Scorched Flesh

by Ian Woodhead

  The adrenalin had well and truly left me by the time I caught up with Ingrid. The look of fury on her face had left her too. I leaned back against the earth wall, and closed my eyes, wondering if spent emotions had souls. Ingrid rested her head on my shoulder, and squeezed my fingers. I squeezed back, enjoying her company almost as much as I welcomed the darkness.

  “We don’t have much time left you know, Travis.”

  I nodded. She meant the alien patrols would be coming back. They never left their old tunnels unguarded for more than a few days. Luckily, at least for us, their returns were as predictable as clockwork. By the time the Black Sentinels resumed their scuttling, we’d be long gone, making sure we left no evidence of our temporary stay behind for them to pick up.

  “Walter would have killed me, Ingrid.” I opened my eyes, and ran my fingers through her hair. The sensation brought back the memory of doing the same to Mark’s sister, all those years ago. Only her hair smelled like apple blossom, and my fingers glided through the strands. Ingrid’s hair, like the rest of us in the unit, was full of dust, dirt, grit, and grease. She might still be alive, my mother might still be alive as well. I thought of my girlfriend, the one who I’d cheated on, and realised that I couldn’t remember what she looked like anymore.”

  “Don’t cry, Travis. You did the right thing. You always do the right thing.”

  Her words only made the tears flow faster. “I think I’ve lost my focus, Ingrid. I think I’m going to end up like Walter.” I stopped stroking her hair. “I think we are all going to go down that route.” I heard something clang against the hatch. The mental picture of three of those things tearing Walter apart bulldozed into my head. Their heads were still human. I saw my mother, Mark’s sister, then the last one turned around, and for the first time in years, I finally saw the face of my old girlfriend. She opened her mouth impossibly wide, and bit into Walter’s screaming face.

  “Come on, you,” she said, dragging me away. “What you need right now is wild sex. I see no other medication.”

  The end of book one.

  Thank you for reading.

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