Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
Attack of the Mind Snatchers
by TS Caladan
Dr. Kevin Binnell didn’t believe the words on the phone from his ‘good’ friend and business partner, Don, in the late evening of August 12, 1956.
The sleepy, little town of Santa Mara was a quiet hamlet where most folks had known each other for decades. The town appeared peaceful on the outside, but what lurked underneath the surface? Was everything as it seemed? What was it that would soon entirely change the people who lived down in the last houses of the Westmoreland cul-de-sac? What was it that planned a wide scale invasion to far more than one, small California town?
The Doctor rushed across the street along with his wife to the Kaufmans’ house.
Now the Binnells believed. They saw the thing Don and his wife found in their garage.
Don had the courage to drag it inside and placed it on a table. It was a “semi-living” duplicate of Don! Both Kaufmans were successful salespeople with the import and export of various commodities, legal and illegal. They had global connections and worked with the Binnells on various federal operations over the years.
“I swear I thought you we’re pulling a practical joke on us, Don. Dana was sure you had to be drunk.” Kevin turned to his neighbor’s wife. “Teddy, you found it?”
Don often spoke for his wife. He replied, “A plant-pod, don’t know what you’d call it. I’ll show you later; it’s in the garage. Podling. Five feet maybe? Like a, uh, unfinished version of me poured out of it. This, I don’t know, organic foam jelled all around it at first. Then it faded away like bubbles. This remained. Doc…ha, is it my replacement?”
Teddy was extremely frightened and shook to the bone over the whole experience. She smoked. She downed some hard whiskey and answered, “Never saw anything l-like that in my whole life. Hell. We keep the, uh, garage door open. I-I mean: nothing happens in this town…”
Don interrupted, “What about our local Ripper, Teddy?”
Dana chimed in with, “That’s rumor. Kevin says they were suicides.”
Dr. Binnell didn’t respond to his wife. He stared at the prone body more. He examined it as if it was any patient that laid in front of him. “Don. Do you have any idea what this could be?”
“That was my question to you. What is it? Anyone could have walked into our garage and planted it next to the car. Who…our fed friends? What’d they plant? Why does it look like me?”
Kevin did more tests and examinations without his equipment. “It. It’s…extraordinary. Appears as if…”
Dana asked, “What, dear?”
“Rapid aging or rapid growth?” Kevin concluded.
Don replied, “Yes. Look at it. Earlier it seemed vaguer, you know, general-looking. Now. It’s resembling me more and more, it seems. Kevin, what the hell should we do?”
Teddy was fairly well sauced on Jack Daniels. She said, “It’s l-late.”
Don rudely snapped at her: “Hey, you! Shut up!” The salesman was known to yell at his saleswoman wife. They were known for “screaming matches” heard around the Westmoreland cul-de-sac.
Dana hugged Teddy. (Not the first time. He beat his wife frequently and drove her to drink).
Dr. Kevin was transfixed upon the evolved “thing” on the table. He offered, “This has to be studied at the lab. It is late. How about we come over early, take it off your hands and see if the lab boys can come up with something?”
Don nervously lit a cigarette and calmed down. He placed a hand on the shoulder of his old friend and partner. He smiled. “Good.”
In the dead of night, there was a noise in Kaufman’s garage that should not have been heard.
Dana and Kevin had gone.
The body was locked in the garage. It was assumed the “thing” would be safe until the lab boys came for it in a few hours.
The Kaufmans were scared out of their wits! They were woken by a loud ‘bang’ and ‘rustling’ noises from the garage. They shivered in bed and in fear.
Don thought of the movie ‘Frankenstein’ when the words “It’s alive” came out of his mouth.
Neither went anywhere. It was a long time since they held each other.
Then there was silence. There was complete silence for more than ten minutes…
What the hell?
Don and Teddy got up and slowly approached the garage, through the kitchen. They listened at the door and heard nothing. Both quivered in the cold morning air.
Don did the first good and decent thing in possibly years. He demanded his wife leave the house and go next door to the Binnells. He’d open the door after Teddy left.
She kissed him and did what he ordered. She left and crossed the street.
He walked in. Don grabbed a handy pitchfork that was propped up against the wall. He held it firmly like a weapon. He flipped on the light switch and it did not go on. Everything was very dark with only light from street lights though a window that barely lit a portion of the back wall.
