More Fractured Tales stories!
They were out there again… watching… she couldn’t see them… but she could feel their presence every night.
She had changed her address so many times she’d lost count… yet they found her every time.
She had a small mobile home… compact and easy to keep clean.
Having her own snug little space felt good… she worked from home… and there was a grocery store nearby that carried everything she needed.
Life was good… or it had been until recently.
She’d been in the park about three months when she first realized she was being watched and a week later, she moved to another location.
Two weeks later, they found her again… and were back to watching her every move, especially at night.
Her next move had come a month after the first, this time to a smaller, private park.
It cost a little more but she hoped those who were watching her would not get past security at this place.
By now, she had narrowed the suspects down to two sources… a branch of some government agency… or aliens.
There was no reason she could think of for any government agents to be watching her.
She did a lot of work for several of them… they knew her life story and credentials… or at least the ‘public’ version.
But she never travelled outside the country and had no foreign contacts… so, there was nothing to arouse any suspicion.
The only other option was aliens… she just hadn’t determined yet if they were from another country… or another world… and she didn’t like either option.
Aliens from another country might try to kidnap her… and force her into giving them information… not that she knew anything classified or top secret… all she did was ordinary, everyday stuff.
However, aliens from another world might want different information.. which she was not prepared to share.
They would be capable of doing things that even she could not imagine… and that was not a pleasant thought.
Her purpose was simply to observe… not to interfere in any way… and definitely not to BE observed… so, it was time to relocate again… and she did…
She put her mobile home into temporary storage and moved into a small, one-bedroom apartment.
Two weeks later, before she really had time to get settled… she sensed they had found her again… and the feelings were stronger than ever.
For some unknown reason, she now felt certain they were from another world… definitely an unsettling thought.
But why were they watching her? What could they possibly want with her? She posed no threat to anyone.
A chilling thought crossed her mind… perhaps they were looking for humanoid lab rats… specimens to perform some gross experiments on… and she looked human enough.
Well, she would never let that happen… she could not… no being must ever be allowed to experiment on her… that must be prevented at any cost.
Any invasion of her privacy was intolerable… it was time to turn the tables… time for her to do the watching.
She took her mobile home out of storage and returned it to the trailer park.
Then she added a small, portable deck… with a folding table and chair… and placed a book about local birds on the table.
Finally, she sat down… with a pair of binoculars in her hand… ready to start ‘bird-watching.’
Minutes later a black SUV pulled up and two men in plain grey coveralls stepped out… walked over to her… holding out government ID’s.
“We have been trying to set up a personal satellite receiver to strengthen your service, because of your work for us, but you keep moving,” one of them said.
She looked at them… they looked like normal humans… but they were probably in disguise… and ID’s were easy to fake. “It took time to decide where I wanted to settle,” she said. “Do what you need to do.”
Returning to the SUV, they came back with a ladder and a small metal box… one of them held the ladder in place, while the other climbed up and attached the little box to the roof of her mobile home.
This might be how they planned to control her… by transmitting radioactive waves – or whatever they were using now – into her brain.
Perhaps they planned to observe her and report back to their superiors… or home world as she suspected.
Raising the binoculars to her eyes, she resumed her bird-watching pose… while watching them from the corner of her eye.
Finally they picked up the ladder and returned to their vehicle.
Their parting words went unheeded… but it didn’t matter… for she was better at this game than they were… and they would never find her again…
She knew how to disappear… to obliterate her tracks and start over… it was a tiresome process but she had done it before…. and she would do it again… however many times it took.
She was programmed to do whatever it took to complete her mission… and now, instead of being watched… she would be doing the watching…
However, in her moment of triumph… she failed to notice the two individuals silently approaching… until she was caught by both arms… lifted off the ground… and… carried towards a black van…
