He had been walking around for six days now and he needed to find a hiding place. He limped along painfully, for a possessed dog had bitten him in his calf muscle. He had to find bandages and some antibiotics soon, he was scared that the wound was badly infected. He saw a mini mart when he rounded the corner, it looked wrecked like all the others he’d seen; broken windows and trash littered about; but the doors to this one were intact. He looked around once again, the light was fading from the sky and there wasn’t a soul around. ‘Maybe there aren’t any souls left’ he thought grimly. Finally after gathering enough strength in his injured leg, he made a dash for the door, hoping it wasn’t locked. He hobbled along and when he neared the doors, they miraculously slid open for him just like automatic doors that worked everywhere a few days ago. So much had changed in a fortnight. He couldn’t believe it; sometimes he thought maybe he was stuck in a bad dream, a nightmare that would end when the doctors woke him up from his coma. He tried to stop himself before he thought of Anita and the others, but their faces flashed in his mind already.

Shaking his head he gingerly stepped into the store and looked around for something he could use as a weapon. He had lost the iron rod when he battled with the dogs and was searching for another handy weapon ever since. He saw cricket bats stacked in a shelf a few paces behind to his right. He cautiously made his way to the shelf, turning all around, trying to keep a 360 degree watch all around himself. He reached and breathed out in relief as he clutched the biggest bat he found. He swung it up and stood with his feet wide apart, in a battle like stance. He squinted to make out shapes in the growing darkness, the light from the windows was rapidly disappearing and he started moving around trying to see what else he could forage from there. He stumbled but quickly recovered and raised the bat again, but he had no cause to fight with a roll of toilet paper. He kicked it aside and started going through things on the shelves close to him.

More toilet paper, cleaning liquids, soaps, mops and then he saw cases of bottled water! He almost shouted out loud but his voice was no more than a hoarse cry. He grabbed and tore open a pack; unscrewed a bottle and downed all the water in a single gulp. He opened a second and drank half of it before he lowered the bottle. His thirst quenched for the moment, he felt much better and walked around searching for other supplies he could find. He found torches, batteries, biscuits, cup-noodles and a clothing section. At the far end of the store he found a door with an ‘Employees Only’ sticker on it. He peeked in and saw a refrigerator which he ignored; electricity had been cut off days ago, anything in there would be rotten. There were also three square tables with chairs around them and … a couch! The couch looked big enough for him to fit in so he tested it out, and it felt like he was sleeping on clouds! After thirteen nights of sleeping on bare ground or inside garbage bins, this was heaven; he could stretch his legs! He stood up happy with his find and then as he turned, he froze.

There on the wall in front of him was a water dispenser, the type which had two taps, one for hot water and one for cold. And the thing that caught his eye was the best feature of all; it said in bright blue and yellow colored letters on the top – ‘Solar Powered’. He mentally crossed his fingers and hoped that the solar panel still worked. If it did, it would make him so happy, he was sure he would cry. Hell, he would probably cry either way; out of elation or out of misery. He put his finger on the tap marked ‘hot’ and pressed downwards; he rested the bat against his legs and ran his other hand through the water, it was steaming hot! He hurrahed silently, it meant he would have a decent meal after all these days; the cup-noodles that he had seen earlier playing on his mind. He got down on his knees and offered a prayer of thanks to the Good Lord, picked up his bat, wiped his tears and went out into the store to get that cuppa noodles.

About forty minutes later he was seated on the couch in the employees’ break room wolfing down his second cup-noodles. He had stacked on the floor in a neat pile eight more such cup-noodles, a pack of water bottles and some packets of salted nuts. He also had a bag with batteries and two torches. One torch was switched on and kept face down to dim the amount of light. He had also changed into fresh clothes that he had found; track pants and a hoodie. The only thing he was in dire need of was bandages and some antibiotics. But it was too dark now and he was too tired to search. He clutched the bat close to his chest and settled into the couch, trying to keep his eyes open for as long as he could, watching the door, hoping that no one discovered him. He never knew when sleep overtook him, but before that, the last thought he had was how strange it was to find such a well-stocked store. Most of the stores he had come across were all cleaned out.

