Sci

Reflections

I was in the middle of a desert road. I was hot, tired, and sweating. I was carrying a sack that was just over half my weight and had been walking for what felt like hours. I stumbled over my own feet and It growled at me.

"Don't you dare drop that, you'll be dead if you do."

I didn't say anything. No human knew what to call them, the only thing us humans knew was that they weren't from our world. They had taken over just over fifteen years ago, which, incidentally, was how old I was. They showed us that the human species was weak, that we were easily broken. They publicly executed all those who would dare to oppose them. The rest of us were forced to watch, anyone who cried out for them would be kill too.

The sound of a truck brought me from my thoughts.

"Stop."

I stopped, I sat the shadow of It loomed over, the weight on my back was lifted. I froze, what happened next was shocking.

"What are you? Answer me."

"I- I'm human," I barely managed to mumble.

"I doubt it. A normal human would have collapsed from dehydration by now. So, I'll ask again, what are you?"

"I'm human," I said, more evenly than before.

I kept my eyes on the ground. It threw the sack on the ground and untied the rope that was keeping the sack closed. It pulled out an old fashioned blaster, the type humans used to have before the invasion, and a small metallic object and threw it at my feet. Terrified, I waited for instructions.

"It's a mirror. Look at your reflection and tell me you're human."

The object, the mirror, was about the size of my hand. I pushed a button on the side and it flipped open. I almost dropped it, there, staring back was a male, my age, dirty blond hair, light green eyes, and a jagged scar on the left cheek running to the chin, it was me. I seemed just like any other human.

"I'm human," I said again.

It snarled, I heard as It readied the blaster, I flinched.

Out of nowhere the truck came speeding down the road faster than would have been aloud. As the truck passed I heard blaster shots and the brakes squealing. It fell to the ground, I turned to the truck shocked.

"Get in if you want to live!" Someone, a human, shouted.

Quickly, without thinking, I ran to the truck pulled open the back door and jumped in. the truck started moving again just as I was closing the door. Three other people were in the truck.

"What's your name?" Someone asked.

"Sci," I replied.

The truck fell awkwardly silent. I realized I still had the mirror clutched in my hand. I looked at the reflection again.

Why was It asking what I was? Aren't I human?