by Avell Kro
don’t need me. Mom’s always yelling at me for being rude to the Zooks she brings home, says they provide
for us better than any of the losers she used to bring home—” Bas spat over the edge of the roof “—like I
don’t provide for our family with all the work I do every single fucking day. Whatever… Besides, all our
fighting just scares Jordy. He’ll be better off without me here to cause problems.”
“Well, I guess it’s better if you leave on your own, not like, you know, the missing…”
“Oh, you mean, all the people who left to ‘work’ on the compounds or got detained for ‘violent
behavior’? I met a guy once who mentioned people going missing but thought it was just a rumor.”
“Doesn’t seem like a rumor to me, but who am I to speak against our magnanimous benefactors?”
Drew shook his head, grabbing another shingle to hammer in place. “Just watch your ass, and stay out of
their way.”
Chapter 9
February 15, 2021
Bas kept his head down, avoiding the aliens as much as possible, continuing to work constantly, some days
managing not to think about his lost love. One evening, after a long day repairing woodstoves and chimneys,
his mother started whining as soon as he walked in the door. She was in between alien lovers and quite
cranky about it, taking her frustration out on him, so he’d gone the only place she wouldn’t follow—the roof.
Bundled up in his warmest jacket with a mug of hot cider, he watched the snow drift down from the
dark night sky, startled out of his reverie when he heard hushed alien voices. Sitting up, he peered over the
edge to find two of the settlement’s nastiest aliens hauling a man between them, gagged and bound. Soon
after, two more aliens carried a gagged and bound woman as she struggled in their arms.
Realizing he knew the humans, who lived only four houses away, Bas scurried down the ladder and
rushed in to find his mother. He nearly ran her over with his lanky legs, a recent growth spurt making him
look awkward, even with the muscle he’d built up working around the settlement.
“Whoa, Bas. What’s got you all bothered?” Judith held her hands against his heaving chest.
“I just saw some Zooks dragging the Stevens away like prisoners, Mom!” He grabbed her shoulders,
giving her big eyes. “There’s been rumors about them stealing humans for slavery. Someone even said they
take women for breeding!”
“Don’t be silly,” she said, waving him away. “The Szu’Kara would never hurt us. They love us and take
care of us. If they took someone away, it was probably for a good reason. Humans are full of flaws,
Sebastian. We can’t help but do bad things sometimes. That’s why the blessed commander brought his
angel people to help us. And, for heaven’s sake, stop calling them that horrid name. They don’t like it.”
“Mom, things aren’t right. I don’t think the aliens are as good as they want us to believe. People go
missing all the time, and I knew the Stevens. They were good people.”
“Good people still make mistakes—”
“What about Mr. Aubrey?” Bas paced the small living room as his mom sat on their sofa with her arms
crossed and her brows deeply furrowed. “They took him away for no good reason.”
“He assaulted a guard, Bas.”
“He was drunk, and they practically jumped him!”
“That’s nonsense, he was always drunk, a menace to our barely civilized society. Besides, Commander
Kayn came and settled things down. He even brought extra supplies and goodies to smooth things over.
We’re safe here, Bas. Our guardians provide everything we need, and they’re fixing our world so we can
have a good future.”
“Come on! Open your eyes! He came here to stop an uprising, Mom. Things are happening that
shouldn’t be, and you’re just turning a blind eye because you don’t want to see the bad in them. You always
brought home those fucked up men who used you because you always believe everyone is good, no matter
what. Now, you’re bringing home Zooks, and doing the same damn thing. What the hell does that teach
Jordy? What kind of life is that for him to grow up in?”
“That’s enough,” she hissed, peering over her shoulder to Jordy’s closed bedroom door. “I’ve had enough
of this, Bas. We are good people. The Szu’Kara are a good people. They’ve done so much for us, and I won’t
forget that just because you heard some rumors, or saw something you didn’t like. Jordan will grow up
learning to be kind and generous, just like them.”
“I can’t do this.” Bas growled, and pulled at his shaggy hair to avoid shaking some sense into his
delusional mother. “I’m leaving. If I could take Jordy with me, I would.”
“What are you saying?” She glared at him. “Are you leaving us, again?”
“I can’t do this, Mom. I can’t stand being around them. I can’t stand how they try to make us all prim
and proper, like them. I can’t stay here and watch them steal people in the night. If I stay here, I’ll end up doing something I regret.”
“Fine. Go. Do whatever you want, but do it before Jordy wakes up. I don’t want him exposed to the
hatred you harbor. He’s happy here, and you aren’t going to do anything to change that. When you’ve taken
the time to mature and be a better man, you can come back. Until then, just stay away. I can’t have you here
causing problems.”
“I’ll be gone within the hour, Mother. You better tell Jordy something nice. Don’t you tell him I
abandoned you guys, like last time. Tell him I had to leave for a job. I’ll be back to visit. Promise me, Mom.
Promise me you’ll be good to him.”
