With the remainder of humanity in chains, Shasta keeps her head down and tries to weather the storm. Servicing the filthy needs of a superior alien race, each day passes in a blur, the struggle to survive outweighing everything else.
After ten years...
Even when Earth was conquered, there wasn't this much blood. It's covering everything, splattered on the walls and ceiling, pooled on the ground, dripping...
When I reach the room, I crouch down in the corner, I wrap my arms around my legs, and make myself as small as possible.
Each minute that passes, the screams get louder and more desperate. My stomach flip flops, rolling and dropping each time a shrill cry rings out. A horrible thudding sound from the hallway makes my heart stop. I recognize the angry grunting as Monturian, but there is another sound, a whistling.
Another thud, then the automatic door slides open.
Something steps past the door, walking down the hallway. I only get a brief glance; it's a single stride and they are gone, but it causes panic in my blood.
Holy fuck! What is that? Clapping my hand over my mouth, I have to physically hold the scream in. My swollen closed eye and the blood on my face make it hard to see, but whatever that was...
He was much bigger than a Monturian. Thick black horns protrude from his head, helix, and curve to the back.
A sword with jagged edges hung in his hand, Monturian blood dripping from it, leaving a trail behind him on the ground.
My body trembles as the memories of the night I was taken from Earth flood my brain. They are being conquered. Who knows what is going to happen to me now? I've survived this long, only to be killed by a new force of evil.
Even in this terrifying moment, I feel a small amount of joy. The Monturians are getting what they deserve. They are spread across the hallways, broken and bloody, their bodies ripped apart. A small taste of what they did to humans.
A shadow in the hallway makes my heart pound in my chest. I'm trapped here; there is nowhere to go.
Another horned man steps into the doorway. His head tilts to one side when he sees me, and my vision goes blurry. My body is shutting down. I don't even remember being this afraid the first time I saw an alien.
He holds his sword up, wiping away thick, black blood with a rich blue cloth. It's the cape of Monturian royalty. This isn't just conquering; if the upper echelon is dead, this is a complete annihilation.
He drops the bloody cloth to the ground, sheathing his sword by his hip. It looks like crystal, glowing slightly. A glass sword?
He holds his hand out to me, a simple gesture that catches me off guard. It seems so gentle. A hand to hold, a request, but not a demand.
I know what he wants me to do, but my muscles are locked; I can't move.
He says something, his deep, booming voice echoing in the small, empty room. When I still don't move, he steps forward, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me.
With purposeful steps, he leads me through the hallways. There is death everywhere. Monturians lay in heaps, blood flowing from their bodies and pooling on the ground. My feet drag through it as he pulls me.
He brings me to a place I've never been before. It's like a freezing, cold shelf hanging from the back of the station.
Large crystalline ships are lined up, suspended in the air just off the shelf. They look like pirate ships. Big, beautiful crystal pirate ships that somehow look both ancient and modern.
He tugs me forward, pushing me onto a thin platform that looks like a plank. He's putting me on this ship.
I start to feel my chest heave and hyperventilate as I suck for air. Several other women are in large cages in a dark room. The light pouring in from the open door makes all of their terrified eyes squint closed.
He pushes me in and slams the door closed behind me. My body crumbles, my knees hitting the ground as my eyes try to adjust to the sudden pitch black.
My heart pounds in my ears as I crawl forward, trying to find something to lean against, something solid to hold onto. I'm being taken again. I'm a planetless refugee, at the mercy of whatever monster has me at the moment. My fate is changing again, and I have no power.
When I reach a wall, I lean against it and close my eyes, pretending that the darkness doesn't exist. The fields, the sunset, the warm desert sand. I try to focus my mind on these things.
Over the next several minutes, the door opens long enough to shove another woman inside before it slams shut again. All around me, they sob and wail. I try to block it out and think of the purple and orange of the sunset. If I let myself cry, I'll miss something. I have to be alert; it's how you survive these things—it's how I survived.
It's so cold that the blood that soaked into my clothes and hair feels stiff and frozen. It might not matter if I'm alert or not if I freeze to death before we reach our destination.
The ground beneath us lurches slightly, and I'm hit with a strange sensation. It's an intense moment of deja vu—not from the previous conquering but from Earth.
It feels like being in an elevator. It's such an odd memory to have suddenly.
We're dropping. I feel lighter for a moment, my head spinning, until we jerk slightly and level off. Even without being able to see, I know we're going fast.
My mind moves into overdrive as I wait for whatever is coming. There are so many horrifying options; I'm sure I can't even comprehend all of the atrocities that might be waiting for me. Last time I was on a ship like this, I had just watched my mom die, and my sister was yanked away from me.
When we landed, we separated into groups, and the female children were sent to the lowest part of the ship. I never found out what they did with the boys. I haven't seen a human man since the day we arrived here. I wonder what is waiting for us now.
When we stop, I brace myself. This is it.
The door slides open, and a gust of slightly warmer air and bright white light rush into the cage.
One of our captors steps inside, speaking words that have no meaning as we all sit in frozen terror, watching him.
When he starts to get agitated, I stand, hoping that I am understanding him correctly. He nods and turns, walking out the door.
With no other choice, I follow him out, my knees trembling and my cold body aching as I step down into the mud.
Next Update: 1 January, Monday
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