Page 15 of Her Alien Hero
A soldier or airman or whatever the fuck they were used the end of his gun and slapped it against my shoulder; a warning to stop.
The lady’s eyes opened slowly. Her gaze met mine. Such confusion and pain shone from her brown irises.
I couldn’t breathe. "Please. Please stop," I begged, but no one seemed to hear. Or they didn’t care.
The light stopped and in two seconds, her entire body turned into gray ash, even her clothes.
She looks like one of those bodies in Pompeii.I turned my attention to the guy in charge. Major something. I couldn’t remember if they’d said his name or not, and it didn't matter to me.
"Youasshole. Why would you do that to her?" My heart twisted with sorrow and pain.
He smiled, the gesture not quite reaching his eyes. "Don’t worry. You’ll get your turn. This is the only way to cleanse the filth they’ve done to your DNA."
"Liar," said Baraxen. "We’ve been trying to save them from whatyourpeople have done."
The major pivoted to look at both brothers, his little army keeping their guns drawn and aimed at everyone. He pulled a cigar from one of his front pockets. "Now that’s where you got it wrong, but we do appreciate your generous…donation." He chuckled as if he’d made a joke.
"You filthy, disgusting human." Voren’s muscles strained, and he clenched his jaw. "You took advantage of our kindness. Instead of helping, you tortured us, stealing our technology and our genetics."
"Well, that’s not entirely untrue." The major bit off the end of his cigar and spit it on Brax, where it hit his chest and fell to the ground. "Thanks to you and your…brothers, we managed to extract some code for human DNA enhancements. Our subjecthas been a bit unwilling, but nothing important comes without a fight. We’ll continue extractions on our prisoner, and one day soon, we’ll crush you like the shit faces you are." He lit the cigar, gave it a two puffs, then blew the smoke into their faces.
My government is experimenting with its own citizens, and possibly a Volderen?I thought the aliens were the bad guys.They’d mentioned taking me so the others could live, or something like that, and I’d assumed they meant my cooperation meant they’d spare lives.
The Volderens are the good guys?
My entire world shifted. The aroma of burnt hair and ash filled the room. Nausea roiled in my belly. Brax and Vor held my gaze. I imagined them saying‘Hold it together a little longer. We’ll make it through this.’
The handcuffs, firmly wrapped around my wrists, grounded me in the moment. Neither of the brothers had hurt me, even when I’d fought.
"Light up the rest of them," said the Major, his deep voice snapping me back to reality.
"What about her?" asked the guy pointing his rifle at me.
I swallowed, tasting bitter fear in my mouth.Surely they wouldn’t…couldn’t…
"Let her watch, then pop her last." He gave me a cold, calculating smile. "This is what we do to traitors."
"No, you can’t do this. How can you be so cruel?" I ached for these people—for myself. "I’m an American citizen and so are they." Technically, I didn’t know for sure they were Americans, but it really didn’t matter. They were human…innocent. No one deserved to die.
"Not anymore." He puffed on his cigar. "The day those abominations touched you, touched them"—he nodded in the direction of the beds—"they tainted your blood." Pushing through his men and women, he stood before me. “When thesubjects are no longer in a controlled environment, then we must eliminate the source.”
From my side vision, Voren and Brax seemed to stiffen.
"They though we couldn’t reverse their engineering, but you see, we figured it out after their first ship crashed in 1947. We’ve been back engineering since. Soon, the perfect soldier will be ready using the materials they’ve so graciously donated—"
"You mean our people and equipment youstole." Voren’s words dripped with hate.
"Potato, potahtoe. Alien, alienate. We do what’s best for our country. If that means sacrifice, then so be it." The major flicked cigar ashes onto the floor. "You’re looking for the perfect donor to save your doomed race, but they don’t exist. After thousands of years of searching, you should’ve just given up. They would understand the sacrifice required for science. Their death is a step toward our goal. You boys should’ve headed for home the minute you escaped because we both know no one’s coming to save your kind. You were given a choice many years ago to work with us, and you chose wrong."
"We chose—and continue to choose—not to be your slaves. Our missions is peaceful. We came to learn, to better both races, and to share but Earth became greedy. Youwillpay. Maybe not today, but you will know our wrath soon."
"Mmhmm. You’re still here without backup, still licking your wounds. Your people are stranded. And now? We’ve caught you with your pants down. We won. You lost. Prepare for the consequences."
He gestured towards the other sleeping humans. “Finish this.”
Several soldiers swung their rifles at the unconscious figures and began shooting.
Reflexively, I ducked, making my body a smaller target.
