“Roger” was the reply. In less than a second the sound of explosives filled the air. The mountain would soon be shredded. Broken down to rubble. He’d speak to the President in the morning. Granny needed a clean-up job done. No worries, they’d handle it.
In the morning he’d make a statement to the news. Drug runners had tunneled into that mountain, filling it with tunnels between America and Mexico. It had to be destroyed. The public would eat it up, and then maybe he’d get a nap. Granny put her hand up again, giving the Colonel a nod. He hated it when she read his thoughts.
June
She heard the explosions as she drove away but didn’t want to pay attention to them. June pretended the explosions and the firelight from them was nothing but background noise. It was a fan blowing in the bedroom. She’d ignore it.
Instead June focused on the road ahead. The sun was rising in the desert and the earth’s colors exploded. It was as if the California desert wanted to show off its beauty before the heat came in and changed everyone’s mind. June disliked the desert. She could never get used to the slap of heat when she opened a door, the insistent sun that beat down with a pulse as strong as a lion. It was overwhelming, like The Grey.
The Grey in its organization, dust free, not a wrinkle. Smile and “Give it your all, ladies.” The Grey’s nasty was too much for June. It wasn’t home. The Grey was industrial and someone was trying to fool them all into thinking that is what a home is. June knew this was wrong.
She thought about what she saw as she left, what she heard, and this little girl curled up next to her. The Grey is…June smiled… was… yes, it was this hateful prison where nothing is real. They faked everything, and for what purpose, June could not fathom.
She opened up the car windows, inhaling the morning air. It had a bit of dust to it and June liked that. The world should have a bit of dirt in it. She was never sure why Superior Mother wanted such a dust free, dirt free, smears free environment in The Grey. Life was not clinically clean.
Flicking on her turn signal, June headed towards Mexico. Her kind wasn’t sent there. For some reason they were always kept in America. She did not regret this fractured girl who slept with her head on her lap. Her plane ticket for one was worthless now. So, she’d drive to her escape.
Mexico had some dangerous places, especially for June and this daughter of The Grey. She spoke no Spanish, and essentially, she was in hiding. Eventually they’d find the body of that dead solider. Maybe they’d figure out that it was her. She doubted it, though.
Whoever would chase her down wouldn’t know that it was specifically her, but they would be hunting for her face. “All the same and none different.” June couldn’t change the fact that she was a copy of a copy of a copy.
That’s probably what was wrong with all of them. They were all copies desperately trying not to be. Twinsies shoved together, forced to unite when most wanted to breathe the outside air, live their own lives, and most importantly for June, be free.
Putting her visor down, June looked at the black hair in the mirror. Coloring her hair black was a start. She’d try to get really tanned. Maybe with black hair, a tan, and — looking down, June figured she could try to put on some weight. The Women of the Grey were thin and lanky. June knew why. The Originals were impossibly thin and long-limbed. Weren’t they essentially all their grandmothers?
June rested her hands on the steering wheel, stealing looks at the girl. She’d get a hotel, get her cleaned up. She’d be easier to hide with that brown hair. Those that might chase them down would expect blonde hair. They’d never expect something a bit different.
The girl stirred, rubbing her eyes, stretching but not moving. June rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder then with laughter in her tone said. “Well, good morning.”
The girl said nothing but looked up at June with forgiving doe eyes. The look broke June’s heart. She knew what she was thinking. She was worried about what was next. What could possibly happen to me now?
“I won’t betray you. I won’t hurt you. You and I are in on this together.” June said this to the desert air, hoping the girl would eavesdrop.
There was a sign for Mexico. June was holding her breath, hoping the guards were feeling lazy this early morning and would let her through without a second look. Rubbing the girl’s shoulder, a bit, June gave her a gentle and loving nudge. “You need a name, kid. Maybe we can come up with one together.”
She needed the name quickly, but she wouldn’t say this. What if the guard stopped them and really looked at June, and then at the filthy, too-thin child, who was mute and nameless? How could she explain The Grey?
Could she tell the guard the truth: The Grey is this horrible place where a mother alien tried to breed us with humans to create I don’t know what. A superior human hybrid, but guess what? It didn’t work. Not everyone was special. Not everyone had powers. Most of us were just normal.
