by Anna Lewis
“And my name is B,” said the alien.
“B what?” She asked, very taken aback. She couldn’t believe that he’d actually told her, and she also found his name incredibly weird. It was just a letter.
“Just B. that’s it.”
“That’s what you were called when you were parading as a human? What did you tell people it stood for?”
“I didn’t,” he shrugged casually, as if it didn’t matter. “I told them what I’m telling you – it’s just B. I think people liked it because it made me something of an enigma.”
Talia tried to imagine herself meeting B as if he were a human, and she felt like the mystery of that strange name would drive her insane, probably keeping her dangling on the hook for him. He was probably right, it probably did work for him over and over again.
She shook that thought from her mind, trying to focus on the present moment, and that danger that she was currently in, before she spoke out again.
“Right B,” she asked, pressing her full-figured body up against the bars, wanting to try and get a sense of him when he answered this question. “When do you think I’ll finally be getting out of here?”
But the sad look that he gave her was enough to have her certain… she was going to die here. There was no hope, it didn’t matter what she did. This place would be her graveyard.
Chapter 5
Talia would have much preferred to be stubborn and difficult, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from building a bond with B while he worked with her. He took her blood, ran the tests on her, and even fed her every single night. During that time, they talked, they laughed, they joked, and they actually became closer. It might have been an unlikely situation, but it really couldn’t be helped. She tried to stop herself more than once, to hold herself back, but then he would say something that she liked and the cycle would begin all over again.
She hated being locked up. She felt like she was much more suited to being out in the middle of the empty world where she could fight and defend herself, killing off the enemy in the process, but there was no denying that she enjoyed B’s company so much so. He was just so easy to get on with, and with his amazing human looks, it was hard to remember who he really was. Often she found herself fluttering in ways that drove her crazy. She had to remind herself that he wasn’t someone that she should even like, never mind actually want to be around. He was the enemy.
Sometimes as she stared into his deep green eyes, and she admired the dimples that popped up on his cheeks as he smiled, her brain would become scrambled and confused. Sometimes when he stood near her, with his strong, muscular frame, she felt smaller and softer than she ever did, and she was not a small woman. When he brushed her long dark hair off of her skin; which was regaining its luster from the good food she was eating, and stroked her cheek as he stuck the needles into her body, she felt a little weird and squishy inside. That was something she’d never experienced before. It made her a little uncomfortable around him, but it also made her feel like she never wanted him to leave either. It was all very confusing.
She even started to fantasize about him. Sometimes she found she really had to hold herself back.
Because she’d all but accepted that this place was going to be where she ended up dying, she decided to focus more on her confused feelings about him, rather than her impending doom, because it felt like a much lighter topic. But despite all the time she had on her hands, and all the hours that she spent alone, she still couldn’t quite work it out. Why was she seemingly so attracted to him? What was it about the alien race that drew her in so much? Why did she find them so much easier to connect with than humans?
Was there something wrong with her?
Chapter 6
“So… what’s happening now?” said Talia, shyly. She wanted to have something else to talk about, something to distract her from the craziness going on inside of her, as he sat opposite her having finished up her tests for the day. “Out there I mean? Is the DNA helping?”
She laughed a little awkwardly, knowing that she was stepping on dangerous territory, but at the same time needing to know. Even if she was going to die, she wanted the humans to win. She wanted to know that her race wasn’t about to die out. If she could go knowing that at least something positive was happening, she felt like she could be okay with it. She wanted to know just how much of an impact these ruthless, endless tests were having on the war effort – she hated helping the enemy, but there wasn’t anything that she could do about that!
“Do you want the truth?” B asked her, giving her a curious look. “Are you sure?”
She gulped down anxiously, not liking the sound of that at all, before nodding quickly. Whatever it was, however bad things were, she would much rather be in the know. She was very aware that knowledge was power, and she felt like that was still true even if she was on her death bed.
“Things have taken a very unexpected turn. The humans seem to have something new, something that can beat us,” he sighed sadly, looking at her with an intense hurting stare. “I really don’t know if we’re going to be able to win this one. And if we don’t, we may end up wiped out. That might be our own fault, but I feel bad about it. I feel bad about the ones like me, the ones that don’t agree with the war effort.”
“R… right,” she stammered cautiously, not knowing how she should react to this. Of course she was happy, and it gave her a glimmer of hope that she might be able to get out of here alive, but somehow it felt bad to rub that in B’s face, when he was so clearly devastated by this. So she simple said, “I see.”
She felt a little bad too about all of the Ec’dua race dying out. Most of them could go to hell as far as she was concerned, but B, and the other good guys he’d mentioned, they didn’t deserve that.
