In Search of Home

Chapter 2

He finally got a glimpse of these creatures that Jake spoke about. After what seemed like hours, the ship they were on finally stopped rumbling. He guessed that they had arrived. Viktor had no idea where they were, however. Maybe Peru? Japan? He didn't know how fast this thing traveled.

The door that had opened to load them all in opened slowly, letting in light that silhouetted at least a dozen bulky creatures. They were vaguely humanoid in shape but stood at least 10 feet tall. Viktor's 5'6 frame seemed puny in comparison. They had two arms and two legs that were filled with muscle. As they grunted and gestured to humans, shoving them out the door before the rest got the message to start walking out, Viktor could see that their skin was tough looking, quite like the rhinos he had seen at a zoo. They were maroon, but some of them had tints of blue or red in them. Their faces were stocky and looked like an orc's. Their mouths were lipless, and when they spoke to one another, sharp teeth lined their jaws. Their teeth were as long as his fingers. They had small horns along the ridge of their skulls, along with small fleshy spikes from their cheeks and eyebrows. He even saw one that had a tail like an alligator's. Not all of them seemed to have one, though.

They looked scary as hell, is all Viktor cared about right now.

As he walked out of the door, blinking at the sudden glaring light, he could hear people arguing with their kidnappers. Shouts of why are we here, where are we, hello can you hear me, and let us go were all he heard, along with a murmur of other languages he could only vaguely recognize as he stepped outside of the ship. 

He almost fell to his knees in shock, his legs suddenly felt very weak. Viktor didn't believe his eyes. They were not on Earth, anymore. 

The sky was a hazy yellow as if too many pollutants got into the air before anything could've been done about them. The ground underneath his feet was a dull brown, but the plants that sprouted between the cracks of what looked like sloppy cement were various shades of red, dull green and brown. He didn't know anywhere on Earth where these things grew. Were they on a different planet? 

He was pushed angrily by a bulky alien, a sharp grunt of annoyance echoing in his ear. Viktor glared, facial features contorting with fear and confusion, but he kept trying to move forward. Surely, this wasn't an alien planet? Was this some elaborate movie set? Maybe his dad had signed a permission slip the school had sent him that allowed this, but doubts were creeping on him. Why, then, did everyone look so frightened? His classmates would be excited to be on a movie set. Plus, they would've explained what was going on, wouldn't they? 

Creepy movie ruled out, then. Viktor was ushered into a large corral, the fences as tall as him. It was much larger than the cargo bay he had exited. He looked behind him. The ship that everyone had thought was a freak meteor was huge. He had to crane his neck to see the top, and even then, he couldn't see where it ended on either side. Tall buildings blocked his view. 

He swallowed nervously, looking around for a familiar face in the crowd. He really didn't want to be here. He wanted to find his dad if he was even here. He wanted to go home and watch corny YouTube videos and scroll through TikTok until he passed out. 

"Dad?" he shouted into the crowd. About ten men turned to look at him worriedly, but once they realized he wasn't their kid, they looked away. "John, Jake?" 

There was no one around. He chewed on his lip nervously, watching as the ship seemed to empty of humans. There were millions here. Far more than he could count. He was pressed uncomfortably against others. They were crammed in like a box of sardines. 

A scuffle broke out nearby him. Someone had shoved another and shouts erupted from the humans. Viktor watched nervously, trying to squeeze past everyone to get away as the crowd around him started to get riled up and angry. The aliens that were watching shouted something in their grunting, clicking language. One of them shouldered through the crowd. Viktor couldn't see what it did to the men, but their yells of pain and surprise were enough for his imagination to make it up.