Close Encounter

I awoke with the worst headache of my life, with my clothes covered in a strange blue slime. My eyes slowly peeled themselves open and I winced at the blinding rays of sun blasting down on top of me. As my body regained its consciousness, I noticed that it wasn’t just my head that was aching. I was sore all over and I groaned a little at the pain as I pushed myself up to a seated position. 

I took a swab of the weird blue stuff on my jeans with my finger and brought it close to my face to examine it. It was definitely blue, but also kind of translucent. It burned a little and I quickly wiped my hand along the grass I was sitting on. I didn’t remember being anywhere near grass, and started scanning my surroundings, trying to figure out how I woke up in the middle of nowhere. I appeared to be in an empty field, not a tree or building in sight. 

I tried to think back, and the last thing I remembered was hunting in the woods near my home. I remembered that I had my hunting knife on me at the time, and started patting down my jeans to search for it – thankfully I still had it. I had a sinking feeling that I was going to need it.

I had no idea where I was or how I got there, which meant that I had no idea how to get out of there. I slowly stumbled to my feet, gritting my teeth through the aches and pains shooting through my body, and started to explore. I was completely out in the open with nothing but planes of grass in front of me, so I had to make a guess as to which way to go. 

I walked for what seemed like a lifetime, but the sun barely changed position so it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. I still didn’t see any sign of civilisation, but I did happen upon a small woodland area, and all I wanted was to rest, so I decided to take a break on a fallen tree trunk. The sun was still blistering through the trees, and I was worried about dehydration and sun stroke, so I thought I should find a way to shelter myself until I could find my way out of there.

My hunting knife in my pocket was the only tool I had to help me, so I had to think outside the box a little. I searched the woodland ground and managed to collect a bunch of large sticks and branches. I didn’t know how I was going to use them yet, but I thought they were worth reserving. 

I continued my search with an open mind, trying to piece together an idea. Eventually I found a host of spider plants, and the lightbulb went off in my head. Placing my armfuls of sticks on the ground, I started cutting the leaves at the base and collecting them together. When I was satisfied that I had all I needed, I carried my sticks and leaves and continued exploring the area until I found an open space within the woods where I had ample room to build my shelter. By this point I was exhausted and desperate to rest, but I could feel my skin sizzling and I knew I had to push myself along and get myself out of the sun. I organised my sticks on the ground side by side, changing the angle slightly with each stick to create a circle with the ends of the sticks pointing in towards each other. I made sure to leave a gap in the circle of sticks to act as a door. I then used the spider plant leaves to tie each stick to the one next to it, and then pushed the connected sticks up from the middle, creating a free-standing cone shape with a gap for me to crawl through. 

I shuffled underneath my cone-shaped shelter and breathed a sigh of relief at finally being in the shade. I checked over my skin and could see that I was already getting sunburn, and I could feel myself getting desperate for water, but I had no energy left, and within seconds, I drifted off to sleep.

I jumped awake a while later to a startling noise. It sounded like a car backfiring. I considered venturing out to see if there was someone else around who could help me, but I decided against it out of caution. I noticed that the sky had turned from bright blue to mellow orange, and the sun was starting to set. The harsh rays had dulled and a cool breeze was starting to set in. Knowing it would probably get colder, I thought it would be a good idea to try and start a fire before nightfall. 

I grabbed a couple of small sticks from the ground outside of my shelter, and started rolling them back and forth together in my hands. It doesn’t work as quickly as it does in the movies. It’s a good job I’d rested, because it took quite a while, but eventually they started smoking, and a small flame appeared. I carefully placed the sticks on the ground and gathered a few more to place on top. Within a few minutes I had a decent fire, and I won’t lie – despite my plight of being lost in the wilderness, it was an enjoyable, ego-boosting moment.

I spent a few minutes warming my hands and enjoying the quiet serenity of the woodland sunset – then I heard the noise again. It sounded a little closer this time. I kept as still as possible, partially tolisten out, partially to try and hide my presence. I heard another one, closer still – this time it was followed by a slow crunch of leaves beneath feet. I quickly realised that it wasn’t a car backfiring at all, but a gunshot. I sat as still as I could and held my breath, hoping the mystery character wouldn’t check my shelter – and then I saw her. 

The most incredibly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. She was about 5”6’, slim build with curves in all the right places. Her platinum blonde hair was brighter than the sun that had earlier scorched my skin, and her deep blue eyes glistened like sapphires. The skin-tight, maroon bodysuit she was wearing made my heart skip a beat. Just as I felt that I was about to fall in love with this enigmatic woman, I noticed the Smith & Wesson Model 41 in her left hand. It was pointing straight at my head.

