The stranger looked up at Adam, seeing him for the firs time. "Okay, I gotta go. Give my love to Hailey. Bye." He hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket.

"Adam," the man said with an air of familiarity. Adam forced a weak and confused smile. Despite his devotion to the SPW, Adam didn't recognize the face behind the business of it. This was Tyrone Power.

Power stopped suddenly. "What's up with the new look? I hate it. It's too boy-next-doorish." He stopped up to Adam, seized his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Excuse me," Adam said politely, "I don't mean to be rude but who are you?"

As if taking part in a magic trick, a business card seemed to appear in Power's hand. He slid it effortlessly into Adam's palm. "Tyrone Power, founder of SPW," he said as he flashed a winning smile. "I'm here to make you an offer. I saw your landing in New York and it was first rate. I had my source at the police department slide me some pertinent information and here I am."

"Excuse me, did you say you had an offer? What kind of offer?"

"Why, a job offer of course. You got the makings of a star just written all over you. I even took the liberty of running a test group and let me tell you, it was through the roof. Phenomenal."

"Through the roof?" Adam asked in a slight state of shock.

"Fuckin' gangbusters."

"So what exactly do you want?"

"I want you to join the SPW?"

"So you want me to join the SPW?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Power asked playfully and gave a little chuckle at his own joke as if attempting to show Adam he meant no offense. "Yes. I want to get you on right away."

"I'd love to," Adam shrugged. He'd dreamed of joining SPW ever since he started watching it all those years ago. "But I can't. I'm no superhero or anything. I'm just a guy."

"Superhero or not, I saw you get shot. I saw you take a full shot off of a plasma rifle. You're definitely not just some Joe Schmoe. You're marketable."

"I still don't know."

"Look, how about I fly you down to Atlanta, let our doctors take a look at you and if they give you the green light, we'll run with it. If not, you'll get a free trip to Atlanta out of it. My treat."

Adam thought about it for a moment. It's not as if he had anything else to do: no job, no home, no girlfriend. Besides, he'd always wanted to be an SPW. He knew that he'd probably get down there, go through the tests and find out he didn't have what it takes. He'd concede he was an alien-human hybrid but it wasn't like he had super-speed or anything.

"Fuckin' Wally," he muttered.

"Excuse me?" Power asked.

"I said 'it's a deal'," Adam said louder and more clearly.

"Great. Call my secretary, she'll set everything up."

"Okay," the two men shook hands. Power turned around and got back into his limo and the car drove off. For a moment, Adam was left to wonder if he'd dreamed the previous five minutes. But sure enough, Power's card was still sat in his left hand. He tucked it in his pocket.

"Man, what a day."

"Oh," Bob said defeated. He walked back around his desk and sat down.

"Oh?" Adam asked.

"Well, I'll be honest with you. You were a good worker but the way you left. I'll just say it left something to be desired."

"I didn't really have a choice. I didn't want to get into it but I was kidnapped by aliens."

"I understand," Bob said.

"So you can see that I was forced to miss work."

"Well, I know that now but..." Bob trailed off.

"But what?" Adam prompted.

"Well, when you left the way you did, I put in the paperwork at the main office. It put you on the 'no rehire' list and listed you as a bad reference."

"Can't you just call them up, tell them what happened and say you made a mistake?"

"Well, I could. But you see, there's going to be an opening for district manager in about six weeks and I don't want the boys in the main office thinking I'm the type who makes mistakes."

"But you did make a mistake," Adam pointed out.

"Well, I know that and you know that but there's no need for the boys upstairs to know that." Bob paused. "Tell you what, when I get the promotion and Jerome takes over my job, I'll instruct him to hire you."

"Let me see if I got this straight. So you want me to wait six weeks to see if you get a job and if a guy who I trained will give me back the job that I shouldn't have lost in the first place?"

"Exactly," Bob responded apparently missing out on Adam's shock and horror at the proposal. "But there is a hitch."

"None of that was the hitch? Do tell."

"The hitch is that you're going to have to take a paycut."

"A paycut?"

"Yeah, you see I'm going to have to do your paperwork as if you were a new hire so that I can get around the 'no hire' list."

Adam was enraged. All those times he'd come in when he didn't have to, all the overtime he put, all the time he'd worked here and this is how he gets treated, with such little regard. He didn't know how to put into words all the things he felt.

"Okay," he sighed. He cursed at himself for giving in so easily but consoled himself by reminding himself that he had wanted to get back to living his life as much as he had been as was possible.

Adam left. He drove to the Salvation Army in Cambridge and stocked up on some clothes that would better fit his new frame. He packed it all in his car and drove to his mother's house. He was shocked to see Britney's Taurus parked in his mother's driveway and Britney herself sitting on the front porch. Adam stopped the car, got out and walked over to where she was sitting.

Bob stood up and walked around his desk. The two shook hands. "What the hell happened to you?" He looked at Adam's impressive muscles. "You look... good."

"Well, it's a long story but it's not important right now. What I came to talk about was getting my old job back."

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6
• Savage Genesis, part 7
• Savage Genesis, part 8
• Savage Genesis, part 9
• Savage Genesis, part 10
• Savage Genesis, part 11
• Savage Genesis, part 12
• Savage Genesis, part 13
• Savage Genesis, part 14
• Savage Genesis, part 15
• Savage Genesis, part 16
• Savage Genesis, part 17

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

"Finally he spoke. He said that he had to do this for his people. He said that he'd come for my child when the time was right. He promised that he'd look out for you and take care of you, make sure you were alright. I told him to shut up, that I didn't want to hear another word out of him.

Then he asked me to give him a name. He said that his people have only their father's name until they mate and then their mate gives them their name. Again I told him to shut up. He was silent for a moment and then said he'd call himself Ruhe and then after that he stopped talking and didn't say another word.

"The aliens returned me home that night. At first I'd managed to convince myself that it had just been a dream but soon it became obvious that I was pregnant. Your father... I mean, James... had been going on a lot of business trips at the time so we hadn't making love. He was either gone or tired from his last trip. He knew the child wasn't his. He accused me of cheating while he was out of the town and when I told him about the aliens he thought I was lying. When I kept saying it, he thought I was crazy. One day I went out for groceries and when I came back, he was gone and so was all his stuff.

