Invasion of Vampyra

The invasion has begun.

 

          It's hard to believe there's already so much life here. It's amazing! And in such a cold place! Lyn had been sitting outside, in the chill air, since the landing, watching as the native life was cleared away to make room for the species they had brought with them. In the morning, they would burn away all of the plants. Clearing out all of the native life had the added benifit of ensuring their own safety, since there was never any telling what was potentially dangerous. It did seem like a shame, though.       

          It was cold and dark, even now, during the day. Yet, it had the appearance of a jungle, which did not seem to make sense. Lush plant life covered the ground, obscuring her view of the world, making the small clearing immediately around the ship seem tiny and issolated.

          At first, there had been a number of creatures. There was a strange thing, about the size of a cow, covered by a shaggy coat of what at first had apeared to be hair. Apearently, the hair was sharp and hid horrible teeth and long claws. The thing had taken exeption to the men trying to chase it out and had attacked them. Only one wasn't able to out run it.

          Thank goodness for the safety-suits.

          Even though they were all required to wear one when they went outside, no one liked wearing them because they were so increadibly uncomfortable. Lyn knew he, at least, would be forever greatful for his. Not that it had saved his face, but they could probably fix that.

          Many other strange animals had been flushed out as well. There were other things covered in sharp hair, lots of slimmy things, even things with some kind of scales. They all been cleared away. There was nothing left now except the strange hairy things that flew through the air. One flew over her head, dazling her with the flash of a rainbow of color on it's underside and frustraiting the man chasing it.

          If he doesn't catch that thing soon, they'll have to shoot and kill it. It was a sombering thought. What a shame to land of a planet so full of life and set right about to killing it. Was Cherezul like this when Grandmother first arrived? It didn't seem to her that she had ever heard of so much native life on any planet before. Then again, what do I know? I'm not a biologist. I'm just a breeder. She wouldn't get to explore this world before the others had cleared out the natives. She would never know if there had been any sentient life here. Not that it matters. Even if there are, they'll be cleared away too. Sentients were never allowed to live anywhere near the coloney ship. The claim was that they had a tendancy to go out of their way to bring desease and that some even attacked and tried to drive the colloney away. Not that that would ever work. We found this planet. It's ours now. Still, I wonder if there are sentients here. I wish I could see them, just once, before they go extinct. I wish...I wish I could go out there and look around. Grandmother had told her that once there had been an alien civilization on Cherezul. Some of the colonists got sick shortly after landing, and the decision was made to destroy all of the natives to prevent further spread.

          It was discovered later that the problem had been man-made polutants and nothing to do with the aliens. Still, humans never trusted alien species, what ever their inteligence, to exist anywhere near the collonies after that.

          The sun, dim as it already was, was begining to set. Lyn watched as a number of men came out of the jungle. I guess that means they've already set up the parimiter. They must have shot those flying things too. No way they could have caught them this quickly. The men filed past her into the ship. Looking out at the darkening jungle, she wondered momentarily if she could make it if she made a run for it. She knew she wouldn't dare try. They'd only use the tracker to find me. She sighed, no, my fate was sealed the moment I was born. I'm a breeder. I'll never be allowed outside this parimiter.

          "You sure have been out here a long time. I sugest you come inside now, Lyn. You know tonight's...a special night for us."

          Lyn shivered as she stood, turning around to face the man the collony had selected as her mate in life. It turned her stomach to look at him. How can he look so wormy? What is it about him? Bradley was tall and slim. He didn't have much in the way of musculature, but what he did have was concentraited in his arms. He had an enormous pot-belly all the other breeders had been trying to convince her would surely go away once they'd settled in. Lyn had her doubts. She wouldn't have minded that so much if he didn't have smelly breath and always look so greasy. His long blonde hair always hung in limp grease-locks in his face. It's disgusting. It was actually also typical of the male breeding stock. Supposedly, he had fantastic genes that, when mixed with her own, would produce fine children. You curtainly can't look at any of the men and tell that. It wouldn't have been half so bad if she could have at least chosen her own mate from among the dregs. No one was allowed that, though. The collony's computer selected the best possible mate for them based on their genetic profile.

