Tabloid
Issue #5
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Five
Scared Connections
Sitting at a table, Madeline, the King and Batboy listen to the aliens as they
try to explain everything. What appears to be the leader of the aliens is the
first to talk "As 95173589 told you, we created this planet and all the
inhabitants on it." He looks to her as she nods in agreement. The King and
Batboy just shake their heads in disgust. They still cannot believe they are not
real. He then continues "He also told you that we need your help." This is where
Madeline jumps in "Have you seen that thing? How am I supposed to help you
capture it?" The alien gestures like he is trying to calm her down. "I am
getting to that. Perhaps I am not the best to explain this. Let me bring in
another human who can explain this in words you can understand." Madeline looks
with a shocked look. Another human? She thought she was the first one to come
here. As she sits there and wonders who is coming out, she sees a human shadow
emerge from another room. She watches intently as a man steps into the room. He
has longer hair and is wearing sunglasses. She does not recognize him at all.
She was sure it was going to be someone famous like John Lennon or Colonel
Sanders. But instead this normal older man walks into the room. He smiles at her
and extends his arm "Hello, I am Dan Cooper but you may know me by my more
famous pseudo name, D.B. Cooper. Glad to make your acquaintance." She does not
know the face but she has heard the name. Where does she know that name? "You
may or may not know me. I stole a large amount of money and jumped off a plane
many years ago. At least I think it was many years ago, time is so strange in
this place." A light goes on in her head. She does remember him. She saw a rerun
of the old show, In Search Of and they talked about him. He smiles as he can
tell by her facial expression that she does recognize him. "Glad to know I am
famous. Well, I jumped out of the plane just like you heard. Only on the way
down, I was cut on a tree. My arm was bleeding pretty bad. When I hit the
ground, I landed in the shadow of a large tree and like you, I went right
through the shadows and ended up here." Madeline is excited to be talking to
another person who went through the same experience. "Did you also pass a
monster on the way?" she asks in an excited voice. DB laughs for a moment and
then says "You could say I passed a monster. Only he wasn't violent like yours
is. I passed what people on earth would call Bigfoot." This completely blows
Madeline's mind. Here is a guy claiming to be DB Cooper and he is telling her
that he fell through a shadow and landed in this world and Bigfoot then went to
his world in his place. That is so crazy that she finds it hard to believe,
except for the fact that her story is very similar. "But did Bigfoot go on a
killing spree and blame you for it?" Once again DB laughs as he runs his fingers
through his graying hair. "No, nothing like that. He just wanted to get away
from all the technology and live primitive. These aliens told me that aliens
have been doing this throughout history. They go someplace to get away from
everything and just live off the land. Sorta a getting back to their roots or
something. All I know is that I have been stranded here ever since." Madeline
then laughs. The whole thing is so preposterous that she just has to laugh. She
does not doubt it is true. This place has taught her that anything is possible.
But it is still so absurd. She starts to wonder how many other people are here
that were trapped. But she still has one big question. "Now that we have all
that figured out, how are we going to capture this thing? Unlike your Bigfoot,
this creature is not friendly." DB smiles and reaches down and pulls out what
looks like a pair of glowing handcuffs with a beam of light between them. "These
are like handcuffs, only they are unbreakable and will attach themselves to the
intended target." He hands them to her and she looks at them. They weigh almost
nothing. She tries to break them by stretching them but finds they are indeed
unbreakable. She then looks at the alien and asks "Exactly how do I get these on
the creature?" He comes over to her and takes the handcuffs. "All you need to do
is reach towards the alien with the unattached cuff and it will automatically
attach itself to the creature." She takes a step back and a shocked look comes
over her face. "What do you mean with the unattached cuff? Exactly what is the
other end attached to?" She knows the answer but hopes that she is wrong. The
alien is unsure of her raised voice and shocked look. He thought it was obvious
that the other end would be attached to her. "To you of course." he says as he
looks to her to see what kind of reaction she has. Emotions are something that
is not a major part of their culture, at least not anymore. Almost everyone is
devoid of most emotions, though he has seen a rise in emotions since Tabloid.
