Prologue

Rebecca hated her job. She'd dreamed of working in New York, but yet she was still stuck in the same place. Several years ago, she thought that becoming a writer would be the best move for her. Big mistake. Considering she lived in the small town of Indian Springs, next to Death Valley, nothing ever really happened worth documenting, or not that she noticed anyway. It was just the same old news, nothing exciting like what happens in the rest of the world. Everyday she would search the internet, finding stories about alien invasions, meteorites crashing to earth, unexplained sightings of unusual military technology, and dreamt of something happening closer to home for her to see with her own eyes. Most of this research she shared with her classmates during collage earned her the nickname 'Freak' or 'Liar', much to her surprise. She couldn't understand it. It was as if everyone else was blind to what was happening in the world around them.

Rebecca left collage before completing her studies, after becoming overwhelmed by the amount of hatred she received off her peers for 'making up wild stories that weren't true'. Her parents weren't impressed, and after many nights of endless arguments about her education, they gave in, and suggested she go and work with her uncle until she could get herself a job. Rebecca loved Uncle Ian, as he was the only person who understood her.  He was the local mechanic, running a small workshop just on the outskirts of town. She enjoyed helping him, fetching him coffee, chatting about possible alien invasions and tidying up around the place. Anything was better than being back at collage.

One day, during the summer, her Uncle received a phone call from the other end of town, enquiring whether he knew about this damaged, abandoned, black vehicle that had just been dumped at the side of the road. He didn’t, but offered to come and tow it away seeing as it sounded like nobody wanted it. It was nearly the end of the day, but Rebecca didn’t mind going out with him in his pick-up for one more trip. Several minutes later, she jumped down from the truck, her brown hair blowing out behind her. She hugged herself, cursing. The wind was a bit chilly; she wished she’d picked up her jacket. Following her uncle, they walked over to the vehicle that had been ditched. Rebecca gasped once she got a better look at it. It was covered in bullet holes. Whilst her uncle went straight to the front of the vehicle to inspect the engine, Rebecca circled round to the back, running her fingers along the scratch lines on the body. She kept thinking to herself, this is unreal. It’s like this car has just been dropped straight out of an action movie. Shaking her head in disbelief, she was about to walk away when a glint of gold caught her eye. Peering down into the tailgate, she could see a gold ring. Checking over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching, she edged closer to get a better look. Carefully sliding her hand in-between the ripped metal, she pulled it out. It was a small gold ring, etched with strange symbols. She giggled to herself. It reminded her of the ring from Lord of the Rings, only this one didn’t glow. Smiling to herself, and checking to see that her uncle wasn’t watching, she slipped it into her trainer for safe keeping.

“Well”, her uncle asked from round the front of the car, his head buried under the bonnet, “What do you make of this one?”. “It certainly is a mess, isn’t it”, she said, walking round to him, folding her arms. “It’s like something out of one of those car chases in the movies, only without an angry driver still inside”, she said, looking at the bullet holes in the windscreen. “Any idea who it might belong to?”, she asked. “Yep, some company called SHIELD. See”, he said, emerging from the bonnet and pointing to the massive eagle-like logo printed on top of it. “Oh”, Rebecca said puzzled. “I’ve never heard of them before. Do you think there something to do with that Area 51 stuff over on that base”, indicating off into the distance. “Possibly. Who knows, we never get told anything. They like to keep us in the dark, don’t they, about all the aliens”, he chuckled, nudging her on the shoulder. “Yeah, true”, she sighed, looking up at the sky as it started to get dark. “Well, it’s getting late. I best be heading back home. Can’t have my parents thinking I’ve been abducted by aliens or anything”, she giggled, kissing Uncle Ian on the cheek. “Okay then. Well, same time tomorrow, and don’t wear that dress again. It’s the same bloody green as the Lola. Don’t want you blending in”, he chuckled to her, waving as she walked off up the street. “I won’t”, she shouted over her shoulder.

It was starting to get dark, as some of the street lights started to come on as she walked up along the road. She looked up at the houses as she passed by, all tightly squeezed together, some with little alleyways between them leading off down the back streets. She thought to herself, about the car, wondering how it ended up there, and who this SHIELD company was. They must be something to do with all the military stuff happening over at Area 51 a couple of miles away. Their vehicles are always passing through the town in a hurry. Maybe it was an alien that stole the car. She chuckled to herself, realising what a silly idea it was. Bringing herself back to the real world, she looked up at the road ahead and stopped. She spun around, looking at the houses. They were much more run down around here, some with broken windows. She realised she must have taken a wrong turn, so started to head back the way she came. It was then that she realised she had a shadow, following her. She could hear another set of footsteps, following close behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed a tall, hooded figure, walking several feet behind her. Tensing up, she quickened her pace slightly, hoping to get a bit more distance between them. She heard the figure also increase their pace, now matching her speed, staying close behind. Panicking, she broke into a run. Running blindly, she turned sharply down a side ally, hoping to get away from the advancing figure now chasing her.

She froze in her tracks. Ahead of her was a dead end, with no way out. The walls either side were too high for her to even climb and the one ahead of her was topped with barb-wire, making it impossible to scramble over. Whipping around, she ran back up the ally, only to find her path blocked, by the figure, standing in the middle of the entrance. Before she even had time to think, another two hooded figures appeared from either side, making escape even more impossible. Frightened, Rebecca started to back up slowly, frantically looking from right to left, seeking desperately any means of escape. Every step she took back, the three hooded figures took forward. Her heart thumbed frantically in her chest, her mind racing, fear gripped her insides. Before she knew it, she was backed up against the wall, with no more room to run. Now terrified, her breath coming in sharp intakes, the three figures advanced. Rebecca, fearing the worst, screwed up her eyes, pushed herself as far into the wall as possible, and with what little breath she had left, screamed. 

But nothing happened. Breathing frantically, she opened her eyes, expecting to see the three figures directly in front of her. But they weren’t. She blinked, and gasped, slightly shocked by what she saw. A few feet in front of her were the three figures, lying on the floor, dead. One of them, their face visible from under their hood was looking in her direction, his dark eyes wide with shock; lay cold and still, with a trickle of blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth. Confused and stunned, she dragged her eyes away from the bodies and looked up, straight onto a new shadow. Standing over the dead bodies, stood a tall, intimidating figure with his back to her. Her eyes widened as she noticed the glinted blade in his outstretched arm, dripping fresh blood onto the ally floor. Gasping aloud in horror, the figure swiftly turned to look at her, its dark clothing sweeping around until she was face to face with it. With the darkness that now filled the alleyway, she couldn’t make out his face clearly. All she could see was the piercing green eyes, the glinting of the blade and the wicked evil smile, before everything turned to black.