          "Did you hear me?"

          "What?"
          "I said, it's time to go in! Now!"

          They hadn't even mated yet, and already he was treating her like he owned her. For all intents and purpose, he does. I think I'm going to be sick.

          She followed him slowly, looking back over her shoulder often at the relitive freedom of the outside world before the iris of the door closed off her view. Just how dangerous could it be out there?

          Bradley ushured her toward the mess hall, impeitent for her to eat and... ready herself for his speciel night.

          I think I'm gonna be sick.

          Kelly, June, Gerda, and the others were all sitting around the table they freqanted when she entered. The mess hall was almost full of breeders, trying to finish their tasteless meal during the thirty minute interval allowed each class. Bradley walked past her, brushing his hands across her buttocks as he did so, and made his way over to the male section of the room.       

          "Lyn! Over here!"

          Gerda stood up, waving her over. An extra tray set between her and Kelly on the worn table.

          "Coming."

          Lyn aproached and sank onto her hard plastic chair, greatful for thoughtful friends.

          "So, are things getting any better with Bradley?"

          "I heard from Tom, you know, the guy with the fringe, that Bradley had something speciel planned for tonight."

          June poked Gerda in the ribs, "Gerda! You weren't supposed to tell! How's it supposed to be a surprise if you tell her?"

          What good will that little gem of knowledge do me anyway? I already knew. He told me what he planned to do. Lyn shivered and felt sick. The surprise he had in store was what he planned to let her do to him, like she would ever want that nasty thing anywhere near her mouth! She knew she wouldn't be given much of a choice, though.

          "Hey, I just thought she should get a heads up!"

          "Oh my god, not that again! Lyn, please tell me you're not still despirately in loath with him? I thought you said you'd try to get to know the guy!"

          "I did. I mean, I tried to." Bradley wasn't the talking type. Unless it was dirty, and he did very little of that too, thankfully.

          "So what's wrong now? Damn it Lyn, I'd take him if I could!"

          For the life of her, Lyn couldn't understand why June liked Bradley so much. He is a little better looking than Wilber, but at least Wilber's nice.

          "Just put a bag over his head! It's what I plan to do." Kelly looked from June to Lyn. "Hey, why aren't you eating? It's a big night tonight!"

          "You mean little, don't you?" Gerda held up her pinky and wriggled it at her.

          "I'm not hungry."

          "Leave her alone guys. She's depressed. You know Bradley isn't the nicest guy on board."

          He was known as a bully among the men. Some girls, most noteably June, thought that meant he was strong, but Lyn knew only the weak preyed on the weaker.

          "I can't for the life of me figure out how the colloney decided you two should mate, Lyn."

          "We were left overs." It seems like it just slopped us all together. How could they be sure it hadn't? How could they tell, really? No one even bothered checking behind the damned thing!

          "Well, looks like it's too late now." Kelly looked pointedly at Lyn's plate. "To eat, I mean. Time's up already."

          So absorbed in her thoughts, Lyn had not even noticed that almost everyone had already streamed out of the mess hall, no doubt in a hurry to get to their rooms.

          "Finally!"

          "Gerda!"

          "What? Hey, I for one have been looking forward to tonight!"

          "You are such a horn dog."

          Gerda and June stood, leaving their trays for the cleaners, poking each other in the ribes as they walked. Kelly lingered.

          "Come on Lyn, let's go. I'll walk you to your room."

          "That's alright. I'd kind of like to be alone."

          "Listen... if it's any consulation, I hear guys are never interested in doing it after a girl... you know... becomes pregnate? Maybe it won't take more than once. I've heard of it taking on the very first try."

          "Thanks." She meant well, but the truth was, Lyn didn't think she could stand the first try. The thought of having to do it over and over again, for the rest of her life.... I know I'm gonna be sick.

          Kelly lingered a few moments, a look of worry on her face, but finnally turned and left. How can they do it? How can they stand to be with men they don't even know? To have sex with them?