June started to cry then. That was it. The whole problem with The Grey. They breed more and more, wanting all the same and none different women, but with abilities. That backfired. They were mostly normal. Nothing special about them. In The Grey it wasn’t okay to just be.
Blinking the tears and desert dust from her eyes, June panicked, seeing the sign for Mexico. If there was trouble crossing, if the guards took the girl, she’d think she was in danger and she’d kill again. How she killed would get out, and then they’d find them.
“Jesse.”
Looking down, June said, “What? You said something?”
The girl nodded then again said, “Jesse.”
Smiling, June felt hope in her chest. She could speak and that was something.
“Jesse it is then. Nice to meet you, Jesse.”
The girl reached down and held June’s hand. There was frost on the windows. The temperature in the car had dropped and the hand that June held felt like frozen meat.
“Jesse, you need to dial that back. When we are somewhere safe and alone, we’ll work on that, okay?” She could feel the temperature in the girl’s hand rise. A subtle warmth was there now. It wasn’t much, but at least the frost on the windows was melting. June kept hold of the girl’s hand as they drove straight into Mexico.
Cami
Cami had been sitting on her toilet for a solid five minutes, trying to figure out how to get rid of the guy in her bedroom. She felt rushed, knowing that after sex it was best if she laid still with her legs up, or maybe legs down? Was that how it went? She couldn’t remember.
Rubbing her nose, she stood and went to open the door, but then remembered and flushed and washed her hands. She took her sweet time washing her hands. Hands that weren’t technically dirty since she did nothing in the bathroom but sit.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Todd. She liked him, but he made her nervous. All of this made her nervous. Meeting guys, dating, and sex made her nervous. She wished for at least the twentieth time that she was still home in The Grey. Packed away in the very pit of The Grey. In her cozy desk, doing her thing, on her own schedule. No one around to care.
Every day in the Grey was the same as the last for Cami. She shipped things out to the world and she received them back. It was a secret job. The kind of job that nobody knows you have, and Cami liked that. She could hide back there.
Being around the other Women of the Grey made her fidgety and itchy. They were too much for her, and her job was the one place she could find calm. She never told anyone about the things that Superior Mother had brought in and sometimes sent out. She wasn’t a snitch.
Yet here she was, breeding for The Grey. Opening the bathroom door, Cami swallowed the excess spit in her mouth and smiled at Todd. He returned the smile with one of his own. Todd’s smile was big and wide. “Lush,” thought Cami about Todd’s smile. Some other women or mothers in The Grey might call it kissable. Not Cami. It was a nice smile, yes, but she was too off-center to enjoy it.
She was too off-center to enjoy any of this. Sure, in The Grey she’d heard ru
mors of missions. Of being out from under the thumb of Superior Mother. To have a taste of human food. Breathe the human air. Smell the human smells. Experience things like movie theaters, libraries, and a mall.
Cami couldn’t handle much of that. The movie theater screen was too big, too exciting. She thought she’d scream at every image that popped up. The mall smelled of greasy food and chemical flowers that Cami couldn’t tolerate. The library reminded Cami of all that she didn’t know about the world and that made her anxious.
She had finally concluded that she wasn’t made for this human world. All she wanted was that desk on the edges of The Grey were she’d occasionally see a human, then call Superior Mother to let her know supplies were in or packages had arrived.
The only way to get back to her desk was to complete her mission. She was on a breeding mission. The whole idea of picking up a man, taking him to her bed, then having a child terrified Cami, but being stuck in the outside world was worse.
Cami crawled into her bed, giving Todd a small smile. Nothing flashy. She was mostly hoping he’d go away now, but instead he swooped on top of her, covering her mouth with his, and Cami kissed him back as passionately as she could. Passion didn’t come naturally for Cami. She avoided contact with everyone as much as possible. This human with his face stuck to hers was such an intrusion. It made her chest ache.
“Cami, Cami, you’re so pretty.” Todd kissed her neck. Cami stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t pretty. None of Women of the Grey were, in her eyes. They were all too skinny, no curves. Hardly a hint of womanhood, but she couldn’t tell him that. Instead, Cami wrapped her arms around him along with her legs and hoped that maybe this time a pregnancy would happen. Then she could go home.
