The Marked People

(1) The Marked People

Indigo 

When I was little I use to love hearing the stories of what earth was like BL (before landing). The stories have been passed down through the generations of people who have been born, lived, fought and died in what we like to call the wild bands. To civilization we're known as the resistance or more often than not the people of the past.

Four hundred years ago the world changed for humans when sightings of aliens, now called the marked people were made. The earth was thrown into confusion as questions over why these aliens would come here. We didn't have time to fight them off, we didn't have time to prepare and the Marked people used it to their advantage.

Countries fell, governments collapsed and humans were rounded up to be used as slaves. Fortunately for me, my ancestors managed to stay hidden.

In fact I've probably had a lot more luck than most, that is until a raid on our camp led to the capture of my family and I. It seems all our hard work, all our time living in the forest and caves was for nothing. Like everyone else we were thrown into the camps.

No one escapes from these camps and there are only a few ways to leave the camps. You can either be bought as a personal slave or you can be selected for the breeding program. Between these three choices the camps are preferred.

When they first invaded all those years ago, no one knew why. Some said they wanted our home, that they wanted our resources and they were right to a certain extent. But they didn't come from the sky to steal our minerals, they came because they needed us. 

See for all their advanced technology they were flawed. It's why they sought us out. And it's why they attacked. Not because they wanted our oil, water or air but because they wanted their young to be born into a world without the loss of the mother. 

The Marked people's children come into the world by tearing apart the mothers womb. I'm sure they tried to remove the children from the mother by surgery but perhaps there are too many complications, too many risks involved. So they found another solution, IVF. Of course another creature would have to be used, one that was compatible with the Marked People and yet was expendable. This is where we come into the equation.

I'm sure they spent generations looking for other planets with life on them, life that was genetically similar enough for their young to be able to survive inside the surrogates womb. And they found us. Lucky, lucky us.

Nearly identical in genetic makeup we were the miracle they were looking for.
Of course there are a few differences. Unlike the Marked People we don't have tails or special flaps of skin under our arms for gliding. And most importantly we have don't markings that cover our skin. Markings that change colour depending on their mood.

But none of those things matter. We're their live incubators now, incubators that die every time the little monsters are born.

But that doesn't matter, not to them anyway.

.......

I can still feel it now. The cold fear that had forced me to move. That had made me scream in terror and tackle the guards while my mother was dragged away. It was stupid to fight, both Dad and I already knew that. But there was no way we could watch as Mum was loaded up onto a vehicle. We all knew where she was going. No one comes back from the incubator station.

They shot dad, would have shot me too except I was female. A male troublemaker is useless but a female can always give them the gift of life. The idea of having their little monsters crawl out of me has me shivering in disgust. 

Even so, an agitator like me is punished. They don't whip us, or brand us or do anything else that could hurt the body. No, their chosen torture device is a serum. I've felt it before, it leaves marks on the mind and opens the dark doors inside your head where every terror you've grown to fear lurks.