Volume 1 p 12 The Ridge

The ladies, in unison, stepped toward the lights. Their joint decision signaled they were ready to face whatever was coming next. They would face not as six ladies but as one group. Each one was prepared to use their skills to ensure the group's survival.

The lights took that as an invitation to join them.

The lights roared across the field, speeding toward the girls. Zoe screamed, “They are coming!” Maya went into emotional overload and started jumping up and down. Kailyn wondered if they could hear us or read our thoughts. Alex stepped forward, fist-clinched, preparing for anything. Akia and Jet stood silent, frozen, unsure of what to do.

When the lights arrived, they circled the girls. With each pass, the circle became a little tighter. “They are forcing us to get closer,” Akia yelled as she pulled Jet closer to her. “They want us close, putting us into a small circle,” Alex said.

The ladies huddling together was the last trigger the lights needed. The flying stopped, and each light positioned itself in front of a girl. “Okay, someone, tell me what's happening,” Maya said nervously. No one spoke up. Everyone felt the same way. There was no way to explain what was happening or predict what was coming next.

The lights flashed twice. “Did the lights just send us a signal?” Maya asked. Zoe responded, “I hope it was to us…the alternative is too scary to think about.”

The group was about to learn it was choice C, both.  

Up until this point, each girl had been experiencing the day differently. Their experiences and reactions were a product of their personalities. That was about to change. All emotions were being stripped away except for two. Only fear and excitement remained, and they were being blended into one.  Having alien lights fly around you does that for a girl. The lights had one more trick up their sleeves. Bouncing slightly in the afternoon sun, the lights slowly changed colors. The light in front of Zoe turned green, the one in front of Alex became red, Jet got a blue one, Akia’s changed to black, Kailyn’s switched to purple, and Maya’s to pink.

“Ok, totally unexpected,” Kailyn said.

“I do like me some red,” Alex said, smiling.

“I look fantastic in purple, Zoe bragged. “Do you think we're getting uniforms?”

“Oh, my aunt is a seamstress,” Maya said. “We're are so getting uniforms.”

“I hate to spoil this beautiful moment, even though my light does match my eyes, but we need to get back to trying to figure out what is happening,” Jet reminded everyone.

Akia nodded, then added, “So what is the plan?”

“This is getting very real, very fast. Alex mumbles in a very low voice. The hum, the lights, the changes, they felt unstoppable, like a tide that wouldn’t wait for her to catch her breath. That thing over there may already be changing us.”

Everyone looked toward the ridge; the field between them seemed to stretch much further now. The field was bathed in soft yellow light from the sun. The ridge rose to about eight feet, just tall enough to hide something behind it but not too tall to climb over. The tall, silent trees that ran along the top of the ridge stood like gatekeepers, giving a foreboding look to their destination. Pine filled the air with its thick fragment scent.

The air was humid, clinging to their skin like a layer of moisture. The hum lingered faintly in their ears, like the fading vibration of a tuning fork. Even the scent of the grass, damp and earthy, felt sharper as if nature was suddenly alive.

The trees stood unnaturally still, their leaves unmoving despite the faint breeze brushing against the girls’ faces. A faint glow shimmered behind the ridge, like different colors of light bending in ways it shouldn’t.

The newly colored lights remained close by, a reminder that there was still one more task to complete. That task was about to begin.

“I still have my little purple guardian angel,” Zoe said, nodding her head toward her light, “so the whole doom and gloom thing might be a touch too much.”

As Zoe finished speaking, the lights flashed twice, sending bright streaks through the night. Simultaneously, a bright glow began to spread beyond the ridge as if the area were suddenly on fire. The brightness of the red light was undeniable.

With shocked eyes, Kailyn says, “I know I keep saying this, but that was unexpected.”

“Did the lights cause that, or were they just a signal?” Alex asked.

The hum deepened, pulsing through the ground like a heartbeat, urging them forward. Alex took the first step, her gaze fixed on the ridge. "Let’s move," she said, her voice firm despite the unease flickering in her chest. One by one, they followed. Walking briskly, lights following, the girls made their way across the field until they reached the base of the ridge.

The air condensed as they walked, and the ground crackled with static charges. The thick air affected their steps as if the ground would not let go of their foot. Each step brought them closer; each step produced stronger pulses. It could be felt on their skin. 

Alex looked at Zoe; they nodded to each other, knowing what each other was thinking. “We are going up that ridge,” Alex turned to Akia and asked, “You ready for this?”.  Akia nodded yes and then began to survey the terrain they would cover. Zoe and Alex then looked over to Kailyn and said, “Kailyn, you ready for this?” “100%,” Kailyn responded.

Alex motioned for everyone to gather around. Alex began to speak to the group, "I didn’t come here tonight to make friends. Honestly, I didn’t expect anyone to care if I was here or not. But this time with you, this is different. In just a few hours, you’ve become the people I trust with my life. And whatever happens next, I’m not letting go of that. I’ll fight for you all." Alex wiped away a tear as Zoe and Maya began hugging her.

Zoe whispered, “Franky, you are going to be the best bodyguard ever.”

Emotionally charged, Alex did what she did best: take off. This time, it was not an escape but an act to help another, her new family. She climbed to the top of the ridge and firmly planted her boot along the edge. Scanning the field, she saw it; there it was —the object they had been following, the actual cause of all this chaos.

One by one, the others followed. One by one, they had their first sighting of the object that had taken over their lives, the object that seemed to have orchestrated this major event that had brought them together. Their reactions ranged from a gasp to covering their mouths. Kailyn blinked hard, her pulse drumming behind her eyes. Akia muttered a silent prayer. Maya reached for Alex’s hand without realizing it.

Zoe stormed past Alex as she cleared the ridge, walking about twenty feet toward it, ignoring Alex's commands to stop. She was fully determined to try and understand what was going on. She was balancing the line between courage and recklessness as she neared the object. Kneeling in front of it, she studied the object, taking mental notes of its shape, the writings along its edge, and the swirling colors around it.

The object lay in front of them. The master of all the chaos was now in their sights. Half-buried, lying in a small crater, the ground was burnt so badly that one could smell it. The meteor wasn’t solid or liquid but something in between. Its texture seemed to shift and roll as if it were moving. Its surface looked metallic and sparkled in the sunlight. Ancient-looking alien writing went down each edge. Colors similar to those of the lights that had guided the girls to this point swirled around the object in a pattern similar to how atoms are arranged.

Zoe walked back to the group. "It’s alive," she murmured, turning to watch the lights swirl. "It's as if it's reacting to us."

"Reacting, sure," Alex said, her tone sharp. "That doesn’t mean we can trust it.

"It doesn’t feel threatening," Maya offered, her voice soft. "More like… curiosity."

As Maya finished her sentence, the lights made one last grand gesture. Flying ahead of the girls, they flashed twice, then slowly moved over to where the object sat in the grass.

“Did the lights just signal us to follow them?” Zoe asked.

“It looks that way,” Alex responded. “It's time to finish this.”

Alex began walking toward the alien object, fist clinched as she mumbled to herself, “It’s time to go to work.”

Thank you for reading this part of Volume 1. For fan reaction, follow us on the X and Instagram at @TeamMAD. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this or send some fan mail to one of the ladies, you can email us at TeamMADzakmaj@gmail.com.