4. The Alien Warehouse
Roberto Clemson began to remember how he came to transfer to Chino High School. Cynthia seemed like such a very sweet and innocent girl, full of all the things that he seemed to be missing in his life. Roberto came from a very troubled past and his life had been full of disappointments and tragedy. Mr. And Mrs. Clemson were not his birth parents, as he had been adopted at a young age. Most of his background had been expunged by the juvenile court system, to further his possibility of adoption prospects, although he was not entirely convinced that Mr. Van Clemson didn’t know about some of the things he had done. Roberto had been in trouble with the legal system on numerous occasions in his past, and one particular night was still very vivid in his mind. He and a group of young kids had broken into a warehouse on the docks of New York.
That is where some of his past took place, New York, N.Y. Alone in the house, while his mother worked several jobs, led him to opportunities to go off on adventures with his gang of friends. They were all very corrupt little children, if that is what you could call them. Most of them acted and took on the responsibilities of criminal adults, and on occasion it was not unusual to even have to kill other young thugs, if the occasion merited it. His birth mother, Sally Smith, was always busy, either working cleaning other people’s houses, selling drugs, or entertaining young men at home. Either way, she didn’t even mind if he left the house, since some of her customers could get very angry if he found a kid there, and the two of them often got noisy. He didn’t like to hear the sounds his mother made up in the bedroom. Although he knew what was happening, he felt embarrassed to hear her going on so. He knew she was just putting on to make the customers feel good. It was all just depressing, and he preferred to be on the street when she was home working her part time jobs. A man in a black Cadillac came by often to collect his part of the money for arranging dates for her. Roberto knew what was going on, and it was all just part of life in New York. That’s how his mother survived, anyway. They would have gone hungry without her hooker jobs.
When she brought them home, that’s when the drugs got worse and Social Services finally took him away from his mother, and he was even glad to be getting a better life. Sally Smith, his mother, abused him, the pimps hit him, and even the customers hit him and tried to abuse him. It was all for the better to be out of that house, away from her, and away from her part time jobs. He didn’t miss her at all mostly, except on occasions when he felt sorry for her and got depressed, but Roberto didn’t mind living with the Clemson family. His mother was better off and she got the help she needed at the government rehab. The Clemson family were nice people, like Cynthia Urte’s family. All the kids at Chino High School mostly had very nice families, not like where he came from, living in the hood in New York City.
The night he remembered in New York, was a big deal with his little gang. They were all going to break into a warehouse and steal anything they found, and then they would convert it to cash at a favorite pawn shop, one that was a trusted site and not prone to inform suspicious sellers to the police . They had an older kid who had a driver’s license made, illegally of course, and he could pawn all the items and use his fake license to do it with. It was a great scheme, until the aliens got involved. They actually had something in the warehouse that his little gang didn’t know anything about, and not even were suspicious that actual alien beings from outer space had taken up residence in a warehouse in New York City. Roberto’s friend and one of the gang leaders, Ricky Ryan, had the original idea to target this particular warehouse, when the two of them noticed from a distance that someone was moving something like big expensive items in late one night. When Ricky didn’t show up for days after the break in, the gang would have taken it out on him when things didn’t go exactly to plan. They were always supposed to have each others backs when in trouble.
He specifically remembered how it all happened, now that Cynthia had recently come into his life. Her experience with the aliens brought it all back, and he was not so sure that she knew exactly what she was in for. The aliens out on the country road that attacked her had to be the same group that he remembered in New York. They worked the same modus operandi or M.O., as his police detective friend in New York, Detective Leon Alvarez, would have said. The result was the same, capture and torment. If they caught her, she would waste away in one of the plastic coffins and could become the host of a new hybrid alien offspring. He hated to think of that, but he was being used, just like her. His quest in life was to find a way to get rid of them, forever.
