Infiltratated: An Alien Romance
Chapter 1
January, 1st, 2007
She didn’t start the fire. Sure, she had a motive and everybody knew it. But, she didn’t start the fire. The blaze was in front of her. It burned into the night sky with a wicked orange-glow of danger. Thick, black smoke was melting into the white clouds. The snow had stopped falling in a weird proximity based circle around it.
All Jenni could hear was the sound of crackles and pops. She was sure there was more to hear. She could see the steady drift of people around her; wearing distraught faces. It was all she could focus on though. The steady cloud of smoke was starting to taint the air. Ash had started to fall like a dirty replacement to the snow.
“Are you okay?” a dazed looking woman asked. Jenni had seen the woman before, but they’d never spoken.
“I think so,” Jenni nodded. “Are you?” There was a cut running across the woman’s head. It wasn’t bleeding, but she had streaks of dirty red down her face, which told Jenni that it had bled at one point.
“I’m fine dear,” the woman gave her a strength filled smile. “This just happened so suddenly. I think I’m still in a bit of shock,” she told Jenni absently.
“Sure,” Jenni nodded. She was in shock too. It wasn’t for the same reason though. She’d known about the fire. She’d known it was going to happen for days. “Do you know if anybody has been hurt?” she asked the woman who had stopped to watch the carnage around her.
“I’m not sure,” the woman didn’t take her eyes away from the flames. “I think it might be too soon to say. I’m not even sure that everybody is out of the building yet.”
Jenni looked back at the building. The sound of strained beams was starting to blend in with the crackling of flames. It wasn’t going to be standing much longer. If there were still people in there, they needed to get out quickly.
“Jenni,” a voice called about the devastation. She looked around to see who it was. It was her dad. He was marching towards her with deeply unsettled look on his face. His military service uniform looked untouched by the fire or its ashes. “Please, tell me you didn’t do this?” he said, when he was close enough to ensure that nobody else could hear. “Please, tell me this is some kind of freak accident.”
“I didn’t do this,” Jenni met her father’s eyes.
He sighed. “But, you played a part?”
“Yes,” she wasn’t going to lie to him. There was no point. He knew the truth and knew why she’d done it. He had no one to blame, but himself.
“Why?” he asked desperately. “Why have you done this to me?”
Jenni looked back at the building. Fire engines had just started to arrive. It was clear though, that they were too late. Even if they did put the fire out, the building was beyond repair. “I had to do the right thing,” she looked back at her dad. “Surely, you of all people, should understand that?”
“Where has he gone?”
“Where has who gone?” Jenni smiled softly.
“Don’t play games with me,” her dad snapped at her. The unsettled expression he’d been wearing was quickly turning to anger. “Where has he gone?”
Jenni shrugged. “How should I know?”
“You’re telling me, that you helped him escape, but you didn’t ask him where he was going. Don’t lie to me Jenni. It would be very unwise to do that right now.”
“Can you prove I’m lying?” Jenni asked with her face turning up to the man that she’d once believed to be a hero.
“Jenni, if we don’t get him back I’m not going to be able to protect you. If you help me now, if you tell me where he is, then I’ll be able to say that you aided us.”
“I don’t need your protection,” she bit back at him quickly. Who was he kidding? When had he ever been there for her before? “I’ll be fine on my own.”
He stared at her with cold eyes. “Is that really what you think?”
“It’s what I know.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “You either tell me where he is or that’s how it will be. You can be on your own, because I won’t be your father anymore. I’m not going to have you drag me through the mud. No.Not over this Not over him. I’ve worked too hard to see everything get pulled down.”
“Then that’s how it’ll be,” Jenni shrugged. He’d already prepared her for a life without him. Why did he think it was threat? “I guess, I’ll see you around,” she turned and walked away from him.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” her dad called over the background noise that was starting to come back to her. “You tell me where he is and I can make all of this go away.” He was desperate. Jenni almost understood. He was going to lose everything; because of her. That wasn’t her fault though, it was his.
She didn’t stop walking, until the flames were burning brightly, but far away in the distance. She sighed at the sight and continued walking along the dark path that led down into the forest. That’s where she was meeting him. That’s where Ethan was waiting for her. It wasn’t going to matter what anybody said about her, because she wasn’t going to be around to face it.
It took her a little over half an hour. She wasn’t even sure whether she was going the right way at points, but she got there. Ethan’s ship was smaller than she’d thought it would be, but majestic. It was nothing like the tinfoil saucer she’d had in her mind. “So, we just get in this and fly away?” she smiled walking over to Ethan.
He had his back to her. His face was buried in a panel on the ship. He turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. “I thought you weren’t going to make it,” he stopped what he was doing and went to meet her halfway.
“How could I miss this?” Jenni turned her eyes away from the space ship, because that wasn’t what she was referring to. She pushed herself up onto the tips of her toes, so her mouth aligned with Ethan’s and she kissed him softly.
They pulled away from their embrace when siren’s filled the quiet forest. “We need to go,” Ethan scanned the dark tree line. “It won’t be long, before they find us.”
“I guess it’s now or never then,” Jenni grinned.
“Are you sure about this?” Ethan stalled her. “Once we go, we can never come back.”
“I don’t want to come back. I’m a big girl Ethan. I know the sacrifices I’m making, but they’re all worth it. I want to come with you. I want to be with you. For me, that’s the only way forward. So, can we just go already?”
“Okay,” Ethan shrugged with a content smile. “I guess it’s time we set off then.”
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