‘Please, sir. Please. Our time is almost up.’

Oh, man. I’m so screwed.

‘Mr. Dent? Mr. Dent? Arthur? Please?’

How did they do that? How’d they send the Jeep back? Was there a button somewhere?

I pushed off the floor and ran across the dimly lit room in the direction the creatures had gone.

‘Mr. Dent, please. May I continue.’

I ignored him.

There was a recess in the wall. A door. I pressed the softly glowing button in the center. It slid open.

The light outside was bright and there was a wall directly ahead. I poked my head out and glance right, then back in quickly. I repeated, only this time glancing left. No creatures in either direction. It was an empty hallway.

‘Which way did they go?’ I asked. No response. ‘Hello? Which way did they go?’

More silence. I tapped my head three times. ‘Hello? This thing on? Which way did they go?’

Nothing. Crap.

I stepped into the hall and the door slid shut behind me.

It hadn’t been long after the door slid shut behind the aliens when the Jeep had been sent back. Twenty or thirty seconds, maybe? But there was nothing on the wall, it was just smooth.

Laughter thundered down the hall from my right, followed by a chorus of shouting: “Chug, chug, chug!”

For crying out loud, I’ve been abducted by a bunch of morons. This realization was suddenly… comforting? I mean less scary, anyhow. In the movies, aliens are always so sinister. Didn’t seem like these fellas were planning some big invasion or something. Yeah, they looked scary but they were laughing and cutting up. Seemed mostly harmless to me.

Clearly, they had no idea I was onboard. And that gave me an advantage. I think.

Feeling pretty confident, I strode down the hall toward them and stepped through the opening.