“I just… I like it here,” he told her honestly, staring deep into her eyes. “I like Earth and the human race. This war was never what I wanted. It’s never been what I thought was right. I hate that it’s gotten so out of hand. I don’t want to go back out there, without a home. I don’t want to have to hunt for a new planet because I will never find anywhere that I find so comfortable as Earth. I will never find anywhere that I feel so at home. That’s all I want, a home of my own.”
Talia’s heart pounded heavily in her chest as she considered this. She’d spent so long focusing on getting through the war that she’d never actually considered what it would be like afterwards, and B had forced her to do so.
What would she do when the war was over and the aliens left? How would she go back to a normal life? She did not even know what a normal life was. She had known nothing but fighting and war almost all of her life. And there were millions like her. How would they move on? Would they rebuild some form of society and take on job-like positions to help one another? How would that work for the ones like her who had been kids when the war begun?
Talia wasn’t sure that she could live like that, close to other people, doing ordinary everyday things. She felt like she’d become too ingrained with fighting, too used to battling everyone. How would she recover from that?
All of a sudden, she started to believe that maybe she was meant to die in that alien base, so that she wouldn’t have to face the uncertain post-war future. She started to believe that this had to be her destiny. Maybe it wasn’t what she wanted, but maybe it was what she needed.
“Yeah,” she murmured distractedly back to B. “I know what you mean.”
He gave her an intense look, as if a million and one thoughts were circling around in his brain, and for a terrifying second she wondered if he was about to say something that would throw absolutely everything else in the air. Her heart raced, her mouth ran dry, and her entire body began to tremble with anticipation…
Bang, bang, bang…
But then they heard a series of bangs, and they jumped up from where they were sitting, both looking as panicked as one another.
“What the hell was that?” Talia asked, her eyes darting about.
>
“It’s starting,” B confirmed. “They have come for us.”
Chapter 7
B grabbed Talia’s hand and dragged her away from the danger that was so clearly heading their way. Her mind was everywhere.
“The humans are here,” he yelled, seemingly not considering the fact that Talia was a human too. “They’re going to destroy everything. We need to get out of here. We must leave everything behind and run.”
Talia was aware that the smart thing to do would be to pull away from B and to go and join her own people, her own race, but she was also acutely aware that if she did that she would never see B again – and for some reason that filled her with an intense sadness. She just wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye yet, no matter how crazy that was.
She didn’t want to analyze it, but her brain was doing so anyway, needing to find a reason why she was no longer acting smart, and why she was allowing her heart to rule out. Maybe it was because she had never really felt the same connection with anyone else before. Maybe it was because she’d spent her entire life pushing everyone else away, but somehow B had managed to sneak his way in. Even if it was because of their intense situation, that had thrown them together. She had still opened up and let him in.
As she finally found herself out in the cold air, reality slapped her in the face once more. Everything came to a head, and the fog simply melted away, leaving only a stark reality instead.
“What are we going to do?” she pleaded with B, unable to stop herself from noticing that he was much more handsome in natural light. “Where do we go now?”
“I don’t know,” he told her honestly, looking just as scared as she felt. She supposed that it was probably worse for him because she was merely a prisoner escaping, whereas he had broken her out.
Then again, if any humans found her with him, they wouldn’t take too kindly to it either. There was no winning here, they both just needed to run.
“Okay,” she nodded, panting heavily and trying to take control. “Let’s just… keep moving. We’ll find somewhere to hide out and make a plan.”
“Sounds good,” he agreed. “Let’s go.” Then he slipped his hand into hers and they ran as fast as their legs would carry them.
Her heart raced as they moved, millions of thoughts crashing through her brain, but she wasn’t trying to stop on any single one of them. This was crazy, it was insane, but she didn’t have any choice now… her decision had been made. She was with B now.
Chapter 8
Talia quickly led B to a house where she’d hidden out a short while before she’d been captured, when she’d gotten a very bad cold, and she didn’t feel up to fighting. It was hidden in the depths of the woods and she hadn't been disturbed the entire time she was there last time, so she felt it would be safe. It was the only closed-off place that she knew about anyway, so in the heat of the moment, it was there or nothing.
Plus, in a weird way, she liked the house because it was like a shrine to the old world. It had somehow managed to remain pretty well preserved, which meant that it was more comfortable than anywhere else. There were chairs, beds, home comforts, and she’d actually been sad to leave it all behind. It felt kind of nice to be back there again, although strange to have someone on her arm, and an alien at that.
“Wow,” B commented in awe as they stepped through the doors. “This is nice. What a good find!”
“Somewhere pretty nice to hang out while we decide what to do,” Talia shrugged, trying to seem blasé, to hide the crazy emotions that were going on inside of her. Why did she suddenly feel so weird about being alone with B? They’d been spending the last few weeks pretty much by themselves. Why was this so different?
