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Stolen Future

The End Has A Beginning...

By Stephen VernarelliPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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Stolen Future

"Did you lock the truck?"

"No, didn't you? What's the worry? Whoever's coming is in too much of a hurry anyhow." Benny leaned up on the limestone bluff overlooking Wind Valley and squinted up at her. Serena reached for her blouse and slipped into it.

"My purse is stashed under the seat!” She jammed her leg into one side of her jeans and flipped Benny's clothes at him. Far above on the road that twisted down the chasm, a dust plume of a vehicle approached at a crazy speed. It was hot and Benny's long hair clung to his cheeks. "It's all right." He continued. "We can see the truck."

"But it took half an hour climbing up here."

"Yeah, but we can jam down in five minutes.” Benny stood, scanning the gorge. Ripe smells of summerwoods blew into his face. The vehicle was not slowing. He wondered if it had brakes.

The war above had been de-escalating in recent months. Daily strikes still sizzled across the sky, visible in daylight and even more dazzling at night like old rock concert, laser shows on a global stage of sky. They had sought refuge here in these isolated lands which had not yet succumbed to the rage and devastation like most of the civilized world. Pockets of power still held however as the Space Force took heavy toll from the invaders, even as hope entered from that exotic, angelic Alien Race who had recently intervened against their Protocol to help prevent Humanity’s stolen future. The Bad Ones now were just demons on the run.

Serena smiled pulling lip-gloss from her pocket and dabbed at her lips, which glowed with fullness. Her blouse hung open. Sunlight glistened on her moist belly. She was radiant and Benny never ceased his desire for her looks--that of proud defiance like a rebel of dark mystery and revolutionary freedom. She stood with her finger poised an inch from her lips as a red squirrel chattered overhead.

Just then, a sudden flash lit the area like lightning and Benny glanced skyward just in time to see the streak of something shiny and red-hot plow into the nearby gorge barely meters from where they had parked. It was followed by thunder and crunch of metal scraping rock, more grinding and a sudden thump then silence. Serena rushed over, clutching Benny. Both surveyed the area of the crash two hundred feet below. Lucky the wet vegetation had doused the heat quickly as Benny noted the steam and pale smoke.

A mangled orb lay at the end of a tattered trail of mashed vegetation. Benny tensed, expecting a blast like in movie wrecks, but there was nothing but the creaking of boughs. Then, he sagged. His Ford, old and solid, had rolled off the road down the embankment.

"Now what are we going to do? How are we going to get home?"

"Serena--relax. I brought a winch, remember?" Serena scowled, turning away, scooping her pack with a quick grab.

"Well, somebody's probably hurt--or dead."

"Over here." Serena’s voice had moved from where he had left her. He trudged through a tangle of vines to where Serena beckoned in earnest, appearing shocked. Benny walked toward her and gaped.

Deeper into the torn earth rested a metallic hulk bearing unmistakable insignia of the Bad Ones. It was about the size of a cement mixer truck with odd projections--antennae and armaments--and badly caked with mud from the damp earth and draped with vines and roots. The exposed metal had a bluish gleam.

"Well, it isn't a meteor." Benny acknowledged. Behind them both, a man coughed and spat. Benny glanced past his wife and realized a man was leaning on a tree. What shocked him was the man's insidious expression and upheld pistol.

"I reckoned it was lightning that run me off the road. Didn't think I'd find this tub so quick..."

Benny's mind stormed into high gear at sight of the gun. Completely isolated by converging ridges, Wind Valley was smack in the middle of nowhere. The man's comment about lightning puzzled Benny. Lightning had occurred moments before the crash. The damage certainly looked melted.

The gun made it surprisingly easy for he and Serena to follow the man’s unethical but polite bidding.

"Name’s Wendel. I never 'spected no help, but that damn thing nearly killed me-knocked me around good, flipped my truck clean over but I think it’ll drive! Now you just get on up there and open that like I say and I may let you live." Wendel's pointing gestures with the gun were as slow as his speech.

" It's probably radioactive or something." Benny grunted boosting Serena up to what appeared to be an access panel. "It could even blow us up!"

"Maybe there's some nukey stuff, all right but it ain't the blow-up kind. I've checked it out good. This is one of them Bad Ones’s scout ships. This tub's packed with real 'spensive metal like gold and platinum--'spose to last forever, you know. It's enough high-class loot to get back all them taxes I paid religious ever' year--an my daddy, too."

"A little to the left, Benny sweetie." Serena's voice was strained and small as she shifted her frame on Benny’s shoulders.

"Be careful, hon." Benny sagged and sucked in a deep breath as he leaned his stance against the curve of the craft, and glanced back at Wendel, who regarded him with a leer. He had not been all that lucky in the wreck after all. His breath was uneven with coughs and an occasional hacking. Perhaps it was chronic. He wasn't threatening but for the gun.

"How do you know so much about the Bad Ones? Don't you realize the Space Force is probably swarming here even now?"

"I tracked it from my place back yonder. I reckon we got a while yet. Besides--if anybody else gets here before you're done doin' the stealin'--I'll just say I caught some criminals who run me off the road so they could pillage the alien craft. In defense, I had to shoot 'em for God and country."

