The Watchers

Return of the
Aliens

Novella 2

The Watchers

Ruth Ann Nordin

Ruth Ann Nordin’s Books

Springfield, Nebraska

The Watchers - Smashwords
Edition

Published by Ruth Ann Nordin at
Smashwords

Copyright © 2010 by Ruth Ann
Nordin

All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.

Cover Photo images Getty Images LLC.
www.photos.com All rights reserved – used with
permission.

Smashwords Edition, License
Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. If you
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you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Ruth Ann Nordin Books

http://www.ruthannnordin.com

Dedicated to my long-time good friend,
Melanie Nilles, whose love of science fiction has inspired me to
consider writing my own science fiction tale.

Return of the Aliens
(series)

Novella 1: The Vanishing

Novella 2: The Watchers

Novella 3: The Leader

and more to come

Chapter One

Five Months after “The
Vanishing”

Screams echoed through the corridor as
the elevator door opened. Vanessa Hayden glanced at Devon Patrick.
“What’s going on down here?” she whispered.

He didn’t bother looking at her.
Instead, he simply said, “The less you know, the better.” and
walked forward. He expected his co-worker to follow him and she
did. Stopping in front of the security guard who stood before a set
of double doors, he held up his badge.

Despite the trepidation on Vanessa’s
face, she followed suit.

The guard nodded and opened one of the
doors, keeping his gun in his other hand. Devon refused to make eye
contact with him. The guards were well trained, and if one wasn’t
careful, secrets could come to light. And that’s the last thing
Devon wanted.

The hallway was dimly lit,
making him all too aware that he was a good mile underground—in the
bowels of the Earth. Closed doors ran the length of the corridor,
except for one, and that’s the one he was instructed to take her
to. He steeled himself against what he was about to do. There was
no room for weakness.
They
were watching. His gaze darted to the camera in
the corner of the hall. The thing was small, but since he’d been
there before, he knew where to find it. He stopped in front of the
open door and motioned to it.

Vanessa peered into the room lit by a
blue light and stepped back.

That was when he looked at
her.

There was no denying the fear in her
eyes or the slight trembling of her body.

“
If you don’t do it,
they’ll kill you,” he whispered, knowing full well
they
could hear
everything he said.

“
But I didn’t sign up for
this,” she softly replied, her voice wavering.

“
There are many things you
didn’t sign up for, but it’s your job.”

A man screamed from behind one of the
closed doors and she jerked.

Closing the gap between them, he spoke
at a volume he knew they wouldn’t hear. “You won’t remember a
thing.”

Her eyes grew wide and she shook her
head.

“
We’re ready, Ms.
Hayden.”

He gently took her by the arm and led
her to the alien who looked just like a human woman. The only
reason he knew her true identity was because she revealed it to
him...except he wasn’t supposed to remember that. As long as
Vanessa complied, she would live through it.

“
You’ll be out before you
know it,” the beautiful blond said with a smile. “This is an
ordinary procedure.”

As soon as Vanessa made eye contact
with the alien, Devon saw her relax. There. Her resistance had been
willed aside. Now she would do whatever she was told.

“
You may come back for her
in two hours, after your procedure,” the alien instructed
him.

“
Yes.”

He said it because he was expected to.
He always said...and did...whatever he was expected to. It was part
of the game. He waited until Vanessa went into the room and the
alien closed the door before he turned around to walk back to the
double doors. By the time the guard on the other side opened the
door for him, he heard Vanessa scream. Bracing himself, he forced
his expression to remain neutral as he passed the guard and
returned to the elevator.

He pressed the button that would take
him further down. No matter how many times he’d been here, the
screams shook him to the core. He could never get used to this. But
he knew the consequences if he didn’t play along, and he wasn’t
willing to die for anything or anyone.

The doors to the elevator opened and
he stepped out, ready for what awaited him.

***

Alex Cameron twisted in his sheets. He
could feel them hovering over him, inspecting him. Flashes of the
incident when he went to Area 51 came in his nightmares—night after
night. His mind was slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle
together. He didn’t remember what happened when he woke up in that
cold room in a hospital bed. Everything had been blank. All he
remembered was running up a deep hole in the ground and being
chased by security guards that tried to shoot him and
Autumn.

But three months after that night, he
began having the dreams. Only, they weren’t dreams. Not really. At
first, he thought they were, but a month after they started, he
realized they were glimpses of that night. His memory was slowly
returning.

Though they never moved their mouths,
he heard their thoughts.

“
A fine specimen,” one of
the gray aliens thought to the other three around it.

The one on his right inserted a needle
into his arm.

He tried to move but he was frozen in
place, as if an invisible hand pressed down on him and kept him
still. He struggled to breathe, but the invisible hand clenched his
lungs. Acute pain traveled in his vein and up his arm.

