They’re Coming

Jogging along the auto-track that runs where the sidewalks used to be years ago, my eyes are quickly drawn to an object half-buried in the ground below. Jumping off the track, I almost twist my ankle. The ground is dusty, dry and grassless. I backtrack to find the object I spotted. This part of town hasn’t been kept up in years; it’s intriguing to find anything here at all.

Pulling on the dark black object protruding from the ground, almost falling over, I use my fingers to burrow the dirt surrounding it, setting it free. It’s a gun. It has been many years since I have seen a weapon. They were all banned over thirty years ago by the Women’s Republic of States. Not even our police women are issued them anymore. They weren’t necessary as there is rarely an event that would cause a need for such a violent invention.

Still, this gun looks in good condition. There’s powder on the handle and three bullets in the chamber. I examine it carefully; recalling my days at the academy training with them before they became outlawed. My nose picks up a smoky scent suggesting that the firing of this weapon occurred recently.

A rustling in the bushes a few hundred feet away catches my attention. Someone is watching me. Instinctually, I pull the gun into my chest, closing the bullet-filled chamber and ready it. Whatever is preying on me is moving in fast. I spin around aiming the weapon in their direction but there is nothing there. Suddenly I feel the gun being ripped out of my hands, my body pushed gently against a tree and my hands tied behind it.

Helpless and unable to see my captor, I wrestle to tap the emergency help button that’s latched onto my ankle in hopes to send out a signal to a local authority, but I am pushed to my knees and my ankles separated.

“Who are you? Show yourself?” I scream.

Suddenly, three men appear in front of me out of thin air.

“My apologies Alexis, but we had to take precautions to ensure you didn’t run away or alert the authorities. My name is Crandos and these are my brothers. We come from the planet Aconia,” said Crandos.

“I’ve never heard of it. What are you doing on Earth and what do you want with me?”

“We’ve come here because we need your help,” said Crandos.

“How can I help you?” I ask.

“Our world is under attack by an army of vigilantes who want to take over our planet. We managed to capture all of them but one. His name is Joffer and he’s a very dangerous man. We followed him throughout the galaxy and found him here on Earth.” He said.

We’ve been trying desperately to seek audience with you. There’s nowhere on your world where there is privacy anymore except out here. We knew we’d find you here on your daily jog,” said Crandos.

“So you’ve been stalking me?” I ask.

“Seeking a private meeting with you,” he corrected.

“Then why am I tied to a tree?” I ask.

They untie me and sit themselves down on some nearby tree stumps.

“We need you to find this man and seduce him.”

“Why me?”

“We scanned our database and you are an exact match based on his tastes; his perfect woman to be blunt. You’ll get his attention,” he said.

“Then what?” I ask.

“Once you gain his trust, his defenses will be down and then you can kill him,” he said.

“Kill him? That seems extreme. What do you have that he wants so badly?”

“We have an unlimited amount of natural resources that other planets are running out of, including Earth and he wants them,” said Crandos.

Sitting myself down on the ground, I quickly grab the nearby gun, aim it and shoot all three of them point-blank in the head.