"shite" Jeff yelled, "You guys just had to see the gently caressin murder scene didn't you. All because of some STUPID lege-" Shane's window was rolled down, and a howl could be heard not far a way. It sounding as it an animal was being tortured, and Shane rolled his window up.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that" he said shakily, as his window closed completely.
"What the hell was that?" Beth whisper-yelled, freaking out.
Jeff started "It was probably just-" then it happened again, and could be hear through the closed windows. "shite, shite, shite!" He finished.
The car shook violently as something smashed into one side, and crawled over the hood of the car. But continued on after stumbling over the car. Chloe crouched down under her seat and started screaming, and Jeff tried to reach back to calm her down. Beth was freaking out too and Tyler grabbed her hand. Shane started looking around for something, anything. And after a few minutes they all calmed down, and sat silently until they all fell asleep.
They woke up in the morning and everyone was ok. They went outside to look at the car and there was a huge dent in the side, and scratches across the hood. "What the gently caress!" Jeff yelled examining the damage, "What the hell could have done this?"
"Werewolf!" Shane said excitedly right away, taking a picture with his phone.
"Look there's a church." Said Chloe, pointing out into a field and out about two miles at a small brown wooden building with a steeple topped with a cross. "And it's Sunday, we should go."
"I haven't been to church since I was like twelve." Jeff sneered.
"Liar!" said Beth "Mom makes us go every Christmas and Easter."
"I meant by choice." He argued back.
"We should still go" said Chloe, grabbing Jeff's arm.
"What about the car though?" he asked, pointing at the damage.
"It'll be fine!' Chloe assured him, "You afraid a WEREWOLF might get it?" She said laughing and tickling him, then going up to kiss him. "Let's go." She said.
"Alright" he finally agreed, then kissed her, and they all headed into the field, towards the church.
Topic: Let's publish some books (Read 749 times)
Tyler was in the room watching TV and Beth was in the shower. They intended on sleeping in separate beds, but Tyler was hoping Beth felt something for him, and thought he might try to make a move that night. Beth came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her and started looking for her pajamas.
"What are you watching?' She asked Tyler as she searched a bag.
"I don't even know yet." He replied, "Never seen this before and there's no guide on this TV."
"Well it looks like...she said looking at the TV, "actually I don't know either. We'll have to watch it." She finished, before walking into the bathroom to change.
Then there was a noise at the door. A scratch. Then another. Tyler knew there was a wolf at the door. He sat frozen, the TV was completely tuned out. He didn't even hear Beth walk back in the room.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." She said as Tyler nearly jumped out of his skin, having not noticed her. Then another scratch at the door. Then a knock.
"Come on guys!" It was Shane's voice. They opened the door, and he was laughing. "Sorry," he said "just thought I'd get you excited. Before I told you."
"Told us what?" Tyler replied.
"So Chloe and Jeff are in there..." Shane made some lude gestures, "So I came out here, right. And listen." he said, putting his finger over his lips. And a few seconds later there was a mad howl, as if something was being tortured. But it was like a wolf, calling out to something.
"Holy shite," Tyler said, "gently caressin werewolves." then he smiled. "we totally we need to check that place out in the morning."
"You know it" Shane replied, "You got any buds left?" he asked before leaving.
"Yeah." Tyler said, grabbing him a nug and a paper before closing the door. Tyler and Beth were alone. And there was a movie on neither of them had seen.
"So... You want to watch that?" she asked?
"Totally", he said, sitting on the corner of the closest bed. He grabbed the controller and turned up the volume, then she sat next to him.
They sat and watched the movie for a while, then Chloe turned to him and said, "We've... Known each other for a while now right?"
"Yeah" Tyler replied.
"And... we're on spring break."
"Yeah" Tyler said again, quieter and more nervous this time.
"I think..." She said moving closer, "We..." He moved closer. Then they kissed and both of them felt completely relieved, but completely enthralled in the moment. They slowly moved to lay down on the bed. *BOOM* There was a loud bang on the door, then a snarl. The moment was lost, and they were both afraid. Tyler got up to open the door. He slowly moved closer to it. Then another bang. He slowly put his hand towards the knob, then another bang. He opened the door, and "God dammit" he said laughing. And so was Shane.
"You should have seen your face when you opened the door dude." He said still laughing, then "Hey, I still got most of this joint left. You guys want to finish it with me? They're still in their..." He made different lude gestures this time.
"Sure," Tyler said, "As long as you'll stop doing that."
"Deal" said Shane walking in the room, lighting the joint and passing it to Beth.
She took a fat hit then said, "Good thing you had weed, or I would have been pissed."
"I know, I didn't mean to scare you guys." Then he laughed, while Beth and Tyler shared a quick look, "Oh wait, yes I did." Shane finished. Then they all went to bed, and Shane stayed in their room that night, so they shared a bed.
In the morning Shane woke them up, excited to go werewolf hunting, so they got dressed, grabbed their bags and went over to Jeff and Chloe's room and knocked on the door. "You guys ready to get back on the road?" Jeff said as he opened the door.
"NO!" Shane yelled, "We gotta check out the murder scene!"
"You were serious about that shite?" Jeff asked, kind of annoyed.
"Uh, no shite." Shane said matter of factly.
"Alright, then let's go" Jeff said. He and Chloe grabbed their stuff while the rest of them headed to the car. "Do you even know where this place is?" Jeff yelled out to the car.
"No," Shane yelled back, "But this town isn't that big, it won't be too hard to find the police line."
So they loaded up the car and started driving and searching. It got later and later, and soon it was only a few hours till sundown again. "We gotta head out." Jeff said, pissed off.
"Does anyone even know where we are?" Asked Shane, and no one replied. Everyone looked at their phones.
"No signal" said Tyler first
"Me either" added Chloe
"Same" Beth said dissapointed
"Well I got nothin" Shane said last
"So were lost?" asked Chloe?
"It's alright babe, I'll get us out of here, we just gotta head south." So they drove and drove, and eventually it started to get dark. So they turned around, and tried to head back into town. But there weren't even any more paved roads, they had no idea where they were, and no idea how to get back. Then, without any notice, the car ran out of gas, and they were stranded on the side of the road.
"What are you watching?' She asked Tyler as she searched a bag.
"I don't even know yet." He replied, "Never seen this before and there's no guide on this TV."
"Well it looks like...she said looking at the TV, "actually I don't know either. We'll have to watch it." She finished, before walking into the bathroom to change.
Then there was a noise at the door. A scratch. Then another. Tyler knew there was a wolf at the door. He sat frozen, the TV was completely tuned out. He didn't even hear Beth walk back in the room.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." She said as Tyler nearly jumped out of his skin, having not noticed her. Then another scratch at the door. Then a knock.
"Come on guys!" It was Shane's voice. They opened the door, and he was laughing. "Sorry," he said "just thought I'd get you excited. Before I told you."
"Told us what?" Tyler replied.
"So Chloe and Jeff are in there..." Shane made some lude gestures, "So I came out here, right. And listen." he said, putting his finger over his lips. And a few seconds later there was a mad howl, as if something was being tortured. But it was like a wolf, calling out to something.
"Holy shite," Tyler said, "gently caressin werewolves." then he smiled. "we totally we need to check that place out in the morning."
"You know it" Shane replied, "You got any buds left?" he asked before leaving.
"Yeah." Tyler said, grabbing him a nug and a paper before closing the door. Tyler and Beth were alone. And there was a movie on neither of them had seen.
"So... You want to watch that?" she asked?
"Totally", he said, sitting on the corner of the closest bed. He grabbed the controller and turned up the volume, then she sat next to him.
They sat and watched the movie for a while, then Chloe turned to him and said, "We've... Known each other for a while now right?"
"Yeah" Tyler replied.
"And... we're on spring break."
"Yeah" Tyler said again, quieter and more nervous this time.
"I think..." She said moving closer, "We..." He moved closer. Then they kissed and both of them felt completely relieved, but completely enthralled in the moment. They slowly moved to lay down on the bed. *BOOM* There was a loud bang on the door, then a snarl. The moment was lost, and they were both afraid. Tyler got up to open the door. He slowly moved closer to it. Then another bang. He slowly put his hand towards the knob, then another bang. He opened the door, and "God dammit" he said laughing. And so was Shane.
"You should have seen your face when you opened the door dude." He said still laughing, then "Hey, I still got most of this joint left. You guys want to finish it with me? They're still in their..." He made different lude gestures this time.
"Sure," Tyler said, "As long as you'll stop doing that."
"Deal" said Shane walking in the room, lighting the joint and passing it to Beth.
She took a fat hit then said, "Good thing you had weed, or I would have been pissed."
"I know, I didn't mean to scare you guys." Then he laughed, while Beth and Tyler shared a quick look, "Oh wait, yes I did." Shane finished. Then they all went to bed, and Shane stayed in their room that night, so they shared a bed.
In the morning Shane woke them up, excited to go werewolf hunting, so they got dressed, grabbed their bags and went over to Jeff and Chloe's room and knocked on the door. "You guys ready to get back on the road?" Jeff said as he opened the door.
"NO!" Shane yelled, "We gotta check out the murder scene!"
"You were serious about that shite?" Jeff asked, kind of annoyed.
"Uh, no shite." Shane said matter of factly.
"Alright, then let's go" Jeff said. He and Chloe grabbed their stuff while the rest of them headed to the car. "Do you even know where this place is?" Jeff yelled out to the car.
"No," Shane yelled back, "But this town isn't that big, it won't be too hard to find the police line."
So they loaded up the car and started driving and searching. It got later and later, and soon it was only a few hours till sundown again. "We gotta head out." Jeff said, pissed off.
"Does anyone even know where we are?" Asked Shane, and no one replied. Everyone looked at their phones.
"No signal" said Tyler first
"Me either" added Chloe
"Same" Beth said dissapointed
"Well I got nothin" Shane said last
"So were lost?" asked Chloe?
"It's alright babe, I'll get us out of here, we just gotta head south." So they drove and drove, and eventually it started to get dark. So they turned around, and tried to head back into town. But there weren't even any more paved roads, they had no idea where they were, and no idea how to get back. Then, without any notice, the car ran out of gas, and they were stranded on the side of the road.
I don't want to give away that whole story, so the next posts will be from a different book I'm writing.
It was March in New York city, the weather was just starting to get nice, and Tyler was excited about this week. It was Spring Break, and it was going to be the best Spring Break ever. In the years previous, they had always just stayed in the city, and sure there was plenty to do, but nothing beats the sun, sand and that ocean breeze for spring break. Plus, no girls are taking their tops off in the middle of Time Square, at least, no girls you want to see without a shirt on. So this was going to be the best Spring Break ever.
He sat in his room waiting for Jeff's call, they were supposed to have left already. Tyler had his bags packed and by the door, but Jeff hadn't called yet. So he decided to kill some time. He grabbed his stash box, grabbed a medium sized joint and burned it about half way down before thinking, "Maybe something happened." So he put it out, and decided to call Jeff. But no answer, "shite". So he called Chloe, she answered:
"Hey Tyler, have you heard from Jeff yet? I thought we were supposed to leave like a half hour ago." She said.
"That's actually why I called, you haven't heard anything either?" He replied.
"No." She said sounding confused and kind of angry
"Well thanks, I'll let you know if I hear anything." He said before hanging up. "shite" he said, then dialed Shane's number.
"Tyler" he answered sounding somber, "Were about to be at your house, but... We hit someone"
"YOU HIT SOMEONE!? What do you mean you hit someone?" Tyler yelled.
"I mean... we hit someone." Shane replied. Then he hung up.
