It was the scent that came to Jeffrey first. It tickled his nose like a warm, sweet touch - the smell of food, but not anything familiar. Next he felt the cold, hard ground that had cramped his body while he slept. He stretched and opened his eyes as he moved into a more comfortable position.

The lush, dark earth covered his hands when he raised them up from beside him. The ground was just moist enough to make the dirt cling to anything that touched it. He lay among tall stalks of grass far larger than anything he had ever seen before. The thick, tall shoots were as tall as a man and almost blocked out a sun that glowed red instead of familiar yellow. He wasn't in his bed, and that red sun told him he definately wasn't on the world he knew so well. Where was he?

He felt a panicked pounding of his heart when he realized that he was not on Earth. How had he gotten here? Did the lights he saw in the sky last night have anything to do with it? Were they, in fact, lights he'd seen last night, or had he lain there on the strange ground for far longer than a night? He shuddered at the blank in his mind that held no answers to his questions.

He sat up and looked around cautiously. The tall stalks surrounded him and he couldn't see very far in any direction. He could hear the faint rustle of movement in the distance and he froze. Was that the sound of friend or foe? He couldn't see what moved many feet away to his left through the giant sized grass, but he could hear the faint crashing and thumping it made with its movements.

He could hear a chirrup, chirrup sound, like an overlarge cricket that was too tired and lazy to work at making the noise, and too uncaring to keep the vibrations at normal speed. Jeffrey peered around the grass stems, hoping to get a look at whatever it was before it saw him. Hopefully it was something who ate the plentiful grass, and not off world specimens like himself.

Frustrated and scared, he flipped over onto his stomach and crept forward like a cat stalking his prey. He had always been a man who confronted his fears and overcame them. He didn't much like the twist of fear in his gut, and he wasn't going to start cowering now! He twined through the tall grass, approaching the sounds as silently as he could, gritting his teeth every time he hit one of the stems with an arm or a leg and caused it to swish into motion and noise. Now and again the creature, whatever it was, would pause in it's movements, and Jeffrey dreaded it discovering his existence. Then the noises would begin again and Jeffrey continued to slowly creep forward.

Finally, when he was about ten feet away, he got a glimpse. What he saw horrified him, yet held him spellbound. There was an alien being of some sort busily munching on grass. It stood about five foot tall, was a fleshy pink, and had two meaty antennae looking things sprouting from the top of it's head. It's head was angular, almost like a hammerhead shark, but it's mouth was lipless and wrapped around the grass stems in evident pleasure. It munched like a cow, and constantly fed the stems of grass into its mouth with its legs.

The creature stood on two legs, while two more legs clung to the stems of grass being rapidly thrust into the creature's mouth. An additional set of legs grasped grass stems beside it for balance. The black eyes were unfocused, as if the creature were daydreaming while it fed. It had no hair, and its skin looked like a bald baby rat. Wrinkles hung at the juncture where the legs met the torso, and the torso was thick and muscular. It seemed genderless and had only smooth skin along it's entire torso. It was a creature unlike anything Jeffrey had ever seen before.

"Holy crap," Jeffrey mouthed as he took it in. He shrank back, uncertain what he should do.

The movement attracted the creatures attention and the dark eyes swung toward him. Jeffrey wanted to scream in fear, but the sound was locked in his throat.

"Mfftl," the creature mouthed, then it spun and rapidly jumped off through the forest of grass on all six legs.

Jeffrey rolled over onto his back and collapsed, limp, and waited for his panic to subside.

At least, the character was spared an instant death on a planet of a breathable atmosphere with some grass and an alien 'cow'. It's a nice story.

How had he gotten here? Did the lights he saw in the sky last night have anything to do with it? Were they, in fact, lights he'd seen last night, or had he lain there on the strange ground for far longer than a night? He shuddered at the blank in his mind that held no answers to his questions.

You set the hook with this paragraph, but didn't reel us in!!
Your character is asking some great questions up there...throw him some answers. Or at least some clues.

I like your writing style, but I think you threw in the towel too early on this one.

I'll make you a deal...you write another installment and you get a star and flag from me.

Likewise i was dragged into the story and felt it finished to soon.
You do have a good style and you described the envioroment well.

keep it coming.

Essedarius and Mojo put the words in my mouth, please continue to the end. I will also promise you a star and flag if you will do us the honor.

Folks have requested that I add to this story, and I'm about to do that. I've been sick for a while and haven't been able to write. The story is also turning out a bit longer than I expected. Hopefully, it's what you all have been asking for. Check it out and see.

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Wake Up - Part Two

When he had recovered, Jeffrey retraced his movements back to the place where he had woken up earlier. It occurred to him there might be traces in the soft dirt of who or what had dumped him in the field of grasses. When he got back to his starting point, he looked around. The path he had taken was distinct, with a thick trail through the dirt and broken grasses all along the way. But there was another trail that was much more subtle and hidden. He thought he could follow it if he watched closely.

He walked where the trail led, careful not to miss the signs that someone or something had been there. He didn’t know what he would find at the other end of that trail, but it had to be more than becoming lost forever in these endless tall grasses. It took him hours to follow where the faint trail led – far longer than he had expected. Just when he thought he’d stumbled on an animal trail instead of anything significant, he saw something through the blades of grass.

