“Kip,” yelled his wife, her face frantic, her eyes wild. She waived her hands as she rushed out of their house. Chickens scattered and their golden retriever followed her, his tail wagging, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Kip stopped the truck and turned off the engine. He didn’t bother taking the keys out of the ignition as he hurried out of the car, leaving the door open. “What is it, Francine?”
She pointed toward their backyard forest, full of fir and pines.
Perhaps it was the fading day that had blinded him to the smoke rising from the trees upon driving onto his property, but he could now see it as clear as day.
“Something landed back there. No, it crashed.”
It sure as hell better not be those aliens. If so, that alien was in deep shit. He went back to his truck and pulled out a rifle from the cabin. He cocked it and slid several bullets out of a box and pushed them in his pocket.
“Stay in the house, Francine.”
She nodded and walked cautiously inside, shutting the door behind her. She’d watch from one of the windows facing the backyard. But that’s all Kip would allow her to do. Keeping her safe was way more important than satisfying her curiosity. He would check out the crash site himself.
He slapped the side of his leg as he rounded his house. “Here, Gunner.”
The golden retriever barked and ran by his owner’s side. Gunner licked Kip’s hand, barking again.
Passing the yard, Kip found himself stopped at the edge of the forest. Lights were shining maybe a hundred feet deep in the woods, and it wasn’t from fire. Smoke rose, but Kip could hear a hissing sound. Was that steam?
Kip took a step into the forest. “Come on, boy. Don’t just stand there. Let’s go.”
Gunner growled, pacing at the edge of the forest, refusing to go in.
“Alright, chicken-shit. Suit yourself.” Kip held his gun forward as he trekked on, his cowboy boots landing on moss and fallen needles. He didn’t make much sound, but in the quiet of dusk, every sound in the forest was like crashing cymbals.
He touched the bark on a tree and took several more steps onward, then halted in surprise. A large ship, clearly foreign to this world, was half buried in the ground, a long trail of dirt and fallen trees behind it.
It had crash landed, but it was far from destroyed.
The craft’s door was open and white ambient light poured out, highlighting the broken branches strewn around the ship. Steam lifted from the top of the craft like dry ice left out in the sun.
He held the gun tighter to his body, aiming it at the door. He inhaled sharply and gulped when he saw a large blue man lying face down on the ground just outside the craft.
He poked the blue monster with his rifle barrel then backed up, targeting the alien bastard. The Being didn’t move. Relieved, Kip took another step forward, squinting his eyes as he entered the craft’s belly.
More ashen-blue ET’s were on the craft’s floor, not breathing.
The cabin lights blinked to red and the cockpit flipped on. Several holographic images of Earth with points of light on several locations around the world extended from the console in front of the control stick.
An alien twitched, then another one. One grumbled, making metallic noises.
Kip backed up, then bumped into something. He twirled around. A big guy stood in front of him, his gray lips curling into a smile. He laughed like a chainsaw cutting through the hood of a car.
Kip pulled the trigger, his rifle sending a slug into the blue man’s stomach. Blood and sparks shot outward. The alien advanced forward, knocking Kip out of the way and toward the cockpit, yelling words Kip had never heard before.
Kip ran out of the craft.
Gunner was barking like mad as he ran alongside Kip.
Kip dashed around brush and jumped over a stump. He made it to his yard and quickly backed up, watching the ship’s lights change from white to blue. A loud roar and the ship lifted off the ground, breaking tree branches as it rose higher and higher.
Above the forest canopy, the trees swayed back and forth from the craft’s ion drives blowing air rapidly against them. Its engines ramped up and an orange fire blasted out of the back thrusters, propelling it forward at an amazing rate of speed.
Kip fell on his ass, his dog jumping on him and licking his face. He pushed Gunner away. Another ship lifted from deeper into the forest, and a third, and then a fourth.
The sky boomed and the crafts zipped across the heavens, disappearing south in a matter of seconds.
Kip stood. “Francine? Get in the truck. We’re going across the border.”
A back window opened, Francine white as a ghost. She’d seen the ships, too. “To Canada?”
Kip nodded and spit on the ground. “Yes, to Canada. No one ever attacks Canada.”
He raced to the truck and jumped in, Gunner leaping and landing on his lap, then climbing to the back seat. The passenger door opened and Francine sat down, shaking like it was below zero. Kip turned on the ignition and put his foot on the gas. Gravel shot out from under his wheels as he spun the truck around and down his long driveway.
He didn’t know their names. He didn’t want to know their names. All he knew was some blue-skinned aliens, large as friggin’ black bears, had landed on his property. Where they went next, he didn’t care, as long as they didn’t follow him. They were Jaxx’s problem, his dream had told him so.
“Sure as sugar hope that Jaxx fellow is ready, because there’s more where they came from.”
He took a left at the end of the driveway, heading north.
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