Chapter One

Reflected fire light danced across the windshields. Almost a dozen Jeeps and 4x4s were parked in a circle around the blaze. Most were covered in trendy mud splatters. None were more than three years old.  Closer to the fire, people laughed and danced. People drank from red Solo cups. Tinny music from a portable speaker fought to be heard over the sounds of the party.

The endless desert waited just beyond the cars. Light from the fire didn’t penetrate the night farther than their rear fenders. The sky was much brighter.

This far from the city, it was an ocean of stars. The entire Milky Way was visible. At intervals, pale green streaks of light from the meteor shower they had come to see began to appear. No one noticed.

The party didn’t center on the meteors, or on the fire, or even on drugs and alcohol. Everyone was here because of Crystal. Crystal was twenty-eight and beautiful, but she was more than just beautiful. Crystal genuinely cared about the environment. About social problems. About human and animal suffering. Even better, she didn’t beat you over the head with it like some people did. 

She had switched programs in grad school a couple times. The main benefit of having a corporate asshole dad was that it had given her time to figure out what she was going to do with her life. Once Crystal decided exactly who she was going to be, she couldn’t help but make the world a better place. Everybody liked Crystal.

“Where the hell is Sam with the shrooms!?!”

Crystal turned to the whooping douche and scowled.

To her right, Matt bellowed back. “Aw, he’ll come through! He’s solid.”

‍ ‍Matt must be nearly wasted, thought Crystal. He’s normally a lot cooler.

She withdrew from her friends to the edge of the firelight. The conversation skipped a beat, regaining its footing when everyone noticed she was only going for a beer. When she got back, they were still talking about Sam Burroughs.

“Naw, man. He used to come around when I lived in Oakland. Any party was better with him there!”

“Well this party would sure be a lot better if he showed up. If he doesn’t, we’re going to have to enjoy nature’s beauty all natural and shit.”

“Crystal, you’ve known him a while. Think Sam’s going to flake on us?”

Crystal shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me. He’s kind of a scumbag, y’know.” 

“Jeez, pretty judgmental!” Matt interjected. “Especially when you plan on doing his drugs.” 

“I don’t like anyone just because they’ve got a drug connection! In Sam’s case, it’s the only reason I’d want him here at all.”

Matt’s head sunk and he became sullen.

‍ ‍Shit, that was a little much, thought Crystal. Or who knows, maybe he is just wasted.

Either way, Crystal decided she was taking her dislike too far. She put on her best conciliatory smile.

“Pffft. Maybe he couldn’t score and that’s why he’s not here.”

“Aw, don’t say that!” whined Betty.

Chris waved and pointed. “Shut the fuck up guys! This has got to be him.”

Small, ghostly headlights appeared in the deep darkness. They grew larger as they approached the fire. It wasn’t until the lights were mere yards from the party that a beat-to-hell Ford F-150 pickup took shape behind them. It slowed when it reached the other cars, but it didn’t stop.

The truck rolled right up to the knot of people surrounding Crystal and lurched to a halt. With a cowboy-booted kick, the door flew open.

“Hõla, my friends!”

The entire party breathed a sigh of relief—even Crystal. It was Sam. Sam with the shrooms.

Sam was five-four and dressed head to toe in denim. His hair and beard spoke more to actual disregard than fashionable scruff. He was older than everyone else, too. Late thirties? Forties? 

You couldn’t ignore that million-watt smile, though. Sam talked to you about the craziest, most intelligent things you’d ever heard of, and you GOT it. You’d come away not just thinking that he was a cool, smart dude, but that you must be pretty cool and smart yourself.

Sam hopped down from the cab and sauntered through the crowd. 

“Now the fun can start!” He fished a plastic baggy from his pocket and immersed himself in the crowd. He weaved through the people, greeting one and all, distributing small, dried stalks of mushroom. 

“Here’s one for you!” 

“Tim, haven’t seen you in a minute!”

“Where’s Carol? You broke up? Eh, you’re better off.” 

From some people he took money, from most an agreement to settle up later was good enough. He methodically worked his way through the party to its center—Crystal.

“There’s my girl! Here’s your one-way ticket to wonderland, Crys.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Crystal gave a straight-mouthed smile as she accepted the magic mushroom. 

  If Sam knew how to do anything, it was how to roll with social punches. Before any tension mounted, he turned on his heel and took the last mushroom from the bag. “And one left for me!”

“Wait, Sam!”

He turned back.

“I haven’t paid you yet—”

“Oh! No charge for you. Thanks for having me, Crys.”

“Oh, I-I don’t think I’d feel right ... not paying.”

“It’s not a big deal. We’re friends, right?”

“Come on. Just take the money. The meteors already started.”

Despite his best efforts, Sam was left snubbed and holding the bag. Crystal laughed as she rejoined her friends. She wasn’t laughing at him. She’d stopped thinking about him the moment she turned her back. The night was going beautifully: a secret celebration with all her best friends, the dull and depressing real world a hundred miles away. Sam Burrough was only one small, regrettably necessary, component of the party.

It didn’t feel that way to Sam, though. Crystal’s laughter was a knife between his ribs. He crushed the plastic baggy in his fist.

An explosion rocked the desert floor. It seemed to come from miles away but still knocked several people off their feet. They’d felt a massive boom but had not seen a flash of light or mushroom cloud or fire. Everyone was yelling all at once.

“One of the meteors must have crashed down nearby! Awesome!”

“Everyone get in the cars! Let’s try to find it.”

They ran off in packs of two and three and four. Sam, alone, stomped to his truck grinding his teeth.

“... stupid. So fucking stupid.”

  The vehicles peeled off in different directions, disappearing into the tar-black night.

*

Sam only joined the search because everyone else had. Now that he was by himself, driving through the desert, looking for who knows what, he realized he didn’t give a shit. If there were anyone left at the fire he’d have just gone back. No, fuck that. Crystal’s snub had ruined the whole night. He should just head home.

He swung the truck around. As he did, he noticed something out his driver’s side window, a faint violet glow. His headlights must have overwhelmed the weak light when he was driving toward it. He squinted, strained his eyes, but the glow refused to resolve itself into an explicable shape. Curiosity overwhelmed his wounded pride. Sam switched off his headlights and drove toward the glow.

He wound up at the base of a small, rocky mountain. At its foot, a tangle of black metal, tubes, and wiring smoldered like neon purple charcoal. Sam gasped as he got out. “Oh my God.”

He started forward. What could it be but a crashed UFO? Sam had always been the type to expound on the inevitability of extraterrestrial life, but his vague convictions were no preparation for this. He was dumbstruck.

He edged closer to examine the wreckage. In the low light, he couldn’t make out much of anything, but human beings definitely hadn’t made this thing. Maybe there were aliens in it.

Sam heard a rustling nearby. Oh, shit. Maybe there are aliens in it.

Something slithered through the wreckage trailing a sticky black fluid. Sam was terrified but couldn’t tear himself away. An alien. A real alien.

*

All the vehicles had returned to the bonfire but one. Everyone had missed the meteor shower in the search, and their failure to find the source of the boom had bummed them out. Even the few who had taken their shrooms before the party had derailed seemed bored.

Crystal was just about to call it an L and peace out when Sam’s truck rolled up. It stopped so far away from the fire you could just barely see that the windshield was cracked. The door unlatched and slowly swung open.

A figure fell from the cab. People started forward before the thing drew itself up to full height. They stopped. It had to be Sam, but the outline was off. His clothes were shredded. His skin was blackened. You couldn’t tell much more than that because he was so far away from the light.

Matt cleared his throat. “Sam?”

“No.... Not anymore,” the figure responded.