CHAPTER ONE

 

CHAPTER ONE: MEMORIES AND MORTALITY

 

{SEVEN YEARS LATER}

            The sky looked bruised as the Sun began to disappear, slowly like drops in an IV bag. It seemed like the darker it got, the more sickened I felt;  my energy sapped, my calmness being pulled out from beneath me like a rug, the little feeling of comfort was erased… and… now I was… losing feeling in my butt?

“Ian can you park this thing” I asked, shifting in my seat, sitting shotgun next to Ian.

“I’m trying to get as much miles with daylight… I don’t think we should drive by daylight, I think they are around” the edge of his voice only wiping out my confidence. He had a point.

“Well, if you don’t park soon you are going to have to amputate my a*s” I looked over at him, his caramel eyes melting in the sunlight, and in truth, melting me. His jagged mud brown hair in disarray, his curved lips pulled up into a smile, his sharp cheekbones poking through his lightly tan skin, his chin a little stubbly. His face was a flawless book cover to a beautiful story that I could read over and over again.

A low chuckle issued from his lips.

“Oh really” before he replied, Nick thrust his head between us, his accusing eyes, same color as Ian’s, poking at me.

“You said a bad word”

“Nick, get back” Ian shoved Nick back “why don’t you have your seatbelt on?” Nick’s head came back, his black hair in luscious curls. His chubby cheeks were a bit sunburned and glowed as he pouted.

“What does amputate mean?” I was about to tell him before Ian jutted in once more.

“It means ‘sit your butt down and strap your seatbelt on or I tie you to the roof’” Nick immediately slinked back. Ian looked over me, his dark brows furrowed with his lips pressed so hard that their normal peach color was faded. His eyes locked onto mine, switching off my breathing… A stone drop of liquid pattered against my forehead, I ignored it. The water slid as I scowled deeply, focusing on the memory… I couldn’t rip my awkward stare when my heart was fluttering. His face mutated from the annoyance scowl to Ian’s smiling face. His cheeks turned a Barbie pink, his eyes glossed with happiness, even though their were dark bags under his eyes, an indication of his sleepless nights and hours of anxiety… another drop dared to plunk on my head. I growled maliciously, tightening my fists, the fingernails cutting into the toughened skin. My scowl burrowed deeper into my skull, some of the water trickling through to the roots of my hair… “Umm…” his smile widened as his cheeks got redder, I didn’t understand why I wasn’t looking away. My mind was telling me to but my body wouldn’t even twitch. Can’t move dummy because you love him, I cackled at myself in the sanctuary of my mind. I noticed my own cheeks were getting warmer by the second as I continued my long stare. “Maybe it’s a good time to say that I lo…” the car jerked, Ian’s head snapping back to the road, driving the car back on the right course. It got darker. Ian’s entire face was flooded with red, hunching over the stirring wheel, and the whole while, I was staring at him… another drop… that was enough.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?” I screamed, springing off of my cot. My body stiffened from the clotting anger . The alien leaped back with a hiss, holding a stained blue bottle in his bony, cottage cheese white hands. My fury drove me to attack it, moving so fast that when he closed his two pairs of lids, I was beating at his body before he even opened them. It shrieked, so high pitch that it shattered the bottle in his hand, I did not stopping to figure out how that was possible.

“SOMEONE HELP!” he clicked “IT’S GONE AGGRESSIVE AGAIN!” he gave a few more clicks and a low hiss.
”I HATE YOU!”I snorted as I pounded my fists harder into its flesh body, backing it up into an unnoticeable corner. He stared at me horrorstruck “THAT’S RIGHT I SPEAK YOUR F*****G LANGUAGE!”I elbowed him on his thin nose, lime green liquid gushed out, and it screamed again. My ears pounding from the first scream, already.

“HELP! HELP!”

“CAN’T DEFEND YOURSELF? HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?” my voice cracked, tears streamed down my face that hadn’t felt soap in seven years. I threw his weightless body across the prison. Its blood running down his chin, its grayish long hair was straggled onto his neck, sticky with the green slime, blood of the filthy creature. It fell to its knees, his slit pupils of white tilted up at me, the rest of his eye a chilling, coal black and under no circumstances, trusting… and they had no effect on me, not anymore.

“Please, mercy” I grabbed the collar of his tunic, bringing his face up to mine, now able to see the face more clearly in the dim candlelight, provided by this thing. Grooved wrinkles ran across his forehead and had caved in cheeks; this one was older than I thought, but I did not care.

