Brutal Alien

by Stella Sky

  “Where are you taking me?” I said knowing that there was no point in asking but it was just making myself feel better to keep talking. I screamed over and over again, hoping that anyone would hear me, but I was so far from the village. Maybe this army that Karik spoke of was real and was on its way. Maybe it would hear me and rescue me.

  Suddenly I was high over the mountain range. Shit. I knew where it was taking me. It was taking me to the cyborg camp that the scout said was camping on the other side of the mountain. But why? I had not heard of Clenok cyborgs abducting humans. This was a new trick. My scientist side was very fascinated to know why. But the human in me was terrified. The Clenok cyborgs wanted nothing more than to get rid of all humans. They wanted to drive us to extinction. So whatever it was they wanted me for wouldn't be for long. They were going to kill me. That was going to be my fate no matter what. I wished that I had brought the drive with me with the virus on it. Since I was going into the camp anyway, this could be my shot. At least my life would not have been wasted for nothing.

  I looked down, and suddenly we were over the cyborg camp. I couldn't believe it. There were Clenok cyborgs as far as I could see. It seemed like at least five hundred of them or more. I was trembling. Then I saw something that I had never seen before: the keddle. reminded me of a very large silver Airstream trailer. It was moving about. I grew more frightened as the drone flew me directly toward the keddle. I didn't bother screaming anymore. I knew my fate. All I could do was look around and absorb everything that I could. I was somewhere that no human had ever been before: a cyborg camp.

  The drone set me down on my feet next to the keddle. Two Clenok cyborgs came toward me. Their eyes were glowing red. Their silver machine bodies walked toward me. The sound of metal and electrical circuits as they walked toward me was frightening.

  The heads of the Clenok cyborgs were slick silver metal. They almost looked like human weredragons with eyes, nose, and mouth. It was very strange to look at this close. The torso of the cyborg was full of different lights, flashing. There were lots of wires exposed. The legs were skinny metal, almost like human bones. There were all kinds of guns draped all over it.

  One cyborg grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the keddle. I just obeyed. I didn't bother to fight; they would just kill me. I faced the keddle as I was pulled toward it. Suddenly it opened up. I was shocked. Inside there were lots of computer components. It would have been fascinating, if I wasn't about to die.

  Then there was a box. The cyborg pushed me onto it until I was sitting down. I looked around, trying to absorb all the information that I could. I did not know what was happening. Was this normal? Were they going to absorb my human energy or something?

  Then out of nowhere, I felt a sharp pain. A large needle was stuck into my arm that was attached to a cord. I screamed in pain. Then the pain was gone. The screen to the side of me began to run code. I knew it well from coming up with my own virus on the laptop. The computer was reading me. It was intense. I couldn't believe it. They hooked me up to a computer in order to absorb information from me. I wondered exactly what they were trying to get out of me. I wondered how long this was going to take. As I sat there, I looked around at all the wiring and surroundings. I saw many ports. These were ports that you could attach wires to or even a jump drive. Dammit, I wished I had that virus. Why didn't I put it in my pocket instead of hiding it safely? That would've changed everything.

  Then something happened that shocked me. I felt like I could understand the keddle. It was coming to me in waves. It's not like it was speaking English, but I was getting some sort of information directed at me.

  It was then that I realized I was there because they were running tests. I thought it was ironic. This was what I did daily. Now I was being the one being tested on. They were testing me to find out more information about humans. They were trying to find out what our vulnerabilities were. Wait a minute? Were they trying to understand human anatomy so that they could create a virus or plague to wipe us out? Of course; it made sense. It was what we had thought of doing to them, so naturally, they would want to do the same thing back to us. It would be easier than fighting battles.

  A cyborg walked over to me and pulled the wire out of a port and then pushed it into another one. Then it turned and looked at me. I looked into its red glowing eyes. It was weird. It was it was looking at me as though to say something. But that was not possible. Then it walked away and turned to face me again. It was keeping guard, or keeping watch on the equipment. I hoped that this would take hours. The longer it took, the more I could figure out how to get out of there.

  Chapter 15

  King Karik Korinth

  “What? What do you mean a drone? This cannot be,” Marcus shouted over the radio. I looked at him. He looked sick to his stomach.

  “What is it? What is going on?” I asked.

  “There is a report. A drone has taken a woman out of the village. It is unbelievable; we have never seen anything like it,” he said.

  “Where? Where did it happen?” I asked frantically. I already knew in my heart that it was Vanessa.

  “It was from the south medic tent. I think it was Dr. Lopez. That is her station,” Marcus said.

  “Jex, with me!” I shouted. Within seconds, we were flying towards the medical tent.

  I landed in the area where she had been walking to. I saw her bag and toolbox that she had been carrying.