"SHIIIIIIT!" Tyler yelled, "What the gently caress were they thinking? This was going to be the best week ever." The he heard a honk, so he went outside. There was Jeff's huge white SUV, and all over the grill and hood of the car were red smeared stains. Tyler looked at the car in shock and horror, but then the passenger side window rolled down and he could hear and then see Jeff and Shane laughing hysterically.
"You should see the look on your face!" Shane said, through laughs while pointing at Tyler mockingly. "It's fake dude."
"Are you serious?" Said Tyler bewildered, "We aren't going to be able to drive around like that."
"Don't worry." Jeff replied, "We'll hit a car wash before we leave town."
Then the back passenger window rolled down, Beth was sitting there and said "Come on slow poke, get your stuff and lets go get Chloe." So Tyler went inside, grabbed his 2 duffle bags, put them in the trunk, and called Chloe to tell her they were coming as he got in the backseat.
"I just got picked up, we're coming to get you now." He told her.
"Finally," she said happily, "I'll be outside." Then hung up.
When they pulled up, Tyler saw Chloe's hand go over her mouth, then Shane rolled down the window to point another mocking finger and telling her the truth. Then Chloe got in the back with Tyler and Beth, after throwing her bags in the trunk.
"Now for a carwash, and just over a thousand miles to the beach." Jeff announced, "But we're gonna have to drive through the boonies... The deep South. You guys ready for some crazy red necks?" he said laughing.
"Maybe we should keep the blood on the car," Shane joked, "To scare off any creepers."
"No," Tyler said, "I have weed on me, and we'll probably get pulled over every 20 minutes if we don't wash that shite off."
"Why you gotta bring that shite in my car?" Jeff asked, looking in the rear view mirror at Tyler, but then caught a glimpse of himself and patted his hand on his gelled up hair.
"Don't get mad at him" Beth said, punching Jeff in the arm, "I told him to bring it" she added.
"Well, I'm not taking the blame for that shite if we get pulled over." He said, disapprovingly "And neither are you." he said to beth, his little sister.
"Whatever" she said to end it, rolling her eyes.
So they went through a car wash, and drove through the night, Shane and Jeff taking turns driving sober, while everyone that wasn't driving slept or smoked and talked. They made it about 700 miles in 30 hrs including stops, and decided to take a break at a little motel.
They pulled into a little town about an three hours outside Atlanta as the sun began to go down, it wasn't dark yet but in another hour or two it would be. They saw a small motel and decided to stop for the night. Tyler got out of the car and went into the little office with Shane to get some rooms. When they walked in the office the first thing they notice was amounted wolf, the office was only about 13ft X 13ft, and the wolf was about 6 ft long and facing the door with a angry rabid look.
"Can I help you?" Said a man at the desk that they hadn't even noticed they were so shocked and entranced by the wolf.
"Did you kill that?" Shane asked.
"No, that's my sons, " the man said, "But I cleaned it, stuffed it and mounted it." he added proudly. Then, "Anything I can help you with though gentlemen?"
"Oh," Said Tyler, "Yeah, we're looking for two rooms with four beds."
"Well, I'll need a credit card and ID." The man replied, and Tyler handed him his. He looked around at the rest of the office decorations as he waited, and noticed everything had wolves on it.
"You like wolves?" Tyler asked, and Shane giggled a little.
"Well," the man replied, still entering a few things into the computer. "There are some stories about this town." He looked up from the screen, "Stories of, men who hunt like wolves. Wolves who act like men. Children disappearing from families. Demons that stalk the night."
"Werewolves?" Shane asked on the verge of hysterical laughter
"You think it's funny?" The man said, "My cousin's friend Jim Harnell die just last week. They said an animal broke down his door, and gutted him like a fish right in his living room."
Shane got excited "Would we be allowed to check out the house?"
"NO!" the man replied disgusted, "A man died there, and the city still has it marked off as a crime scene." Then he got their keys, and handed them each one.
Tyler and Shane walked out to the car, and Shane put a key in Jeff's free hand, the other arm was around Chloe. "Thanks." said Jeff, "You with us?" Jeff asked Shane,
"Yeah." he replied, "You're not gonna believe what the guy inside told us." Shane said excited. "This town is haunted by werewolves, and someone was killed LAST WEEK!"
"You don't believe in that shite, do you?" Jeff asked, as he let go of Chloe to go get some stuff out of the trunk.
"Well, no" Shane replied, "But I really think we should try to check out the place where the guy got ripped apart."
"That's sick." Tyler chimed in
"Don't be a pussy." Jeff replied, then added "We'll try to swing by in the morning before we head out." Then he went with Chloe and headed towards the rooms. Then everyone else got stuff to take showers, and a change of clothes, then went to their rooms.
It was March in New York city, the weather was just starting to get nice, and Tyler was excited about this week. It was Spring Break, and it was going to be the best Spring Break ever. In the years previous, they had always just stayed in the city, and sure there was plenty to do, but nothing beats the sun, sand and that ocean breeze for spring break. Plus, no girls are taking their tops off in the middle of Time Square, at least, no girls you want to see without a shirt on. So this was going to be the best Spring Break ever.
He sat in his room waiting for Jeff's call, they were supposed to have left already. Tyler had his bags packed and by the door, but Jeff hadn't called yet. So he decided to kill some time. He grabbed his stash box, grabbed a medium sized joint and burned it about half way down before thinking, "Maybe something happened." So he put it out, and decided to call Jeff. But no answer, "shite". So he called Chloe, she answered:
"Hey Tyler, have you heard from Jeff yet? I thought we were supposed to leave like a half hour ago." She said.
"That's actually why I called, you haven't heard anything either?" He replied.
"No." She said sounding confused and kind of angry
"Well thanks, I'll let you know if I hear anything." He said before hanging up. "shite" he said, then dialed Shane's number.
"Tyler" he answered sounding somber, "Were about to be at your house, but... We hit someone"
"YOU HIT SOMEONE!? What do you mean you hit someone?" Tyler yelled.
"I mean... we hit someone." Shane replied. Then he hung up.
"SHIIIIIIT!" Tyler yelled, "What the gently caress were they thinking? This was going to be the best week ever." The he heard a honk, so he went outside. There was Jeff's huge white SUV, and all over the grill and hood of the car were red smeared stains. Tyler looked at the car in shock and horror, but then the passenger side window rolled down and he could hear and then see Jeff and Shane laughing hysterically.
"You should see the look on your face!" Shane said, through laughs while pointing at Tyler mockingly. "It's fake dude."
"Are you serious?" Said Tyler bewildered, "We aren't going to be able to drive around like that."
"Don't worry." Jeff replied, "We'll hit a car wash before we leave town."
Then the back passenger window rolled down, Beth was sitting there and said "Come on slow poke, get your stuff and lets go get Chloe." So Tyler went inside, grabbed his 2 duffle bags, put them in the trunk, and called Chloe to tell her they were coming as he got in the backseat.
"I just got picked up, we're coming to get you now." He told her.
"Finally," she said happily, "I'll be outside." Then hung up.
When they pulled up, Tyler saw Chloe's hand go over her mouth, then Shane rolled down the window to point another mocking finger and telling her the truth. Then Chloe got in the back with Tyler and Beth, after throwing her bags in the trunk.
"Now for a carwash, and just over a thousand miles to the beach." Jeff announced, "But we're gonna have to drive through the boonies... The deep South. You guys ready for some crazy red necks?" he said laughing.
"Maybe we should keep the blood on the car," Shane joked, "To scare off any creepers."
"No," Tyler said, "I have weed on me, and we'll probably get pulled over every 20 minutes if we don't wash that shite off."
"Why you gotta bring that shite in my car?" Jeff asked, looking in the rear view mirror at Tyler, but then caught a glimpse of himself and patted his hand on his gelled up hair.
"Don't get mad at him" Beth said, punching Jeff in the arm, "I told him to bring it" she added.
"Well, I'm not taking the blame for that shite if we get pulled over." He said, disapprovingly "And neither are you." he said to beth, his little sister.
"Whatever" she said to end it, rolling her eyes.
So they went through a car wash, and drove through the night, Shane and Jeff taking turns driving sober, while everyone that wasn't driving slept or smoked and talked. They made it about 700 miles in 30 hrs including stops, and decided to take a break at a little motel.
They pulled into a little town about an three hours outside Atlanta as the sun began to go down, it wasn't dark yet but in another hour or two it would be. They saw a small motel and decided to stop for the night. Tyler got out of the car and went into the little office with Shane to get some rooms. When they walked in the office the first thing they notice was amounted wolf, the office was only about 13ft X 13ft, and the wolf was about 6 ft long and facing the door with a angry rabid look.
"Can I help you?" Said a man at the desk that they hadn't even noticed they were so shocked and entranced by the wolf.
"Did you kill that?" Shane asked.
"No, that's my sons, " the man said, "But I cleaned it, stuffed it and mounted it." he added proudly. Then, "Anything I can help you with though gentlemen?"
"Oh," Said Tyler, "Yeah, we're looking for two rooms with four beds."
"Well, I'll need a credit card and ID." The man replied, and Tyler handed him his. He looked around at the rest of the office decorations as he waited, and noticed everything had wolves on it.
"You like wolves?" Tyler asked, and Shane giggled a little.
"Well," the man replied, still entering a few things into the computer. "There are some stories about this town." He looked up from the screen, "Stories of, men who hunt like wolves. Wolves who act like men. Children disappearing from families. Demons that stalk the night."
"Werewolves?" Shane asked on the verge of hysterical laughter
"You think it's funny?" The man said, "My cousin's friend Jim Harnell die just last week. They said an animal broke down his door, and gutted him like a fish right in his living room."
Shane got excited "Would we be allowed to check out the house?"
"NO!" the man replied disgusted, "A man died there, and the city still has it marked off as a crime scene." Then he got their keys, and handed them each one.
Tyler and Shane walked out to the car, and Shane put a key in Jeff's free hand, the other arm was around Chloe. "Thanks." said Jeff, "You with us?" Jeff asked Shane,
"Yeah." he replied, "You're not gonna believe what the guy inside told us." Shane said excited. "This town is haunted by werewolves, and someone was killed LAST WEEK!"
"You don't believe in that shite, do you?" Jeff asked, as he let go of Chloe to go get some stuff out of the trunk.
"Well, no" Shane replied, "But I really think we should try to check out the place where the guy got ripped apart."
"That's sick." Tyler chimed in
"Don't be a pussy." Jeff replied, then added "We'll try to swing by in the morning before we head out." Then he went with Chloe and headed towards the rooms. Then everyone else got stuff to take showers, and a change of clothes, then went to their rooms.
Chapter 3: Ancient Earthlings
The plagues had come, but the aliens no longer controlled the airwaves. Violent Earthquakes tore down the remnants of civilizations towering structures and shook the ground all over the Earth, opening passages through which strange creatures escaped. Volcanoes erupted all over the planet, and the radio began reporting scaled creatures but not just one species. Creatures with horns coming from all parts of their bodies, some with skulls for faces or no skin at all, giant armless beasts came forth with fangs larger than human arms, and beasts with no limbs at all slithering like snakes, most had glowing red eyes, some had no eyes at all but large holes in their face to smell. None of them seemed to be able to speak, at least no one heard them speak during any of the attacks. All they heard were beastly roars, screeches, and clicking noises like what you would expect of a raptor. Some of the beasts could fly but most of them walked just with different types of legs. One common theme in every survivors story, is that the monsters lick you. One report said “They have a long tongue like a snake, and they seem to taste you before they do anything.”. The alien ships had left view of the planet and the random attacks from the giants seemed to have stopped completely. None of the Earthquakes had hit us, and the only experience we had with the plague was through the radio. Except for strange noises in the far off distance at night.