"The rest you know. I was scared and alone and didn't know what I could do to pretend you. So I pretend that it never happened. But when Cindy called me up and told me about how you'd gone missing, I knew it was Ruhe. I knew that he'd come back for you. All I could do was hope that he was staying true to his word and was taking good care of you." Here she stopped and she looked up at Adam. Here eyes were moist and tears had stained her cheeks. "Did he?" She asked. "Did he do right by you?"

"He did, Mom. He's the one who got me off of the ship; he's the one who got me home." Adam answered. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He held his mother in her arms. He'd made her relive the worst time in her life and he was no closer to understanding why he was taken.

He helped his mother to bed and then returned to his room. He felt he'd just have to come to terms with the fact that he might never fully understand what happened to him. All he could do was choose whether or not he'd move on with his life. With Britney gone, that hurt to even think about doing. After a few minutes of wallowing in self pity, he decided that he'd see if he could get his old job back tomorrow, then he'd save up enough money to move into an apartment. He'd follow his mother's example and try to put this whole horrid experience behind him.

The following day he borrowed his mother's car and drove to Kid's Vids! He parked the car, forced himself to take a deep breath and then went inside. He had gone into the videostore hundreds of times in the past and so was a little surprised to find that his shoulders were now so broad that they almost didn't fit through the door.

A guy he didn't recognize was working behind the counter. The sales clerk eyed the buff Adam, noticed he didn't have any children with him and began to make some snap judgements. Adam walked up to the counter and leaned on it. He heard it groan under his bulk.

"Is Bob in?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. He's in the back. Do you want me to call him?" The clerk picked up the phone.

"No, I'll just poke my head back there." Adam turned and walked to the office. He stepped around the children and their various messes. He was glad this instinct was intact at least. Most of the children stopped and stared at the behometh as Adam walked past them. He knocked on the office door.

"Hello?" He heard Bob grunt from inside. Adam opened the door and went inside. The office was pretty much the exact same as it had been when Adam had seen it last. Bob glanced up at Adam as he walked in and then did a double take. "Adam!" he shouted.

"Yep, it's me."

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6
• Savage Genesis, part 7
• Savage Genesis, part 8
• Savage Genesis, part 9
• Savage Genesis, part 10
• Savage Genesis, part 11
• Savage Genesis, part 12
• Savage Genesis, part 13
• Savage Genesis, part 14
• Savage Genesis, part 15
• Savage Genesis, part 16

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

"Mom, it's me. I promise. I'm in New York. I know I've been gone a while but I can explain everything. But I need some money so I can buy an Amtrak ticket," Adam said. There was a silence. For a moment, he was afraid that she didn't believe him, that she'd think he was some teenaged hooligan playing a very bad prank on her.

"Adam?" She said finally. Her voice waivered and sounded like it might break. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, mom. It's really me," he answered. He heard what sounded like his mother gently sobbing on the other end of the line. "I missed you so much," he added. He gave her time to get out what she needed to, he had had to deal with his abduction in his own way so he'd let her deal with it in hers.

"I thought I'd lost you," she finally said.

"No, I'm fine. But I need you to wire me some money so I can come home."

"Okay," she said. "Let me get cleaned up and I'll go do that."

"Thanks, Mom. I'll see you soon."

He hung up with his mother and walked out of the station, saying goodbye to the officers who brought him in. They were a nice bunch of guys and they all shared a quick laugh about it. There were no hard feelings. He asked for directions to Penn Station and they gave it to him. He had hoped to get a ride but they didn't offer and he didn't ask.

Adam walked to Penn Station. He got his money and bought a ticket. He boarded his Boston-bound train. Other then a few side glances at his scraggly appearance and people refusing to sit next to him due to the smell coming off his clothes, his ride was unnoteworthy. With some help from sheer exhaustion and the gentle rocking of the train, he managed to finally fall asleep.

He got off the train at the end of the line, South Station in Boston. He walked into the terminal in a daze. He shuffled in and went downstairs to get on the T. He was moving on muscle memory without any real thought. He heard people whisper and saw a couple of them pointing. He didn't know if they were responding to the newspaper article or if they were more surprised by Whit.

Adam boarded the red line, changed to the green and got off at his old stop. He walked to his apartment without more than a fleeting thought. He noticed that the laundromat that he'd used was closed now and had been turned into a Dunkin' Donuts. He stopped at Britney's apartment building. Her red Taurus was sitting outside. The car made him realize where he was. He looked at the building again. He tried to figure out what he'd say to her. He figured it'd come to him, after all he'd done alright with his mother.

He walked to the door and pulled it open (depsite the elapsed months it seemed that the landlord still hadn't fixed the broken latch on the front door). He walked down the hall to his apartment and knocked on the door. He heard movement on the other side of the door. Chris opened the door.

"Yes?" Chris asked as he suspiciously eyed Adam. Adam too was caught off guard by Chris' appearance.

"Is... does Britney still live here?" Adam asked. The Taurus wasn't the most uncommon car, maybe it belonged to someone else in the apartment building. Or perhaps Britney had even sold it to whoever bought the apartment from her.

"Yes, she does." Chris was getting defensive now. "What is this about exactly?"

"Please, Adam said sincerely, "Please." He found he had difficulty finishing his sentence. Chris made a face. He couldn't figure out what Adam was doing there but he was pretty sure that he didn't like it. "I just want to see here. I need to see her."

"Who is it?" Adam heard Britney ask from the other room. Adam perked up.

He was amazed at how fast the Earth approached. He looked over at Whit. She was trembling; she seemed to be aware of Adam's fear. "Whit," he said, "do you believe in God?"

"Whit."

"Then you better start praying." Adam watched in slight shock as Whit closed her eyes and clutched her paws together. Adam had been half joking and so found that he was actually a little hurt that she had such little faith in him.

Adam saw a dense population below and headed for it. He figured he'd crash land in the Boston Harbor and then swim into the city. Adam was doing better than he thought himself capable. What he thought was downtown Boston was in actuality, downtown Manhatten. It was an honest mistake from several thousand feet up but as he came closer he realized that he was wrong.

He pulled up, trying to go north towards Boston. The problem was, and Adam had no way to know this, it was too late. He was going too fast, he was going to hit New York City and there was nothing Adam could do about it. Unfortuantely, when he pulled up he ended up aiming away from the water and back towards the city.

His ship crashed at the corner of 32nd street and Broad. The following smoldering crater created by the wreck contrasted to the high rises around it. People looked out their windows as people tentatively stepped out onto the street. They came up to the crater where the intersection used to be and looked down the hole.

