• Dzama

Camping

“Jessica, wake up.” It must have been four in the morning. Jessica lay curled in a sleeping bag in a freezing tent. “They’re back.” It was Addie kneeling in front of her. She had a strange look of desperation. Jessica made herself unzip her sleeping bag and get her big parka on. Together they stepped out of the tent into the snow. About five yards away in the trees there were some tall, dark figures. Jessica and Addie walked toward them slowly. “They’ve come for you this time,” Addie said. “What? Why? Why me?” Jessica said, yet feeling fully awake despite the cold, early morning air.

“What, you think they’re here for me? Give me a break,” Addie said. The dark figures loomed ahead. The girls trudged through the snow, their shadows purple in the moonlight. Soon they stood before the dark silhouettes, two teenagers in PJs and winter parkas dwarfed by the towering behemoths.

The taller one scooped up both girls with a huge shovel. The girls hugged each other as he carried them, sitting on the edge of the shovel, back through the woods. A squat, rusty spaceship waited in a clearing. A large door swung open and the behemoth shoveled the girls into it.

The girls tumbled into the spaceship, landing on top of each other. Inside the floor was shiny and colorful glowing tubes ran everywhere. Just as they got to their feet they fell down again as the spaceship lurched into the air.

A strange alien with a huge head came towards them and bit Addie’s arm when she tried to get away. She punched him in one of his twenty or so eyes. This only made him come at her more viciously and soon the girls were in a full-fledged fight with the alien. They punched him repeatedly in the huge head and he threw them across the room. Jessica got the door open, and tops of trees could be seen far below. She shoved the alien towards the door but just as he slid out he grabbed Addie’s leg and they both went plummeting down.

Jessica shut the door and made her way through the candy-colored tube-forest to the cockpit. Their other friend Amy was at the controls but when she turned to Jessica her eyes had an otherworldly sparkle. She patted her round belly. “Hey Jess. I got a little alien right in here,” she said.

Jessica wrestled with Amy to commandeer the controls and finally was able to push Amy out of her seat. She then flew the spacecraft to a mountainous region where she discovered a military landing pad. After she landed it and stepped out she was surrounded by soldiers all aiming guns at her. “Stay back!” one of the soldiers ordered.

“You better watch out,” she said. “I think there are still some aliens in there.” And with that the ship took off, blasting the base with laser torpedoes. Most of the soldiers were blown into the air. There were explosions and a huge fire was started. Jessica made it out before they hit the munitions stores and blew the whole place sky-high.

She trudged back through the snowy woods until she finally found her tent. Addie lay inside, having survived the fall by landing on the alien. The two girls hugged and cried, eventually falling asleep in each other’s arms. They both dreamt the same strange dream of Amy giving birth to a half-human, big-headed alien. When they woke in the morning they didn’t talk about it. Instead they built a small campfire and brewed some coffee. They didn’t say a word as they drank it and stared off, through the trees.

Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

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