The earthquakes and Earth opening were now daily occurrences on a global scale, but one night about a month after the major earthquakes hit, I saw a dim light in the sky coming towards us slowly. I barked to alert the humans and woke them up. The light came slowly through the air. As it got close I saw it was larger than a person… It was one of the aliens. I barked loudly so everyone would come look, the skunk girl came first and yelled to everyone. They got prepared with their weapons and …
Chapter 3.1: Ancient Earthlings
A canine gave away my presence, and the humans opened fire as I blew towards their camp. But I deflected the bullets from myself by splitting the air using light, creating vacuums in front of me and on both sides of my body to draw the projectiles to pass directly beside me. I was weak at this point, but light is a powerful thing. As I landed before them they continued to fire, but the bullets passed by harmlessly. When their guns could no longer fire I spoke to them in their language and said, “I come in peace.” At which point they lowered their already powerless weapons. “I come in the name of the father.” I told them, and I could feel them get tense. “I was stranded here… We were stranded here. Your Mesozaic brothers are alive and well, my kin and all their ability were no match for the pure ferocity, and many millennia of natural selection in such a harsh environment. We lost thousands before the ships decided to ascend, much of the Wormwood fleet is still grounded and abandoned. I am here seeking refuge, not war.”
“What are you talking about?” Said a human that seemed to be the leader of the group. “You unleashed these demons on us.”.
“No.” I corrected him, “In reality it is you who unleashed the ‘demons’ on us… And we had thought these creatures long deceased from the Earth. The father will be disappointed.”
“You unleashed these monsters from hell.” Said the man. “We heard the announcement from your kin and the ground opened wide to give us this plague.”
“These beasts came from the ground long before we could even try to unleash the plagues.” I told him, “If we had released the plagues the father had prepared, there would be genetically modified scorpions swarming the skies and killing humans, not killing my kin. And the star ships would still be present in the heavens, blasting mortar at the atmosphere. And do not pretend to know hell, these beasts are from your underworld.”
“What exactly are ‘your kin’?” He asked me.
“We carry the will of the father. I follow only the direction of the lord king.” I replied. “I am clay in his hands and I will do anything for him, so that I may return to my home.”
“So you think you’re an angel?” He spat
“That is what we are known as throughout the universe.” I assured him.
“Who is the Lord?” Questioned the human.
“Master of Masters, King of Kings. He is glory and greatness unto thee shining like a thousand-trillion suns, he holds all the wealth of the universe. I am his, as are you. We are all as his children, he speaks only truth and his kingdom is forever.”
“Who is he though?” The human continued.
“He is no one man, and not even necessarily a man nor am I. He is of many species and from many galaxies throughout the universe. Throughout time he has not always been of the same consciousness, but there has always been a single constant, Jaweh. It is Jaweh.” I felt like this answered his question thoroughly.
“Why were you killing humans?” He asked
This seemed like it might be his last question, but could have ended up being the beginning of a whole new line of questioning. So I decided to explain it the best I could. “Two millennia ago, after a fragment of Jaweh had been crucified by the humans, he sent for a book to be written. A book to reveal the future of his plans for the Earth…”
“I know that part.” He interrupted “What does this have to do with decapitating children?”
“We were sent to retrieve the genetics of those who would come willingly. Our slaughter of the children of the lord was in mercy. He promised this planet to the angels, as we need it for kindling to fuel our existence. The genetics of the fathers sheep was stored within containers of light, and the excess was poured into your atmosphere. They will awaken in his kingdom, to serve and worship him for eternity. If at any time they again die, we dispose of the waste body and use machines through which they will be reborn using the same genetic samples we retrieved in this extermination. The slaughter was necessary to allow them into the kingdom and the glory forever.”
“What will the people do in the kingdom?” He asked, though I had thought the line of questioning would have ended.
“They will praise the name of the highest, and learn to sing for his enjoyment. But as a prize, they will bear witness to the greatest kingdom in the universe.”
One of the humans came forward with the lord’s book, kneeled and asked me to slaughter him. The leader of the human troop yelled for him to stay away from me and the canine barked with anger. But I myself kneeled, and told the man, “I have been abandoned by my brothers. The gates of the kingdom are sealed today.”. He began to weep and I again stood to address the leader of the humans.
“The Underworld has ripped itself asunder, and the lizards have come back to feel the sun. I need the help of you and the remaining humans to get my surviving brothers together, and get a signal to Jaweh. He will resolve these crises, if only we ask it of him.”
“I don’t know anything about alien… Or magic… Or whatever the hell kind of telecommunications you need. I’m a politician; I know about people.” The human said, getting angry.
“Right now is about survival. We must collect as many beings of as many species as possible.” I argued, flaring my energy to pronounce my dominance. Even as weak as I was, I was a thousand fold the strength of any human. “This planet will most likely be declared into a state of purgatory. Its fate is no longer set in stone.”
“Okay, so what do we do?” Asked the human, much more timidly now.
“There is no long term strategy, so tomorrow you and a small group will come with me to the nearest Wormwood installment, and we will scavenge for material while looking for any of my brothers that may be injured or camping. And we will search for any humans in Earth settlements along the way. The ones who remain here will protect the garrisons here but we can’t stay forever, we need a safer place to rest, the beasts have a strong and precise sense for smells and heat even at great distance, as they have been living in your underworld for over 100 Million years. So if we are going to survive, we need updated shelter.”
“What is your name?”
“Gabriel.”
Chapter 3.2: Ancient Earthlings
The giant had the trust of the humans but I still felt uneasy with it around. In the morning the alpha human, the giant and the skunk girl loaded up a truck to go to the Wormwood. I tagged along to protect the skunk girl, but no other humans joined us. Everyone heard the noises at night and no one wanted to come face to face with the creatures making them. The humans armed themselves with rifles and side arms, the giant had his light, but I had nothing. Just my teeth and paws, but I would use them if I needed to. We got in the truck and started off our Fifty mile drive. I could still see the spire looming above everything, but I could only guess at what we would find there.
Along the way we found no survivors. We passed through a few large towns, and there were plenty of bodies, not only human but giants and lizards as well. The giant wept while he recited prayers and included the name of each fallen brother as we passed them, as he commanded their ascent into the kingdom I saw what looked like light bleeding out of them and leaking into the air, dissipating into the sky.
The skunk girl asked, “what will happen to them?”
and the giant told her “They are now free, and without the shackles of a material body, my brothers can return to their homes as they were before the lord came for them.” Then he went back to sending them on their way. But not for long before he was interrupted by the human alpha.
“What do you expect we’ll find today?” He asked.
“A plan.” Replied the giant. “The Wormwood bases were loaded with every possible amenity. As long as it hasn’t been scavenged by someone that knows what they are looking for, there should be things we can use there.”
“Like what?”
“Shelter, Appliances, Weapons, Vehicles maybe. I can’t be sure that anything will be there at all. But we have to try and find what we can.”
As we came within twenty miles of the spire I began to see the actual structure. It was about two miles across, and about eight stories tall. It was a pyramid like structure, with metallic walls. Out of the top of the pyramid was protruding a giant towering spire that was at least 2 miles tall. As we got even closer we began to hear a strange far off noise, but not like the monsters in the night. And it sounded as if it were coming from the Wormwood, even though we were still about 15 miles away. As we approached, the noise grew until we could actually hear what it was.
The giant understood it first and said to us, “…Singing…”
He looked confused and the skunk girl asked, “What’s wrong?”
He told her, “He is not calling for help... He is serenading the humans.”
“For…?” She started.
“Yes.” He said before she could finish. “The extermination is over, but he continues the slaughter.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know.” She said sadly.
“The star ships are gone. He knows.” The giant seemed angry now. “Continue forward” he ordered, “I will keep the element of surprise with us.” And with that he jumped out of the truck and blew into the sky. We had no idea what we were headed into but we continued forward.
Chapter 3.3: Ancient Earthlings
I sliced through the sky and blew towards the Wormwood, bending the light around my body so as to not be seen as I came closer. Heads of some smaller lizard beasts were torn from the bodies and displayed hanging on the walls near the entrances to the pyramid, and I could sense many humans were within its walls. Most were still alive, but rotting bodies of every species littered the ground for miles. I could still see the humans in their vehicle about five miles behind and thousands of feet below me as I shot through the air, closer to the structure.
I dropped about midway up the pyramid, and stood there. The humans were still about ten miles off, I knew my brother would sense them soon. “Azazul” I said quietly to myself. “Why have you brought this on me?” I waited until I heard it, the gates began to open at the base of the pyramid. I expected Azazul to come to face them, but instead he began singing again. Manipulating the words of the human language in an attempt to alter their minds, but these humans had more endurance than that. His music fell on def ears.
The humans continued closer and closer, until the singing stopped and gave way to a terrible clicking sound. At that moment I knew I would have to give up the element of surprise to protect the humans.
Chapter 3.4: Ancient Earthlings
The singing had been louder this time, but suddenly it stopped. We were still about five miles from the structure, and the silence was erie as we slowly approached. It was colossal, rivaling the raw majesty of the mountains of our planet. As we came to see the ground the pyramid was standing on, we saw something moving. Dark shapes darting across the ground as if on four legs, towards us. There were about fourty of them, and their skin, though dark as night, glistened in the sun as if it were metallic itself. They shrieked as they closed in at a frightening speed. I barked, but the humans were recognizing it at the same instant I was. They stopped the truck to get out and both drew their rifles to begin firing from the bed.
At first the beasts were in a crowd and I could see individuals stumble and get trampled by the flock as the bullets bit into them. But as they realized they were being fired into, the monsters spread out making it harder to hit any of them. I could now see them clearly, every one of them was covered in scales, their bodies were similar to that of a lion but the top of their head was an exposed skull. They had no eyes, but giant gashes in their faces that flared and closed constantly. Their jaws seemed slack and revealed rows and rows of teeth, and on their hands were claws that seemed almost like protruding bone mass, and coming though their back were similar protruding bone structures.
The humans continued firing, but I felt it was almost futile at this point to attempt to survive. Even with five or ten of these beasts down, we were about to be overtaken. I could see the fear in the humans eyes as they stumbled to reload their weapons after each clip. The creatures came within a hundred yards and I could hear the snarling, and almost squealing sound they made as they gathered breath into their winded lungs. The largest of them let out a terrifying scream and the beasts lowered their exposed skulls to face us. The humans put down the rifles and put their side arms to use. They were about to be right on top of us. They slammed their skulls into the truck, it was launched in the opposite direction and flipped as we fell into the air and dropped to the ground. At least twenty of the lizards were surrounding us, making strange noises and presenting reptilian tongues. The alpha human was unconscious on the ground, but the skunk girl fired her weapon wounding a few of them. One of the beasts lunged forward pinning her to the ground, I growled and lunged at him. But I was tackled by another of them and brought to the ground myself. The lizards stuck out their tongues and slid them across our faces and into our mouths, “tasting” everything. I heard a blast of wind and the giant was hovering above us while we lay pinned under the beasts. The giant swung his blade somehow lifting all of us into the air, and dropping us to the ground. The creatures fell and scrambled to stand back up as we did the same. The giant raised his arms and brought them down, igniting the beasts.
