Balance Of Darkness

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE:

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE

Somewhere in the California desert, in the middle of October, a truck was travelling. It was around 7 a.m., the sun was rising, and the desert was getting more visible – a few trees, not much grass, a mountain, a lot of sand… and that was about it. Two men, not much pleasant looking, were in the truck – the driver had brown hair, the passenger was bald.

“That was quite a hit, eh?” said the driver. “Smuggling might be a dirty business, but it pays off!”

“Yeah, but we gotta be more careful. The cops in California are serious, you know?” said the passenger.

“Sure they are!” scoffed the driver. “That’s why we’re here on our way, and the cops have no idea.”

“Well, I hope not, but just in case I think we should---”

And then, like a bolt from the blue, an object fell like a meteor about 1000 feet from the truck. It was on the right side, and the passenger saw it, but only for a second, right before it hit the sand.

“Jesus Christ!” said the passenger. “Stop the truck! Stop the truck!”

“What?!” said the driver and stopped. “Did you see that?!”

“See what?”

“Right there!” he pointed the spot where the object fell, but it was too far away.

“Something fell from the sky!”

“Oh, yeah, I saw it… That was your brain! You should go get it back, even though it won’t make much difference.”

“How could you not see it?!”

“You’re still half asleep, huh?”

“No, I… I know I saw something!”

He got out of the truck and ran to the spot.

“Hey, where the hell are you going?!” yelled the driver. He grabbed a shotgun from the back of the truck and got out.

The passenger reached the object after two minutes running – it looked like some big figure, bigger than human. It was also frozen and scary looking. He saw it and said:

“What the hell is that?!”

“What are you running for like some… Whoa!” said the driver, as he arrived and saw the mysterious thing.

“I told you I saw it! But what is it?”

“Uh… some king of... frozen statue or…”

“And it fell from the sky, I’m sure! I saw it!”

“So, what do we do with it? Let’s take it.”

“Take it?! Are you crazy?!”

“Why? What could happen?”

“I don’t, but…”

“Then shut up and help me lift it!”

They tried, but it was quite heavy and cold... and it was slipping; they only moved it a few inches.

“Damn, that thing is heavy!” said the passenger.

They were about to try again, but then the iced figure started to c***k. The two men got scared and quickly stepped away from it.

“What---?! Is it melting?” said the driver.

It started to c***k more and more… and the figure inside the ice looked like it was wiggling.

“Whoa?! Do you see that?!” said the passenger.

In a few seconds the ice shell shattered to pieces, and the two covered themselves. When they looked again, the figure was still there (out of the ice) and it was moving – the things that looked like its arms moved first, then what must have been legs, then the head. The two men were stunned and started to back away. The figure stood up slowly, and now they were standing before an 8-foot grey creature with two arms, legs and eyes, but different from those of a human:

its arms were long, thick, with three fingers each and with no nails;

the shape of its head was more like a human head, but bigger at the lower half, and the neck was thick;

on the back of its head it had a long, thick dog-like tail, pointing downwards and reaching the waist – it was not hair, it was a part of the head;

its eyes were similar to human eyes, but a little bigger, beige, with a dim light in them, and without eyelids or pupils;

its nose looked like a squirrel’s nose with no nostrils;

its mouth looked like a bear’s mouth (just the lips, not the whole mouth) and it had light grey diamond-shaped teeth;

on the right and left sides of the head there were two curved lines instead of ears;

the creature was dressed in strange dark grey clothes, looking like some uniform – boots with metal soles, pants with small metal flat rectangular pieces on them, a metal belt, and a shirt with no sleeves, and also with small metal flat rectangular pieces on it.

“What the hell…?!” stuttered the passenger.

“Hold it!” shouted the driver scared, but remembering that he was holding a shotgun; and the other one grabbed his g*n from the holster.

The mysterious creature started to walk slowly towards them, and in their panic they started to shoot – 6 shotgun shots and 13 pistol shots… which did not even scratch the giant. He approached and kicked the driver, which hurled him 20 feet away, and he fell on the sand not moving anymore. The passenger ran for dear life, but the big one reached him with his long arm, punching him in the back, and he shared the fate of his friend. The 8 footer looked around, clearly not knowing where he was, and then he looked at the dead driver. In a few moments his eyes flashed brighter for 3-4 seconds, then he just made his way to somewhere...