Sinister Shadows

by Simon Smith-Wilson

‘And it’s because you can’t have children.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘I know everything, but that isn’t the point. Does he value you so low? You cannot give him children, so now he is fucking that girl? Doesn’t that make you angry? Don’t you just hate him for that?’

  Christie could feel the hate in her stomach starting to boil. ‘I hate him for it. I hate him for making me feel this way. I hate him for not letting me grieve. I hate him for everything he is doing to me.’

  ‘Why do you put up with it?’ he asked the original question.

  ‘Because...’

  ‘Why do you put up with it? I wouldn’t. I would put a stop to it.’

  Christie looked dazed and confused. She didn’t know what to do, what to think or what to say.

  ‘Tell me what to do.’

  Blue eyes smiled his charming smile.

  ***

  Annie couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but Noah was so appealing. Yes. He was good looking, but he had such a nice energy about him. She just loved the way he made her feel. He was saying all the nicest things to her. No one had ever said these things to her. It was nice.

  ‘Well, I have no skills or qualifications. It isn’t like I have a lot of options.’

  ‘Of course, you do. If you want to do something good, do it.’

  ‘No one will give me a decent job. You need qualifications. I just am not good enough.’

  ‘Never say that,’ said Noah, ‘you are amazing. I have only known you for a short while, and I know you are amazing.’

  ‘I bet you say that to all the girls,’ countered Annie.

  Noah laughed, ‘I have only said that to you because it is the truth.’

  ‘I bet you say that to all the girls, too.’

  ‘No. I reserved that line for the girl I was attracted too.’

  ‘Oh, so you’re attracted to me,’ she said, acting brave.

  ‘More than you will know.’

  Annie blushed and quickly hid behind her cup, as she took another sip.

  ‘Annie, can I be honest with you?’

  ‘Yes,’ she replied, not sure where this was going.

  ‘I really like you,’ admitted Noah. ‘I have a really big job coming up, and I would love you to come and work with me. It is something good. It is something that is so pure and rewarding that I only want the best people to come and work with me.’

  ‘Why do you want me?’

  ‘You have a good heart.’

  ‘And that’s it?’

  ‘That is it. I want you to come with me. Also, I fancy the pants off of you.’

  They both laughed.

  ***

  ‘Fuck me,’ Jones’s voice came through his armoured suits speaker. He said what they were all thinking. The armoured truck was parked up behind them. Its headlights were bringing illumination to their crashed transport ship, or what was left of it. There had been a smaller glimmer of hope that they could get the thing airborne again, which meant they wouldn’t have to spend the next few years on this dead planet, but this ship was not going anywhere. The front of the ship was crumpled up against a cliff face, whilst large chunks of the hull had been ripped clean open as if a giant had taken a can opener to it. The four marines began to walk up the incline of the shifted earth from the impact.

  ‘Let’s see what we can salvage,’ said Sergeant Roland.

  ***

  Karl sat on the edge of Amanda’s bed with both hands upon his knees. The beautiful teenager was standing by her chest of drawers with a reserved look on their face. The both of them knew the time had come. Karl had always liked Amanda. She was a good girl with kind eyes. He had always wanted to help her out, as he knew how badly her family had been struggling. It was also the case that he wanted a child and who could be purer than Amanda? Talking about something and actually doing it were two different things. Karl would be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to Amanda. He had thought about the girl many times when touching himself. He also thought about her when fucking Christie. A part of him had always wanted to feel what it would be like to be inside this young woman.

  ‘My family are having a great life now,’ she said as if reminding herself why she was doing this.

  ‘Yes. You have provided a future for them.’

  She nodded a reply.

  ‘I know what I have to do, but I feel scared.’

  ‘I think that is the same for me. I am about to cheat on my wife.’

  ‘Is it cheating if she knows about it?’

  ‘I don’t think it is any easier on her, but I want a son.’

