David and Sarah waited for the ambulance to arrive. A few police cars came and gave Sarah a ride home. David was quite shaken up by this, as he arrived at home. His mother hadn’t even noticed him leave, thankfully. She would be frantic had she known what was going on.
He could not have imagined what the officer had seen. Perhaps the officer was delusional. David tried to rationalize that the officer was in a lot of pain, and might not have been seeing things clearly. Yet, there were other things that continued to trouble him. What exactly did Jason see that freaked him out? Even though he didn’t want to believe it, he was thinking that Sarah might be on to something with her research.
David didn’t sleep well and woke up the next morning tired. He walked over to Sarah’s, and they walked to the store together to grab some candy bars and soda. David could tell that Sarah didn’t sleep very well, and neither of them were concerned about eating a healthy breakfast. The day was overcast, yet dry. It almost seemed as if it had been gloomier out since the day of the first murder, with an exception of a day here and there.
They arrived at the hospital a little before noon and went to see Jason. David hated entering the hospital. It always seemed to have a depressing atmosphere. Perhaps he felt this way after watching his sister pass away in the hospital. The hospital seemed rather quiet when they entered, with a visitor here and there. Their footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, as they moved toward the elevator. Being that Carthage was a relatively small town, the hospital was also small. For more serious issues, people were often sent out of town.
Jason appeared to be in better condition, and was glad to see them. Even though Jason wasn’t a close friend, they always got along with him. With his calm blue eyes and neatly combed sandy blonde hair, it was hard to imagine him being the same kid that had just ran down the hall yelling. He was a long and lanky kid with his head always leaned forward, which David thought was from having to duck under things all the time.
His brother Jevon was also present. Unlike Jason, Jevon didn’t receive the height gene, yet still had the same eye and hair traits. He wore thick glasses giving him the appearance of someone who is dedicated to gaining knowledge. David had heard he was good with computers and continually received straight “As” in all his classes except for gym.
“Hey guys, you are the first fellow students to visit me, not that I expected anyone.” Jason said with a hint of self-pity. Sarah understood why he felt that way, as he probably felt embarrassed from the incident and expected people to avoid him.
“Hey Jason,” David said as he entered. “How long do they have you in here?”
“I hope for only the weekend, this place stinks. I’m sorry for that display in the hallway.”
“Don’t apologize,” Sarah said. “There has been some strange activity going on in this town lately.” She then told him about the incident the night before and what the police officer said.
Jason took interest and responded, “Yes, that’s why I freaked out like I did. I saw one too, right in the school hallway.” He seemed relieved yet troubled that others had now seen something similar, so he figured he could tell his story.
David and Sarah looked at each other and sat down. Sarah was extremely interested and said, “Tell us about it.”
Jason looked around as to make sure no one was listening except for the two of them and his brother Jevon. Sarah and David leaned closer to listen. “I was walking down the hall in school; the hall was empty. I was looking up as I was walking, and then I looked to the side of me to look in a classroom. No more than two seconds later, I looked in front of me again and there was a man standing in front of me.” Both David and Sarah could sense the fear in Jason’s voice.
He continued: “I didn’t recognize him, but he called me by name. I swear that he suddenly just appeared. There is no way that he could have run up that quickly. At first, he appeared to be a businessman in a black suit with slicked back black hair. His dark eyes sent shivers through me; I’ll never forget it.”
“What did he say to you?” Sarah asked.
“Here is what he said,” and he deepened his voice to mimic the man he had met, “‘Jason, you know much and are knowledgeable, I want you to come with us.’”
“I, of course asked him who he was. Then he said, ‘You know us, for you and your brother have read about us.’”
“At that time I said, ‘I don’t want to go with you.’ He became angry and right before my eyes he transformed; growing scales on his neck…kind of half-human/half-lizard. He became taller. Just then the bell rang and he looked around, whispered something and then vanished.” Jason looked up hoping to meet believing eyes.
David and Sarah were stunned. They could tell that Jason was telling the truth, or what he interpreted as the truth. “So, what do you make of it?” Sarah asked.
“I’m not exactly sure, my brother and I have done a lot of research into UFOlogy, ancient mysteries, and alternative history, and things like that. It could be a number of things. Some believe there is a race of reptilians that control our planet. If anything, this creature had a description of that which is similar to which I have read. They appear to be inter-dimensional in which they can disappear and reappear.”
“I don’t see how that is possible, they can’t just disappear.” David chimed in.
It was then that Jevon entered the conversation. “They have the power to switch dimensions. Think of dimensions in terms of frequencies. You can tune into a radio station, any that are in the frequency range, but you can only tune to one at a time, but the others are still there. These beings seem to be inter-dimensional.”
“How would we defeat something like this?” Sarah asked with a hint of nervousness.
“Good question. There must be a way. There must be some that either are not so malevolent, or a different type of inter-dimensional being on our side. There is definitely evidence of good and evil powers in this world, so I believe there is hope.” Jason stated.
