It was tall and had long arms, but I couldn’t see much else as the light was coming from behind. I was shaking, trying to make sense of everything. I jerked my head sideways, but Ben had gone. The strange thing was, his door was shut, and I knew it was locked. I always flicked the central lock when I got into a truck. Pop had been in an accident once and spent time in hospital because he fell out of a truck after not closing the door right. That’s how I knew. So it was strange that Ben got out.
The bright light faded and I could see the trees either side of the highway. The truck’s headlights were dead, and the starter motor didn’t even click when I tried turning the engine again. Scared, I looked through the screen, but whatever it was out there had gone. All I could see was a clear road. I began to calm down, and without thinking, I unlocked and opened my door. Ben couldn’t be far away.
I guess that was the most stupid thing I ever did.
“Ben,” I shouted. “Come on, it’s gone. Let’s go.”
There was a loud click right behind me as someone readied an automatic – a noise I knew well as Hank, my brother, used to have one.
“Okay, take it real easy and put both hands up in the air.”
I nearly fainted with relief. It’s the army, I thought. I must have seen things and Ben musta got to me. Boy, was I gonna give him hell when I caught up with him.
“It’s okay mister, I’m with my friend, and we’re just trying to get to Miami. Say, can you tell me what happened? I came to after the storm, and everyone’s disappeared.”
He didn’t answer me, and then I heard him talking.
“Yeah, we got another one. I’m afraid we lost his partner. We got here too late. Yeah – I’ll bring him in.”
I turned to the soldier in time to see a strange small craft, lit up, come down the road, flying a few feet above the ground. It was the size of a car and stopped above us before lowering to the tarmac.
“Cool. How long have you had these? I bet they’re top secret, right?”
The side of the craft slid back. I reckoned these guys were Special Forces or something like that. I didn’t recognize the dark green uniform. The other soldier sat next to me and the craft rose slowly. As we reached treetop level, we took off fast.
“Can you tell me…”
“Our boss will explain everything to you,” said the driver.
“But we have to find Ben.”
“Fraid he’s gone, son. They’ve got him.”
So Ben was right. There were monsters – and who were these guys?”
I was pushed back into my seat as the craft’s nose tilted up and a glowing blue light surrounded us.