In a Galaxy, far, far away, there was a peaceful planet called Devia. On this planet lived a young man called Carl and his family.

This planet was invaded and overwhelmed in a surprisingly quick time by an army of sinister humanoid warriors. Leaving a devastated landscape and the civilisation in ruins, our young man is herded by the soldiers, with thousands of others, into an enormous transport ship. Men and women were segregated for an unknown, but ominous purpose.

With all other members of the family missing, believed killed, Carl and his mother have little time left together. On the urgings of his mother, he assumes the appearance of a girl in a vain attempt to remain with her.

The invaders seem to believe it...

but then the nightmare begins!

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The Legal Stuff: The Rats of Hell © 2009, 2010 Tanya Allan
 
This work is the property of the author, and the author retains full copyright, in relation to printed material, whether on paper or electronically. Any adaptation of the whole or part of the material for broadcast by radio, TV, or for stage plays or film, is the right of the author unless negotiated through legal contract. Permission is granted for it to be copied and read by individuals, and for no other purpose. Any commercial use by anyone other than the author is strictly prohibited, and may only be posted to free sites with the express permission of the author.
 
This work is fictitious, and any similarities to any persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental. Mention is made of persons in public life only for the purposes of realism, and for that reason alone. Certain licence is taken in respect of medical procedures, terms and conditions, and the author does not claim to be the fount of all knowledge.
 
The author accepts the right of the individual to hold his/her (or whatever) own political, religious and social views, and there is no intention to deliberately offend anyone. If you wish to take offence, that is your problem.
 
This is only a story, and it contains adult material, which includes sex and intimate descriptive details pertaining to genitalia. If this is likely to offend, then don’t read it.
 
Please enjoy.
Tanya
 
 

 
 
 
Chapter 4
 
 
It took Otto five days to rid himself of the drugs. The cord was a good idea, for on the day after our conversation, he came over all blank and every time we approached he became aggressive. I had to prod him with his own prod at one point when he looked as if he was about to do harm to Seth. But in the end, patience won through and Seth cut his bonds.

“We must free some more men,” Otto said, as he massaged feeling back into his limbs.

“Easier said than done, they don’t exactly walk about waiting to be rescued,” I said.

“I’m still worried about what happened last time. I wonder what steps were taken when they discovered the dead mix-breed,” Seth said.

“Given it was the first time anything like that happened, what can they do? There’s no evidence of your presence,” said Otto.

“All the more reason to keep a low profile.”

“I still don’t know how you managed to get caught?”

Seth looked at me.

“I was careless. I’d collected the flares, but then I remembered that you wanted to know how to get up to the drugs supply area. I was looking for a way up when the mix-breed found me. Otto here was with him, as they were bringing some more stuff to the stores. I tell you, Carla, that thing could move!”

“Fast?”

“Very. I thought I could give them the slip, but the bastard had me and Otto gave me a prod. The next thing I know, you’d killed the Mix-breed and Otto was out cold.”

“Imagine the chaos if the whole barracks came off the drugs,” I said.

“Too obvious, as they’d check the supply and find where we’d been. Then they’d work out they’ve got rats and bring in the exterminators.”

“No more obvious than killing a mix-breed and stealing a soldier.”

“It’s the scale. One soldier is no loss, thousands is a concern, besides, it’s taken too long to wean Otto off that stuff.”

“There is another way,” said Otto, who’d been quiet during our exchange.

“Go on, sergeant.”

“I have a uniform, so maybe I could go in and see if I can secure the release of one man at a time.”

I reached out and took hold of his wrist, turning it up. We all looked at the barcode etched thereon.

“They’ll know you were the one who went missing and may have something to do with the death of the alien. You can’t go, it’s too dangerous. If you’re taken, we’re back where we started.”

Otto looked at me with something strange in his eyes, but the moment was lost when Seth started to chuckle.

“I agree with Carla. We can’t risk losing you back to them. You know too much and could betray us unwittingly.”

“We go and seek out lone soldiers, but outside.”

Seth looked daggers at me.

“Look, Seth, I know you aren’t keen on the outside, but it has to be the only way. The aliens don’t like sunlight, so the only way to be sure they aren’t around is to take them outside.”

“What about cameras?” Otto asked.

“They have never needed security arrangements, so why bother. I’ve never seen any. Reluctantly, I have to agree with Carla again, it makes sense, despite making us vulnerable.”

“There is an alternative,” I said, suddenly having an idea.

“What?”

“We’ve been so determined to take soldiers, aren’t we forgetting something?”