“What about God?” David put in.
“You mean the all-powerful God of the Bible?” Jevon asked with a sneer.
“Yes.”
Jevon chuckled, “You sound like every other person in this area. Well, I don’t believe that God can be all-powerful and all good. If that were the case, there wouldn’t be three-year-olds starving to death in Africa would there be?”
“This world is plagued with sin which brings death. In Africa, they practice the worship of other gods.”
“How do you know that? Have you been to Africa? Christianity is everywhere. I have even talked to Christians online from that area, and they too have trouble feeding other believers. Starvation is a fact of life that an all-powerful God can do something about.”
Sarah then spoke, “besides, I pray to Pagan Gods and Goddesses, and I’m not starving. Of course, I don’t blame divine beings for the starvation in the world. I blame human greed. There are enough resources on this planet to feed everyone, but greed prevents that from happening.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I was out of line saying that, anyhow, we need to figure out what is really going on around here. A police officer saw it, Jason saw it, and I would really like to talk to that police officer,” David replied.
Just then, something caught Jevon’s attention on a nearby TV, and he turned it up so he could hear.
A local news reporter was on. “Today, a police officer by the name of Chuck Richardson has been pronounced dead after being viciously assaulted and injured. The attacker has not yet been identified. Due to Chuck’s serious injuries, he was not able to give a description of his attacker. Many believe this is connected with the brutal murder of police officer Ryan O’Connor that took place at 8:45 PM last night. It has been a dreadful spring in our usually peaceful town of Carthage.”
“As of now, there appears to be no connection between the student murders and the attacks on the officers last night. Before the incident Officer Richardson and O’Connor where searching for a stolen car. The stolen car was found parked in front of the officers’ vehicle where they found Richardson in critical condition. We now go to Rosie live who is with Sheriff Gerald Knox. What does the Sheriff have to say about the situation Rosie?”
“Well folks,” Rosie appeared on the screen as she started talking. “I have Sheriff Knox with me to share some thoughts with us. It’s been a sad day Sheriff.”
“Indeed it has,” the Sheriff responded; his voice grim. “A very sad day it is when two exceptionally wonderful men are savagely murdered.” The anger in his tone was obvious, along with the grief that filled his dark eyes. His dark brown hair appeared to be uncombed, and stress lines crisscrossed his forehead.
Rosie continued the discussion. “Are there any suspects?”
“Not as of yet. We are running into dead ends. In my thirty years with the force, I have seen more evil in the last few months than the rest of my entire career combined.” While he was attempting to appear strong, Sarah could detect a high sense of worry that was troubling him.
“I’m sure many out there would agree with you. Do you have any advice and recommendations for the community?” Rosie asked, as she struggled to get the words out.
“I certainly do. Don’t be walking around at night, these people are extremely dangerous. Keep your doors locked, and do not allow strangers into your house. In fact, as strange as it sounds beware of letting anyone, even those you know, into your house after dark. That is when all the murders have taken place so far. And heck, get a license and purchase a gun for the protection of you and your family.”
“There you have it folks. I suggest you take his advice and be safe. Now back to you Charlie.”
Other news came on so Jevon turned the TV back down. The four of them sat together silent for many moments. Finally. Sarah spoke up, “I think we should go to the police.”
Jevon wasn’t so certain. “Why? So you two can be stuck here with Jason? I do not believe that’s a good idea.”
“Maybe they will listen now that two cops were murdered.” Sarah retorted, there wasn’t as much hope in her voice as she intended. She wished Cocky Cook wasn’t the one on the case. Jevon was right, with him running things she would likely wind up in the same boat as Jason.
“Nonsense, they only listen to what they see as logical.”
“Well, I have to go down and make up a report sometime today, they are expecting me anyways.” She suddenly was not looking forward to this. She would probably be at the station for a while facing a couple of police officers that would ask her about every angle they could think of. Would she have to tell them how they were threatening her and David for snooping around? The police would not like that, especially if Cocky Cook was one of them. They would probably point out how irresponsible she was for walking around alone at night with everything that had been going on. Now that she thought about it, she was almost trying to justify not going. When the ambulance came to pick up Officer Richardson, they didn’t really ask her many questions, and didn’t even say anything about her having to make a report.
“I would still not mention anything about shape-shifters.” Jevon stated not realizing that Sarah’s thoughts had shifted.
“Well, I don’t know if I’m going to even go down since I don’t know if I want to face them; however, if I do have to go, I’ll just report what the dying cop said in a factual manner.” Sarah stated.
“OK, maybe that would be fine, but nothing more, especially about me. I was wondering though, do you two want any help trying to get to the bottom of this?” Jevon asked with a hopeful expression on his face.
“Sure, but we pretty much have to keep to ourselves,” David answered, glad that someone with brains was willing to help. Plus, three minds would be better than two.
“Oh, I’ll agree with that one.” Jevon said with a wry smirk.
With that, Sarah and David left the hospital wondering what their next move was going to be.
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