CHAPTER 05

Sammy is in an almost state of shock with what she is witnessing. under the big Oak that she had just received instructions on where to find.

Her screams quickly dissipate as her body continues to tremble with fear, while her heart is beating so fast and hard that it feels like it is going to jump right out of her chest.

Sammy takes a couple of deep breaths at an attempt to regain some sort of composure and is finally able to look on at the horrific sight in front of her.

She grabs her cell phone to call Luke to inform him about what she's found, but even as scared as she is, she quickly rethinks that decision due to wanting to gain more insight on what is actually going on here first.

Still filled with fear, Sammy climbs off her quad and slowly begins to inch closer to see if her eyes are playing tricks on her with the shadows of the big Oak in the dark night or if she's really seeing what she thinks she's seeing!

Sammy's eyes begin to finally adjust slightly to the darkness outside, combined with the inadequate brightness of the headlights from her quad.

She approaches the tree slowly as she grows near. Her previous feelings of fear are confirmed as she can now clearly see that her friends Jimmy and Steve are under the tree.

However, Jimmy and Steve aren't just laying there passed out drunk in a normal setting, but they are in fact actually hanging upside down by their ankles somehow attached to one of the branches of the tree.

Their clothes seem to be mostly missing, with the exception of their underwear, so Jimmy and Steve are hanging there wearing only their boxer shorts.

With the shine of the flashlight from her cell phone, Sammy focuses the light on the motionless bodies of her friends and is able to see that the tone of Jimmy and Steve's skin is abnormally pale, making them appear as white as ghosts.

As Sammy looks a little closer she can't help but to be reminded of the cattle she had seen slaughtered on her parent's property earlier that day and the condition of Jimmy and Steve's bodies resemble the cattle closely.

She recalls with fright that the cattle earlier were also all missing their eyes, so with a shaky hand she attempts to shine the light onto their faces, but inn the darkness of night she is unable to see anything other than black shadows where their eyes are.

Sammy is uncertain if the black she is seeing is actually there or if it's the darkness is playing tricks on her eyes.

She continues to tremble in fright as she begins to freak out more and more while she hinks to herself. "Why can't I see their eyes? And why aren't they moving? Are they d-dead? They can't be, can they? I've never seen anyone look like that other than Great Grandpa Will at his funeral a couple of years ago."

Sammy slowly starts to regain her equanimity, so she decides to get a little closer to see if she can gain further insight into the state of her friends.

She gets to within a couple feet of the dangling friends as she aims her phones flashlight on Steve and Jimmy, she is able to make out that they both have 3, what looks to be red circles on each of their chests.

With Jimmy and Steve hanging upside down shirtless, Sammy can't help but to be alerted of the fact that the formation on each of their chests highly resembles the earlier crop circles as well as the odd formation that had appeared on her temple.

Sammy begins to think to herself once again, "These circles.. they're the same as what I have on my head and what I saw on TV earlier, right? This is all too weird not to be connected. It's too much to just be a coincidence!"

Just as Sammy finishes her thoughts, she instinctively reaches to her temple and begins to rub the area where the formation had occurred this morning.

Sammy continues to think to herself with the hopes of gaining some sort of insight as to what the hell is actually happening, but as she continues to rub her temple the familiar burning sensation she had experienced earlier begins to emerge.

She suddenly hears what is beginning to become an all too familiar voice within her head, that she now recognizes as the red being who seems to be the leader of the three creatures.

"Your friends were both given equal chances, but they chose to ignore the inevitable... because you are "The One" we will allow you to save one and only ONE! You must choose wisely!" The red being finishes

"Wh-what are you talking about? What have you done to my friends? They don't deserve this!" Sammy quickly responds in an almost panicked tone while she's still shaking due to fear.

Sammy quickly receives a response, in a monotone voice she hears from the red being...

"Your friends did this to themselves. They were given a chance, but the good they have done will never outweigh the bad! They are not PURE... Your other friends are quickly approaching, and you have 60 seconds to make your decision. Only ONE will see tomorrow!"

"NO! You're wrong! I won't choose between my friends.. What do you mean the good outweigh the bad? They may play pranks now and again, but they are good-hearted people and harmless! Truly!" Sammy quickly responds back while defending her friends with the hopes that this isn't really happening.

"You must choose... It is your duty as "The One" to make the world a better place for future generations and inhabitants!" The voice in her head rebuttles back, trying to get Sammy to make a decision.

"I like Steve.. He's my favorite!" Sammy suddenly hears, this time from a slightly different toned voice, which she recalls must be the neon green creature.

Before Sammy is able to fully comprehend the change in voices, she immediately hears yet another that she can recognize as the bright blue being from her flashback saying "I would choose Jimmy!.. but Samantha..You now have 45 seconds to make the correct decision!"

