Jelly Cooper: Alien

The night is supremely knowledgeable. It knows your inner most fears, your worst nightmares and the things that wake you in the early hours of the morning leaving you bathed in a cold sweat, your heart thumping against your ribcage.

As I pound through the streets, I feel the full malevolence of the night closing in around me. The shadows lengthen and cling to every corner, shaping into hooded demons with gleaming eyes. His presence is all around. He owns the night.

I run, not knowing or caring where I’m headed, as long as it takes the Hunter far away from my friends. I catch the sound of echoing footsteps chasing after me and run harder.

The footsteps grow louder.

“Oh God,” I whimper, but this time it’s OK to be scared. This time acting tough isn’t going to save me, because evil is after me and there’s nothing I can do about it. Whimpering is about all I have left.

I race out of the village and down towards the sea. He gains on me with every step.

This can’t be happening.

The ground softens beneath my feet as I leave the pavement and plunge onto the sandy beach. My hair streams out behind me as the wind whistles past my ears.

I will my legs to pump harder and they respond, catapulting me along the sandy stretch, but the footfalls still gain. A harsh, dry, sob rises in my throat.

I can’t outrun him. I realise this with certainty and stop.

Something very hard and very big cannons into my back, knocking me clean off my feet. With a cry, I land hard on the sand. He lands on top of me.

I’m going to die.

I struggle when a strong hand clamps itself over my mouth.

“No, Jelly. Be still.”

That’s not Thorn. That’s Luke.

I stop squirming and let my body relax. This is another trick. Gregory Thorn has assumed the body of Luke to confuse me.

“Good,” Luke whispers. “Now, we don’t have much time. I’m going to take my hand away, so don’t scream, OK?”

Luke draws back his hand and climbs off me. I roll onto my back and glower at him.

It’s Luke. Luke. The guy I’ve adored in secret for months – not even telling Humphrey or Agatha. Thinking of them makes me want to cry. I snare my wobbly bottom lip between my teeth and bite down hard, tasting blood on my tongue.

“Jelly, for God’s sake, keep it together,” Luke whispers. “He’s coming for you, I can feel him. You have to control yourself, quickly, or he’ll be on us in seconds.”

Tears spike my lashes. “I don’t know what’s happening anymore,” I whisper.

Strong arms shake me.

“Shut up. If you don’t get a grip right now, we’re both dead and so are the others.”

“Too late,” I whisper. I can feel the Hunter’s presence. He’s reached the edge of the beach.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty.

Luke’ grip on my shoulders tightens.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Not on your life. I slam shut the trapdoor to my mind.

“C’mon,” I whisper into Luke’ shoulder. “Follow me, keep low, and keep quiet.”

With a hard shove, I push him off of me and roll free. Crouching low to the ground, I scuttle along the sandy beach into the shelter of the dunes. Glancing over my shoulder, I see that Luke is following.

Diving behind one of the larger dunes, I see a grassy ledge overhanging a ditch. I burrow into the sandy alcove and try to cloak myself in shadow. Luke lowers himself down beside me. “Someone is looking after us tonight.”

Frowning, I turn my attention to his face, trying hard to make out his features in the darkness.

“How do you figure that?”

“The moon. There’s a full moon tonight. We’re lucky that it clouded over, or he would have spotted us for sure. It’s been humid lately; maybe it’ll thunder. They hate the thunder.”

How does he know that?

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t trust you. I don’t trust you one bit.”

“Good. Think like that and you might live to see the sun rise tomorrow.”

The hairs on the back of my neck jump to salute.

Luke whispers, “We’ve got to –

I hold a finger to his lips.

“Sshhh. He’s close.”

He takes my hand and lowers it. I try to pull away, but Luke tightens his grip and gives my hand a squeeze.

We both still.

I’m sure that our heartbeats can be heard for miles. Each laboured breath screams out in the silence, guiding him to our hiding place.

With a burst of intuition, I know that he’s going to find us. Turning to Luke, I murmur,

“Don’t get the wrong idea, OK?”

Moving quickly, before I can change my mind, I roll on top of him.

“What the…?”

“Sshh. I’ve got a plan. Trust me.” I pause. “And whatever happens, don’t move. And don’t make a sound.”

I clear my mind of everything: every thought, every emotion, everything. I created a void inside and focus on the black emptiness.

She could project visions, like I did back there with you, Jelly, and she even turned invisible –

Thorn’s words come back to me; they flood my head. Words that I discarded without a second thought. Now I pray that he was telling the truth. I pray with all my heart.

I wish myself invisible. I harness all of my remaining energy and focus on the impossible.

Seeing as this is our only hope, it had better be possible.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly and silently.

I’m not here, I’m not here, I’m not here…

The thought revolves in my mind. All else is forgotten. Straight away, my limbs start to tingle.

I’m air, nothing but air, floating along the shoreline, showered by the salty sea-spray.