  ‘I will give you one,’ replied Amanda. She turned her back to Karl and slowly began to unbutton her nightgown. Trembling hands struggled with the buttons. Her heart was in her mouth. A big part of her was telling her not to go through with this, but a deal was a deal. Amanda made the conscious choice to be here and to do this. She knew what she was signing up for. She had thought long and hard about the deal and felt no shame in agreeing to it. It needed to be done for her family to survive.

  Her nightgown dropped from her shoulders.

  Karl swallowed the lump in his throat, as he looked her naked back body up and down.

  Her back was so smooth, and her bottom was so firm and perk.

  Unconsciously, he licked his lips.

  Amanda turned to face him, her arms shielding her breasts. She squeezed her thighs together in an attempt to hide her most sensitive area, but Karl could see everything that he wanted to see. Hardness was already starting to set in between his legs.

  ‘Be gentle with me,’ said Amanda, as she lowered her arms to her side.

  ***

  Christie looked up at the small flight of stairs to the top floor. She could hear the sound of bedsprings squeaking, as Karl’s deep voice grunted with each beat of her heart. ‘He is up there fucking her right now,’ whispered Blue Eyes, from behind. Christie looked down at the kitchen knife she held within her hands. Her knuckles were turning white she was gripping the handle so tightly. ‘Karl thinks you are worthless. He doesn’t even care that you can hear his betrayal.’

  ‘I hate him,’ she growled through clenched teeth.

  She had never felt such hate.

  She didn’t even know such a powerful feeling could exist.

  ‘He blames you for everything.’

  ‘It isn’t my fault. None of it is my fault.’

  ‘He blames you for your son’s death.’

  ‘I couldn’t save him.’

  ‘He blames you for being unable to provide him with children.’

  ‘I can’t, not after the cancer.’

  ‘He is disgusted by you.’

  ‘I hate him for doing this for me. I hate him so much.’

  ‘If you remove them from your life then the pain will stop.’

  ‘I want the pain to go away.’

  ‘What are you waiting for?’

  ‘Nothing...’ Christie began her slow walk up the stairs.

  ***

  Sergeant Roland moved through a long narrow corridor. The lights of his armoured suited forced back the shadows, as his cannon like assault rifle scanned the path he was walking. The walls in this section of the ship had collapsed inwards. A map appeared upon the inside of his visor. Four red dots symbolised his squad. They were all clearing different levels of the ship.

  ‘All of the deep sleeping chambers have been jettisoned before the crash,’ reported Omar.

  Roland stepped through a hatch onto the command room. Everything was switched off. He scanned the room, but there was no sign of life. A quick glance at the pilot’s chair revealed nothing. He had half expected to find a dead pilot or Captain Abbott, but there was nothing.

  ‘I have found two bodies,’ said April.

  Roland checked her location on the map.

  She was outside one of the deep sleeping chambers.

  ‘Report,’ he ordered.

  ‘I would say they have been beaten to death.’

/>   ‘Beaten to death?’ asked Jones.

  ‘Quiet,’ ordered Roland, ‘get to the artificial intelligence memory room. I want to know what happened on board when we were all sleeping.’

  ‘On my way,’ replied Jones.

  ***

  Phil looked across at the bird’s eyes view images from the drone. With each passing hour, more images were coming through to them, which was given him a better idea of this planet. Unconsciously, he looked down at his wrist watch. Sergeant Roland should have reached the crash site by now. If God was smiling on them, then there would be a way to get the ship working and get off this dead world.

  ‘Phil, come and look at this,’ said Susie, she was about sixteen years of age and had been separated from her parents when being placed in the deep sleep chambers. Phil had taken it upon himself to watch over the young woman, mostly because she reminded him of his granddaughter.

  Phil stepped up to the desk of monitors that allowed access to all security cameras within the base.

  ‘What are they doing?’

  Someone in a dark blue space suit was writing “THERE IS NO GOD HERE” on the external wall of one of the rectangular buildings. They walked from one building and began to write the exact same words onto the next one.

  ***

  Christie stood outside Amanda’s bedroom door. Her anger was boiling to the point that she just wanted to scream. She could hear them fucking. She could hear Karl’s pleasing grunts and Amanda’s cute little squeaks. The bedsprings were protesting faster and faster, as the fuck began to grow into a climactic finale.