Sirens came through the air. It wasn't until people looked up as the cop cars stopped and officers got out. "What's going on here?" One of the officers asked. It wasn't until then that people realized how queit downtown New York could get. No one had spoken, people barely breathed. Movement stirred down in the hole. The police officers all drew their weapons.

The air smelled sweet to Adam. After months of breating stuffy recirculated air, the natural breeze was not only a relief, it was almost intoxicating. He had to extricate himself from the spacecraft first though. The door was banged and bent so it took some finagling to get it to even open. And then he had to climb several yards to the surface. The ripped open ground was jagged and provided good hand holds. Whit followed up behind him.

People gasped as Adam's hand shot up onto the ground. They all stepped back as he pulled himself up onto the street. He stood up. He felt a cool breeze run over his naked body. Adam hadn't been aware of his own nudity for quite a while, it had just become a standard part of his life. Nor was he really concious of how long his beard and hair had gotten. Having never really had, the thing had been an odd experience for Adam). He ran his fingers through his thick knotted beard He laughed at the simple sensation of it.

"Freeze!" He heard a voice shout. He looked up and noticed the cops. He then realized that he was surrounded by about five dozen people and he became all too aware of his nakedness. He moved to cover himself when one of the cops thought he was moving for a weapon (of course, where a naked man would be hiding such a weapon was anyone's guess). The cop fired his gun; it rang out with a loud bang in the quiet crowd. The bullet hit Adam in the chest. It stung as it bounced off his skin.

"Ow!" Adam shouted. The cops looked on in fear and shock. "That really hurt," Adam pouted. He breathed and rubbed his chest vigoursly. "You know you shouldn't go around shooting people willy-nilly."

"We got a spike!" One of the cops yelled out and made a break to his police cruiser.

"Spike?" Adam asked.

The cop pulled out a large plasma rifle and raised it up. Adam had read about these guns, the cops used them on supervillians who most conventional weapons couldn't harm. It was a large rifle, about four feet long with two handholds, one under the butt of the gun and one under the muzzle.

The ground came hurtling towards him at incredible speed. After such a long period of so little happening, Adam was not emotionally prepared for such tension (he was surprised to find out the ship even went this fast). He nudged the ship southwards a bit. After all he didn't want to end up in Maine. He'd only been to Maine once when he was a child and had only spent a total of nine and a half hours there. That was more than enough time to realize that he never wanted to go back.

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6
• Savage Genesis, part 7
• Savage Genesis, part 8
• Savage Genesis, part 9
• Savage Genesis, part 10
• Savage Genesis, part 11
• Savage Genesis, part 12
• Savage Genesis, part 13

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

"Whit!" The small lizard began pulling on Adam's ear.

Lucas started running. Adam reached up to take his tiny traveller off his shoulder. The creature ran down to his hand. He looked down at it and was amazed to see it shaking its head. It seemed to be demanding that they go no farther. Adam had no idea how he knew that that's what it meant but he was more sure than he'd ever been of anything in his life. It blinked its giant eyes at him and he was sold.

"Lucas, let's go the other way," Adam said. Lucas stopped at the bend of the hall. He turned around. He was unaware of the guards wating thirty-five feet away from where he stood. He stard at Adam with great frustation.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lucas groaned.

"No, I think this thing knows something."

"Like what? It's a rodent for Christ's sake."

"It's not a rodent and it doesn't feel good about this. And neither do I."

"That's fine," Lucas said in a tone that dripped with sarcarsm that told Adam that it was most defintely not fine. "Does your little pal have a better idea then? Maybe he knows the way out of here."

"Whit!" She chirped defensively. Adam looked down at the creature thoughtfully.

"I think it's a girl," Adam said.

"Do you think that I give a shit?" Lucas bellowed.

"Don't shout!" Adam shouted. The creature perked her head up and leapt out of Adam's hands. When she hit the ground, she took off running the opposite way. "Wait!" Adam called out after her. He took off in pursuit of her. Lucas just groaned.

"Fine. If you want to chase your little rat, go ahead. I'm getting out of here." With that Lucas rounded the corner and sealed his fate. Adam spun around when he heard the sound, like lighting in a bottle. When he got his first look at Lucas he could see what had made that sound. Blasts of energy were striking him with increased frequency. Lucas fell to his knees, raised his gun and hit a button on the side. Nothing happened. Lucas screamed as the blasts kept hitting him. Lucas began pounding wildly on the buttons on his weapon. The gun began making a high pitch whinning noise.

"Ditch the gun!" Adam shouted at Lucas. Up until now, Adam had been frozen, unable to move or help. He knew that he had a gun as well but he had no idea how to use it anymore than Lucas did. What he did know was that Lucas' gun was making a noise that you never want any electronic device to make: the meltdown sound.

Lucas looked over at Adam at the sound of his voice. His eyes were pleading. The two men were making eye contact when the gun exploded in Lucas' hand. Lucas cried a primal note of pain. He looked down where his hand used to be. His left arm now ended halfway between elbow and where his wrist used to be. Lucas collapsed to the ground in a heap. He was moving a bit, letting Adam know that he was still alive. Adam guessed that the same explosion that cost Lucas his hand also cauterized the wound.

"Lucas!" Adam shouted and ran towards him. Adam saw an alien guard approach Lucas' limp body and pick him up by his still fully intact arm. The guard tossed Lucas over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Whit!" Adam spun around at the sound. Adam saw his little companion standing still further down the hall. He knew there was nothing he could do for Lucas. He didn't know how to work the gun, he was outnumbered and in alien territory. He had no chance of saving Lucas, but he still had a tiny chance he could save himself. He turned and ran away from Lucas and the guards, towards Whit. Whit, in turn, ran further down the hall.

"Shhh. It's okay," Adam said in the neutral calming voice that he perfected from working at Kids Vids! in what seemed like an entirely different lifetime. "We won't hurt you." The creature seemed to relax. Adam doubted it understood him but he was proud that his reassuring voice had done the trick. Adam, hoping to endear some trust from the creature, opened his hand and the creature slide out of his grip and scurried up Adam's arm. It perched on his shoulder and looked over at Lucas.

"Whit!" it said triumphantly. Adam smiled at his pint-sized traveler. He kneeled down and picked up his gun. Adam had suspected that the creature might fall off at his movement or that it might at the very least shift its weight. He was surprised that it did neither, it managed to hang on to him without digging in any fingers or claws.