There was a clearing up ahead, and in the clearing was something metallic. Jeffrey tried to stifle his rising excitement. Getting that worked up could only lead to mistakes that caused disappointment – or worse, capture and death. Whoever had dumped him in that field didn’t care about him, and wasn’t worried that he might die on a strange planet. If the lights he’d seen had been alien ships and he was an abductee, they had no doubt finished experimenting on him and were getting rid of him. They were merely dumping his body – while he was still alive.

Jeffrey crept forward, staying hidden in the tall grasses but positioning himself so he had a clear view of what was going on in the clearing. What he saw startled him. The metallic glint he’d seen was a set of steps that went up and into a yawning interior. Everything else was invisible to the eye and the clearing was otherwise normal. Seeing a set of steps marching up into nowhere, and taking it logically to its conclusion, he realized an invisible ship of unknown size, shape and design was in that clearing! He felt the excitement rise up again. Perhaps this was a way to get home, and it was probably the only chance he had.

While he watched, two alien beings walked out of the grasses on the far side of the clearing, dragging along an alien animal that was about three feet high and looking roughly like a black short-haired dog with six legs and oversized mandibles with saber-tooth-tiger-like incisors. The poor animal was resisting, but the aliens dragged it along regardless.

Jeffrey audibly drew in his breath, then clapped a hand over his mouth, hoping the aliens hadn’t heard him. The aliens themselves were stereotypical “greys,” but taller and thinner, and to Jeffrey’s eyes, crueler and more inhumane. It was those evil SOBs of abductee horror stories, and they were the only chance he had to get home!

He watched as the two aliens dragged the poor captured animal up those metallic steps and into the gaping maw of their ship. No doubt the poor thing would be subjected to hideous experiments. Perhaps Jeffrey could help it escape before the greys left the world he was now standing on. That was assuming he, himself, could figure out a way to get on board that ship without getting caught. He watched the stairway opening for a while, trying to figure out if there was a pattern to the alien movements, or a schedule they followed. After endless waiting with nothing happening, the aliens came down the steps without their animal specimen and walked back into the tall grasses where they’d been exploring earlier.

Wondering what he should do next was agony. He had no idea when those aliens were going to leave this world, and he had no way off without that ship. There was no way he could pilot an alien ship by himself – they would have to do it for him. So what were his options? He could wait to see if he found a better opportunity, running the risk that the aliens might leave before he managed to slip aboard. Or he could take action now and find some hiding place where they couldn’t find him until it was too late.

One thing was certain. He couldn’t stay here. He opted to act now and risk discovery if the aliens prolonged their stay. While nervously watching the grasses on the far side of the clearing, he eased his way toward that open stairway. His heart pounded with every step, and his ears were straining to hear every sound. Finally, his hand touched the stairway and he gingerly leaned forward. He didn’t see any other aliens, so he took a risk and started up the steps, ready to run at any sign of another grey.

The interior of the ship was much larger than he had expected, almost as if the aliens somehow changed the nature of matter itself and caused the ship to look small on the outside while it was large and spacious on the inside. He immediately stepped into a corridor above the steps with a floor to ceiling bulkhead directly in front of him. He could go left or right along the corridor. Which should he choose?

He decided to go right, and he held his body tight against the wall as he quietly moved along the corridor. Portals lined the outside wall, and Jeffrey could see into the clearing from inside the ship. He knew nothing outside could see in because the ship was invisible. There were doors along the inside wall, and he surreptitiously glanced in each one to make sure there were no aliens and to look for a good hiding place. He had looked inside and eased past five or six doors with no luck. He was starting to get worried that the alien ship might not have a place where he could hide. If he couldn’t hide, he couldn’t stowaway with the aliens to get home.

He realized that the corridor he was in was slightly curved toward the center, and he was gradually working his way around the ship toward the stairs where he had entered. The aliens really DID have flying saucers! Finally, when he was almost back to where he had started, he found a storage room packed with boxes and supplies of strange things Jeffrey didn’t recognize and wasn’t sure he wanted to. He found a place deep inside the storage room and hidden by various supplies, and he sat down on the floor and waited. He knew that it could be a very long wait since the aliens appeared to be taking their time in gathering specimens. Apparently there was no intelligent life on this world to detect aliens and fire weapons to stop them, so no need to abduct their specimens from space. They had free rein. Jeffrey thought of the poor animal they had dragged onto the ship, and he groaned. Could he live with himself if he didn’t try to free it?

When the pricks of guilt seemed to devour him, he got up from his hiding place and decided he had to look for that captured animal and free it. He cautiously re-entered the corridor and began to make his way back around the circle, this time hunting for the poor creature who was no doubt suffering even now. He carefully glanced in each doorway, on high alert and listening for any sound that might mean aliens. The first doorway was a control room, with strange alien equipment on every wall intermittently flashing violet lights. Jeffrey couldn’t even guess what all that equipment actually did. He didn’t see the animal, however, so he moved on to the next doorway.

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There's more, but I'm still working on it and it will need a new post.

I don't care if the contest is over...i want more!!! that was awesome, i like how you described the alien



Roswell.

Very promising. A bit rudimentary but I enjoyed it.
Thank you
A++ for effort.