Chapter Three
Tyler watched from on high at his perch, while down below in the trees, Lewis stealthily approached the extraterrestrial. Lewis was a skinny kid but starting to develop some muscle-tone from the rigorous training. He had the standard buzzcut, big brown eyes, and a smattering of acne dotting his skin because he was still so damn young.
At just sixteen, Lewis was the same age Tyler had been when Ogden first found him. Tyler sure as shit hadn’t felt young then, but couldn’t help viewing these recruits as anything but children. Children that don’t listen very well, he thought as he watched Lewis cross the twenty-foot barrier, edging closer to the alien in the dark woods.
“Dumb fuck,” Tyler whispered. “That’s too damn close.”
Hunched low with his weapon pointed, Lewis continued through the trees toward the creature. The alien was pink-skinned, only two-feet tall, with a gigantic bald head, tiny nose, and huge dark eyes. It appeared innocent with its blinking lashes and tiny puckered lips, like a pink, alien Tweety Bird. Short legs and arms, rounded belly like a toddler. The alien stood motionless beneath a tall tree, watching Lewis approach.
Tyler had hoped these recruits absorbed at least some of the training he’d given them, but based on Lewis’s actions, they hadn’t listened to a damn word he’d said. Wincing, he watched Lewis step even closer, stopping a mere ten feet from the alien, raising a hand. “Hey there,” Lewis said. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Tyler sighed, shaking his head. This kid was an idiot.
The alien squeaked at Lewis, blinking its big baby eyes, looking sad. It held its tiny arms out, a tear rolling onto its shiny pink cheek.
“Are you lost?” Lewis asked, taking two steps closer. He pointed to the sky. “Where is your ship?”
The alien’s tiny mouth stretched open shockingly wide, revealing long, black pointed fangs. With a growling shriek, it lunged itself at the recruit, knocking him onto his back. Lewis wasn’t ready, so his gun skittered from his grip, useless.
“God damnit, Lewis,” Tyler hissed.
Lewis screamed, scrambling for his weapon, but it was too late as the alien’s tiny body jumped onto his chest and long fangs bit into his neck.
Tyler hit the button, and the simulation ended. He stared down from the window above, watching as Lewis flailed around on the floor, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. What had moments ago been a dark forest was now a gymnasium-sized room, brightly lit with a domed ceiling. “You’re dead, Lewis,” Tyler said into the microphone. “Be thankful it was quick and you weren’t abducted and peeled layer by layer like an onion as they chronicled your anatomy.”
Lewis climbed unsteadily to his feet and glared up at the window. “That wasn’t fair!”
“That what you gonna tell a real alien when it attacks you? Gonna stomp your feet and pout and cry ‘But this isn’t fair!’”
Seated in bleachers at the edge of the room, the six of Lewis’s fellow recruits snickered at his failure, which only enraged him more. He snatched his gun up, then tossed it to the floor again in frustration. After pacing a circle, he glared up at Tyler. “I was trying to make contact! Shouldn’t that be part of our goal? To establish a dialog?”
Tyler left the booth. He trotted down the stairs and entered the simulation room. The recruits along the wall stood. “Sit down, as you were,” he said and they all took their seats again.
Lewis glared as Tyler approached. “I suppose I’m about to get screamed at again.”
“No screaming,” Tyler said. “This is a learning experience, so answer a few questions. You say you wanted to establish a dialog with the alien. Why?”
He shrugged. “Could have learned something from it. It could have been friendly.”
“Was there any information in the dossier you downloaded prior to this exercise that indicated the being was going to be friendly?”
“No. But, there wasn’t any information saying it wasn’t. And it looked friendly. It was just little!”
“Its teeth weren’t little,” Frederick, one of the other recruits commented, and the rest snickered.
Lewis rubbed his neck, wincing “It could have been friendly.”
“But it wasn’t,” Tyler said. “Go sit down.”
Rolling his eyes, Lewis stomped off and took a seat among the other kids.
Tyler snatched Lewis’s gun off the floor, then paced back and forth in front of the group. “This is a high-powered stunner. It would have almost certainly incapacitated the alien if it hit the target. I’ve used this model myself to incapacitate an extraterrestrial four times the size of that little pink thing. It could have been retrieved and brought back for study without anyone getting killed. But there was no chance of that happening, since Lewis here never fucking fired.”
The kids shifted nervously.
“Can someone tell me one of the many rules Lewis broke just now?” Tyler’s eyes drifted over the recruits. “Anyone?”
Lucia raised her hand. “Always assume they’re hostile.”