“What was that?” Todd had stopped kissing Cami. “Did you hear that?” Cami hadn’t heard anything but Todd’s breath in her ear.
“There’s someone in the kitchen.” Todd said startled and quickly rose to his feet. Pulling on his jeans, he walked out of the bedroom.
That is when Cami heard it. “We are here from the government. We are here to help.” Todd was stepping back into the bedroom now, walking backwards, hands in the air. His smile was gone, and it left behind a pale frightened boy. Following Todd were two men dressed in black from head to toe. Helmets on, guns pointed directly at Todd with another pointed at Cami.
One man of the three put his gun down looking directly at Cami then repeated. “We are here from the government. We are here to help.”
Cami nodded. Her hands were trembling. Superior Mother had a special group of the mothers that did stuff like this. Cami wasn’t supposed to know about them, but she did. She knew lots of things. For a mousy, easily anxious Woman of the Grey hidden away at a desk job, it was amazing what Cami knew.
“I know…” Cami said. “I know.” She sighed. This was not good. These men were not kind. Looking over at Todd, Cami said a silent goodbye to him, then looked back to the soldier and gave him the quickest nod.
The man put his gun down, put a small white inhaler on Todd’s lips barking. “Breathe in NOW.”
“Go ahead Todd. You’ll just fall asleep. It’s okay.” Cami made her words soft and trustworthy. Todd’s shoulders were shaking. He was crying, opening his mouth. Cami watched the man push down on it. Almost instantly, Todd fell to the floor, hitting the bed and slowly sliding off.
She wondered if the men did that on purpose. Positioned Todd so that when he fell, he fell just enough for Cami to feel the bump on the bed and the pull of the sheets as he slid off.
“Are you Cami from shipping and receiving?”
It was then that Cami wondered what would happen if she ran. While the thought crossed her mind, her body went AWOL. She watched herself jump from the bed and spring for the door. She was naked and that was embarrassing, but Cami watched herself run for her life and not care if they all saw her like that.
One of the men grabbed her by the hair right before she was almost out of the bedroom. He pulled her in tightly, aggressively. She was wasting his time. Maybe he had a wife at home or maybe he was tired and hungry. Cami could feel the tense anger in the way he pulled her head in close to his and then swayed so her body pushed forward and faced the other men.
“Let’s try that again.” The other man walked up to Cami, stepping on her toes, pushing down with his work boot while staring at her face. When she didn’t flinch, he looked down, then up again, and put his weight into it.
“Are you Cami from shipping and receiving?”
Cami hissed a “YES.”
He stepped off her foot then, smiled as he raised an inhaler to her mouth. “Great…breathe in.”
“How many is that, boss man?” The man let go of Cami’s hair, her body hitting the floor with a thunk and one of her arms laid across his boot. He shook her off like a centipede.
“Total now eight, only thirteen more to go.” He coughed a bit. “But for tonight we are done…let’s bag these two, clear the area, and find us some dinner.”
The two men nodded. The one spoke up. “Is that all of them, after the thirteen?”
The man turned to look at his partners. “Yes. Well, that’s all the Colonel has record of.”
The end.
Note from the author
I hope you enjoyed The Women of the Grey trilogy. The Women of the Grey trilogy was inspired by a mixture of things, but top of the list was the book The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta. What I loved about The Leftovers was that there was a large supernatural occurrence that is the sauce for the story, however the book isn‘t about that. It’s about the people “left behind.” The Leftovers dives into the raw emotions of its characters focusing instead on what is happening to them internally.
When I read The Leftovers I had been thinking about a secret society of women that were alien hybrids. I realized I wanted to focus on the emotions of these alien women. I wanted to be in the marrow of what my characters were feeling, thinking, and reacting.
Thank you for coming on this journey with me. If you enjoyed the trilogy, please leave a review on Amazon.
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About the Author
Carol James Marshall is a science fiction and horror author that loves the things that go bump in the night.
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Women of the Grey- The Complete Trilogy Page 64