Silence and stillness.
Don felt braver, sure no one was near him. When he peeked behind boxes, where he left the duplicate body, it was gone. Nothing was there in the darkness.
Suddenly, a hammer slammed down upon the back of his head~
Later, the Binnells and Teddy found no trace of the replicated body, the big pod or Don Kaufman. There was a pool of blood in the garage and bloodied footprints that led outside…
In the afternoon, Kevin drove his Cadillac to an appointment with his boss, Dr. Larry Gates. Earlier, his wife informed him of another oddity on this strange day: She had coffee with her cousin Wilma, who informed her that, “Uncle Ira was not Uncle Ira.” Her rational cousin was adamant about it. The old man acted completely different than the person she’d known for years. The Doctor didn’t know what to think as he sped along a rural road toward his boss’ home. And…
Dr. Binnell nearly ran over a boy in the road! Kevin’s mind was elsewhere but saw the kid in time. The boy waved his hands high over him. Kevin swerved and then stopped the car.
It was little Jimmy Grimaldi
He discovered that the boy had a similar story. Jimmy was sure that his mother was not his mother. He cried and would absolutely not return to his house.
Normally, Doctor Binnell would have driven Jimmy straight home. But today seemed like an extraordinary day. He decided to take Jimmy along to his boss, Dr. Gates, who often took charge of foster children and other children. Kevin believed he’d know the best thing to do.
At Dr. Gates home, the boy was placed in the hands of his housekeeper, Mildred. She took him away to where they housed runaways and orphans and delinquents and the ‘missing.’
The doctors spoke inside a large, elegant, wood-paneled den. Gates gave Kevin an envelope.
“Ah, our latest enterprise, Larry. Quite a profit, that’s, ah, that’s more than I expected, Major.”
[Dr. Gates was called “the Major” to insiders].
“Toast! My boy, you deserve it.” Gates was extremely pleased with their recent successes. He fixed champagne in tall glasses. They drank and clinked glasses. “Your man, Kaufman. He’s no bluff: connections to Singapore, Japan and even China. One other item to tell you: the two ‘suicides’ in our little town, weren’t suicides, Kev. We do have a Ripper in Santa Mara.”
“Major?” Dr. Binnell had far more on his mind than two local murders.
“Yes, Kevin?”
“Jimmy Gimaldi screamed his mother wasn’t his mother. Before, Dana’s cousin Wilma was sure old Uncle Ira acted very different than normal…”
“So?” Larry drank more champagne.
“You mentioned: Don. He found…ugh…how do I?” Kevin was frustrated. “Major. Have you heard any reports, I mean from your federal sources, of…”
“Of?”
“Pod-like, plant things? Big ones. Then, then…the things create duplicates of people?”
“What are you telling me, man?” Gates was shocked. He’d heard nothing like Kevin described. And the old doctor was very aware of huge, federal Secrets high above ‘Top Secret.’ This was totally new and different to him.
“Don is gone! My…our partner. Yes, Larry. The one with all the overseas customers and demands. I saw his duplicate body as plain as I’m seeing you now! Then everything was gone, but a pool of his blood in the garage. He’s DEAD, Major!”
“Say this again,” the Major demanded.
“I’ll tell you all about it…”
On another part of the Westmoreland cul-de-sac with the Binnells and Kaufmans, Police Chief Seigel walked into the backyard of Pete Driscoll, the war hero from the “Big War.” He carried an ‘alien’ Pod: a dark green, great unknown thing. He appeared mesmerized. He shoved the pod into a low window and it slipped inside and onto the floor of Pete’s basement.
In early evening, Kevin returned home to his wife.
Dana heard nothing from Teddy or knew any more about the disappearance of Don. The big news was: There were more pods!
“What?”
Dana brought him round back and there they were. Someone had tossed two of the “human seed podlings” over their fence and onto the lawn.
Kevin sprang into action. Soon he built a bonfire and the two things from another world burned to blackened, charred lumps on the grass.
“Darling. What’s going on? Who’s doing this to us?”
Dr. Kevin responded, “I don’t know, dear. Found out more news from the Major. Those suicides, they were murders all right. Are they connected to the green Pods? That’s what I’d like to know. What kind of invasion is this?”