Sammy responds back as tears begin to flow down her face, "Do you think this is a game? I don't want to be "The One"... I never asked for any of this! Why can't everything just go back to normal... I just want my friends back and for them to be OK. I can't make this decision, I'm not GOD!"

"This is now your new normal! You have been chosen for a reason. You are "The One," and that will not change!... 25 seconds remaining. You must choose now, or you will lose the two of them!" The monotone voice coming from the red creature within Sammy's head says to her at an attempt to get her to choose.

With headlights approaching in the distance, Sammy swiftly regains her collectedness as her body finally stops trembling with fear and says with an unwavering forceful tone.....

"You say that I am this "One," right? Well, then how can you expect me to choose between life and death for my friends? I deeply care for Jimmy and Steve and will not choose which one lives and which one dies! That is God's will, and I am no God. " Sammy continues on.....

That's not how things work here! While they may be a little immature, they are both good-hearted people. Every week Jimmy volunteers down at Bennett's Grocery unloading trucks just to help them out so they don't have to pay labor for an extra employee..and Steve, he attends church every single Sunday and for the last 4 years he's stayed late after the service to help the Pastor put away the tables and chairs. The two of them would give the shirt off their backs or their last dollar if someone was in need, I've seen them do it! While these may not be life altering good deeds, they are good nonetheless and mean a lot here in Rigley! You want me to choose? FINE! I choose LIFE for BOTH! and that's FINAL!"

As the headlights grow nearer, Sammy can start to make out two seprate sets of headlights: one from what looks to be another quad and the other from what appears to be Jenny's Jeep, both about a 100 yards East of her lcoation.

Sammy readies herself to make one final plea to the voices within her head when she hears....

"Well done, Samantha! We knew you would make the correct choice. We accept your decision" from the being she now identifies as the red one.

"What? Was this some sort of test?" Sammy quickly asks in a puzzled manner, followed by "What about my friends?"

"We deeply apologize for the harsh manner of assessing you, but we had to be sure you really are."The One!" The green being responds back to her,"and don't worry, they won't recall a thing."

Just as the green being finishes speaking to her, Sammy instantaneously hears the sounds of Jimmy and Steve gasping for air, followed by coughing as they both begin to breathe again!

As she looks over to check on them, she can now see that they are no longer hanging upside down but are now laying side by side each other on the ground.

With a huge sigh of relief, Sammy looks up to see Luke and Jenny's headlights have now arrived at the big Oak where she, Jimmy, and Steve are at!

"Sammy, are you OK? I could hear you screaming from across the pasture!" Luke asks sincerely as he hops off his quad.

"Yeah, Sam, We could hear you screaming too! It didn't sound good! Are you sure you're OK?" Kate says empathetically, hoping her friend really is fine.

"Ye-eah, I'm fine.. It's just that.. that I found Jimmy and Steve!" Sammy quickly responds back as she points to under the tree as Luke, Jenny, and Kate all rush closer to look to where Sammy is pointing.

"What the hell are they doing out here?" Luke says, outloud puzzedly, while scratching his head simultaneously, trying to figure out what the hell actually happened tonight.

"I-I'm not sure.. I was riding around looking for them and caught a glimpse of something in my headlights. From a distance in the dark, I couldn't see really well and I thought they were being attacked by Coyotes at first is all" Sammy tells the group hopng they believe her reasoning for screaming "But, as I got closer I could tell that it was just Jimmy and Steve under the tree and the dark playing tricks on me. I was going to call ya'll, but I just wanted to make sure they were OK first! Sorry if I scared ya'll." Sammy answers back while hoping her friends don't notice that she's lying to them.

Luckily, her facial expressions are masked by the darkness of the night. Sammy has always been truthful with her friends and has never lied to them in the past, but in this situation, she can't possibly tell them the truth, can she?

There's no way that they would believe her, right? They'd probably think she's crazy and have her locked up for observation in an asylum.

"I'm just glad you're OK!" Luke states sincerely as he points over to Jimmy and Steve and says,"And them too! Even if they are clowns!... I just don't get why they left the fire like they did. They get more excited for the fire's than I do!"

"Yeah, it is odd.. even for those two." Jenny quickly adds as Luke walks closer to Jimmy and Steve while shining his flashlight at them.

Luke shines his light around the tree. He can see the reminsce of empty beer bottles as well as an empty fifth of Jack spread out along the underside of the tree.

They are also able to see that Jimmy, as well as Steve are only wearing their pants and socks and have their shirts draped over the top of them as if being used as a blanket to try and keep warm on this cool night.

As Sammy looks on, she can't help but think to herself, "How did they go from hanging upside down practically dead and naked.. to like this...and so quick?" Sammy shakes her head, trying to get the thought of Jimmy and Steve dead out of her mind as she finalizes her thought, "It doesn't even matter.. I'm just glad they're OK!"

