Hunted: Chapter 2

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Hallo! Here's Chapter 2 of my new series Hunted. If you want to read Chapter 1, it's right here. Regardless, enjoy!

 

 

Hunted: Chapter 2

 

Millis Embers was a dying man.

 

Ever since the mysterious amnesia when he turned four hundred and two, his health had been deteriorating. His dreams had become increasingly strange. Not just night-dreams. He would often pass out during the day, for no apparent reason, and have these dreams too. At first, it was bearable. But after hitting quadruple digits, things went downhill. Now, at twelve hundred and three, he could barely manage. He constantly felt like his veins were inflating and burning.

 

Millis sighed. Pulling the curtains to his room, he observed the atmosphere. The blue-green planet with swaths of white had emerged from behind the Galactic Emperor. Planet X52, but the inhabitants called it Earth.

 

Poor thing. Millis thought. The planet will have to be eliminated and the primitives won't even know what hit them.

 

Millis sat down in a reclining chair and picked up the only book he had, a worn leather bound tome titled Wake Up!

 

He had read the book multiple times, and knew almost every word by heart. It was a confusing read, but Millis was quite fond of it. Deciding to skip the first chapter, he flipped to the next one, "The Masked Men Attack", and began to read:

 

Oke was terrified. Purely, properly terrified.

 

It hadn't happened since when he was seven, when a snake snuck into the orphanage (it turned out NOT to be venomous). He'd almost forgotten how it felt. Now, as his heart thumped in his chest and adrenaline coursed through every single vein in his body, his only thought was I'm gonna die.

 

It was hard to describe how a masked abomination could project pure, abject, terror into someone, but that was exactly how Oke felt. It was almost like waking up and seeing a puppet on your bed, and knowing that that wasn't supposed to be there. That it couldn't have been there.

 

After Oke calmed down a bit, he began to reason with himself. The masked thing hadn't moved. It was probably a prank. Then again, he had locked the door last night, and nothing was in the bathroom last he checked.

 

"Help."

 

Oke jumped. The masked thing had not only turned its head, but also spoke. It wasn't in any human voice. It was like sandpaper, raspy and dry.

 

Oke managed a small cry, and quickly backed out of the bathroom before slamming the door in the thing's face. It pounded on the door, but didn't seem to be able to open it for the time being.

 

Oke checked the lock to his main door. Despite remembering locking it, it was still apparently unlocked. His clammy hands fumbled with the handle before pulling hard. Nothing. He pulled again and again, grunting and pushing and pulling like his life depended on it, which, admittedly, it did. After a few fruitless attempts, he had a sickening realization: it was locked from the outside.

 

He kicked the door in frustration. He was surprised that no one came to check on the racket, but paid it no mind. Realizing that his only escape was through the window, he bolted to the sill and prepared to dive out, but before he could do so, a hand appeared on the window.

 

It rapped once on the window, and somehow instantly shattered the glass. Oke backed away, horrified. An arm emerged, then two. Both arms struggled to pull up the head and the rest of the body. Eventually, the entity managed to fit its entire body into the fractured window and push itself through.

 

"You have got to be kidding me." muttered Oke. It was identical to the masked thing in the bathroom. Cloth head, silver suit. It too, groaned in a raspy voice, as though it ached all over.

 

Oke ran back to the door and tried it again. It was still locked. He considered calling for help, but had seen enough movies to know that it did pretty much nothing if you were getting attacked by psycho creeps from outer space. Plus, all he could really manage was a constant whimper.

 

He realized that he had a pretty good chance of diving out the window once the thing started chasing him. It was slow, after all, and he was pretty sure he could lead two of them to the other side and then sprint to the window.

 

Before he could formulate a plan, his bed sheets started moving, as if there was something hiding underneath. Oke would have been less frightened if they had spun about like a tornado. Instead, the center slowly rose higher and higher, though whatever was hiding refused to show itself.

 

Oke watched as the sheets reached their apex and morphed into a third masked thing. With three, he wasn't so sure his plan would work. Plus, seeing how they appeared, he wouldn't have been surprised if his clothes turned into masked things too. The pounding on his bathroom door was getting louder, and the first masked thing had started to mutter phrases that made no sense to Oke.

 

Despite Oke's mind racing, he wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, he didn't have to. About to collapse in despair, Oke saw his door open.

