The Leader

Return of the Aliens

Novella # 3:

The

Leader

Ruth Ann Nordin

The Leader - Smashwords
Edition

Published by Ruth Ann Nordin at
Smashwords

Copyright © 2010 by Ruth Ann
Nordin

All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.

Cover Photo images Getty Images LLC.
www.photos.com All rights reserved – used with
permission.

Smashwords Edition, License
Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. If you
would like to share this book with another person, please do. Thank
you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my long-time good friend,
Melanie Nilles, whose love of science fiction has inspired me to
consider writing my own science fiction tale.

Chapter One

Two months later...

Devon knew it was a bad idea to come
here. He had no business tempting fate. As long as he stayed away,
she would most likely give up on her suicidal pursuit to find out
what was going on. And yet, he couldn’t stay away. Or maybe it
wasn’t that he couldn’t but more of the fact that he didn’t want
to.

Whatever the case, one thing was for
sure: this was a bad idea. But that didn’t stop him from entering
the mall, nor did it stop him from stepping into the store where
she worked. His gaze drifted up to the camera set at the entrance.
No longer did the stores hide the fact that they had surveillance.
Now it was all in the open.

Any pretense of privacy was being
eroded right in front of everyone, and very few people seemed to
notice or care. It was unfortunate. They were trading freedom for
security, and in the end, it would be their undoing. But this was
the aliens’ plan. How nicely it all fit into place.

“
Can I help you?” a young
blond woman asked as she came up to him.

He wondered if he should
ask for her co-worker or just “look”. But then, what would he look
for in the women’s section of a store? Finally, he said, “I have a
matter to discuss with someone who works here. She’s 5’4”, a light
brunette, probably in her early 30’s.”
And
pretty.
He willed that thought
away.

“
Oh, you mean
Autumn.”

So that was her name.
“Right.”

“
She’s outside on a break.
She likes to smoke a lot.” She rolled her eyes and
giggled.

“
Thank you,” he replied,
deciding that women as young as the woman in front of him had
limited appeal.

His boss preferred those
types—probably because they weren’t smart enough to figure out what
a loser he was. But then, his boss didn’t want smart; he wanted
easy. And the type standing in front of him would fit the bill.
Sighing, Devon headed out of the mall through a doorway that wasn’t
blocked off by security. He found Autumn sitting alone on a bench a
few stores down and took his time in approaching her.

She put out her cigarette but remained
sitting. She stared ahead, not seeming to be looking at anything in
particular. He wondered what she was thinking. He was aware that
they were being watched, but he’d been aware of that ever since he
started his job a good seventeen years ago, though he hadn’t been a
human guinea pig until seven years later.

He stopped in front of her and
realized she had her eyes closed. “Autumn?”

She jerked and sat up
straight.

An amused smile crossed his face. “I
didn’t realize this bench was a good place to nap.”

“
I’m not sleeping,” she
denied, even though it was apparent she was dozing off. She gave
him a good look. “What are you doing here?”

He sat next to her. He would have
asked if he could, but he figured she’d say no. “I came to talk to
you. How have you been doing since the explosion?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “You have a lot
of nerve, you know that? You spent all that time warning me to
leave matters alone and now you’re digging them up?”

“
I’m not digging anything
up. I just thought I’d ask a question.”

“
What do you care? You set
a bomb, and three people died that day.”

He shook his head. “I told them to
stay away from that plant. It’s not my fault they didn’t heed my
warning.”

“
You’re amazing, really
amazing.” She pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He noted the
slight trembling of her hands. “One minute you’re telling me I
better watch what I say and where I go and the next, you’re
claiming to be a good Samaritan.”

“
I’ve never claimed that.
The goal was to scare people, not harm anyone. Sometimes unpleasant
side effects are part of the job.” He mentally kicked himself. Why
was he telling her this? He knew better than to reveal anything
personal to anyone.

“
I find it hard to believe
you care about anyone but yourself,” she muttered and lit up her
cigarette.

“
Well, you’re wrong.” He
did care, and that was a problem because it was probably a matter
of time before they found out and conveniently replaced him with
someone who didn’t. “I do what I have to do.”

“
Oh really? And does that
thing hovering around you tell you what to do?”

His head snapped in her direction.
“There’s nothing hovering around me.”

She shrugged, said, “Whatever,” and
took a puff of her cigarette.

The way she casually stated that gave
him an uneasy feeling in his gut. “I don’t,” he insisted, unsure if
he was trying to convince him or her.

“
You must not see
it.”

A shiver crawled up his spine. He
didn’t want to ask it but felt compelled to. “See what?”

“
The black shadow that
lurks near you. It’s standing behind you.”

He glanced back. “I don’t see
anything.”

“
I know. I didn’t see it
until those people vanished. Ever since then I’ve become aware of a
spiritual world around us.”

