Chapter 1

4 years later

I looked around the clearing cautiously before I took a quiet step forwards. My eyes darted around, taking in every detail to make sure we were alone. It had been four years since the Earth had been invaded, four years since the end of humanity, and four years since the death of my parents.

Once I had made sure that everything was clear, I whistled softly, bringing Damien to my side.

“We’re good?” he asked me as he looked around himself. I nodded briefly, taking the first step. The rubber on my ratty tennis shoes squeaked against the dew in the grass. I winced at the sound it made, hoping there actually wasn’t anything nearby. The sun had already set, and the half-full moon set a lazy glow upon the field, helping me see as I made my way towards the centre. I shifted my heavy backpack towards my side, and openedthe zipper. Inside were the barest necessities Damien and I needed to live as I scrounged through it. Finally I came up with what I was looking for; matches.

“Hey Damien, bring the firewood; it’s safe,” I spoke up, as I used my hands to dig a circle out in front of me. My hands dug through the soft soil, blackening my already dark fingernails. By now this gesture had become so routine that I didn’t even notice the twigs that dug under my torn fingernails, reopening wounds, causing my blood to mix with the soil. Soon enough the ring was completed and Damien had come over with the firewood, placing it in the middle of the ring.

I lit up one of our few remaining matches and placedit underneath the wood and kindling, watching as the kindling started to catch fire. Soon enough, we had a blazing flame that warmed the areaaround us, butI relaxed only a small bit. Damien placed his hands over the fire as I pulled out a little of our food from the pack. I handed him some crackers and a wrinkled apple, putting to the side the exact same thing for me.

“Dig in,” I told him dryly before biting into my crinkled apple. It was overly sweet, and the juice made my lips stick together. Damien bit into a stale cracker, finishing it off quickly before eating the rest of his food with that same quickness. Some crumbs decorated his mouth as he wiped the back of his hand over his cracked lips. I finished my apple hungrily, before digging into my crackers.

Soon enough we both were finished with our dinner, our stomachs grumbling for more than what we had just had. It was silent, with only the crickets’ chirp for noise. It was always like this, our fear to talk; sometimes we would go days without talking and I sometimes wondered if I would ever forget how to talk.

I felt my hand playing with the long scar on my arm. I self-consciously looked down at it before shuddering. That was the only close call we had ever had with the aliens after our parents death. One of them had seen us and was chasing us. I could remember Damien tripping over a root as I suddenly picked him up and pushed him away.

I could still remember the adrenaline pumping into my ears as instinct took over, the one and only thought in my head being‘protect Damien’ as the alien came at me. I had stood in the path as Damien ran, the thing coming up with its bowed legs, its triangular head crooked at an odd angle. I remembered the pure fury I felt at its sight, and then I was going berserk. It came at me as I tackled it with all the hateI had in me and all the guilt and pain it had caused me. One of its long crooked fingers had dug into my arm, leaving a rather large gash, but I was so caught up in my adrenaline to notice at the time I could remember bashing its head against a rock and bouncing off again as black oozing blood splattered my body.

Once Ihad calmed down I remembered looking at the body in horror, at what I had done, what it had made me become. I was a monster just like it, with its black blood dripping off my body, mingling with the bright red of mine on my arm. That’s when I screamed, the white-hot lancing pain in my arm hitting me. I scrambled up, a blackened hand holding my arm as I stumbled away, tripping down through the forest, looking for the sign of water Damien and I had heard earlier.

My mind came back to the present as I stopped looking at my arm to look at Damien. He still didn’t know what had happened that day, me keeping him in the shadows to protect him, so he wouldn’t know what a monster his sister his was, not when I was the only person he could look up to. I just couldn’t let him down. He was looking at me with his bright piercing green eyes. It looked like he was trying to read past my blank stare that I always kept on my face. He was always doing this, trying to see what I was really feeling, but I never let him past, couldn’t let him past.

“I’m bored,” he spoke up, his voice sounding bored. I rolled my eyes as I leaned back into the grass, my long hair getting more knotted by the second.

“Go play with your soccer ball,” I finally toldhim, propping my chin on my chest as I stared at him. He frowned at me as he got up, stretching his long, lanky arms over his head.