Tyler nodded. “Correct. What else?”
“Never cross the twenty-foot barrier,” Frederick added. “Because they could have mind-control or could paralyze you or other abilities you can’t anticipate.”
“Correct,” Tyler said.
“Hey, Tyler,” Lewis said, then shrank in his seat when Tyler shot him a glare. “I mean...Sir.”
“What is it, Lewis?”
“Rumor on base is you teach a class on alien mind-control.”
“That’s right.”
“So why don’t you just teach us that before we do these exercises? Then we won’t have to worry about how close we get.”
“First of all, defending yourself against extraterrestrial abilities isn’t one-size-fits-all. They’re all unique and must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It’s not like flicking a switch. And second, that class is far too advanced for you all right now. You’re still novices. You’ve got to learn to walk before you can run.”
“We won’t be able to run if some alien paralyzes our legs,” Lucia said, and the rest chuckled.
“Stop getting ahead of yourselves, and stop trying to distract me, it’s not going to work,” Tyler said. “My point is, always assume the entity you’re approaching is hostile.”
“Hang on,” Lewis said. “You can’t assume all extraterrestrials are hostile.”
“They’re not all hostile,” Tyler said. “But plenty of them are. And the ones that aren’t usually know better than to be seen. To be caught wandering around the woods or in your yard or in your damn bedroom. You see one in that type of situation? One that confronts you directly? Assume it’s not there to make friends.”
“Then what is it there for?” Lucia asked. “Abduction? Experimentation? Always?”
“Not always, but it’s possible,” Tyler said. “And if not for that, if you stumble upon one in the woods or out in a field? You’ve likely interrupted it resting its craft on our planet for repairs. Or scalping minerals. And in that case, it’s just as dangerous, because it will want to silence you after being seen.”
“So how do we tell the difference?” Lewis asked. “Between friendly and hostile?”
“You can’t! That’s the point. You can’t have any expectations or preconceived notions that aren’t based on solid intel.”
“But...” Keegan, one of the shyest recruits in the back, raised his hand. “Never mind.” He lowered his hand again. “It’s a stupid question.”
Tyler was happy to see Keegan’s raised hand, even briefly. Keegan didn’t participate much in class. He’d been recruited by Ogden after having his own bad experience with a creature of unknown origin in the swampy woods near his family’s home in Florida. Much like Tyler had all those years ago, young Keegan fought back. But he was now quiet, jumpy, and didn’t sleep well at night.
In the outside world, someone like Keegan would be treated with standard therapy. But this wasn’t the outside world, and there was no therapist out there that would believe Keegan’s story. After Tyler’s own traumatic experience years back, Ogden had weaponized his rage and fear. Weaponized his trauma, just as Tyler was trying to do with Keegan. But while Keegan still possessed the fear, he was lacking the rage that helped save Tyler’s sanity in the years since. Tyler worried about him, so he wanted to encourage this rare show of participation now.
“Go ahead, Keegan, ask your question. I insist.”
“Okay. Um...you said you can’t tell if they’re hostile or not. But sometimes you can tell, right? By how they look? I mean, if they’re ten feet tall with big-ass claws, they’re probably dangerous. Least um...least from my experience.”
“Think, Keegan. Did that little pink thing that just made a meal of Lewis’s throat look dangerous?”
“No.” Keegan shrugged. “It was cute. Is that um...is there a real alien that looks like that out there?”
“Every simulation you’ll encounter in this training will be based on similar if not actual entities we’ve encountered.”
“What?” Lucia grimaced. “Is that fang-faced Tweety Bird fucker real?”
“My point,” Tyler said, “is that you can’t assume something that looks scary is hostile any more than you can assume something cute and cuddly is friendly. You cannot tell shit about them by visual appearance alone. Some of them are cute.” Tyler walked over and stood before the recruits, looking them each in the eye. “Some of them look like monsters, sure. But some of them don’t look all that different from us. Some of them are even sexy.”
Lewis snorted.
“You think that’s funny, Lewis?” Tyler asked. “The idea of a sexy alien?”
“A little funny, yeah.”
Tyler nodded, smiling. “One of my current comrades was pretty tickled too when a craft landed in the field near his house five years ago, before he was recruited. A beautiful silver being stepped out to greet him. She had a humanoid, female body. Big, pouty lips. Her eyes were kind of freaky and she had no hair, but hell, the breasts on her. The long, shapely legs.”
Lucia cleared her throat. “What happened?”
