The Airport Tower

Movement

Rain bled down the arched metal hangers and pooled at the bottom, carpeting the asphalt surface like reflective tiles. Lightning lit up the runway better than any control tower could and the dark, rolling clouds above had an eerie glow that could only be explained by occasional electric surges. It was an ominous night to be closing down the small airport.

Trevor Leishman pulled the hood of his parka close and struggled to move against the downpour that had him stumbling and tripping. He made it to the safety of an open hangar. Praying that his sense of direction was accurate, he cautiously walked to the back corner and extended his hand. His fingers moved across something smooth and spiraled. They felt around, finally resting on a small switch. He flicked it.

Light lit up the hangar and he sighed when he saw his bed in the corner and the paper bag that held his uneaten dinner. His stomach growled as if on que and he fell to the comfort of his cot, tearing the bag open and hurriedlly shoving the sandwhich down his throat.

His brown hair stuck to his forehead and his hazel eyes were tired and drooping. Drops of water still cascaded down his long, prominent nose and his tongue would occasionally reach up and thirstily lick the water off of his upper lip. He finished his sandwhich and took off his shoes, slowly twisting the water out of his socks. He turned to the wall above his bed and his eyes studied the pictures of his family that were tacked to the billboard on the wall. He also let out a happy sigh when his eyes rested upon the photo of Kendal Johnson. Her long, carmel colored hair seemed to glide in the wind that must have been there the day the picture was taken. Her blue, inquisitive eyes seemed to twinkle and wrinkled at the corners like she was amused. Even under the lenses of her glasses they captivated him. Her full lips were pulled into a breathtaking smile and the freckles on her nose only added to his captivation. He smiled and was lost in thought as he put a clean pair of socks and a dry pair of shoes back on.

"Kendal, I wish I was with you tonight, Kendal," he sang to himself. His singing soon ceased, however, when he was startled by the sound of the security alarm. His heart rate sped up. Somebody was trying to break in.

He turned off the lamp and ran out of the hangar, pulling down and padlocking the large door. He turned back into the wind and raced to the control tower. He unlocked the door and ran up and up the set of stairs until he entered the short hallway that led to various control rooms. He opened the one marked "Security" and jumped into the padded chair that overlooked the security televisions. Cameras were attached to every hangar on the peremisis and around the runway along with other various places.

The hangar cameras were completely motionless except for the occassional downpours that would send rain pelting at the camera and the hangar walls. Nothing seemed out of place and Trevor was getting suspicious. Was this some kind of crack that his pilot friends were doing to scare him out of his wits? Or was this real and the intruders particularlly stealthy? He didn't want to think about that. Nothing moved. Every surveillance TV was completely motionless.

Suddenly, the largest bolt of lightning of the night made a smack down and was followed by a large, rumbling crack of thunder. The power couplings squealed and then everything shut down. He was alone in the dark. The silence was only interupted by the rain outside. And yet, as he moved into the dark Control Room, he could almost swear that his eyes picked up two tall, lanky figures hobbling throughout the airport.

                                  *              *            *            *
"What is this? Who are those two? They look like they're about 6' 1/2" feet tall!" Trevor whispered to himself as he crouched behind the controls.

The two figures seemed to be inquisitive and curious, almost as if they stumbled upon the airport by accident. Their long, thin fingers poked at the once blinking security light. Their almond shaped heads swivelled and they crouched at every noise. They seemed to be afraid of being spotted, Trevor thought, but then why were they here? If they weren't going to take anything, what were they doing?

Trevor slowly made his way to the radar system that still blinked, as it was powered by a different source. There was a large vehicle on the Northwest corner of the airport, just stalling.

"All of the planes got put away this afternoon and I swear I would have heard that thing outside when I was checking on the hangars," Trevor puzzled. Something was wrong.

The rain picked up and Trevor was straining to see where the two intruders had gone off to. He could slightly see them standing against a hangar, but he had to strain. He pulled open a drawer and pulled out a pair of Night Vision Goggles, bought just for this kind of situation. He turned the dial, adjusted them, and pressed them against the glass to see if he could determine who he was looking at.

Everything glowed green through the goggles and he had a hard time spotting the two. Then the goggles landed on them. They were tall and muscular. Their hips pulsed with veins and looked like runners' hips. Their skin was sickly and spotted and their torsos were nothing but bulge. They had large, pooched lips and their noses . . . they had none. Trevor started to freak out.

He looked at their feet; their feet were small and curled up. He looked at their ears; their ears were small and pointed at the top. He looked for their eyes, but their heads kept turning away. Suddenly one looked directly at him. Instead of small eyes that should have looked green through the goggles, they were slanted and they glowed red orange. The second one's lips curled into a wicked snarl and it let out the freakiest sound that anyone had ever heard. It was like a child's scream and yet it sounded like a trumpet; it was like the squeal of fingernails on a chalkboard. It's lips parted and closed, again and again as the noise came from its throat. Then it looked up at the tower again and it ran with inhuman energy towards it, its eyes never leaving Trevor's and its partner following close behind.