"What do we do now?" Lucas asked. In all the excitement, Adam had forgotten that the two of them were currently fleeing for their lives. The past sixty seconds were the closest he'd come to normal in the past eight months. He hated having to give up that feeling so soon after having it. He had to switch modes, trying to figure out what to do next. It wasn't as if he'd ever done this before or even knew of anyone who'd ever gone through anything like this.

"Well, we got here so there's gotta be someway off. I don't know how, maybe there's a teleport chamber or something. So all we got to do is find the teleporter and force their O'Brien to get us out of here."

"Who's O'Brien?"

"O'Brien from Next Generation. Don't you watch Star Trek?"

"No."

"He's an Irish guy, he ran the teleporter. Actually when Deep Space Nine... Look, nevermind that. Let's just find the way out of here." Adam turned to walk out. Lucas grabbed his arm.

"How are we gonna force him?"

"What?"

"O'Brien. How are we gonna force him to get us out of here?"

Adam held up the gun. "With this."

"But we don't know how to use them," Lucas pointed out.

"True. But they don't know that." Adam started to leave when Lucas grabbed his arm again.

"But what if they don't speak English?"

Adam sighed. "Listen killjoy, if you got a better plan I would just love to hear it. If not, let's just go for it, huh? I mean, it's not like anywhere we end up could be worse than where we were."

With that, Lucas nodded. He agreed and with that he committed to Adam's plan. A crazy plan with no chance of success was better than no plan at all. Besides, there were times when Lucas had wished for death so despite his desire to stay alive at the moment, he could now remember a time when he didn't feel that way.

Adam walked over to the door, he tried to glance over his shoulder at Lucas but the alien lizard/monkey on his shoulder blocked his view. "Ready?" He asked, his finger poised over the button to open the door.

Adam walked cautiously over to the box and laid his gun down on the ground next to it. He looked over at Lucas and gave him a nod. Lucas lifted his gun and pointed it at the top of the crate. Adam felt more comfortable with Lucas covering him. He realized, of course, that Lucas had no idea how to operate that gun and that there was just as good a chance that he might shot Adam instead of anyone inside the box but Adam tried to push those thoughts from his brain (he also had to try and push the face hugger scene from the movie Alien out of his mind). Adam decided that was the best he was going to get, besides if there was someone else imprisoned in this hellhole Adam couldn't just leave them behind.

Adam grabbed either side of the lid of the crate and lifted, tearing the top right off. Adam couldn't see inside the box, not because of how dark it was inside the box but because something had leapt out and clamped on to his face. He'd had no warning, just a flash of movement and Lucas' gasp. "Oh holy living crap!" thought Adam, "it's a fucking alien fucking face hugger!"

Remembering his movie lore, Adam kept his eyes and mouth shut tightly. He then grabbed a hold of the lims which had wrapped themselves around his head. He struggled with them but to little avail. They were clamped on tight.

"Geb dis tin offa muh face!" Adam shouted from under his covered mouth. He heard Lucas put his gun down and walk over to where he was standing. He felt Lucas pulling at the thing. Adam helped him out and between the two of them, they managed to finally yank the thing off of Adam's face.

Adam was surprised to find the 'alien face hugger' was actually a small green creature that looked like a mix between a lizard and a monkey. It had long arms with spindly fingers, a small body covered in a light fur and a round head with big eyes and floppy ears. Its large eyes looked up at Adam and then frantically searched the room, its little chest heaved. "Whit," it chirped in a frenzied high pitch tone. Adam smiled down at it.

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6
• Savage Genesis, part 7
• Savage Genesis, part 8
• Savage Genesis, part 9
• Savage Genesis, part 10

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

She put her hand on his cheek and leaned in to kiss him again. The two begin kissing passionately.

Neither of them spoke for the next hour.
---

Once again Adam found himself on the operating table. He had discovered that the frequency of his visits did not make the experience any easier on him. What was bad was that he seemed to be building up a pain tolerance for he wasn't blacking out as easily and so was forced to be semi-concious while they operated on him.

At that moment, he couldn't tell what they were doing to him but what he felt was a tightness in his chest, as if a very large, very stupid dog had decided to perch on him. There also was an extreme burning sensation that seemed to start in one poair of his fingertips, run up his arm, jumped across his chest to the other arm and all the way down to his other fingertips. It was as if someone had doused his nerve endings in kerosene and set them ablaze.

He didn't know why he wasn't screaming. He could feel the pain but whenever he tried to speak, nothing came out. It wasn't just the screams he was incapable of producing but actual words as well. Sometimes in his cell he thought up some particularly colorful remarks about the aliens' mothers but once he was brought in to the experiment room, he seemed to be rendered mute.

A face leaned close to his. It didn't strike him as odd in the moment because it happened so frequently. He assumed that they wanted to see if he had passed out or not. Because of its frequency, Adam was only half paying attention to the face that peered so intently at him. It took him a moment to realize that he recognized the face.

"Ruhe," Adam thought to himself. He had often wondered what the story behind that one alien had been. Why had he greeted Adam when he was brought in? It was the only alien that either Lucas or Adam had seen outside of the operating room not to mention be the only one who they heard speak English. Though the two men had never spoken of it both had thought often of their mysterious visitor.

Adam became determined to speak to him, to say something. The painful burn had moved from his arms to his legs but he didn't care. He just wanted to talk to the the person he thought of as his only ally among all of his captors.

Adam managed to open his mouth and get out a long guttural 'r' before he found he could once again no longer speak. Ruhe, who had stood up and was no longer peering so close to Adam, turned back to look at him. Ruhe's eyes searched Adam's face.

"Rrrr," Adam growled. He found he couldn't move his lips to form the words despite how desperately he wanted to. Again, he made the gutteral 'r' noise, this time so loud that Adam heard everyone in the room stop what they were doing. Adam managed to exhale and make a soft 'ew' sound as the air ran over his teeth and out through his lips.

While a gentle, almost too quiet, close phonetic pronounciation of Ruhe's name was not what Adam had in mind it did seem to do the trick. Ruhe looked at the others in the room. The aliens started franticaly speaking to each other (Adam found that Lucas was right, their language did seem like a high chirping although Adam could make out some clicking). Ruhe turned and left the room, the others chirping wildly after him. ONe of the aliens turned towards Adam and placed a hand over his eyes.

