“So, they can still use it as a credit on a new order, but they must use it completely. There is no refund possible,” speaks a voice through the telephone.
“Indeed,” Monique answers.
“Ok, thanks for confirming. I will inform them,” is the reply.
“No problem at all,” and with a sigh, Monique hangs up the phone.
Her two colleagues are surprised by this unexpected event; they are pretty used to the usually very long phone conversations between Monique and their colleague in the customer care department. The generally very cheerful conversations and lots of laughter fill the room, but not this time. This time there is a strange atmosphere noticeable.
“Another simple search in payments?” Eileen asks to break the awkward silence.
“Hmm…” is the only noise Monique is expressing, completely consumed in her work.
There is a strange tingling, unexplainable sensation in the small office, as if there is a thunderstorm in the air. No one seems to notice the things hanging above their heads, and the moment Martine, with a heavy sigh, turns off her computer, their room is filled with a bright white light. Brighter than ever seen by human eyes……
….
“It is hot; I am going to cool off in the swimming pool,” Martine sighs, “the sun is just a little too bright for my liking.”
She looks at her two colleagues, with whom she spends a short holiday to recover from the turbulent past year at work.
Eileen gets up from her sunbed, “sounds great, I will come too.”
Monique, who observed and followed the conversation from behind her e-reader, shakes her head ‘no’. Martine is tempted to comment but decides it is too hot to argue, so she shrugs her shoulders, and together with Eileen walks towards the swimming pool.
Quite remote from civilisation, the three women have found a piece of paradise on earth. This is how the three colleagues, friends, Martine, Monique and Eileen, deeply hidden in the most beautiful forest, celebrate their holiday in a luxurious resort accompanied by a, due to the heat, very welcomed swimming pool. Together they make nice long walks together and have long deep conversations.
But, back to the swimming pool, today was an exceptionally warm day. So, the women agreed to stay at the hotel. Now finally Monique decided to put away her e-reader as well and join the two others for a nice cool dive in the swimming pool.
“Did the battery die on you?” Martine sarcastically asks.
“Nope, but I was kind of melting over there, although this isn’t that much colder,” Monique replies.
Eileen is floating next to them on an airbed and when she sees that Monique finally joined them in the pool, she splashes some extra water in her direction, which results in a short splash battle.
“So, where are we going for dinner tonight?” Martine asks, a bit done with the splashing water. “I prefer to go somewhere else and not stay at the hotel. I don’t know what is going on, but I am getting a headache from that oppressive hum.
“I know exactly what you mean.” Eileen now says, “I was actually thinking it was only in my head.”
“How can someone not hear it,” Monique sighs, “it is giving me a terrible headache.”
“It looked like you were not affected by it at all, your e-reader completely consumed you,” Eileen sneers.
With a sigh, Monique swims towards the ladder and climbs out of the swimming pool. The other two follow her back into the hotel, where they freshen up and get ready to leave. Over an hour later, the three women get into the car and set off to have dinner in the nearest city.
The moment they get out of the forest, the car completely stalls, and nothing seems to work anymore. In front of them, they are looking at a scene that no one had ever seen in their lives, and no one ever dared to imagine seeing it.
Multiple buildings are on fire, explosions can be heard, and the humming is deafening and pounding in their heads. The flow of fleeing people is enormous, and the first one is already reaching the edge of the forest. All their facial expressions have one thing in common: FEAR!
And if this were just all of it, then this scene wouldn’t be that extraordinary at all. With disbelief and in complete awe, Eileen, from the backseat, points in the direction of the burning city.
“W-what is t-that?”
Martine and Monique also stare at the strange object as if numb with disbelief. High, towering over the city, stands a machine… a thing… something…. Propelled on three ‘legs’ sow death and destruction with some kind of laser beam that shoots at the buildings, as if it were in a shooting gallery at the fairground.
Slowly the realisation dawns that people running around them are fleeing because that thing is coming in their direction.
“Start the car!” Monique shouts, “we need to get out of here!”
But whatever Martine tries, the car won’t start at all.
“It’s dead; the computer is completely fried,” she states.
“We need to get back to the hotel,” now Eileen says while opening the car door. But the moment she does that, the humming gets louder and almost paralyses them with a headache.
