Doomed Read online

  The light turned back on, but there were just three creatures now. They unhooked everything from her carefully and when they were done, one of them drew blood from her. With that, she was covered up again and the light went out.

  The video started to play again from the beginning so Melanie paused it.

  Funnily enough, only now did Mike have his doubts. He didn’t know this girl very well at all. This could be some kind of prank, maybe even a televised prank for Scare Tactics or some variation of Punk’d.

  He shook his head and smiled. “How do I know that’s real?”

  Melanie said, “Look at my left eyeball.”

  He moved closer to her as she leaned towards him. There was a little circular mark, sure enough, but that hardly constituted proof.

  Melanie backed away and laughed. “Go to the bathroom and check out your own left eye, Mike. That should be all the proof you need.”

  He wanted to say, shut up or this is stupid, but instead he did what she said.

  Her bathroom was small but it was her own personal bathroom, right off of the bedroom. He couldn’t help but notice the brush on the side of the sink was covered in thick clumps of hair. He leaned into the mirror and gasped. He had the same circular wound only his was larger. He yelled, “What the fuck?”

  She came in and put a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever is happening to me is happening to you too. We need to do something about it.”

  Mike had no idea what that was though. His mind was racing so fast he couldn’t keep up.

  Why was this happening to him? Why were they doing it to Melanie too? And why just them? No one else was going through these weird transformations.

  But the big question was: Who were the ugly creatures and what the fuck did they want?

  Gotcha

  Melanie got ready for bed. She normally slept in the nude but not tonight. She turned her laptop towards the bed and set the video to record. She’d already popped some allergy medicine otherwise she’d never get to sleep. She let the pills work their magic and slipped blissfully into sleep.

  The creatures appeared a little after two in the morning. They moved their light into place but before they could hook up their pins or syringes Mike burst out of the closet and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

  He wished he’d brought a gun, except that he didn’t own one. He wished he’d brought a knife. All he had was an aluminum baseball bat because there was a large part of him that didn’t believe any of this crap until now.

  But now that he’d put himself squarely on their radar, he wished he’d come more prepared.

  The closest creature came towards him with a device. Mike felt like crapping his pants. The thing was far more hideous in real life and it stunk of ozone.

  The monster held the device up to Mike’s face but then a strange look, maybe one of comprehension, played across its strange features. It lowered the device and turned to its fellow beasts. It communicated with them in a hiss-like whisper. Then it came at Mike quickly with what looked like a gray jelly-bean. It jammed the jelly bean in his ear before he could react. He clutched at the ear but it was already too late, the thing had wormed its way into his head. He felt dizzy and disoriented but he quickly recovered.

  The beast said, “That’s a translator. Do you understand me?”

  Mike took a step back into the closet as he said, “Yes.”

  “Why are you here Michael Williams?”

  Mike said, “I’m trying to find out what you’re doing to her,” he pointed at the still slumbering figure of Melanie.

  “We’re preparing her for a journey. We’ve been preparing you too.”

  “What journey?”

  “The Earth is doomed. We’ve selected a thousand people to save. You are one of the lucky chosen ones.”

  Mike was hyperventilating now. “What do you mean, it’s doomed?”

  “A rogue planet is headed this way. It’ll be here in less than a decade and it is on a collision course with the Earth. All of Earth life will be destroyed.”

  Mike was about to say something like, that’s bullshit, but the creature held up a contraption and Mike’s senses turned off like a light.

  Morning After

  He woke up in Melanie’s bed. He was naked and so was she. He was spooning her too, which was a little awkward since he had morning wood.

  He put just enough distance between them before she woke up.

  She mumbled, “What the hell are you doing in my bed?”

  “I don’t remember. I confronted the intruders and then I just woke up here.”

  “Are they aliens?”

  “I’m pretty sure they are.”

  “What do they want with me?”

  “They said they’re taking us away with them. They said the Earth is doomed.”

  “Um, ok. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Then she added, “Are they just taking me or are they going to take my dad and my little brother too?”

  “I think just you, but they didn’t specify.”

  “I won’t let them.”

  “How can we stop them?”

  She paused, deep in thought. “I’m going to spend the weekend at my friend Tiffany’s house. Let’s see if they can find me there.”

  Mike now felt like he was in this alone. Apparently Melanie was only thinking about herself.

  He said, “Maybe I’ll take a road trip out of town.”

  She said, “I bet I can talk Tiffany into letting you stay too. She has her own apartment.”

  Mike’s heart skipped a beat. He’d had fantasies about things like this. Then he came back to reality and said, “That would be great. Let me know what she says.”

  Melanie stood up, noticed she was naked as the day she was born, and then said, “Those aliens are pigs,” but she didn’t automatically grab her clothes. She traipsed off to her bathroom, her perfect ass doing a little dance as she walked. Mike stared after her, not giving a shit if she saw him ogle her. What was she to him anyway? If she got upset, he could handle that.