  ‘How dare he do such a thing to you,’ Blue Eyes whispered into her ear.

  ‘I hate him,’ she growled.

  ‘That whore is in there laughing at you.’

  ‘I will kill her. I will fucking kill her.’

  ‘They both deserve to die for what they are doing.’

  ‘He doesn’t care about me.’

  ‘He doesn’t give you a single thought.’

  ‘I hate him. I hate him so much. I want him to die.’

  ‘Do it. Make him pay.’

  Christie reached for the door handle.

  ***

  How had it got to this point? One minute they were talking, well, flirting, and the next they were kissing. Annie wasn’t shy about these types of things, but even this was moving fast for her standards. She had only known Noah for a few hours. He was gorgeous, compelling and had a certain charming magnetism to him. Was she letting things get like this because she was afraid to be alone on this rock? Or was it because she hadn’t been with a man in so long? Did it even matter? The feel of his tongue rolling within her mouth was absolutely amazing. He was such a good and gentle kisser. Her heart began to beat harder at the feel of his hand stroking up the inside of her thigh. At any point, she could put an end to this by squeezing her thighs together, but even she was surprised when she slowly opened her legs for him. She didn’t know how things had got to this stage, but Annie knew one thing. She didn’t want to stop.

  ***

  ‘Oh fuck, oh fuck,’ Karl’s deep voice boomed around the box room.

  Amanda was straddling him in the centre of the bed. Her perky young breasts bounced up and down hypnotically, as she rolled her hips with the elegance and grace of a dancer. It was like her body was devoid of bones because her movement was so damn fluid. Karl’s big hands held her delicate hips, as he pulled her down hard against his throbbing member. He wanted to get it in as deep as she could take. Sweet little cries leapt forth from Amanda’s mouth, as she rocked her hips harder and faster. Karl could feel the welcoming build up of pressure deep down between his thighs. He knew he couldn’t take much more than this. Soon he would blow his load inside this sexy young woman’s mound. A small part of him hoped she didn’t get pregnant straight away. He wanted to fuck this girl as much as he possibly could. Perhaps he could extend the deal to more sons, would Amanda consider such an offer?

  Amanda let out a horrifying scream, as Christie reached over her should and thrust the blade of a kitchen knife straight into her abdomen. Karl froze in fear, as Christie cut Amanda open like a Sunday roast. Blood, gore and internal organs spilt onto Karl’s pot bellied hairy stomach. Amanda’s agonising death rattled echoed throughout the makeshift home. She fell forward onto Karl, pinning him to the bed, as Christie pressed all her weight down on top of them. She stabbed the knife down towards Karl’s face. Instinctively, he held up one hand to guard himself, but the first thrust removed one of his fingers. He didn’t even have time to acknowledge the bloody stump as the next attack went right through his eyeball and into his brain. Christie didn’t stop then. Her manic screams of anger were almost as loud as Amanda’s. She stabbed, again and again, switching between her cheating husband and the young whore.

  ***

  ‘This doesn’t feel right,’ Omar said into the silence, as he squeezed his bulky armoured suit through a bent hatch. His headlights fought back the shadows, as he moved with caution through the dead space ship. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something felt very off. It was like he was being watched. He knew this couldn’t be right. He was alone in the corridor, but it was just intuition. He could feel something watching him. It was the same horrible feeling he would get when he was a child and needed the toilet late at night. His dad would get so pissed if he turned on all the lights and woke up his baby sister, so he had to do the whole exercise in the dark. He could almost convince himself that there was someone watching him from the shadows.

  ‘Come in...’ said a crackly voice.

  Omar swung around to face the way he came.

  The internal monitor of his suit was showing an increase in heart rate.

  ‘Omar, you okay?’ asked Sergeant Roland, all the suits were linked giving the commanding officer the ability to monitor all troops.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he reported in, ‘I just got a little fright.’

