In a distant future, mankind discovers they're not alone in this universe. Aliens arrive, and the Earth gets engulfed in space wars, where humans turn out helpless and defenceless, regardless of their nuclear and biological weapons. One of the stron...
All Ellie could see was blackness. She could hardly remember anything that had happened and knew not where she was, but it did not remain vague for long – she slowly came to her senses and the remembrances of the terrible torture and her cursed fate struck her heavily. She groaned, trying to open her eyes, but could not – something was covering them, something soft and... wet. Not just her eyes were covered – her whole body where the damage had been inflicted was thus covered with soft, moist material... Bandages, perhaps?
Why would anyone in the world bandage her? Since she had been abducted from home four years ago by Earthly calculations, she had never been treated respectfully or kindly but instead always beaten for displeasing her masters, gotten locked up in cold and damp storage rooms or cells, and now, a little while ago, even tortured. Nobody cared if she was hurt, hungry, or even bleeding to death.
"Woke up, little lady?"
'Little lady'? Who was this deep, almost ghastly voice, as if a tired man who had hardly kept himself awake? It sounded like that of a sneaky fox from those fairy tales mom often used to retell before she'd go to sleep.
"Fear not, I won't hurt you," the same voice retook, now from before her. Her bed-sheet sank a little – he had taken a seat on the edge of it. Her bandaged back was touched by a sturdy, but soft hand, which helped her sit up a bit. A glass full of a fragrant drink was brought to her lips. "Drink this," she heard a command. Her trembling lips obediently opened to fulfill the order, for by the sturdy hand she was leaning on, she could already guess there was a strong man before her. By her harsh experiences, she knew strong men were not to be defied. The drink did not feel bitter like she anticipated, though – it was, in fact, quite sweet. "Steadily... Okay, there you go," the stranger took the glass off her lips and put her back to the pillow, covering her with the fluffy blanket. "I'm about to take your eye-bandages off. Don't open them before I tell you so, alright?"
She nodded – whoever he was, it would be better to obey him and not get herself in trouble. Fingers with rather rusty skin touched her cheeks, and slowly undid the bandages that had been covering her eyes. When the soft material too was taken off, those same rusty fingers wiped the remaining moisture off her pupils, and the same voice sounded:
"Okay, you're good to go. Open your eyes".
She raised her eyelids and screamed in shock – it was that same burn-scarred man from before, back in that torture chamber! She was able to scream but for an instant – the bewildered man's scarred hand (now she understood why it felt rusty) quickly covered her mouth:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Shh! What the rotten crystal are you yelling for? It's dead midnight hour, people are sleeping aboard! Alright... Now then, I'm going to take my hand off, but you won't scream or shrill like that again, got it?"
This strict tone silenced her for good. She nodded as her eyes filled with tears.
"Good..." the young man took his palm off her as promised. She continued staring at him, for she felt terrified of this monstrous alien burnt so hard that his skin had gone brown-and-black like long-dried blood. "Sorry for scaring you so out of the blue, little lady, but, even I cannot do anything about these eternal scars..." he stroked his burn-marks, "I won't hurt you though, just as I said earlier".