My whole body clenched and I froze in fear, waiting for her to explain what she had against me. “You’ve set up nicely. I need a place to hide out. That shelter doesn’t look fit for two, so I guess we’ll have to halve the numbers here. Your knife will be good for close range protection.” She gestured at my hunting knife on the ground as she cocked the gun, and I swallowed with anxiety. She had a voice like golden honey, but I had to put that aside and fight for my life. “We can always expand the shelter. You don’t have to do this. I can make it fit for two… care to share? We may have to cuddle up close though.” She rolled her eyes and brought the gun closer to my head.

"Prepare to meet your maker.”

“Wait… why do you need a place to hide? What are you hiding from?”

“You really don’t know? You have the blue stuff all over your clothes.”

“I’ve been wondering what this stuff is… what do you know that I don’t?”

“There’s something out here. Something… not of this world. I know it sounds insane, but trust me, I’m doing you a favour. It looks like they’ve marked you. That means they’ll be back for you.”

“Who is “they”?”

“I don’t know what they are, but their aircraft is beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

I clocked it at that moment. She was talking about aliens. Clearly she was crazy… but I could use her fear to my advantage and ensure my safety.

“Look, two heads are better than one. Let’s make some room for both of us. I’ll make you feel safe, I promise.”

I saw her eyes soften as I spoke those words, and the gun started to lower. She stared at me for a few seconds, seeming to consider her options, and then uttered, “fine. But I get to keep hold of the knife. Just for now." 

“Deal.”

I scrambled up from inside my shelter and we got to work on expanding it. We shared stories and banter while we were working, and discovered that we had a lot in common. I had to fight the feelings I was having. I still couldn’t trust her.

After reigniting the fire and getting cosy inside the newly expanded shelter, she told me more about the supposed aliens. They were three feet tall, with large, black eyes and silvery skin. They captured abductees by coating them in a blue sludge that paralysed the target, and then transported them into their ship through levitation. Of course, I didn’t buy any of this, there was clearly a more sensible explanation for the stuff all over my clothes – but I entertained her fantasies to keep myself safe.

She eventually fell asleep, and I made sure to stay awake in case she pulled anything. Night had fallen now, and the woods were dead silent. I couldn’t have been sure, but I estimated that it was around 3am. Out of the blue, I noticed a strange whirring noise. We were in the middle of nowhere. I couldn’t for the life of me think what could have been making that noise. I tried to ignore it, but it sounded like it was getting closer. Then, suddenly, a beam of blinding white light shot through the shelter, and I winced and covered my face. 

My mystery companion awoke with a fright, immediately grabbing her gun and pointing it towards the threatening rays. “They’re here. They came back for you!”

I didn’t want to believe it. My whole life I’ve been a sceptic, I couldn’t let myself believe that she was telling the truth about the little silvery aliens and the weird blue slime. Against my better judgement, I snorted arrogantly and stepped out of the shelter. Above me, I saw something I never expected could be real. A black, triangular shape, so black I could almost see into it, with three striking red lights, one at each point, hovering above me. A fourth light, yellow in colour, blasted down and covered me, and I felt myself slowly lifting from the ground. 

My entire belief system crumbled as I tried to process what was happening to me. I’d never felt fear like this before. She started shooting at the strange aerial object, which the pilots of the otherworldly craft seemed to take personally. 

I dropped back to the ground as it began descending. It landed far too silently for something of its size, and a door on the front of the craft opened upwards in the style of a DMC DeLorean. I saw a silhouette of what appeared to be a short human. It wasn’t a human. The figure stepped out of the craft, and before me was a three foot, silvery being with large, black eyes. She had been telling the truth. I had been targeted by an alien species.

The mystery woman continued shooting, this time in the direction of the alien being. The shots didn’t seem to phase it, and it shot back a green beam of light, seeming to come from its wrist, like it was biologically equipped with weaponry. I was frozen in disbelief, and I didn’t know what to do. I hid behind her like a coward, hoping this was all some terrible dream, and I would soon wake up in my cosy bed.

Suddenly I felt a burning sensation across my entire body. I looked down and noticed that the blue sludge was corroding my clothing from my neck to my feet, and I felt like I was losing the ability to move. I fell to my knees and felt myself once again ascending towards the craft. I saw the woman continue trying to shoot, but she had run out of bullets. She grabbed my hunting knife from her pocket and charged towards the being at the front of the craft. It shot beams of green light towards her, and she stealthily dodged them as she continued her power walk towards it. 

Once she was within three feet of it, she lunged towards it and stabbed it in the chest, and it let out a cursed scream – it was like something out of a twisted nightmare. The being dissolved in front of my eyes and disappeared. The other beings inside the craft must have taken this warning seriously, as the craft dropped me to the ground once more, then ascended back into the night sky and shot across the field, eventually disappearing out of sight.

My defendant ran over to me with obvious concern and asked, “are you okay?”

I looked up and met her eyes, and then and there, I knew for sure. I couldn’t deny how I felt any longer. This all happened for a reason.

“What’s your name?”

She smiled weakly and replied, “Casey”.

“Mike. Nice to meet you Casey."