The trees are vibrating, their leaves raining down, fluttering like verdant little petals. I’m dizzy. Unable to make out anything. My eyes can’t focus as the world seems to be spinning miles a minute. I can feel my body sprawled out in the dirt, and there’s a ringing in my ears to the point where I can’t hear anything else.
I think I see black shadows overhead. I can’t figure out what’s going on, and before I know it, I’m off the ground and on someone’s back. My hands are thrust over shoulders onto large, soft lumps, and I feel a motion thrust me forward.
Is it another earthquake? What’s happening?
My fluctuating vision is blinking between light and dark as the forest starts to move past me. No, that’s not quite right. I’m the one moving, but my legs are as numb as hell. My eyes falter and begin to fade away.
No. Not yet; I can’t sleep. Something’s not right.
I force my eyelids open, but it’s as if I’m blind. All I see is day dim as darkness. My head is beating as fast as my heart. It’s thumping in the back of my skull, trying to get out. It hurts. It’s like all my grey matter is swelling with pulsating pain.
Awaken, damn you, awaken.
It’s no use. I keep fading away. Even in the darkness, I hear her calling my name. Over and over again.
“Lily. Lily. Lily.”
I open my eyes again. I’m still on somebody’s back, and they’re going fast. I can’t tell if a minute has passed or two hours. The world is still rumbling, but not quite as intensely. Everything is still blurry, but the shapes are slowly returning. I’m becoming whole again.
I shake my head violently, forcing the forest’s outline to come back to me. I rub my head where pain is bulging like a pufferfish in the brain, and feel a mound where it should be flat. There’s something on my face. Wet. Smells familiar. Tastes like iron.
“W-what’s going on?” I mumble weakly.
“Oh good, you’re alive,” I hear a woman say. Who was it again? Oh yeah, Maeve. She’s carrying me on her back. My hands are impenitently grasping onto her breasts, trying desperately to hold on. They’re large. Much larger than I originally thought. It feels like there are two soft cantaloupes in my hands.
“Lily, please tell me you’re okay,” I hear Sako say. I tilt my head to the side, propping it on Maeve’s shoulder, and see her running right next to us.
“Yeah,” I manage to say. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll explain everything to you soon,” Maeve says. “For now, we’ve got to find a safe place to hide.”
Hide? Does that mean something is chasing us? I’m almost afraid to look back. Not that I can, because I’m so weak and disoriented right now.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Not far behind Sako is Riley, running next to us, struggling to keep up. I’m confused. Did something happen to me? Why am I being carried? And why does my head hurt so bad?
“Hey. Put me down,” I groan. “I can run on my own.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Maeve says. “You’re hurt. Don’t worry, I can carry you no problem. You’re pretty light, after all.”
Inexplicably, I’m at ease around her, even though I only met her the day before. She’s so warm and comforting, I almost feel like I could fall asleep on her shoulder. I don’t, but I let my guard down for the first time in a while. In a way I couldn’t around Sako. For some reason, I get the feeling she’s someone I can depend on.
I’m at least conscious now, though I still don’t have full motor function. Seeing as how the others seem to be in a panic right now, I turn to Angel. Or rather, I call out to him in my mind.
“Angel?”
“Glad to see you’re still breathing,” I hear Angel’s voice ring in my head. “You know, if you die, I disappear forever. Since I’m an AI, I’m not particularly scared of that, but it’s in my code to prevent that.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to panic,” Angel says. “Maeve’s carrying you right now, and I don’t want you to thrash around and cause her trouble.”
“I won’t react,” I say. “Now tell me.”
“There was a HET,” he says. My eyes open wide, and I feel my breath pick up.
“You okay there, Lily?” Maeve asks. “You’re breathing mightily heavy down my neck. Am I being too rough?”
“No, I’m fine,” I say. “Just a little dizzy, still.”
“Well, just keep steady, kid,” Maeve says. “As long as I’m around, I’ll keep you safe.”
“I told you not to panic,” Angel says from inside my skull.
“I didn’t panic,” I say. “I was just surprised.”
“Maybe I should wait, then,” Angel says.
“No, tell me,” I say. “I’ll keep calm. I swear.”
“That’s honestly all there is to it,” Angel says. “A herd of skyscraper-sized HET came stomping through. Luckily, we were quite far from them, so we had the chance to run before they could see us. Well, if they could see us at all.”
“Skyscraping HET?” I ask. “What are those?”
“There is no data on this strain,” Angel says. “It seems this is the first time anyone has ever encountered one of this magnitude. Previously, the largest recorded instance was around the size of an elephant.”
“How could something so big fly under the radar all this time?” I ask. “We had the radio station on at all times, and not once was there ever any mention of gargantuan HET.”
“The mystery of them grows every single day,” Angel says. “The more we learn about them, the less we know. There is so much to discover, but almost no time left. I fear their purpose may remain an enigma to humanity’s grave.”
“Purpose? Aren’t they just monsters here to kill us?” I ask.
“Any species capable of intergalactic travel has a purpose,” Angel says. “If mindless beasts could create technology to navigate space, humankind would have brought war to the stars long ago.”
“So you’re saying there’s more to this invasion than just endless slaughter?” I ask.
“Only God knows,” Angel says. “And according to you, he doesn’t exist in this world.”