“What happened? The alien beckoned him to come to her. And he did. Next thing he knew he was on a spaceship, strapped face-down on a table while that same, sexy alien shoved a cable up his ass and shot a bolt of energy into his body so powerful he bit half his tongue off.”
Lucia’s jaw dropped. Keegan paled, and whispered, “Fuck.”
“Oh, come on,” Lewis said. “You’re just trying to scare us.”
“You’re damn right I am. Because you should be scared. It does not matter what they look like. You never get closer than twenty feet. And if one comes toward you? You shoot. No hesitation.”
“Have you ever encountered an alien that was friendly?” Frederick asked. “Personally, I mean.”
Tyler opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. He had met friendly ETs. But he couldn’t tell the recruits that the reptilians living inside the moon were friendly, because he was forbidden from acknowledging their existence. And he wasn’t authorized to talk about the Whites either. Not that they were the friendliest bunch in the universe, but they weren’t technically hostile to humans.
Then he thought of Baz, the gentle humanoid hybrid who’d sought their aid last year and aided them in return. Helped them wake the Whites from their involuntary slumber and blow the Greys’ fleet to dust. Tyler had never trusted any aliens, even Baz. But anyone who hated the Greys as much as Tyler did was all right in his book, so that opinion had changed. But he couldn’t say that to the class.
“No,” he lied. “I’ve never directly encountered a friendly alien. Ever.”
“But you just said not all aliens are hostile,” Lucia said. “Those were your words. So you must know of some friendly aliens at least. Tell us about them.”
“Friendly encounters are too rare to even consider here,” Tyler said. “For your purposes, there are no friendly ETs, period.”
“But—”
“Forget about it!” Tyler shouted. “We are the top line of planetary protection here. Do you get that? At this organization and in this academy, risk management is our first priority; we will not roll the dice with human lives just in the hopes of gaining some new playmates. If you don’t want to end up at the mercy of hostile extraterrestrials who have no problem skinning you alive or shoving cables up your ass or sticking needles in your eyes or digging around in your body to steal your reproductive material, then do as I fucking say and assume they’re all hostile! Am I getting through to you idiots?”
The recruits stared silently, eyes wide.
“Well?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, though rather unenthusiastically.
“Tyler,” came a female voice through the intercom. “You’re needed in the control room. You have a visitor.”
Tyler turned from the students and looked up. Watching him through the window from on high was a tall handsome black man in a suit, high forehead, flecks of gray at his temples, big brown eyes and a smirk curving his lips.
Shit. What the fuck is he doing here?
“Ogden,” came the hushed voices of the students. “It’s Ogden!” they whispered with reverence, like they were witnessing an obscure rock-star sighting.
Tyler waved up at Ogden, then turned back to the recruits. “Gonna have to cut this short. For those of you who didn’t get to perform an exercise today, study your dossiers. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow. Dismissed.”
The kids left the room, muttering.
Taking a deep breath, Tyler headed upstairs. Nothing good ever came from Ogden showing up unexpectedly. He’d sent Tyler here to headquarters months ago to train the new recruits. And while he knew Ogden was likely in and out of the facility often, the place was huge, and the boss had his own shit going on. He rarely checked in on Tyler. It wasn’t unprecedented, just unusual. Unease prickled the back of Tyler’s neck, telling him something was wrong.
And that sucked. Tyler would take whatever assignment Ogden gave him of course, but after years of field work, he was enjoying teaching the kids, fighting simulated aliens rather than real ones. He’d been fighting dangerous shit since he was a kid, and while he was still just in his twenties, it felt like a lifetime of having to be on alert. He’d been enjoying being able to sleep well at night, safe here at headquarters, deep underground with the best security-system on the planet. He hoped he wasn’t about to be asked to give it up again.
“Hi, Ogden.” He stepped into the control room and closed the door behind him.
“Good morning, Tyler.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching your class. You put the fear of God into those kids.”
“Fear of the truth, maybe.”
“The truth.” Ogden grinned, squeezing Tyler’s shoulder affectionately. “A bit of a one-sided truth, don’t you think?”
“One-sided? How so?”
“That there’s no such thing as a friendly alien? That you’ve never met one?”
“Telling the recruits there are friendly aliens won’t serve them well. Safer to leave them thinking they’re all bad, so they can be prepared. These kids are sloppy and stupid enough without thinking ET’s gonna buy them pizza then teach them the secrets of the universe.”
Ogden nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Guess I’ll be getting a troop of mini-Tylers once their training is done.”