“
Spiritual? As in
God?”

“
I think so. It’s the only
logical explanation for angels and demons hanging
around.”

“
You’re a nut.”

She glared at him. “You’re the one
bombing places and I’m the nut?”

“
Yes, you are.” He stood
up. Nothing was behind him. There wasn’t anything dark and creepy
hovering nearby. She was probably schizophrenic or something. “You
should get some pills for those hallucinations you’re
having.”

“
I haven’t come across a
single person who sees them, so I’m not surprised you’d say
that.”

The way she casually made her comments
bothered him. She was either psychotic or telling him the truth. He
couldn’t believe he wanted to see her. She’d been the first person
who had seemed completely human to him; someone who wasn’t
manipulative or part of the nightmare that had become his life. But
she turned out to be a complete nut, and that sorely disappointed
him. “Seriously, get some help for that.”

Her response was to take another puff
of her cigarette.

“
And it wouldn’t hurt to
stop smoking. It’s a filthy habit, you know.”

She looked him in the eyes and said,
“It’s touching your shoulder.”

For a moment, just a brief one, he
thought he felt a cold touch on his left shoulder. Great. Now she
was making him imagine things. Deciding not to add more fuel to the
fire, he spun on his heels and left.

A waste of his time. That’s all it
was. One big waste of his time. Spiritual things. A world where
demons and angels ran around but no one could detect them, except
for a select few like Autumn. He shook his head. It couldn’t be
real. There was no way it could be real.

He returned to his car and got in,
quickly looking over his shoulder and to his side. Nothing. There
wasn’t anything there. And yet...and yet... He shivered and started
the car.

How many times had he told people that
government conspiracy theories were crazy, even though he knew the
truth? He lived the truth every day of his life. He knew things he
wished he didn’t and had heard conversations he wished he hadn’t.
Plans were in the works to collapse the worlds’ economies so a one
world currency would go into place. There were plans to devastate
areas through manipulating the weather. Increased earthquakes,
tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts... Plans to unite the
governments into a one world order. So many things were happening
behind the scenes, and God help him but he was a part of it; he was
responsible for some of it.

He chuckled and shook his head. God
help him? Now she had him thinking of God.

He drove to one of the exits in the
parking lot and rolled his window down where a security guard
stood. Taking out his government ID, he handed it to the guard who
scanned it over.

“
Drive safe, Mr. Patrick,”
the man said with a solemn nod.

Devon took his ID back, nodded in
return, and drove off, watching in the rearview mirror as the
driver in the car behind him stopped so he could pass through the
security clearance. This was the new world people were quickly
being thrust into, and by the time they woke up and realized that
it wasn’t because of their safety but to control them, it would be
too late.

He came to a stop at the red light and
rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling as if the weight of the world was
weighing down on him. He didn’t know what to do. He was in too
deep. He couldn’t get out…unless he died.

He placed his free hand on the place
between the two seats and jerked. His hand had touched something
that could only be described as an icy mist. Turning his eyes to
the passenger seat, he thought he saw a faint distortion in the
seat. As soon as he saw it, it disappeared.

His heart pounded anxiously in his
chest, and for a good moment, all he could do was stare at the
empty seat and wonder if what he thought he felt and saw was real
or his imagination going wild. He’d seen a lot of things in his
time, but he’d never experienced something like this. In that brief
instant, his very core had shaken with fear.

A horn honked behind him.

Directing his gaze to the light, he
saw that it had turned green. With a deep breath, he pressed his
foot to the accelerator and drove through the intersection. He
glanced at his passenger seat. Nothing. He tentatively touched the
seat next to him. Nothing.

He released his shaky breath. Nothing.
It’d been nothing. Just a figment of his imagination. Yes, that’s
all it was. Nothing more.

But no matter how hard he tried to
convince himself, he was deathly afraid that Autumn was
right.

Chapter Two

Alex took the pill out of the orange
bottle, once again wondering if this was a good idea. But did he
have a choice? If he stopped taking his prescription, then the
alien would be back. It hated him. It haunted him. So many people
thought the aliens were their friends. It was enough to make him
laugh.

How wrong they are, he thought
bitterly as he plopped the little pill into his mouth and swallowed
the soda. He placed the can on the table in front of the TV and sat
back in his recliner. Picking up the remote, he changed the
channel. What he needed was a mindless show so he could forget
about everything for awhile.

Kicking his feet up and crossing his
arms, he relaxed and focused on the sitcom. For fifteen minutes,
the husband and wife on the TV show bickered, and he chuckled a few
times. Five minutes later and his eyes began to droop. His limbs
felt pleasantly heavy, and he gave into the urge to sleep. Maybe it
would be better to sleep out in the living room instead of the bed.
He’d keep the lights on and the TV going. It was comforting. And he
needed comforting right now.