Their survival instinct takes over now, and Martine and Monique get out of the car as well. Swallowed by the stream of fleeing people, they automatically run along.
“Try and stick together,” Martine yells at the others.
In all the commotion they try to hold hands as the crowd automatically pushes them towards the hotel. Once they arrive, they have to struggle their way out of the stream of people to get into the hotel.
“We have to change clothes and only pack the most important and highly needed stuff,” Monique states, “we have to travel light.”
“And how are we going to take all of that with us?” Martine asks, “We won’t be quick and get far when we have to carry our suitcases.”
“Pull the sheet off your bed and place the items in the middle of it, tie the corners together like a knapsack.”
Martine and Eileen nod and go into their own room to prepare themselves, unaware of what awaits them. While Eileen follows the instructions given by Monique, she looks briefly through the window. To her horror, she sees that that thing is coming their way. Quickly she ties her stuff together and runs to the others to warn them.
“Hurry! It is coming in our direction,” she yells while banging on their doors. Monique and Martine exit their rooms with their ‘bundle’ of stuff.
“This isn’t walking any better either,” Martine states towards Monique.
“I got an idea,” Eileen expresses and is heading for the maintenance closet. Luckily it isn’t locked, and Eileen searches as fast as possible and after just two minutes, she comes out of the room, proudly showing three broomsticks. The other two are not that enthusiastic, they get the idea and must admit it is a good one, but they are not that keen on walking around looking like a gnome with a knapsack.
“Come on, we don’t have much time left to be picky,” she expresses to pull them out of their hesitation, “Tie the bundle to the broom, and you will be able to carry it a bit easier.”
Because the humming is getting louder and more intense, they decide not to waste any more of their valuable time on arguing appearances. Martine and Monique do as instructed, and the three are now finally off to the exit of the hotel. Once in the lobby, Monique stalls; she is overthinking something and then set off towards the kitchen. Startled by this unexpected twist, the others follow her as well.
“Are you searching for some food to take along with us?” Eileen asks. “If we wait any longer, we don’t have to cook it anymore; we will be just as roasted then.”
Monique doesn’t take any notice of Eileen’s comment and searches through several drawers.
“Hah! Got it!” She finally expresses while proudly showing some kitchen knives, “come, let’s go now.” Quickly she wraps the knives in some towels and puts them in her knapsack.
They don’t have any time to waste, and as fast as possible, they run away from the hotel, and deeper into the forest. All the people are already gone, and for one last time, they stand still and look at the burning city behind them.
That thing…. that strange, alien-like machine is moving, chasing the crowd, taking the hellish, humming sound with it.
“That machine needs some oil and serious maintenance,” Martine sighs, “the headache is unbearable.”
“We need to get off this road,” Eileen interrupts and points out to the east where a small off-road path is barely visible. They decide not to tempt fate much longer in discussing and haste themselves onto the path Eileen pointed out. The overgrown undergrowth soon makes running out of the question, and the three struggle to make their way out of the direction of that alien-like machine and the death and destruction it spreads.
After two hours of struggling through the bushes, they arrive at the edge of the mountains with a flowing stream, more like a lovely small, clear river; they take a short break. The humming sound is milder now, which makes them assume it is at a far distance from them and that they will be safe. At least for now. With the first rush of adrenaline gone, fear and pain finally sink in. Martine takes a piece of cloth out of her knapsack and starts cleaning some of the cuts and bruises caused by thorns and branches.
“The best thing to do now is to clean our wounds; if they start to infect, we will have a serious problem,” she explains.
“Like we already don’t have serious problems,” mumbles Monique, “we are stuck here, miles away from any possibility of getting home. We don’t even know what that thing already blew up. Who knows if the airport still stands or is completely ruined first thing.”
“Like hell, you are not getting me on a plane!” Eileen expresses, “not with that thing shooting around like that.”
“We will not give up right now already,” Martine reminds the others to calm them down, “We will find a good place to rest and stay for the night, prepare some food, and make plans to get home. Because we will get home!”
They all grab their stuff to continue their walk, but as soon as Eileen takes one step, she collapses in pain.
“Aaaah!” Eileen screams in pain and instantly grabs her foot. Automatically she wants to untie her shoe to take it off her foot.