“You got a problem with that? Rather I tell the recruits there are nice, gentle aliens that make great party guests? Should I start going soft like your fringe team in Singing Bear Village? If so, you have to buy me a big house on the mountain like you did for Elliot and Nolan.”
Ogden laughed hard. “When you get married, I’ll get you a gift just as nice.”
“Married?” Tyler huffed. “Rather get abducted and probed.”
“That was dark.” Ogden’s brow lowered. “I think that was humor, but with you I can never tell.”
“I have a sense of humor. It’s just subdued.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“I’m not Elliot. Everything’s not a joke to me.”
He felt guilty as soon as the words left his mouth. He was being defensive, and the statement wasn’t fair. Especially since he could still clearly remember the sound of Elliot’s voice in his earpiece that awful night while Tyler pressed his palms down on Nolan’s bleeding wound in the chopper. There were no jokes that night. There was nothing soft about Nolan getting attacked by a hybrid in the woods after infiltrating the Whites’ base to save them. Nothing funny about listening to Elliot’s anguished screams as he helplessly watched Nolan bleed.
“Now, come on,” Ogden said. “Don’t start trashing other members of my team. They may not have had the same experiences as you, but they did find the only known alien base on our planet and make contact with them. That’s nothing to scoff at.”
“You’re the one who found the Whites’ base, Ogden. You’re the one who insisted on tracking the activity for years because your instincts told you something was there. You pushed your bosses to keep the program going when they wanted to give up and shut it down.”
“Yes, but it was my team on the ground that ultimately made it happen. I couldn’t have done it without them, and they deserve your respect.”
“I respect them. But we’re different. I can’t just become like them. We don’t think the same.”
“Tyler, I don’t want to change you, and I have no complaints about your work. Different people have different strengths. You may call my boys in the village soft, but they get things done in their own way. Their methods work best in certain scenarios. In other scenarios? I need a heavier hand, which is why I send people like you in to balance things out.”
“So I’m the bad cop?”
Ogden huffed and leaned against the console. “Don’t get full of yourself. I’m still the bad cop around here.”
Tyler smirked. “Okay, so why is the bad cop here now?”
“I’m going to have Rhonda take over training the recruits from here on.”
“What? Why? What have I done wrong?”
“Tyler, I just said you’re doing a great job. It’s not about your work. It’s a beginners’ class, Rhonda can handle finishing it out for you.”
“But why? I like training the recruits. We’re halfway through the program. Why are you pulling me now?”
“I’m sending you back to Singing Bear Village.”
Tyler deflated with a sigh. “Really?”
“Really. And that sounded dangerously close to a whine.”
“For how long?”
“I’m not certain.”
“Why the fuck now? I thought things were all cozy with the Whites.”
“They are. It’s not about the Whites. Why this reaction? I thought you didn’t mind going to the village.”
“It’s cold there.”
Ogden chuckled. “It’s springtime.”
“The village has its own weather system. The way the mountains shroud the lake keeps cold air hostage so it doesn’t get warm until like July.”
“You’re exaggerating just a bit.”
“Fine, but if nothing’s wrong with the Whites why do you need me there?”
“Do you know Tim Patterson? The forest ranger in the village?”
Tyler inhaled sharply. “Is he dead?”
Ogden scowled. “No, he’s not dead. Why would you think he was dead?”
“I...never mind. I mean...he’s all right, then?”
“Patterson is fine.”
Nodding, Tyler let out a relieved breath. “Good. Okay. That’s good.”
Ogden’s head tilted. “You want some water? You look pale.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Sit down. That’s an order. I’ll be right back.” Ogden gave him a strange look, but then left the booth.
Tyler sat. Tim Patterson. A guy he hadn’t seen in a long time, but to say he hadn’t thought about him would be a lie. He’d tried, to no avail. Patterson still worked his way into Tyler’s dreams a couple times a month. And since Tyler was an expert at disciplining his mind, even while he slept via lucid dreaming, it was odd that he couldn’t keep Tim Patterson from popping in. Maybe it was because Tyler felt so safe here at headquarters, relaxed enough to sleep and dream freely without hindrance or the need to control his thoughts. He’d been dreaming naturally for months.
And those dreams often involved the forest ranger from Singing Bear Village. His tall, fit body and summer-blond hair. That cocky, flirtatious smile. But it wasn’t always the happy-go-lucky version that invaded his sleeping mind. Sometimes, Tyler dreamed of Tim’s tears.
The forest ranger had been such a mess after the hybrids showed up at the party the night of Elliot and Nolan’s wedding. Tyler had seen the reaction before, with other people once they came face-to-face with non-terrestrial beings. He’d overcome such reactions himself long ago, but he still had empathy for those going through it for the first time. He should have been used to it by now.
