The Mate of A Monster

Gasping for air like a fish out of water, Dianne fell from sleep into pain. Her widely open and locked on the ceiling beams above her. She struggled for air. An invisible force pressed down against her ribs, the unseen weight of a full-grown horse crouching on her.

With lips as dry as the grand canyon , with eyes closed she counted to ten, and musterd the will to force her lungs to expand, contract, and expand again. Next, she worked to uncurl her cramping fingers-knowing it wouldn't be long before they grew twisted, muscles twisting tight until each digit locked into place.

Waking in such misery could only signify one thing.

She didn't have much time.

Dianne had to hide. She had to get out of her bed, ignore the spreading fire shooting through each nerve, and find a place to suffer alone before they found her.

The horrors that haunted her dreams every eve of their arrival were nothing. The pain clawing through muscles and bones the closer they came was nothing. The feeling of being hunted, of hairs rising on the back of her neck, didn't matter.

The deep-seated shame of what would happen should the hated ones find her... mattered greatly.

Dianne would rather die. She could never accept their eyes on her, their hands.

Alphas...

Alphas approached. Close enough now that she couldn't waste a precious second.

Time after time they infected her settlement-to look over their property, to drag away friends and loved ones who were never seen again. All settlers understood survival required a show of respect to the ruling invaders.

Never look them in the eye.

Should a foreign soldier approach, settlers were expected to go to their knees and prostrate themselves for inspection.

Never speak unless spoken to.

Those who argued, or fought...were made examples of.

Dianne had seen unspeakable things: whippings, brandings, executions.

They took whomever they wished. Older children, younger men and women-those the settlement needed most. They tore families apart. Screams of mercy were a common song on the days the Alphas came to play.

Some even grew numb to it. Some looked away.

Others, like her, spent their years plagued by nightmares and regret. You could hear it in the settlement after dark, the hum of sad moans, the creak of neighbors tossing and turning as sweat soaked through their threadbare sheets.

Everyone carried the stain that the Alphas brought.

Her personal pain was the undying memory of her older cousin-how hard he had fought when massive soldiers seized him. She had been a frightened child of eight. The boy, her hero, had been only thirteen.

The last time she saw him he was calling for his mother, blood dripping from a broken nose he had sustained in the fight against the soldiers. It took two of the soldiers to cart him away.

Dianne's aunt had been held down by her own people when she'd tried to intervene. The settlers didn't do it to be crul. They had done it to save her life.

Endless, awful months followed where her aunt wept for her stolen son. No amount of compensation had eased the woman's despair. What was money when one's only child was gone? When she knew she would never see him again?

If the Alphas marked you, there was no return. Ever.

No one knew what became of those they took, and any who dared to ask were silenced. Her aunt had been unable to hold her tongue the next year the Alpha invaders returned. Begging for news, the woman had run to the first soldier she'd found. He threw her off. She ran to another. As the story goes, it was the fifth, less patient brute who'd cut out her tongue.

No son, no way to communicate... it was less than a year before she took her own life. Dianne would never let such suffering befall her mother. And there was one sure way to prevent it-she'd not let the beasts set eyes upon her since that morning they'd found her mother's sister hanging from the rafters of her own humble cottage. Not when something in her gut warned that she would be taken next. Terrible dreams and pain strong enough to freeze her muscles always came as warning that Alpha arrival was imminent. A blessing and a curse she dared not share. A secret of such magnitude... an unexplainable alarm that could fortell of their arrival? Should the Alphas learn of it, and find the settlement empty? Everyone would be hunted and punished... and she would be executed for insubordination. No matter what she had to endure, she would never leave her mother deserted and alone.

No matter the pain or sickness or fear that descended with their ships. Year after year, Dianne had bested it. She had carried her secret into the woods and would do so again. Yet that morning, her body was a twisting ball of pain, and she was almost unable to move. Groaning, Dainne threw her legs over the side of the bed. Supported against the bed, it took three tries before she was able to lift her torso. The movement of pitching forward sent each limb into a spasm, leaving the girl falling into a chaotic pile on the ground. Fresh rushes covered up the thump of her collapse, but Dianne tossed a frightened look to where her mother softly snored nearby. Her graceless landing hadn't disturbed the woman's sleep, but the rising pained scream trying to rip its way out of Dianne's chest would.

Biting her tongue as the fresh wave of hellish fire churned her guts into knotted agony, Dianne forced herself to be still and silent. Her mother slept on, rolling over to snore louder.

Blood-laced spittle dropped from the corner of Dianne's mouth when she parted her teeth and tried to breath in.

It was essential not to wake her mother, but by the spirits, she had to get out of their cottage before she gave herself away.