“NO!” Monique yells to her, “the moment you take it off, your foot will swell, and you won't be able to get it on again.”
“But what can we do?” Martine asks, “we have to do something; she can’t continue like this.”
“The foot, shoe and all must be cooled in cold water. To prevent swelling,” Monique explains to them.
All three of them look at each other without speaking at all; they know what that means.
“I will gather some wood for the bonfire to keep us warm during the night and prepare us some food.” Martine puts down her knapsack and walks back into the forest.
Eileen, in the meanwhile, does what Monique has told her she should do and finds herself a nice rock to sit on while putting her foot in the cold water. Monique inspects the rocks of the mountain to ensure their resting place is safe and no boulders come crashing down. Fleeing from that alien-like machine is already stressful enough; they don’t want to add worrying about falling rocks on their head to that.
When they are done gathering wood, and preparing their campsite, Monique and Martine sit next to Eileen on some rocks at the side of the river.
“How does it feel now?” Monique asks her.
“Better, but then again, I am not standing or walking on it now,” Eileen answers.
“I will make some food,” Martine says while getting up and walking towards the bonfire, “I took some with us from the hotel.”
“What's up?” Monique now asks when they are alone.
“I am scared,” Eileen hesitates to admit, “with this injury, I will only slow you down, and…...”
“Just stop it!” Monique interrupts, “we won’t leave you behind if that’s what you are afraid of.”
“T-that’s what you s-say now, b-but when y-you two have to s-start running b-because of that t-thing….” stutters Eileen in fear.
Monique is silently pondering; Eileen is right, that thing! What IS that thing by the way? Monique gets up and goes to her knapsack, from it, carefully sealed in a plastic bag, she grabs her phone. Martine sees it and comes to her, even Eileen stumbles to them and the warm burning fire.
Monique is looking for something on her phone.
“Do you have network coverage? Can you make a phone call?” Martine asks hopefully.
“No, no coverage,” Monique answers, “no internet either, but that is not strange considering the fact that we are literally in the middle of nowhere and also the car wouldn’t start anymore in close range of that thing.”
“What good is it then?” Eileen asks discouraged.
“Before going on holiday, I downloaded some maps. For walks, visits, and that kind of stuff. In case we would be stuck and get lost without any internet,” Monique answers while still searching on her phone.
The others gather closer around her to be able to have a look at her phone as well.
“See, here is our hotel,” Monique now points out on a small map, “and all the way here… is some kind of secret military base.”
“So, you don’t think it is alien at all? You think the military is attacking its own civilians?”
“They tested the nuclear attacks in the desert as well to see the effects on the infrastructure,” Monique reacts. “But no, that was not what I meant. Alien or non-alien, one thing is for sure; that is a military base, and whatever this thing is, that most likely is his direction. So, I suggested we go the opposite way.”
“Sounds logical,” Martine admits, “so what is the plan?”
“I suggest we follow this river, all the way here, to the harbour. As Eileen said, flying is no option. So, we must sail our way home.”
While Martine and Monique are still busy arguing whether the machine is alien or military, Eileen is completely drawn into her thoughts. As the newest department member, and especially now as the injured one, she is worried. Such a long hike, and with the current state of her foot, she fears what the others would do whenever that machine comes after them. Also, the food they grabbed just quickly; how long before they run out of it? And water? River water isn’t good enough for drinking, so how will they get it? And not to mention, IF they manage to get to the port, and there still is a boat they can use, how safe would they really be? A journey of 12 hours, locked up with nowhere to hide. If that thing follows them…… they will be dead anyways.
All these thoughts haunt Eileen and make sure she turns pale; Martine is the first to notice it.
“Are you ok? What is going on?”
When Eileen realises, they are both looking at her, pale doesn’t even come close to describing how she looks.
“I… Uhm… I..” Eileen stutters because of this unexpected attention, “yes, Uhm, I am doing a bit better now.”
Afraid of their reactions, and with primal survival instinct, Eileen decided to ignore the pain in her foot and push herself beyond any limit to get out of this alive. Shrugging her shoulders, Martine divides the prepared food, and in silence, the three women eat.
The remaining night, they try to get some rest in preparation for the upcoming journey.