She supposed that it was likely because things had changed within her, and that her feelings had teetered into something inappropriate and now they were in a much weirder, closer position where that could quickly become obvious. There were no more bars, no more separations between them. It was just her and him in that house, and they were very equal, able to do anything that they wanted.
That freedom was absolutely terrifying.
Talia honestly had no idea how B would react if she told him how she was feeling, and that was awful. A small part of her was actually afraid that he might like her too, which would leave her in an extremely vulnerable position. She would have feelings for someone, a sizzling chemistry, and he would have it back, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. They were completely different species, and their peoples were enemies. However strongly they felt, however much they wanted to be together, they just couldn’t.
It would also be very crushing to find out that he didn’t like her either – in fact, that might even be a whole lot worse!
“What do you want to do for now?” B asked Talia, sounding about as confused as she felt. “Do we rest? Do you want to eat? Do we start making our plan?”
“My head isn’t in the right place for making a solid plan right now,” Talia admitted, her nerves all over the place. “I just want to…”
Then it hit her! She remembered seeing a bottle of vodka the last time that she was here, and if there was anything that could dull her feelings, and make things a little easier between her and B, it was that. She’d never tasted booze before because she’d always wanted to be completely aware of her surroundings, but things had changed now, and she thought it was right.
She raced into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle, before taking it back into the front room. There she showed B the bottle, and rather than looking bewildered, B nodded.
“I haven’t had an alcoholic drink in a while,” he told her, shocking her into remembering that once upon a time, he had led a semi-human life too. “And I think you’re right. This feels like the perfect time.”
With that, Talia cracked open the bottle, and poured them both a shot, just to get them started.
Chapter 9
About an hour later, Talia’s head was swimming with the booze, but in a really good way, in a way that was really freeing. Instead of dulling her feelings for B, it was making her feel them much more deeply, and in a strange way that was really exciting.
She’d spent so long trying to keep it all inside, that now they were finally out there, she almost wanted to take it there and explore them… even if they would be wrong. She suddenly didn’t care that it was taboo, it was all that she wanted and she just wanted to jump on him and rip those clothes from his body.
The alcohol was turning off her thoughts, stopping her from thinking about how they shouldn’t even be in the same room, never mind anything more. Instead all that she could feel was how much he would be her perfect man for her, if she were looking for someone. He was incredibly handsome, sweet, and very funny.
She felt like she had more in common with him then she’d ever had in her life before.
“So,” B started, looking a little bit tipsy himself. “Tell me about yourself… and not just Talia in this crazy war, but the girl that you were before, and the person you want to be when all of this is over.”
Talia giggled, not even feeling slightly weird about this question. “Well when this all kicked off, I was only six years old, so I was just a kid. I didn’t become this jaded, cynical girl until… well that probably started after I came home and found my mom dead and my dad gone.”
B looked upset by this, but Talia didn’t feel that way anymore. She was simply stating is as fact. It was just another emotionless part of her past now – something that she didn’t even think about anymore. She went on. “Then I just learned to grow alone. I never wanted anyone else, I just wanted to rely on myself, because I know that even if I can trust no one else, I can trust me.” She smiled at B, looking at him with a little too much love in her eyes. “So honestly I don’t know what I’ll do after all of this. I might just continue being a loner, wandering around, surviving.”
“But doesn’t that seem a little… sad?”
Not wanting to answer B’s question because it felt a little
too close to home for her liking, she turned it back around.
“What about you? Tell me about you?”
“I guess I’ve always been like you,” B started. “I never connected with anyone, and spent a lot of time by myself. Most of my people just want to kill and take what isn’t theirs, which I don’t agree with at all. I just don’t think that it’s right, but I’ve never had anywhere to settle to allow me to be myself.” He shook his head, showing the true depth of his emotions. “Then we came here, and we blended in, and we finally felt normal. I felt like I could connect with humans, I felt an affinity with them, and I really didn’t ever want to go.”
Talia suddenly felt a bolt of jealousy, causing her to ask something a little too bold. “Did you… ever fall in love with a human woman?” Now that she was thinking about it properly, she thought that aliens had been around humans for a long time, and that maybe they’d mated with one another before, with no one noticing any difference….
“No,” he confirmed, shooting her theory down. “It was against the rules, we could only be with each other. Plus, I never felt a connection that deep with anyone. No until…”
He didn’t say it, but the meaning was there. He felt as connected to Talia as she did him, and she felt like he was offering her everything that her heart was so desperately craving.
They stared at each other intently for a few moments, allowing the emotions between them the free flow. Then Talia made a snap decision. She leaned in, and she pressed her lips up against B’s, finally giving in.
Fireworks exploded within her and she instantly felt grateful. This felt right, and that meant that it had to be right. Didn’t it?
Either way, it was happening now, and she had no idea how to stop it. Even if she wanted to, which she really didn’t…