  "Vanessa!” I shouted. Jex shouted too. We quickly flew into the air and scanned the area.

  “She is not here. It had to have been her. Jex, lead me to the camp. We need to find a place to observe and to rescue her. There is no time to lose. Go at double-speed,” I said.

  “Yes, follow me!” he flew, and I followed him over the wall toward in the fifty-mile mark of this cyborg army. We reached the mountains, and Jex already had a spot. It was the same place that he had observed the cyborg camp from when I sent him to scout.

  “This is it. They are still not moving. Why would they take a human female? From what I have heard, they do not abduct humans. They simply want to kill them,” he said.

  “Yes, I have heard the same. This must be some new tactic. I only hope that they took her for a very specific reason. Because then she will still be alive. They want to do something, and I don't know what that is. What do you see?” I said as we looked down over the camp.

  “There, that is different. The keddle: do you see it? It was not opened when I was here earlier. I didn't even know they could open. Look at it.”

  I looked down and saw the large keddle. It was open. It was like a clamshell on its side; it was not facing us.

  “What do you think is inside?” I asked.

  “I don't know, but we can't see from here. We need to go around on that side in order to see the open-end area,” he said.

  “Lead the way,” I said.

  We flew low and slow around to the other side of the ridge. We hid in the brush. We looked around to make sure that no one had seen our movements. Then I looked inside the keddle. My heart stopped.

  “It's her,” I said. Vanessa was sitting down. I could tell that something was on her arm, but it was such a far distance that I could not tell what was going on.

  “What are they doing to her?” Jex asked.

  “It looks to me like they are running tests on her. It is what I looked like when she was running tests on me,” I said.

  “That is odd. Why would they do that? It does not make sense,” Jex said.

  “No, it does not. Unless they are trying to find out new information about the humans. When they come across humans, they are always dead. Maybe they have a new strategy and need to experiment on a live human. That would make sense. That is the way a machine would think. Gather information and then come up with a strategy. We have to rescue her,” I said. I did not like seeing her this way. I was restraining the rage inside of me. I wanted to fly directly to that her and get her out of there. But I knew that was the wrong thing to
do. I would be shot out of the sky or when I landed next to her. Even though we moved fast, I still needed to get to her and unhook her. I didn't know if that would cause any damage.

  “What should we do?” Jex asked. “Should we wait for the army?”

  “No, it might be too late. We have to get her. But I need a distraction. I need to draw the Clenok cyborgs away from her,” I said.

  “I have charges. I could detonate them on the other side of the camp.”

  “That is perfect. Set them and leave immediately. Do not wait for me. Set them, leave, and detonate them. I will swoop in and get her and will fly in the direction of the village.”

  “I understand,” he said.

  “Go now. We are wasting time. Who knows what they're doing to her. I owe her my life. She saved me from death, and I will save her. Go,” I said.

  Jex left my side.

  It caused a great pain inside of me to see her that way. I hoped that she was all right. My heart went out to her. I wanted to save her. It was at that moment that I knew that I was feeling very deep feelings for her. Could I have fallen in love with this human in such a short time? It didn't seem like it could be possible. But then again, her DNA had bonded itself to me. And anything was possible.

  Chapter 16

  Dr. Vanessa Lopez

  I did not know how long I was sitting there inside the keddle. It felt like hours. It felt like days. I really had no concept at all of time passing by. The longer I spent hooked up to the keddle, the more I started to feel like I had some sort of divine insight. I felt myself growing smarter. It was as though I was being filled with information. I didn't know if this is what they meant to do to me or if it was a side effect. But suddenly I could understand the cyborg communications. I could hear the frequency waves of the keddle talking to the cyborg army around it. He was giving them orders of some sort. I thought there was a number; it seemed to be like a time. Maybe it was the time of the invasion that they were planning on the village. Or something else. I really didn't know, but I was fascinated by the fact that I was starting to understand them. This wasn't normal. I hoped that I wasn't turning into some sort of machine.

  Then I understood something very clearly. I was a number. I was given a number assignment. I was number one-two-one. This meant that I was not the first human to be taken and tested on. I was one of many humans that have been taken. But was that the number taken by this particular keddle, or the entire cyborg army all over Earth? I had no way of knowing.

  But I knew that they had a project going on. They were gathering humans in order to gain information on anatomy and brain activity inside of humans. They were trying to gather knowledge to know everything that they could about us. This would give them the advantage when fighting us. That much was clear to me.

  I wanted to disconnect myself and run away. It was the least selfish thing I could think to do. If I disconnected myself and ran away, then I would not be contributing to their project anymore. Right now I was allowing myself to give them information. I knew that as soon as I ran away, they would shoot me dead. But with that be so bad? At least I would know that I had protected hundreds of humans.