In the middle of the night, Martine wakes up because of a persistent, annoying humming feeling in her head. Drowsed, she tries to orient, but the instant she hears the ominous hum again, she instantly gets on her feet.
“It is coming!!” she screams in fear.
Instantly Monique and Eileen wake up and are on their feet as well.
“Quick! Gather our stuff; we must leave now!”
Within a split second, everything is packed again, and everyone is ready to leave. They try to locate the machine, so they know in which direction not to go.
“Let us just follow the river downstream,” Eileen suggests, “we wanted to go to the coast anyway.”
“True,” Monique replies.
“And as long as the water stays clear, we can clean our injuries without too many possibilities for any infections,” Martine adds.
“Clean?” Monique sarcastically asks, “that will be a matter of opinion if you ask me.”
Suddenly alarmed by an explosion, the three women start running. Because of the adrenaline and a bit due to the recent rest, Eileen manages to keep up with them. But over time, it becomes more complex, following the river is less accessible than expected, struggling their way through all those bushes. And after just 2 hours, they are already exhausted.
“This isn’t working at all,” Monique gasps for breath, “we need to find an easier route.”
“Maybe we should go through the water,” Eileen suggests.
“Bad idea. First, we don’t know how deep the river is. Second, do you have any idea how bad that would be for our feet? Injuries and infections come way easier then.”
“We need to walk closer to the river, partially in the water and partially on the surface,” Martine decides.
They gather all their courage and struggle through the vegetation to reach the river's edge. Monique noticed that Eileen is limping a bit.
“How are you holding on Eileen?” she asks.
“Huh? Uhm. I am managing, just as long as we don’t stand still too many times,” she answers.
Half onshore and half in the water, they continue their journey. After a while, Monique notices the humming stopped.
“Finally,” she sighs, “I can hear myself think again.”
“What do you mean?” Martine asks her.
“The humming, it finally stopped.”
“Then let us use this moment to increase our distance so that we won't be caught in surprise again.”
But after just a few more steps, the three women stop anyways. All three are staring in front of them without saying a word. In front of them, through the trees and above the river, they witness the most extraordinary, breathtaking sunrise they could impossibly imagine.
“Wow…” Eileen is only capable of expressing…
“Indeed…” she hears softly next to her.
“I wouldn’t have wa….” Eileen stops talking, which causes the other two to look at her with expectation. “Never mind,” she states, “just let’s move on; the longer I keep standing still, the lesser my adrenaline will be.”
And without speaking at all, the three of them move on. It walks just a bit easier, but only after just half a day, they are already completely exhausted. And they know they have to decide to have a break.
“Put that foot in the cold water again,” Martine tells Eileen.
“You know what that means?” Monique asks after Eileen finds a nice rock again to sit on and does as been told, “we have to stay here quite a long time now; she can’t walk with a wet foot. That will make things worse.”
“We must figure something out we can do about that foot. Can we wrap it in cloths very tight after the cooling down?”
“Might work…” Monique thinks out loud, “Eileen! Wait!”
Eileen is looking towards Monique with a questionable look.
“Take off your shoe,” Monique explains.
Eileen hesitates. Didn’t she tell her last night that she won't be able to get it back on if she did?
“You must sit here on this lower rock, that way, you are closer to the water. Put off your shoe and cool your foot; after that, we clean it, make it dry and wrap it tightly in a cloth before putting your shoe back on,” Monique explains while coming in her direction.
Eileen still hesitates; it sounds logical and helpful, but what if it fails?
And as if Martine can read her mind, she explains, “we won't leave you behind. We will find another way to get you with us if it fails.”
“Here, bite on this while you take off your shoe,” Martine says while handing her a piece of cloth.
This time it is Monique’s turn to gather some wood. While doing that, she is giving herself a hard time for not bringing a pot so that they could boil some water. The knives are helpful, they can cut their way through some heavily overgrown paths and cut some clothes into useful bandages, but a pot or pan could have helped them as well. What if……
Now she shakes her head, shrugs it off and continues with her search for some wood for the fire. No what if’s, they will get out of here.
Once back, and with the fire peacefully burning, Monique joins the other two.
“And? How does it look?” she asks.
“There are no cuts or bleeding injuries, so we are safe there,” Martine answers.
