The Monster's Child :.Book 1 in the Delfunie Trilogy.:

1

"Hi, I'm Mavis and I'm a survivor of the invasion."

"Hi, Mavis." Everyone said at ISSG, Invasion Survivor Support Group. About a year ago, our world was invaded by these creatures that call themselves Delfunies. Stupid name, I know but these creatures are anything but stupid. They were quick, intelligent, and lethal. Entire families were wiped out, including mine. I was married with a baby on the way when the Delfunies attacked. My husband, David was killed in the initial attack and my daughter, Daisy was stillborn as was every baby born at the time of the invasion.

Delfunies were not aliens in the sense that they came from outer space. No, they were of earth but no one was actually sure of how long they have been here, but there were rumors were human test subjects gone wrong. They quickly multiplied and even more quickly took over.

Now, a year later, the survivors of our town created a support group, ISSG. We talked about what we lost, what was gained (which wasn't much), and some even talked about retaliation. We, seven were all each other had left. Our entire town was decimated. Ethel Meyers, she was seventy-four and her husband Chris died during the initial attack. There were two attacks, the initial invasion and then when the Delfunies won, they began killing people off, a sort of natural selection. Chris was selected, but Ethel escaped.

Ethel's grandson, Alex Meyers survived along with his wife, Jaime although they also suffered the loss of their unborn child. They were both eighteen. Alex's parents didn't survive, neither did his three siblings. Jaime is currently seven months pregnant as they tried to have another baby once the doctor gave them the okay. We all hoped that she had a healthy baby, even prayed for it sometimes even though not many people believed in God anymore. As far as we know, only babies born after the attack were stillborn, no one else has given birth after getting pregnant after the invasion.

Richard Donohue, the only doctor left in town, lost everyone, his parents, his wife, and his kids and because of that, he became bitter. He never spoke during our meetings but when he did, it was usually to say something awful. He was thirty-five.

Then there was Lily Hughes. She was only a child when the invasion happened. She's only six and she lost her parents and was now being taken care of by her older brother and my best friend, Ross Hughes.

Ross had a crush on me and he was my age . Not to mention, he was our group leader. He was twenty-four. He was eighteen when his parents shocked him with the news of Lily but he loved her and would die for her as if she were his own daughter. I thought about dating him after we met when ISSG formed but I still loved my husband and I don't think I am ready to move on from the family I already had.

I sat down after my turn was over and Ethel stood up, well as best as a seventy-four year old can.

"Hi, I'm Ethel and I am a survivor of the invasion."

"Hi, Ethel." We all said.

"Today marks the one year anniversary of my dear husband's death. I woke up this morning and just cried before being forced to get out of bed." The Delfunies run this planet now, there is nowhere to hide anymore, we tried. Now, they run the show and we get up when they say get up, clean what they want us to clean and they teach what they want us to learn. They took over our schools and banks, even tourist's attractions and restaurants.

"Alright, I think we can end tonight's meeting. It's almost curfew and I don't want them to get suspicious." Ross said. The Delfunies didn't know we held the meetings. If they did, they would insist on sitting in to supervise and then we wouldn't be able to speak freely.

We all left and went to our homes which all occupied at least one Delfunie. I walked into my house and heard mine yelling as soon as she heard the door close.

"Where have you been, human? You were supposed to be here an hour ago." She yelled. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, Lida. The bus was late and the market was packed." I lied. Well only half lied, I did go to the market and it was packed but the bus wasn't late. I heard Lida huff and puff in from the kitchen as I set everything down on the dinning room table.

"Did you get everything?" She asked, going through the bags. I cringed back slightly and just took in the sight in front of me. She looked like every other Delfunie that I had seen. She was super short, about the height of a ten year old, and her skin was dark and wrinkled like an elderly person, but you could tell she was only about twenty-five to thirty years old. Her eyes were completely black, there was no white what so ever and her teeth and nails were sharp although they don't really hunt anything anymore.

Delfunies can multiply one of two ways, they can mate and reproduce and trust me when I say that it doesn't take nine months for a Delfunie to carry a child, or they can change a human like a zombie or a vampire would change someone. Lida was once human and was changed. Delfunies were cruel heartless creatures and even those who change tend to be just as heartless. Lida was no exception to that rule. She was cruel towards me and evil in every since of the word, but sometimes she had her moments where her humanity seemed to come back and she was somewhat nice to me, although that didn't happen often.

"Good, now go away. I'll call you if I need something." With that, I went up to my room. I looked out the window and saw what an awful ruin Cleveland had turned out to be. I looked around and buildings were falling apart and windows were broken. Electricity was only in homes that occupied Delfunies. I just sat there and looked how everything in this once thriving town can look so decomposed now.

I sat down in my room and started reading my favorite book. As I read, I heard the signal for curfew and I took a deep breath as I realized, this was how I was going to live the rest of my life, curfew at nine and a creature thing living in my home.