The plagues had come, but the aliens no longer controlled the airwaves. Violent Earthquakes tore down the remnants of civilizations towering structures and shook the ground all over the Earth, opening passages through which strange creatures escaped. Volcanoes erupted all over the planet, and the radio began reporting scaled creatures but not just one species. Creatures with horns coming from all parts of their bodies, some with skulls for faces or no skin at all, giant armless beasts came forth with fangs larger than human arms, and beasts with no limbs at all slithering like snakes, most had glowing red eyes, some had no eyes at all but large holes in their face to smell. None of them seemed to be able to speak, at least no one heard them speak during any of the attacks. All they heard were beastly roars, screeches, and clicking noises like what you would expect of a raptor. Some of the beasts could fly but most of them walked just with different types of legs. One common theme in every survivors story, is that the monsters lick you. One report said “They have a long tongue like a snake, and they seem to taste you before they do anything.”. The alien ships had left view of the planet and the random attacks from the giants seemed to have stopped completely. None of the Earthquakes had hit us, and the only experience we had with the plague was through the radio. Except for strange noises in the far off distance at night.
The earthquakes and Earth opening were now daily occurrences on a global scale, but one night about a month after the major earthquakes hit, I saw a dim light in the sky coming towards us slowly. I barked to alert the humans and woke them up. The light came slowly through the air. As it got close I saw it was larger than a person… It was one of the aliens. I barked loudly so everyone would come look, the skunk girl came first and yelled to everyone. They got prepared with their weapons and …
Chapter 3.1: Ancient Earthlings
A canine gave away my presence, and the humans opened fire as I blew towards their camp. But I deflected the bullets from myself by splitting the air using light, creating vacuums in front of me and on both sides of my body to draw the projectiles to pass directly beside me. I was weak at this point, but light is a powerful thing. As I landed before them they continued to fire, but the bullets passed by harmlessly. When their guns could no longer fire I spoke to them in their language and said, “I come in peace.” At which point they lowered their already powerless weapons. “I come in the name of the father.” I told them, and I could feel them get tense. “I was stranded here… We were stranded here. Your Mesozaic brothers are alive and well, my kin and all their ability were no match for the pure ferocity, and many millennia of natural selection in such a harsh environment. We lost thousands before the ships decided to ascend, much of the Wormwood fleet is still grounded and abandoned. I am here seeking refuge, not war.”
“What are you talking about?” Said a human that seemed to be the leader of the group. “You unleashed these demons on us.”.
“No.” I corrected him, “In reality it is you who unleashed the ‘demons’ on us… And we had thought these creatures long deceased from the Earth. The father will be disappointed.”
“You unleashed these monsters from hell.” Said the man. “We heard the announcement from your kin and the ground opened wide to give us this plague.”
“These beasts came from the ground long before we could even try to unleash the plagues.” I told him, “If we had released the plagues the father had prepared, there would be genetically modified scorpions swarming the skies and killing humans, not killing my kin. And the star ships would still be present in the heavens, blasting mortar at the atmosphere. And do not pretend to know hell, these beasts are from your underworld.”
“What exactly are ‘your kin’?” He asked me.
“We carry the will of the father. I follow only the direction of the lord king.” I replied. “I am clay in his hands and I will do anything for him, so that I may return to my home.”
“So you think you’re an angel?” He spat
“That is what we are known as throughout the universe.” I assured him.
“Who is the Lord?” Questioned the human.
“Master of Masters, King of Kings. He is glory and greatness unto thee shining like a thousand-trillion suns, he holds all the wealth of the universe. I am his, as are you. We are all as his children, he speaks only truth and his kingdom is forever.”
“Who is he though?” The human continued.
“He is no one man, and not even necessarily a man nor am I. He is of many species and from many galaxies throughout the universe. Throughout time he has not always been of the same consciousness, but there has always been a single constant, Jaweh. It is Jaweh.” I felt like this answered his question thoroughly.
“Why were you killing humans?” He asked
This seemed like it might be his last question, but could have ended up being the beginning of a whole new line of questioning. So I decided to explain it the best I could. “Two millennia ago, after a fragment of Jaweh had been crucified by the humans, he sent for a book to be written. A book to reveal the future of his plans for the Earth…”
“I know that part.” He interrupted “What does this have to do with decapitating children?”
“We were sent to retrieve the genetics of those who would come willingly. Our slaughter of the children of the lord was in mercy. He promised this planet to the angels, as we need it for kindling to fuel our existence. The genetics of the fathers sheep was stored within containers of light, and the excess was poured into your atmosphere. They will awaken in his kingdom, to serve and worship him for eternity. If at any time they again die, we dispose of the waste body and use machines through which they will be reborn using the same genetic samples we retrieved in this extermination. The slaughter was necessary to allow them into the kingdom and the glory forever.”
“What will the people do in the kingdom?” He asked, though I had thought the line of questioning would have ended.
“They will praise the name of the highest, and learn to sing for his enjoyment. But as a prize, they will bear witness to the greatest kingdom in the universe.”
One of the humans came forward with the lord’s book, kneeled and asked me to slaughter him. The leader of the human troop yelled for him to stay away from me and the canine barked with anger. But I myself kneeled, and told the man, “I have been abandoned by my brothers. The gates of the kingdom are sealed today.”. He began to weep and I again stood to address the leader of the humans.
“The Underworld has ripped itself asunder, and the lizards have come back to feel the sun. I need the help of you and the remaining humans to get my surviving brothers together, and get a signal to Jaweh. He will resolve these crises, if only we ask it of him.”
“I don’t know anything about alien… Or magic… Or whatever the hell kind of telecommunications you need. I’m a politician; I know about people.” The human said, getting angry.
“Right now is about survival. We must collect as many beings of as many species as possible.” I argued, flaring my energy to pronounce my dominance. Even as weak as I was, I was a thousand fold the strength of any human. “This planet will most likely be declared into a state of purgatory. Its fate is no longer set in stone.”
“Okay, so what do we do?” Asked the human, much more timidly now.
“There is no long term strategy, so tomorrow you and a small group will come with me to the nearest Wormwood installment, and we will scavenge for material while looking for any of my brothers that may be injured or camping. And we will search for any humans in Earth settlements along the way. The ones who remain here will protect the garrisons here but we can’t stay forever, we need a safer place to rest, the beasts have a strong and precise sense for smells and heat even at great distance, as they have been living in your underworld for over 100 Million years. So if we are going to survive, we need updated shelter.”
“What is your name?”
“Gabriel.”
Chapter 3.2: Ancient Earthlings
The giant had the trust of the humans but I still felt uneasy with it around. In the morning the alpha human, the giant and the skunk girl loaded up a truck to go to the Wormwood. I tagged along to protect the skunk girl, but no other humans joined us. Everyone heard the noises at night and no one wanted to come face to face with the creatures making them. The humans armed themselves with rifles and side arms, the giant had his light, but I had nothing. Just my teeth and paws, but I would use them if I needed to. We got in the truck and started off our Fifty mile drive. I could still see the spire looming above everything, but I could only guess at what we would find there.
Along the way we found no survivors. We passed through a few large towns, and there were plenty of bodies, not only human but giants and lizards as well. The giant wept while he recited prayers and included the name of each fallen brother as we passed them, as he commanded their ascent into the kingdom I saw what looked like light bleeding out of them and leaking into the air, dissipating into the sky.
The skunk girl asked, “what will happen to them?”
and the giant told her “They are now free, and without the shackles of a material body, my brothers can return to their homes as they were before the lord came for them.” Then he went back to sending them on their way. But not for long before he was interrupted by the human alpha.
“What do you expect we’ll find today?” He asked.
“A plan.” Replied the giant. “The Wormwood bases were loaded with every possible amenity. As long as it hasn’t been scavenged by someone that knows what they are looking for, there should be things we can use there.”
“Like what?”
“Shelter, Appliances, Weapons, Vehicles maybe. I can’t be sure that anything will be there at all. But we have to try and find what we can.”
As we came within twenty miles of the spire I began to see the actual structure. It was about two miles across, and about eight stories tall. It was a pyramid like structure, with metallic walls. Out of the top of the pyramid was protruding a giant towering spire that was at least 2 miles tall. As we got even closer we began to hear a strange far off noise, but not like the monsters in the night. And it sounded as if it were coming from the Wormwood, even though we were still about 15 miles away. As we approached, the noise grew until we could actually hear what it was.
The giant understood it first and said to us, “…Singing…”
He looked confused and the skunk girl asked, “What’s wrong?”
He told her, “He is not calling for help... He is serenading the humans.”
“For…?” She started.
“Yes.” He said before she could finish. “The extermination is over, but he continues the slaughter.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know.” She said sadly.
“The star ships are gone. He knows.” The giant seemed angry now. “Continue forward” he ordered, “I will keep the element of surprise with us.” And with that he jumped out of the truck and blew into the sky. We had no idea what we were headed into but we continued forward.
Chapter 3.3: Ancient Earthlings
I sliced through the sky and blew towards the Wormwood, bending the light around my body so as to not be seen as I came closer. Heads of some smaller lizard beasts were torn from the bodies and displayed hanging on the walls near the entrances to the pyramid, and I could sense many humans were within its walls. Most were still alive, but rotting bodies of every species littered the ground for miles. I could still see the humans in their vehicle about five miles behind and thousands of feet below me as I shot through the air, closer to the structure.
I dropped about midway up the pyramid, and stood there. The humans were still about ten miles off, I knew my brother would sense them soon. “Azazul” I said quietly to myself. “Why have you brought this on me?” I waited until I heard it, the gates began to open at the base of the pyramid. I expected Azazul to come to face them, but instead he began singing again. Manipulating the words of the human language in an attempt to alter their minds, but these humans had more endurance than that. His music fell on def ears.
The humans continued closer and closer, until the singing stopped and gave way to a terrible clicking sound. At that moment I knew I would have to give up the element of surprise to protect the humans.
Chapter 3.4: Ancient Earthlings
The singing had been louder this time, but suddenly it stopped. We were still about five miles from the structure, and the silence was erie as we slowly approached. It was colossal, rivaling the raw majesty of the mountains of our planet. As we came to see the ground the pyramid was standing on, we saw something moving. Dark shapes darting across the ground as if on four legs, towards us. There were about fourty of them, and their skin, though dark as night, glistened in the sun as if it were metallic itself. They shrieked as they closed in at a frightening speed. I barked, but the humans were recognizing it at the same instant I was. They stopped the truck to get out and both drew their rifles to begin firing from the bed.
At first the beasts were in a crowd and I could see individuals stumble and get trampled by the flock as the bullets bit into them. But as they realized they were being fired into, the monsters spread out making it harder to hit any of them. I could now see them clearly, every one of them was covered in scales, their bodies were similar to that of a lion but the top of their head was an exposed skull. They had no eyes, but giant gashes in their faces that flared and closed constantly. Their jaws seemed slack and revealed rows and rows of teeth, and on their hands were claws that seemed almost like protruding bone mass, and coming though their back were similar protruding bone structures.
The humans continued firing, but I felt it was almost futile at this point to attempt to survive. Even with five or ten of these beasts down, we were about to be overtaken. I could see the fear in the humans eyes as they stumbled to reload their weapons after each clip. The creatures came within a hundred yards and I could hear the snarling, and almost squealing sound they made as they gathered breath into their winded lungs. The largest of them let out a terrifying scream and the beasts lowered their exposed skulls to face us. The humans put down the rifles and put their side arms to use. They were about to be right on top of us. They slammed their skulls into the truck, it was launched in the opposite direction and flipped as we fell into the air and dropped to the ground. At least twenty of the lizards were surrounding us, making strange noises and presenting reptilian tongues. The alpha human was unconscious on the ground, but the skunk girl fired her weapon wounding a few of them. One of the beasts lunged forward pinning her to the ground, I growled and lunged at him. But I was tackled by another of them and brought to the ground myself. The lizards stuck out their tongues and slid them across our faces and into our mouths, “tasting” everything. I heard a blast of wind and the giant was hovering above us while we lay pinned under the beasts. The giant swung his blade somehow lifting all of us into the air, and dropping us to the ground. The creatures fell and scrambled to stand back up as we did the same. The giant raised his arms and brought them down, igniting the beasts.