“And how do you feel?” Monique now asks Eileen.
“It feels so much better with my shoe off,” she admits, “but are we sure we will get it back on.”
“Are we sure about anything at all right now?” Martine redirects.
“True,” Monique says, while in her mind trying to plan their journey. She grabs her phone again, which luckily still has some power left, and studies the map again. “I think we should be somewhere around here. So, if we manage to walk later today this last piece, we won't have to spend another night out in the open anymore and reach this town before night falls.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Martine says. “Let us dry your foot and wrap it up. Only after that do we know where we stand and what will be reachable for us.”
Martine takes gentle care of Eileen’s foot and makes sure it ends up nicely wrapped back in her shoe.
“How does it feel?” she asks.
“Tight, but kind of better. It still hurts, obviously, but I think I can manage to walk a bit further,” Eileen answers.
The three now gather around the fire, where Monique, in the meantime, prepared something to eat. Each is drawn in their thoughts, eating and resting, and no one is sure if they ever manage to get back home again. After a few hours of rest, and when the fire slowly dies out, Martine and Monique get up and gather all the stuff and divide it over their two knapsacks.
“We carry the stuff; you just carry yourself,” Monique explains to Eileen after seeing her questionable look. “Ow and use this broomstick as some kind of cane.” Monique hands over the broomstick once used for Eileen’s knapsack.
With the help of this ‘cane’, Eileen gets back on her feet and slowly moves forward. The pain almost seems unbearable, but determination makes her push her boundaries.
“And?” Monique asks after observing.
Still, with a fear of being left behind otherwise, Eileen puts on a brave face and says, “Much better now, thanks.”
And with the sun high in the sky, the three women continue their journey, while the heat isn’t making it any easier for them. They know that following the river is easier for them to orient their way to the coast, but at this moment, they wished they could walk in the shade of the trees. Gasping for breath, Monique now holds and is staring downstream.
“I think that down there, around that corner, we should rest in the shade. We need some break or something.”
“Agreed,” Martine replies and looks in Eileen’s direction to see how she is doing. Eileen nods confirming, using her energy solely to keep her going and bite through the pain. They walk further, and just around the corner, they see a little beach ahead of them. Also, it seems that they are out of the woods, and the town they are heading to is already in front of them.
Monique is out of breath, “can we rest here on the beach?” she asks. Eileen is looking hopeful, she can’t take any step as well, but Martine tells them to keep going.
“I know it is hard, but I think we should also cover that last part now. We will find the harbour and look for a boat to take us out of here. The longer we wait, the less chance there is to find us a boat.”
Both nods agreeing, so they use every last bit of strength and energy to keep going. And even now, they walk on the asphalt; their walking pace is languid. When finally reaching port, they see that the last departing boat is already preparing to leave. The staff luckily notices the three worn-out women, and while waving to them, two men walk in their direction to help them out. When they reach them, they instantly help Eileen with walking.
“You three are just in time,” one of the men tells them. “This is the last boat leaving. And the airport has been destroyed, so you would have been stuck here otherwise.”
Martine is giving Monique a quick look.
“What IS that thing?” Monique asks them.
The two men are looking at each other, not sure what to say.
“What is wrong?” Martine now asks. “We have seen it, three-legged, shooting a laser beam to destroy everything in its path.”
“We don’t know. Even for us locals, it is not sure what kind of secret projects are done on that base,” one of the men explains.
“The military staff also never visit this town either; they are flown in, so we never see them,” the other man adds.
“So, according to you, this thing is men-made, like a test or something?” Martine asks surprised.
Just in front of the ship, they stopped. The two men hand Eileen over to the already waiting medical staff.
“It is not alien if that is what you are thinking,” one man finally says before the two walk away.
Due to the medical attendance they need, on board the ship, the three are brought to a small cabin. Once on the bed, Eileen is told to take off her shoe. The medical staff sedated her a bit before they decided to cut off the bandages Martine put on it. While holding their breaths, they all monitor every move the medical staff makes.
“Well, luckily, no external injuries,” the doctor formulates to ease all of them. We will take care of your foot, and when we reach the mainland, you will be taken to the hospital for x-rays.”
