Vince Martin gazed after his rescuer, and rubbed again his travel weary eyes. “Hey, wait, I need to stop. I’m tired. Stop!” He shouted after the shining figure which was now disappearing out of sight ahead of him. Somehow, he managed to find the strength to run after the figure. He noted they were in a sector of The Fortress which he’d never been in before. Huge double doors of shining metal lined the corridors on either side. Banks of lights; which flashed & switched themselves on and off intermittently; adorned the walls at every intersection. Warning signs blazed, displaying symbols and words of a language Vince could not understand.
Once, he had passed an open door and had chanced a quick glance into the bunker-like space inside, he had seen what had looked like an immense ship of some kind there. The place gave him the creeps, so did the wraith-like being who had rescued him. Since its opening statement it had remained silent. All of its communications with him, had come by way of thought images and simple gesticulations from its hands.
Vince came around a bend in a corridor and almost collided with the wraith which was standing waiting for him to catch up, “God damn... you scared me. Still not talking to me, then? Since you won't tell me what you’re called, I’m gonna nickname you Brian. That okay with you?” He looked across at the wraith, which as per usual paid no attention to him. It merely pointed in the direction of an open doorway opposite and proceeded to walk through it. Vince had no other choice but to follow “Brian” through it, the door closing without a sound behind them.
Ahead of them, was what appeared to Vince, some kind of roadway. On its asphalt looking surface were strange and indecipherable markings. Vince reached down to an object lying on its surface, it was a dull grey in colour, roughly six inches in diameter and appeared to be made of metal. It was weightless in his hand. At its centre was some kind of grating that appeared to Vince to be a speaker. He turned it over in his hands and noticed on its reverse side, two small blue buttons. He pressed the first one, and gained a bleep. From the object issued a sudden series of buzzes and then the sound of radio interference; from out of the interference he could perceive a human voice, though he could not make out what was being said.
He gazed round at the wraith, which looked back at him expressionless as if it paid no attention to his find. He pressed down the button again and received the same noise sequence. Vince then pressed the second button and gained nothing. He was about to discard the object, when the middle finger of his left hand detected a depression in the side of the object. He brought the object to his eyes for closer inspection and noticed another switch within a pocket on the side of the object. He pressed it, nothing happened. Again he pressed one of the two blue buttons, this time he could hear the voice more clearly, the other button … ‘must be a volume control’, he thought. He caught the end of a sentence from out of the speaker, “...position. Do you copy? Respond alpha seven four...respond...“. He pressed then the other blue switch, cleared his throat and spoke into the speaker, “Hello? Who's there? I am Vince Martin...can someone get me out of this godforsaken place, I’m lost?” He pressed the other blue switch once more, “Who the hell are you? Where is Agent Walters?”
It was then the wraith sprang into a flurry of activity, it suddenly grabbed the intercom from out of a surprised Vince Martin's left hand, crushing it without effort with its own hand. It then pushed Vince to the floor, and restrained him there with its right foot on his chest. It spoke calmly to a now frightened Vince Martin. “Human... I’m Horatius, I have been sent to lead you to safety, not into danger. Come, we must go and meet my master. Please, follow me...”
Draft Extract taken from "The Host" ... written by Matthew James