Some of the aliens have attached themselves to different characters in the world
and get excited by what happens in their lives. Madeline shrugs her shoulders
and says "I should have known that."
The first day of the trial is done and the police are escorting the doppelganger
to the holding cell. The creature realizes that while it will blow its cover, it
needs to break free. It has no idea how long it will be before it can get back
and the last thing it wants to do is be killed. So as they walk what they
believe is Madeline back towards the holding cell, the creature easily rips free
of the straightjacket. With one mighty strain, the creature is able to tear the
jacket down the middle. As the jacket falls to the floor, the creature turns to
the first officer and uses its claws to rip open his throat. The action is so
fast, he has not time to react. Before he knows it, his throat is slit wide open
and he is falling back while he instinctively clutches his throat in a vain
attempt to stop the bleeding. But it is too late as the blood is pouring from
the wound. He is gasping for air as he struggles to halt the bleeding. The other
officer turns to see what is happening, only to have the same fate befall him.
He too finds himself on the receiving end of razor sharp claws. He also has a
terminal slash across his throat and nothing he does can stop the gushing blood
from pouring out of the fresh wound. The other two officers immediately pull out
their guns and aim them at the doppelganger. Before they can pull the trigger,
the creature lets its real self be visible to the men. In an instant, the petite
girl turns into a large and vicious creature that looks like it stepped out of
the mind of a horror writer. They are stunned by the appearance of the creature
and that is all it needs. It takes the split second to tear the face mask off
and reveal its rows of razor sharp teeth. The officers proceed to empty their
bullets into the creature, but they soon find that they do harm the creature.
The bullets bounce off its tough hide and if anything, they only seem to enrage
the creature. But before they can do anything else, the creature pounces on one
of the officers and rips his throat open with its teeth. Like a well sharpened
knife, the teeth effortlessly rip through his flesh and soon he joins his fellow
officers on the floor dead. The last officer starts to run away from the
creature. While his mind tells him to stay and try to save his friends, his
instinct to survive takes over and he soon is running like crazy. But before he
can make any ground, the creature is upon him. Unlike his human form, the
creature was made for speed. It moves quickly and it only takes seconds for it
to pounce upon him and stick its claws into his back as it pulls him to the
ground. He falls to the ground with the weight of the creature on his back and
soon finds himself pinned by its weight. He struggles to get away but the deadly
claws soon find his throat and soon he is also among the dead. With the guards
all killed, the creature rises back to its feet and savors the moment. It looks
at the bodies of the dead police men and smiles.
The alien places the handcuff on Madeline. She looks at it as the other end
dangles from her arm. She is surprised how lightweight it is. It's fit snugly
around her wrist, yet it does not hurt like the metal ones on her planet do. She
tries to pull it off, but finds that it will not break. It is on securely. She
then looks at the alien and says "You will be here to stop the creature from
killing me." The alien points to the four aliens that are standing across from
the room with some serious firepower. "What happens if the creature pulls me to
Earth instead?" The alien looks over at the other aliens for a second and then
turns back to her. "That will not happen for two reasons. First the weight and
power of the alien is greater than yours, so it will pull you in the direction
it is traveling. Second, the creature wants to return to this world.
Instinctively it will come back here." Madeline feels relieved by this. But all
her questions are not answered yet. She has one more before she agrees to do
this. "Answer this, if the creature and I are both on this world, what happens
to me on my planet?" The alien looks at her with the same lack of emotion look
as he says "You will just cease to be." All of sudden, Madeline gets irate "What
do you mean I will cease to be?" The alien is confused. The concept is very easy
to understand. He does not know why she is so upset. "You will just be gone."