“DID YOU GIVE MY PEOPLE MERCY?” his face was struck with fear, the catlike eyes pleading for release. I shook him, he groaned “ANSWER ME! DID YOU, DID YOU?” my voice was shaking. I waited, heavily breathing, staring at him as his face contorted into panic. His eyes darted around the cramped ward for some escape.

The sound of jingling keys echoed in, the peevish man’s face before me changed suddenly. A wicked smile darted across his thin lips, blood still gushing out of his nose. His eyes went back to a familiar vacant, antagonistic stare. He bellowed into his hyena pitched laughter, his head thrown back when doing so.

“Your people where all the same… they deserved to die” the words were disgustingly ushered out. Those words were his last. A beam of light that was cut by the shadows of the alien’s rescue swept across the room. I heaved the alien over my shoulder, hearing him crash into the guards. Curses were yelled, that they didn’t know I could understand. I pivoted slowly around, the old alien lying limp on the ground. The four guards huddled around its corpse. One of them pressed his ear to his chest, listening for the beat to all three of its hearts. One glowered up at me, his white translucent lids closing over his absent eyes like an elevator door then quickly shutting his “normal” lids over. The eyes shone in light and hardly blinked. He kept still, staring at me with his flared nostrils, his skin disgustingly pale, stretched over his toned muscles that could be outlined through his thin blank t-shirt.

“He’s dead” the alien lifted his head, making a few popping sounds by sucking in his lips and letting them go. Then they all looked towards me. I screamed as they rushed towards me with their metal poles, feeling stupid that I didn’t anticipate this earlier. There was no where to go. I  was trapped in this cage like an animal. To these aliens, I was a specimen, a sac of water, a barbaric thing incapable reason or emotion

 I was pinned to the ground. I twisted my neck around just to see the metal pole jabbed into my side, sending excruciating pulses of electricity. My teeth clamped together, lolling to my side as pain riveted through me. Everything was going paralyzed, even my tear duds. The guards beat me senselessly; unable to defend myself in anyway, couldn’t even release the hatred or my morbid screams. There was no justice here at least not for a human. Seconds, minutes, hours, I could not tell until my real punishment came. I faced the doorway, open, flourishing with light, wishing I could coax it to rain over my skin, provide me warmth and hope in this mildew, cold dungeon. The aliens grunted as they got tired, they were so stupid. Didn’t they know I couldn’t feel it, to numb even to groan. Blood diffused into my mouth, reflecting on my own stupidity, realizing I would feel this all later. It took weeks to recover, having taken a beating last week, too and was still sore and bruised. I still couldn’t accept that they were stronger than me, better than me; I despised them, every single one of them. Never once in my life before encasement here had I wanted anyone, or in this matter, anything to be afflicted with immense suffering and death until they came. Hatred and revenge was what kept me in this cage, taking any opportunity to annihilate them like they had done to my people; the human race.

            The clanking of metal boots rose above the sound of brass knuckles and stubby shoes thumping into my body. By now I was able to move some of my facial structures.

“No” I mouthed, tears flooded my eyes, he was coming. The guards stopped, giving me flirtatious smiles with their eyebrows raised, one of them giving a hoot. More tears came. Why couldn’t they just beat the living s**t out of me instead of humiliating me like they were going to do next? His dark figure blocked most of the light, already recognizing him with his tall stance and broad shoulders. I shuddered, focusing on moving only to give up on hope. I knew that he was stronger than me, and plus, this fact prevailed: I was immensely afraid of this alien, he was the only one I immensely feared.

“Everyone out” he barked, to a regular human, sounding like a bunch of uttered clicks and pops. The three guards scrambled out, shutting the door behind them, the eye hole slide open so their identical eyes could watch me. I sniffled, closing my eyes, not wanting to look at this terrifying alien. His name was Shadow Eater and in my opinion, a fitting name. Through my closed lids I could see his empty eyes that covered his empty soul glowering at me. He gave smirk on his thin pale lips, only letting his upper row of crooked teeth show. His cheekbones jutted out of his skull as if he had gotten over-the-top plastic surgery and his flaming ear length hair was combed back, making his wide chin looking even wider.

“Damn human, just like the rest of them. Only good for certain things” his rustic voice echoed through the room. I growled in response, none of them knew I could understand their language. When they first held me captive, they put me in a barred cage, able to watch and learn… and attack what I guessed where children by their size and flabby features, similar to humans, and steal their school books.

