Among the Stars (BoyxBoyxBoy)

Chapter 03

I was wrong.

Completely, and totally wrong. 

The Raudaqtorias did attack. Well, they're currently attacking. 

I truly thought the president would keep the peace. Establish a trade route and welcome the Raudaqtorias as citizens of Earth, and even if they take over, they would do so peacefully with an ambassador assimilating us into their culture.

No.

I was startled awake by the sounds of screams and the slamming of doors. One of the problems of being completely independent is not getting warned ahead by the people you know. 

I shoved my tail into sweats and pulled on a grey shirt, not bothering with shoes or underclothes, and raced out into the hallway. 

A pink couple was carrying a couch down the hallway, and I swear I'd never seen them before. 

"What-what's going on?" I asked, a little astonished at the couch blocking the hallway.

"Raudaqtorias," the pink, the long-haired blonde said as a way of response. 

That was it?

"Are they attacking?" I say, shutting the door behind me. "Is there some sort of rescue or bunker or...?"

The other one, a male, looked me up and down while still holding on to the armchair of the couch; they seemed to be stuck turning the corner.

"No bunker, just unorganized panic," he drawled out. 

Great. Just great help being provided.

I looked for a way to somehow maneuver around the couch, to no avail, and made a sound of discontent. 

"Oh, chill out. You wouldn't want to be out there anyway, with all the soldiers beating down doors and lining people out in the street. Mostly human men, surprisingly. Huh," the guy continued helping what I assumed was his sister and was actually looking to be making progress.

Of course, it didn't cool my temper that they revealed somewhat vital information casually instead of telling me when I asked. 

"Do you know why? Are people getting hurt? What would say would be the safest place to be right now? And where is everyone? Am I the only person in this building?"

"Okay, you really need to chill now. Do you see us worried? No, we've been through this on our own planet. They'll rough people up a bit, show the consequences of resisting, and then things will go back, relatively, to normal. As for everyone else in this building, yeah, I'll say you're the only one. People left really quickly, forgetting to lock their doors," he chuckled and glanced at his sister, who also laughed. 

"Honey, there really is no reason to worry as long as you stay out of public sight. You'll be snatched up pretty fast, otherwise. There isn't a place that you could go, they have heat monitors, ya know. Try to keep calm and maybe get a couple of things you can't afford and find a warm hiding place. Ya know, to disguise yourself from the heat monitors," the girl nodded her head and pulled the couch more around the corner, her brother pushing until they were finally able to get moving again. 

They still didn't answer the question about why they were lining men up the street. 

I followed them around the corner, having to wait while they went down each flight of stairs before I could reach the bottom level, where I peeked around the metal door.

 There was fire and tons of people running around, taking advantage of the lack of authority. People were smashing windows, stealing, and dragging their families to unknown places, probably safety. I turned to ask the siblings, but they had disappeared while I was distracted. They probably went to the much wider back door. 

I looked out the door again, this time moving my head more to the right, looking down the street more, and there, like the siblings said, was a line of kneeling human men with these tall, broad-shouldered soldiers standing around them with guns held in their hands. The tall buildings on the eastern side of the city showed a calm region, but I knew chaos was reigning there, too. 

One of the aforementioned soldiers held a scanner up to the beginning man of the line. A soft, brown-haired male who looked down in fear at the soldier standing far too close with the scanner gripped in a glove-covered hand. 

The soldier pointed the scanner at the forehead of the human and a soft click sounded, making the human flinch in fear. The soldier shook his head and continued to the next male in line. Another soldier moved behind the first man and lifted a device that had a square block on the end. The soldier pushed the square on the male's neck and the victim screamed in pain and tried jerking out of the second solder's tight hold. 

I'm sure it was the longest minute of the human's life, but it seemed very short from my point of view. The soldiers continued their process all the way down the line, ignoring the men left panting in their wake from the pain of the square device. My guess would be that it's some sort of branding tool, seeing as how a distinctive mark was left on each man. 

Yeah, I really needed to get out of here. I'm not fully human, but they don't know that. 

Maybe I should pull my tail out?

Nah.

I wonder if I could also slip past the back door?

I walked down one of the hallways lining the lobby desk (that is never attended to) and reach the back door. I opened the door to see a dirty, trashed alley and the couch dropped in the center of it. What the fuck?

I go to shut the door once seeing the abandoned couch, but was too late as the door slammed back open and one of the guards rushed in. 

"Got another one!" he shouted over his shoulder.

It was much scarier seeing one of them up close and I knew my fear was permeating the air. The entirely black armor was intimidating and the mask didn't allow me to see what the guard was thinking or even what he looked like. Which was unsettling for some reason. 

I backed away a step, now worried that they probably captured the blondies and that I was next.  The stairs. I'll-I'll run all the way up and...

And what? I was done for. 

But it's not like I would willingly turn myself in.

I pivoted and sprinted towards the lobby door, pushing a small stand with a wilting bouquet of flowers behind me. What? I watched enough movies to know how to slow someone down. 

But I also wasn't a trained fighter, meaning that the second the alien grabbed the back of my shirt, I immediately folded. 

"Okay, okay, but I'm not even human, so don't even think about putting me in that line of death, okay?" I nervously laughed, my front being tugged into the front of the soldier.

A very muscled front. One I might have appreciated under different circumstances.  

He continued dragging me back until we were in the alley, the smells stinging my nose. Another soldier was waiting and the one holding me half-dragged me around the complex to the waiting line of humans. They all looked dazed as if the brand affected them more than physically, and the guards made sure that they remained kneeling while even more males were gathered. Still all human. 

If they were only getting humans, then what happened to the siblings?

The guard holding me against him pushed me to my knees, where a couple of new males were already waiting, looking scared and worried.

I wasn't a human!