Adam was extremely interested in what was going on and had been trying to figure out what he had just witnessed. He was also trying to make mental notes so he could relate the story back to Lucas. So Adam was angry when the alien covered his eyes but not for long. Within moments of having his eyes covered, and despite his most sincere wishes, Adam fell deeply asleep.
---

"Please," Britney said quietly.

Britney and Chris stand up. Chris pulls out his wallet and throws some cash down on the table. The two walk out.

The car ride was uneventful. Chris had offered to take Britney home because he felt that she had needed someone to give her a shoulder to cry on (not to mention the sheer logistical problem of her car having been towed). He was not surprised that he was attracted to her because he had been attracted to her from the first moment he saw her in the police station. What he was caught off guard by was the fact that he felt he was falling in love with her. He was enjoying all the small things about her that only a person in love can appreciate: her gentle smile, the way her hair fell in her face and she had to brush it aside.

Britney and Chris continued a cordial conversation, Britney kept giving him directions. The directions weren't the best but they got him going in the right direction. Due to her vagueness, he knew that he was on her street but didn't know which house was her's. He eventually slowed down and stopped outside the house that he thought it was.

"This you?"

Britney looked over at the apartment building. "Yep. This is me," she nodded.

Chris sat behind the wheel, looking over at Britney. She eyed him carefully for a moment then looked at the apartment building.

"Would you mind walking me in?" Britney asked.

"Sure. No problem," he responded. He turned the car off and unlocked his door. He got out and went around to open her door for her. He offered her his hand to help her out of the car and she accepted it polietely. He offered her his arm to help walk her, she hesitated at first.

She didn't need to arm to steady her but she wanted the comfort she thought it'd bring. Then she worried about Adam and she found herself frozen, paralyzed by overanalyzing. She decided to take it. She was surprised by how warm and comforting she found him to be. She walked close to him, she enjoyed the feeling of a person next to her. All night she couldn't help but be tormented by nightmares of loss and lonliness, she was trying to shake it off without much success. Having him beside her helped her forget what she was dealing with.

When they got to the door, Britney opened it and the two walked in. She came and deep down, in a part she wouldn't even admit to herself, she had expected to find Adam sitting on the couch, wearing that Major Pain T-shirt that she hated (and once hid until he got so sad that she had to give it back) or watching the Red Sox lose or talking on the phone. The apartment was dark and cold.

"Well, I'd better get going."

"Would you like a glass of water?" Britney turned to face him. She asked him because she wanted to repay his kindness. At least, that's what she told herself. What she really wanted was to not be left alone.

"I'm good, thanks."

"Maybe a cup of coffee?"

"Alright. Coffee," Chris relented. He didn't particularly want any coffee but he could tell that she wanted him to have something and he felt it rude to turn down your host if they really wanted you to do something.

Britney walked into the kitchen while Chris sat down on the couch. Britney returned to the room.

"I just put the coffee maker on. It should be ready in a minute."

The silence returned. Chris decided that maybe it was time he left; that his presence was what was making things feel awkward. He turned to face Britney. She leaned closer towards him, her bottom lip quivering just the smallest amount. At first, Chris didn't know what she was doing. Then her lips touched his.

The kiss might have started off demure but it grew in intensity and passion. Chris put his hand on her neck, cradling her head. Her hand went to his chest. Neither one of them was thinking, only feeling.

That was until the coffee maker beeped. The two broke off their kiss and stood up from the couch.

"Maybe I should just go," Chris offered.

"No. Please, stay. You haven't had your coffee yet." With that Britney left the room and headed into the kitchen. Chris could hear her puttering around in there, getting down glasses and getting out spoons. He thought for a moment about just leaving. He couldn't bring himself to do it because here was a woman who just lost her boyfriend and he couldn't imagine her losing yet another person when she went to go get coffee. Also, he couldn't say that he didn't want another kiss. He cursed himself and returned to his seat on the couch.

Britney returns with two cups of coffee in her hand. She hands on to Chris who takes it graciously. "Thanks," he said and took a sip. It was horrible coffee but he wasn't going to complain. He looked over at her and noticed that her hand was shaking, the dark liquid threatening to spill out.

Chris put his own cup down on the coffee table and then reached over and took her mug away from her. She kissed him again, softly and sweetly on his lips. He enjoyed for a moment longer than he thought he should before he broke it off.

"I should probably go," Chris said reluctantly.

"Please," Britney whispered. "Please don't. I need to feel something; something other than this empty feeling inside me. If I don't, I might go crazy." She was on the verge of tears.

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6
• Savage Genesis, part 7
• Savage Genesis, part 8

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

She tried to say 'hello' to Chris but it came out as a guttural unintelligible noise.

"You up for some breakfast?"

"Sure," Britney was able to force out.

Chris helped her to her feet and out to his car. The car ride was long and awkward. He had thought about taking her to a small restaurant near the station but realized that taking her to a cop hangout might not be the best option. In the end he decided that a greasy spoon a little further up the road was a much better choice. When they pulled up into the parking lot, Britney made a face. Chris stopped the car and looked over at her.

"You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied staring at the diner. He glanced at the diner and then back at Britney.

"Is this place alright?" He asked, concern deep in his voice.

Britney had eaten at that diner before with Adam. He had always loved to go to the greasiest, dingiest diners that he could. He had often joked that grease was the sixth and often over-looked part of the food group. He had found this diner and brought Britney to it when he returned.

Despite the fact that it was only his second visit, all the waitresses and people manning the grills seemed to know him. He'd stop and ask one of the waitresses how her daughter was liking college, ask the man working the cash register if he'd managed to get his washer fixed or if he just broke down and bought a new one. He seemed to really enjoy everyone there and they seemed to like him. She remembered feeling out-of-place, like an outsider brought in as part of a joke. When she thought about it now, she found it comforting. Adam was welcome here. How many people can say that?

"It's fine," she said and opened her car door. Chris followed after her. Britney had decided not to burden Chris with all this information. She thought that all he had done was been nice and supportive to her, she shouldn't burden him with all these thoughts and feelings that she had going on. To be honest, she wasn't even quite sure what she was thinking and feeling, as everything seemed to change with every passing moment. She was all jumbled up inside, like a jigsaw puzzle just waiting for someone else to figure it out.

