An alien disguised as a human child?

"State your place of business, or we will not hesitate to shoot again," commanded a deep, booming voice from outside the car.

I peered out from behind the seat just in time to see two other men standing beside him, their guns aimed directly at us. They wore dark suits, matching hats, sunglasses, and gloves. The kind of clothing worn by mafia bosses during the 1930s.

The car had been parked up against the wall of a building, and there were several cars lined up next to it. It seemed that they were expecting us to arrive here sooner than later.

Fredrick was the first to speak up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he began. "We're here on a mission to return a princess to her Magic Castle. If you let us pass, we won't bother you again."

I facepalmed myself. I should have expected this.

The man laughed. The sound reverberated off the walls and windows, surprisingly shaking the vehicle.

What was up with that?

"Oh ho ho ho. You're a funny one, aren't you? We don't care about your precious imaginary princess, so stop wasting time with these stupid games. We'll just shoot you two down now and get on with our lives. Do you really want to die so easily, hm? Because if you do, then go right ahead and try to pass through our town without authorization."

Frederick gulped hard. Then he turned towards me and mouthed the words, "What do we do?"

"Don't worry," I replied calmly. "They can't kill us if we can prove our worth. We need to act smart and play their game."

Lianne gave it a thumbs-up. She didn't seem to understand the full implications of what I'd just said, but I figured it would work in my favor.

The men in suits approached slowly, each taking a step closer to the car before pausing. One of them leaned down towards the car, looking inside the window.

"Hmm... Hmm..."

"What is it, sir?" asked Frederick nervously.

"Hmmm... Hmmmm..."

I could almost hear the gears turning in their heads. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Well, well... What have we got here? A cute little girl hiding in the trunk?" The leader finally spoke after a long silence. His voice was loud and commanding, like an adult giving a lecture to children.

He was definitely the boss of the group.

I rolled my eyes. That was the most clichéd line ever.

"Yes, but she wasn't hiding," replied Frederick, playing dumb. "And she's quite important to us, too."

The boss raised his eyebrows and looked back at me. I knew what he wanted me to say, and I responded accordingly.

"No, sir. She isn't the princess."

"How am I sure you aren't trying to sneak in an alien disguised as a human child?" he pressed.

Klllck!

He pointed his gun at Lianne. My heart stopped.

"Stop messing around and tell me what I want to know," he demanded. "Or else I'll shoot both of you down and hope you serve as a distraction for those goddamn monsters."

"Is he playing a bag guy, Uncle Ally?" Lianne leaned against me and whispered.

"Yes," I muttered. "That means we're one of the good guys, remember? Sit back and relax while Rick and I take care of this."

She nodded with a smile, but I noticed she kept her head low, focused on eating her candy. As far as I could tell, she wasn't scared or anything. In fact, she looked very determined and hyped for where this would lead.

Ding!

[Serotonin level: 1/12.5%]

As I expected.

"You are mistaken," Frederick continued. "This little girl is not part of any sort of invasion. She has nothing to do with the aliens that raided Estrovale."

"Then why did you bring her here?" The boss snapped. "If you've done something illegal, I suggest you make your excuses and leave quietly. Or else you might end up dead."

"You have no proof that we've not done anything wrong!" Frederick insisted.

The boss scoffed.

"Do I look like someone who needs evidence to kill people?"

There was no way he could actually be serious. He was probably bluffing.

"Let me guess," I interjected. "You think that we're some kind of spies, and we've come all the way from another city or planet to infiltrate your town, right?"

The boss frowned.

"We had some attacks from aliens disguised as some of our citizens recently," he explained. "So we decided to take precautionary measures by rounding up anyone suspicious."

'And that's enough reason to suspect a child and not the grown men? How ridiculous!'

But I held my tongue.

"It makes sense," I admitted. "Your town is pretty close to the forest, so you must see more than your fair share of strange creatures every day. And since the government hasn't given you the authority to deal with such problems yourself, they probably told you to detain anyone you find suspicious until further notice. Is that it?"

The man nodded.

"But I asked a question earlier: is she an alien or not?" he demanded.

The leader kept staring at me while he waited for an answer.

I sighed. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't believe how stupid this guy was being.

Why did he think we were lying? Couldn't he tell the difference between an alien and the real thing?

But it didn't matter anymore. Either way, I was dead. And so would Lianne if I didn't come up with a plan.

There was only one option left.

I held out my hands towards him, palms facing upwards, and nodded.

"Okay, fine. Here's the truth. Her name is Lianne. She's my niece. She's also on our quest to return the princess to her Magic Castle."

'Dear heavens, the cringe.'

But I had to deal with it.

It was all Fredrick's fault for starting all of this, but I hoped that I sounded confident enough. After all, I was doing the same thing Mia had done countless times when she stood up for me while we were kids.

Confuse the other party with a sprinkle of senseless talk to throw them off the tense atmosphere.

A few moments passed. There was no response.

Then the leader started laughing.

Bingo!

"That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!"

"Excuse me?" Frederick asked, confused.

"Oh, come on. You expect us to believe you just told us you brought a little girl here on some silly mission to escort an imaginary princess?! That's hilarious! I mean, what kind of idiot do you take us for?!"

'A big ass one,' I thought to myself.

The man shook his head, still chuckling to himself.

I glanced over at Lianne. Her eyes remained fixated on the gun, curious about its size and weight. She must have thought it was some sort of toy or something.

This must have also been a normal occurrence for a child raised in the Mafia.

"Let them pass," the boss ordered. "We won't hurt them; they might just run into trouble on the way themselves."

"Roger that," came another reply from the other men.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed like everything was going according to plan. But there was no telling how far into the town we'd made it.

As we drove further away from the checkpoint, I noticed the streets getting more and more deserted.

It appeared that most of the people had fled deeper into the town for safety, leaving behind tons of valuables in the process. Some of these items included food, clothes, medicine, and even weapons.

The streets were lined with abandoned cars and debris.

"Do you think the aliens will find us soon?" Frederick asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Probably not."

"Why are you so confident?"

"Because noise, lights, and movement attract aliens. If we stay hidden when we spot them, they should leave us alone."

Frederick frowned. "But if we don't move, then we can't get anywhere, either. We're stuck in a dead end."

'I know, it was a stupid idea, but that doesn't mean we can't be hopeful.'

"Here, I thought I was the clown of the group." Fredrick concluded with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. All we need is a—"

Clank!

"Who the hel—"

Fredrick's words were cut off as he slammed on the brakes before he lost control of the steering.

I immediately turned my gaze outside and saw what he saw.

Standing in the middle of the street, blocking our path forward, was an individual obscured in the shadows.

The glint of a metal pipe in both hands shone through the darkness. It looked like the stranger was ready to throw another pipe at our car, whether or not we tried to escape.

What is this person trying to accomplish?

"Allen, I think something's wrong with my sweetie; she's not responding!" Frederick panicked. "It must have been those guys bullets that had hit her earlier and now, that shitty pipe!"

"Stay calm," I replied. "If you panic, your body will respond instinctively, and you'll make things worse. Just try to start it back up again."

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"Okay."

The stranger continued standing in the middle of the road, unmoving.

Whoever this was, stared directly ahead, focused entirely on our car.

And that wasn't good.

Not good at all.