David sat in a heavily armed vehicle, staring at the metal wall lurching side to side as the vehicle turned. The heavily armed ADF agents surrounding him didn’t speak, their eyes studiously avoiding him. None could answer his questions. Finally after an eternity, the armored car came to a stop and the back doors were opened. David was ushered out surrounded on all sides by the beefy soldiers. He turned as he saw something drop from the undercarriage of the car. A squirrel that quickly ran off. How had it gotten stuck under there?

He was led down a hallway, and ushered into a cell in everything but name. There were two plush chairs and a coffee table, but no windows. “Hey, I need to speak to…”

The door shut and David could only growl in frustration and pace. How could they withhold information from him like this? Didn’t he deserve to know?

Another eternity or minutes later, the door opened again. There were no windows to mark the time, but David was exhausted and had to leave to pee twice. Whatever that meant for time. David saw the ADF agent he was hoping to see at the door. His voice tinged with desperation despite him trying to put it under control, “Agent Johan, is Alice safe? Is she okay?”

The agent stood there silently and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

David’s heart dropped. Then anger. “Sorry? Sorry?! That’s all you have to say to me? Where’s my daughter!”

The stony faced ADF agent gestured to the seats. “Why don’t you sit down. This won’t be easy to hear.”

David walked over and practically collapsed into the chair.

“First off, I’d like to say an assault of this magnitude is unprecedented. The president and our international council will be updated hourly on the situation until we determine it is resolved. Everything in this situation is beyond top secret. Before I begin, I want you to understand that you can’t tell anyone about this. Anyone.”

“Fine. Just Alice. Tell me she’s okay!”

“I’m going to try to tell you the facts as I know them. I… Despite everything it was our failure. We were infiltrated and our watchers were distracted or replaced simultaneously the night you were attacked. An alien was in town and approached your daughter simultaneously with the attack on you while we were blind . We were suspicious and thought we had found its identity over a month ago, but didn’t act because we weren’t sure. We should have acted sooner.”

The agent looked genuinely remorseful and sighed as he leaned back in the chair. David couldn’t interrupt. But he dreaded the man’s next words.

"She ran into the woods with the Hanover family. According to their account, she knew it was after her and split intentionally with them so they could escape. The alien went after her… We didn’t find a body, so there is still hope. But even in the worst case scenario there wouldn’t be one anyway. We may never know what really happened.”

David clenched his fists. “You knew? Who was it? Who was the alien imposter?”

“Ted Taylor. We think he was replaced sometime after he first recognized Alice’s connection to Harmony.”

“Ted Taylor.”

David suddenly felt his blood pressure rise. “Ted. Fucking. Taylor. Was an alien. And no one noticed. The man who was creeping on my daughter? Who’s son attacked Alice? That Ted Taylor? What the hell are you even for if you let THIS happen!”

“There was a third party, maybe more, at the scene that held off…”

“I was being attacked, and I had to CALL before you knew. How is that not absolute fucking INCOMPETENCE in any world? You… This is. Alice was right. You didn’t care about us. You LET that thing attack her, just so you would have a chance to catch it. You dangled us out like bait! Nothing else explains it. You KNEW and didn’t do anything. You let her DIE!”

“David, calm down. I assure you your safety is our top…”

“How about my DAUGHTER’s safety? How SAFE is she?”

David was standing now, not sure when it had happened. Agent Johan looked remorseful, but David couldn’t tell if it was a facade now. That was what bothered him the most. How could he tell what was real here? Alice had been suspicious of the ADF from the start. David should have listened to her more. Now…

Agent Johan stood as his phone buzzed. “I’m truly sorry for your loss. I’ll arrange for a meeting with the Hanovers. They can give you a direct account of what happened. Just know we are doing everything in our power to bring your attackers and this alien threat to justice.”

With that, the man stood and left without another word. David gaped at the audacity. The fucking audacity of him to just leave. Deliver the news, then just leave without David able to give his full response. Coward. That’s what he was. He didn’t want to deal with David’s righteous anger. He felt guilty, but not enough to face the full consequences.

Time slipped and stuttered and David went in a daze. How was this happening, why did this happen, Alice was alive, she was dead. All a blur as his thoughts skipped and stuttered around in circles.

“Oh, David.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

He looked up to feel Mrs. Hanover’s hand rest gently on his shoulder. They were in the room with him somehow. He hadn’t noticed them enter. It was Mrs. and Mr. Hanover with Julia slumped behind them like a puppet with its strings cut.

“I’m so sorry. Alice was… Such a brave girl. She saved our lives from that thing. She died a hero.”

David’s throat constricted and his voice was heavy with emotion. “She… I don’t want another hero. I want her alive.”

He put his head in his hands and after a look between them, the other three took their own chairs and waited. Julia had a glassy eyed stare into the distance, not seeing her surroundings. They sat there for a while, David trying to control his emotions. After a minute or two, he composed himself and looked up puffy eyes.

“Tell me. How… What happened.”

Mr. Hanover spoke up, speaking gruffly but eyes still radiating sadness.

