Annexation

by Marisa Chenery

  “I guess the expected reaction from me should be of horror. That my child actually killed someone. I can’t feel that, though. It might make me a terrible mother, but I can honestly say I’m glad. This world we live in now is not the same as it was before the aliens arrived in their ships. They’ve taken over, and so far, nobody has stood up to them. It’s about damn time we did.” She looked Kiri in the eyes. “You saved Meg and her family. However you had to do it, the end result was worth it. You’re trained for it. And from what you said about Cax, he made sure you were.”

  “That’s what Meg said. I guess you won’t be too upset with the idea that Meg wants the two of us to break curfew and patrol the streets at night to stop other Atres from taking more people.”

  Her mom smiled. “No, I won’t be at all. In fact, you’ll have my help. I’ll discreetly talk to some of the other adults in the neighborhood. There has to be some who want to do something about the Atres. We could form our secret neighborhood alien watch.”

  Kiri shook her head. “I didn’t think you’d be agreeable to it. I figured I’d have to do some convincing.”

  “I will never get over losing your father to that first Atres attack. I may not have lost it like Meg’s mom, but there is a part of me that constantly mourns him. If we can make some of those who are responsible pay, I’m all for it.”

  Her dad had been the love of her mother’s life. They’d been together since their early twenties. “All right. And I think Meg’s mother is back to herself. She took charge of things after I…ended those warriors. I think now that she was proven correct in saying the Atres are like vampires, she’s pulled it together.”

  “She’ll be the first adult I talk to. I think we shouldn’t do anything until exams are over and school is done, though. I don’t want anything to get in the way of you graduating.”

  Kiri nodded. To her, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other if she did. She’d finish, though, since it’d make her mom happy. Her mother continued talking, going over a possible list of neighbors she’d see about taking part in their mini uprising. Kiri just hoped it didn’t turn into something that would get them all caught.

  * * * *

  Exams were finished, and school was officially over for the summer. For Kiri, it was done for good. Since there wasn’t any graduation ceremony, the school had mailed her diploma. It was an anticlimactic ending for all the years she’d put into it.

  Her mom had talked to Meg’s, and the two of them had discreetly talked to the other adults in the neighborhood. Kiri had been surprised at the number of people who’d jumped at the chance to oppose the Atres. They were a sizeable group that was big enough to split into smaller ones. A man, who lived three blocks over, had been a police officer before he’d been relieved of his duties by the aliens. He’d been more than happy to help them. So Kiri wasn’t the only one who knew a lot of self-defense. Plus, he had some radios that worked in a sixty-seven-mile radius so the groups could communicate with each other while they were out patrolling.

  As for the two Atres warriors she’d killed, they eventually had been missed. Two days after the attack, a group of aliens had done a seemingly thorough search of the neighborhood. Somehow they’d known the two had come to the area. Since none of them had stormed Meg’s or Kiri’s houses, and the patrols had gone back to normal, Kiri figured the warriors hadn’t found anything. Which was a good thing.

  Kiri pulled her thoughts to the present as Meg came out of the back of her house. It was already night. Meg hurriedly walked to the darker stretch of shadows next to the fence where Kiri stood, waiting. They were going to meet up with two neighborhood boys, Sean and Tim, and go on patrol.

  “Ready?” Kiri asked as Meg came to stand in front of her.

  “Yes. I have the radio. And I see you have your bow and arrows.”

  Kiri nodded. At night, she never left the house without them, not that she’d had to use them. “Let’s go. Tim and Sean will be waiting.”

  They walked to the side of the house and followed it to the corner of it. Kiri pushed her back against the brick wall, as did Meg, and slowly poked her head around it to make sure no Atres were around. Seeing the coast was clear, she motioned for Meg to follow her as Kiri quickly walked to the sidewalk.

  Sean and Tim were at the designated spot at the park a couple of blocks from Meg’s house. Kiri didn’t see them at first since they stood in the deep shadows and wore all black, just as she and Meg did.