They went inside and sat down in a booth. A waitress walked over to them, she stared at Britney for a moment as if trying to place her. She then looked over at Chris. She shook her head slightly. Britney knew that the waitress had associated her with Adam and so no longer recognized her now that she had a new guy with her. She wanted to shout out, 'you know me! I'm Adam's girl!' but felt that it was inappropriate. Maybe she wanted to be acknowledged, to feel like she was a person. You could've asked her but she wouldn't have been able to tell you herself.

"What can I get for ya?" The waitress asked as she pulled a pad of paper out from a pocket. She eyed the two, not knowing who would order first.

"Coffee. Black," Chris ordered.

"Make that two," Britney meekly chimed in. The waitress slipped the paper back in her pocket. She'd been doing this too long to need to write down when two people just wanted coffee. The waitress left and the two sat in silence for a moment. The waitress returned with two white porcelain cups full of a dark coffee.

"Thank you," Chris said and nodded to the waitress who turned and walked off.

Britney was the first one to break the awkward silence. "I didn't mean to get that drunk. I..." she trailed off.

"It's alright." Chris reached across the table and put his hand on top of Britney's. She didn't take it away despite the fact that she felt she should. She liked feeling the touch, knowing that there was someone there, someone across the table. That she wasn't alone.

"No. No, it's not. I just didn't know what else to do. You know, it would've been better if he was struck by lighting or left me for someone else. This way I don't know what happened and I'll probably never know. I just feel so trapped."

"You probably don't want to hear this but something similar happened to me once." Chris offered up. He always hated it when he wanted to grieve and someone else tried to put his grief in perspective by telling a story about themselves. It was as if they were denying him his right to grieve. So he paused for a moment to allow Britney the chance to ignore or encourage him.

"Really?" She asked. Chris was a little surprised by Britney's interest but he shouldn't have been. She desperately wanted, even needed, to have her problem put into some kind of perspective.

"Yeah. I was dating this girl. Turns out she was a spike," he stopped when he saw the questioning look in Britney's eyes. "I mean super," he corrected himself. "Spike is what we call them."

"Why a spike?" Cindy asked. She'd never heard that. Part of her was thrilled at getting a sneak peek behind the scenes, another part of her wondered if it was a rude or even obscene nickname. The type of dark humor that cops sometimes come up with mutter only among themselves in the middle of the night, far from the sensitive ears of civilians.

"There's a test to find supers. It's called and EPKG. They plug this little monitor thing on you and it prints out a line reading. If there is a spike in the reading that means the person is emitting more energy and is a super. We got to give everyone we book a EPKG to see whether or not they need to be put in a special holding cell."

"I've never heard that one."

"I don't think it's as catchy, maybe. Also, some supers don't trip the reading so it might not be so accurate."

"So who was the spike you were dating?"

He wore a loose pair of jeans and a snug T-shirt that showed off how frequently he went to the gym. He leaned over Britney and gently shook her. She rolled tightly into the fetal position.

"Hey, time to go home."

Britney rolled over and blinked at the light. She covered her eyes, hoping that whatever was causing the pounding in her head would stop soon.

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5
• Savage Genesis, part 6

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

Britney was sleeping fitfully on the cot. Sunlight had begun to stream in through the barred windows above her head.

Chris opened the cage door and walked into the cell. He was no longer wearing his uniform, since he was off the clock he had changed into his civilian clothes.

Catch up on past installments of Savage Genesis!

• Savage Genesis, part 1
• Savage Genesis, part 2
• Savage Genesis, part 3
• Savage Genesis, part 4
• Savage Genesis, part 5

Or read the whole Savage Genesis saga

"Look, he's been missing for a while and his mother seems convinced that he's never coming back. What would be the harm in starting a few hours early?" Britney flashed a pleading smile. Chris could tell she was concerned but that didn't change his position any.

"Ma'am, do you have any idea what kind of trouble I'd get in if my supervisor found out I wasn't following procedure."

"Look... I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Officer Gillman. Chris." He offered a good natured grin.

"Look, Chris. If you're girlfriend went missing wouldn't you want to start looking for her right away? Wouldn't you not be able to sleep until you knew she was alright?" Britney's warmth and sincere desperation touched Chris. He knew that he couldn't fudge the time because Mesmero, their resident empathy, would know he was lying. Chris figured that he could convince Mesmero to start looking just a hair early. He'd played poker with the man and seemed like a decent enough guy.

"I suppose I might be able to bend the rules, just a little."

"Thank you. Thank you so much," Britney said. She seemed to be breathing easier. Chris hadn't noticed how tense she was until he saw her relax. If he hadn't been sure he going to help her before he'd have been more than determined now.

"This way," Chris motioned for Britney to follow him. The desk sergant was going to be pissed, Chris was sure but since the sergant shouldn't have been on a smoke break he was also sure that the he wouldn't turn Chris in. He walked down the hall, Britney followed close behind him.

"I don't have one," Chris said a matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?"

"A girlfriend. Don't have one. Not by choice, I just don't really have the oppertunity to meet many nice girls, you know?" Chris was babbeling now and he knew it. He kept trying to stop, to wrap things up but he just kept chugging along.

"It can be tough. You're a good looking guy, you'll manage." Chris smiled at Britney's compliment. "What's that smell?" She asked. Chris, realizing she was noticing the Slug's slime on him, decided to change the subject briskly.

"Here's missing persons." He points at a door that is indeed marked as "MISSING PERSONS." Chris opened the door and holds it open for Britney as she walks through it.

Britney was struck by how tiny and poorly lit the office was. The room was bare except for a desk, an open chair opposite the desk and a mini-fridge with a television perched on top of it. Sitting behind the desk was a small man with a piercing gaze. This was Mesmero. He was puffing on a cigarette and watching Judge Judy shout at a metamorph who had once stolen a man's wife by pretending to be him. Mesmero turned as the two entered his office.

"Gillman? What are you doing here?"

"She's filed a missing person's report," Chris jerked a thumb at Britney.

"So why isn't Gomez bringing her in? And why the hell do you feel so guilty?"

"Well, techinically she can't file the report for another couple of hours. I thought that maybe we could--"

"Subvert protocol?" Mesmero interrupted. "Why? For some piece of ass you're hoping to impress?"

"Look, Mesmero," Chris almost barked. He was beginning to get testy. He knew that he was asking for a favor but Mesmero didn't have to make it so hard for him. "She's got to find her boyfriend and we both know that the more time that passes means that less a chance we have of finding him all in one piece."