“I’d like to know if Earth is being invaded, eh?”
“Major didn’t know. You’d think if anyone would, he would.”
“I’m so tired, Kev.”
“I know. We didn’t sleep last night. Tonight will be different.”
At the police station, corrupt Chief Seigel had a short conversation with Sam, one of his officers who was also a part of the town’s hidden corruption. Sam was not Sam and Chief Seigel was not the person he once was.
“That makes seven. Nick Swanson, another of our boys in blue, has joined our ranks…"
“Like he had a choice?”
Both Chief of Police and cop laughed. Then they laughed even harder. They knew exactly what was happening to the town where “nothing ever happens.”
It was late evening on Day #2 of an alien invasion unlike anything seen in a cheap, black and white, creepy movie.
Dana and Kevin Binnell checked on Teddy. They walked across the street, knocked on the neighbor’s door, and…
They were shocked to discover, when the front door opened, the notorious couple who fought like dogs and cats…were in a loving embrace. They smiled, they kissed! Something was very wrong here.
“Come in, guys. We were expecting you,” Don stated, happily. The more than stunned Binnells were led into the same room where they’d first seen the human duplicate. Obviously, these were not the original Kaufmans.
“What’s this about, Don?”
“Ha.” The Kaufmans looked at each other and smiled. Don answered, “Change. That’s the only thing this is about. We’re coming…”
Dana asked, “Who’s coming?”
Teddy strangely answered, where in the normal world: her husband would have responded. “Don’t be afraid. It doesn’t hurt. The planet will be far, far better off…whenever we, eventually, take control of your world.”
Kevin asked about the pods.
Don answered, “Seeds drifted through space until they landed here and took root in a farmer’s field a few miles out of town. Ha, ha.” Don’s eyes enlarged. “Oh, huh. There’s a few people here I think you two should meet.”
“What?” The Binnells heard noise from the other room. The couples weren’t alone.
In walked the Major, the Chief of Police, two of his officers, Sam and Nick, as well as Pete Driscoll, Uncle Ira and little Jimmy’s parents, Ed and Ethel.
“We’re going to put a stop to what’s been going on,” Dr. Gates stated emphatically. “You’ll see when you’re one of us. You can’t stay awake forever. You have to sleep sometime. You’ll understand…this is for the better. We’re out of business, Kevin.” He turned to Ed.
Ed brought in the special alien pods that were for the Binnells.
Kevin immediately reacted, violently. He punched his boss as hard as he could!
Gates fell back into the police officers who caught him.
Kevin grabbed his wife. They dashed out of the house extremely fast.
The ‘changed’ people in the room wanted to chase after Kevin and Dana.
The Major got upright and straightened his clothes. He calmly told them, “It’s all right. Let them go. No one will believe them. They’ll be ours soon.” He smiled.
They all smiled as they saw the open door and the Binnells that had run out into the night.
The exhausted couple ran for their lives nearly a quarter mile from the cul-de-sac before they realized where they were. An old mine’s entrance was ahead of them. They entered then fell to the ground as soon as they got inside.
Kevin held his wife tightly within a nightmare they did not understand.
Dana weakly expressed, “Kevin. Is this because of all the evil we’ve done, your business? Me, supporting you, Don and the Major? Keeping the books? Is this payment for our crimes?”
Dr. Kevin was breathless and told her: “We can’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep, honey.”
He rolled over onto his back and she did the same. Their quick breathes slowed down to normal breathes. Binnell looked up into the blackened rafters of the old mine. He wanted sleep so badly he tasted it. Only a minute later, his eyes opened. He wasn’t the one who slept.
She did.
Dana Binnell’s top part of her body was wide awake while she smiled and sat in dirt. She leaned over to him and said, “It’s Okay, dear. There’s only a few more to take of in the town.”
Kevin was scared and replied, “Few more?” He understood Dana was one of them now. He asked a reasonable question, “Don’t you, you…want to take over the world? Possess everyone?”
The sweet girl with dirt on her face answered him: “Of course not, dear. We don’t need to take control of everyone. Just the bad people.”
“What?”
“If we willingly give into the Good and change for the better, we don’t have to be replaced.”
