by Ernest Filak
In the middle of a square a few hundred office workers from the nearby blocks were gathered. The Devourers circled around them with whirling blades, forcing them to stay in place. Right next to them a larger machine landed. When the dust settled, we saw the shoveling arms protruding from its frontal part. Soon the machine headed toward the panicking crowd. The bloody harvest began.
I wanted to turn my head but Ingrid had something else in mind.
“Look there!” she pointed to one of the oval spaceships.
From the ramp a specimen taller than the other Aliens walked down. Three spiky outgrowths protruded from his back. Surrounded by the rest of his squad, he walked up to the pile of severed heads. He leaned over it and began sorting through them, tossing aside the ones that did not satisfy him. He finally decided on three heads and holding them by their long hair admired the bloody faces. They were all women, and even from the large distance we were at I could see they were particularly attractive. They looked as if they were taken straight from a fashion show.
The creature lifted them up and impaled each one of them on the three spikes on his back. He moved his back to the sides, observing the flowing of the thick long hair. Content, he motioned to the others to look for their own ornaments.
This was not the worst thing, though. I remembered what came next until the end of my life. First one of them and then the other ones opened their eyes, as if they had got their lives back. They started screaming, although I couldn’t make out the words, just saw the movement of the lips and eyeballs. After the initial reaction full of panic, their faces soon expressed serenity and even a shadow of a smile. Like a junkie who had just got a strong dose of drug.
The head of the attractive brunette turned around looking for something. Then she looked straight at us. I felt a tightening I my head, accompanied by Ingrid’s swearwords. The monster in charge of the Devourers turned our way. We have been discovered.
The Praetorian shot from his hip. The brunette’s head exploded like a melon. The Alien didn’t even budge.
“Until next time,” the soldier turned around and pulled me behind him.