Chapter 2: Don’t Go Towards the Light
“This isn’t my war.” Thought 35 Year old Charlie Sanchez. Mayor of a small town in East Texas, he wasn’t supposed to be leading a group of soldiers. If you could even call them soldiers, this was a militia of any man 18 and older who was willing to pick up a gun. There were only 8 men in the group, and their small tribe totaled 14 including women and children. Charlie looked to his boys and scratched his face, he hadn’t had any time to shave since the bombs dropped and it was starting to show. They had already killed 10 invading soldiers in the 2 weeks the war had been going on, but even with the little fighting they had done these men were starting to look worn. Their town was so small that no large forces had come through, at least yet. Hopefully that would last. Most of the houses and buildings around town had been searched for survivors and usable material, but there was still one church and its surrounding area that they hadn’t searched yet.
Charlie got his men together, and loaded up in two trucks to begin the scouting mission. He drove the lead truck about twenty miles down some back roads, and stopped in the parking lot of the church. It was a pretty small place, but there were already cars outside. So maybe there were some people who needed help. He signaled silently to some of his men to go around the back of the church, and signaled to another group to follow him to surround the front door as he opened it. But as soon as they got out of the trucks, a dog started barking. Only a moment went by before there was a sudden flash as if lighting had struck and a loud sound like heavy wind. The sound stopped and the dog continued to bark.
Charlie signaled again for everyone to enter strategically, and they moved towards the door. He slammed the door open with a kick to find a dog alone in a single room building, pews stretched to both walls and were in rows filling the building from the front of the stage, to the back. Everything was covered in blood and in the walkway between pews, there was a small pile of dead bodies. The bodies were sliced apart, some missing heads or limbs, which were strewn around the room. The entire floor was drenched in a pool of blood and the walls even had splatter marks, as if whoever had done this had been swinging a blade like a baseball bat. The dog ran up to Charlie and began licking his face. Charlie grabbed him by the collar, and led him out of the church. All anyone could think on the ride back was, “Why did this happen in a church?” and “Is whoever did it still in town?”. First things first, Charlie needed to get this dog cleaned up. It had patches of dried blood all over it. This dog had seen some crazy things, and lived through it. And it was going to live through even more crazy ****. So Charlie decided to give him a name… “The Witness” or “Thewit” for short. So they took him back to town hall, which they had been using as headquarters and used a hose and some shampoo to wash off the dog. So much blood, this war had brought so much death. The men him and his militia and killed, and… Whatever happened at the church, “Was that even related to the war?” he thought, “What is going on?”. He turned on a radio to listen, it spoke of more death. But just bombs and battles, no crazy… Serial murders? Religious Sacrifices? “Who are the invaders?” he wondered, “I had heard ‘Africa’ in the news, but where in Africa? There’s tons of countries over there. And why? Why are they doing this?”. He spoke with his men in hopes to rid them of the visions of what they had seen earlier that day, and left them to be with their families, which were using the offices of the Town Hall as makeshift homes, as he went back into his private room, which had once been his office.
But that night he went to sleep knowing at least this animal had survived. He was able to pull one survivor from the church. Not everyone died in there. But what had it seen? What did Thewit know? And he fell asleep in the middle of those thoughts.
Chapter 2.1: Don’t Go Towards the Light
I woke up with my new tribe. The old one had been murdered. I saw it. They wanted to die, but what happened seemed to me like pure execution. The person that killed them, he was different. He was… Similar to a human, but much larger. And… He was like if you lit a human on fire… But brighter… like the sun. That’s the only way to describe what he looked like, a human with light bursting from his skin. But bigger than a human. And almost like a bear, ferocious, large, with something that looked like fur or feathers, or possibly even just an extension of the light bursting forth. But even in its ferocity, it had a soft beautiful voice. It sang to the humans, and they bowed to accept their fates. And it’s head. Its head shone with an amazing ring of light.
I wanted to tell my new human, but he couldn’t understand me. He was a human, why had humans never taken the time to teach us to speak? He was obviously the alpha though, so he would be the person to tell. With them, things were rather peaceful. A few men in the tribe read the book, but it wasn’t something they all gathered around every day. And I was glad, I couldn’t believe what sheep the people had been in the church, welcoming death like a lost friend. But he had sparred me, he looked in my eyes and understood me on a greater level than any human ever had before. He looked at me, and I knew that he knew I didn’t care about the book. That’s why he let me live.
The humans and I patrolled the town and went back to the church to bury the body fragments, and I licked my masters arm for the last time. The humans said some words to the man who wrote the book, and we went back into town to eat and sleep. That night things were quiet. A few children had seemed hopeful, even vibrant when I had first come to this tribe. But with all the things that had recently happened, everyone was very somber. Every room in Town Hall was silent. Nothing but a radio could be heard…
Then the radio said something.
“In Africa, stories of mysterious deaths were spreading around the US soldiers. Unconfirmed sightings of “Ghosts” in the Diamond mines and on the battle fields, slaughtering soldiers on both sides. No survivors have been found to be interviewed on the subject, but short recordings of radio communication seconds before death are confusing to say the least. The soldiers didn’t even seem to know who or what they were facing. Bodies have been found mutilated and even hacked apart.”
When the humans heard that, they knew it was the same thing as what they had seen in the church. They didn’t know what it was, but they knew it was the same. I could see it on their faces and I wanted to tell them, I wanted to shout it out. But when I attempted to communicate they would just tell me to be quiet. They couldn’t even understand that I was trying to help them. These people were all over the planet, this thing was happening everywhere. And I knew how to avoid it. So that night while they were sleeping I stole their book, destroyed it, and buried it outside in the dirt. In the morning I could tell that they were concerned that it was missing, but they were safer this way. They didn’t need that book poisoning their minds to make them sheep for slaughter. But the next day, my human decided they needed to go back to the church and try to figure out what happened. I didn’t like this idea, but I felt like these humans were safer than my old ones, since I had taken their book. We got to the church and I started sniffing around. I could smell my old master, he was dead. Why did he accept what had happened? Why was he happy with it? The humans looked around and found nothing. More books, more blood, and more nothing. There was no evidence of anything, but then… I felt it. The light flashed and wind swirled through the room. A chill ran down my spine as he entered the room. The humans had no idea what was going on, I saw their reaction as they looked at the light. They were confused. In front of them materialized the being of light, taller than the humans by about four feet, and covered in something that resembled feathers or fur or a dimensional refraction of light. It was hard to look directly at them, the humans even shielded their eyes as he appeared. He sang as he did before, and said to the humans “Do you wish to live with the father forever?” I saw two men and a woman bow to one knee. I yelled out to them and ran to stop them. The woman put her hand on the child’s shoulder and pushed him to his knees. The other humans had no idea what to do. I barked out at the kneeling humans, and grabbed the child by the back of the shirt. But my human grabbed me and pulled me away, they didn’t know what to do. I was pulled to the back of the room, behind a pew to wait with the rest of the humans who were in awe. The monster raised a beam of light that looked like a blade, and released flares of light that almost resembled wings or horns, and could have been either. Then he dropped his blade, first into the child. Then into the mother. And into the two men. Every time hacking into the body so violently that limbs were severed, and blood stained the walls and floor. He looked back at us, I felt what seemed like his eyes glaring at me. They burned with an actual intense heat, but with a flash and a blast of wind he was gone.
I had seen it twice now. The humans ran to mourn the bodies of the dead, but all I could think was “I saw it twice now, and I couldn’t do anything about it.” I felt completely helpless. Even with all the humans and their thumbs, I didn’t feel like there was any way to defend ourselves. We were in the middle of a war, with bombs dropping all around us. But the only thing I was worried about was these monsters. I knew there were more, it didn’t even smell like the same one that time.
That night I went to sleep with one eye open. I heard a crashing noise in the far distance, and all the humans jumped awake when the building shook. The crash had been pretty far away, but we had felt the seismic activity from it. It almost seemed like a bomb went off, but there was no detonation. Looking out the window, the sky was pitch dark but in the distance we could see what look like small and large torches scattered sloppily along the horizon, a human opened the door and when I saw the sky my jaw dropped. In the sky there were giant dark masses blocking the stars. But they had light flowing through them, so you could tell they were made out of some metallic substance. These ships were outside the atmosphere of the planet, but were each individually bigger than the moon and they were dropping giant stones into our atmosphere. The stones would hit the atmosphere, and burst into flames as they fell through. Sending a flaming ball of stone hurling towards the Earth, and there were hundreds of these balls falling through the atmosphere at once. There was fire and smoke everywhere. Someone turned on the radio and it sounded like the same thing was happening all over the country. Was this part of the invasion?
There crashing and dropping of flame from the sky continued for seven days, and all radio broadcasts stopped. The sky became thick with smoke and the moon was blood red every night. There was no way to stop this. We can’t even make it to the moon every time we tried, how could we possibly launch a counter attack in space. A few weeks later while on watch, me and my human stumbled upon a Chinese soldier who wanted shelter after the hail of fire. He gave up his weapon without a fight, and never even gave one of us an angry look. He was afraid. We fed him and when he got comfortable he told us what he had seen. He told us,
“The first thing me and the other soldiers had seen was the giant installments in the sky, dropping fire onto the Earth. We were attacking an American military base after it had been struck by one of the stones but as we approached the base, smaller ships came down from above us, and released three flashes of light. Three giants appeared and set fire to everyone in the base, and our attacking ships. Then slowly walked around piercing the bodies that had been set on fire, and mutilating anyone that was struggling or running around in the flames. All the time claiming to be ‘doing the fathers will.’ Reciting prayers as they slay everyone. And it’s not just happening in North America. I’ve heard about it happening all over the world now. The fighting has stopped between nations, World War Three is over and they are trying to turn the bombs towards the sky. America is now requesting the aid of almost every African nation, their soldiers are being murdered relentlessly by these ghosts. And the soldiers have lost all morale, for some reason churches have been targeted, and thousands of soldiers have lost their entire families.”
So it was helpless. The military was running scared, and everyone was dying. There was no way to stop these things. The soldier decided to stay with us, and translated the news through his military radio, which was much more up to date than a working radio would have been anyways. We heard more stories, the rain of fire hadn’t let up everywhere. It was still actively happening in small patches all over the globe. Theories that these things were from another planet, or even another galaxy circulated over the radio. People were going crazy with all kinds of ideas. Eyewitness’ started coming out of the wood works, and radio broadcasts started back up regularly. People began calling this “The Rapture”, and “God has come to take his people.”. But when those broadcasts started, they never lasted long because the hosts of these cultish shows would call for people to come together and take the “leap of faith” as many began to call it. But our tribe had seen what happened to you when the monsters come, they weren’t messengers, they were murderers. A second invasion. Other radio shows spoke the truth, telling everyone to stay away from churches, keep their families together, and burn their special books.
More people came to our Town Hall and eventually we had to spread to other buildings to fit all the families. It was almost like things were getting closer to (but still very far from) normal. The humans started thinking of ways to detect the monsters. They set up tiny plastic windmills that would spin when it flew nearby and everyone had a prepared tactical position in case one got in. We weren’t sure if bullets could hurt the things, but the humans were definitely willing to try it. We felt safe again, like we had some measure of control of our own lives. Maybe even a chance to take our world back from the invaders. A strange woman came to town, she smelled like a skunk. Or a terrible flower, but I knew she knew something. The woman that smelled like a skunk knew something. I could see it in her eyes, something I needed to know. Something I needed to learn. She had it.