The night he had been taken was still fresh in his memory. Ever since that night and his lucky escape, he had been tracking them and keeping up with any disappearances he could associate with their methods, knowing that somehow he might be able to find a way to destroy them. It seemed to be his only goal in life now was not success, or riches, or even graduation, and not love either. If love happened along the way, then it would be good. Roberto wasn’t exactly sure that he was in love with Cynthia, or just using her to get to the aliens. Somehow, he had become obsessed with killing any of them, maybe even just one. She seemed to be the key to this whole mystery. They would be tracking her now and looking for her, probably to make an example out of, since she put out the eye of one of their predators. He saw it and witnessed it, out on that lone stretch of highway, where he had been staking out the kill zone. That was where he would go back to and find them. They seemed to especially like that stretch of highway for some reason.
On the night of July 4, 2012, he had just turned 10 and was celebrating his birthday by going out with the gang on a scavenger hunt, meaning that they would break into some building and take anything of value they found. The whole city was celebrating the fourth, and fireworks could be seen even in the early part of the night, off the waterfront. It lit up the skyline with fireworks from all different parts of New York. Everything was closed for the fourth and the gang leader, Ricky Ryan, thought it was good time to get in and get out, without anyone knowing what happened. One New York City detective almost got a transfer to another planet, but he actually did prevent most of the robbery, except Roberto found something to use against the aliens that night and had held onto it ever since.
In those days he was known as Roberto Smith, the son of Sally Smith, and he was remembering the events as they had taken place. Ricky had always told the other members to keep the most important thing in mind, and that was to always watch each others back. That means that if someone didn’t come back from a raid or a scavenger hunt, then you were responsible for the other gang members, and punishment could be forthcoming if anyone was left behind. He knew what could happen to him if the code was not kept and taken to heart. Ricky was the enforcer and he saw him on two different occasions actually shoot other gang members execution style. So, he knew the same could happen to him, even if Ricky was no longer around. It was coldblooded, but that is what gang life was all about. They even received a little pep talk before the operation started.
“What is the first and last commandment in our business, Roberto? I’m sure you know it by heart, but tell the other ones who are a little newer than you are, so they will remember it. What is the number one objective in our quest to make a better life for all our members?”
“Watch your back! Watch your buddy’s back even better. If one person does not come back, it’s everyone’s fault and judgment is due.”
“That’s right Roberto, and judgment will be due, meaning that there is a penalty to be paid if we don’t stay in the gang together. We’re all in it for better or worse. So let’s don’t make it worse. We stick together, and always we watch each others backs!”
Detective Alvarez must have been hidden among the abandoned warehouse trucks at the corner of the lot. Our gang cut the fence and went in almost right under the nose of the detective. He didn’t even move a muscle, but just waited it out, to catch us red-handed. My best friend, Ricky Ryan, went in ahead of me, and I hung back to keep a lookout. I didn’t know whether or not we had been observed, so I was told to be the last one in to make sure we had not been followed. That was the plan, and everything went perfect, except we didn’t know what we were breaking into. The detective didn’t see me when he passed, heading into the warehouse in pursuit of the rest of the gang. I wanted to warn my friends that they were being watched, but it was too late. It didn’t matter anyway, because the aliens had an excellent lookout system, some kind of perimeter alarm and surveillance system that must have seen all of us. They wanted us to come in and that’s what happened, as one by one we were all captured by the predators. They must have thought it a reward, to have five new human hosts to add to the big catch that they already had inside the black tube pods.
I saw Ricky in the distance and just as he was taken and the detective shouted for them to halt and raise their hands, so was he taken as well. The predator must have already been in position, because he employed some kind of drone to automatically target all the gang and Detective Alvarez at the same instant. They never had a chance. For some reason, the aliens didn’t notice me in the very back. I wanted to warn the gang, but that detective had already shouted for them to stop, before I arrived. I saw an object on the floor and picked it up, curious about what it was and maybe to be able to use it as a weapon. The artifact was short, almost like a knife but cylindrical and blunt on the end and had a dull almost chisel-shaped nose. As soon as I gripped it, something happened between it and my brain. Some kind of charge was coordinated between me and the device, and then it disappeared in my hand as I relaxed my hold, almost as if it had become an invisible part of me. I could feel its presence and passed it from one hand to the other, only by touch, because my eyes couldn’t see any part it. I gripped the device in my right hand and hid behind behind one of the big black tubes. I saw all the rest of the gang and the detective being taken one by one, and then they came for me.