          What's wrong with me?

          Lyn stood and walked through the door. Instead of turning down Q wing, where Bradley's room, and her new home was situated, she turned down R. Within moments, she had managed to sneak, unseen, through the door to the outside. She gulped lung-fulls of the fresh night air, trying to calm herself and fight back the panic.

          She moved away from the ship, to the very edge of the silent jungle. The breeze, colder now that night had fallen, moved the leaves of the plants causing shadows to dance in the flood lights. Bending over, she crawled into the darkness. She half crawled until she could no longer see the lights of the ship, knowing that she was still safely inside the parimiter, though well out of the clearing. She found the shape of a large tree in the dark and sat, leaning her badk against it and closing her eyes. It felt so good to be away from it all, if only for a little while. They'll be looking for me soon. Lyn wondered how long it would take them to miss her.

          I'm supposed to mate tonight. With Bradley. Why is it so damned hard? It's what I was made for! The whole purpose in my existance is to mate and bare children. Why did it seem so much like a death sentence? No one else seemed to have the problem she did. They all seemed so eager to start, willing to mate with people they hardly knew, to have children with them. Lots and lots, and lots of children. Was that it, then? No. I've always liked kids. If anything good came out of mating with Bradley, that would be it.

          It isn't enough.

          It has to be. I don't have a choice. No one has. No one has ever had a choice. Not in the history of civilization. It didn't seem at all fair that so many people, the biologists, the workers, the cleaners... that none of them would ever get the chance to mate. That she had to, weather she wanted to or not.

          She had just gotten back onto her knees to stand when a blood curdeling scream sounded from the direction of the colloney. The sirens screamed moments later, drawning out rational thought.

          A false alarm? Maybe she wasn't the only one who didn't want to mate? Maybe one of the others.... But that was impossible. Only the Colloney ship itself could set off that alarm. It wouldn't do it just to spoil the mood.

          Getting to her feet, she walked toward the sound, irrational fear gripping her heart in a cold fist.

          There's nothing wrong. Not really. There couldn't be. They secured the area. Nothing could have gotten past the parimiter. Not without alerting the whole camp.

          But then, who screamed?

          The siren died before she had made the clearing, but relief failed to flood her. The lights were dimmer than usual and seemed to be moving, eratically. Which didn't make sense. They were in fixed positions. How could they be moving?

          She saw the source of her anxiety moments later. The scene that unfolder before her was sureal, and she found herself wondering when she'd fallen asleep. The flood lights were out, fire consuming the equipment. Dark shapes moved into the ship as she watched. Each shape carried something long in front of it that flashed like metal in the light of the fire. She couldn't hear anyone screaming, but she knew somehow that something horrible beyond imagining was happening inside.

          Where is security? Secrity always eat last. They didn't have time to gather in the mess hall. They should be all over the ship, protecting everyone one. Why hadn't any of them come out to sercure the parimiter?

          She gasped as something came out of the ship, something much taller than regulation height, taller than any man onboard. It turned it's head toward her at the sound and she knew it had spotted her, knew that even if she had wrapped the night around herself like a blanket, it would have seen.

          If she had a weapon, she would have shot it, but breeders weren't allowed to carry guns. If she had been a man, she might have tried to fight it hand to hand when it got close enough, but she didn't have the strength to fight something that large and she knew it. Lyn did the only thing she could do.

          She turned toward the jungle and ran for her life.

 

***

 

          The jungle was alive. Strange creatures scrurried through the multi-colored underbrush. She could hear their calls from the tops of the black trees, catch glimpses out of the corners of her eyes of things that never seemed to be there when she looked directly at where they had been. The world Lyn found herself in was even more alien in the dark of night. She felt a sense of malevolance, a lurking evil that watched from the shadows. She held her breath, hearing the sounds of fearsome life all around her, fearing that one of those monsters was coming for her even now. Though she didn't hear persuit, she knew better than to hope that it had given up the chase.