She looks at him and says "Do you mean gone as in no one knows where I am or do
you mean gone as in "It's A Wonderful Life" and not exist at all?" The alien is
really confused now. He has no idea what "It's A Wonderful Life" is. After he
stops to fully understand the meaning of what she said, he responds "You will
exist, but you will not be there. You would be...I think the term used on your
planet is missing person." Madeline breathes a sigh of relief. While she knows
there will be some serious explaining to do, she does want to go back to her
planet. She wants to see her family again. She wants to eventually reach her
goal of writing for the New York Times. She then breathes in a deep breath and
exhales. She looks over at The King as he gives her a big thumbs up. Batboy and
DB Cooper are also there to giver her support. "Let's do this." she says. The
alien hands her a knife. She looks at it and gulps. She hates the sight of
blood, especially hers. But she knows that it takes blood to make the
connection. That and shadows and there are ample shadows in the room. The
lighting is set so that there is a big shadow along the far wall. She slowly
walks towards the wall and looks at the big shadow. She thinks back to when she
was a little girl at school. There was a boy named Billy that used to tell the
other kids that if you stepped real hard on someone's shadow, you could hurt the
shadow and then they would have no shadow. He told them that if you lost your
shadow, you lost your soul and you would go to limbo for all eternity. He would
then run around the playground and try to stomp on all the girl's shadows, which
made them run away screaming. While his theory was seriously flawed, she cannot
help but think how shocked he would be to know that going into a shadow was
allot like going into limbo. A voice from behind her made her come out of her
daydream. "Is something wrong?" the King asks. He knows she is scared but he is
concerned there may be something else. She turns to him and says "Just thinking
about something that happened a long time ago. OK, wish me luck." With that she
makes a cut on her arm. She winces in pain and drops the knife. She then takes
her bloody hand and sticks it into the shadow. Just like before, her hand goes
into the shadow. Before she can pull it out, a powerful force pulls her into the
shadow. She screams as she is sucked into the shadow.
In the middle of the Dr. Frankenstein's demolished lab is a table. The table is
knocked over and there is a body laying beneath it. Part of the body is still
covered by a white sheet, but part of it is exposed. As the body lays there, a
red light starts flashing on the back neck of the body. As it beeps, the body
starts to stir. At first the fingers begin to move. The index finger is first to
move, followed by the middle finger. Soon the whole hand is moving as it balls
into a fist. The head then moves under the sheet. Next the legs start moving.
Soon the whole body is moving in a slow motion. Within seconds, the hands push
up the body. The legs pull in as they attempt to stand. Very slowly, very jerky,
the man lifts himself from the ground. As he strains to stand on both feet, the
sheet falls off his head, exposing his head, which looks allot like the monster
in old movies. It is the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein from the body parts
of dead people. He then pulls off the last of the sheet and shows his massive
frame. For a dead creature, he has a very muscular body and stands over seven
feet tall. As he looks around, he sees the lab has been destroyed. He feel the
pulsating light on his neck and reaches to pull it off. As he does, he brings
the flashing light to his face. He looks at it and it has what looks like a
compass that points north. He then says "Master. Trouble." With that he starts
walking north.
As Madeline disappears into the shadow, the rest of them stand there waiting.
The only one who leaves is DB Cooper. He takes advantage of the excitement to
slip out the back door. One of the aliens notices him leaving but he does not
pay heed. Knowing that Madeline will be here any moment with the creature is
enough to keep him focused on the task at hand. If they paid attention to DB
Cooper, they would have seen him sneak out of the building and head towards the
front gate. He jumps into a jeep that is sitting there and drives in haste
towards the main gate of the Area 51 complex. He puts the pedal all the way to
the floor and curses at the slow jeep. He looks back and forth as he rushes
towards the gate. When he finally gets to the main gate, he drives right through
it. while it is padlocked, the speed and force of the jeep busts the lock and
pushes the gates wide open. He rides out into the desert and screeches to a
halt. The jeep almost flips over as it skids to a halt. A cloud of dust and sand
fly up from the tires and he covers his face with a handkerchief to keep the
dust out of his face. After a good ten seconds, the dust clears up and he lifts
the handkerchief from his face. He looks at it and sees how much dust has
accumulated on it. He shakes it out and then turns his left hand so the face of
his watch is pointing upwards. "Home Base. This is DB. She has flown the coop,
over" He waits a second for a response. In a few seconds, a voice comes over the
watch. “We are aware of the situation and have things well in hand. Return to
home base immediately, over.” With that he starts the jeep back up and drives
off into the desert.