He woke up with a start and for a few seconds his brain was confused; he didn’t know where he was, the surroundings felt unfamiliar. Then recognition seeped back into his sleep-addled brain. He was sleeping on a wonderful couch in the employees’ break room at a mini mart. His body relaxed marveling at his good fortune and he closed his eyes, but his brain was trying to alert him to danger. He frowned and then realized that something had woken him up. He opened his eyes and bolted upright reaching for his bat. There was someone sitting on a chair right across the room! The person was encompassed in the shadows, the light from the torch missing him by a few inches. Survival instinct kicked in and he clutched his bat and flashed the torch light on the figure. He was astonished to see a girl, fast asleep with her head resting on the wall behind. She woke up with a start and took note of the fury on his face and raised her hands up in the air, “Please,” she said in a whisper, “don’t hurt me, please.” He lowered his bat a little. “Who are you? Who else is there with you?” he was more interested in the latter question. How many people were out there? Were they friends or enemies? “No one” she shook her head. “I promise, there is no one, just me. How did you find my hideout?” He cocked his head, “Your hideout?” he looked at her more carefully; she was probably in her 20s, pretty with light brown hair falling to her shoulders and she was dressed similar to him, in sweat pants, t-shirt and a jacket he recognized as from the store. “Yes, I found this place three days back and I’ve been staying here ever since.” He signaled her to lower her hands and sat down on the couch. “You are also hiding from the monsters.” She looked at him bleakly, “Where have you come from? And what happened to your leg?” “How do you know about my leg?” he growled, bat once again ready for attack. “Yes,” she snickered, “I’m like one of those Anoteros beings, I have X-ray vision and I can see inside of you.” His nostrils flared and hate filled his heart, “Oh relax,” she said, “I saw the way you sat down, it’s obvious your leg is hurt.” “Yes it is and since you have been here since three days, are there any medical supplies here?” “Yes, there is a pharmacy” she said slowly, “But who are you? Your turn to tell me if I can trust you or not; you have already found my hiding place, what if you grab all the food and medicines?” He dropped his bat immediately and put his hands up in the air, “I’m a real person, not a humanoid. And I promise not to take anything more than I need.” “Please?” he practically begged her. She looked at him for a minute and sighed, “Okay, come on. Can you walk? Pharmacy is at the back of this building.” He stood and slung the bat over his shoulder, “This is for any enemies we come across.” “No need.” She pulled out a semi-automatic gun from inside of her jacket. His mouth agape, he had instant respect for her.

They walked out the door; it was pitch black outside and a cool breeze was blowing; she walked slowly and seemed unafraid; he limped behind her looking all around nervously. They went around the corner into the pharmacy and she rummaged through bottles of medicines, “So what happened to your leg? Bullet?” “Dog bite” “Oh!” She kept looking and finally picked a bottle and pocketed it, “Got it, let’s go back.” “Did you get painkillers too?” “All here” she said patting her pocket. He followed her back outside and she put the bottle on his outstretched palm. “What the hell is this?!” he exclaimed when he opened the bottle and an orange translucent hexagonal tablet popped out on his hand. “Take it, says here it’s for animal bites on the cover”, she said pointing out the label on the bottle. He turned the bottle around, but there was no other information on it; no company name, manufacturing date or price. Just one label saying ‘Animal Bite Repair’. Suddenly he dropped the bottle on the ground and jumped, “This is alien medicine, this is from the Anoteros!” she looked up at him and said very nonchalantly, “Yes, I know. So what? Don’t you want your leg to get better?” “What the hell are you saying?” he was shocked, “I’m trying to escape those soulless creepy humanoids, not join them! I’ve heard stories by a survivor that these medicines make us brain dead; we lose our sense of identity and then those creeps make slaves out of us. They fed his whole town some colored tablets and they all disappeared the next day, he barely escaped.” She looked at him with big amber eyes and asked softly, “Who was telling the story? And whose story was it anyway?” The words fluttered and flew in the wind. “Did he really see it happen himself?” They both stared at each other in silence, “Don’t you understand?”, he said desperately, “These medicines are a way to take over our bodies; I shudder to think what they will do with us once we become brain dead; harvest our organs or make clones or God knows what!” He was losing it, his body shaking uncontrollably, the anxiety of all the previous days came crashing down on him all at once; he was scared out of his wits and didn’t know where to divert his restless energy. “Calm down, come on, let’s get back inside, you’re shaking and the wind is getting chilly.”

