to him. “I’ve seen too much, been through too much... I see
them, Alex. I see an angel and I see dark shadows hovering around
certain people. These shadows are sinister. They call themselves
The Watchers.”

“
See? There you go.”
Relieved to have made his point, he scanned the room for any of his
belongings he might have missed while packing. “The aliens would be
our watchers. That’s what they’ve been saying. They planted us here
and have watched our development as a species.”

“
But wouldn’t that make
them good?”

“
Not if they have don’t
have good motives. That’s what this is about. Why are they watching
us? What do they plan to do with us? Not all parents are good to
their children.”

She pressed her hand to her forehead.
“I don’t understand it. Nothing’s made sense since Marianne
disappeared.”

“
That was the same time the
aliens showed up.” And the same time the alien began hovering over
him while he slept at night. He shivered, hating how drastically
his life had changed...and not for the better. “I know. Nothing has
made sense. It’s like one day our lives were in order, and suddenly
we’re spinning out of control.”

“
Yes. That’s exactly how it
feels.”

He sighed. “Look Autumn, you’re my
solid connection to any normality that was once in my life. I don’t
want to upset you. Can we agree to disagree about the spiritual
thing?”

She nodded. “Yeah. In times like this,
we need to stick together. You know, as friends.”

“
I agree.”

Appearing relieved, she held out her
car keys and asked, “Are you ready to go home?”

No. He wasn’t. But he’d take the pills
and be fine, if the side effects listed on the information sheet
didn’t include the symptoms he’d experienced that put him in the
hospital. If Dr. Reyes was right, then he would take the pills
because he couldn’t stand the thought of having to deal with that
horrible alien ever again.

Chapter Five

Devon drove Vanessa home a week later,
once she was put on medication to help with her bouts of
depression, as her doctor termed it. It fit, Devon thought. Who
wouldn’t be depressed in their line of work? He glanced at her. She
was huddled in the passenger seat, looking small and alone. He
remembered her first day at work. She’d been full of life and
energy. He had no idea they’d start exposing her to the deeper
levels so soon.

They must be getting
desperate.
It was the only explanation why
they were speeding up their plan. The aliens weren’t supposed to
show up this soon. They were supposed to wait for another ten
years.
But what if they aren’t
aliens?
What if they had a more sinister
identity?

He recalled the icy sensation on his
arm and shivered. He hadn’t felt it since, but he’d become aware of
something that seemed to be close by. He often saw some slight
distortion in the air around him. At one point, he swore he saw a
black shadow fade in and out of his vision.