All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced by copy, written or any other manner, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book. This book is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, locations, events, brands, circumstances and incidents are of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

For my mother Hilda and sister Natalie who have encouraged my work since my earliest poems. I am so fortunate to know two brilliant women who humble me with their elegance, beauty, knowledge, honesty, love and encouragement. I credit my mother Hilda for her talent in writing and my sister Natalie for her truth as a reporter. These lessons I share in my own work. If anyone has been blessed to know my mother or sister, they have been fortunate to have such graceful footsteps marked by wisdom and sincerity tread ever so lightly bringing joy and refinement into their lives. I can only attempt to bask in their genius and await more of their creative endeavors and success which shadows their endless inspiration. Words aside, simply thank you for being in my life.

To God for his favor. To my grandfather for his unconditional love and grandmother for her ambition. To all those I have met along the way who offered a kind word or helped me with no gain in return may you be blessed.

To my reader, this is for you. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. May we meet again many times through words.

Chapter 1- The Lazarus Man

Gilbert and Ivan Chuttle snuck closer to the fence. They had never dared this close before. They could almost touch it. The boys couldn’t imagine the dangerous outcome of their innocent actions. It was child’s play. But it would become a fatal error.

The brothers peeked with laser eyes that honed in fifty feet past the barbed wire to the building. What was inside occupied their every waking thought that summer. It would be a defining moment in their young lives but they couldn’t possibly know the world was filled with evil. At that age, they were consumed with a world filled with wonder and the unknown, naivety has consequences that can last a lifetime.

“There’s something going on,” Gilbert whispered to his brother Ivan, pointing wildly at the building beyond the fence.

Ducking low behind his older brother, ten year old Ivan, followed the quick pace, the stop and look eyes that darted and the finger that went to the mouth, “Hush.”

He followed without question, his belief in Gilbert, two years his senior, never wavered.

“I know,” he resounded.

Ivan trusted his older brother like any other normal sibling relationship. But still, he sensed it, that feeling, that dread that comes with knowing you’re right about something. Something dangerous. But you just can’t help yourself.

So, Ivan followed. Through the tall weeds, behind the large trees, as Gilbert led them to the steely fence.

They were out in the middle of nowhere that cool June day. Worse, than being out in the middle of nowhere, was residing in the middle of nowhere. Cotter, Arkansas. It was the kind of place, the boys deduced on their two hour long bus ride to school, where dirt roads never end.

Most small boys grow up and vow to never return to a place like Cotter, Arkansas. They long for the pace and excitement of the city and the opportunities of travel. They could dream about leaving Cotter forever but they boys would learn it was impossible.

The building found their eyes and the brothers gave each other a quick look, thrilled with their discovery. Yet, there it was. Boring and large. Much like a warehouse. Bland on the outside. Colorless, really. Nothing special. A building just behind that fence. That big long fence that surrounded that building.

Billy Wildly had told the boys last week in school during lunch that the military used small planes to drop down over the big empty fields over Cotter looking for pot fields.

This was no empty field. This was dirt. With a building. With a fence.

Perhaps, this is where the dirt road ended, Ivan thought, adding a bit of humor to the fear that wrestled inside him. The knots in his stomach weren’t much like the clenching he felt last year on the roller coaster ride. No, these physical reactions were different, primal almost, fight or flight was kicking in and being younger both fight and flight seemed like good options.

Both boys, lanky, with sandy brown hair might have well passed for twins. They looked a lot alike; at least that’s what the town of Cotter thought. Small towns were always right. So, if Cotter said they were twins, they were twins, even though they were two grades apart in school.

“What’s keeping you Ivan?” Gilbert asked, annoyed, as the boy settled down for a rest by the tree.

“I’m scared Gilbert,” the thought finally came out as words, “Maybe we should go back.”

Ivan eyed the fence again.

“We can’t go back now. We’re almost there,” Gilbert’s heart raced.

Both boys loved a good adventure.

Gilbert spurred on ahead with his feet before the clasp around his wrist that was Ivan’s small hand jerked him back.

“What?” He asked irritated, out of breath and getting tired of waiting.

“Look,” Ivan pointed.

They watched as the man dressed all in green, military like, walked back and forth across the grounds.

“Told you it was military,” Gilbert announced, obliviously not worried about being seen, at least for the moment.