Back inside he was still agitated, he didn’t care to look out for invaders or be alert anymore. He reached the couch and sank down. She sat down next to him and gently held his hand, “I’ve seen first-hand how efficient these medicines are. And you won’t become one of those humanoid if you just swallow a tablet!” He frowned at her, “My sister and I were hiding in the basement of our house when a group of Anoteros came looking for us”, she said with a faraway look in her eyes, “They had brought dogs to catch our scent. The dogs traced us to the basement and we got scared; we tried to get away through the tiny basement window. My sister climbed out first and a dog attacked her, it bit her. I stayed in the basement and they thought she was alone. Then one of them came forward, opened a bottle and gave her a tablet just like this one. You won’t believe it, but right in front of my eyes her bite healed, some stuff bubbled out of her torn skin and then her skin sealed shut. There was nothing but a red mark left and she stopped screaming from the pain. I’m telling you, take this and you will get better in a minute.” He deliberated; there was no question in his mind; he had to get help of some sort, and soon, his leg was growing bad by the minute and he could hardly take a few steps without excruciating pain. “Please take it”, she begged him, “I’m going to be left all alone if something happens to you. And if your fever climbs any higher then you can even die from the infection!” He swallowed the lump in his throat and then swallowed the tablet from her hand with a gulp of water. Almost instantly his eyes widened and he scrambled to lift the leg of his track pants to look at his wound. The ugly blue and black splotch was rapidly oozing out some slimy black liquid and then it stopped, the wound looked clean, his skin regained its color and then sewed itself shut leaving only a faint red line behind as a reminder of the injury. They both exchanged a look, he tried to stand up to test his leg; he could stand easily; then he jumped and then hopped on his injured leg. “Wow!” he whooped in delight. “This is unbelievably f***ing amazing.” “Yeah, they are amazing like their medicines.” He turned around to look at her, “What did you say?” “Listen closely to what I say human. I am a neutral Agent, I take no sides.” Her voice was mechanical and face looked unusually bright, he turned his gaze elsewhere but wherever he looked the object of his focus glowed bright.

“They say their race is Anoteros; that translates into ‘higher power’, or ‘superior’. And it’s true; their race is much more superior to yours in every way possible. They are not violent; in fact they have come to bring peace to your planet ‘Earth’. Their technology is supreme; think about what you have done here with the resources you had. You have caused species to go extinct – the biggest of all crimes, you have polluted every inch of your planet right from the mountains to the land and seas. You use dirty oil when you have the powerful sun, you make your air poisonous and fight over water and the water that remains is foul. Your methods of creation are so crude and disastrous. And whoever is alive after all these atrocities; you plunder, loot, kill and murder them. You fight wars with your own kind, you have no comradeship. There are a million diseases and you fall prey to maladies and have no cures!”

He stared blanky, he couldn’t move a muscle even if he wanted to; every word was sinking into his awareness, becoming the ultimate truth for his existence, everything else was erased from his mind. “They are just rounding up all life that they find to take back to their home so that you can see there is another way to live and not harm the sacred rock upon which you walk. You will be timelessly happy there, just look at how your body healed in a minute. Your soul will heal like that; so go with Anoteros, they will lead you to your purpose. And if you wish to return back here, they will allow you once the cleansing of the planet is completed.” He nodded, she made perfect sense. ‘If a race was so evolved then he must go live and learn with them. It was the order of nature’, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

 

When he awoke, he would have become a ‘converted’. The Agent had done its job well by posing in the skin of an unassuming beautiful female from this planet. As soldiers marched in to carry the human out, the Chief looked at the Agent and said, “This one was a tough case, we spent days looking for him! He kept running even after being bitten!” “Not at all! Easy Peasy” came the reply, “once this tablet goes in, it messes so beautifully with select synapses of their brain, it’s child’s play to control them. Five minutes later they will lick your boots clean if you command them to!” They both shared a hearty laugh and the Chief turned to see the man being loaded onto the Orion-ship. “Just a few thousand more now, round them up quickly, we need as many as possible plowing for Astatine* on the Yellow Rock, deadline is getting closer. “Yes, Chief, I am aware Commander wants full power. I also have a new proposal; just thought of it today; we can harvest their organs once these slaves complete our work.” The Chief nodded and smiled wide.

“Be ready Chief, you will have six more converts soon, there is a group hiding nearby” and it walked away with a sinister smile etched across its mutating face.

 

*Astatine is the rarest natural element on Earth, so rare that there is only 30 grams of it!