Savannah stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, allowing the fresh air of the mountain to fill her lungs. She probably shouldn’t be out here alone, but they had never seen a Taucet nor heard from them around the area, so she figured she would be alright. She had been feeling trapped in the small town where she lived. After more than two months of the same routine, work-house-work, she was about to climb the walls with sheer frustration.
That morning, the sun had come out after a long winter, and she wasn’t able to resist the temptation of going out for a walk in the woods just outside the small town. It was still freezing, but the chilly air was doing wonders to her spirit, and she was enjoying the freedom of being outside. The silence around her was so pleasant, so profound, she felt completely at peace, as her feet crushed the snowflakes underneath her heavy boots, on her way up the mountain.
Walking through the snow, she reached the top of a hill and using a fallen tree as a chair, she sat there for a while, just enjoying the view of the woods.
Fortunately, the aliens that had invaded the planet hadn't been able to reach her small town, and here there were no signs of the destruction the blue creatures had brought to their world. The humans were fighting hard to eliminate them, with the help of an army of cyborgs, but as the governments around the world kept telling them, it wasn’t easy to fight such powerful creatures. They demanded a lot of sacrifices from the people, but Savannah guessed it was a small price to pay for their survival.
They had been at war with the alien creatures for one year now, and a lot of people had died during the attacks. In her small town, hidden in the Rocky Mountains, they had been fortunate so far. The war hadn't affected them as in other places, and they were able to live almost a normal life. If it wasn’t for the fact that now everybody worked for the government, in the production of food, weapons, and clothes for those fighting the invaders, life might be completely normal. She had been working in the uniforms factory, and though it was a tedious job, she was pleased to help somehow. It also brought food to her table, something not so easy to get these days.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting the sun rays to kiss her cheeks as she took deep breaths of the cold air of the woods. She needed to do this more often. She felt it recharged her batteries and she was feeling better by the second.
That is, until the moment she heard some strange noises behind her.
Startled, Savannah got up and looked around, trying to identify the origin of the sound, but at first, she couldn’t see anything. The woods were very quiet, perhaps, too quiet. She couldn’t even hear the wind through the trees, it was as if everything was still. And that stillness scared the hell out of her.
Looking everywhere, she left the place, but she hadn't been able to take more than a few steps when she was surrounded by a few creatures: the Taucets.
She had never seen them off the television screen, but there was no doubt in her mind about their identity, and she let out a small cry of despair.
Their skin was pale blue, with darker spots, framing their faces and down their naked shoulders. They had enormous dark eyes with oblong pupils and long, thick, dark blue crests where humans had hair. Taucets were the most frightening beings she had ever seen in her life, especially when they were heavily armed. She knew that with their tall, powerful bodies, they could quickly subdue her.
Scared, she turned around looking for an escape way, but she was surrounded by the creatures. How it was possible, they were so close to town, and no one knew about it? She had to escape and warn them.
“It’s useless, female,” one of the creatures spoke, with evident scorn in his tone. “There’s no escape.” His voice sounded a bit metallic, like some sort of robot, but clearly male.
With her heart pounding hard in her chest, she turned to face the one that spoke to her. There were six of them around her, and she knew he was right. She was trapped.
“What do you want from me?” she asked, doing all she could to keep her fear from her tone.
The creature let out a loud laugh. “We want you,” he replied, with a coldness that sent chills down her spine.
“What do you mean?” she asked, starting to shudder. The creatures’ attitude was starting to scare the hell out of her, and though she was trying hard, she couldn’t remember if the creatures were known to use humans as food. What else could they want her for?
“There’s no time for explanations, female.” This time the creature replying was at her back, and before she could utter another word, she was grabbed by the arms and dragged away.
“Please… you can’t do this to me… let me go…” she yelled at them, even though it was useless. But perhaps there was someone else out there in the woods, and if she could alert them to the presence of the aliens, the people back in town would have time to prepare themselves for the attack.
But before she could open her mouth again, one of the creatures dragging her through the woods stung her with something that looked like a syringe, and her voice faded immediately.
“That’s more like it,” he grumbled as they dragged her towards one of their smaller vessels, landed in a clearing.
Savannah struggled as hard as she could to free herself, sure that if she was taken inside that ship, she was as good as dead, but it was all in vain. Their four, long fingered hands were like metal cuffs around her arms, and no matter what she did, they didn’t budge at all.
A door slid open on the vessel, and a boarding platform rolled out. Before she could do anything else, they dragged her inside and threw her into a small cell, locking the door behind them. The place was claustrophobic, with not much more than three square feet. She barely had room to sit on the floor. Shaking, she did all she could to calm herself down, but she too frightened. She knew she was in trouble and the possibility of getting out of this one was close to none.
Just a few moments after they had imprisoned her in the tiny cell, she felt the sensation of motion the meant vessel was taking off, and she let out a silent cry of despair.
She had no idea how long they were flying. After what seemed like an eternity, the vessel landed somewhere, and she was dragged out of it by two of the creatures.
Outside, the sky was gray and cold, and the ground was covered with a heavy layer of snow. Outside the vessel, she could see they were on some sort of large plain. There were several huge structures similar to igloos, all connected by passageways. The aliens dragged her into the nearest one, and once the doors opened for them, she was taken to where two other creatures waited. Inside the structure, the air was pure but still a bit cold. Apparently, the cold temperatures didn’t affect them.
The new guys were wearing white jumpsuits, unlike the others who only wore pants.
“Hey, Rathlon, look what we found wandering in the woods,” one of the Taucets holding her prisoner said, in a mocking tone. They were speaking in English, and Savannah knew that was on her behalf. They didn’t want her to miss a thing they were saying.
The guy looked at her with an appreciative look on his face. “Nice. Can you get more like her?” he asked.
“Yes. Near the mountain where we found her there’s a small town, with almost no military presence. I’m sure we can take it easily and capture all the females we need.” The guy holding her replied and Savannah squirmed in protest, but they completely ignored her. “We found some war supplies factories we can shut down,” he added with a cruel grin on his blue lips.
Rathlon nodded, pleased. “Good. We’ll take her from here.” They grabbed her and dismissed the other ones.