  “Did you see any Atres on your way here?” Sean asked quietly once they stopped in front of them. He was a couple inches taller than Kiri’s five-feet-six and was eighteen, just like her. He had a black baseball cap over his short, blond hair to hide it.

  “No,” Meg replied. “It was all clear.”

  “It might be another boring night,” Tim said in an equally hushed tone with a soft chuckle. He was a year older and the tallest of their group at a little under six feet. His black hair was uncovered and in a short ponytail.

  The four of them had been patrolling together every night for the last three weeks. So far, the Atres they’d seen had only been roaming the streets and made no move to break into the houses. Kiri had a feeling it’d only be a matter of time before something else happened.

  They left the park and stuck to the shadows as much as they could as they walked down the sidewalk. If they spoke, it was in whispered voices. There was no telling how many Atres warriors were out, walking the same area. So far, no one had been caught outside after curfew. Kiri wanted it to stay that way.

  The first half of their shift was just as boring as Tim had said. There was nothing happening. The streets were dead, and no aliens were in sight. Kiri figured it’d be another night of playing hide and seek in the shadows and not much else.

  That changed once it hit two o’clock in the morning and was almost at the end of their time to patrol. An adult from another group came over the radio. He spoke in a hushed voice.

  “We have Atres warriors breaking into one of the houses here. Two males and a female. We need backup—now.” He said the name of the street where he and his group were located.

  Kiri looked at the others. After they each nodded, they all took off running in the direction the call for help had come from. The street was only a block away. They ran out in the open. Now wasn’t the time for shadow chasing. They needed to get there as fast as they could. There was no telling what they’d find once they arrived.

  It was worse than Kiri thought it’d be. The three Atres had gone into the house and were in the middle of dragging the limp form of a man out of it. Blood dripped down both sides of his neck. One must have bitten him already, or at least two of them had.

  The group Kiri’s mother was in arrived at the same time Kiri’s did. Her mom waved for her to hang back as she and the other adults moved in to confront the aliens. Even when outnumbered, the Atres acted as if they were still in control. As voices were raised and threats given, Kiri glanced at the neighbors’ houses. Some stood in windows, watching, but made no move to come help. A few even snapped their curtains closed when they spotted her looking at them.

  The situation grew more heated at a rapid rate. Some of the adults lunged for the man the Atres held. One of the aliens responded by drawing her gun as the two males with her continued to hold the man between them. That only seemed to piss off a few of the adults, who ignored the female and jumped into action.

  What happened next, Kiri would relive as a nightmare. The female Atres raised her gun and took aim at the first man who tried to run past her and fired. He instantly turned to ash as the red beam of light hit him. More shots were fired as all hell broke loose.

  Kiri nocked an arrow, but kept her bow pointed at the ground. She hurriedly studied the action and stepped closer, looking for an opportunity to help. She opened her mouth to scream at her mom. One of the male Atres had let go of their captive and had pulled his gun and aimed it at her mother. As if in slow motion, Kiri screame
d and brought up her bow. She loosed her arrow as the Atres pulled the trigger. It hit him square on the left side of his chest, and he collapsed. Her shot was too late, though. With horror, she helplessly watched the red beam of light reach her mom just as she turned toward Kiri. And like that, her mother was ash.

  Kiri let out a cry of pain and anger. She reached behind her back for another arrow, nocked it to her bow, and took aim at the female Atres. She didn’t hesitate. She let loose, taking her down. In quick succession, she nocked, aimed, and fired once more, taking out the remaining male. All three were dead.

  She ran to the pile of ash that had been her mother minutes before. Kiri sank to her knees beside it. Her eyes blurred with tears as she softly said, “Mom.”

  Kiri slowly lifted her head and looked around. All the adults stared at her. Some gave her looks of pity while others wore expressions of shock. She ignored them all and turned back to what remained of her mother.

