The Alien Shadow People

By Maurice Brandon

An ordinary day began when Vic Smart, Jr, [called Little Vic],
decided to go fishing at his favorite lake.
The day turned out anything but ordinary. Discoveries of broken
pine limbs, a Shadow person flitting from tree to tree then walking on water, caused the young lad to leave the scene, fish,
rod and reel, all left beside the lake.
From this beginning the story of the Shadow People began and
their presence on Planet Earth would create situations with
Little Vic's family, the Smarts, and then involve learned
Individuals who became endangered trying to investigate the
Shadow People.
Discoveries that they used slaves, had enormous physical
powers, were far advanced in space craft areas, were evident from contacts finally made.
The destructive powers of the Shadow People became a National concern when in an act of retaliation they destroyed the Smart home then continued destroying National Defense locations. Needed explanations or why they were on earth, were they totally antagonistic as their exhibition of chosen destructive actions indicated, or was there a way to live with them?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503527478

Maurice Brandon

N/A

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Maurice Brandon.

Copyedited by Chris Anthony Ferrer

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5035-2746-1

                eBook           978-1-5035-2747-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/15/2014

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CONTENTS

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

PROLOGUE

T his story is fiction, but we all, at some time or another, have seen what appeared to be a fleeting image crossing our vision. The image crosses so quickly that we often put it down as an animal or a bird flashing across our sight or perhaps a gnat. Perhaps it was none of those—young Victor Smart can attest to that.

A small boy eagerly marched down a dirt road to his favorite fishing place, unaware of what was happening across the lake and farther down the mountainside, across from his chosen place. Being an astute youngster, he was always interested in what was happening in the forest near where he would be sitting, as well as what happened across the lake from him. It is this attentiveness that began a bizarre discovery. Then even more curious events occurred that involved his family members and members of agencies that were at first so skeptical and unbelieving that the farmer father was reluctant to even mention them, much less hold any discussion about them. The world sometimes denies us the privilege of keeping some things to ourselves. Such was the situation with young Victor Smart and his family.

1

H is name was Victor Smart, and his family called him Little Vic; his father was Big Vic. He was nearly eight years old, and he had received a new fishing rod and reel for his last birthday. Today he was going fishing with it. There was a stream flowing into a large lake close to his home that his father and he had fished many times. This lake held mostly panfish called bluegill perch, some bass, and always good-sized catfish. Sometimes you would catch another kind, but usually those three were about it. His new rod and reel was really something. It had come with a nylon line already wound on the spool, and all he had to do was to rig the line with his hook and then bait it with one of his worms, which today were red worms that he had dug from the refuse pile behind the barn. It always had plenty, so today his tin can held a good supply. So down the dirt lane to the lake he went, hopping and skipping, with great expectat ions.

Arriving at the lakeshore, he approached a place where he and his father usually began. Today he decided to go a little farther toward the inlet where the freshwater entered. This spot was not so usable, for it was here that the pine trees came almost all the way to the water. That wasn’t the real problem. It was the limbs that were on them that reached nearly to the ground and made travel difficult when you wanted to go through them. He saw a section of the trees where those limbs had been broken off and made what appeared to be a good place to stand. Once there, he could easily cast his line out into the water. He pushed through to that place, and it was a good place, so he prepared his line, baited his hook, and made his first cast. The light line with the hook and worm sailed perfectly and splashed down a good distance from shore. No sooner had it hit the water, he realized that he had forgotten to place a bobber on the line. Now that was not good, so he had to retrieve the baited hook and place the bobber a few feet above the hook, cast it back out, and now he was ready to catch fish.

Some several minutes later, he was still waiting. Having learned that his rod could be propped up on a forked stick and didn’t have to be held all the time, he began to look for such a stick. Finding it was easy, so he soon had it stuck into the bank and the rod propped on it. Now he could just sit and watch his bobber. Well, as expected, he became distracted when he noticed that those tree limbs had been broken off—not cut, just broken—some near the tree trunk, some just wherever that whoever or whatever had broken them to make their travel through the forest easier. He began to wonder more about that when he noticed that the broken limbs went on and on into the forest behind him. For some reason, whoever or whatever had made the path through them from the lakeside had continued for quite a distance. Remembering he was supposed to be fishing, he turned to check the bobber, and it was gone from sight. Quickly picking up the rod, he began to reel in the line, and suddenly, he felt a real strong jerk that almost caused him to lose the rod. He would reel in a short section of the line, and the fish would pull it back out. For several minutes, he had that challenge, but slowly, he was gaining on the fish. Soon he could see it in the water. This one was a nice catfish, and when he had it on shore, he grew more excited, for it was larger than any he or his father had ever caught before.

Rebaiting his hook, he cast it back to about the same location, thinking that maybe there might just be another around. When he was all set with the rod propped up again, he returned to his effort to determine what might have caused those tree limbs to get broken. He began to study the ground to see if there might be footprints that could identify the person or animal. He really searched the ground, and that wasn’t helping, for there were too many pine needles to allow a print to be made. Scuff marks, just no prints until he looked at the mud at the water’s edge. There he found what could have caused those broken limbs. At first he thought the print he saw was a large bear’s. Trying to remember any mention of bears in this area didn’t bring any remembrance. Fact was, he had remembered exactly the opposite. There had been no bears in this part of the country for years—so said the men who were talking about seeing maybe exactly the same thing he had just found, a footprint that resembled a bear’s.

