30 Days of Undead Summer

#SciFiSaturday

The Nirizi race had won Earth and its inhabitants in a particularly cutthroat game of intergalactic poker. They had then spent the better part of the next thousand years flying across the universe to their new planet. For a race such as the Nirizi, however, this was not exactly a challenge. They had already lived for thousands of years, and did not feel boredom. Only a cold drive of purpose.

When they finally arrived to orbit outside of Earth's galaxy and scan its life forms, the Nirizi were ecstatic. After all, while they themselves may not have changed much, the inhabitants of Earth certainly had over the thousand-year-period - they had all evolved into far more impressive wins. The Nirizi bided their time, however, waiting for the opportune moment to beam down and enslave the planet.

Finally, one day decades after their arrival, they noticed something. Slowly but surely, something was rippling over the planet. It was shutting down all of humanity's light sources, electrical devices, radios...

Recognizing how weak the champion species of Earth would be without these crucial aspects of their existence, the Nirizi seized their opportunity and sent a small preliminary fleet down to scout out the situation on Earth.

Eyopaka squinted her eyes as she stepped out of their one-way landing pod. They had settled down in the middle of an expansive desert to avoid human contact until they were recovered from their journey What was this place called? Ah, yes.

New Mexico.

Eyopaka and her other aliens did not speak. They merely began walking, using their devices and tools to ensure they were traveling in the correct direction. Speaking was not necessary for this simple task. 

One thing the Nirizi had learned about humans in the decades of observing them - they talked far too much when it was not called for. They would have to remedy that.

The aliens did not keep track of how long they walked, but the sun rose and set before they came upon their first town.

It seemed completely abandoned.

Eyopaka glanced around at her fellow Nirizi, wondering if they, too, were unnerved as they walked through the streets of this veritable ghost town. Not that any of them would show anything but bravery. Courage was one of the most revered traits in a Nirizi warrior.

The Nirizi did not have a sense of smell in the same way that humans did. They had created a tool that would find and process scents for them so that they could be further prepared. Now, Eyopaka glanced down at the buzzing device - she had been charged with holding it.

"What does it say, Eyopaka?" demanded Yaltze. The other Nirizi warriors turned their gazes to her in quiet curiosity.

"It reads 'rotting death,'" Eyopaka replied slowly. She did not hold out the device for the others to read. She knew what the word on the screen said, and it did not fare well for the Nirizi.

Perhaps that darkness was worse than we believed, she thought dimly as they continued onward.

Suddenly, Yaltze screamed. Eyopaka whirled around to find that a human was attacking her fellow warrior, the former's teeth sunk into the latter's shoulder. Yaltze was writhing in pain - that was one feeling they definitely shared with humans.

Eyopaka started forward but it was too late. Yaltze crumpled to the ground, dead. 

More humans swarmed out of nearby buildings. They looked...odd, however, nothing like the initial scans Eyopaka and her people had seen of them. Their flesh seemed to be rotting on their bones. Their eyes were dazed and bloodshot. Some were missing several out of their yellowing set of teeth. Eyopaka knew from her studies that most humans took pride in their clothing, but obviously not these people. Their clothes hung in filthy rags off of their skeletal forms.

The humans instantly attacked the Nirizi, insanely powerful and, as Eyopaka quickly realized, impossible to beat. Knowing when to admit defeat, she broke away from her group and dashed into the desert, clutching her devices close so as to not break them. She needed to contact the mother-ship.

Finally, she stopped running, knowing the superior speed of the Nirizi meant that she had long ago left the human town behind. Left her fellow dying Nirizi behind.

The Nirizi did not experience remorse, however, so Eyopaka wasted no time in beaming herself up as a hologram to the mother-ship.

"What is it, Eyopaka?" her superior asked sharply. "Where are the others?"

"Dead," Eyopaka replied calmly.

"What happened?" the woman demanded.

Eyopaka glanced over her shoulder at the town on the distant horizon. She thought of the ancient promise of the man who had given them the planet - "It's full of amazing life, creatures beyond your belief!" 

"I believe," she finally replied, "that we may have been ripped off."