1
Grace
COLD AIR GREETED MEas I opened my eyes. The icy metal mesh floor beneath me sent chills down my spine as the air carried a disgusting smell. The mixture of rotten eggs and sulfur was overpowering as I sat up.
When I pushed my long hair out of my eyes, I gasped.
Two strange beings were standing in front of me with their backs turned. My confusion and fear grew as I listened to their foreign, guttural language.
I felt a sense of panic and stuttered. “Where am I?”
Hearing me speak, the two beings, which I could only describe as aliens, spun round, and I recoiled. My eyes bulged in astonishment when I saw them.
They were both dressed in pale tan jackets and pants, with two legs and two arms like humans, but that’s where the similarities stopped.
The sight of their faces, resembling pigs, terrified me and urged me to flee in the opposite direction.
The problem was it appeared there was nowhere to run.
I found myself in a room devoid of any noise except for a faint humming sound and the voices of the aliens. The walls had a grimy gray hue. The lighting came from the ceiling overhead, but it lacked brightness.
My skin crawled as the aliens got closer.
Both creatures had hands covered in coarse, bristly fur. Their height was about five-foot-five and their midsections were round.
One of the alien creatures yelled something that might have been a curse.
The other pig alien reached for something from its waist.
In a split second, the creature thrust a rod-shaped object against my skin, causing an unbearable searing burn that made my entire body feel as if I’d been struck by a live wire.
I fought against it while my muscles spasmed. It was so intense that my vision blurred.
Within seconds, I fell into unconsciousness.
I EMERGED FROM A SLEEPwith no dreams, questioning my surroundings.
Right off the bat, I knew I had been moved because the surface beneath me was hard and felt like a rough stone against my skin.
My senses became heightened as I listened to hushed voices.
Remembering the pig faced aliens and the electric shock which made me unconscious, I shuddered, dreading what might happen to me next.
For several minutes, I lay there motionless like a statue, absorbing the room’s sounds before they noticed I was awake.
Unlike the harsh, guttural language of the pig faced creatures, the voices I heard now were soft and feminine. The smells that rose to meet me were of dirt, sweat, and desperation.
“I’m getting worried. She’s been out for a while,” someone said.
“She’ll be fine. Olivia woke up. So will she,” the other voice reassured.
I was letting their words sink in when I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. The unexpected touch startled me, causing me to sit up before shuffling backwards like a crab.
A woman with dark-hair tied back in a messy ponytail stood beside me, then took a step back. Her eyes, the color of rich chocolate, were fixed on me. I recognized her attire as a specialized branch of military uniform.
A smile of relief crossed her face. “Sorry for spooking you when I touched you. You were knocked out for, like, a whole day and I was freaking out big time.”
Next to her was a curvy woman with a heart-shaped face and light-brown curly hair who observed me without uttering a word.