But watching the normally cheeky, overconfident forest ranger come apart that night scared the shit out of him. Maybe because it was so unexpected, seemed to come out of nowhere. Tim Patterson acted so tough, so resilient, that his sudden breakdown threw Tyler off-balance, leaving him shocked and desperate to do anything in his power to calm the guy down. And he had. Done anything. And everything.
Tyler had seen more than one breakdown, and even suicides occur since joining Ogden’s team, involving soldiers and civilians alike. He never quite got used to it, but it wasn’t uncommon. Some people couldn’t handle this shit. But the forest ranger? He’d seemed perfectly fine up until the moment he wasn’t. Tyler was trained to recognize the signs of someone about to lose it, but with Tim he never saw it coming. Patterson already knew about the Whites, after all. He knew about Baz, had been the one to find him injured in the forest. He’d signed an NDA and seemed to have accepted his new reality.
But apparently being faced with two alien hybrids up close and personal was one turn off the reality road too far. When Tim snapped, Tyler had to think quick and handle the situation. Thankfully, his training kicked in.
Yeah, right. And when did your training ever include fucking the victim?
Since then, he’d told himself over and over that the sex had been necessary. That it was merely a tool to ground Tim, to give him flesh and breath and a warm human body to cling to. To bring him back from the brink of madness. But since it was done with the purpose of aiding and calming a seriously traumatized man, Tyler had some lingering guilt for enjoying it so much.
He’d never had sex with someone when they were that vulnerable. When he let Tim inside his body and looked into his eyes, Tyler knew he was seeing more truth there than probably anyone had seen in his life. Tyler barely knew Tim, but he’d now witnessed his rawest moment. To get frantically fucked by someone desperately clinging for purchase so he wouldn’t lose himself completely?
A profound experience, even quick and dirty as it was on the kitchen floor. Intimate. Too intimate. Tim’s heavy body between Tyler’s thighs, rigid cock thrusting into him. Tim’s pretty eyes anguished and wet with tears. Fair skin flushed pink, hot breath on Tyler’s lips as he held his face and whispered, “Please, Tyler. Please.”
Tim probably didn’t even fully know what he was pleading for in that moment. But Tyler did. Tim was begging Tyler to tether him back to reality. Back to what was base and human. It should have been all about comfort, but Tyler orgasmed like an erupting volcano. And Tyler came first. He winced at the memory. It was only a few seconds before Tim did, but still. Tyler was supposed to be merely the receptacle, the port in a storm, a pair of strong arms to lead Tim back to shore. But he’d climaxed first, because the sex was mind-blowing in its intensity.
He’d only been vaguely attracted to Tim Patterson before that. The forest ranger was handsome with his megawatt smile and broad shoulders. Not to mention the permanently pink cheeks, probably from working outside in the cold mountain air so much. He reminded Tyler of a hockey player he’d had a crush on in junior high, always flushed and bright-eyed from being out on the ice. But even so, Tyler hadn’t been blown away by Tim or anything. Not until that weird, emotional fuck.
Now he was conflicted, because when he thought about Tim Patterson, it caused a painful pit in his stomach, and he couldn’t figure out if it was guilt or something else. Thoughts of Tim evoked sympathy, but there were also memories of peaked pleasure and pale, naked flesh. Desperately gripping fingers, thrusting hips, and hot, pleading whispers. Things that made Tyler’s stomach flip in an unusual way. The pleasant flip was usually followed by the unpleasant pit in his stomach, so he tried to think about Patterson as little as possible. Now here Ogden was, showing up out of the blue, and what did he want to talk about?
Tim-fucking-Patterson.
“Here.” Ogden shoved a bottle of water at Tyler.
“Thanks.”
“What’s the matter? You sick?”
“Just a little dehydrated. What’s going on in the village?”
“Probably nothing.”
“Then why am I going there?”
“Why do you have a problem with going back to the village? You never did before.”
Shrugging, Tyler took a sip of water. “Things get complicated whenever I work with your village team.”
Ogden sighed. “Yes, I know. Brett told me you had some arguments the last time you were there. That you clashed.”
“I can handle that, but Christ, it’s like they go out of their way to look for trouble. Take stupid risks. So yeah. We clash.”
“I don’t care if you clash personally as long as you work well with them. And they don’t look for trouble. Trouble finds them because they’re stationed outside an alien base.”
“Doesn’t mean they’re not still drama queens.”