            He was quiet besides his boots clicking on the stone ground that, as I regained feeling, was becoming very uncomfortable. Now the clicks were coming towards me, the lamplight shining through my lids. Hyperventilation shifted through, feeling his perverted hands scooting down my pants. I focused on moving, couldn’t take this again, but my focus only managing me to bend my knee. His hands grasped my shoulder, thrusting me onto my back, the zip of his pants coming next. Tears slipped under my lids. Motivation to move could not win, not this time. My screams vibrating of the wall, only made me feel and look more hopeless and humiliated as he lay on top of me; raping me. His grimy hands slid across my body, coursing across what ever he desired to.

“STOP IT” he didn’t understand me. My eyes opened, staring at the bumpy ceiling of dirt. Many years ago, I realized we were beneath the earth and numerous times I have tried to dig my way out, nearly losing my life a couple times when the dirt caved in. We were deep…

I sobbed pathetically; it was moments like these when the open sore to go home stung. I couldn’t imagine how any worse it could get. His face swerved over mine with his lips prying onto mine. His tongue tried to pierce my clamped lips “STOP IT! NO… I SAID NO!” I yelled, this time it was an infuriated scream. He lifted away, puzzlement on his face, I spat on his ugly, panting face, and getting thrown to the opposite side of the chamber in return.

“I’m done with it” he growled through the eye hole. The door slammed open as fast as it slammed shut, encasing me once again in unbreakable darkness. My sobs broke the silence, slinking from my up straight stance. I let my head softly hit the floor, cooling away at my anguish slowly. The pain was beginning to set in, forcing myself to climb onto my smelly cot before I was totally unanimated in pain. Steadily I breathed through my nostrils, staring at the ceiling once more. Suicidal thoughts rummaged through the circuitry of my mind, once again realizing I had an chance to make the dirt cave in and slowly suffocate myself.

 Ian’s angelic face glued itself on the inside of my lids, so every time I blinked, he was right there, staring back at me. My eyes tingled, my heart thudding for his presence; he was my addicting drug that I needed now and every painful second of my life. I hadn’t seen him since that night, that night the aliens kidnapped me, waking up here and utterly alone not sure at first if I was alive or dead and then there was Ian’s unknown fate to ponder over. Was he okay? Had he gotten captured? Later I discovered, he was not and I prayed he never would.

There used to be other humans here… but now they were gone, used as lab experiments. I had witnessed too many bodies being carried out on stretchers across my cage, their intestines hanging out, every seeable part of the skin was cut up or infected with some rash, probably caused from some weird chemical application. Everyday I had been wondering when I would be next, when I too would be strapped to a wooden board, carried off into somewhere unknown, so my body could be pried opened and sliced and diced like some frog dissection lab back in junior high.

            I shuttered, rolling onto my side, my cheeks feeling fat. Swelling, I automatically assumed, having been through this process numerous times. My eyes tightened, feeling so sore. How much longer could I take this all? Yawning, I slipped out of consciousness knowing my dreams couldn’t hurt me now.

            The bellows sounded off, unable to distinguish the difference between perspective and imagination when it came to distance. I let my breath burst through my mouth at last, my lungs feeling like they would explode. I slunk down against the van, trying to save up my energy for the next two hours of my shift. The gun seemed to burn, clutched in my hand. Ian and I were clueless; not sure if a gun could hold just one of them off in the first place. My eyes fell, my lashes brushing against my… startled at myself I clanked my head back against the van.

“Damn” I muttered, rubbing the back of my head. Sighing I tried to find something interesting to look at, but what was there to look at in a small den and how could I concentrate knowing the slaughtering aliens where out there, for all I knew, searching for any life forms; us. My head dipped back again, when my lids locked themselves shut, I jolted myself upright. I grunted getting up, knowing it was the only way to stay awake. I paced around blindly. I snagged embedded rocks and part of the cave wall, tripping stupidly since I was too tired to see or consider ceasing my pacing. The revolver was loose in my hand. My body struggled to stay upright, my torso a slug attached to my hips and legs. Yawning I decided to hum, slowly, one of my favorite rock songs, which sounded like a bunch of crazy mutters, too  sleepy to even remember the right melody. My eyes slipped, my torso dipping forward.

“Ugh!” I retched myself back “Bad Sam” I slapped myself, just as Ian climbed out of the car. He paused, staring at me quizzically, amusement glinting in his eyes. My cheeks burned but I quickly came up with a recovery. “What? You don’t slap yourself?”