Ivan sucked in his breath, as they both ducked close to the ground. It was open all around them. There was no tree to hide behind.

Motionless they crouched for what was at least a half hour on a good Sunday afternoon.

“I think they’ve got an alien in there,” Ivan whispered to Gilbert.

“Yeah maybe,” he mulled it over, “I’ve bet they’ve got a spaceship too.”

“You think?” Ivan asked excitedly.

“Yeah and we’re gonna be the ones to discover it,” Gilbert announced proudly.

“You got your camera?” Ivan asked.

“Right here in my pocket,” he patted the item concealed in the pocket of his half sleeved button down plaid shirt.

They watched the military man.

“He must be their best guard,” Gilbert conspired.

“Well, he’s gotta be,” Ivan agreed, “I mean that UFO has to be big and he’s got to make sure no one gets in to see it.”

“Think they’ve got a lot of military men inside too?” Gilbert asked.

“Well, the first time we saw one was last month. He looked different. Shorter. I think.”

“True,” Gilbert agreed.

“They must be special agents inside, after all they have to deal with the aliens,” Ivan deduced.

“Lots of training I suspect,” Gilbert said.

The military man kept up his pace. Back and forth he walked, across the entire stretch of the fence. He had never done that before. Not for this long. Not past 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

No, the military man usually went in around 2 o’clock which is why the boys chose to sneak out to the fence after 3 o’clock.

They knew all this because they had been coming out to investigate the remote building with the fence for over a year, after chasing their dog Dewey into the woods and discovering it.

That day, Gilbert scooped their dachshund Dewey into his arms and returned home. But neither boy could stop talking about the mystery. The mystery of the place in the woods.

It was getting late. Even for summer. The night air was setting in a bit and so was the sun. It was unusual. But the desolate area had a gloomy feel.

It hit them like a train. Set them barreling to the ground. Their hands to their ears.

That piercing sound.

What was it?

Both boys eyed each other, from a fetal position, the fear was consuming, the pain in their eardrums unceasing. They never heard a sound like that before in Cotter, Arkansas. This was no ordinary alarm. This was a warning.

Ivan and Gilbert shivered in the cold grass, partly from fear, partly from pain.

Gilbert turned just enough to watch military man running into the building.

He blinked. The noise ceased. He blinked again. Long enough, to see many men run from that building. Some military men. Some men in suits. Some men just ordinary.

Were they running or escaping? What happened?

Ivan and Gilbert didn’t have time to ask each other.

Something very unusual happened inside the building and it appeared the men behind the big fence and the large walls were not orderly anymore. They were in complete disarray and they were scared.

It wasn’t before long, there was an audible noise coming behind them, footsteps, walking closer and closer.

Both boys would lose partial hearing that day. But that was nothing. Not compared to the fact they were the only living witnesses who had no right to be there that day. The only two people in Cotter, Arkansas with a wild story to tell.

Gilbert looked back at his younger brother. What had he done? The footsteps stopped right behind them. Giving them just enough time to sit up and regain some of their senses.

“What are you doing here?”

The man before them was very tall dressed in a black suit, crisp white shirt, black tie and shiny black shoes. He had on glasses and held a crucifix in his hand.

Gilbert shook his head; he could barely hear the man.

“What happened?” Ivan asked, staring at the man, the crucifix gripped tightly in both his hands, resting across his stomach.

“I don’t know,” said the man.

“How did you get here?” Asked the man.

“We live here, here in Cotter,” Ivan answered.

Gilbert was still struggling to hear. It appeared that wasn’t his only problem. Apparently, Ivan, the younger brother, had also turned out to be the braver of the two.

“Were you inside? Did you come to arrest us?” Gilbert, now regaining his wits was ready to bolt any minute.

“Inside?” The man looked at them quizzically.

“No, that’s not where I come from.”

“Where then?” Asked Gilbert.

Had they just seen their first alien? Did they look like us? Gilbert was in awe. The man he was speaking to was not from this world. It didn’t take an adult to know.

The man stared at the boys blankly, although summing them up, “I come from hell,” he answered matter of factly.

Gilbert and Ivan Chuttle ran faster than they ever had in their whole lives. Cotter, Arkansas would never be the same.

BOOK: Project Lazarus

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