Both men looked at me blankly.

“The women. Many are soldiers, despite their current predicament. Now, I have yet to see their conditions, but if the aliens want to breed, surely harmful toxins in the drugs will mean some other method of containment?”

Seth looked darkly at me once more. I knew he’d not taken me to see the girls for a reason.

“You wouldn’t like it. They’re penned in; the drugs are less, just enough to make them docile.”

“Would it be easy to take one?” Otto asked.

Seth shrugged. “Easy, yes, but what will we do with an unfortunate girl that’s expecting a monster’s child?”

“Give her some hope where there isn’t any?” I said, making both men look embarrassed.

“I had some good women in my unit,” Otto remarked, but then realised how that sounded. “I mean, they were good soldiers.”

Seth smiled. “I’ve got a darned good one in mine,” he said, making me blush again.

“Okay, we go take a look at the women, agreed?” Seth said.

“Agreed.”

“I hate to be a party-pooper, but we need more supplies,” I announced.

Otto realised quite quickly that he was the only regular professional soldier in the group, but he made no bones about it. He acknowledged that Seth’s experience and knowledge was greater, while I was just me. He held me in certain awe just because I didn’t kill him when I could have done and saved him instead.
 
 
Our foraging was more effective with three of us. I would keep watch while the other two sought what they needed. I was right about the soldier finding the stores exciting. Poor Otto almost had an orgasm when he saw the racks of weapons.

Otto re-equipped us with what he considered to be the best of the best. We had to be lightly armoured and armed, capable of fast retreat and agility down the tunnels. He looked very much at home with familiar weaponry. We also took the opportunity to move lairs. We found a better chamber closer to the stores and other supplies. It was down a level, but more secure and easier to evacuate with five different escape routes.

I still had my pistol, but Otto insisted I carry a slightly larger gun of a similar type that had greater firepower. Once again, I was stripping the thing with my eyes closed, but I had yet to fire a shot in anger.

Announcing that we were ready to move across to the women’s sector, Seth seemed unusually down. I went over to him.

“What’s bothering you?”

Looking at Otto, he shrugged. “I guess I feel I’m losing control. Don’t mind me, I like company, but I’m not sure about the change in routine.”

“You still saved my life, I’ll never forget that.”

“Carla, you’ve paid me back ten times, you know that.”

“Come on, old man, I’ll race you!”
 
 
It was a long way to the women’s sector. We went down several levels, where we were dripped on virtually perpetually. Pools of water were everywhere and the smells were ripe. Real rats or similar vermin scurried amongst the pipes and piles of rotting matter as we passed. Seth led us along a very long tunnel before starting to climb again.

“I’ve only been here the once,” Seth admitted, as we squeezed through a narrow gap. “I didn’t like what I found so I never came back. It’s not a nice place.”

When we finally reached a drier level, he announced that we were close.

“They’re kept in cells, more like pens, really, as there are bars all around, so there’s no privacy. The men sleep in long dormitories, these are similar, but they are separated by the bars.”

“Why?”

“I guess they don’t want them assisting in the abortion of others.”

It made sense, for if they were more aware than the men, they’d know they were carrying hybrids inside their wombs.

“I’d want to abort,” I heard myself say. I had come to terms with being female now. Certainly, both men were competing to be nicer to me, and I found I liked the attention.

Seth slithered along a beam on his belly so we followed, with Otto taking up the rear.

Slowly, Seth removed a panel in the floor, so I found myself looking down at a dormitory the size of a football pitch, separated into eight foot by five foot cells. There were narrow walkways between the lines of cells and they were divided into banks of ten, with cross-over walkways every ten cells. There must have been a thousand cells in this one chamber, and the smell was awful.

Each cell had a bed, a crude toilet, a drinking fountain and a food slot. There was an almost constant wail of anguish from the girls and women. Some were sobbing, while some were silent, staring in shock at the end of the bed or their feet.

“How many are there?” I asked, totally appalled.

“There are at least ten of these vast rooms, with over a thousand in each room. Who knows how many other places like these may be in other parts of the planet.”

Otto was staring at the awful sight that stretched out below us. All the women had swollen bellies, showing that all were in the latter part of pregnancy.

“This is simply awful!” I said, still shocked.

“These are near full term, if we want those who’ve just been impregnated, we’ll have to move east,” Seth said, replacing the ceiling tile.
 
 
We made our way down to the floor level of these terrible places, so I found myself looking through a ventilation grille at people’s feet. Adjacent to us was a walkway between the cells. The girls here were more active and didn’t even appear pregnant.

