Halloween One Shots

MONSTERS (Winner)

Contest Profile: WattpadMilitaryFiction

When the aliens came, they came armed. We didn't stand a chance and we knew it. Still, we tried. We brought out the big guns, ready to go down fighting.

What we weren't ready for was the aliens' immediate surrendering. The, undoubtedly dangerous, insect-like sentient beings bowed to us, offering their weapons and a share of their planet's resources. With a single request: that we invade their planet and slay the monsters who roamed it. To be honest, they had us at, "We have oil".

It's been exactly a year since the Ulirathians landed. We've spent that time modifying their technology to fit us and transforming into the deadliest military force known to man and the aliens.

It was fitting that it was Halloween morning as we landed on a faraway planet to slay monsters. The Ulirathians were right. Their world was incredible. A glorious patchwork of pristine natural features. And they were offering half of it to humankind. A half that was almost as large as Earth itself.

We landed in a part of the forests that blanketed their northern hemisphere. An eerie place. Cold. Quiet. Seemingly devoid of life, save for the trees. And even those were dying. The monsters had done that. I wasn't worried. These monsters were Ulirathians too and we had learnt how to kill them in more ways than was necessary.

I saw the shadow in my peripheral vision. I turned back to my men, only to find that I was alone. What the...? The shadow passed by me again. I followed it and saw that it was a woman. Odd. She had on basic hiking gear.

"Stop!" I called out.

She did. And turned with her arms up. At first, I thought she looked familiar, but she didn't. She looked exactly like me.

"I'm not going to fight you," she said, calmly.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"My wallet's in my pocket. I'm just going to..."

"Don't move."

I walked over to her and carefully pulled out her wallet. She shared my name and all other details except for my military profession. She had a picture of two little children next to her ID. I've always wanted children. They were giving her a big hug. I pulled out her phone. It opened to my facial features. The video app came on, and I watched as she, I, played with the children. With my husband. My family. A cabin in the woods behind us. I knew instinctively that my husband and I had built it by hand. I'd always wanted to.

"I'm not the monster," she said.

Thoughts of past atrocities flooded my mind. The guilt brought me to my knees. How many lives had we destroyed? How many children's lives? Communities? I pulled out my gun and pressed the barrel to my head. I heard other guns go off a few yards away, all around me. None of us were leaving this battlefield. And why should we? We were monsters.