I was trapped immediately in a web of some kind of stinging material with a field of magnetic energy and held in midair, waiting for the guy with the needle to approach and finish the capture. I saw it happening to all the others. It was almost like an ultra fast conveyor-belt factory operation, as each one of us was trapped and then injected with the needle. My eyes were open but I couldn’t do anything, and the device was still in my right hand, but nobody could see it, not even the aliens. They must have lost it in the hurry to prepare for our entry. Since I was the last one in, I was the last to be trapped and captured. The only thing I knew was that in the back of my brain; if I got that needle, I wasn’t coming back to Earth. They would take me far far away and I would be lost forever. I didn’t have so much of a feeling of abandonment, but I wanted revenge and to this day that is still almost the single thing that drives me. I lost my friends that day. The detective and I were the only ones to escape.
Just before the big gray guy with the needle took over from the droid operation, the droids captured us with entangling webs that had something like jelly fish tentacles on its surfaces. I managed to grip the little tool in my hand and started the sequence that set me free. It responded to my hand pressure, and an arc of plasma heat and fire erupted from the end of it, almost like some kind of electrified loop that goes out and comes back to the dull chiseled edge of it. The thing cut the web that I was held in, and as I gripped it even tighter, it extended out and completely sliced off the arm of the droid that held me up off the floor. I ran swinging the thing at the droids and pushing it at the first person I came to, which was the policeman, entangled with a droid operator and getting nowhere with his arms pinned back. I sliced the top of droid that was quickly weaving something around him and trying to place the policeman into a big black tube. As soon as I pulled him out of the small pod, the droids jerked the other black plastic pod containers that held my friends into a long extension tube, and they were immediately taken into the ship at the back of the warehouse, faster than we could react.
“The detective shouted at me to get out, and began firing his pistol at the predator, who had turned his attention back to us. I think the police detective must have hit the alien, because he and the automated droids retreated into the space ship, and then the thing just took off straight up, leaving something that looked exactly like fireworks breaking out of the warehouse into the night sky. The huge fireworks display disguised the small flames coming from the spaceship, and it then disappeared through the open roof of the warehouse. After I relaxed, the implement disappeared and the detective just looked at me curiously.
“Do you realize what just happened kid?”
“Yeah, I just witnessed all my friends being taken into a spaceship by aliens and then disappear off the face of the Earth.” He put his revolver back into the holster and he put his hand on his forehead and just let out a big curse word.
“Son of a gun! Wait till the guys back at the precinct hear this story. They won’t believe a word I say.”
“Yeah, so you better not tell them what happened. It’s true. They won’t believe either one of us. What are you going to do about me? I did save you, right? Detective, you have to let me go.”
“Well, we’ll see about that. What’s your name, son?”
“My name is Roberto Smith. I won’t be in any trouble for breaking into this warehouse, will I? You know there is not a whole lot of explaining that can be done about this, right?”
“I don’t know son. You did break the law, but since you saved me from being taken by those sons of bitches, I guess I could let it slide. I haven’t called in any reports yet to the precinct. What are you going to do now, just keep taking things that don’t belong to you? This might should serve as a warning, son. Don’t you think?”
“No, I mean yes, but I actually would like to get out of this town, and maybe I could go to some place safe. That’s where you might be able to help me. Could you by some chance, do me a big favor for what I did for you tonight? It wouldn’t be too much trouble and it’s clearly within the law.”
“What’s that kid? You need a ride back home.?