  A hand landed on Kiri’s shoulder. She looked up to find Meg at her side. “Go home, Kiri. I’ll make sure your arrows are returned to you.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t leave her here on the sidewalk.”

  “I’ll take care of her. I’ll put her ashes in something and bring them to you.” Meg pulled Kiri to her feet.

  One of the adults approached. He lived a couple of doors down from Kiri’s house. “I’ll help her,” he said. “And we’ll clean this up. You don’t need to be here for that.” He squeezed her other shoulder. “You saved us all. If not for you, I’m sure the Atres warriors wouldn’t have hesitated to kill every one of us.”

  There it was again. Her being called a savior. Except this time, she’d lost so much. If only she’d acted sooner. Her mother could very well still be alive. She’d waited too long. She hadn’t followed Cax’s rule of don’t think, just do when the three Atres had dragged that man out of his house. She had to be as ruthless as they were if she wanted to have a chance at beating them.

  Kiri slowly pulled herself to her feet and slung her bow onto her back. She wiped away her tears as a coldness settled over her. She looked at Meg. “I’m not going home yet. I’ll take back my arrows. If you can find me something, I’ll collect my mom’s ashes, then I’ll go.”

  “Kiri—”

  She cut her friend off. “No, Meg. I’m doing it. I have to do it.”

  A woman walked over to them. She held a fancy metal square tin box like one you’d buy cookies in. She also had a brush from a dustpan. “Let me do this for you,” she said as she glanced at Kiri’s mother’s ashes. “You saved my husband. This is the least I can do to repay you.”

  Kiri looked at the woman’s kind, tear-streaked face. “All right.”

  As the woman bent to do as she’d said, Kiri walked to the first dead Atres. She bent and pulled out her arrow with a hard tug. Feeling nothing, she picked up the fallen alien gun, aimed it at the warrior, and pulled the trigger. That accomplished, she threw it at the closest adult, who caught it. She repeated the process twice more, each time giving the gun to one of the adults after she was finished.

  After she had the tin with her mother’s ashes securely tucked under one arm and the bloodied arrows held in her other hand, Kiri left the scene that marked the life she’d known up until that moment as over.

  Chapter 6

  Kiri lifted her head off her pillow and squinted at the bright sunlight that shone into her bedroom through the open curtains. It took her a few seconds to figure out what had woken her up. Someone had knocked on the front door. She dragged herself from her bed as the knocking turned into pounding.

  “Okay, okay,” she said hoarsely.

  She looked down at herself. She still wore the clothes from last night. Kiri had come home, put the tin with her mom’s ashes on the kitchen table, cleaned the bloodied arrows, headed upstairs, and fallen onto her bed. Surprisingly, she’d gone to sleep in a matter of seconds, not to awaken until now.

  The pounding grew louder. Kiri left her room and went downstairs to see who was outside. Her head hurt, and the loud banging wasn’t making it any better.

  She unlocked the front door before she pulled it open. Meg stood on her porch. Without saying a word, Kiri stepped back and allowed her friend to come inside. She closed the door once she had.

  “How are you doing?” Meg asked.

  Kiri shrugged. “Fine. I was sleeping until you woke me up.”

  Meg looked around before she said, “Now that you’re alone, my mom wants you to move in with us.”

  “No.”

  “Kiri, you’ve lost your parents. You can’t stay here by yourself.”

  “Why not? I’m eighteen. Considered an adult.”

  “What are you going to do about money? Food? Stuff like that?”

  “My parents had a bit of a savings. My mom gave me all the information for their bank accounts.”

  Meg sighed. “You’re holding it together better than I would if I were in your situation. I wish you’d reconsider coming to live with my family.”

  Kiri shook her head. “No. I want to stay by myself. You can tell the others that I won’t be patrolling with them anymore.”

  “Why? I thought you’d want to do more after what happened last night.”

  “I’m going to, but not what any of the adults will approve of.”

