I can hear them moving around. Their loud, deep voices penetrate my sensitive ears. There’s lots of commotion.

BANG!

DONG!

RIIIIIIING!

A constant storm of noise. At some point it stops, for about eight solid hours there is peace. It’s blissful and wonderful and makes me think I can come out. It takes about seven hours for me to gain the courage to walk to the door. A half hour to find the bravery to lay my hand on the doorknob. And another half hour for me to stand in the open doorway, debating whether I should go out.

But this time is different. I have an hour left until they wake up and I’m already at the doorway. My hearts pounds, trying to explode from my chest. Whoever they were could easily hurt me. I’d been trying escape from her for a long time and now suddenly they were trying to get in which was far more scary.

Swallowing, I step into the dark hallway. I’ve always found that strange. Who would work in the daylight? It was far too bright.

My rations were running low. I should grab some more before they begin again. I can do that within an hour, right?

Unless they start early.

A tremor of fear runs through me. I have to hurry. I jog down the silent, windy halls to where the food is kept. I hate how I can hear my footsteps. You never could before. Despair steals my breath and I stumble. The crash was not kind to anyone but me. It killed them all. But to be all alone and trapped? That might be worse. I envy the dead.

I pause and close my eyes, taking deep breaths until my lungs function normally, my hearts become steady, and the painful misery slinks away in my mind for a later time.

Before I can move though, there’s whirring. It’s loud—too loud. Too Loud. TOO LOUD!

I clamp my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut. The machine moves closer, the sound of moving earth under large tires reaches my ears through my fingers. How could it be so loud through the walls?

Pain runs rampage through my ears, tearing apart my eardrums and my back arches.

And then it. Stops.

The pain recedes slowly, leaving a dull ache in my ringing ears. And even more slowly, I remove my hands and open my eyes.

They are awake. They woke early. They are even louder. I need to go back.

I turn around and as I take my first step reality warps. The floor slides out from under me and I crash onto my hip, fire roaring through it. As if I’m going down a slide, I slip down the tilted floor and slam into the wall. I gasp, fighting to breath as the world tips harder as things fall and crash and the noise and pain magnify into insanity.

I can’t...I can’t...I can’t...

—

The door is open. The door is open! Jackson couldn’t believe they had gotten to this point. He could hardly believe that what they were seeing was a real UFO. Not that they called it that, because it was ‘unprofessional’. Seriously though, it was a UFO.

His heart lept as he shined his flashlight into the opening. Excitement and nervousness coursed through his veins. He was going to be one of the first people to set foot in there.

He adjusted his winter coat in anticipation, cursing the cold. If only it could have been found somewhere warm. He hated the cold.

A group of researchers had been studying penguins in Antartica when they stumbled upon a large chunk of metal protruding from the ice. After a little digging they realized it was no normal piece of metal. We were the ones that got called in. That excavated it from the ice and now we’re about to explore inside. Would there be real aliens inside?! The thought scared and excited him all at once. It was a weird feeling.

“Ready?” the team leader barked and at the team’s nod started in.

Jackson followed, trying to remain as professional as possible even if he was buzzing with curiosity.

They hadn’t been searching long before they the alein. He was unconscious and so it was easy to move. Easier to sedate. And even easier to begin dissecting. It wasn’t murder because he wasn’t human...right?