  When she turned and caught him, she just smiled before closing the bathroom door.

  Mike wasn’t so comfortable in his own skin so he jumped up and quickly looked around for his boxers. He spotted them at the side of the bed and put them on before Melanie came back out.

  She came back, still fully nude, and looked around for her own clothes.

  She asked, “So when are they planning on taking us anyway?”

  “I didn’t get that far. They freaked out and knocked me out with some kind of device.”

  Then he remembered the little jelly bean and he clutched at his ear.

  “They put a little translator in my ear too. I think it wormed its way all the way into my head.” She took a look and said, “I don’t see anything.”

  There was no pain and he felt no wriggling so maybe they took it out of him already. He could only hope.

  Moms Freak Out

  Mike’s mom yelped when she saw him. “What have you been doing? You look so different. We need to make an appointment to have you checked out.”

  Mike decided against explaining to his mom that his body was being modified by aliens for an interstellar journey because the idea was still pretty stupid to him. Then he decided he had to insist that the aliens brought her along too. She was the only family he had and he’d be damned if they left her behind. All of these new, foreign thoughts made his head hurt.

  He said, “I don’t know what’s going on. My muscles are getting bigger. Maybe I’m just growing.” He was hopeful she’d buy that crap but he knew she wouldn’t. It was a lie and she always knew when he was lying.

  “You’re too old to be growing any more. And that wouldn’t explain why you look like a hairless albino cat either. Let me make some phone calls to get you looked at.”

  “Ok mom. I’m gonna take a nap.” He traipsed upstairs, exhausted.

  Ten minutes later, his mom called through the doorway, “Doctor C
ollins has a spot open at three o’clock tomorrow. Is that good for you?”

  Yeah. I’ll clear my busy itinerary,” he said sarcastically. If it wasn’t for video games and porn, his entire summer would have just been a series of naps peppered with opiate pills and pizza binges. Only in the summer did he wish he had more friends.

  She said, “Ok then. Tomorrow at three.”

  Mike took his shoes off and got into bed. His feet looked different, maybe bigger. He was past caring though. He’d reached a saturation level and nothing surprised him now.

  But he couldn’t get the vision of those aliens out of his mind. Every time he remembered them, his breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat. The fact that he was the first human being to meet an extraterrestrial was not lost on him though. He knew how important that was. He’d made history, except no one would ever believe him, even with the video evidence Melanie had.

  Melanie sent him a text. It read, I think my feet got bigger.

  He didn’t bother replying. But her text brought back the memory of her perfect ass. He fell asleep blissfully and didn’t wake up until the following morning.

  Doc Collins

  At first Doctor Collins had that usual distracted, uncaring attitude he always had but when he finally took a good look at Mike, his eyes went wide and he started to get more animated.

  He said, “You’ve gained twenty eight pounds since we met back in February. Have you been working out?”

  “Nope.”

  “Steroids?”

  “Nope.”

  “Huh? No growth hormones for sports or anything like that?”

  “I’ve never been into sports. This has all happened in the last week or so.”

  “That’s not really possible, but I’ll take your word for it. How did you lose all of your body hair? Do you have any severe allergies?”

  “No allergies that I know of. I lost the hair last week too.”

  “Even the roots are gone. Was your skin always so pallid? And your eyes; were they always so light?”

  Mike wanted to say, I’ve been coming to you since kindergarten so why don’t you tell me, but he let it go. Doc Collins had always been a piece of shit when it came to bedside manner. But he was a smart doctor.

  “The skin and eyes started to go pale last week too. They get lighter every day. I can hardly stay out in the sun for more than a minute or so at a time.”

  “Your blood pressure is off the charts. It’s 278 over 199. You should be dead right now. I’m not going to prescribe anything just yet though because we don’t know if it’s related to the other changes you’re going through.”

  Mike nodded. He was glad for that. What if they brought his blood pressure down and that killed him?

  Doc Collins turned to his nurse and said, “I need a stool sample, blood, and swab his mouth.” Then he turned back to Mike and said, “I’d ask for hair too but you don’t have one to spare.” Then he said, “I’d really like to admit you. I have no idea what’s going on with you but it’s unique.”

  “I’m not staying in a hospital doc.”

  “I understand. But call me if anything else changes, ok?”

  “Ok.”

  “I’ll get the lab right on this and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

  Busted

  Mike’s mom met him at the door as he got home. “What did the doc have to say?”

  “He doesn’t know but he was pretty excited about it. He took some blood and spit and he said he’d get back to me with the results.”

  “The doc was excited. That’s not good. I’ve never even seen him smile or make eye contact.”

  “It’ll be fine mom.”

  Then, once he was in the door she rounded on him. “A pretty girl came to the door for you an hour ago. He said her name was Melanie. She said she’s your girlfriend.”

  “No, we’re just friends.”

  “Why haven’t I heard of her before?”