Relieved, they all breathe again and nod. Eileen is even happier; the sedation does an excellent job, the shoes are off, and they are safely on their way home now. And it won't take long before Eileen dowses off and falls asleep.
After the doctor finishes taking care of all their cuts, scrapes and bruises, he leaves them alone to rest.
Monique first looks at Eileen and then at Martine, “are you thinking this was an alien attack?” she asks.
“It is unbelievable that the government is behind all of this, shooting and destroying their citizens. And not to mention, their tourists,” Martine speaks out her thoughts. “If so, no tourist would ever show up here anymore.”
“Given their reaction, this wasn’t the first attack they have seen.”
“Alien or not, it all doesn't make any sense!” Martine says.
Monique ponders this situation out loud, “so what if tourists never get off this island after such an attack?
That would explain why you can’t find anything about this.”
“But we are evacuated now… And Eileen, her injuries… Why go through all this trouble?”
“True...” Monique replies, and while pondering about this situation, the conversation dies.
Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, the sound of ominous humming is back. Louder and more intense than before. Instantly Martine and Monique grab hold of their heads; the pain is unbearable.
“We need to get out of here!” Martine yells.
“Eileen! Wake up!” Monique yells while trying to shake Eileen to wake up.
“It is the sedation; she is completely knocked out,” Martine explains.
“Now what? We can't leave her behind.”
“We need to get her up and try to carry her outside.”
The two of them carry Eileen to get her to wake up. Half drowsy and half asleep, they get some movement in her.
“Where do we go to? We are trapped here on this ship,” Monique asks in a panic.
“We need to find a lifeboat; get off this ship,” Martine says while trying to stay calm.
Struggling and carrying Eileen, they try to get to the ship's deck. Almost there, Monique realises they left their stuff in the cabin.
“I need to go back and grab our stuff,” she says while letting go of Eileen.
“Leave it behind; we don’t have time for that nonsense.”
“But... my e-reader… and phone.. and..” Monique is in doubt about what to do.
Then a brutal explosion occurs, pulling Monique out of her inner conflict. She grabs hold of Eileen, and they rush their way on deck. Once there, they see their ship is getting attacked by this thing. The humming is deafening and awakens Eileen as well. Not clear-minded, but at least awake.
Next to the ship, Martine notices a little boat. The guy sailing it is waving to them.
“We need to jump!” Martine states.
Not sure what to do, they climb over the railing. At the last moment of doubt, the spaceship shoots off another laser beam at the ship, causing an explosion. They instantly jump off the ship into the water. The mysterious guy with the speedboat is heading in their direction to pull them out again. The moment they are safely on board, the guy sets full speed as far away as possible from this nightmare.
Martine, Monique, and Eileen, each in their own mind, behold the scene in front of them. They see this spaceship fire another laser beam while the ship is already on fire. A lot is going through their minds about what they see and what they should believe. And thus, while in shock, none speaks the entire way home. The following day, against all expectations, they reached the mainland safely. And still, without saying any words to each other, they board a train and head back home.
Once finally home, Monique goes straight to her room and crashes down on her bed. Still, in shock of the things she and the others endured during their holiday, she falls asleep. When her mum comes home from work, she notices the return of her daughter, and excitedly she bursts into her room…….
.....
“What the hell is going on here?” a voice asks, agitated.
Startled and awakened by this overwhelming shouting, Eileen, Martine, and Monique look at each other and then, together, they stare at their colleague standing at the door.
“Whenever the ladies are awake enough, can any of you please call the customer care department? She has been trying to reach you for the past 30 minutes or so. Seems a bit urgent….”
She has one last look at the three awakening women. Shrug her shoulders and leaves the door open, she returns to her office.
Overwhelmed and baffled, they shrug their shoulders and continue their work. Martine grabs her stuff and says her goodbyes.
“See you girls on Monday, have a nice weekend!.”
With a sigh, Monique grabs the phone and dials the customer care number.
***
At a significant distance of 400 kilometres, hovering above the earth, a machine is turned off, a white beam of light disappears into nothing and the humming sound fades away.
“The test results will be back within the hour.”
“Excellent.”
“Those earthlings don’t know what's hanging over their heads.”
“Indeed, and once asleep, there will be no escaping our destruction.”
©O.V. de Groot, 30 October2022
Add comment
Comments