Stalkers of the Alien Type

Chapter 25

"I must preface one thing for you ladies," began the Queen. "The Chernoy makes it victims see its most dreadful thought. What you fear the most - what you fear the most to lose in your life."

Ana and Nikolai sat in front of us, eye level with the lower, first-row seating. Tori and her crew were predictably sat in these seats. "Amanda," Ana turned her head to look at a slight, fawn-haired girl in the first row. "Why don't you start us off, my dear. What did you see?"

The girl looked down, almost embarrassed. "Well... I-I saw...you know, the snake...uhm," she paused and looked at the girl to her right who laughed at the snake comment. Of course she saw a snake. Dumbass.

"Please," Ana interjected. "Continue." the girl nodded slightly.

"Uh, so under the snake...was uhm...mituthbuff..." she mumbled the last part. Ana looked at her confused. "What was that again?"

"Mytuthbrush."

"Speak up, woman," exasperated Nikolai. So, the cat gave his tongue back finally.

Alice or whatever looked down at her hands in her lap. "'I saw my toothbrush."

I guess not everyone saw a child like I did...

Ana looked speechless for a few moments before gathering her composure again. "Alright, well, uhm...Tori! Why don't you tell us what you saw."

***

Two hours later, we finally made it to the back row with Nikki and myself. There's only like twelve girls here, but some of them loooove to talk. One girl broke down crying because she saw her cellphone in her box and talking about it again just reminded her that she still didn't have it. Princey's face for that whirlwind of emotion was fucking priceless. There's only so many mental daggers you can send someone before they start crying even more hysterically.

"Nikki, my darling," spoke Ana with an almost relieved smile. "Please, tell us what you saw."

That's when the unthinkable happened. Nikki looked up at the ceiling and a single tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it quickly, realizing what had happened.

"I, uh... I saw m-my dog," she spoke quietly. "I didn't have family back on Earth - my mother dying during childbirth, my father taking his own life out of grief." She wiped another stray tear from her face. "Sammy was the only thing I had close to family. And now she's by herself..." The real waterworks started at this point. I quickly grabbed her into a hug and stroked her hair. There's nothing worse in all of the worlds than watching someone you care about be in pain. Especially pain they had no control over.

Ana stood up and walked over to our little huddle, placing her hands on the side of Nikki's face. "My dear, I assure you, we will make this right again." That's all she said before wiping one last tear from Nikki's face and returning back to her seat. Even Nikolai seemed a bit concerned for her.

"Alright, Reese," began Ana. "You are the final lady to tell us what you saw. After this, you are all free to leave and go to sleep. Go on, Reese."

I untangled myself from Nikki's hold and looked at everyone in the room. They all looked beyond tired and drained, not only physically, but mentally. Deciding to end everyone of their misery, I spoke clearly and quickly, "I saw an infant." Without another word, I pulled Nikki up by her arms and walked us out of the room to our own sleeping quarters. From behind my, I knew I had heard Ana gasp to herself, but I didn't understand why. It was a natural fear to have a newborn child in such grave danger. It was nothing more than preservation of the species - a subconscious instinct in all of us.