I approached the woman who smelled like a skunk one day and looked at her very closely in the face.
She said “I know.”
I tilted my head, confused and amazed. What did she know though? I followed her for the rest of the night. She scratched me behind the ear and didn’t mind me licking her. And at the end of the night she pulled out a strange purple goo, and put it in a tobacco pipe.
She whispered into my ear, “No alien would ever come here to aid us, until we’ve spoken to another species. Aliens will be at least as different from us as an elephant is.” I was so confused, then she said “I’m going to teach you to speak to me tonight, and one day you will communicate with humans.” With that, she inhaled some of the purple goo, and went into a trance.
I inhaled the second hand smoke from the pipe and her exhale, and I slightly felt some effects. Everything that was happening left a wild blurry trail and shapes became forming within and from other shapes. Colors were vibrant, and the world was beautiful. This girl that smelled like a skunk began speaking. She spoke like a human but I could feel her words for what they were. And I could reply with my tone and face. Humans understand words or facial expressions, animals understand both tone and facial expressions together. Somehow we were able to relay things to each other. I wasn’t able to say “Today” or “Yesterday” or “The day before that” specifically. But she could understand my concepts of past, present, future, etc. I felt closer to humans than ever before, I know knew that they had the ability to understand me. One just did understand me.
I decided to stay with the skunk girl. My human was the alpha, he could handle himself, but I wanted to know more about her. Why did she smell so strange and how did she know how to talk to other animals? No human could do that, no human had EVER done that. I followed her for the next few weeks and I soon found out why she smelled like a skunk. She carried around a pouch with flowers in it and every once in a while she would open the pouch and put some of the flowers in the tobacco pipe and when she burned the flowers, it exhaled as a giant cloud of skunk. It clung to her clothes and I could smell it all the time. I’m not sure if the humans could always smell it, but I could. Over the next few months she spoke more to me, I never learned to speak to other humans but I came to realize that it was more because none of them wanted to try, and had nothing to do with me not being able to communicate on a human level. But I spoke to the skunk girl, and she taught me so many things. Not only do humans ignore the other animals, the plants are trying to speak to them to.
“The plants can speak to all of us”, she said. “The humans don’t even try to listen though.” She knew so much, for a human. She said she had learned them from the plants, they were her teachers. Even the purple goo came from the root-bark of a plant, the thing that had taught her to speak to me, and me to speak to her. We would go on patrol, but not to look for men to kill, we would look for plants. She knew what every single one of them was by name, and she knew what all of them could do.
“This one is good for headaches” “This keeps cuts from scaring” “This one can be made in to tea.” “You should taste this one.” “Don’t touch that, it can kill you.” All day long it was like this. It was amazing how much she knew about everything around her. Everything around us. But what did she know about the monsters? One day I decided I had to ask her, I couldn’t pretend the world was okay. Things were still happening everywhere, the moon was still blood red every night. And when I asked, she told me:
“I was living with my family. My mother, father and two siblings. My family had taken refuge in a church, and the only thing that saved me was my flowers. I was outside with them when the ghosts came. They took my family, they killed everyone… When I came back there was blood everywhere and their bodies lifeless on the ground.” I comforted her while she cried, and when she was ready to hear it, I told her my story. What had happened to my human. And I told her that her family probably left happily and appreciated what happened to them. She didn’t care, they were still dead and she still saw their bodies and blood scattered everywhere. She couldn’t just forget about it.
The next day was strange. The wind stopped blowing. I couldn’t smell anything unless it was right in front of me. Usually I could smell at least a mile or two up wind, but today there was nothing being blown in. We turned on the radio and what we heard was crushing:
“The invaders have taken the nation’s capitol, and all elected federal officials are pronounced dead. They will be taking over all broadcasts at 12 noon tomorrow, Central time. We will no longer be bringing you the news and we’re not really sure what will happen to anyone. We have nothing more to broadcast, so we will be going off the air in the next five minutes. I don’t know what else to say… There’s nothing else written here… Good luck… … … …”
We didn’t know what to do but wait. No one really slept that night and everyone was surrounding the radio by 10 AM the next morning. All stations were off the air. No one was broadcasting, everyone was just waiting to see what happened. At Noon the broadcasts started again, and every station was the same. For about a half an hour it was just a low humming noise, no one was quite sure what to make of it. But then the voice was back. The beautiful singing voice, I knew what was behind the curtain though. But it said to the humans:
“Do not be afraid. We have come in the name of the father. We have come to take those he promised and return them to the father. But we were given a promise also, this planet is ours. We will burn the remainder of the planet and feast on the energy that will be released. You were promised nothing and will receive nothing. Death by fire the only thing you are assured.”
The giant ships in the sky came in greater numbers that night. One of them made a sound, it was an almost visible sound. A shrill echo shooting everywhere, and on that signal fire fell from the sky like we had never seen before. It went on for hours and hours, until a second echo rang out. At the sound of the second echo, the ships came closer blocking out almost every star in the sky. One of them burst through the atmosphere and the Earth trembled with the force of it. The ship fell to the ground and again the Earth trembled. We were at least fifty miles from where the ship landed, but we could still see it in the distance it was so huge. It made strange noises as it slowly seemed to tear apart. It bloomed almost like a flower, then the pedals slammed to the ground creating what I could only assume was a floor or stage from this distance. We couldn’t see it once it laid itself flat, but birds were flying in massive flocks to go any direction except for towards the machine. A massive spire slowly rose from the machine into the sky, and started rotating. The clouds in the sky slowly began to swirl and form around it, until there was what looked like a hurricane of dark, smokey clouds. The clouds stretched for miles and miles, and even swirled above us. After a long while of swirling and swirling around, the clouds began to let out moisture. But it wasn’t rain, it wasn’t like normal rain. It was blood. We ran inside to shelter ourselves from the staining rain and the humans washed it from their skin. The drops got larger and the storm got heavier and heavier. The ground outside was soaked with blood, but even that was hard to see through the bloodstained window. It didn’t make any sense, where was all the blood coming from?
The singing voice came back on the radio, “The star fleet Wormwood has just landed on your planet. Spread out all over the globe we have sent ships from the feet to dispel of the genetic waste from our collection. Your oceans will run red while your rivers will become bitter and full of disease.” At this moment the spire began to spew a thick green fog visible even through the blood red of the window. Over the course of about an hour the sky became dark and the sun seemed dimmer. “Your planet will begin to decay” Said the singing voice, “Without the full glare of the sun, Earth will become a much less fruitful place… And soon we will unleash the plagues. But today, hundreds of thousands of our brothers march forth unto your land.”
That night even the moon was dimmed as well as the stars, which were mostly out of view anyways with the massive ships blocking every angle of the night sky. All we could do was wait. They were going to unleash something on us. We didn’t know what, but we knew we were helpless.
“This isn’t my war.” Thought 35 Year old Charlie Sanchez. Mayor of a small town in East Texas, he wasn’t supposed to be leading a group of soldiers. If you could even call them soldiers, this was a militia of any man 18 and older who was willing to pick up a gun. There were only 8 men in the group, and their small tribe totaled 14 including women and children. Charlie looked to his boys and scratched his face, he hadn’t had any time to shave since the bombs dropped and it was starting to show. They had already killed 10 invading soldiers in the 2 weeks the war had been going on, but even with the little fighting they had done these men were starting to look worn. Their town was so small that no large forces had come through, at least yet. Hopefully that would last. Most of the houses and buildings around town had been searched for survivors and usable material, but there was still one church and its surrounding area that they hadn’t searched yet.
Charlie got his men together, and loaded up in two trucks to begin the scouting mission. He drove the lead truck about twenty miles down some back roads, and stopped in the parking lot of the church. It was a pretty small place, but there were already cars outside. So maybe there were some people who needed help. He signaled silently to some of his men to go around the back of the church, and signaled to another group to follow him to surround the front door as he opened it. But as soon as they got out of the trucks, a dog started barking. Only a moment went by before there was a sudden flash as if lighting had struck and a loud sound like heavy wind. The sound stopped and the dog continued to bark.
Charlie signaled again for everyone to enter strategically, and they moved towards the door. He slammed the door open with a kick to find a dog alone in a single room building, pews stretched to both walls and were in rows filling the building from the front of the stage, to the back. Everything was covered in blood and in the walkway between pews, there was a small pile of dead bodies. The bodies were sliced apart, some missing heads or limbs, which were strewn around the room. The entire floor was drenched in a pool of blood and the walls even had splatter marks, as if whoever had done this had been swinging a blade like a baseball bat. The dog ran up to Charlie and began licking his face. Charlie grabbed him by the collar, and led him out of the church. All anyone could think on the ride back was, “Why did this happen in a church?” and “Is whoever did it still in town?”. First things first, Charlie needed to get this dog cleaned up. It had patches of dried blood all over it. This dog had seen some crazy things, and lived through it. And it was going to live through even more crazy ****. So Charlie decided to give him a name… “The Witness” or “Thewit” for short. So they took him back to town hall, which they had been using as headquarters and used a hose and some shampoo to wash off the dog. So much blood, this war had brought so much death. The men him and his militia and killed, and… Whatever happened at the church, “Was that even related to the war?” he thought, “What is going on?”. He turned on a radio to listen, it spoke of more death. But just bombs and battles, no crazy… Serial murders? Religious Sacrifices? “Who are the invaders?” he wondered, “I had heard ‘Africa’ in the news, but where in Africa? There’s tons of countries over there. And why? Why are they doing this?”. He spoke with his men in hopes to rid them of the visions of what they had seen earlier that day, and left them to be with their families, which were using the offices of the Town Hall as makeshift homes, as he went back into his private room, which had once been his office.
But that night he went to sleep knowing at least this animal had survived. He was able to pull one survivor from the church. Not everyone died in there. But what had it seen? What did Thewit know? And he fell asleep in the middle of those thoughts.
Chapter 2.1: Don’t Go Towards the Light
I woke up with my new tribe. The old one had been murdered. I saw it. They wanted to die, but what happened seemed to me like pure execution. The person that killed them, he was different. He was… Similar to a human, but much larger. And… He was like if you lit a human on fire… But brighter… like the sun. That’s the only way to describe what he looked like, a human with light bursting from his skin. But bigger than a human. And almost like a bear, ferocious, large, with something that looked like fur or feathers, or possibly even just an extension of the light bursting forth. But even in its ferocity, it had a soft beautiful voice. It sang to the humans, and they bowed to accept their fates. And it’s head. Its head shone with an amazing ring of light.
I wanted to tell my new human, but he couldn’t understand me. He was a human, why had humans never taken the time to teach us to speak? He was obviously the alpha though, so he would be the person to tell. With them, things were rather peaceful. A few men in the tribe read the book, but it wasn’t something they all gathered around every day. And I was glad, I couldn’t believe what sheep the people had been in the church, welcoming death like a lost friend. But he had sparred me, he looked in my eyes and understood me on a greater level than any human ever had before. He looked at me, and I knew that he knew I didn’t care about the book. That’s why he let me live.
The humans and I patrolled the town and went back to the church to bury the body fragments, and I licked my masters arm for the last time. The humans said some words to the man who wrote the book, and we went back into town to eat and sleep. That night things were quiet. A few children had seemed hopeful, even vibrant when I had first come to this tribe. But with all the things that had recently happened, everyone was very somber. Every room in Town Hall was silent. Nothing but a radio could be heard…
Then the radio said something.
