When They Come
7

They sat in dead silence. Alex’s badge was broken. And she couldn’t fix it. It was just her luck too. Always getting the short end of the stick.

“How did it break? I thought those things were indestructible!” John breathed. He sounded panicked. Just how Alex felt on the inside.

Her mind was blaring its alarms, her muscles were tense, and her chest was screaming in panic. She was about to hyperventilate.

“It—it must’ve gotten damaged during the fight. Cassandra did hit pretty hard. Maybe—maybe she broke it on accident,” Alex muttered, standing and pacing. This wasn’t good. Losing her rank. It was just—she didn’t know what it was. The Saimiens, when they distributed them, said something like the badges being highly important and classifying her rank.

“Do you have your badge manual?” John asked worriedly.

“My what?” Alex asked, darting her eyes to her badge and then to her friend.

“The Saimiens handed them out when they gave us their badges. Do you have yours?” John explained.

“Umm, maybe? I have no idea where it is though! I thought I’d never need it!” Alex said, panic-stricken. She immediately flew to her desk, strewn with papers, drawings, books, but no manual.

Alex dashed to her bookshelves and rummaged through them. Nothing. She dug through her draws. No. under her bed. No sign of any manual.

“I can’t find it!” Alex cried and turned to her phone. “Do you have yours since you know so much about it?”

John picked up a thin white paperback book and waved it in front of the phone.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Just tell me if I can get a new one!” She retorted.

“Right,” John said seriously. He sat on his bed and held his phone in between his knees. He flipped frantically through the book until he stopped. His eyes scanned the pages quickly and then did it a few times over.

It took a good three minutes for John to speak and Alex’s entire being was shaking. She had no idea what lay in store for her, but she didn’t want to know.

“Uh-oh,” John breathed.

“Well?” Alex snapped. “What’s ‘oh-no’?”

“It says here, in red letters too, that ’The badges for each rank are irreplaceable and strictly for that specific human. If anything occurs to the badge, dire consequences will be initiated. World Ending’.”

Alex’s stomach dropped to her shoes. She felt sick. No. She did not just screw up that bad. She did not just seal the Earth’s fate. That’s—bad. Really, really bad!

Now Alex started to hyperventilate. Panic took control. She screwed up big time. All because of some stupid prank. If only she hadn’t agreed to the idea…

“Alex!” John called.

Alex looked to John, her face glazed with panic and worry. “Please don’t hate me,” She begged to him.

“What? No! I’d never—look, we have to do something! This sounds crazy, but apparently this is happening.” John said calmly, notes of concern in his voice.

“But what do we do?” Alex cried. “There’s nothing we can do!”

“Ok, lets brainstorm together. Meet me at my house in five!” John said.

“Fine! Just lemme get changed and I’ll be over,” Alex nodded.

John hung up and Alex tossed her phone onto the bed. she dug through her draws and found a black tank top, a blue plaid shirt, and some knee high jeans. Pulling them on, Alex grabbed her phone and shoved it into her pocket.

Everything suddenly went quiet. Alex froze and listened. The birds stopped singing, the cows and sheep were silenced. It was as if something had arrived that was so terrifying, it made everything go still.

Alex threw back her bedroom curtains and swore. There was a Saimien ship landing in her yard. No doubt to see her. Alex pulled her phone back out and called John.

“What is it?” He said anxiously.

“Get you and your truck over her—now! And bring your phone!” Alex yelled and hung up.

She dashed downstairs and out the front door, ignoring her mother in the kitchen and her father exiting the room. Alex circled nervously around to the backyard and watched the Saimiens stalk out of their ship. If Alex was right, she could see Addir among them. Oh gosh.

She met them halfway and stopped a good distance from them. Everything seemed to hold its breath in anticipation to see what would happen.

The leader of the group looked around, observing his surroundings before speaking. “You humans always seem to not understand the message we clearly state,” He began.

“Listen, it—it was an accident,” Alex said shakily. “Someone broke it. It was just a silly prank a friend and I pulled, and the badge was broken in a fight following it,”

“Humans and their petty dilemmas,” The leader growled. “And yet, you are still responsible, are you not?”

“Well, yes but—”

“Nothing more needs to be said. You’ve broken the law we’ve set before you and now you and your race will pay. I congratulate you. Now, all of humanity will hate you. Not that they’ll live to do so,” The leader smirked.

“What do you mean?” Alex said skeptically, fear and more panic piercing her chest.

“In two days’ time, your planet will be nothing more than a crisp. I will say nothing else,” The leader said, lifting his head.

“So, you’re just going to incinerate us? Because just one human disobeyed you and your law?” Alex said defensively. “That’s ridiculous!”

“We are not the ones who make the laws. We just apply them,” The leader shrugged. “Our overlord, Onol, has made them. She does not like your pathetic race and has reasoned that if one human steps out of line, that human condemns them all. It is just that simple,”

“And how do you plan to get away with your master plan?” Alex pressed, placing her hands on her hips.

“We’ve prepared for this ever since we arrived. A machine we’ve made will bring your oh-so-important sun closer to you. It’s nearly impossible to stop. Not that you’ll make it a hundred miles from it,” A member of the gang spoke up.

“Silence, Xoll!” The leader snapped. He straightened. “Now that your final questions are resolved, you will come with us to receive your final punishment,”

Alex heard noise behind her and saw her parents coming out slowly from the back door. They looked terrified. Like she felt on the inside. Every bone in her body was telling her to run, but she wouldn’t…not yet.

“Mom, Dad,” Alex began, her voice cracking. “I’m so sorry. But I promise, I will fix this,” She said confidently.

“There is no way to stop what’s coming,” The leader said with a bitter laugh.

Alex turned to face the leader. She stared him dead in the eye. And saw something out of the corner of her left eye. “That’s what you think,”

Alex broke into an all-out sprint to John’s car that pulled up several yards away. She willed her body to go as fast as it possibly could as the ran across the yard.

“Addir! Retrieve your human!” The leader howled.

Alex’s heart skyrocketed and she ran faster. Her legs felt like jelly and each breath she took felt like a shard of glass. She was so close to the truck she could’ve jumped and reached it. Wait a second—

Alex forced more power into her body and with a running jump, she flew through the air, landing in the tucks cargo bed with a loud ‘thud’.

“Drive!” Alex screamed and the truck lurched forward.

It sped off away from her farm. Alex held onto the side of the car and looked back. Addir was running on all fours, following the truck and he was gaining! Alex gripped the side of the truck harder and watched with worried eyes as Addir came bounding up the asphalt.

“Faster!” Alex shrieked over the wind.

The car sped up and Alex squinted in the sun, watching the night-black alien follow the car. She began to breathe faster. How had things gone so wrong so fast? This was all her fault! She was so stupid! How could she do such a thing?

Alex gasped. Addir was once again gaining on the truck and was only a few yards away! Suddenly, Addir leapt into the air, landing on the roof of the truck, making it sink in a little.

Alex screamed as Addir loomed over her.

“You’ll thank me later,” Addir said and lunged at her.

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