As we watched, a pair of white-clad men appeared with a girl who was struggling. A soldier in red armour held her arms, but despite her struggles and crying, he seemed completely oblivious to her plight.

“Bastards! You let me go, you’ve got no right to do this to me! Bastards!” she was screaming in Anglic and doing her best to free herself from the soldier’s grip.

The small group stopped, while one of the men in white used a metal disk to open the lock on the cell door. They stood back as the girl was literally thrown onto the bed. The door closed with a clang and the three men left without a backward glance.

The girl lay sobbing on the bed. The woman in the adjoining cell was older, so she came over and peered at the sobbing newcomer.

“I fought them at first, but it don’t do no good,” she told the younger woman. “Just eat the food and keep quiet, they don’t give a toss if you scream, but the rest of us do.”
 
 
We moved back from the grille.

“The key is a simple magnetic fob. If we could get one of them, we’ll be able to free any of them we wanted to,” Otto said.

“If we free too many, we’ll draw attention to ourselves. It has to be one at a time, and in no set pattern,” Seth observed.

“I still think we should cut the drug pipe to the men. We could move out and see what happens.”

“If they find out, they’ll be wary of another attempt and make life harder for us. There will come a time for that, but not until we have distracted them.”

Otto was thinking and he looked very angry.

“How can they do this to people?” he asked, after a while.

Neither Seth nor I could say anything, as we were both equally shocked. Otto was shaking his head and he was almost in tears.

“My people originally came from a country in Europe called Germany. We still speak the language of that country. To our shame, many centuries ago, Germany had a leader called Hitler. He hated another group of people called Jews, for no other reason than they were slightly different. He and his followers tried to kill all the Jews in Europe. First, he invaded other countries, then, he had them rounded up and shipped to great camps where he gassed them and burned their bodies. In some camps they tried experiments on the Jewish men, women and even children.

“Lots of countries got together and fought the Germans, even though no one knew for certain what was happening at the time. When the Germans lost, the horrible truth was discovered and everyone agreed to fight such terrible things whenever it was found to be happening. I owe it to my people who are prisoners here, and to my forefathers, to fight these monsters.”

“We need a plan,” said Seth, quietly.
 
 
The red clad soldier clumped down the corridor behind two science techs. He marched fifteen paces behind the two men in white coveralls, neither he nor the pair in front showed any awareness of each other.

The techs came to a locked door, so one of them used a fob to open it. They passed through, leaving the door open for the soldier, neither looked back at him. There was a slight delay before the soldier passed through the door, closing it to within an inch of being shut completely. As he did so, Otto looked back at us, as we dragged the unconscious original soldier through the grille from which we’d tripped him and knocked him out with the prod. He gave a small wave and then tramped after the two techs. He looked the part, but I felt nervous seeing him disappear wearing the hated red enemy uniform.

Having first stripped him of his armour, it took the pair of us ten minutes to take our captive to the chamber we’d prepared, where we tied him firmly to his improvised seat. It was a home-made commode, as we had learned from Otto how regular these men were.

“Right, now we have to get to point B,” said Seth, as we ran down the tunnel to our next rendezvous.

Otto was hopefully escorting the latest poor girl from the cells to the fertilisation room. We’d been watching them for days, and so now had their routine firmly fixed in our minds. The techs went to the barracks, collected a soldier and then made their way to the preparation chamber. An endless stream of new girls were in a line and they were impregnating ten every twenty minutes. Two techs and one soldier arrived every two minutes and took a girl to the next available cell. They didn’t even stop at night, for the routine was continuous.
 
 
I was sweating when we finally arrived at the grille we’d first seen the girls at floor level.

“Next one down,” Seth muttered and we clambered over the pipes to reach the next grille.

As Seth unscrewed the grille from the inside, I lay and caught my breath. The last week had been a flurry of activity for the small team, as we finally agreed a plan that looked as if it could work and succeed in releasing one soldier and one girl.
I didn’t like the risk that Otto was taking, and had said so.

He’d looked me in the eye and said, “Carla, sometime we have to risk a little to save a lot.”

I’d grumbled but was out-voted.

“Here they come, ready?” Seth asked. I nodded.

I heard Otto first, as his heavy boots made a distinctive clumping sound on the metal floors. Then I saw the legs of the two techs as they passed us, followed by the naked legs of the poor girl and the red armour of Otto. We’d scratched two crosses on his shin-guards, so we could see it was him.