“In Africa, stories of mysterious deaths were spreading around the US soldiers. Unconfirmed sightings of “Ghosts” in the Diamond mines and on the battle fields, slaughtering soldiers on both sides. No survivors have been found to be interviewed on the subject, but short recordings of radio communication seconds before death are confusing to say the least. The soldiers didn’t even seem to know who or what they were facing. Bodies have been found mutilated and even hacked apart.”
When the humans heard that, they knew it was the same thing as what they had seen in the church. They didn’t know what it was, but they knew it was the same. I could see it on their faces and I wanted to tell them, I wanted to shout it out. But when I attempted to communicate they would just tell me to be quiet. They couldn’t even understand that I was trying to help them. These people were all over the planet, this thing was happening everywhere. And I knew how to avoid it. So that night while they were sleeping I stole their book, destroyed it, and buried it outside in the dirt. In the morning I could tell that they were concerned that it was missing, but they were safer this way. They didn’t need that book poisoning their minds to make them sheep for slaughter. But the next day, my human decided they needed to go back to the church and try to figure out what happened. I didn’t like this idea, but I felt like these humans were safer than my old ones, since I had taken their book. We got to the church and I started sniffing around. I could smell my old master, he was dead. Why did he accept what had happened? Why was he happy with it? The humans looked around and found nothing. More books, more blood, and more nothing. There was no evidence of anything, but then… I felt it. The light flashed and wind swirled through the room. A chill ran down my spine as he entered the room. The humans had no idea what was going on, I saw their reaction as they looked at the light. They were confused. In front of them materialized the being of light, taller than the humans by about four feet, and covered in something that resembled feathers or fur or a dimensional refraction of light. It was hard to look directly at them, the humans even shielded their eyes as he appeared. He sang as he did before, and said to the humans “Do you wish to live with the father forever?” I saw two men and a woman bow to one knee. I yelled out to them and ran to stop them. The woman put her hand on the child’s shoulder and pushed him to his knees. The other humans had no idea what to do. I barked out at the kneeling humans, and grabbed the child by the back of the shirt. But my human grabbed me and pulled me away, they didn’t know what to do. I was pulled to the back of the room, behind a pew to wait with the rest of the humans who were in awe. The monster raised a beam of light that looked like a blade, and released flares of light that almost resembled wings or horns, and could have been either. Then he dropped his blade, first into the child. Then into the mother. And into the two men. Every time hacking into the body so violently that limbs were severed, and blood stained the walls and floor. He looked back at us, I felt what seemed like his eyes glaring at me. They burned with an actual intense heat, but with a flash and a blast of wind he was gone.
I had seen it twice now. The humans ran to mourn the bodies of the dead, but all I could think was “I saw it twice now, and I couldn’t do anything about it.” I felt completely helpless. Even with all the humans and their thumbs, I didn’t feel like there was any way to defend ourselves. We were in the middle of a war, with bombs dropping all around us. But the only thing I was worried about was these monsters. I knew there were more, it didn’t even smell like the same one that time.
That night I went to sleep with one eye open. I heard a crashing noise in the far distance, and all the humans jumped awake when the building shook. The crash had been pretty far away, but we had felt the seismic activity from it. It almost seemed like a bomb went off, but there was no detonation. Looking out the window, the sky was pitch dark but in the distance we could see what look like small and large torches scattered sloppily along the horizon, a human opened the door and when I saw the sky my jaw dropped. In the sky there were giant dark masses blocking the stars. But they had light flowing through them, so you could tell they were made out of some metallic substance. These ships were outside the atmosphere of the planet, but were each individually bigger than the moon and they were dropping giant stones into our atmosphere. The stones would hit the atmosphere, and burst into flames as they fell through. Sending a flaming ball of stone hurling towards the Earth, and there were hundreds of these balls falling through the atmosphere at once. There was fire and smoke everywhere. Someone turned on the radio and it sounded like the same thing was happening all over the country. Was this part of the invasion?
There crashing and dropping of flame from the sky continued for seven days, and all radio broadcasts stopped. The sky became thick with smoke and the moon was blood red every night. There was no way to stop this. We can’t even make it to the moon every time we tried, how could we possibly launch a counter attack in space. A few weeks later while on watch, me and my human stumbled upon a Chinese soldier who wanted shelter after the hail of fire. He gave up his weapon without a fight, and never even gave one of us an angry look. He was afraid. We fed him and when he got comfortable he told us what he had seen. He told us,
“The first thing me and the other soldiers had seen was the giant installments in the sky, dropping fire onto the Earth. We were attacking an American military base after it had been struck by one of the stones but as we approached the base, smaller ships came down from above us, and released three flashes of light. Three giants appeared and set fire to everyone in the base, and our attacking ships. Then slowly walked around piercing the bodies that had been set on fire, and mutilating anyone that was struggling or running around in the flames. All the time claiming to be ‘doing the fathers will.’ Reciting prayers as they slay everyone. And it’s not just happening in North America. I’ve heard about it happening all over the world now. The fighting has stopped between nations, World War Three is over and they are trying to turn the bombs towards the sky. America is now requesting the aid of almost every African nation, their soldiers are being murdered relentlessly by these ghosts. And the soldiers have lost all morale, for some reason churches have been targeted, and thousands of soldiers have lost their entire families.”
So it was helpless. The military was running scared, and everyone was dying. There was no way to stop these things. The soldier decided to stay with us, and translated the news through his military radio, which was much more up to date than a working radio would have been anyways. We heard more stories, the rain of fire hadn’t let up everywhere. It was still actively happening in small patches all over the globe. Theories that these things were from another planet, or even another galaxy circulated over the radio. People were going crazy with all kinds of ideas. Eyewitness’ started coming out of the wood works, and radio broadcasts started back up regularly. People began calling this “The Rapture”, and “God has come to take his people.”. But when those broadcasts started, they never lasted long because the hosts of these cultish shows would call for people to come together and take the “leap of faith” as many began to call it. But our tribe had seen what happened to you when the monsters come, they weren’t messengers, they were murderers. A second invasion. Other radio shows spoke the truth, telling everyone to stay away from churches, keep their families together, and burn their special books.
More people came to our Town Hall and eventually we had to spread to other buildings to fit all the families. It was almost like things were getting closer to (but still very far from) normal. The humans started thinking of ways to detect the monsters. They set up tiny plastic windmills that would spin when it flew nearby and everyone had a prepared tactical position in case one got in. We weren’t sure if bullets could hurt the things, but the humans were definitely willing to try it. We felt safe again, like we had some measure of control of our own lives. Maybe even a chance to take our world back from the invaders. A strange woman came to town, she smelled like a skunk. Or a terrible flower, but I knew she knew something. The woman that smelled like a skunk knew something. I could see it in her eyes, something I needed to know. Something I needed to learn. She had it.
I approached the woman who smelled like a skunk one day and looked at her very closely in the face.
She said “I know.”
I tilted my head, confused and amazed. What did she know though? I followed her for the rest of the night. She scratched me behind the ear and didn’t mind me licking her. And at the end of the night she pulled out a strange purple goo, and put it in a tobacco pipe.
She whispered into my ear, “No alien would ever come here to aid us, until we’ve spoken to another species. Aliens will be at least as different from us as an elephant is.” I was so confused, then she said “I’m going to teach you to speak to me tonight, and one day you will communicate with humans.” With that, she inhaled some of the purple goo, and went into a trance.
I inhaled the second hand smoke from the pipe and her exhale, and I slightly felt some effects. Everything that was happening left a wild blurry trail and shapes became forming within and from other shapes. Colors were vibrant, and the world was beautiful. This girl that smelled like a skunk began speaking. She spoke like a human but I could feel her words for what they were. And I could reply with my tone and face. Humans understand words or facial expressions, animals understand both tone and facial expressions together. Somehow we were able to relay things to each other. I wasn’t able to say “Today” or “Yesterday” or “The day before that” specifically. But she could understand my concepts of past, present, future, etc. I felt closer to humans than ever before, I know knew that they had the ability to understand me. One just did understand me.
I decided to stay with the skunk girl. My human was the alpha, he could handle himself, but I wanted to know more about her. Why did she smell so strange and how did she know how to talk to other animals? No human could do that, no human had EVER done that. I followed her for the next few weeks and I soon found out why she smelled like a skunk. She carried around a pouch with flowers in it and every once in a while she would open the pouch and put some of the flowers in the tobacco pipe and when she burned the flowers, it exhaled as a giant cloud of skunk. It clung to her clothes and I could smell it all the time. I’m not sure if the humans could always smell it, but I could. Over the next few months she spoke more to me, I never learned to speak to other humans but I came to realize that it was more because none of them wanted to try, and had nothing to do with me not being able to communicate on a human level. But I spoke to the skunk girl, and she taught me so many things. Not only do humans ignore the other animals, the plants are trying to speak to them to.
“The plants can speak to all of us”, she said. “The humans don’t even try to listen though.” She knew so much, for a human. She said she had learned them from the plants, they were her teachers. Even the purple goo came from the root-bark of a plant, the thing that had taught her to speak to me, and me to speak to her. We would go on patrol, but not to look for men to kill, we would look for plants. She knew what every single one of them was by name, and she knew what all of them could do.
“This one is good for headaches” “This keeps cuts from scaring” “This one can be made in to tea.” “You should taste this one.” “Don’t touch that, it can kill you.” All day long it was like this. It was amazing how much she knew about everything around her. Everything around us. But what did she know about the monsters? One day I decided I had to ask her, I couldn’t pretend the world was okay. Things were still happening everywhere, the moon was still blood red every night. And when I asked, she told me:
“I was living with my family. My mother, father and two siblings. My family had taken refuge in a church, and the only thing that saved me was my flowers. I was outside with them when the ghosts came. They took my family, they killed everyone… When I came back there was blood everywhere and their bodies lifeless on the ground.” I comforted her while she cried, and when she was ready to hear it, I told her my story. What had happened to my human. And I told her that her family probably left happily and appreciated what happened to them. She didn’t care, they were still dead and she still saw their bodies and blood scattered everywhere. She couldn’t just forget about it.
The next day was strange. The wind stopped blowing. I couldn’t smell anything unless it was right in front of me. Usually I could smell at least a mile or two up wind, but today there was nothing being blown in. We turned on the radio and what we heard was crushing:
“The invaders have taken the nation’s capitol, and all elected federal officials are pronounced dead. They will be taking over all broadcasts at 12 noon tomorrow, Central time. We will no longer be bringing you the news and we’re not really sure what will happen to anyone. We have nothing more to broadcast, so we will be going off the air in the next five minutes. I don’t know what else to say… There’s nothing else written here… Good luck… … … …”
We didn’t know what to do but wait. No one really slept that night and everyone was surrounding the radio by 10 AM the next morning. All stations were off the air. No one was broadcasting, everyone was just waiting to see what happened. At Noon the broadcasts started again, and every station was the same. For about a half an hour it was just a low humming noise, no one was quite sure what to make of it. But then the voice was back. The beautiful singing voice, I knew what was behind the curtain though. But it said to the humans:
“Do not be afraid. We have come in the name of the father. We have come to take those he promised and return them to the father. But we were given a promise also, this planet is ours. We will burn the remainder of the planet and feast on the energy that will be released. You were promised nothing and will receive nothing. Death by fire the only thing you are assured.”