“Yeah, that’s just the thing. You see I need to get out of here and away from my mother and her friends. She beats on me all the time, her Johns beat me up, because they don’t like a kid there with her, and her pimp does worse than that to both of us. I’m just sick and tired of living in the house I’m in right now. Here is what I want from you detective. I need for you to arrest me, take me to Juvenile Court and have social services take me out of my house and away from my abusive mother. She’s on drugs, and won’t stop, without some help. Get her into a court provided rehab and get me to some place safe, so the rest of my gang doesn’t find me, nor the pimp that beats up both me and my mother. Could you do that for us detective? You owe me one. Don’t you? It would actually help both of us out. When the others find out that I’m the only one left alive, they’ll come for me.”
“Well, Roberto, you sure lay it on the line. I don’t now how I’ll explain what happened to the squad back at the precinct, but I can say that I caught you and the others got away. They can’t prosecute you, because I didn’t actually catch you with any stolen property, but I did see you and that gang of yours break in through the fence. As for as taking you away from your mother, a judge will have to decide that. I do know a judge that I can call in a few favors on. It will still take some time, but meanwhile I can have him swear out a warrant on your mother for child neglect, that is if we find drugs in her apartment. Do you know that if we raid it, there will be any there? Just tell me where they are exactly, and we won’t have to toss the whole apartment.”
“Yeah, of course, I’ll tell you where she keeps them. I just can’t go back to my neighborhood, because tomorrow I’ll be dead. There were five of us all together, and I’ll get the rap for their disappearance. This gang has strict rules about taking care of each others backs. I’ll get blamed for their disappearance, and vanish into thin air, just like them, only in pieces and wrapped in a black garbage bag.”
“I see your point kid. On the way back, I’ll call the judge and see if I can get you detained in a juvenile home for your own safety. It will be up to the judge to place you somewhere in the next few days. We’ll contact a social worker and see what happens. I’m pretty sure that if we arrest your mother and anybody else in the apartment on drugs or even weapons charges, you’ll be home free, so to speak, only in another home much safer than in your own neighborhood.”
“That’s great Detective Alvarez. We’ve got each others backs, right, detective? We can’t really say what happened here, though. People will think we’re crazy and lock us both up.”
“Yeah, I think maybe you’re right, Roberto. Oh, by the way, you got any weapons on you? I’ll have to take them if you do.”
“Oh, no, tonight I didn’t bring anything. This was supposed to be a piece of cake, you know, with it being July 4 and all the fireworks. Looks like the aliens created their own fireworks show.”
“By the way, how did you get me free? It seemed like you had something strange in your hand. I was almost out of it and couldn’t actually see clearly. It did barely see something moving around, but my mind was all foggy for a few minutes, like I was dazed and unable to move. The aliens had me stunned with something.”
“Oh, that was just a piece of pipe I picked up, then I tossed it when you pulled out your weapon and started shooting at them. I didn’t want you to think that I was some kind of threat or anything.”
“No, kid, I wouldn’t do that. Thanks anyway, for the help. I do owe you one anyway. You did good, for a gang member, Roberto. . Maybe you’ll have a chance to get rehabilitated some day after all.”
“Well, OK, maybe we should be going before they come back.”
“Yeah, lets go. As long as you’re coming peacefully, I won’t handcuff you. You’re not going to try something strange, are you?”
“No, of course not detective, we’re good friends now. Real friends watch each others backs.”
“You know for a little kid, you think like someone older than you are. How old are you anyway, son? I’ll have to put it in the report.”
“Ten, I just turned ten today,sir. It’s my birthday.”
“Wow, what a birthday celebration. I’ll bet you won’t forget this one. You’ll be an old man and still remember, but can’t tell anyone.” We left the warehouse and the detective put me in the back of the patrol vehicle, locked in but not handcuffed. I still had the instrument with me, but it was completely invisible. I wondered if it would stay that way as long as it was near my body. It seemed to have attached its electronics to my personal data stored internally in my body. I would have to stash it somewhere, but I didn’t actually know where right now. Eventually they would discover it at the police station if I didn’t get rid of it. I was scared that they would go really ape crazy if they found out what it could do. We’d all be quarantined by the government , questioned endlessly, and I’d lose the artifact for good.