“I realize they’re different than you are, emotionally volatile at times, but they’re vigilant professionals, Tyler.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. So what’s happening then?”
“Like I said, might be nothing. That forest ranger, Patterson. He’s been on lookout by the field on Bear Peak a few nights a week. Says he’s been seeing things in the woods at night. Hearing things.”
“Like what? The Whites? Hybrids?”
“My team doesn’t think this is related to the Whites. Dark shapes that crawl low to the ground. Described them as slithering in their movement. Six to eight feet long.” Ogden pulled his phone out and scrolled through. “Hissing and clicking sounds outside the door of the ranger station. Patterson says he’s experienced this about four times now.”
“So he’s bugging out. Imagining things out in the dark. You’ve been in those woods up on Bear Peak. They’re creepy as fuck, with or without the Whites.”
“Yes, that’s true. And there are plenty of creatures on the mountain that aren’t from other worlds. Whatever he’s seeing, it may not be extraterrestrial at all.”
“Exactly. Besides, what kind of ET would be creeping around outside the Whites’ base? The Whites are powerful, secretive, and territorial. Those woods aren’t exactly a place some random alien would choose for a vacation to Earth. Why exactly are we taking this seriously?”
“The proximity to the base demands it. Caution first. I ran the details through the database to look for similarities to anything we’ve encountered in the past. Nothing definitive came up, but we did get a couple hits in the maybe category.”
“Like what?”
“Let’s play a little game. See how much you remember of your training.”
“All right.” The testing never ended with Ogden. “Shoot.”
“Tell me if this rings a bell. Long dark shapes slithering low to the ground. In the mountains. Near a body of water. And near a huge power source.” Ogden’s brows lifted and he watched Tyler expectantly.
Eyes shifting, Tyler’s mind rifled through his past, all he’d learned since coming onboard with Ogden years ago. Eyes widening, he looked at Ogden as something clicked. “Vermont?”
Smiling, Ogden nodded. “That’s my boy. I’m impressed.”
“I was a good student. But you got all those fuckers. They’re long dead.”
“Can we be sure about that, though?”
“Oh, come on, Ogden. It was years ago. Where would they have been all this time?”
“It’s unlikely any survived,” Ogden said. “But we must consider all possibilities.”
There was a crash in the mountains of Vermont several years back. Tyler was still green then so he wasn’t on the team that went to deal with the alien craft, a cylindrical-shaped black thing. It was reported by local hikers, who were subsequently silenced with the usual bullshit about military craft and signed off to secrecy. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Usually when there’s an actual crash, whatever was piloting it is dead. Most people think of aliens as godlike immortal creatures that can live through anything, but in truth most of them are as physically vulnerable as humans. And they’re not all intellectually infallible just because they’ve learned the secrets of interstellar travel. They make mistakes. Underestimate a planet’s gravity. Get caught in the atmosphere. Lose control. Boom—down they go, and in goes Ogden’s crew to handle the cleanup.
Usually, Ogden and his cronies considered this good fortune, as long as they got to it fast enough to silence any witnesses. It meant salvaging technology, and if they were lucky, bodies to study and syphon whatever biological advancements they could. But this time, something was still alive inside. Something hostile. A team was attacked upon approach. Five soldiers were killed. If the ship or its inhabitants had advanced weapons, they were either damaged or the aliens chose not to use them, because the soldiers were ripped apart by hooks. Primitive. Monstrous.
Ultimately, the entire craft was blown up in a big fireball by the human team, the situation ‘cleansed’ to avoid further risk.
Bad day for Ogden. No goodies to bring home to the lab.
They thought that was the end of it. But days later, reports started coming in from the nuclear power plant on the nearby river. Things spotted crawling around at night. Dark shapes slithering low to the ground. Alarms going off. Two security guards mysteriously killed, guts and throats torn out. Tyler had read the reports during his training.
Ogden and Wiley sent a team in. They had no knowledge of the creatures’ biology, as they’d blown up the craft and hadn’t been able to recover any bodies, so they were at a disadvantage. But whatever the creatures were, some of them must have escaped before the blast. The power plant was only miles from the crash site—too big of a coincidence. This time the soldiers got lucky. They took out six hostiles, then the activity stopped. The bodies were retrieved. Ugly fucking things with sharp, hooked appendages. Tyler had seen photos and was happy he hadn’t been on that mission.
“I read the report. There hasn’t been a sighting since. You think some got away? And fucking...made their way to New York State years later?”