“I don’t understand. Dana. Help.”
“Pete Driscoll, big war hero, right?”
“Huh?”
“He’s our local Ripper. And your federal operation that’s big in Singapore and Japan and you want to break into China? The child porn ring we never openly talk about. We’ll deal with that. Our next target is the Zion Church we belong to. You don’t know that their secret dealings rival your government’s operation. Everything’s going to be cleaned up now, I assure you. It’ll be a better, brighter world when we get done with it, just like we said.”
Kevin Binnell ran out of the cave and into darkness. He made it to the closest highway and lost his mind. He screamed to the passing cars, “They’re here! They’re coming for us! Danger! You’ll see, it’s the end of everything!”
He leaped onto one of the trucks that slowed in front of him. He tried to get his message across to the driver. When he got a look as to what the truck hauled in back, the man lost his mind even more. “Noooooo!”
Hundreds of green pods were on their way out of Santa Mara and to many other destinations where corruption needed to be extinguished. On the side of the truck was the word: “Nemesis.”
Hours later, the unbelievable story of an alien-pod invasion from space and experiences over the last 48 hours, were relayed to the county’s sanitarium directors: Dr. Deacon and Dr. Whit.
After the story from the respected Doctor was heard and recorded, the two administrators met out in the hall and spoke.
Binnell was secured in a padded cell.
“Well, that’s a new one,” Dr. Whit expressed as both lit cigarettes.
“Huh. One for the books, eh?” Dr. Deacon responded.
Suddenly, an attendant pushed a gurney passed the two doctors.
Dr. Whit asked, “What do we have here?”
The attendant answered. “There was an accident on the interstate out of town. This is the driver. Strangest thing we found in his truck…”
“What?” Dr. Deacon asked.
“Giant green pods, something. More than a hundred of ‘em. Strangest things I ever saw.”
When the gurney continued its way toward the main surgery room, the doctors realized Binnell’s story was true, every word of it.
Instead of being excited, feeling panic and a need to inform the authorities of the invasion against humanity, they realized that the visitation was actually for humanity.
The driver recovered and was sent his merry way on a mission where bad was changed to good~
by TS Caladan
Dr. Kevin Binnell didn’t believe the words on the phone from his ‘good’ friend and business partner, Don, in the late evening of August 12, 1956.
The sleepy, little town of Santa Mara was a quiet hamlet where most folks had known each other for decades. The town appeared peaceful on the outside, but what lurked underneath the surface? Was everything as it seemed? What was it that would soon entirely change the people who lived down in the last houses of the Westmoreland cul-de-sac? What was it that planned a wide scale invasion to far more than one, small California town?
The Doctor rushed across the street along with his wife to the Kaufmans’ house.
Now the Binnells believed. They saw the thing Don and his wife found in their garage.
Don had the courage to drag it inside and placed it on a table. It was a “semi-living” duplicate of Don! Both Kaufmans were successful salespeople with the import and export of various commodities, legal and illegal. They had global connections and worked with the Binnells on various federal operations over the years.
“I swear I thought you we’re pulling a practical joke on us, Don. Dana was sure you had to be drunk.” Kevin turned to his neighbor’s wife. “Teddy, you found it?”
Don often spoke for his wife. He replied, “A plant-pod, don’t know what you’d call it. I’ll show you later; it’s in the garage. Podling. Five feet maybe? Like a, uh, unfinished version of me poured out of it. This, I don’t know, organic foam jelled all around it at first. Then it faded away like bubbles. This remained. Doc…ha, is it my replacement?”
Teddy was extremely frightened and shook to the bone over the whole experience. She smoked. She downed some hard whiskey and answered, “Never saw anything l-like that in my whole life. Hell. We keep the, uh, garage door open. I-I mean: nothing happens in this town…”
Don interrupted, “What about our local Ripper, Teddy?”
Dana chimed in with, “That’s rumor. Kevin says they were suicides.”
Dr. Binnell didn’t respond to his wife. He stared at the prone body more. He examined it as if it was any patient that laid in front of him. “Don. Do you have any idea what this could be?”
“That was my question to you. What is it? Anyone could have walked into our garage and planted it next to the car. Who…our fed friends? What’d they plant? Why does it look like me?”