Somehow, I managed to shove the little pipe down deep into the back of the seat of the detective’s patrol car. It fit perfectly into the fold of the seat and the back of the seat, where there was a little niche that the manufacturer had left between the seats. Somehow I’d have to get Detective Alvarez to give me another ride in the car to recover it. I hoped that when the car was cleaned out that nobody discovered it, or some perp taking a ride downtown didn’t find it.
We entered the parking garage area for the patrol cars and Detective Leon got out and opened the back door for me. He filled out all the paperwork for the case, and we were notified from the judge that I could be housed for a few days in safety, while my case worker straightened out all the details. My mother was picked up and booked, along with her John, since both them had a kilo of drugs between the two of them. On the second day of my stay at the children’s home, I was told that I could return to my house and get my personal items from the apartment. I begged and begged for Detective Leon Alvarez to personally drive me there and back to the children’s home, because I felt that my life would be in danger from the other gang members. Finally they relented and Detective Leon showed up at the care home.
“Wow, thanks Detective Leon, I really appreciate this. I only want a few odds and ends from my old apartment. They told me that mom would be taken care of and sent to a rehab unit. I need for you to know that the other boys will be targeting me for the disappearance of the other members when I go back. You will be careful, and I asked for you especially, because of the tight relationship we have and all.”
“OK, Roberto. I gotta get going, though. I have another case, a homicide to investigate. We’ll just drive over and get a few items and come right back. A Social Worker could have done the same thing.”
“No, you don’t understand, they’ll kill me on sight. If I show up without some kind of protection, I’m a dead man.”
“Wow, for a ten year old, you really have a deep involvement in this gang world. I know it’s serious business, but they couldn’t care that much about kids just being missing. You didn’t do anything to them. I guess they will think otherwise, though. OK, let’s get going.”
I got in the back seat and slowly pushed my hand down into the seats, and touched the object. It instantly disappeared when I pulled it out and stuck it in my trouser pocket. It half protruded but nobody could still see anything. I was almost home free but had to stash it in the apartment in a good place, so that I could come back later and it would still be there. They might even tear down that place soon, since it was a really rundown bunch of buildings. We pulled up to the front entrance and the detective and I walked up to the front door. One of kids shouted out that it was Roberto and the police. A bunch of them ran to the front of the door and started giving me hell.
“Hey Roberto, where is Ricky and the where are all the others? You turned them in, didn’t you snitch? You’re as good as dead, you little asshole. You won’t live when you come back to this place, not another day. We’ll cut you up into little pieces and throw you in the river,” said another one of the gang leaders, an older boy who I didn’t even know very well. The Detective told them to move out of the way or he would call the squad to arrest all of them. They moved back and let us in. I immediately went up to the second floor apartment of my mother, and the detective opened up the door with a key he obtained from Social Services. We entered and I took out the plastic bag I brought with me, and began to load up my socks and underwear from the drawer.
“Detective Leon, I need to go to the bathroom real bad. I’ll be right back and we can get the hell out of here.”
“Watch your mouth, son. You need to change after you leave this place. You’ve been in with a bad group of people, but not everyone is like them. Hurry up. I’ve got another case to work on.” I went in to the bathroom and shut the door. Climbing up on the toilet, I managed to get up onto the steam heater and could barely reach the ceiling tiles, but I pulled one back and slid the artifact deep into a crevice that the two by fours had left after the forming up of the ceiling rafters. The old building still had its hiding places, one that also contained a locked-back knife and a small .22 pistol that I stole from Ricky a few months ago. One day before they tear down this place, I’d return to get all my items that I had