 

The fourth masked thing was shorter than the others. However, Oke didn't notice this as he almost barreled it over sprinting out the door.

 

"Woah! Watch it."

 

Oke skidded to a halt. It's voice wasn't raspy like the others. The masked thing tore off its mask, revealing a human face underneath.

 

"I'm Sam. If you want to live, then run."

 

*******

 

Oke panted from sprinting through the orphanage. Despite the time, no one seemed to be up. The only organisms other than themselves were a few pigeons and a few people walking their dogs. Oke found a bench and sat down. Sam was off to the side fidgeting with a device out of Oke's sight, but he didn't appear to be fazed at all.

 

"Funny."

 

"Sorry?" Oke asked, confused.

 

"You're funny. Who or what are you?"

 

"I'm Oke. Hi." Oke replied.

 

"No, no. It's not that simple. You saw through the Masked Man's Disperception Apparatus. That's why they attacked you. So who are you and why could you see through it?"

 

Oke snapped. "Seriously? You just burst in my room when I got attacked by some creepy dudes who could materialize out of nowhere. Not to mention there are planets in the sky. I'm not one to demand explanations, but honestly. Who are you? What were those things? What the hell is even going on?!"

 

"Oh." Sam replied.

 

"What?"

 

"That's anger. I have trouble with angry humans. Always say the wrong things and they get even more angry."

 

Oke looked at Sam. "You mean you aren't human?"

 

Sam glanced back. "No... I didn't say that."

 

"No, but you implied it."

 

"Huh?"

 

"You are an alien though," reasoned Oke, "right?"

 

Sam paused. "Suppose there is no point in lying. The extraction team is coming, so yes."

 

"Cool!" Oke hesitated. "Who or what are you, and what is going on?"

 

"I am an alien. You just got attacked by other aliens. My job was to keep you alive until the extraction team got here. Now tell me. Who or what are you and how could you see through the Disperception Apparatus?"

 

"What's a Disperception Apparatus?"

 

Sam looked Oke up and down, sizing him up. "A Disperception Apparatus is basically a device that keeps aliens invisible to humans. You can't see through it unless..."

 

"Unless what?"

 

"Have you encountered alien technology before?"

 

"No, I don't think so." Oke replied, although he was pretty sure he was wrong. "What type of alien are you? What type of alien was that? What are you doing on Earth? Are you from Star Wars?"

 

Sam frowned. "You ask a lot of questions. I'm a Tracker. Can't tell you what species. That was a Masked Man. Hard to explain. Can't tell you what I'm doing. What's Star Wars?"

 

"Well, it's kind of like a-"

 

"Look out!"

 

Oke turned around. He was about to ask what he was looking out for when the tranquilizer dart embedded itself into his neck.

 

*******

 

Oke woke up in a bright room in the middle of nowhere. His head felt heavy, like someone had turned it into a rock, and his eyelids refused to open. He heard two people arguing off to the side.

 

"-did you reveal who you were and what your name was?!"

 

"For god's sake, Annie, it isn't that big of a deal. He was coming here anyways!" a voice replied. Oke recognized it as Sam.

 

"You... amateur! If a human knows about us, we have to shoot them! Were you even paying attention in training?" Annie fired back.

 

"No..." admitted Sam, "but what was I supposed to do instead? He had already figured out I was an alien."

 

"No, numbskull. He thought you were an alien. You could have just told him otherwise, or acted stupid. You're perfect at that."

 

"Hey! Just because you're one teeny little rank higher than me doesn't mean you get to boss me around."

 

"Shush. I think our little friend is awake."

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

Predictions? Questions? Flaws? Comment your thoughts below!

 

Sneak Preview (spoilers, unless I change the plot):

-Oke visits The Armory

-Oke knows something he shouldn't

-Red doors

-Sam shows Oke something he won't remember

and

-Annie and Sam (somewhat) explain the Masked Men! (I know, highlight)

Edited May 4, 2017 by tweezers

[tweezers 1,034]

Approved: 

 

-Changed "No but you implied that" to "No, but you implied it".

 

Just...just...awesome. 

[Kuhaku 87]

ahem, MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU AS TODAY IS 5/4/17

[HAPPSHOT 2,029]

Wow