  “Kiri, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going hunting. I’m going to make the Atres hurt. I won’t stand by and let them do whatever they want. And no more hiding. I’ll hunt them at night. If I find any, I’m going to make it so they’re brought down.”

  “You mean kill them.”

  “Not necessarily. I’ll kill the ones who are attacking humans, but the others, I’ll hurt enough to incapacitate them. They won’t be able to walk when I’m done with them. A few well-aimed arrows will take care of that, or I’ll fight them hand-to-hand if I have to get that close.” Kiri’s voice was hard as she spoke, the anger she felt from her mother’s death slowly rising to the surface.

  “You’ll be putting a target on your back.”

  “I don’t care. And you can tell the adults if you want. It won’t change anything. I’m going to lie low for a week, then I’ll start hunting. I have to hit the sporting goods store to buy more arrows, anyway. I’ll need them since I’ll be leaving them behind in the Atres who happen to get in my way.”

  Meg gave her a quick hug. “You be careful. And I will tell the adults. Not so they’ll stop you. Just so they know what you’re planning.”

  “Do whatever you feel you have to.”

  Meg left, and Kiri headed to the kitchen. The sight of the tin with her mother’s ashes on the table had her steps slowing. The image of her mom being hit with the light beam from the alien’s gun replayed in her mind. It brought a lump to her throat and made her eyes burn as tears threatened to rise. She shoved them back. She couldn’t let herself break down. She had to be strong.

  Kiri sat at the table and stared at the tin. Hatred for the Atres pulsed through her. She’d leave a message for them. One that would tell them that not all humans would let them walk all over them. And she’d use the skills Cax had given her.

  The thought of him didn’t cool her anger. He was Atres. He knew what his people were. What he was. And he had to have known they’d be coming to Earth to take it over. He should have told her. Kiri had no idea what she would have done with that information, but she would have tried something to give the people on her planet a warning of what was headed their way. He’d taken that option from her by keeping it a secret.

  * * * *

  A week had passed since Kiri’s mother had been killed. Kiri had spent the majority of that time in her house. Alone. Meg had stopped by, sometimes bringing some food her mom had cooked. And she wasn’t the only one. At least one of the adults who were part of the neighborhood alien watch group would come to check up on her every day. None of them said a word about how she planned to spend h
er nights in the very near future. Either Meg hadn’t told them or they just wanted to avoid the subject altogether.

  Kiri had productively used the seven days to work out a plan on how she wanted to hunt the Atres. She’d be out on the streets as soon as it was completely dark. She’d continue to dress all in black as she had when she’d patrolled, but she’d have to somehow come up with something to hide her face. She didn’t want to be recognized during the day. She’d thought of wearing a mask, but it was too superhero-ish for her. A hood would only block a lot of her peripheral vision, and that wouldn’t be a good thing. That left using camouflage face paint. Luckily, her father had bought some for Halloween the year before when he’d dressed up as a solider for some party her parents had gone to.

  It was the afternoon of the night Kiri would hunt Atres for the first time. Someone knocked on her door. She figured it was Meg, coming to check on her. Much to her surprise it was the ex-police officer, Andy, who lived in the neighborhood. He held a duffel bag and smiled.

  “Hi, Andy. I didn’t know you’d be coming.”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Kiri stepped back, and Andy came inside. He shut the front door behind him. She brought him to the living room. She sat on the couch, and he went to the armchair kitty-corner from it and took a seat, placing the duffel bag on the floor next to his feet.

  She looked at Andy. He was a big man, well over six feet, and still had a very muscular build for a guy who had to be at least fifty. He wore his dark hair close-cropped. His brown eyes didn’t seem to miss anything. The reason the patrolling had been so organized was because of him. He’d taken on the role of leadership, and everyone had agreed that he had the most experience out of any of them since he’d been a cop before the aliens had arrived.

  “So, what can I do for you?” Kiri asked as the silence stretched out.