Human

Mahogany

-----

Katie

The pain I've been learning how to control for the past few days bubbles up to my skin and this time I let it take over my body. My skin sings with pain just ready for somewhere to escape.

Going through the long forest, I try to only focus on running. One foot in front of the other till I can only go forward. Curls fall out my ponytail and start sticking to the sweat on my forehead. Ahead of us, an area of grass comes into view. The amount of trees in sight decreases and we're left in the open with nothing but the moonlight covering us. 

I look at where the aliens stay. It's a whole town. Houses and roads along with buildings that look like restaurants, grocery stores, even a school. They've made a whole village here. Lights in houses all flicker on as we get the attention of those hidden behind the walls. Children look at us with curiosity and for a second I thought that we'd scare them, but instead, something like a smile crosses their faces. As my blood goes cold I feel like stopping and telling everyone to turn around. That we might not make it. But it's too late now. 

I look up and see some faeries I don't even know hiding in the trees, throwing little spheres onto the town and seconds after...they explode. 

Doors open and close, aliens run toward us with unnatural speed. One with four eyes looks at me and grins, coming my way. I realize with cold feet that this is my first official fight. And it's with something twice my size and three times my strength. 

It's claws sharpen as it readies to pounce on me. But I take the first action. My sword holds all my pain, draining it out of me like Jenna's touch does and when I cut the skin of the creature, the feeling of hell seeps into it. 

The alien hisses and squeals, falling onto the ground with a loud thud. I let out a breath of relief, relieved that it really worked.

"Katie!" Someone calls. I turn around and see Tony trying to get out of an aliens reach. The alien grabs hold of Tony's arm and dig its claws into his skin. Without hesitating I run towards them and bring my sword into the aliens back. It screams in horror and falls like the other alien did and crumbles onto the ground. With my left arm, I create another sword, so now I have two arms I can fight with. 

"This is the most horrifying, but also the most beautiful moment I think I've ever had," Tony says, wiping the blood off his brow. 

"What do you mean?" I ask but soon let it when I see more coming our way, "Come on, we need to go," I say, taking his arm and bringing him toward the chaos. The sound of the bombs exploding makes it hard to hear much else. Fire dances around the trees, and the remains of what was houses crumble to the ground in ash. The town is almost completely gone. But there are still so many aliens.

Pain erupts in my calf and I yell out, falling onto the dirt. "You think that just because you're the Empress that you can just control everything? This was my home! You killed my son! My only son! And now I'm going to kill you," I'm lifted from the ground, choked from the alien's claw holding onto the back collar of my shirt. "You bitch," She says, using her other claws to scratch my cheek, a long line from my brow to lip. Warmblood drips down my skin. 

A smile crosses her face, hundreds of sharp teeth glowing in the dark with blood dripping from her lips. "What are you?" She then asks, "You look like you have a little bit of faerie blood...but I hear rumors that you were also human...but you don't look human at all."