The all too familiar feeling comes over Madeline. The rush of speeding through
space and the ill feeling of knowing that creature is headed towards her. She is
scared that she will forget to toss the handcuff at it. She knows all she needs
to do is throw it towards the creature and it will automatically attach itself.
But what if she freezes up? The thought of being so connected to that creature
is enough to frighten her. Not only is the creature horrible to look at, she has
seen what it can do. She has seen the dead bodies that were mutilated by this
soulless monster. And she knows that while she longs to get home, there is a
good chance that she will lose her freedom. In the back of her mind, she has
thought about spending the rest of her life in prison or having to go undercover
and change her identity. But she has remained optimistic and hoped that the
aliens could fix all this damage. If they can create a whole world and populate
it with beings, why can't they fix things back home? There must be a way they
can clear her name and make things right again. But right now she has to
concentrate on the task at hand. Until they stop this creature, nothing can be
done. And who knows what this creature did this time. How many more people are
dead? She remembers that officer that assaulted her and shudders to think what
has become of him. As she is zooming through space, she sees something in the
distance. She holds on tightly to the handcuff and takes deep breaths. She knows
it is the creature but part of her wishes it wasn't. The mere blip in the
distance, against the black of space is getting closer. As it gets closer, it is
the creature. And even at the accelerated speed, she can see that smile. While
she is not sure if it always smiles like that, but it gives her a sick feeling
in her stomach. As it nears her, she closes her eyes and throws the handcuff
towards the creature. She then begins to pray. At first, she feels nothing. For
a split second, she wonders if she threw it in time. But she soon gets her
answer as the force of the creature moving in the opposite direction hits her.
The handcuff hits its limit and pulls her with a force that tears her from her
appointed destination and sends her reeling in the opposite direction. The fast
jolt sends a searing pain down her spine as her body is rattled. The creature
also feels the her pull and his momentum slows a bit. While he is still much
heavier and strong than her, the pull also affects him. He turns to look and
sees her being pulled along with no control. She sees him looking at her and is
scared. The power this creature must have to just be able to turn its head is
amazing to her. She knows the force of her movement was enough force to keep her
from moving her head, so this creature must have amazing strength, especially in
its neck muscles. The creature then turns and looks back forward. As Madeline
can see, they are nearing the end of the trip and hopefully the end of this
nightmare. The familiar light is up ahead and they are headed right at it. She
tries to smile as she thinks about the surprise she has for the creature on the
other side of that light. Little does he know that there are aliens with guns
ready to take him out. She will finally be rid of this creature, once and for
all. They near the light and in a blink of an eye, they are through it. And once
again, Madeline hits the ground and tumbles from the force of the momentum.
After she tumbles a few times, she stops and struggles to her feet. Before she
can regain her footing, she is violently pulled forward. Like a rag doll, she is
pulled up and over. In an instant, she finds herself dangling in the air, a few
feet from the ground and looking into the face of the creature. It is smiling at
her with all its fearsome teeth showing. She wants to yell for them to shoot the
creature, but as she looks around she realizes that things did not go as
planned. Instead of the aliens with guns, she is looking at two very different
looking aliens. While they are very similar in looks, these have a very dark,
very sinister look to them. Also in this brightly lit room are the men in black.
All three of them are standing there with their pistols out and aimed right at
her. One of the aliens then comes over and looks at her. "Welcome Madeline,
we've been expecting you."
Tabloid © Tom Zjaba 1994 - 2007