Kevin did more tests and examinations without his equipment. “It. It’s…extraordinary. Appears as if…”
Dana asked, “What, dear?”
“Rapid aging or rapid growth?” Kevin concluded.
Don replied, “Yes. Look at it. Earlier it seemed vaguer, you know, general-looking. Now. It’s resembling me more and more, it seems. Kevin, what the hell should we do?”
Teddy was fairly well sauced on Jack Daniels. She said, “It’s l-late.”
Don rudely snapped at her: “Hey, you! Shut up!” The salesman was known to yell at his saleswoman wife. They were known for “screaming matches” heard around the Westmoreland cul-de-sac.
Dana hugged Teddy. (Not the first time. He beat his wife frequently and drove her to drink).
Dr. Kevin was transfixed upon the evolved “thing” on the table. He offered, “This has to be studied at the lab. It is late. How about we come over early, take it off your hands and see if the lab boys can come up with something?”
Don nervously lit a cigarette and calmed down. He placed a hand on the shoulder of his old friend and partner. He smiled. “Good.”
In the dead of night, there was a noise in Kaufman’s garage that should not have been heard.
Dana and Kevin had gone.
The body was locked in the garage. It was assumed the “thing” would be safe until the lab boys came for it in a few hours.
The Kaufmans were scared out of their wits! They were woken by a loud ‘bang’ and ‘rustling’ noises from the garage. They shivered in bed and in fear.
Don thought of the movie ‘Frankenstein’ when the words “It’s alive” came out of his mouth.
Neither went anywhere. It was a long time since they held each other.
Then there was silence. There was complete silence for more than ten minutes…
What the hell?
Don and Teddy got up and slowly approached the garage, through the kitchen. They listened at the door and heard nothing. Both quivered in the cold morning air.
Don did the first good and decent thing in possibly years. He demanded his wife leave the house and go next door to the Binnells. He’d open the door after Teddy left.
She kissed him and did what he ordered. She left and crossed the street.
He walked in. Don grabbed a handy pitchfork that was propped up against the wall. He held it firmly like a weapon. He flipped on the light switch and it did not go on. Everything was very dark with only light from street lights though a window that barely lit a portion of the back wall.
Silence and stillness.
Don felt braver, sure no one was near him. When he peeked behind boxes, where he left the duplicate body, it was gone. Nothing was there in the darkness.
Suddenly, a hammer slammed down upon the back of his head~
Later, the Binnells and Teddy found no trace of the replicated body, the big pod or Don Kaufman. There was a pool of blood in the garage and bloodied footprints that led outside…
In the afternoon, Kevin drove his Cadillac to an appointment with his boss, Dr. Larry Gates. Earlier, his wife informed him of another oddity on this strange day: She had coffee with her cousin Wilma, who informed her that, “Uncle Ira was not Uncle Ira.” Her rational cousin was adamant about it. The old man acted completely different than the person she’d known for years. The Doctor didn’t know what to think as he sped along a rural road toward his boss’ home. And…
Dr. Binnell nearly ran over a boy in the road! Kevin’s mind was elsewhere but saw the kid in time. The boy waved his hands high over him. Kevin swerved and then stopped the car.
It was little Jimmy Grimaldi
He discovered that the boy had a similar story. Jimmy was sure that his mother was not his mother. He cried and would absolutely not return to his house.
Normally, Doctor Binnell would have driven Jimmy straight home. But today seemed like an extraordinary day. He decided to take Jimmy along to his boss, Dr. Gates, who often took charge of foster children and other children. Kevin believed he’d know the best thing to do.
At Dr. Gates home, the boy was placed in the hands of his housekeeper, Mildred. She took him away to where they housed runaways and orphans and delinquents and the ‘missing.’
The doctors spoke inside a large, elegant, wood-paneled den. Gates gave Kevin an envelope.
“Ah, our latest enterprise, Larry. Quite a profit, that’s, ah, that’s more than I expected, Major.”
[Dr. Gates was called “the Major” to insiders].
“Toast! My boy, you deserve it.” Gates was extremely pleased with their recent successes. He fixed champagne in tall glasses. They drank and clinked glasses. “Your man, Kaufman. He’s no bluff: connections to Singapore, Japan and even China. One other item to tell you: the two ‘suicides’ in our little town, weren’t suicides, Kev. We do have a Ripper in Santa Mara.”
