The Leader by Ruth Ann Nordin Page B

This was the new world people were quickly
being thrust into, and by the time they woke up and realized that
it wasn’t because of their safety but to control them, it would be
too late.
    He came to a stop at the red light and
rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling as if the weight of the world was
weighing down on him. He didn’t know what to do. He was in too
deep. He couldn’t get out…unless he died.
    He placed his free hand on the place
between the two seats and jerked. His hand had touched something
that could only be described as an icy mist. Turning his eyes to
the passenger seat, he thought he saw a faint distortion in the
seat. As soon as he saw it, it disappeared.
    His heart pounded anxiously in his
chest, and for a good moment, all he could do was stare at the
empty seat and wonder if what he thought he felt and saw was real
or his imagination going wild. He’d seen a lot of things in his
time, but he’d never experienced something like this. In that brief
instant, his very core had shaken with fear.
    A horn honked behind him.
    Directing his gaze to the light, he
saw that it had turned green. With a deep breath, he pressed his
foot to the accelerator and drove through the intersection. He
glanced at his passenger seat. Nothing. He tentatively touched the
seat next to him. Nothing.
    He released his shaky breath. Nothing.
It’d been nothing. Just a figment of his imagination. Yes, that’s
all it was. Nothing more.
    But no matter how hard he tried to
convince himself, he was deathly afraid that Autumn was
right.

Chapter Two

    Alex took the pill out of the orange
bottle, once again wondering if this was a good idea. But did he
have a choice? If he stopped taking his prescription, then the
alien would be back. It hated him. It haunted him. So many people
thought the aliens were their friends. It was enough to make him
laugh.
    How wrong they are, he thought
bitterly as he plopped the little pill into his mouth and swallowed
the soda. He placed the can on the table in front of the TV and sat
back in his recliner. Picking up the remote, he changed the
channel. What he needed was a mindless show so he could forget
about everything for awhile.
    Kicking his feet up and crossing his
arms, he relaxed and focused on the sitcom. For fifteen minutes,
the husband and wife on the TV show bickered, and he chuckled a few
times. Five minutes later and his eyes began to droop. His limbs
felt pleasantly heavy, and he gave into the urge to sleep. Maybe it
would be better to sleep out in the living room instead of the bed.
He’d keep the lights on and the TV going. It was comforting. And he
needed comforting right now.
    The commercials ended and the show
came back on, but he hardly noticed. Caught in the limbo state
between being awake and being asleep, he drifted off, enjoying the
simplicity of it all.
    “ Kill her.”
    He mumbled and turned his
head.
    “ They’re laughing at
you.”
    His eyes flew open. No one was in the
room with him. Easing out of his chair, he checked the lock on the
apartment door. It was bolted. He made it a point to do a thorough
examination of his apartment every time he came home to make sure
no one was there.
    Of course, that didn’t keep out the
alien. But the pills kept that away. How, he didn’t understand. But
they worked, and he wasn’t about to question it; not after his last
encounter when the ghastly thing almost killed him.
    So why was he hearing voices? It
couldn’t be someone hiding in the apartment. It couldn’t be the
alien.
    The pounding of his heart grew faster,
and he couldn’t determine whether it was from fear or a side effect
of the pill. He sat back in the chair which was now upright and
placed his head in his hands.
    I’m not going crazy. I’m
not going crazy.
    He rocked back and forth and repeated
those words to himself.
    “ The watchers are watching
you.”
    He lifted his head and looked at the
TV. The voice came from there. He was sure of it.
    The last three minutes of