Vic now began to be concerned. That print was way larger than his foot, shoe and all. In fact, it was twice as long and twice or more wide. Now he began to really look at the print. The toe marks were funny looking. Regular toes didn’t have toenails that made a mark, and this one did all four toes of them. Suddenly he realized that there were only four toes, not five, and it looked like the toes were almost the same length. Now with his senses alerted to such strange sights, the broken limbs and now the footprint, he suddenly wished his father was with him. With his feeling all close to just plain fear, he began to look around, studying the forest edges close by, and didn’t see any out of the usual things. He turned to study the water’s edge across the lake, which was at the narrow point where he was. Glancing along the lake’s edge, he saw nothing, then he began looking into the forest as far as he could. Suddenly, he thought he saw a figure dash from one large tree to another. He watched the spot for a long time, seeing nothing, so he glanced away to the next tree. And then he quickly returned his glance to the first tree, and again he saw just the faintest of movement—really a shadow—he was sure of a person or animal. He was not sure which.

Now alarmed, he picked up his rod and began to reel in the line, all the while watching the trees across the lake for that shadow to make another movement. He had his line almost completely rewound when there was a sudden rush of wind, yet it was a wind that just seemed to be in one area. It came across the lake, from the far shore, directly at him. This wind seemed to be directed at the very spot where his big catfish was tied up in the water. Vic simply stood and watched in amazement as the water around the fish began to be blown aside, and the fish lay exposed, flopping at the water’s edge, and suddenly, it disappeared. It was totally gone; only the stringer where it had been hooked remained. The wind was still moving the water of the lake in a narrow strip from where he stood to the other side. That strip slowly lay calm as if there had been no wind. While he watched the small strip of waves the wind had stirred slowly calm down, he glanced again at the far shore, and again he was sure he saw a shadow leave the water and go into the forest. The lake water was once again very calm. Not so with Little Vic. He had enough of these strange happenings, and not even bothering to retrieve his rod and reel, he left the scene.

Vic didn’t exactly run all the way home. You could say he moved pretty fast and came into the yard out of breath. He sat down on the front porch to catch his breath, and that was where his mother found him a few minutes later. She had seen him coming and had wondered what his hurry was. She was not one to push him, so she just sat down beside him and quietly observed him slowly begin to breathe normally again. When he had calmed, he stood in front of her and asked her where his father was. She told him that he was out in the south field doing something.

If you need to see him, he will be out there all evening until near dark. He said he would be home by then and for me to have supper ready. She was watching her son very closely, realizing something had upset him and that he didn’t want to tell her about it yet. She felt sure he would when he had rested and thought about it for a while. She stood, patted his head, and left the porch. Vic had wanted to speak about the happenings at the lake but knew that would alarm his mother, so he decided to just leave the subject until his father was around. Finally, he stood and, leaving the porch, called his dog and briefly wondered where it was when he had gone fishing. He thought that the dog was likely with his father, so he went to the barn to do a couple of chores that he was expected to do while he waited for his father to return.

He entered the barn’s center aisle and was heading for the crib where corn was stored. One of his chores was to make sure the horses his father was using had corn prepared for them when they were put in their stalls. Two horses needed eight ears each, so he began to prepare them. He put them in a basket as he shucked them and soon had the ears ready to deliver to the stalls. He had left the storage area and shut the door, walked into the center causeway when he felt the wind. Perhaps felt was wrong; more like heard, this time. It came through the far center door and was more like a whisper that could barely be heard. He stood very still, waiting to see what happened next. His eyes were looking everywhere, for now he expected to see a shadow like he had in the forest. He set the basket down and was backing out the barn when he saw the shadow. He had glanced behind him to be sure he was backing up in the right place to get out of there, when he looked back into the area near the basket. He saw the shadow going out the rear door. It definitely looked like a man.

His father came in from working in the field and placed the horses in their stall. He discovered there was no corn, so he gave a yell for Vic. At that time, Vic had returned to the porch and was sitting very dejectedly, staring out at space. When his father called, he snapped out of it and answered at once. Here I am. I will be right there in a minute. He rose and sprinted to the barn to face his father.

Now, Vic, you know you were to have the corn for the horses all in their troughs, right?

Vic answered, I know, but something happened, and I left the corn in that basket right there.

His father had never had reason to be angry at him before, so he realized that something must have happened. All right, tell me about it, and while you talk, go get some more corn. There’s none in this basket.

Well, you won’t believe me, but there was someone here just before you came. Whoever it was came into the barn through the back door, down the aisle, and, I guess, took the sixteen ears of corn I had put in that basket then left. I know it sounds like I am fibbing, but it is the truth.

Well, what did he look like? Was it a neighbor or some tramp that was just walking down the road?

Dad—Little Vic called him Dad—let me explain as best I can, and then I have to tell you some more. I know it really sounds weird, but let me try. Have you ever just glanced up suddenly and seen what you thought was someone or something that had just skipped through the air past you? You know, maybe like just a shadow and not a real live person or bird?

Well, yes, I have, come to think about it. I just usually figure it was my imagination and let it go at that. Are you telling me that is what you saw here, right in this barn? Are you telling me that the shadow took those sixteen ears of corn?

"Exactly, sir, that is exactly what happened just a little while ago. Now the other thing I was going to tell you about. Well, this evening, after noontime, I dug up a bunch of red worms and took my new rod and reel down to the lake. Everything was going along fine for some time. I caught a really nice catfish, put it on a stringer and staked it out in the water, baited my hook and cast it back into