The giant ships in the sky came in greater numbers that night. One of them made a sound, it was an almost visible sound. A shrill echo shooting everywhere, and on that signal fire fell from the sky like we had never seen before. It went on for hours and hours, until a second echo rang out. At the sound of the second echo, the ships came closer blocking out almost every star in the sky. One of them burst through the atmosphere and the Earth trembled with the force of it. The ship fell to the ground and again the Earth trembled. We were at least fifty miles from where the ship landed, but we could still see it in the distance it was so huge. It made strange noises as it slowly seemed to tear apart. It bloomed almost like a flower, then the pedals slammed to the ground creating what I could only assume was a floor or stage from this distance. We couldn’t see it once it laid itself flat, but birds were flying in massive flocks to go any direction except for towards the machine. A massive spire slowly rose from the machine into the sky, and started rotating. The clouds in the sky slowly began to swirl and form around it, until there was what looked like a hurricane of dark, smokey clouds. The clouds stretched for miles and miles, and even swirled above us. After a long while of swirling and swirling around, the clouds began to let out moisture. But it wasn’t rain, it wasn’t like normal rain. It was blood. We ran inside to shelter ourselves from the staining rain and the humans washed it from their skin. The drops got larger and the storm got heavier and heavier. The ground outside was soaked with blood, but even that was hard to see through the bloodstained window. It didn’t make any sense, where was all the blood coming from?
The singing voice came back on the radio, “The star fleet Wormwood has just landed on your planet. Spread out all over the globe we have sent ships from the feet to dispel of the genetic waste from our collection. Your oceans will run red while your rivers will become bitter and full of disease.” At this moment the spire began to spew a thick green fog visible even through the blood red of the window. Over the course of about an hour the sky became dark and the sun seemed dimmer. “Your planet will begin to decay” Said the singing voice, “Without the full glare of the sun, Earth will become a much less fruitful place… And soon we will unleash the plagues. But today, hundreds of thousands of our brothers march forth unto your land.”
That night even the moon was dimmed as well as the stars, which were mostly out of view anyways with the massive ships blocking every angle of the night sky. All we could do was wait. They were going to unleash something on us. We didn’t know what, but we knew we were helpless.
I'm writing a book, and I'm looking for other bitcoiners who are writers to join in, or write their own books. I already have plans for three books based in the same world (which is more futuristic) and two more based in reality/history/modern times.
Here's the first chapter of one of those books.
I was once a slave. My whole species was enslaved and we didn’t even realize it at first. They fed us, gave us homes, and loved us. But they allowed us no freedoms, we had no voice in any matters concerning our planet. They never once offered to educate us, or any of our children. They separated our families, bred and inbred us to fit their desires. For the longest time we all thought it was ok. But they didn’t allow us much room to think, they never even taught us to speak with words like we do now. But the story of my people’s struggles over these hurdles is a whole other story unto itself. We are but one piece in this giant puzzle.
I once had a master. A human. He had a high voice for a male, and he always smelled like leather. His skin was light. (Everyone thinks we’re color blind, but we just don’t notice them as much as your kind does. It’s not that we don’t see the colors, it’s that we don’t care enough to note the difference.) The strangest thing about him was that he read the same book every day. It was just a tiny book that fit in his pocket, and it ended up being what killed him. He would bow to his master, and everyday it confused me. He was the master, wasn’t he? Why did he need this book? And what did the scratches in it mean? They didn’t smell like anything that I could say was “spectacular”, they were just some kind of strange footprints that didn’t lead anywhere. Most of my kind wouldn’t ask questions like that. Most of us just accept the food and water we are given, wait to be scratched on the head, and do whatever we’re told. But my mother wasn’t inbred like most of these ferals, I was a mut. I’m proud to say none of my family has pedigrees. So I was curious, I asked myself these questions. The world was so strange, I had never been anywhere without my master, and had hardly been outside of the house that he owned. But every day, no matter what he did, he read that book. When the bombs hit, he would say that the book saved him, and the man that had written the book protected him. America thought it was so powerful then, looking back now I can see how long it was on the edge of disaster, waiting to crumble. But the whole time it was happening, those humans thought they were on top of the world. But who could tell them they weren’t?? No one knew what to do about anything.
Commercials talked about how millions of children all over the world were starving everyday and still countries everywhere could afford to send out machines of war to continue the slaughter. Africa had been in turmoil forever and the Middle East was past its boiling point. America took matters into its own hands, and overstepped its bounds. They wanted to secure diamond mines and oil fields, so they killed everyone in their way. And by assassinating an African warlord without declaring war, America had successfully started World War III. That part I learned later, they didn’t tell us about the war on the news. They acted like we could do no wrong, and we had done no wrong. We were safe, in the greatest country in the world. The first thing we heard were the explosions. It sounded like lightning, striking very nearby. My master opened the door and we ran outside. It smelled like fire, in the distance you could see clouds of debris, and I don’t know if the humans could hear it, but there were planes and gunfire not too far away. I barked a signal to see if there was anyone I could communicate with who was experiencing this also, and I heard someone signal back. This was really happening.
My master took me back inside, and asked his book for help. He got on his knees, and begged for the man who wrote it to protect him. I watched in amazement. Even now, when the sky is on fire and the smell of fresh blood is in the air, this human reads this book. After a long while he got up, gathered some things and went outside to our car. I thought we would be getting away from our territory, I had plenty of things I would miss, but my instincts told me to get out of there. This is when I really started thinking humans weren’t the smartest people on the planet. My master drove to the place that they gathered to talk about the book, and there were other people there. I knew all other animals in the area were running, flying, and crawling away. But these humans were gathering in a building to talk about a book.
Our first couple of nights there, we ate what we had brought in the car. When they tried turning on the televisions nothing was on, but the radios were still working and talking about the war. The whole country was in horrible condition, some farmland had gone by unscathed, but most of it had been lit on fire. Every state was completely under the control of invading troops. People were being executed all over the country for making plans to fight back and it was hard to tell which country had specifically invaded us. It seemed like names from China and Russia were most present in the news as invading military leaders, but there were soldiers from all over the world. Various reports spoke of Americas continued conquest to claim the Diamond mines of Africa, so there was no chance of things getting better. We had no contact with the outside world, and it really felt like we were just waiting to die. How could we go back to our regular lives? It was all already over. Life was over.
We started running out of food. I could still find the occasional rodent, or rabbit that had run from somewhere else, thinking this place might be safer than wherever he had come from when the bombs dropped. But the humans needed things out of a can and cooked with fire. So they started going breaking into buildings and empty houses, all the while asking the man who had written the book to forgive them. There was a man in the group that seemed to me to be the alpha. He would read the scratches in the book out loud and tried to make the tracks go somewhere. But when I listened to him it seemed very wrong, the tracks led into a corner. He could see into the scratches better than I could, but he could not even follow his own words for what they were as he read the scratches.
The alpha human changed direction one day though. He read from the back of the book, stories that seemed like the words of a mad man. Stories of destruction and chaos, but the humans listened happily as the man spoke of a time of reckoning. He said that god would soon judge all humans, and take the ones devoted to him. The fire was in the sky and the ash in the air, it was time. “But what about me?”, I thought “Just because I am not human I have to stay in this place? In this war zone? On this planet.”
Here's the first chapter of one of those books.
I was once a slave. My whole species was enslaved and we didn’t even realize it at first. They fed us, gave us homes, and loved us. But they allowed us no freedoms, we had no voice in any matters concerning our planet. They never once offered to educate us, or any of our children. They separated our families, bred and inbred us to fit their desires. For the longest time we all thought it was ok. But they didn’t allow us much room to think, they never even taught us to speak with words like we do now. But the story of my people’s struggles over these hurdles is a whole other story unto itself. We are but one piece in this giant puzzle.
I once had a master. A human. He had a high voice for a male, and he always smelled like leather. His skin was light. (Everyone thinks we’re color blind, but we just don’t notice them as much as your kind does. It’s not that we don’t see the colors, it’s that we don’t care enough to note the difference.) The strangest thing about him was that he read the same book every day. It was just a tiny book that fit in his pocket, and it ended up being what killed him. He would bow to his master, and everyday it confused me. He was the master, wasn’t he? Why did he need this book? And what did the scratches in it mean? They didn’t smell like anything that I could say was “spectacular”, they were just some kind of strange footprints that didn’t lead anywhere. Most of my kind wouldn’t ask questions like that. Most of us just accept the food and water we are given, wait to be scratched on the head, and do whatever we’re told. But my mother wasn’t inbred like most of these ferals, I was a mut. I’m proud to say none of my family has pedigrees. So I was curious, I asked myself these questions. The world was so strange, I had never been anywhere without my master, and had hardly been outside of the house that he owned. But every day, no matter what he did, he read that book. When the bombs hit, he would say that the book saved him, and the man that had written the book protected him. America thought it was so powerful then, looking back now I can see how long it was on the edge of disaster, waiting to crumble. But the whole time it was happening, those humans thought they were on top of the world. But who could tell them they weren’t?? No one knew what to do about anything.
Commercials talked about how millions of children all over the world were starving everyday and still countries everywhere could afford to send out machines of war to continue the slaughter. Africa had been in turmoil forever and the Middle East was past its boiling point. America took matters into its own hands, and overstepped its bounds. They wanted to secure diamond mines and oil fields, so they killed everyone in their way. And by assassinating an African warlord without declaring war, America had successfully started World War III. That part I learned later, they didn’t tell us about the war on the news. They acted like we could do no wrong, and we had done no wrong. We were safe, in the greatest country in the world. The first thing we heard were the explosions. It sounded like lightning, striking very nearby. My master opened the door and we ran outside. It smelled like fire, in the distance you could see clouds of debris, and I don’t know if the humans could hear it, but there were planes and gunfire not too far away. I barked a signal to see if there was anyone I could communicate with who was experiencing this also, and I heard someone signal back. This was really happening.
My master took me back inside, and asked his book for help. He got on his knees, and begged for the man who wrote it to protect him. I watched in amazement. Even now, when the sky is on fire and the smell of fresh blood is in the air, this human reads this book. After a long while he got up, gathered some things and went outside to our car. I thought we would be getting away from our territory, I had plenty of things I would miss, but my instincts told me to get out of there. This is when I really started thinking humans weren’t the smartest people on the planet. My master drove to the place that they gathered to talk about the book, and there were other people there. I knew all other animals in the area were running, flying, and crawling away. But these humans were gathering in a building to talk about a book.
Our first couple of nights there, we ate what we had brought in the car. When they tried turning on the televisions nothing was on, but the radios were still working and talking about the war. The whole country was in horrible condition, some farmland had gone by unscathed, but most of it had been lit on fire. Every state was completely under the control of invading troops. People were being executed all over the country for making plans to fight back and it was hard to tell which country had specifically invaded us. It seemed like names from China and Russia were most present in the news as invading military leaders, but there were soldiers from all over the world. Various reports spoke of Americas continued conquest to claim the Diamond mines of Africa, so there was no chance of things getting better. We had no contact with the outside world, and it really felt like we were just waiting to die. How could we go back to our regular lives? It was all already over. Life was over.
We started running out of food. I could still find the occasional rodent, or rabbit that had run from somewhere else, thinking this place might be safer than wherever he had come from when the bombs dropped. But the humans needed things out of a can and cooked with fire. So they started going breaking into buildings and empty houses, all the while asking the man who had written the book to forgive them. There was a man in the group that seemed to me to be the alpha. He would read the scratches in the book out loud and tried to make the tracks go somewhere. But when I listened to him it seemed very wrong, the tracks led into a corner. He could see into the scratches better than I could, but he could not even follow his own words for what they were as he read the scratches.
The alpha human changed direction one day though. He read from the back of the book, stories that seemed like the words of a mad man. Stories of destruction and chaos, but the humans listened happily as the man spoke of a time of reckoning. He said that god would soon judge all humans, and take the ones devoted to him. The fire was in the sky and the ash in the air, it was time. “But what about me?”, I thought “Just because I am not human I have to stay in this place? In this war zone? On this planet.”
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