“Don’t feel like it, I want you to play tag with me, like the old days when you were happy and loved to play games,” he said bluntly, making me speechless. I could only stare at him as my mind tried to wrap itself around his words. Damien hardly ever brought up the days when mom and dad were still alive, when the world was alive.

“Caely are you going to answer me?” he asked impatiently as I laid my head back down, closing my eyes.

“Why?” I asked, my voice close to a whisper. He came to sit next to me, drawing his legs up to his chest as he shrugged.

“Because I miss those days, I miss having fun and I wonder what it’s like. We’re always running Caely, always. I just… I forgot what it was like to laugh,” he ended quietly as I opened my eyes, getting up to hug him. He hugged me back, placing his head on my shoulder as we sat there, giving each other strength and love.

“I miss those days too Dames, I would give anything to have them back,” I whispered into his hair before pulling back. I gave him the best smile I could muster before standing up.

“Well what are you waiting for? Don’t want to make this an easy game do you?” I asked, my eyebrow raised, staring down at him. He stared back before a grin broke out across his face and dashed away before I could blink. I immediately gave chase, my long legs flying across the ground as I zeroed in on my brother, slowly catching up to him. I give one final leap, my fingers grazing his back as he gave out a burst of laughter. My face litup into a real smile as my lips twitched before I turned and dash the other way, hearing his heavier footsteps follow behind me.

We continued playing for several minutes, his laughter like heaven to my ears, something I had forgotten. That was then I heard the crackling of wood snapping under feet. I froze just before shoving Damien to the ground. ‘Go kick the fire out,’ I mouthed to him as I snuck towards where I heard the sound, my feet not making a sound against the grass.

I entered the forest, darting through the trees as I moved to where I had heard the sound, my ears and eyes on full alert. I knew it was dumb to get wrapped up in the game! I had been careless, and now we were going to pay, but I hoped the alien would pay instead. Maybe if my luck held out it would be an animal, but not very likely.

As I neared closer I could have sworn I heard breathing, but that might have been my ears playing tricks on me… over there! Through the corner of my eye I could see a shadow darting through the trees, coming towards me. I cursed inwardly before turning to face it, my hands outstretched ready for whatever was coming at me. It was huge; that much I could see by it’s dark silhouette, easily over six foot, maybe around 6’6” or 6’7”, and it only wasn’t tall big, but broad big. What the hell was coming at me? This wasn’t an alien for damn sure… Bigfoot maybe? Yeah, only if I started to believe in the Loch Ness Monster and vampires as well.

Before I could even lash out the giant shadow had leapt towards me, tackling me to the ground. I tucked my head in so I wouldn’t hit it, as I struggled to get out of its strong grip. I kicked it somewhere soft that was like a stomach, hearing it grunt as its grip on my wrists tightened. I panted as I tried to squirm out of it’s grasps, my once free legs pegged as it sat on me, making it impossible for me to escape.

“Fuck,” I whispered, desperate to get free and make sure Damien was ok.

“Don’t whisper my own language like you know what you’re saying monster.” an angry voice hissed at me as I froze. That sounded like… but it couldn’t be. Damien and I were the only people left; there couldn’t be another person. “Well, any last words?” the voice, very deep and manly, sneered.

“Get the hell off of me, that’s what they are! Sexual harassment should have ended with the end of the world!” I exclaimed as the body above me froze. “Oh, now you decide to stop and figure out I’m not a monster,” I said dryly, not used to using my voice more than a couple of times a night.

“You-you’re not? Damn. Oh hell.” The surprised manly voice said into the night, getting off me before easily picking me back up to my feet.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” he asked sincerely, seeming to be just as flabbergasted at my appearance as I was at his.

“Uh… no, no I’m fine, but I have to go find my brother… I left him to go find the noise that must have been you,” I answered awkwardly before rushing away to find Damien.

“Wait! Please wait! Listen, I’m really sorry, and I just thought you were one of them… hey where are you going?” I heard the voice ask just before the sound of footfalls started up behind me. I continued on to the clearing, trying my hardest to ignore him. I’d always hated surprises and this was one of the worst. Well, I guess Damien and I weren’t alone after all.