Retribution

Chuck’s stomach surged as the ground receded. The craft rose silently until the fields were nothing but a blur. Still higher, the whole world becoming a circle in the blackness of space.

As Chuck saw his home planet disappear, he thought: here we go again.

While others scoffed that there existed civilisations capable of interstellar travel, Chuck had first-hand experience. His first encounter had been with The Greys. He’d been seventeen when he was taken aboard their ship and tied to a bed. The small creatures traipsed into the room and regarded him from oval eyes.

He was returned untouched and unharmed. Seeking solace in other abductees, Chuck learned he had been lucky. There were stories of rectal probing.

From that time, Chuck kept an eye on the skies, wary of being taken again – aliens often returned once they found a suitable subject.

At twenty-seven, he had been in bed when a tall shape emerged from the shadows, wrapped bony arms around him and levitated him up to the heavens. Chuck was unable to move; he did not know if this was down to some stun-ray the alien had used or because he was terrified.

This encounter was worse than his first. He wasn’t tethered and floated uncontrollably in the gravity-free environment. He was left alone most of the time, which only made the times the creatures were present the more frightening.

These were not The Greys. They were eight feet tall, slender and deathly pale. The fact that they did not speak unnerved him. When they examined him, their touch was coarse.

Chuck was returned eight days later.

It did not take long to see the pattern to the abductions. Ten years later, he prepared himself for the next inevitable encounter. He made sure he always had a bludgeon on him.

While working in the fields, Chuck saw the ship land behind a copse of trees. He knew it had come for him. This time, he would be ready for them.

Taking a spade with him, he set off into the trees and made his way to the spacecraft. From the woods, he saw an alien coming from a hatch in the vehicle. For all his experience, Chuck struggled to hold onto his lunch; it was the most disgusting creature he had ever seen.

Two stubby legs supported a bulbous middle section. Flesh hung under its chin and, on either side of its squat head, two pieces of gristle stuck out. Its arms ended in a horrifying number of digits.

Taking a blue box from its pocket, the monster took out a thin cylinder. Putting one end to his face, holding a flame to the opposite end, the alien began to walk around the ship.

Chuck rushed for the entrance, hid in the first place he found and waited. Before long he felt the ship rising and, locating a porthole, he watched his home disappear.

Shovel gripped in his tentacles, Chuck slithered through the ship. It was payback time.