"You're a sick, demented lunatic." Benny stifled the urge to spit in Wendel's goading face. The pliant, moist soil beneath Benny’s foot gave way suddenly, causing Serena to lose her balance momentarily.

"Ouch! Blessed stars, Benny! Higher please—Ooh, I've almost got it." Moments later, the panel snapped free and sailed through the still air directly onto Wendel, making a very firm sounding whump to his head...

"That was real fine, babe. Are you okay?" Benny glanced away from Wendel who lay in a crumpled heap, and watched Serena rubbing her ankles from her jump. Benny now held the gun. He relished the feel of it.

"I'm good...Is he dead?"

"He's just out to lunch. I think we could tie him up to something and then--here, give me a hand. He's heavier than I thought."

Together, they dragged him off into the undergrowth. Behind him, Benny heard a whirring sound. The faint mechanical noise stopped when he spun around. His gaze rested upon one of the satellite's appendages.

"What was that?" Serena, too, paused.

"Sounded like hydraulics...Grab that vine there. It should hold him." Moments later, Wendel lay slumped, lashed to a tree.

"Wendel had a point. Platinum and gold will melt. I'm not worried as long as we act fast."

"He was going to kill us." Serena dropped another platinum rod. The small pile by Benny's feet represented a considerable fortune. "We should've dumped him by the wreck and then it would seem--"

"We're not murderers, babe. This is literally dollars from heaven and beats to hell any job."

"Okay, let me down. This thing gives me the creeps. It still feels live." Benny caught her foot easing her down the smooth curve of the craft.

Benny helped Serena gather up their new trove, pausing to admire her hair draped toward the ground as she bent to grasp the pile of odd, precious metals.

A low rumble shook the air as a helicopter loomed distant over a ridge, tiny, black and ominous.

" Benny was instantly alert. "Let's scram!"

They hustled and got everything into their packs and began trekking toward the road. Benny glanced at where he was certain they had tied Wendel but didn't see him. "You go on and unhook the wench. I'll be along in a minute."

Serena slung her pack with an askew glance that flipped her hair and trod off, dodging branches. She would be fine.

Cautious, Benny made his way around the vessel to the partly buried other side which was coal black with an odd port on its round shape. The port was indeed a window. Bravely or stupidly--for he would never admit it--Benny peered inside.

Time ticked like the blood pounding in his temples as he struggled to comprehend this new perception of reality. He gasped, breaking the spell, suddenly remembering to breathe. He whirled around, spied a coconut-sized rock in the wounded soil and hefted it. The port smashed like crystal on the third blow. A stench arose like sour vomit. There to his shocked perception was one of the Bad Ones-dead but wearing around its skinny neck a horribly out of place, heart-shaped golden locket probably stolen from an abducted girl. He gagged while probing his arm, neck deep into the hole, wrenching one final prize of uncanny and unbeatable worth.

“Damn alien. You stole some little girl’s future but you ain’t stealing mine!”

The side of his face tingled from the port's edges. No sooner had he withdrawn his arm then the helicopter screamed over the gorge, whipping the trees.

Unfrozen immediately, Benny moved like a startled wolf. The craft behind him came to life with whirring of internal motors. Benny stopped, dove for cover. The chopper banked around. It was now heading straight toward the alien war craft.

Armaments on the craft moved with precision. The helicopter floated, loud and foreboding.

"NO!" Benny screamed. Before he could think or understand anything, he heard what sounded like gunshots then saw the topmost projection on the alien craft move, locking into position. A split instant later, flashes of lightning-bright energy shot out. One spark seared into the chopper like the fiery arc of the covenant. Benny shook at the blinding flash. A static boom thundered. The patter of falling metal filled the silence that followed.

Benny roused from his daze and scrambled to the road, slashing through brambles. He was grim with but one thought. Serena!

She stood, bedraggled, and shaken, no longer seeming the defiant rebel as she fell into his arms, sobbing. He looked beyond her and saw why. Wendel had not been lucky after all. "He snuck up on me, Benny. He had a gun and... Then--the helicopter, and--he started shooting and...It was just awful. I jumped behind the truck and rolled under it.”

"Poor bub should've known better."

Benny squeezed her tighter. There was nothing more they could say or do but get away--far away.

*********

The truck winch had indeed proved to be a valuable investment. The Angel-like alien race had quickly vanquished the Bad Ones and sent them across the galaxy for good, and humanity had slowly recovered. Precious metals from the alien vessel had saved their asses but Benny's final souvenir—the heart-shaped locket--was a constant reminder of their wealth and now hung daintily around Serena’s neck.

Thousands of other such wrecks from the Space War littered the Earth but were quickly buried.

The moment Benny had gazed upon the dead alien in the black orb; he had perceived a depth he was unlikely to ever repeat.

***END***

Sci Fi
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About the Creator

Stephen Vernarelli

Vernarelli is from Baltimore, MD. He co-founded Golden Artemis Entertainment, collaborated with ex-wife, writing partner, Catherine Duskin, which is producing their screenplays. See more here: www.goldenartemisentertainment.com/about/Bio

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