Blue Dust

Desolation

Back at the base Pete takes me to the infirmary. "I'm going to go take care of the debriefing, Thea." He says. "Let the doc take a look at you, I'll save you a seat at dinner."
My eyes sting as I watch him leave.
"Doc," my voice shakes. I feel her claw like hands grasp my stomach, just a light squeeze and I'm doubled over in pain.
"What happened to you out there?" Doc is instantly at my side and suddenly my body is out of my control! My hands are clasped around his throat, squeezing with this inhuman strength. His eyes stare at me in horror as he gasps for air.
"I- I'm sorry!" The words break past my lips.
In my head I hear the monster laughing. Mmm yesss! I feel his spine crush between my fingers.
Horrified, I release him as I scramble backward away from the doc's corpse. What have I done?
She responds amused, You humans are so emotionally sensitive. Her wicked laugh echoes in my ears. It's delicious how you suffer, my dear. So let's not waste another, moment.
I hear footsteps approach the room.
Would you like to know why none of those corpses you saw never appeared to be running away from my throne?
I refuse to reply.
Because they cannot resist. The door hisses open. Desire is always the perfect trap.
"Dr. Rainer?"
"NO, DON'T COME IN!" But it was too late.

I'm fighting as hard as I can to stop her! I fight for control over my body. But she has learned so much inhabiting me, she now speaks through me, cutting off my voice.
"Let's have a little fun!" We have left the infirmary in false chemical lockdown. "Where's that delicious looking boy? Pete is it?"
Just then one of the sentries comes our way down the hall. I notice the weapon he carries, but there is nothing I can do.
"He looks just as good."
Stop! Turn around! I try to scream, but I've been locked in my own body.
He must've been sent to check on the disturbance in the infirmary. But I could see his sense of duty dissipate within steps of me. "Going somewhere?" She says eyeing the weapon in his grasp, from my mind she learns it's use. I cringe inside as I smile at him seductively, pushing his back against the wall, I hear every bone in his body crack and splinter. His skull crushed, blood gushing out a deep purple. An effect of the blue dust in our systems.
I can't stop her picking up the weapon. "Having fun yet?" Her laughter echoes across the halls.
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"I'm impressed to find the will of some humans to be strong enough to resist my manipulations. Most alien races succumb easily to desire." She says as I slay one human after another. The base has become a battleground.
"Humans desire liberty more than anything. Your tricks do not offer that!" My voice breaks through! I tear through the chest of a soldier coming at us from behind. "They're not going to let you live!"
"Do you really think all I'm capable of is to reside inside your weak flesh?"
The commander shouts orders. They struggle to fight the mind manipulations.
Suddenly I feel something rough and hard like bone break through my ribs! I cry out as dark alien features protrude from within and form around my body like armor. "I will protect you, little human."
Rapid firing hits me from all sides, but I am unharmed. No! I cry within. I charge at the soldiers tearing them apart with the razor claws encasing my hands. They don't stand a chance!
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They've taken to hiding. I can sense their fear. She feeds off it, while I can only despair.
Bodies lie everywhere. Purpled blood paints the halls. "Look at all that you have done!" A disgusting pleasure drips from her words.
I lurk in the shadows. I can hear someone shaking in fear just around the corner. "Who do you think it is?" She says aloud. "Tim? Ashly?" We step over the dropped body of Garret. I hardly recognize his ravaged features. I'm screaming inside for them to run, to get out of here, to get off this blue planet! But there's nowhere for them to go. Nowhere to hide where we can't find them. Before they knew where I was I had them, both of them, in my grasp. I had become too strong.
"Thea, wait!"
"Thea can't save you!" In an instant they are crushed beneath my claws and torn apart.
Tears burst out and I scream. My friends... My friends are gone... all except-
"Pete. Now where is he hiding? I believe he's all that's left in this base." She says in cruel laughter.
I hear a shuffle of feet down the hall. "PETE, RUN!" Somehow I broke through!
"Don't bother." She calls after him. Soon I'm on him closing the distance. I knock him off his feet, the impact knocking the wind out of him. I grab him and lift him by the throat. Though a wicked smile is spread across my face, I feel the hot tears streaming.
"Thea-" he gasps.
"I almost want to keep him alive." She says. The weight of his body thrashing beneath my grip tears my heart up. I fight this monster, this creatures power over me. "Almost." And with that his throat is crushed beneath my grip.
"NOOOOOO!" My scream echoes throughout the base.
Her menacing laugh fills my mind. "Oh! This was such fun! I cannot remember when last I had this much excitement!"
My voice trembles as I speak. "Well I hope it was worth it to you while it lasted. We have no way off this planet. And I'll be long dead before anyone comes back out here again!"
Her laughter makes me uneasy. "Oh, my dear little human. Have you learned nothing of the planet you're on? This blue dust you've been breathing in, that you all find so harmless as you let it into your system, has marvelous effects."
"What do you mean?"
"Those alien corpses in my palace, they appear to have been ravaged just yesterday, but they have been lying there for millennia to eons before you humans arrived. They might've lived as long if I had let them." That cruel laughter. "So you see, little human. We have all the time in the universe! Thanks to the blue dust."

〰〰〰〰〰〰THE END〰〰〰〰〰〰

...or just the beginning.