“When Ted… The alien came. I answered the door. He threw me to the ground, hurt my leg from his shove. But your Alice, she was ready for him. Pulled out a pistol and shot him down after he started making his threats. Just when I thought that we were goners, soldiers arrived and began attacking the thing. It went outside to fight them off, and I was alone in the side room. I could barely walk on my injured leg, and was still in too much shock to consider moving. But Alice just rushed in and helped me up. Helped me out to the back and led us into the woods. She saved my life.”

Mrs. Hanover spoke up. “She saved Tyler’s life. When the soldiers attacked, they threw a grenade in without a care for us. Alice leapt on top of Tyler, shielded him with her back. Made sure he was out and safe before rushing back for my husband before I could stop her. I left her to make sure Jake was safe first. I still feel ashamed of that. She kept us all alive.”

Julia spoke up in a quiet voice. “She saved us all. She knew I would try to stop her when she ran away. So she tricked me into supporting my dad’s weight before bolting off. She knew exactly what she was doing. Even apologized as she ran off.”

Silence. David processed it all. Then he let out a watery and bitter laugh. “I… I guess Mother like Daughter. Both heroes after all.”

Mrs. Hanover leaned forward and grabbed his hand and held it firmly. David tightened his grip as Mr. Hanover came over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while. In silence.

“She knew, you know,” Julia’s subdued voice broke the long silence.

The three adults looked at her. “That something was going to happen. I think Mr. Taylor must have told her something on Wednesday. He must have. I could tell she really wanted to have that sleepover for some reason. Why else did she bring that pistol in her backpack? I was so selfish. I thought she wanted to come over just because of… Something. But it was this. She didn’t want anything to happen to us. To me.”

She sniffled as David and her parents took stock. Mr. Hanover looked thoughtful. “She did have that pistol, didn’t she? I didn’t think about it afterward. But she’s underage, she can’t own a pistol like that. I never thought why she would have it on her. For a sleepover. And the alien mentioned some sort of deal and that you were getting attacked David.”

David looked around at the three who were nodding as they kept adding suspicious things about the situation. All suggesting that Alice had known.

“So the Alien was working with the people that attacked me? They were together?”

All three heads stopped mid discussion and snapped towards him. “You really were attacked? That wasn’t a lie?”

David nodded and told his version of events start to finish.

“Do you know who fought off the people outside?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Everything was strange though. The first man just started yelling and killed his friends. There was no warning. Just a cold tone one second screaming his head off and betraying them the next. And no one ever tried to directly help me even after everyone the attackers were all dead.”

He tried to hold back his bile as he thought back to the carnage he had seen when the ADF agents had finally arrived and escorted him the short distance between the armored truck and his house. He swallowed the faint taste of acid on his tongue.

Julia spoke up. “Do you think… Do… No it’s stupid.”

She shrunk inwards as the adults looked at her. Mrs. Hanover waved her to continue, and Julia’s voice strengthened for a moment.

“Do you think Alice did something? To protect you? Maybe that’s why she felt safe coming to protect us. She had someone protecting you. So she had to come and protect us since you were already safe.”

David sighed. “I just wish she had told me. If even half of this is true, then she was dealing with so much. On top of what already happened to her before. I could have helped her. Somehow.”

Julia said in a small voice, “Yeah. I wish she had told me something too. I could have gotten a gun too. Helped her somehow.”

David opened his mouth to agree when he paused and let out a sharp breath. “The ADF.”

Everyone looked at him. “She didn’t trust the ADF. They always monitor us, she couldn’t tell me or anyone no matter where we went. She might be heard, and the alien’s allies would have caught it.”

The Hanover’s looked startled. “Always? Anywhere? Is that legal?”

“No. Well it wasn’t a year ago," David said, "But it is now. The Treason to Earth Act lets them do almost anything they want to us since we are directly related to the aliens. Since Alice is. Was. A survivor of Harmony.”

He continued almost wistfully. “This is all the ADFs fault. Alice was right not to trust them. She was right, I should have learned from what happened to her mother. Trusted the government to keep her safe. Same old mistakes. Again and again.”

— — — O — o — O — — —

“Sir, is this wise? What if they find out about this, why not just have a standard interview? This is a serious invasion of their privacy.”

Agent Johan glanced at his subordinate as they watched to live feed of the conversation between David Lovelace and the Hanovers.

“Honey, not Vinegar, Agent. You heard the recording, he blames the ADF for all this. We can’t be sure he was telling the truth if we sat down immediately. Especially given the loss he is dealing with right now. He may even just withhold some information out of spite or fear. We can’t push him even the slightest bit now or he may collapse or explode emotionally. Better to put him with friends and see what we hear. And didn’t it work, Agent? I’ve heard some solid leads already. And finally, they have no privacy. Not until the alien threat is dealt with.”

The agent nodded reluctantly but still seemed uneasy at their actions. He unmuted the recording again and the two of them settled in to keep watch. Taking a note for every word for a clue. A clue for what else they were missing, to catch the next slip before it could happen.