“Only on special occasions” he retorted casually, leaning against the van after lightly pressing the car door shut.

“Smart a*s” I muttered, leaning next to him, my sleepiness vanishing instantly.” Nick asleep?” he nodded. He then heavily sighed, lowering himself onto the ground. A loud shriek came, pretty sure that it was close enough to worry about. Dropping onto my stomach, I army-style, crawled to the opening of the cave, looking down the steep incline. We had been lucky. We had found an easy route up the hill and was conveniently hidden by a massive tangle of dead long grass.

 I scanned down below… nothing… lifting my gaze up, able to see the creepy outline of the city, probably the only remnants of humans left.

“Sam, calm down… come back here” I slowly crawled back, standing up beside Ian again, hoping that he couldn’t hear my heart thudding in my chest. I stared straight into the cave wall, pretty sure it was rock with clumps of dirt clinging to it. I tried to ignore the pumping adrenaline and irrational love for Ian. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him running his fingers through his unkempt milk chocolate hair. His eyes darted up at me, holding my breath at his glance as I noticed the magnificent contours of his face. Flustered, I ignored his gaze, just as frustrated at myself since freshmen year, when we met at El Toro high, falling head over heels in love with him by the end of the year.

“Why don’t you sit down?” he softly asked. I choked on my own spit when his hand wrapped around mine, looking down as I tried to stifle my coughs and ignore my itchy throat. Trying to keep composure but his eyes only warping me to fit into reality; Ian could never love me back, I didn’t deserve him, he wanted a beautiful, nice, smart girl… his hand tugged gently on my hand, forcing me to sit down beside him, the side of our thighs rubbing against each other, surprised that I didn’t wither away when it was in my nature to do so. Maybe it was because I was more surprised that he didn’t shun away either. His hand still enclosed around mine, making me feel numb but I loved it. His arm scooted around my waist, pulling me into him… nothing unusual; we were normally close like this but that all seemed like a long time ago, so different and distant, not sure what I thought of this back then.

 His breathing got a bit shallow, his warm breathe falling on my burning cheek, wondering if he could feel it too.

“Samantha, I have been madly in love with you since freshman year” he crooked his neck so he could met my eyes. He gave a quirky smile, his eyes scared, “is that weird?” I gaped, unable to comprehend this all at once. Finally I had the right words to say, hoping the pause didn’t offend him.

“No, simply because I have loved you since freshman year, too” our cheeks blushed in unison. His brow furrowed, flaring his nose.

“So we could have been a couple this entire time?”

“But was too afraid what the other felt?” his smile made things only better in the ironic situation. He cupped my face, his hands surprisingly warm, or maybe it was just my face that was warm. I couldn’t tell, so distracted by the closeness of his perfectly plump lips. His forehead nuzzled the top of my head.
”I love you so much” he kissed me, his lips a bit stiff and his movements timid and safe. He pulled away, looking a little awkward, scratching the back of his head, “I’m embarrassed to say this. I don’t know how to kiss”

“Me neither” I giggled, his lips pressed against mine, this time his fingers gliding off my cheek, knotting into my hair and thrusting me close into him. His lips swiftly moved against mine, giving a gentle tug on my lower lip before continuing. I couldn’t help but smile, feeling happiness and belonging slowly burn through me, for the first time in a long time. He pulled away, trying to maintain a steady breath but was having a hard time with it. I rested my head on his muscular chest, his arms immediately wrapped around me, squeezing me. His chin rested on my head, “Hustler” I murmured. He chuckled, rubbing my back affectionately.

“I’ve dreamed about this”

“Me, too” we sat there, against the van for awhile, forgetting everything and for once in our lives remembering to live in the moment. A stupid little saying our parents used to tell us, now actually playing along in our life like a soundtrack to a movie.

“Go to sleep my angel” he said softly, finding it  hard to ignore this offer.

“My shift”

“Just go to sleep. I’ll be right here” I looked up, face to face with him “you look exhausted. Please, I love you; I need you to be healthy”

“I need you healthy, too. Besides you drive. Please, I love you.” His lips lightly brushed mine.