The girl had long red hair, but wasn’t struggling like the last girl we’d seen. She was whimpering, but making no attempt to resist the firm grasp of the soldier.

The techs opened the cage door and stepped back. They were already turning away as Otto placed the girl on the fertilisation table. They were walking back to the main door as Otto pretended to shut the door and started to follow.
 
 
Once their feet passed our position, Seth slipped out first, with me closely following. Seth turned after the techs and Otto, while I turned the other way and opened the door. There was a brief zapping noise as the two techs were taken out, which I didn’t turn round to watch.

I grabbed the sobbing girl and pulled her out of the room. She followed, but had a glazed expression on her face.She started to resist, so I hissed at her, “Follow me if you want to live!”

I reached the grille as the two techs were being bundled through. I frowned, as this wasn’t part of the plan. We were going to take the key and leave them.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Otto grinned at me. “Change of plan.”

“I can see that,” I hissed, “Why?”

He shrugged. “Seemed a good idea at the time.”

We now had three to get to safety. I took the girl, who was becoming increasingly unnerved and was starting to resist me.

“Look, stop fighting me. I’m Carla and I’m your last hope so come on, stop fighting me!”

“Carla?” she said, oddly.

“Yes, Carla. I’m in the resistance, so shut up and come with me.”

Numbly, she followed me. I could hear the other two cursing and swearing as they carried the two unconscious techs along the obstacle-strewn passages. Otto was sweating in his heavy armour, so I thought it served him right.

We’d prepared a place for the girl, but not the two techs. I sat with her while the two men made a makeshift gaol for our two unexpected guests.

Once they were all settled, Seth and Otto went back to secure the route, in particular the grille we’d removed. I stayed with the girl, having given her some clothes. She sat shivering, staring at me.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Carla and myself and the others are part of the resistance.”

“What have they done to me?”

“What’s your name?” I asked, trying to work out how to tell her what could have been implanted into her womb, if we hadn't interceded.

“Shelley Francis.”

“Where are you from, Shelley?”

“Devia.”

I smiled. “Me too.”

“How did you escape?”

“Long story, they thought I was sterile, so they tried to kill me.”

She looked down at her abdomen and rested a hand on it. “Have they done what I think they’ve done?”

“No, if you’re thinking they’ve impregnated you. We got to you before they could.”

“What with?”

“I’m not sure, but the aliens are not able to reproduce for some reason, so they’re attempting to create hybrids.”

“Would it have killed me?” she asked, raising her head and looking at me. Suddenly I realised why they had to take humans against their will. The aliens were so much bigger than us, then the chance of surviving childbirth was less that poor.

“If we couldn’t manage to abort it,” I said, bluntly.

“How?”

“I’m not sure, but that's why we took you before they managed to do it.”

“I’m frightened, Carla, do you know if my family is all right?”

“I don’t. You and I are the only Devians that are free, so far.”

She looked round the shabby room.

“Where are we?”

“Deep underground. We’re like rats under their floor boards.”

“How long have you been here?”

I worked it out.

“Several weeks. I was saved just after I got here.”

“Did they try to impregnate you too?”

“I wasn’t fertile then. I’m just sixteen.”

She looked surprised. “You look older. I’m nineteen. How come you’re dressed as a soldier?”

“These are the only clothes I could get. Besides, I am one now, as you will be. We all have to be if we want to beat them. If you look, you’re dressed as one too.”

She looked down and appeared to just notice the combat fatigues I’d given her.

“I can’t fight, I’m a nurse.”

“You were a nurse, you mean, and you can fight, as you will have to. We all have to.”
 
 
Chapter 5
 
 
“Lieutenant, you’re up!” Otto whispered.

I nodded to Shelley, now with two stripes on her sleeve and her long red hair tied back. She was now a corporal, so ran a small squad. I nodded at the three others, who returned it briefly to me as I dropped as silently as possible down from the roof space into the corridor below. They followed me as I ran swiftly down the corridor with my weapon ready. I reached the first junction and stopped, crouching just past the four converging passageways.
The five of us waited, as hopefully it wouldn’t be long now. I took the time to reflect on the past months.

Using the tried and tested plan, we’d slowly managed to free thirty people, eight techs, eight girls and fourteen soldiers. None of the girls had been soldiers, but they were now. The techs had been medically trained, or had some scientific background. No one else was from Devia, so Shelley and I were the only two so far. Otto had managed to secure one other ex-Marine called Max, whom he knew vaguely. Our little band benefited from the soldiers’ experience, but, although it was known that I wasn’t a professional, Otto insisted that I retain the rank. It was during that discussion that I realised that I meant a little more to him than I had thought. I hadn’t told him of my unwitting gender conversion, and didn’t intend to either.