Then he woke up.

Gasping, Alex threw his sheets off and
stumbled to the bathroom in his apartment. He flipped on the switch
and squinted in the bright light. With trembling hands, he grabbed
the bottle of pills from his medicine cabinet and quickly opened
the lid. The cabinet closed as he turned on the faucet to fill up
the paper cup with water. He turned it off and plopped the pill
into his mouth.

As soon as he glanced in the mirror on
the cabinet door, he wished he hadn’t. It was back...watching him.
The gray alien stood behind him, silent and not moving. It just
watched him like it did every night ever since his fiancé and
millions of others disappeared. And ever since the aliens announced
to the world that they existed. Peace and prosperity they promised
the world. But this one promised him terrors—and fulfilled that
promise every night. At least, it did until he saw a psychiatrist
and got the pills.

Taking his eyes off his unwelcome
companion, he gulped the water down and closed his eyes. He put his
face in his hands and willed the frantic pounding in his heart to
slow. Is this how it would always be? Would the monstrosity in
alien form continue to haunt him? It fed off his fear. It craved
it. It thrived off of it. It was a parasite.

But that’s where the pills came in.
Once the pill began to work its magic, the fear ebbed from him
until his mind cleared. His body relaxed and he exhaled. Opening
his eyes, he looked at the mirror. The alien was gone. Relieved, he
left the bathroom, decided to leave the light on, and went back to
bed.

On the nightstand was
Marianne’s picture. Five months had passed since she vanished, and
though he’d searched for her, she was nowhere to be found. Neither
were any of the other millions of people who also vanished. She was
gone. And she wasn’t coming back. He caressed the frame with his
thumb. They were supposed to marry four and a half months ago. If
they had, she’d be with him in bed at night. Then he’d have her
right by him instead of that alien who stood by his bed watching
him. Watching. Always watching. And occasionally giving him
thoughts to increase his fears. But that ability to plant those
thoughts departed when he started taking those pills. So now, it
just watched. And waited.
What is it
waiting for?
He hoped he’d never find out
because whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

With a long sigh, he decided it was
time to let Marianne go. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life
holding onto the hope those people would return. Whatever world
those aliens sent them to, they were long gone. While the
medicine’s numbing effect still worked on his body, he threw the
picture in the trashcan beside his nightstand and settled back into
bed.

Chapter Two

Autumn Daniels stared at the cross
necklace in her hand. Whenever she had it with her, she felt close
to Marianne, which was why she carried it everywhere she went. In
the light, it almost seemed to glow.

“
Nice necklace,” Alicia
said as she went behind the counter.

Autumn looked over at her co-worker
and smiled. “It was my sister’s. She never took it off.” She
slipped the necklace into her pocket and cleared her throat. “So,
what’s on sale today?”

“
Summer clothes. Anything
with short sleeves is 30% off.”

“
Welcome to September,” she
murmured. “I suppose shorts are on that list?”

“
Right, but those are
25%.”

“
Do we get an employee
discount?”

Alicia rolled her eyes.
“2%.”

“
Are you kidding?” Autumn
asked, studying her friend’s face.

“
Hampton hates the fact
that there’s a sale at all.”

“
Aren’t we lucky to be
stuck with him for a boss?”

“
Oh yeah. We’re the envy of
the retail industry.”

Autumn laughed, her mood growing
lighter. “Yay for us.”

Hampton left the employee lounge and
headed their way.

“
Time to look busy,” Alicia
whispered before she darted off for the corner of the store so she
could refold the jeans lining the shelves.

Autumn hid her amusement and worked on
typing the sales’ prices into the computer.

Unfortunately, he veered in Autumn’s
direction.

She inwardly groaned. Work would be
much better if she didn’t have to interact with him. She avoided
eye contact as long as she could, but as soon as he stood right in
front of her and cleared his throat, she knew she had to look at
him.

“
Tell Alicia that the mall
will stay open regardless of what’s happening in the Middle East,”
he said in his usual grim manner.

“
Aren’t the aliens here to
stop us from World War III?”

“
This isn’t funny, Miss
Daniels.”

“
It’s not supposed to be,”
she replied. Seriously, Hampton wouldn’t know a joke if his life
depended on it. “I’m just saying that was what one of them said on
the news last night.”

“
Yeah...well...they also
claim to be the gods from mythology.”

She blinked in surprise. Did he
suspect the truth? It seemed that she was surrounded by people who
mindlessly accepted everything the aliens said. Well, except for
Alex. But she had only seen him twice since they went to
Nevada.

“
Anyway, what happens in
the Middle East doesn’t affect us here in Bismarck.
Okay?”