the Target

17

(17)

Liz took a long drink of her scotch and handed the glass to me.

I got up once more and brought the bottle of McCallum’s back with me to where we were sitting. I had a feeling we would both need it before the night was over.
As I filled Liz’s glass, she began to speak.

“We survived the Ice Age.”

I passed her back her glass.
She took a sip.

“Us, the sharks, and the cockroaches.”
She laughed slightly.
“We were the first, James. The first people of Earth. We survived the dinosaurs and then the Ice Age.
In the beginning, it was only us, only the so-called mutants. 

We did not know the difference. We all had these special survival skills and we used them. 

We were all there was for thousands of years.”

She got up from her chair and walked to a nearby window.
“We were happy and we did not need much to survive, and we flourished.”

She turned and looked at me.
“Then, they came.”

“They?” I asked.
I immediately wished I hadn’t. I wasn’t one for long speeches.
And I knew this was going to be a long one.

“The Ziachens. We had no idea were they came from or when they came. They just appeared.”

“We?” I questioned.
“Are you trying to tell me that you were there?”

Liz looked at me for what seemed like an eternity. She had that effect on me.
“How old are you, James?”

I had to think.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I don’t know. I don’t really remember and to tell the truth, I don’t really think about it.”

Liz laughed.
“You fought in the American Civil War and you were already over 200 years old. Age is nothing to us, James.”

I leaned back in my chair.
“What is all of this, Liz?”

“The Ziachens came to Earth to conquer us. Yes, they gave us knowledge and tools that we did not yet posses. They built the pyramids and the Sphinx and some of the other ancient wonders. But they did that only to win us over.”

She sat down and poured herself another scotch.
“They did not care about us. They used us to prepare our world for their people. They were all over the world, Jimmy. They were using us to prepare Earth for an invasion.
And there was a group of us who saw that.”

“Fuck,” I said aloud.
“You are old.”
Not that I cared. She was still one gorgeous woman.

Liz shook her head.
“Stay with me, Jimmy.”

I smirked.
“Sorry.”

“We knew we had to stop them, or else they would just eliminate our people and use those of us who survived as their slaves.”
Liz paused and sipped her scotch again. 

“There was a small group of Ziachens who sided with us. They did not like what their people were doing; conquering planets and destroying all life. Once each planet was dead, they would just leave and go to the next one.
We banded together and we destroyed them.”

“You destroyed aliens?”

Liz nodded.
“With the help of the renegade Ziachens, yes, we destroyed them and stopped the invasion. We eliminated every trace of the Ziachens, most of which is buried beneath the very pyramids they built.
But the interbreeding between us and the Ziachens resulted in the humans that now inhabit the Earth.”

I laughed, in spite of myself.
“Okay, so mutants and an alien race mated and that is where humans came from?”

Liz nodded.

“Quite a fairytale, Liz.”
I put down my drink and stood up.
“Yea, well, this has been a blast, but it is time I got out of here.”

“Where are you going, Jimmy?”

“Anywhere that isn’t here.”
I walked towards her.
“This is all bullshit, Liz, or whatever your name is. You expect me to believe all of this and for what? Why the fuck should I even care?”

Liz stood up, her eyes turning blue and her petite frame growing quickly.

“Fuck,” I said as she towered above me.

“Are you calling me a liar, James?”