Seth was our natural leader, as he had by far the greatest knowledge of our surroundings. He also treated me like a daughter; so many times he’d find himself having to warn me of potential sexual intentions of the men.

I was more than aware of such attention, so for the first time in my short female life was sexually aware and beginning to appreciate being an attractive girl. However, Otto seemed to assume that I was his, and actually, I rather liked the feeling of safety that he exuded whenever I was close to him. He was instrumental in helping me come to terms with who I was.

For example, as my hair started to grow so long that it started to become a pain, he taught me how to braid it and keep it up.

“Why can’t I just cut it?” I asked, looking at his slight fuzz that was beginning to grow back.

“Because you look more attractive with long hair.”

“Otto, it’s a real pain. I can’t look after it properly. It makes sense to cut it short.”

“Sense in this place? You’re too pretty to be a soldier. You should be allowed to be the beautiful woman you are.”
 
 
This shut me up, as I was still sufficiently confused not to know how to deal with this, so much so that I started to cry.

“Hey, Carla, what’s up?”

“You wouldn’t understand!”

“Try me.”

“No, it’s me. Thanks for being nice, I’m sorry I’m so screwed up!”

“What did they do to you?”

“I can’t tell you,” I said, shaking my head.

Otto looked angry.

“Those bastards, I’ll….”

I put a hand on his arm.

“What’s done is done. I’m okay now, one day, I might even tell you.”

Seth was the only one who knew the truth, and I was happy for that to remain the case. Otto sensed I had been damaged somehow, so would often try to pump Seth as to what it was. Seth let him assume I’d been injured and discarded, never intimating any semblance of the truth of what I’d been. To be honest, I was actually so used to being a girl that I had almost forgotten life before the invasion. Carl was all but forgotten. I found that as long as I didn’t think about that life, then I was able to think reasonably straight. However, if I did think about the old days, I’d end up crying and that didn’t help anyone.

One of the techs was Gustav Holst, from DeGraaf’s planet. He had been an eminent surgeon and physician. With his help, the techs managed to induce safe abortions for the girls who had already been impregnated. Shelley, grateful to have been spared that treat, was seconded to act as chief nurse and post-traumatic supporter, and I helped, which was fun…not!

They showed us the foetus from the most advanced girl. It was not human, although one could see elements of humanity in the poor wee mite. It was considerably larger than a normal human baby, so, at full term, would be more than likely to cause massive trauma if not death to its surrogate mother. Natural childbirth was out, as Caesarean would be the safest option, but probably not an option for these aliens unless it meant a live child.

We split into two teams; the HQ team, which consisted of the techs and four of the girls. Their tasks were to identify the drug being given to the captives and work out a way of neutralising it; then they were to develop a mapping system so we could actually find our way about more easily.

The other team was the active unit. I was nominally in charge, but I had all the soldiers and the other four girls, so I looked to Otto for assistance in making strategic and military decisions. Otto took on my training as a personal quest. He felt that as I wore the uniform, I ought to at least have the basics. As a seasoned NCO, he had the usual jaundiced view of all officers; however, he obviously had a vested interest in my development. He’d made his interest in me very plain, which at the same time both scared me and strangely pleased me.
 
 
We seemed to spend all our spare time together, supposedly with him teaching me everything he knew. He did know an awful lot, but we seemed to spend much of the time teasing each other and laughing a good deal.

It didn’t start that way, as we’d both lost a lot. He was more philosophical than I, for he found that, as a soldier, death and loss was part of the whole job. I shared a little about my family, so he told me to try to forget the past, as the future was what was important now.

“You have to realise that we’re your family now.”

Then he’d tease me, so I started to tease him back. Our relationship was like a brother and sister, but then perhaps I was kidding myself. I often caught him looking at me in a way that no brother should ever look at his sister.

Our team’s tasks were to ensure the security of the whole force, to train our unit, and to secure the release of as many captives at a pace that the HQ team could deal with.

One of the first tasks had been to move from our lair again, as once we passed eight persons we outstripped the facilities. We found a new lair against an outside wall, which, with some sweat and effort, we managed to breach, so, despite the barren nature of the landscape, it was wonderful to feel sun on one’s face again.

Hylios had, at one time, been well known as a beautifully gentle, farmers’ paradise. Now, however, it was a bleak and barren wasteland. However, I noticed that green shoots were beginning to peek above the charred surface, promising to regenerate the planet once more, given the opportunity.

