“What the hell is this!? Let me out of here you sons of bitches!”

 

Where am I? It’s so dark in here… except these flashes. I can only see through these flashes of light. Smoke. There’s other people here! Too much fog to really see. I’m in so much pain. What happened to me? My body. Burnt. Charred. I’m burnt to a crisp! This pain…. It’s unbearable. “What’s going on, ahh?!” I try to scream. My voice, deluted and burnt. What happened to me? How did I get here? Where am I? I try to look around. It hurts so much. The floor is cold, mist coming off of it but I, I  can barely feel it. I can here other people here. They’re yelling. Cursing. Some of them are in a lot of pain…like me. I’m scared. Why can’t I remember what happened to me? I lay back down. I’m… dying…I know it. I started to sob. “ Am I already dead? Is this hell? Have I gone to hell?” I whispered.   I try to remember. life. How I got here. Anything!  But just as the flashes of light in here, I only see flashes of… life. Pictures. A woman. Kids. A husband and wife, Screaming. The woman, blonde. Blue eyes. She screaming at me?  For me. The other woman, beautiful. Dark hair. Dark eye, I’m sure but she’s shielding them. She’s crying. The Children! They’re hers! Something happened to her children! I begin to sob again.  I try to turn to my right side. The only side that the skin is not starting to fall from the burns. There’s so little room in this…..cage. Whatever this slimy stuff is all over , it stinks. Am I a prisoner? Was I soldier? Damn it! Just flashes. I was hiding under some rummage. Then Flashes! Bright fucking flashes! “What’s going on? Why can’t I remember!? Please God, what’s going on!” 

 

“Hey, stop yelling. Don’t yell or  they’ll come for us next!” I hear from next to me. I turn to look and see. Trying to focus through these fleshy, burnt eye lids. A  man.  

 

“ Who are you?” I said. “ What’s going on? Tell me!?”  

 

The man scurried over to me, “Whisper, please whisper.” I can see his face now better. He was a young man, thin with glasses. He brushed his dirty, sand colored hair out of his face. 

“They’ll come for us next. They’ll take us, like they took the other.” He said, His voice shaking from either the cold floor or the fear. “ They’ll take us…look..over there.” He whispered while pointing through ther dark.        

 

I turn my head and try to focus through the dark mist that seems to cover this entire place. Finally, after a couple of seconds I begin to see….figures! Moving through the dark. I can make them out through the flashes. “my God, what is that?” I thought to myself. There were three of them, I think. About ten or fifteen yards in front of me but I can make them out now. Through the little light I got, I noticed they were surrounding something on the floor. Some mass. A person! Another man! Now I see. There’s a man laying there, I can see him starting to move a bit as if coming around from unconsciousness. What are those things? I thought. I watched in horror as they studied the person, still attempting to recover, like a teenager would a lab rat. They moved around him slowly, methodically. Every couple seconds they would point or poke at him. Even as they bend over to watch, I can see they are large. Strong. They appear to have braided hair like things coming from the back of their heads. Heads? Helmets?   I can’t really see in great detail yet. Except their figures, Like shadows. Shadows that follow you in nightmares.

 

“What’s you name?” I asked the thin man quietly. Trying not to stir up attention. 

 

“Jerry, Jerry Arnold. Private First Class Jerry Arnold of the United States Army. What’s yours Sir?”

 

“I don’t know Jerry” I replied. “ I don’t remember anything before I woke up here. Do you remember how you got here? Where ever in hell here is? Is this some kind of, ship?

 

“Ship? Maybe. Hell, I don’t know but yeah. I remember how I got here.” He said slowly taking a seat by me. “ I was in combat. We were fighting some insurgents just outside of Fellujah. My squadron and I were engaged for a week there. Most of our guys had gone down and the rest of us were trying to retreat when I caught one in the stomach, right here.”  He lifted his shirt a bit to show the freshly healing wound. “ I thought I was a goner for sure. I started praying till I passed out. Next thing I knew I was laid up in a hospital. I assumed it was military but I don’t remember seeing any uniforms. I was just happy to be alive. Wanted to call my mom and dad back home to tell them I was ok and will be home soon but I never got the chance. The hospital must have come under attack. I never saw the intruders but I heard the commotion outside. I tried to get out of the bed and find my weapon but I just couldn’t. Suddenly I heard the room doors fly open and I was blinded by a bright flash. Then I woke up here. I thought I was just another POW until I saw those things shuffling around. I’ve never seen any enemy like that.” He finished, looking up again. 

 

“Look, they’re leaving.” He said, motioning his eyes in their direction. “They must have not liked what they saw.”

 

I turned to look as those things walked away from the body, again motionless on the floor……they walked on two legs, that’s for certain. I noticed as they went passed that they were tall. Six and half, maybe seven feet tall. They had this metallic looking frame bodies, only they were covered in some sort of skin. Slimy skin. And they were strong or at least looked strong. Had a frame an athlete would love. Their heads. I think they wore some kind of helmet cause I only saw one long eye piece. Like a motorcyclist would wear only thinner and steam come from the back hair looking pieces. I laid as still as I could as they walked some yards in front of me. I wouldn’t move to check but I could tell Jerry Arnold was doing the same. I stared at them until they disappeared into the dense dark fog roaming through this place like factory smog.

 

“What were those things Jerry.” I whispered.  “ Did they do this to me.” I began to cough. Blood. I’m coughing blood. Jesus, my lungs. 

 

“ You don’t look so good guy.” The soldier said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a rag. I took it as he handed it to me. Used it to drown the sound of the coughing and to clean the blood from my lips. “ Listen, I don’t know who did this to you guy but you can bet your ass you didn’t do it to yourself. You look like you were in some kind of explosion. You’re a big guy, were you a soldier maybe?” he said, slowly leaning on the back of his confinement. 

 

“ I don’t know Jerry.” I said, turning onto may back.

 

“Well one things for sure.” he said. “ you were born in June.” he pointed to my upper right shoulder, exposed by the burns in what used to be my shirt. Still visible around some blistering the two hash celestial symbol……..for the Gemini. 

 

“I’m a Gemini. That’s a start I guess, Jerry.” I said as I closed my eyes. “That’s a start.