“Not necessarily. But it is a notable similarity that the description of dark shapes crawling low in the dark has been reported. Near a body of water, if you consider Lake Singing Bear. Near a major power source. The Whites’ base isn’t a nuclear plant so it’s not exactly the same scenario. But I think it’s fair to say the Whites have power sources that far exceed that. The entities would be looking for technology they can use. Likely to build or steal a craft to get off the planet.”
Tyler shook his head. “That’s a bit of a stretch if you ask me.”
“I agree,” Ogden said.
“Good. Any more theories?”
“One more. Patterson also reported hearing a crying infant in the woods on several occasions. What do you think of that?”
“Crying infant.” Tyler scowled. “I don’t remember reading anything about that in the case histories.”
“No. Not a human infant anyway.” Ogden raised his brows.
“Oh, no. You’re thinking of the cow thing?”
“It’s another possibility that came up.”
Tyler had been involved on this one. Though they’d never apprehended any culprits, for the stretch of a year, farmers in a twenty-mile radius were reporting cattle dead, completely drained of blood. Often clustered far from an area they usually grazed, sometimes having broken through fences and made their way into patches of nearby woods. The results were identical at several farms in the area. Along with the exsanguination, there was one other constant. The sound of a crying calf. Even if there were no baby cows on the land, several farmers reported hearing the sound.
“If those ETs used the crying calf noise to lure in those adult cows, are you suggesting it’s the same ones, and they’re using a human infant cry to lure in...people?”
“That’s the second theory, yes.”
Tyler tried to study Ogden’s expression, but the man gave little away. “And what do you think Tim Patterson is experiencing on the mountain? You think it’s one of these two options?”
Tyler hoped not, because neither option sounded good. His gut clenched at the thought of dealing with the clawed, murdering aliens from that crash years back. But the idea of the cow blood-suckers upgrading their game to humans wasn’t exactly desirable either.
“Like I said, Tyler. These are just theories.”
“Ogden, come on! Give me your personal opinion, Jesus!”
“All right.” Ogden sighed. “I don’t think it’s either. I think Patterson is spooked, and what he’s experiencing is either in his mind or something fully terrestrial that he’s misinterpreting. Nolan didn’t see anything on his camera feed. It’s likely the forest ranger is just seeing coyotes, or maybe a rafter of wild turkeys. But because of the proximity to the Whites’ base, we need to check it out regardless.”
“And you’re sure this has nothing to do with the Whites? Like you said, it’s right by their base.”
“Fairly certain, yes. The team has been in regular contact with Baz ever since the incident with the rogue hybrids. If this had anything to do with the Whites, they’d be informed.”
“Okay, then again. Why the hell do you need me?”
“On the off chance it’s something else. You’re the most qualified to identify and handle an unfamiliar entity, especially if it’s a threat.”
Tyler scoffed. “Thought your village team was top-of-the-line and professional and all that.”
“They are. They take threats seriously, and I trust them to recognize one when they see it. They’ve successfully done so in the past, albeit a bit slower than I preferred. They tend to give the benefit of the doubt first, especially since growing so close to Baz.”
Chuckling, Tyler said, “You mean they screwed up with those rogue hybrids. Didn’t figure it out quick enough.”
“Don’t be a little prick, Tyler. That mission was a success.”
“Barely. Wasn’t much lag time for the Whites to prep before the Greys’ fleet arrived. Admit it. Your village crew hesitates. I don’t.”
“Overconfidence can be as much a detriment as hesitation, Tyler. Even more so. Dial it back. That’s an order.”
Shrinking in his seat, Tyler nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“That said, if we’re facing an unknown entity, I’d feel more comfortable having someone in the mix who has no problem pulling the trigger quick if it turns out to be necessary.”
“Like me.”
Ogden nodded. “The forest ranger is skittish. I need someone focused and fearless to go up there and do a proper assessment of the situation. And that’s you, Tyler.” Ogden grinned. “Fearless.”
Tyler barely hid a flinch. Fearless. That was Ogden’s nickname for Tyler, since they first met. Because of the way they met. Tyler had done what he had to survive, and he lived with both the trauma and the shame over what that event entailed. He’d saved himself, but he’d never been fearless. But he accepted the nickname, and the reputation that came with it, then tried to live up to it. Which in hindsight, was probably Ogden’s motivation all along.
“Fucking great. Where am I staying?”
“Elliot and Nolan’s place.”
“What? Why not the place I stayed before, with the underground rooms?”
“It’s not available this time.”
“Then what about Brett? He’s always saying I can stay with him anytime, and he’s set up for me.”
