Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (The Silence of the Woods)

Graham Potter was a man in his late 40’s. He was tall, thin, but looked too big for his own body. In another world he could have been an army man. His hair-line had receded a long time ago and all that was left was shaved, grey stubble around the sides. He was recently divorced from his wife and Andy – whilst totally the opposite of Graham – enjoyed his company.

Graham was sat in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel and wearing an army-camouflage water-proof coat. He turned to Andy and smiled, noticing the slight concern on his face. “Alright, mate?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” said Andy.

“First time out, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” said Andy.

“So you’re not good then?” smiled Graham.

“Congratulations, you’ve seen through me,” said Andy, sarcastically.

“You’ll be fine,” said Graham. “It’ll be a laugh as well. Good skills to pass on to the kids.” Graham had been scouting longer than Andy and was quite the expert on everything. But whereas Andy was with the younger Cub Scout section, Graham was with the older Scouts. He was more attuned to this sort of thing.

“How’s Nicole taking things?” asked Graham as they pulled away from Andy’s drive. “Panicking?”

“The opposite actually,” said Andy, glancing back to his front door and watching his wife wave him off. “She’s more upbeat about this then I am.”

Graham laughed as they turned the corner and onto the main road.

Five minutes later they pulled up beside a McDonalds were a group of about a dozen people were stood around the car park. Some of them had coffees and some had McDonald’s breakfasts. A woman in her twenties with long, blue and black hair supped on a milkshake and approached Graham’s car as it pulled up.

“Alright, boys?” she said.

“Morning, Flick,” Graham and Andy said in unison.

Felicity Jenkins – or Flick - was an assistant Scout leader at Andy’s section, but because he dealt with the Cubs he didn’t see her very often. She was popular and well-liked. He didn’t really know much about her other than she was quiet, thoughtful and got on well with all the kids.

“You two all ready for this?” she asked, re-adjusting her black-rimmed spectacles.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” said Andy.

“First time,” said Graham, thumbing towards him.

“You’ll be alright,” said Flick. “I was nervous my first time camping.”

“But this is sleeping in hammocks,” said Andy, getting out of the car and voicing his first real concerns. “Won’t they twist over or something?”

“Nah,” said Graham. “They’re tougher than they look. You’ve been watching too many cartoons.”

“Graham’s right,” said Flick. She leant against the car and looked towards the rest of the adult volunteers. “We’re all in the same boat, you know?”

“Or in the same hammock,” said Andy.

“I bloody well hope not,” said Graham with a laugh. “I can’t stand Mark’s snoring.”

“What was that?” asked a dark-haired man in his 30’s with a Scottish accent. He was quite attractive and had light blue eyes. There was obviously some kind of connection going on with Flick as she looked away from him shyly when he walked over. He was the Scout leader of Graham’s pack and, when he wasn’t volunteering at the Scouts, was a PE teacher.

“Graham was just making a joke about your snoring,” said Andy.

“I’ll try and hold off making a joke about his big feet,” said Mark. “I bet you won’t even fit in the hammock.”

The four of them laughed.

A little while later, after Andy and Graham had gotten a coffee, the group were met by a burly woman with short, brown curly hair. Joy Castle was the Group Scout Leader of Andy’s group and was incredibly loud when barking out orders.

“Attention all,” said Joy, as if speaking to the children. “Thank you,” she said, craning her neck over the group as a couple of people continue to mumble. “Thank you,” she said again as they quietened. “Now, we have a good two hour drive from here,” she said. “I hope everyone’s packed what they need because we won’t be able to come back, not unless you want to waste your petrol. Do we have everything?”

There were mumbles of acknowledgement from the crowd.

“Excellent. Lovely!” she said, smiling at everyone in turn. Everyone had arrived in their regular, civilian clothes, but Joy had turned up in full Scouting uniform even though it wasn’t needed. “If everyone is okay with their lifts then we’ll be off.”

The group dispersed and everyone headed towards their various vehicles.

“I hope she’s not gonna be like this all weekend,” said Graham, gloomily.

“Just remind me to put up my hammock far away from her,” said Andy, getting into the car.

“Mate, I don’t think anywhere is safe from her bloody voice.”

Andy laughed as Graham got in the car. The sun was beginning to peek through the grey clouds and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day as the cavalcade of cars set off for their destination.



Flick sat in her Volkswagen Beetle watching Mark get into his Polo across on the other side of the car park. She gave him a little wave as he pulled out and made his way onto the motorway. She waited until the rest of the car park was empty of her fellow Scout Leaders and then pulled out a map from her bag. It showed the surrounding area around the 400 acre woodland and in the middle of the woodlands was a red “X”.

She closed her eyes, folded up the map and then readjusted her glasses again. She started the car, nervously blew out air from her cheeks and then nodded to herself. “Right, off we go.”



Nicole Sibley was busy folding up her ironing when she felt the baby kick again. She was eight months pregnant and she was enjoying every second of her pregnancy. She had heard stories about other expectant mothers being sick and ill throughout the entirety of it, but Nicole hadn’t felt any of this. Not yet anyway. She hoped it’d continue like this.

She looked down at her big pot-belly, her white top stretched over it and smiled down lovingly.

In reality she had a perfect life. She and Andy had met five years ago when she was working as an auditor at the factory Andy was based at. They had hit it off immediately. He had asked her out for a drink and six months later they had moved in with each other. A year after that they had married and moved into a bigger house. They had been trying for a few years to conceive and it had finally happened and the two of them couldn’t have been happier.

Nicole was distracted from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the front door. She switched off her iron, made her way downstairs and opened the door. Standing there was a tall man with receding, white hair and a white beard. His face was thin and he was wearing a tweed suit with a white shirt and tie. He looked deeply concerned, but his face turned to relief when Nicole opened the door.

“Mrs Sibley?” said the man.

“Yes?” said Nicole, making sure her foot was behind the door. Just in case. He looked...odd.

“My name is Arthur Jenkins.”

“Yes?” said Nicole again. Was she supposed to know him or something?

“I was wondering if I could come in and speak to you.”

“Can I ask who you are?” she asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

“Ah, yes, of course,” he said. He was very well-spoken. “I believe my daughter – Felicity – knows your husband.”

“Andy? Well, yeah I’ve heard him mention her before,” she said, suddenly putting the two names together, “She’s a Scout Leader at his section, isn’t she?”

“That is correct,” said Arthur. “They’ve just left for Grantham. I tried to get to them as soon as possible but I couldn’t. I’ve been out of town and returned home this morning. Felicity was already gone.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” asked Nicole.

“I believe that my daughter and your husband, and indeed the entire group of them, are in grave danger.”

“No, there’s just off for a survival camp weekend. They’ll be fine. They’re with a fully trained guide.”

“Please, Mrs Sibley. You have to believe me. Not all out in those woods are as they seem. They are in danger.”

“Okay, so what kind of danger?” asked Nicole, feeling her hearts start to race.

Arthur looked down, swallowed and then back at Nicole. “Danger of a supernatural type.”



Deep in the woods, amongst the foliage a small, brown rabbit hopped about, stopping on the odd occasion to snuffle around between vines and leavers.

There was a shuffle from somewhere and the rabbit froze in its tracks, its black eyes looking around fearfully. And then, like lightning, something shot up from under the ground and the rabbit was gone.

The woods were silent again.

To be continued...