  “I don’t tell you everything I do mom. It’s for your own protection,” he joked. Wait ‘til I get to college. You won’t believe the stories I’ll never share with you.”

  She looked at him more seriously now. “Is Melanie black or white?”

  “You damn racist,” he said to try and alter her thought processes, but it didn’t work.

  “Tell me Michael.”

  “Her dad’s black. Why?” But he already knew why she was curious.

  “Is she going through the same changes that you are? She’s white and her eyes were almost transparent.”

  “I think so. I met her at Pizza Hut and she came up to me. I’ve spent a little time with her since then.”

  “You need to tell that girl to go to Doc Collins right away. Her condition has to be related to yours.”

  “We came to the same conclusion. Listen mom, I’m tired. I’m gonna take a nap.”

  “You’re always tired. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

  Super

  Mike woke up for dinner and once again, couldn’t stomach the meat. He realized then that he forgot to tell the doc about that.

  He doubled up on veggies and then took the trash out. The bags felt like they weighed absolutely nothing in his hands. He barely knew he was carrying anything at all.

  Immediately he suspected he had some kind of super strength.

  He went into the garage to test out his hypotheses. There was an engine block that his dad had meant to put in a car they no longer even had. His dad died before he ever got around to it. Mike grabbed a hold of it and lifted with all of his might, fearful that it might kill him but too curious to stop himself. It lifted easily. It felt like lifting a sack of potatoes. He put it down and looked around for something else to test himself with. There was nothing around so he tested his vertical leap. He went out to the basketball hoop and sized it up. He’d never even gotten close to dunking on that thing before. He crouched down and launched himself at it. He panicked when he overshot it by a full ten feet. He nearly screwed up the landing because his legs started to come out from under him.

  It was every childhood fantasy to gain super strength, but this came with a catch. He was about to be abducted by aliens.

  When he went back inside, his mom was standing at the kitchen window. She’d been watching him the whole time. But worse than that was that Melanie was standing beside her.

  Melanie shot him a shy smile and said, “Hi superman.”

  “You guys saw that, huh?”

  His mom smiled but there was concern in her eyes.

  Melanie said, “Can I talk to you upstairs?”

  “Sure.”

  Booyah!

  Melanie took his room in. She didn’t look disgusted so he was happy about that. She sat on his bed and said, “My friend Tiffany won’t let me stay with her. She said her boyfriend

  ‘s going to be staying there for awhile and she doesn’t want to ask him if I can stay too. She’s a bitch.”

  “You could probably stay here. We could take shifts sleeping. If the aliens show up again, we can ask them more or maybe even ask them to stop.”

  She looked down at her lap. “I want to stay up first. I want to ask them why they chose me. I wan to ask them if I have a choice.”

  “Ask them if they’ll bring my mom too. I can’t leave her behind.”

  “Are you so sure you even want to go?”

  “They said a rogue planet is coming right at us. If we refuse, it’ll be suicide. Are you saying you’re not sure?”

  “Of course I’m not sure. I don’t know anything about alien colony planets. I’ve never even been out of the country.”

  “You have to go. You see that, right?”

  “I guess so. I mean, I’m just freaked out by it, is all.”

  “If you think you’re freaked out now, wait ‘til you meet them face to face.”

  “You’re not calming me down, you know?”

  “Sorry about that. I’m not any good with people.”

  “I could tell
.”

  On a whim, he asked, “Why did you tell my mom you were my girlfriend?”

  “I don’t know. It just came out. Why, you don’t have a girlfriend, do you?”

  “No, it’s not that. It’s just that I’ve never had one so it set off her bullshit detector.”

  “Well we did sleep together naked. I think that makes us more than just friends.”

  God, he wished that was true. The more he got to know her, the more he was attracted to her.

  As a joke, he said, “If you ever need someone to gawk at your beautiful naked body again, then I’m your guy. I’d do that for you. I’m a team player.”

  She stood up and pulled her shirt over her head and his heart almost flew out of his throat.

  Pillow Talk

  They faced each other on the pillow afterwards.

  She said, “Your skin is really hot to the touch. Do you think that’s another side effect?”

  His mind was miles away, wrapped up on a beach with a blanket as it watched the waves roll in. He’d never felt so peaceful after sex before.

  He said dreamily, “You’re pretty hot too.”

  She smiled and dropped it. He fell asleep and the sounds of his snoring lulled her to sleep too.

  Abducted

  They awoke in a cavernous white room. It smelled of bleach and farts. There were people everywhere, whispering and milling around. A woman to the side of them was crying, saying, “My baby. What happened to my baby?”

  A guy was pacing angrily, yelling, “What the fuck is this? Where are we? Let me out of here. I did nothing wrong.”

  Melanie sat up first. They were lying together on the hard floor. Mike sat up next and said, “No fucking way? They took us already. What about my mom? I need to talk to them.”

  The sobbing woman said loud enough for everyone to hear, “They know what’s happening,” and pointed at the two of them.