Feeling the Hunter’s arrival, I push myself and Luke deeper into the shelter of the dune. I can only cover a certain amount of him; the shadows will have to do the rest.

Luke feels the nearness of the Hunter. He sees me close my eyes and go into some sort of trance. Clammy sweat breaks out down his spine. Frozen, he prays that I know what I’m doing.

Luke looks at me and sees nothing but the starry sky. He can feel my weight on top of him and my breath against his face, only I’m not there. I don’t know how he remembers to keep still, but he does, and then some. Luke is statue still.

A movement catches his eye. Resisting the urge to turn his head, he lays motionless as a tall shadow passes along the ridge of the dune. A hissing noise reaches his ears; the sound of growing frustration as the Hunter searches for us.

Luke holds his breath and tightens his grip on my arms.

With sudden, unforeseen, speed, the Hunter turns and stares directly at us. A sensation like tiny needle-points pricking the skin sweeps across Luke. This is it, I hear him think. He’s found us. We’ll never outrun him. Not without a head start.

Luke’ mind is whirling. What if he can create a diversion? I might get away, get help.

Get away to where, Luke? Get help from who?

There’s no one here but us chickens.

The seconds stretch. Luke’ lungs strain with held breath. He starts to tremble.

Why doesn’t the Hunter kill us? He’s looking straight at us, surely he can see?

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

The Hunter hisses through his teeth.

‘Go away,’ I will him. ‘Just go away. There’s nothing here.’

Thorn curses once, harshly, and turns away. I clamp my hand over Luke’ mouth. His breath is hot and ragged against my skin and tremors course through his body.

“That was too close,” I whisper.

Luke doesn’t reply.

For endless minutes, we lie in silence. I gradually materialize, careful to shield my mind.

I look down at Luke, his body tense beneath me.

Beneath me.

Hello awkward moment. I roll off of him and sit by his side.

“We can’t stay here.”

He shakes his head, silent.

“You’re Kavalrion, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m something else.”

I falter.

“Javoria?”

He can’t be. I feel no connection with Luke at all. In fact, the only thing I feel around him is uneasy and confused.

Luke shakes his head and sighs, again.

“You know I’m not.” He runs his hand through his hair. “We don’t have the time for this now. You’re just going to have to trust me, OK?”

Our eyes lock.

Like I trusted you.

It’s what he’s thinking.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” I point a finger at him in the darkness. “I don’t trust you. You’re going to have to explain yourself. Let’s go.”

I hoist myself to my feet.

“You can’t go after them.”

Luke grabs me. I push at his chest.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper, furious.

Luke doesn’t budge. Maybe I should make him.

“You are not haring off to save your friends. There’s nothing you can do but put them in even greater danger than they’re already in.”

The almighty cheek of it!

“I might be their only hope for survival,” I say, hating him. “I got them into this nightmare. I’m responsible for all this.” I open my arms wide. “Me, no one else. I did this. I’ve got to stop him”.

Luke shakes his head.

“No, Jelly. He did this.” He tries to catch my eye. “Gregory Thorn is to blame for this, so don’t do the guilt thing. Please.”

I laugh. It’s a horrible sound.

“I suppose that if I hadn’t told anyone, confided in my friends about what was happening to me, then the Hunter would have chased them down and killed them anyway. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Well…”

“If I hadn’t been with them tonight, he would have gone out of his way to round them up anyway. Hmm?”

“erm, no…I mean, possibly…I don’t…”

“The fact of the matter is, Luke, you don’t know, do you?”

His shoulders slump.

“No, I don’t know that.”

The guilt is back, like a sledgehammer in the gut. The paralyzing fear that my friends are dead, I’m ignoring.

“That’s why I’m going back for them.”

Luke groans and massages the bridge of his nose.

“Where do you think the Hunter’s gone? He’s gone back to his house to wait for you, because he knows that’s where you’ll be heading.”

I am starting to really, really, dislike Luke.

“He’d be right! That’s exactly where I’m going. What’s the difference anyway?” I rant. “Fight and die here or fight and die there? At least with option two I can try and save them.”

Luke smiles and shakes his head. “You don’t know him. It won’t work like that, believe me Jel.”

That hurts. That hurts more than he could know.

“Humphrey calls me that” My eyes brim with tears. “He has been my closest friend for as long as I can remember and now he might die, because of me?” My jaw clenches, hard. “And Agatha, who is so special, dead because of me?” I shake my head. “I can’t live with that.”

“Look,” Luke tries to reason with me. “He won’t kill them as long as you’re alive. He needs them to get to you, so the longer you evade him, the better the chance of keeping your friends alive.”

He has got a point there. When I hesitate, Luke sees his chance and grabs it.

“I can help you beat him, but it has to be on our terms, not his.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Trust me, OK?”

I meet his eyes.

“OK. You had better know what you’re doing or I’ll kill you myself.”

Luke grins, evidently very relieved. He’d have to be to smile at a time like this.

“What now?”

Luke looks out to sea.

“Fly us to the Head.”