  ‘Fucking pussy,’ laughed April.

  ‘Cut the chatter,’ snapped Sergeant Roland.

  Omar scanned the doorways he had just passed.

  Had the voice come from within there?

  ‘Come in...’ crackled the voice a second time.

  Omar spun back the other way. In the distance, the sound of metal creaking echoed through the silence ship. He let out a long breath. ‘That’s all it is,’ he told himself. ‘I am fucking hearing things.’ He continued his search, but with far more caution than before.

  ***

  Christie stepped out of the airlock in her dark blue space suit. She continued to hold the bloody knife in her gloved hand. Blue Eyes was walking off into the compound without a suit. He didn’t say any words. He didn’t have to. Christie was finally free. He had freed her. She would follow him anywhere. The dead soil of the planet crunched beneath her feet, as she headed between several of the rectangle medical huts. The whole place had a blue aura to it because of the twenty-foot electric perimeter fence that kept out the alien predators. Christie allowed herself a smile. She thought she might feel some pain or regret because of the two murders she had just committed, but in fact, she felt peace. She didn’t know you could feel this peaceful within yourself. For once her brain was silent.

  She paused outside of Annie’s house.

  Something had caught her eye through the window.

  Annie was bent over her couch. Her t-shirt was hitched up over her hips, exposing her smooth naked ass. Annie was moaning wildly, as she rocked back and forth on her knees. Her fingernails dug into the couch, as she cried out pleasing orgasmic sound. It looked as if she was being fucked by some invisible man. There was no one else there. Annie was just bent over, forcing her weight back against some invisible force before she was pushed forward onto the couch with a delightful moan.

  ‘We don’t have much time,’ said Blue Eyes.

  He was now standing beside her.

  ‘What is she doing?’ asked Christie.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. She will be dead soon.’
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br />   ***

  A low hum vibrated through the command room, as the systems flickered back online. Lights illuminated various computer terminals, as one of the overhanging monitors came to life. A strange whine echoed through the ship, as something below deck attempted to work, but with little success. Sergeant Roland walked around the room, slowly and cautiously. His eyes travelled across ever desk, scanner and read out. The majority of the controls had been smashed beyond repair during the crash. He stopped in front of one of the security consoles and held out his right arm. The armoured glove of his suit cracked open, and a single wire rose like a cobra from a basket. The wire plugged into the console, linking Roland’s suit to the ship computer.

  ‘Show me the command room security footage a minute before impact,’ he ordered.

  An image appeared on the inside of his visor.

  It was black and white footage of the command room, taken from a camera towards the back of the room. Roland could see Captain Abbott strapped into the pilot’s seat, fighting against the controls. The ship was bouncing violently, as she jettisoned the sleeping chambers and cargo pods. The image began to fizzle out, as the room shook violently. Electrical cables dropped from the ceiling, sparkling violently, as part of the wall bent inwards. Captain Abbott fought with all her might, trying to keep the ship straight, as a second collision snapped several of the chairs from the floor. Rocks smashed through the front of the ship, showering the room with glass. It was at this point that the footage ended.

  Sergeant Roland stood in silence for a moment.

  ‘Where is Captain Abbott now?’ he asked the world in general.

  ***

  The glow of the electric fence could make the night feel like day. Christie approached the box at the front gate. Her eyes didn’t even see the dozens of alien hounds beyond the security fence. Red pupils shone out of the shadows, as fearsome growls vibrated from the throats of the beasts. Blue Eyes was stood to one side of the metallic box which was attached to one of the silver poles that spewed out electricity. Christie was acting on auto-pilot. It was like she was dream walking. She was here, but her head was elsewhere. This didn’t seem real anymore. It was like she was just floating and watching everything play out. She flicked open the metal box without a second thought. Blue Eyes was beside her in a blink of an eye. His lips were only a hair’s length from her ear. Quietly, he whispered the deactivation code. Christie did not question. Christie did not think. She typed in the code as if it were what she had always been meant to do. The crackling electricity on the fence disappeared, and the hum of the generator was silenced.