When Rachel was sure that Tanner had gone to bed, she grabbed her phone and dialed Zac's number. She got the feeling that he would be awake.
After the 5th ring, when Rachel was just about to hang up, she heard a voice on the other end of the line. It was a scratchy, almost inhuman voice, and it sounded angry.
"Um, Zac? I knew it was past your bedtime, but this is ridiculous." She joked halfheartedly, praying that it was only Zac playing a prank.
"Who are you? How'd you get this number? Where.." There was a crackle of static, and then the line disconnected. Rachel hung up slowly and shivered. That voice…almost like…no. It couldn't be. No, vampires weren't real. It couldn't be a vampire. Plus, it was almost dawn, and they usually slept about now. She shook her head. Weird..
She quickly redialed Zac's number. She suddenly felt very alone and helpless. As the phone rang, Rachel heard a noise from downstairs in Tanner's room. Just Tanner having another bad dream. She concluded. But still, after that weird phone call, she wasn't about to take any chances. After the phone hit the 7th ring and the machine picked up, Rachel hung up. Or at least she thought she did.
She ran downstairs and into her sisters room. What she saw almost killed her.
It was right then that she fainted.
When Cari awoke, all she saw was total blackness. She tried to sit up, but to no avail.
It's okay, she thought quickly, trying to block out any unnecessary fear. It's probably just because you were out for so long.
She managed to twist her body minimally and reach out with one hand. But it was stopped by a chain, which was restraining both of her arms. She twisted back and felt something strange. Carpet. And pillows. Both beneath her, comforting her gently from her disturbing reality. She lay back gently and rested her sore head. She felt a strange sensation coming from her chest, but she ignored it, feeling as though she had more important matters coming. She was right.
As soon as she rested her head and straightened her back, she was roughly pulled up from her position and quickly unchained. She tried to protest, say that she was in pain, but she could manage no words. Her mouth wouldn't even open. She then tried to reach out with her hands, but was also stopped, almost by some mysterious creature controlling her body.
That though scared her. What if that was truly the motives of her kidnappers? What if they just wanted her to be their slave, and they were going to place a foreigner in her head, to control her, think like her, Be her!
As she was about to scream, the hand which had dragged her to their destination dropped her, and kneeled next to her.
All that Cari saw around her, was a dark cavern full of some kind of crystals. Dark black crystals with hints of silver. She heard crashing, crying , and then screams of other people. Screams of help, and of despair, and sighs of submission.
Cari almost died right there. The cries were almost more than her conscious could take. But for some reason, she couldn't think. Her body almost seemed to be making it's own decisions. Her mind raced. What's going on here? She demanded angrily. Why can't I feel my own body?! She suddenly remembered the weird feeling in her chest. She felt her pressure points and keeled over. Her heart wasn't beating.
Suddenly, in the midst of her discovery, Cari was interrupted by a harsh laugh. "Welcome Cari." The voice said. The voice sounded scratchy and inhuman. It gave Cari the shivers. "I hope that you are adjusting to your new life."
Cari tried to speak, but no words seemed to form anywhere but in her head. The voice laughed. She guessed they noticed her lame attempts at speech and flushed.
"SheeA-5, let me speak to the girl." They commanded harshly. Suddenly, Cari felt as though her body was released from some type of hypnosis. She slumped to the floor and felt her heart begin to beat once more. This brought minimal comfort as the girl shivered. "Why…me?" She asked slowly, as her words slowly formed on the tip of her tongue. She found it hard to form them beyond her brain, and began to cry. "What.. ha..have you…done to me?!"
Now that her vision had improved considerbly, she noticed that the man speaking to her, was in fact the same man that had been her captor the day before. Well, she guessed it was a day.
The man smiled at her. "I sense you are quite confused. Here, let me explain." The man grabbed her hand and led her down a long corridor. She would have struggled and tried to escape, but for some reason she was strangely silent and passive. She guessed that the creature inside of her was still controlling some of her movements.
As the two walked, the man, who seemed about Cari's age, turned to her, and stopped walking.
"My name is Erik. Please, address me just as you would a peer." He held out his hand and smiled. Cari took his hand and returned his smile.
"Okay, Erik." She remarked.
Suddenly, his smile shrunk. "As you well know, you are now one of us." He turned and began walking once more. "I hope that you will learn to live with what you have become." He walked closer and she could feel his cool breath on her tingling skin. "One of us."
Cari grimaced. His breath smelled of death. Of decay, of…loss of life. (Like a garbage disposal. Yuck) "Who's us?" She looked up into his flame eyes and turned away quickly as he returned her gaze.
"We are a race from the doomed planet Kayla 9" Erik grabbed her hand and the two started walking once more down the long hall that just seemed to shrink in size as they walked further. "Let us talk over a movie. I have much to explain." He smiled and licked his lips, his orange eyes flashing in the dim light. "Plus, it's almost dinner time."