“Major?” Dr. Binnell had far more on his mind than two local murders.
“Yes, Kevin?”
“Jimmy Gimaldi screamed his mother wasn’t his mother. Before, Dana’s cousin Wilma was sure old Uncle Ira acted very different than normal…”
“So?” Larry drank more champagne.
“You mentioned: Don. He found…ugh…how do I?” Kevin was frustrated. “Major. Have you heard any reports, I mean from your federal sources, of…”
“Of?”
“Pod-like, plant things? Big ones. Then, then…the things create duplicates of people?”
“What are you telling me, man?” Gates was shocked. He’d heard nothing like Kevin described. And the old doctor was very aware of huge, federal Secrets high above ‘Top Secret.’ This was totally new and different to him.
“Don is gone! My…our partner. Yes, Larry. The one with all the overseas customers and demands. I saw his duplicate body as plain as I’m seeing you now! Then everything was gone, but a pool of his blood in the garage. He’s DEAD, Major!”
“Say this again,” the Major demanded.
“I’ll tell you all about it…”
On another part of the Westmoreland cul-de-sac with the Binnells and Kaufmans, Police Chief Seigel walked into the backyard of Pete Driscoll, the war hero from the “Big War.” He carried an ‘alien’ Pod: a dark green, great unknown thing. He appeared mesmerized. He shoved the pod into a low window and it slipped inside and onto the floor of Pete’s basement.
In early evening, Kevin returned home to his wife.
Dana heard nothing from Teddy or knew any more about the disappearance of Don. The big news was: There were more pods!
“What?”
Dana brought him round back and there they were. Someone had tossed two of the “human seed podlings” over their fence and onto the lawn.
Kevin sprang into action. Soon he built a bonfire and the two things from another world burned to blackened, charred lumps on the grass.
“Darling. What’s going on? Who’s doing this to us?”
Dr. Kevin responded, “I don’t know, dear. Found out more news from the Major. Those suicides, they were murders all right. Are they connected to the green Pods? That’s what I’d like to know. What kind of invasion is this?”
“I’d like to know if Earth is being invaded, eh?”
“Major didn’t know. You’d think if anyone would, he would.”
“I’m so tired, Kev.”
“I know. We didn’t sleep last night. Tonight will be different.”
At the police station, corrupt Chief Seigel had a short conversation with Sam, one of his officers who was also a part of the town’s hidden corruption. Sam was not Sam and Chief Seigel was not the person he once was.
“That makes seven. Nick Swanson, another of our boys in blue, has joined our ranks…"
“Like he had a choice?”
Both Chief of Police and cop laughed. Then they laughed even harder. They knew exactly what was happening to the town where “nothing ever happens.”
It was late evening on Day #2 of an alien invasion unlike anything seen in a cheap, black and white, creepy movie.
Dana and Kevin Binnell checked on Teddy. They walked across the street, knocked on the neighbor’s door, and…
They were shocked to discover, when the front door opened, the notorious couple who fought like dogs and cats…were in a loving embrace. They smiled, they kissed! Something was very wrong here.
“Come in, guys. We were expecting you,” Don stated, happily. The more than stunned Binnells were led into the same room where they’d first seen the human duplicate. Obviously, these were not the original Kaufmans.
“What’s this about, Don?”
“Ha.” The Kaufmans looked at each other and smiled. Don answered, “Change. That’s the only thing this is about. We’re coming…”
Dana asked, “Who’s coming?”
Teddy strangely answered, where in the normal world: her husband would have responded. “Don’t be afraid. It doesn’t hurt. The planet will be far, far better off…whenever we, eventually, take control of your world.”
Kevin asked about the pods.
Don answered, “Seeds drifted through space until they landed here and took root in a farmer’s field a few miles out of town. Ha, ha.” Don’s eyes enlarged. “Oh, huh. There’s a few people here I think you two should meet.”
“What?” The Binnells heard noise from the other room. The couples weren’t alone.
In walked the Major, the Chief of Police, two of his officers, Sam and Nick, as well as Pete Driscoll, Uncle Ira and little Jimmy’s parents, Ed and Ethel.