Just as Sammy finishes her thought, Luke begins shaking Jimmy and Steve by their shoulders, trying to wake them up. "Hey, IDIOTS! Wake up!" Luke shouts to them

"Five more minutes, mom," in a mumbled, slurred tone is heard coming from Steve as he adjusts himself and awkardly cuddles up to Jimmy to instinctively get warm

"Oh, gosh.. They must be drunk as a skunk!" Kate says to Jenny as they shake their heads at the awkward situation

"C'mon, GET UP! TIME TO GO!" Luke shouts with a more forceful tone, finally disturbing Jimmy's sleep as he comes to.

As Jimmy starts to awaken and open his eyes, he asks in a mumble, "Wh-what's going on? I just wanna sleep."

"Dude, you're passed out in the middle of the pasture cuddled up with your girlfriend!" Luke responds back in a joking manner.

While Luke is fairly upset due to tonight's events, he knows there's no point in bringing it about right now because with the state of his friends, he knows they won't remember this conversation tomorrow.

Jimmy rubs his eyes while he looks over to see who is cuddling against him to notice none other than Steve with his arm draped over his back.

He quickly realizes that he and Steve must've passed out in the field and quickly pushes Steve off of himself as he shouts with some embarrassment. "MAN, WHAT THE HELL? GET OFF ME! WAKE UP!"

Steve finally comes to abruptly ask in a groggy tone, "What's wrong?"

"You idiots disappeared from the bonfire hours ago and had us worried sick when we couldn't find you.. but yet we find you two out here having a nice little time with each other!" Kate quickly scolds the two of them about their actions tonight while also teasing them slightly.

"Wh-what? I-I don't remember ever leaving the pond?!?" Steve lazily responds back while looking around, trying to figure out where he is.

"Yeah, me either.. Last thing I remember was Sammy pulling up earlier, and that's it." Jimmy follows up with in a puzzled tone.

"Well, looking at all this.. I can see why you don't remember much!?!" Luke states as he shines his flashlight on the empty bottles spread out under the tree.

At this time, Sammy is still pretty shaken up by the events that she has witnessed tonight and has been hanging back while her friends talk with Jimmy and Steve about what happened.

She keeps replaying everything that happened in her mind, wondering if it all actually happened the way she recalls it or if her mind really is playing tricks on her?

Sammy takes a look at her phone to see that it is well after midnight now and says to the group, "It's late out ya'll. Let's head out so everyone can get some rest tonight, and we can talk about it tomorrow and see if we can't make some sense out of all this?

"Yeah, I agree.. It's been a long day." Luke responds back sincerely as he leans over to help Jimmy and then Steve stand up.

"It's super late. I'm ready for bed myself." Kate also responds as she looks over towards Luke with her usual shy smile.

Luke quickly follows up by saying, "Jenny, can you give these two a ride over to the house? They can just crash at my place tonight.. It's late, and they are obviously too drunk to be driving anywhere."

"Of course, it's not a problem." Jenny quickly answers back

Luke helps Jimmy and Steve make their way over to Jenny's Jeep while telling the group, "Stay close behind and follow me back up towards the pond.."

Sammy quickly interrupts and states, "We're pretty close to my parent's property.. I'm just gonna go ahead and head home from here! Let's meet up tomorrow?"

The group all say their short goodbyes while parting ways for the night, leaving Sammy to begin the short journey across the pastures back towards her family's property.

Sammy is riding along, she is once again replaying the events of the last 24 hours in her mind. From all of the odd things she has seen in the sky, to the vivid flashbacks, the voices in her head, the cattle, and now Jimmy and Steve.. It just doesn't make sense.

As odd as each one of the occurences are, they all seem to be connected to each other. In times of need, Sammy would usually rely on her friends Jenny and Kate to talk to, but in this situation, there is no way that she can talk to them about this.. at least not yet.

As Sammy nears her house, her eyes are once again drawn to the night's sky, thinking how beautiful it is with the large number of stars combined with the brightness of the moon.

So Sammy decides to stop her quad for a few minutes to just stop and think in an attempt to make some sort of sense out of all this craziness.

She stares up into the beautiful night's sky but can't help but wonder as she rubs her temple, "Are we alone, or are there really other life forms out there? But, if this is all true.. How can they be so powerful and advanced?"

Just as Sammy finishes her thoughts, she is instantly blinded by a familiar blue light, but this time it isn't bouncing through the sky as it did earlier..

The light is directly above her in a vertical formation and is growing in intensity as it becomes brighter and brighter.

It becomes so bright that the only thing Sammy can do to block the light in any form is to close her eyes, but even with closing her eyes, it's so bright that it begins to give her an extreme headache like she had expierenced earlier that day.

The headache continues to grow with intensity to the point that it is becoming unbearable, forcing Sammy to succumb to the pain as she slips away into the darkness as she loses consciousnesses.