“I’ve always been a good mother.” Judith scowled, her cheeks dark red.
“Promise. Please.” Sebastian stood his ground, barely holding himself back from grabbing his baby
brother and running away with him. “Please, Mom.”
“I promise.”
***
A year and a half later, Bas found himself near Tuff’s beach in Oregon, repairing a little farmhouse on
the outskirts of the still nearly-empty ocean town. After finishing the job, he decided to venture south to
California. The weather had been warm this summer, and he’d never been to the Golden State. There’d been
plenty of work to be had between Washington and Oregon.
Reaching into Lenore’s glovebox, he grabbed the brittle piece of paper Tuff had scribbled directions on
and headed south. The drive along the coastline was beautiful. He thought, as he still did on occasion, about
Becky and how he wished she were in the seat next to him, but he shook the daydream away, trying to hold
onto the good mood he’d had for most of the summer.
Right before he took the job he just finished, Bas had visited Jordy. On his visits, he usually took his
little brother for a day trip in the country to avoid the inevitable argument his mother always instigated. She liked to beat him with guilt, which made his visit with Jordy unpleasant and awkward, as the seven-year-old
held a fierce loyalty to their mother. Still, when he dropped the boy off, Judith had been waiting, with
poisonous accusations of abandonment spoken in harsh whispers away from young ears.
Driving with the windows down, breathing in the warm summer air, Bas shrugged off all the anger he
felt towards his mother, and all the sadness he still held for his lost love. At seventeen, he looked and felt much older. War and hard labor aged a person, physical
ly and mentally. There was no escaping the weight
that settled on the body after witnessing terrible things, nightmares that prick the memory at odd times.
Pulling into the dirt lot in front of a run-down bar that once probably resembled a log cabin, he glanced
around before getting out of the car. Two shiny motorcycles, and a handful of rust-covered cars lined the lot.
A wooden rocking chair on the rickety porch held an old biker, smoking a cigar, his long, gray beard covering
most of his bulging belly.
With a polite smile and a tip of his head, Bas passed the burly man, feeling eyes follow him from behind
dark sunglasses. Upon entering the bar through its flimsy screen door, he blinked hard. His eyes needed a
second to adjust to the dim light inside.
A handful of locals eyed him as he sidled up to the gleaming counter. He perched on a worn but sturdy
barstool and glanced around. No one seemed hostile, which was always good, and not a single alien sat in
the large, open space.
The inside of the place had that same log cabin design the outside tried to have, but it seemed to be in much better condition. Having never been in a real bar, Bas didn’t know what he’d expected, but this place
had a cozy feel. If he’d come upon this establishment in the snowy mountains, he would have looked for the
roaring fire and fuzzy blankets.
A throat clearing snapped his wandering eyes forward. In front of Bas, wiping the dark wood counter
with a holey rag, stood a young Amazon braced against her side of the counter with a large, sturdy hand.
Long blonde hair, pulled back in a harsh ponytail, fanned out just enough to frame the hard lines of a square
face. Clear blue eyes scanned him, assessing him. Thin, wide lips pinched in a straight line under a long nose and high cheekbones.
“What can I get you?” Her deep, sultry voice raised goosebumps on his arm.
“What do you have?”
“You’re in a bar, in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere. What do you think we have?”
Taken aback, Bas stared at the young woman. “Well, since I’ve never been in a bar, I couldn’t say.”
She narrowed her large eyes, puckering her lips, and leaned forward onto her elbows, arms crossed.
“How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?”
Bas mimicked her position against the counter, his face inches from hers, indigo eyes shining with
mirth, and a crooked smile forcing its way to his mouth. “Seventeen.”
“No shit?” She straightened up, looking him over again. “I thought for sure you were my age, maybe a
little older.”
“Hm, I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted. How old are you?”
“Bah, be flattered, and I’m nineteen.”
“Isn’t that a little young to be tending bar?”
“Bah, not these days. We’re so far from a settlement or compound we live by our own rules.” She turned
to look behind him. “Right, ya’ll?”
A chorus of cheers, hoots, and “you bet!” rang out around the bar.
“We’re like the old west out here. The only time we see them Zooks is when the supply shuttles drop in,
and they don’t come out this far from the town center.”
“Huh. This sounds like my kind of place.”
“Oh yeah?” She propped herself up on the counter behind her, rattling a few liquor bottles. “You don’t like the Zooks?”
“Hell, no. They have my mom wrapped around their damn finger, and she’s got my little brother
wrapped around hers. Plus… I’ve seen things.”
“For a kid, looking as old as you do, I believe you’ve seen some shit. Did you go to war, like my daddy?”
Bas cleared his throat, swallowing down a lump of emotion. “Your dad? Was he Zach?”
“How the fuck you know that?” The Amazon jumped forward, looking ready to punch his lights out.
“Chill, girl!” Bas held his hands up, placating. “I came here looking for Tuff Spence. He said he was
coming here to find his friend, Zach. Gave me directions to get here.”