“We’re going to put a stop to what’s been going on,” Dr. Gates stated emphatically. “You’ll see when you’re one of us. You can’t stay awake forever. You have to sleep sometime. You’ll understand…this is for the better. We’re out of business, Kevin.” He turned to Ed.
Ed brought in the special alien pods that were for the Binnells.
Kevin immediately reacted, violently. He punched his boss as hard as he could!
Gates fell back into the police officers who caught him.
Kevin grabbed his wife. They dashed out of the house extremely fast.
The ‘changed’ people in the room wanted to chase after Kevin and Dana.
The Major got upright and straightened his clothes. He calmly told them, “It’s all right. Let them go. No one will believe them. They’ll be ours soon.” He smiled.
They all smiled as they saw the open door and the Binnells that had run out into the night.
The exhausted couple ran for their lives nearly a quarter mile from the cul-de-sac before they realized where they were. An old mine’s entrance was ahead of them. They entered then fell to the ground as soon as they got inside.
Kevin held his wife tightly within a nightmare they did not understand.
Dana weakly expressed, “Kevin. Is this because of all the evil we’ve done, your business? Me, supporting you, Don and the Major? Keeping the books? Is this payment for our crimes?”
Dr. Kevin was breathless and told her: “We can’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep, honey.”
He rolled over onto his back and she did the same. Their quick breathes slowed down to normal breathes. Binnell looked up into the blackened rafters of the old mine. He wanted sleep so badly he tasted it. Only a minute later, his eyes opened. He wasn’t the one who slept.
She did.
Dana Binnell’s top part of her body was wide awake while she smiled and sat in dirt. She leaned over to him and said, “It’s Okay, dear. There’s only a few more to take of in the town.”
Kevin was scared and replied, “Few more?” He understood Dana was one of them now. He asked a reasonable question, “Don’t you, you…want to take over the world? Possess everyone?”
The sweet girl with dirt on her face answered him: “Of course not, dear. We don’t need to take control of everyone. Just the bad people.”
“What?”
“If we willingly give into the Good and change for the better, we don’t have to be replaced.”
“I don’t understand. Dana. Help.”
“Pete Driscoll, big war hero, right?”
“Huh?”
“He’s our local Ripper. And your federal operation that’s big in Singapore and Japan and you want to break into China? The child porn ring we never openly talk about. We’ll deal with that. Our next target is the Zion Church we belong to. You don’t know that their secret dealings rival your government’s operation. Everything’s going to be cleaned up now, I assure you. It’ll be a better, brighter world when we get done with it, just like we said.”
Kevin Binnell ran out of the cave and into darkness. He made it to the closest highway and lost his mind. He screamed to the passing cars, “They’re here! They’re coming for us! Danger! You’ll see, it’s the end of everything!”
He leaped onto one of the trucks that slowed in front of him. He tried to get his message across to the driver. When he got a look as to what the truck hauled in back, the man lost his mind even more. “Noooooo!”
Hundreds of green pods were on their way out of Santa Mara and to many other destinations where corruption needed to be extinguished. On the side of the truck was the word: “Nemesis.”
Hours later, the unbelievable story of an alien-pod invasion from space and experiences over the last 48 hours, were relayed to the county’s sanitarium directors: Dr. Deacon and Dr. Whit.
After the story from the respected Doctor was heard and recorded, the two administrators met out in the hall and spoke.
Binnell was secured in a padded cell.
“Well, that’s a new one,” Dr. Whit expressed as both lit cigarettes.
“Huh. One for the books, eh?” Dr. Deacon responded.
Suddenly, an attendant pushed a gurney passed the two doctors.
Dr. Whit asked, “What do we have here?”
The attendant answered. “There was an accident on the interstate out of town. This is the driver. Strangest thing we found in his truck…”
“What?” Dr. Deacon asked.
“Giant green pods, something. More than a hundred of ‘em. Strangest things I ever saw.”
When the gurney continued its way toward the main surgery room, the doctors realized Binnell’s story was true, every word of it.
Instead of being excited, feeling panic and a need to inform the authorities of the invasion against humanity, they realized that the visitation was actually for humanity.
The driver recovered and was sent his merry way on a mission where bad was changed to good~