“Brett’s place is small, it makes more sense for you to stay on the mountain with Nolan and Elliot. You’ll need to work closely with my team so it’s convenient, and you’ll be bringing a haul of equipment with you. Nolan and Elliot have a lot more space to accommodate you.”
“That is the worst possible idea ever.”
“Oh come now. Weren’t you just expressing envy at the big mountain house I bought them as a wedding gift? Now you get to stay there.”
“Ogden cut the crap, you know I can’t stay in someone’s random guestroom and you know why.”
“Relax. I’ve spoken to Nolan. They’re putting you in their finished basement and he’s installing a lock on the door. It’s a large space and has its own bathroom and shower.”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed. Like it wasn’t humiliating enough that on his last village mission he’d finally told Elliot he had the hots for him, only to learn Elliot was in love with Nolan. Now Ogden was ordering him to stay with them, and to boot, had revealed Tyler’s personal problems? “What the hell did you tell them? About why I had to stay in the basement?”
“Tyler, I was discreet. I promise. I only suggested you stay down there so you’d have room to work, and that you liked your own space and privacy. I suggested they install the lock because you’ll be bringing sensitive equipment with you. Nolan and Elliot know nothing about your past and thought nothing of it. They readily agreed to host you with no complaints, so please, try to be gracious.”
Resigned, Tyler asked, “When do I leave?”
“Chopper will be ready to take you to the village in an hour.”
“Ah. Plenty of warning as usual.”
“I’ll send you the details and a list of equipment you’ll need.” Ogden headed for the door. “You’re in charge of Patterson but you’ll be reporting to Brett and I expect you to work cooperatively with my entire team. Is that clear?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll leave you to get ready.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Turning back, Ogden smiled. “You know you’re my favorite, right?”
“I bet you say that to all your minions.”
“Just you, Fearless. Have a safe trip.”
After Ogden left, Tyler sat alone in the control room for several minutes, processing. He wasn’t feeling particularly fearless about returning to the village. And it had nothing to do with possible threats up on the mountain. He rarely experienced anxiety when sent out in the field, had learned to control those emotions long ago. If there really was something otherworldly vexing the Singing Bear mountains once again, he’d figure it out. It was the anticipation of all the people he’d have to contend with that had him taking a moment to prepare himself. Because when it came to people, emotions weren’t so easily shut off.
He liked the village team, but he wasn’t like them. Maybe he resented them just a little. They were all so alive, and Tyler often felt dead inside. He was more comfortable dealing with people like himself, fellow soldiers and those who’d been trained the same way by Ogden, comrades with similar backgrounds and emotional discipline.
But the crew in Singing Bear wore their emotions on their sleeves. All of their emotions, whether it was anger or lust or fear. Or love. He frowned, remembering Elliot and Nolan’s wedding vows on the beach. How anyone could stand there in front of all those people and reveal their deepest, most intimate feelings that way, Tyler couldn’t imagine.
Emotionally volatile at times, Ogden had said. Wasn’t that the truth. Even their joy was jarring, their wanton celebrations and open affection for each other. And now, on top of all of that—which always made Tyler uncomfortable—he had to deal with Tim Patterson too, and whatever fallout and awkwardness might arise from their last encounter. It had been too long now to casually ask Tim how he was doing after the whole emotional breakdown thing. Not after months of silence.
Besides, drawing attention to it might embarrass Tim. And even if Tyler wanted to let him know he cared, Tim would never believe him now. Not after running out he way he had then never checking in. He hadn’t known what to do when Tim curled up and wept after the sex. He supposed he should have stayed and comforted him more. But comforting wasn’t normally Tyler’s thing, and he’d already spent most of his emotional energy calming Tim down before the sex. He’d been tapped out, and felt strangely vulnerable himself after they fucked.
But Tyler did care about Tim Patterson, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with the feeling. He’d had crushes before. But caring about someone else’s well-being like this? Worrying about someone? And it wasn’t the professional kind of worry he was used to, like making sure a comrade didn’t get slaughtered or abducted.
What he felt about Tim was unique. Caring in a way that caused that painful pit in his stomach. Uncharted territory, especially since it didn’t have to do with sex. Well...it didn’t exactly have nothing to do with sex. It’s just the sex part was mixed up with all these other emotions.
In short, this trip wouldn’t be easy, no matter what he did or didn’t discover crawling around in the mountain forests. Despite Ogden’s rah-rah encouragement speech, Tyler was not feeling particularly fearless about going. Because for him, the humans in Singing Bear Village could be a lot more troublesome than the aliens.