          Lyn's heart felt like it would burst apart. Her lungs hurt, her legs stung painfully from the cold. She leaned against the trunk of a huge black tree, panting, holding a stitch in her side, peering around herself into the darkness. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It had to be some sort of nightmare. Any moment now, she'd wake up and things would be alright. She'd still be on the ship, the ship would still be in space, with everyone still alive on it, and they would be heading toward a different world. Not this one. Not this place where day was as night had been on Earth. Where the cold seeped through the supossed protection of her safety suit to chill her bones through to the quick.

          She pushed off from the tree and ran, stumbling through brush that grabbed at her legs with long sharp thorns and limbs that tore out her hair. She could hear it now, and the sound drove her harder. In vain! It was all in vain. The others--my god what's happened to the others? They must all be dead by now, and she would be joining them soon. June, Kelly, Gerda, even Bradley. Everyone. Gone. Lyn did not have time to wipe the stinging tears from her eyes, had to use her gloved hands to fight her way through the brush. There was no end in sight, nowhere to run. Still her mind screamed that she had to try, instinct taking presidence over a logic that said she should just give up and accept the inevitable. Lyn ripped her way through drapping vines, her feet becoming hopelessly entangled.

          No! She fell, finally breaking through the last of the vines, her hands flying up to protect her face. The thorny bush she fell into did nothing to cushion her fall, instead binding her, trapping her where she lay. She gasped as a cut opened on her cheek.

          Lyn could hear the beast behind her, could hear it's labored breathing, but could not muster the courage now to turn and face it. It's over. I'm dead now. She closed her eyes, hoping that the end would be swift.

          When many minutes had passed and still nothing had happened, she could no longer resist that awful urge to roll over. Holding her breath as she did so, wincing in pain as some of her long black hair was torn out by the bush she was entangled in, she looked at last upon the shadowed face of the beast.

          He towed over her, a black silouett against a darker sky. As she lay staring at him, the largest of the moons came momentarily from behind a bank of clouds, illuminating the from before her for a minute. Lyn gasped. He had a chisled nose, a square jaw, and deep set eyes. The hair that had escaped it's bindings and fallen into his face was long and black. His shoulders were broad and it was evedent that he was very well muscled under the tight fitting clothes he wore. He's human! No.... As soon as the first shock had worn off, she realized that he had to be alien to be here, on this planet. As long as she'd had spent on the ship, she surely would have noticed a man like him if he had been on it.

          He stared down at her with an equal interest, examining her body in such a way that made her feel compleatly exposed. Even after the moon had again been covered by the ever present clouds, she could feel his eyes upon her. The shock of what had happened, what would cirtainly happen to her as well, made it hard to think. At last she gathered enough of her wites to ask a question, knowing even as she did that it may well be her last.

          "What," her voice cracked, "what happened to the others?"

          He stood silently in the gloom, frozen in place, so long she wondered if he had heard her at all. She almost jumped out of her skin when his deep voice finally rolled over her.

          "There is nothing you can do for them now."

          Dead then. They must all be dead by now. And now he'll kill me.

          "Welcome to Vampyra."

Author's Note

This is the first chapter of a sequel to Raiders of Vampyra.

Reviews

[Terry Ellis]

Very interesting. It kept my interest. You must continue writing. Your story kept a good flow. Typos can be fixed. Good job!

[witchestit]

very good only thing wrong is i was getting in to the story and it stopped ,more please promises to be my kind of reading

[M. Amphet Salt]

Exellent tale. I was so consumed in reading it I didn't pay attention or notice any grammer or machanics errors. The characters seem full and some weaknesses has been exposed. Wheres the second chapter?

Once again, excellent job! This is an exquistie piece of literature that should be bound in a book and sold in every major bookstore in the world!! Keep up the great work!! I look forward to reading more stories like this!!

[Story Keeper]

This is really good. I wish I had read the first one rather than starting with a sequal. Hopefully it stands on it's own. It seems to so far. I like the story and look forward to reading more. The only thing wrong were typos. A quick spell check would fix that.