“You’re all I’m living for”… “IAN!” I woke up, nearly rocking off the cot that smelled a little bit more stale than usual. Maybe because my nose wasn’t as swollen as it was a couple days ago. I had healed fast, despite being starved of my meals for two days. I didn’t care much, they just gave me a glob of rice, having to soak it in my half filled tin cup of water for a couple minutes because it was so hard, not even sure if they bothered to cook it or do anything to it in general. I guess they wouldn’t know anything about taste and texture anyways, considering all their meals consisted in some way of coming out of a translucent tube, looking like s**t with its murky brown color. It made the rice ball look appetizing.

            Sweat was beading down my forehead, tears sliming across my face as my heart lurched in realization that it had only been another memory. Ian was always on my mind, the only thing that was keeping me alive. When everything is lost, hope is the only thing anyone can recover. I could feel his arms wrapped around me, swaying me softly, his chuckle rumbling in his throat as his skin glowed with a comforting heat. His heart thumping against my back, wisps of his hair grating against the side of my face as he pressed our cheeks together, his cheekbone pressing against mine as he smiles and whispers how much he loves me.

            The trap door shifts open, letting out a box of light, a tray sliding out, sounding like nails on a chalk board scooting on the stone. I leaped to the tray, my throat and lips parched, bringing the tin to my lips, pausing… it smelled funny, cautiously I dabbed it, letting the little trickle of water fall on my tongue, concentrating on its taste. It had a tinge of bitterness, faint and minuscule but distinguishable. I set it down and moving on to the rice ball, sniffing it, now aware there was something different. It smelled horrible, no doubt about it. I pushed the tray away, thinking over it. Was about to push the tray back through the slot but reconsidered. They probably wanted me to eat it, they would know something was up if I shoved it back, especially after a couple days of starvation. I quickly rummaged my eyes through the dimness, for some sort of hiding place, looking up to the ceiling as a last resort. I bit my lip, climbing onto my wobbly cot with the rice ball and slowly digging a small tunnel and making a little nook to the side, thrusting the rice ball in there. Teetering off to go dump the water into what was supposed to serve as a toilet, a tin white bowl. Quickly I slid the tray under the door, slamming myself against it, pressing my ear to the door.

“Oh, good, the little mongrel finished” I snorted to myself, pressing my ear harder against the door, the language hard to hear in the first place ,“glad that it only has a couple days” I gulped

“What”

“Yeah, the science community is finally going to dissect it”

“But it’s our last human”

“So what, it’s dangerous. You should have seen what it did to Leaping Stars”

“I don’t know, I think he had it coming, everyone knows not to tick it off”

“True” he began to laugh “Poor stupid thing, doesn’t even know what’s going on”

“When is the lab scheduled?” the other one began to grumble “what?”

“Hold your lasers, I’m still having a hard time adjusting to these Earth days, they are so short”

“Well”

“Two earth days” I moved away from the door, panic shaking my body as if saying “YOU BETTER COME UP WITH SOMETHING FAST!” The day had finally come, not sure why they waited so long, but that didn’t matter.
”Idiot” I said to myself, “seven years of being locked up and you didn’t come up with a plan?” I sat on my bed, trying to recollect anything I missed, something that could help. Staring into space, I thought, snapping at myself whenever I found myself drowsing off. Every plan I came up with ran smoothly at first until I hit a dead end.

Hours flew by and nothing. My face found their pathetic way to my hands, sobbing hopelessly. I bit my lip, lifting my head… “Ian”. I decided to get more creative, narrowing my options. “Okay, first off, can’t go through the ceiling… or the floor. Umm… the walls, no” I groaned, this wasn’t helping; I kneaded the heel of my palm into my forehead.

“Door” my eyes could make out the outline of the door “this is my way out” my hands running along it, my idea right under my nose, light skirted out of the bottom of the door, I kneeled beside, feeling the iron door slider that let in my food. I crammed my fingers beneath it, slowly lifting it up, covering my mouth to stifle my excitement, it easily slid up. I quickly analyzed its shape, scratching my chin as I slowly let it down. I was positive I could slip through it, I was so skinny now, I was sure of it. A block of troubles was removed off my shoulders. The rest of my plan perfectly fitting the pieces together, and I wasn’t going to wait long to perform it either. Tonight I would escape.

 

 

 

Author's Note

Please ignore grammar problems. I know they're there and have countless times looked over and edited my work but still can't fix every single one. I would appreciate comments (good or bad) and would love ideas since I'm constantly on writer's block.

SONG OF THE CHAPTER:"Miss You" -Blink182, "Something I Can Never Have"- Flyleaf, "Fear of Dying"- Jack Off Jill

Reviews

[Ben]

Again, very good!