Chris heard a gasp behind him. "Oh God," he heard Britney mutter. He knew that he was upsetting her but this was the only way he knew to press Mesmero into action. If he made Britney upset and anxious enough then he'd be making Mesmero feel upset and anxious too.

"If we start searching now maybe we can find him while there is still a chance. Who knows if he's lying somewhere in a pool of his own blood, gasping for breath and trying to shout for help." Chris thought he heard Britney begin to softly sob behind him. He couldn't think about it. He was trying to help her, he kept telling himself. "Or maybe he's being held somewhere, beaten and broken."

"Stop!" Mesmero and Britney shouted at the same time.

"Alright, Gillman." He motioned for Britney to sit down in the open chair. "Please sit down." Britney dabbed at her eyes as she crossed the room and sat down. "I swear Gillman, don't you ever pull this crap again. It's unprofessional." Mesmero turned to face Britney.

"So what do I do?"

"Just sit back and think of the missing person." Mesmero put his cigarette down on a crowded ashtray. He reached out and took a hold of Britney's hand. He clenched his eyes shut, then opened them wide. To be honest, Britney was let down. She was expeticing more of a show. Not the floating head of Oz or anything but something a little more flashy.

"I'm sorry miss. Your friend is dead."

"If you call that speaking. It sounded like a tape recorder vomiting."

"When they talk to themselves it sounds like chirping."

"Have you figured out what they're saying?"

"Nope. They don't really talk too much. And when they do..." Lucas trailed off. Adam had been so relieved to see another human face but all that comfort washed away with the vague ending to that sentence.

Adam looked around the room, he still couldn't make out much of the room. "We are we? What the hell is this place?"

"It's where we're going to die."

The cold desperation in Lucas' voice worked further to disillusion Adam. He slowly lowered himself to one knee and lowered his voice. "What did they do to you?" Lucas remained quiet and Adam worried that he had offended or scared Lucas. As he realized that whatever horror had befallen Lucas was no doubt about to happen to him. The silence grew within Adam.

"I... I don't know," Lucas finally stuttered. He continued, gaining some confidence as he went. "They make you kind of black out so all you get is fragments. A twinge of light, a whiff of something burning. The only thing that you have with you is the pain. It's all you've got to hang on to." Lucas stopped abruptly and looked away from Adam. Adam kept staring at him. He knew that he shouldn't but he couldn't help himself. He hoped Lucas would say something else, something to put this whole experience into perspective.

"What do they want with us?"

"I've no clue. But if they brought you in it means that I ain't giving them what they were looking for. And since they got about a dozen more cages in here, I guess they're willing to keep looking until they got what they want." Adam looked around, he could just barely make out two cages besides the ones that he and Lucas were in. He guessed that his eyes hadn't finished adjusting to the darkness yet.

"Do you think that they--"

A rattle makes Adam stop mid-sentence. Lucas put his hands over his ears and turned away.

"They're coming," he muttered.

"Lucas, how do they--?"

Adam's words are cut off as his body becomes rigid once more. He fell to the ground, limp. "Lucas," Adam muttered with great effort. Lucas didn't respond. Adam began to feel the familiar tingle begin in his feet. With difficulty, he managed to turn his head enough to look over at Lucas. All he could was Lucas' back. "Lucas," he muttered again. Again, Lucas didn't respond.

Adam's body disappeared from the room, leaving Lucas alone with his tears and prayers.

Later on that evening, after an amusing drive home the two settled down to bed. After eating such filling food the two welcomed sleep. Or at least, they both should have welcomed it. Instead only Britney found solace in slumber while Adam found himself lying in his bed in the dark wide awake. He grew tired of looking at the ceiling because he kept imagining odd shapes appearing. He rolled over to look out the window. "It'll be like watching television," he thought to himself. "Very boring television perhaps. Sort of like CSPAN or ESPN Classic."

He watched with greater interest than he thought he would as the wind blew through the trees outside his apartment, then died down only to blow strong once more. It wasn't until the wind died down completely, depriving Adam of his amusement that he looked at the clock. Considering that he had to be at work early in the morning, he was not pleased with the time.

There was a metallic rattling sound that made Adam sit up in his bed. He looked around the apartment, trying to find the source of the sound. For a moment, he thought it was the wind blowing up against the window but he quickly realized that the night was still outside. He stood up and began looking about for some sort of weapon to protect himself. He had been convinced someone had broken into the apartment. He'd heard some of his neighbors complaining about a string of recent burglaries.

Adam was unaware of how amusing he looked. Dressed only in his boxers he began crawling along the floor looking for something to use as a makeshift weapon. He was so distracted by his self-appointed task that he failed to notice there was light outside the window and that the light was growing stronger and stronger. It finally caught his attention as he noticed the shadows form and grow across the bedroom floor.

He looked over his shoulder at the window. He held his hand up to shield his eyes. Curious, he stood up and walked to the windows as the light continued to grow more intense. He glanced over at Britney, who still slept on her side of the bed. Without waking, she put her hand where Adam's body had laid a few moments prior.

"And I'm the heavy sleeper?" His sarcastic remark came out seconds before a sharp pain filled his entire body. He grew rigid. He tried to cry for help but all that came out of his throat was harsh gurgle. He felt a lightness in his whole body. He began to float slightly upwards as if he was leaf caught in a light breeze. Scared, he tried to flail, to wiggle free of the invisible grasp that held his body so tightly.

A tingling sensation began to grow in his fingertips. The feeling moved up through his arms and into his chest. Adam closed his eyes and said a prayer to a God that he stopped believing in a long time ago. It was not the most eloquent or poetic of prayers but what it lacked in polished quality it more than made up for in sincere belief. It was simple and straight-forward: "Dear God, please make it stop."

Despite the desperation of his plea, however, it went unanswered.

Adam's body disappeared leaving Britney alone in the bedroom. There was a loud popping noise. Neither of them knew it but both of their lives had been changed forever. Of course, Britney was too busy dreaming about having a candy bar for a head to appreciate the drastic change about to befall her.

She awoke several hours later as the phone rang. She ignored it at first because it was her day off and she was intent on taking it easy and as being as lazy as she could manage. Besides in her sleepy state she assumed that Adam was still there to get it.

"Adam," she moaned out after the third ring. When she got no response she half opened her eyes and found Adam missing from the bed. "Adam!" she shouted louder. Only the ring of the phone answered her. Sighing, she rolled over and picked up the phone. "Hello?" she asked groggily into the mouthpiece.