  I put my hand closer to my other hand where the needle was inserted. I looked at the Clenok cyborgs around me. They didn't move. They just seem to be looking straight ahead. It was strange. With a human, you could see something in their eyes that let you know what they were thinking. But there was nothing there in these machines. They were just vacant. It was hard to work with. I was about to pull the needle out of my arm quickly and run away when suddenly…

  Boom! Boom! There were loud explosions. It's seemed to be coming from directly behind me but not close enough to feel the blast. The Clenok cyborgs that were standing in front of me standing guard tilted their heads up as though to look at the source of the blast. Then they grabbed their guns and walked in the direction behind the keddle. This was it; this was my chance. Then I heard the hydraulic sound of the keddle beginning to close. Shit. It was going to close with me inside of it. I yanked the needle out of my arm. It hurt badly. I stood up and ran forward. I could hear the low sound of the alarm from the keddle alerting that I had been unhooked. But it was so low that you could not hear it over the blast and gunfire.

  Then I was picked up off of my feet. I figured it must be the drone picking me up. But it was not cold metal that was touching me. It was large warm hands.

  “Miss me?” I heard a familiar deep voice say. We were moving so fast that the wind was hitting me hard. But I knew. It was Karik. He had come to rescue me. I was so fortunate. I was so excited. I was in deep lust for him at that moment. Perhaps even love.

  “It's about time,” I said to him as we flew very fast.

  “This way,” I heard another voice on the wind say. It was familiar.

  "Coming, Jex,” Karik said. I leaned my face against his hard dragon scales. He held me close. I tucked my head into my chest and just allowed him to cradle me in his arms as he flew hard and fast. I could no longer hear the sound of gunfire. We were far from the cyborg base.

  Minutes later, we landed on the perimeter fence at one of the guard towers.

  “Unbelievable. You got her back. How?” Marcus, the guard on the tower, came out to see me. His mouth was wide open.

  “It was easy,” Karik said with a cocky arrogance. Then he looked at me. “Are you hurt? What were they doing to you?”

  “I think I am fine. I am not hurt. But I think it is important that I do a scan of myself. There is time,” I said.

  “Of course, I will take you. Jex, stay here and alert me when you see our army arriving. Marcus, get word that the Clenok cyborgs have a drone that can pick people up and fly them away. Since I took Vanessa from them, it is likely they will come for another. Everyone should get underground,” I said.

  “Copy that. I will get on the radio now,” he said.

  “Where shall I take you?” he asked me.

  “My lab. I want to make sure that nothing was planted inside of me. It is important to do in timely manner,” I said.

  “The lab it is,” he said as he scooped me into his arms again and flew over the village. We landed outside the lab and he opened it.

  “Bar the door. I do not want that drone looking for me and having easy access,” I said.

  “Good idea,” he said as he closed the door and rigged it.

  I quickly went to the ultrasound machine. I scanned my entire body. I looked at the results. I could not find anything unusual. Definitely nothing metal or like a tracking device.

  “What were they doing to you?” he asked does he put his hand on my arm.

  “I am not sure, but I have some theories,” I said.

  “I am listening,” he said.

  “When I was hooked up to the keddle, I could almost hear it thinking, or computing I guess. It is a machine that does not think. But it does have artificial intelligence. It has been taking humans and recording information. They are looking for vulnerabilities I think. I really didn't understand it. But that is what I think they were doing. They were examining my anatomy and body and turning it into a computer code that they could understand. It was very strange,” I said.

  “Seeing you there and hooked up to that machine, I felt so much rage. I wanted to annihilate that entire camp on my own. I have never felt angrier. If they had hurt you, I could not have lived with myself for letting you go off alone,” he said.

  “This is not your fault. You are not to blame, Karik. In fact, I don't think I have actually said the words thank you. You rescued me. You put your life in danger, and that of Jex. You didn't have to do that. Thank you for coming for me,” I said.

  "I would do it again and again, Vanessa. I know I have only known you a short time. But I have bonded with you. I hope that you will trust me. I hope that you will believe that I knew nothing about the DNA. It is a coincidence. It is a coincidence I am glad happened. But I feel for you. I feel such extreme emotion. I am falling for you. I hope that m
e coming to get you proved that to you. If I only wanted you for sex, I would not have come. I could just replace you with another human female. Does that not prove to you that it is you I truly want?” he said.

  As he spoke, tears began to come into my eyes. Tears that I wanted to cry when I was in the cyborg camp. Tears that I wanted to cry when I screamed out his name. Tears that I was very happy to hear him say these things. I believed him. I truly believed him now.

  “Yes, Karik. I understand. I trust you,” I said.

  He moved closer to me and put his hands around my back.