“Don’t call me girl. My name’s Cecily, and old Tuff hasn’t been here in a while. When’d you see him?”
“About two years ago, I guess.”
“Huh. Well, he moved on south, probably somewhere in Mexico. Said he wanted to find a better beach
than the one he had in Oregon.”
“Ah, well, doesn’t matter. I just came here on a whim. I only met the guy once, didn’t really know him.”
Just another memory I can do without. “My name’s Bas, by the way.”
“Welcome to the wild west, Bas.” Cecily slapped the counter. A round of welcomes echoed his way.
“Now, what can I get you?”
***
Bitter and warm, Bas felt like the beer he’d been drinking. His first made him feel all fuzzy and happy.
His second made his head heavy and his mood mellow. By his third, he’d become morose and broody. All
the while, Cecily chatted away as if they’d know each other for years.
“…some of the ladies in town get together and hang out at the beach—”
“Becky never got to see the beach.” Bas stared down into his mug, swishing the last dregs of flat beer
around the bottom.
“Who’s Becky?”
“She was my girlfriend.”
“Where is she now?” Cecily’s hands appeared on either side of his, drawing his eyes away from the
depths of sorrow swirling in the beer.
“She’s dead,” he said, blurting the words, oddly anxious for some reaction from the cheery girl.
“How’d she die?” Cecily asked, grabbing her bleach scented rag to wipe up some droplets Bas had
spilled on his last swig.
“She was shot by a terrorist.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah, well, that was another time. She’s gone, but I can’t seem to fucking get over her. Every damn day,
it still hurts. How could they send us into battle? We were just kids, you know?”
“I don’t know, Bas,” Cecily said, shaking her head. “I just don’t know.”
As the day wore on, and his mind played memories of Becky like a broken record, his thoughts spilled
from his mouth unfettered and full of every pain-filled emotion he’d been holding back since her death. At
some point, Cecily had wisely switched him from beer to water. Eventually, he just lay his head down on the
counter and stared into the depths of his mind where his love bossed him around while whispering secrets
just for him.
When the sun set, and the last of the locals went home for the night, Cecily locked the door and hauled a
wobbly Bas upstairs to her apartment. She steered him to a long, brown leather sofa, yanked off his over-
shirt, stretched him over the cushions, and tossed a blanket over his weary body. As his eyes drooped
closed, he watched her switch off a small lamp before turning off the overhead light and disappearing down
a dark hallway.
Chapter 10
August 2022
“Oof!” Bas hollered, groaning as he opened his eyes to find a heavy, feather pillow laying on his protesting
belly.
“Get your ass up.” Cecily yelled at the top of her lungs, or so it seemed to Bas’ screaming head. “If you’re
going to stay here, you’re going to work. I don’t coddle slackers.”
“I’m not a slacker,” he muttered, rubbing his head as he swallowed back bile. “I work. And I have money
to pay for a room somewhere. I appreciate you letting me crash here, especially since I couldn’t have driven
anywhere, but you can point me in the direction of a hotel or boardin
g house or whatever, and I’ll get out of
your hair.” Although, it is pretty hair… Wait, what?
“No reason for all that. You can stay in my dad’s room. I would’ve put you there last night, but you’re
heavier than you look.”
“You calling me fat?” Bas croaked, as he tried to make a terrible joke.
“Seriously, Bas, you got a gym membership somewhere? You’re so tall and thin, but carrying you up
those stairs, I got to feel some of that muscle hiding under your clothes.”
“I’m a handyman. When I lived with my mom on the Eastern Washington settlement, I helped build
houses and did all the hard work those skinny Zook bastards don’t want to dirty their hands doing.”
“Ugh, I don’t know how you were able to stand living under their heel. Like I told you yesterday, we only
see them about once a month in our little town, and I stay here. We have a group of older people meet them,
so the aliens think we’re nothing but a bunch of harmless old fogies who don’t need supervision.”
“Smart.” He nodded his head, and instantly regretted the action. “I need an aspirin and a shower. You
have any?”
“Sure, I got both. Down the hall, on your right. Aspirins’ in the cabinet. Don’t take too long. Hot water
won’t last long, and we got business to attend to.”
Bas threw back some pills ASAP and showered quickly. When he pulled back the curtain, he found his
duffle bag laying on the floor, dressing to the smells of soap and frying bacon.
“So, what you got planned for me today?” Bas asked, scarfing down the tasty eggs and bacon. “Like I told you before, I got plenty of experience fixing things. You need some repairs done around here?”
“You’ll see.”
“I can fix your siding if you have the materials.”
“Patience, Bas.”
With a harrumph, Bas gave up and helped her wash the breakfast dishes, waiting to see how the day
would play out.
***
“You know,” Bas said, “when you said you were putting me to work, I thought I’d be fixing broken stuff,
or cleaning out gutters, or something like that to pay you back.”
“Oh, you’re going to do that too. Don’t worry.” Cecily winked at him, and he cringed at the look in her