"Told you."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"No clue. Last I heard he got a scholarship to MIT, majored in science."

Bob holds out the store keys. Adam takes them and puts them in his pocket. "Here you go. Now you're opening with Jerome tomorrow so it'd be nice if one of you was on time." Bob shoots Adam a playful glare.

"That was one time," Adam responded defensively. Bob flashed a smile and slaps Adam on the back.

"I'm just teasing." Bob glanced down towards his watch. "You need a ride to the bus stop?" This was another tradition between Bob and Adam ever since Adam once asked Bob for a ride. Adam had meant a ride to his house and Bob knew it but as he was too passive aggressive to flat out say 'no' he agreed to give him a ride to the bus stop which is about block and a half away. To prevent Adam ever asking him again, Bob began preempitevly offering to drive him to the bus stop.

Adam, after the awkwardness of the last car ride, played his own part in this tradition by flatly refusing. "Nah. I'm good." Bob nodded, their ritual now complete. Bob walked off this car satisfied with the knowledge that he had at least offered to help.

Adam began his block and a half walk to the bus stop. As he walked his gaze returned upwards towards the heavens and the modern day marvels that soared high above him. His mind began to wander over dreams, some long forgotten. In some of his boyhood fantasies he could fly, in others he could shoot fire from his fingertips or was impervious to harm. No matter how it manifested itself there was one thing that was always the same: he was special, he was different. He mattered.

He made to cross the street, still looking skyward. A car came barreling down on Adam, although he oblivious to it. The driver, who had been fantasizing about the newest secretary in his office, was caught by surprise. He slammed on the brakes and hit his horn. The horn blared as the car came to a screeching halt, the sound of which snapped Adam back to the real world. Looking embarrassed, Adam stepped back on to the curb and the driver, after shouting a few colorful epitaths at Adam, returned to driving and fantasizing.

Only after waiting for the sign at the crosswalk, then making his way to bus stop and sitting down on the bench did he allow his mind to wander once more towards the realm of the super. Some children dreamed of being superheroes in the same afternoon as they dreamed of being baseball players, astronauts or movie stars but not Adam. Adam's devotion to and awe of superheroes never wavered.

The sun had just set and the flow of superhero traffic above had slowed to a trickle. Still Adam smiled as he imagined. Of course, he had no idea that the very sky he was staring at held the thing that would change his life forever. Of course none of that mattered now. Now Adam was allowed to be alone with his dreams.

JANUARY 15th, 1976

Cindy Savage was always a light sleeper. Her husband James owned a dog when the two met. A beautiful dog, it was a cocker spaniel with a fine coat. Once they got married, the dog started getting put out at night so as to allow Cindy a good night sleep. Despite the fact that the dog was no longer in the house, he still found ways of waking Cindy up. At this moment, the dog was barking loudly and almost without stopping.

Cindy opened one eye and looked at the window. Pitch black. She was almost afraid to roll over and look at the clock. If it was after four in the morning then this was all the sleep she was going to get for the evening, her only hope was that it was around midnight. At least then she might be able to get another couple of hours in before she'd have to get up and go to work.

She eyed the clock by the bedside. After staring at the clock's face for a moment she was able to discern that it was a little before two. She let out a sigh. Two in the Goddamn morning and that dog won't shut up.

With some effort, she sat up in the bed. She looked over at her husband who snoozed beside her. As if reacting to her glaring, he snorted and rolled over, pulling a large wad of the sheets with him. She loved her husband dearly and had since the first moment she meet him all those years ago. Despite her love, she thought the same thing at that moment she thought every time she awoke in the middle of the night: worthless.

She continued her mental tirade as she walked into the kitchen. "What if someone were trying to break in? He always talks about that dog as some kind of home defense thing. Well, either that dog's got to go or he's gonna have to start waking up when it's barking." Without breaking stride, she went to kitchen sink and poured herself a glass of water. She sipped the cool water from the glass and attempted to clear her mind. She knew that she'd never say anything to her husband about the dog. She never did. It just made her feel better to rant about it in her head for a bit.

She turned around and headed back for the bedroom. She was attempting to clear her mind and so hadn't noticed that the dog was still barking. In the past, the dog's barking would only come and go as the local wildlife attempted to run past him to get to the Savage's trash. Living out in the country as they did, there were always raccoons or skunks that were trying to eat the remains of their dinner. However, once the animal had discovered the dog's presence, it usually scampered off back into the wilderness surrounding the small house. This time whatever the dog was barking at was not leaving. It was, in fact, coming closer.

Cindy Savage, having just been roused from only a few hours of half-hearted sleep, was not aware of anything out of the ordinary with the dog's behavior.

She walked into her bedroom still carrying the glass of water. She was taking part in the next of her nightly rituals, counting down how many hours of sleep she could still get if she fell asleep right now. Just about the time that she was discovering that she didn't care much for the answer, a bright light came pouring into the bedroom, filling the room. The light came in so quick and was so blinding that in her sleep-deprived state, Cindy dropped her glass in order to shield her eyes from the light.

As if in a fog, she barely heard the glass shatter as the cup hit the floor. She wondered what kind of car would have such intense headlights when she looked over at her husband. As usual, he was sleeping through this.

"James."

He didn't stir.

"James."

Squinting fiercely against the light, she walked over to him and grabbed one of his arms. She squeezed it gently in an effort to rouse him from his sleep. She found herself unsuccessful. She gave his arm a slight shake. Still nothing. She grabbed both of his shoulders and began to vigorously shake him as if attempting to resuscitate him.

A loud buzzing noise made her turn her head. The noise was unlike anything that a car or truck would make. It seemed to be a loud throbbing that made the front of her head ache while at the same time, there was a whirring noise that seemed to hover just at her ability to hear it.

"James!" This time she was yelling but it didn't matter. She couldn't even hear herself so she had no hope that he could hear.

Shadows grew longer despite the blinding light. The inky blackness seemed to not only grow in size but in shade as well, becoming darker. Cindy stood in shock and mounting fear at the rising shadows. They had begun to move and undulate as if they had a mind of their own. Suddenly, descernable shapes began to appear, human-like in their appearance. The shadows began to encircle Cindy, she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She scratched at her throat wildly.

"Do not be afraid." The voice came out clipped and distorted as if someone had recorded the separate words, strung them together and played them back.

A shadowy hand reached out for Cindy.

Cindy promptly wet herself.