That way, the woman would not have to lie if questioned. That way, the responsibility would be squarely on Dianne's shoulders if her failiure to comply was ever uncovered.

As if she too understood that some things were better left unsaid, after all these years, her mother had never questioned why Dianne was conveniently gone when Alphas stole through the settlement-had no suspicion that pain warned her child of the invasion.

It was Dianne's great shame to bear-for every time she fled, others were taken who might have found refuge if they'd only known to hide. But if she were to warn her neighbors, she would be exposed. Others would know there was something wrong with her, that she was a lawbreaker, and she knew in her heart that should an Alpha lay eyes on her...they would ruin her. With her only aunt dead, her mother would be alone with no other family to comfort her.

If Dianne were taken, who would know how to find toxic hicklim berries to make the lovely green-dyed fabric her mother was known for sewing? Who would collect eggs and pluck the chickens? How would her mother survive alone? Dianne would bite her own arm off if it meant keeping the woman safe.

Boiling fever and excruciating pain? Dianne deserved them for keeping her secrets. The good woman snoring in the corner did not.

A wave of nausea curled Dianne's tongue into a bowl. Gagging, she convulsed, watched the room go darker and darker, and was moments away from losing consciousness right there on the floor. The males were coming closer. There was no time to waste.

Arms heavier than stone pushed a disloyal body to stand on shaky legs. Biting back another scream, she grabbed the first garment she could reach. Fingers twisted by cramps grabbed the laces of the gown, leaving it hanging indecently off her shoulders. There would be no boots. She could hardly lift a foot to move forward, stumbling one dangerous step at a time until she reached the cottage's only door.

The latch was undone, her quiet retreat unnoticed in the gloomy morning hours.

Struggling for the nearest handhold, she braced against a neighbor's house to steady a body wracked with tremors and felt a trickle run down her thigh. She had wet herself. And she couldn't care less. Cold sweat and misty morning air did nothing to cool the fire crackling through flesh and bones.

Every bone in her body demanded that she just lay still and submit to her fate. How many more years could she crawl without screaming before a neighbor found her sobbing in a ditch? Already she'd chewed her tongue bloody, dug her fingernails into her palms until they bled. Anything it took to stay quiet. The Alphas were close, the shooting stars in the sky a sign they descended through the atmosphere and would touch down in mere minutes. They'd be storming through the village before the sun rose, and should she be unable to move, they would find her while ransacking the settlement, convulsing beside a mud-filled animal pen.

Pulling desperation around her like a comforting blanket, Dianne forced her body forward another step. It took her over an hour to stagger the short distance to the settlement's boundary, another hour to reach down the road to the nearest tree line.

No matter the wildlife, the forests were safe enough if one knew where to hide-safer by far than the massive warriors, with their vermilion armor, their weapons, and their cruelty. While the Alphas went shelter to shelter taking what they desired, Dianne would collapse beyond their notice. While they loot, she'd suffer alone. She'd suffer a thousand days of pain for her mother. She'd suffer the guilt of watching other families grieve their stolen children upon her return. And once the sun set, their ships bursting with stolen people and goods, the Alphas would have no reason to stay. They would leave. They always did. And her pain would end as it always did. Dianne only had to stay unseen for one day. But freedom wouldn't count if she were found struggling on the road.

A sharp turn to the right, and the grass' morning damp began to weigh down her dragging skirts. Fabric caught on her ankles and sent her sprawling against a dogwood tree. Ten paces from the stone path, she lay unable to move a single step further. Under her body, the ground was mud, soggy with fresh water from the stream just out of reach. One sip, a mouthful of sweetness, she craved it more than life. But she could not move no matter how she tried. Curled upon herself, the crackling pain traveled through bone and organs. Crying against the dirt, time lost all meaning-an eternity of fire in the center of the ugliest hell. For hours she lay, cold and ill, with her body's temprature rising and with rough roots digging into her spine. Hours lost in pain. And then the Alpha ships began to rise into the setting sun. One by one, dozens of vessels filled the sky and began to disappear beyond the atmosphere. With them went the source of her torment. Expanding her ribs in her first full breath since before the sun had risen, she twitched her fingers, then her toe arms, legs, all movement slowly began to return. Damp with sour sweat, caked in drying mud, she crawled wild, unkempt, and exhausted toward the nearest source of comfort. Trickling water was taken by the mouthful. Hands and face rinsed clean of mud and crusted tears. There was nothing that could be done for her dress. Grass had stained it, sodden mud having smeared her mother's fine design. Throat burning as if it was dragged through sand, she told herself to get up. Stomach sloshing, nauseated, Dianne found her feet and let the tree at her back bear her weight until she might find the strength to walk home.With a weak smile, she said a prayer for forgiveness.

But did the spirits listen?