Outside, during the day, was the one place we felt reasonably safe, for everything seemed to take place inside the massive domed and darkened structures. I hadn’t realised that they were domed, not until we took our first look outside.
 
 
On a reconnoitre, one of our patrols found a crude defence bunker that had been abandoned by the human defenders against the red horde. Inside we found an ideal command bunker along with fresh water and all the facilities to house a small garrison. It took us three days to move in and make it our own. Not that far from our new base was the remains of a zoo. Some of the buildings still stood, the previous occupants either long dead or enjoying life in the wild.

A sound to my front brought my mind back to the task at hand. I raised my hand and signalled to the others. I knew without looking that they melted into the shadows. The corridor was in darkness as was the norm. We all wore night vision visors down, so could see as clear as day. I could hear the rhythmic tramping of marching feet, signifying a combat patrol of soldiers. These would all be equipped with similar night vision equipment to ours, as they were human. If a mix-breed accompanied them, then the lights would be kept down or off completely. Otherwise, the lights would come up automatically in whatever section they happened to be in at the specific time.

One disadvantage of securing the freedom of thirty people was that we’d brought ourselves to the enemy’s attention. I guessed that we’d done that when I’d killed the Mix-breed, but being outside their realm of experience, they’d been unable to follow it up. Armed patrols now escorted the girls to and from the labs, while extermination squads using flame-throwers and gas were working their way through the ventilation system in the vain hope they’d locate and destroy us.

All doors now had new locks on them, and security alarms and devices were an added challenge. However, the place was too big for them to cover completely, so we were able to move quickly and almost silently whenever danger showed up. They’d located two of our previous lairs, but as yet we had yet to have a confrontation. We’d set traps involving flares and bright lights, just to take out any mixed-breeds, and sonic devices to disorientate any human soldiers. We were split over what we should do against the soldiers, as these could well be our own friends or relatives. Some were colleagues of Otto’s, so we didn’t want to kill them, but we had to ensure they weren’t capable of being put in the field against us again.

I noted that the enemy weren’t restricting their soldiers’ firepower to the stun weapons, as blasters and projectile weapons were now carried by those sent against us.
 
 
The patrol came round the corner, remaining in darkness. I could see the taller Mix-breed near the back of the group. Our task was to capture one of these beings alive. The problem with salvaging mind-wiped individuals was that there was no intelligence to be gleaned from them. Without exception, just as Otto, none had even the slightest memory of their life as a soldier or tech. For the girls, it was different. They had memories, but indistinct nightmarish ones at best. Most preferred not to remember, as the reality was little short of a true nightmare.

The patrol approached in a classic V formation, with the Mix-breed in the protected section in the centre rear. I glanced at Otto and nodded. He, together with six others, dressed in the familiar red armour, simply formed up and waited by the next intersection.

What happened next was a joy to behold. The patrol came round the corner, saw the other group silently standing there and halted, with the groups fifteen feet apart. As rehearsed, Otto’s group parted, allowing passage for the patrol. After a moment’s hesitation, the patrol set off again, without the slightest acknowledgement to the other group. As they passed, Otto’s men simply stunned all the soldiers, all ten of them, while Otto flashed a bright light directly at the Mix-Breed.

He crumpled, uttering a high-pitched wail and clawing at his eyes. Otto leaped in, manacled his wrists behind his back and chained his legs while he was semi-conscious. We’d seen these creatures in action, they were very strong and exceptionally fast, so we were taking no chances.

It took us minutes to strip the soldiers of their armour, giving the girls a few giggles, and then cart off our unconscious captives. We’d travelled for half a day to reach this point, so that if any investigation and seek to destroy operations were to be mounted, we’d be a long way away.

I remained behind with Otto and two of his men. The creature lay on the ground twitching. Otto had removed the dark glasses, revealing a very human face, but with a faintly bony brow that hinted of the other creature that sired him. Very slight protuberances just above the forehead displayed the vestiges of horns, but otherwise it was almost human — big, but human. One of the men removed its boots, revealing five toes on each foot with thick horny nails.

“Is it dead?” I asked.

“No, but he’ll have one hell of a headache for a while, and probably won’t be able to see worth a damn,” one of the soldiers said.

“How do they communicate, telepathy?” I asked, not seeing any coms equipment.

Otto looked at me and frowned.

“I hope not.”

“Best we get him away from here fast. Stick a bag over his head,” another soldier suggested.

“No, keep his eyes in relative light so then he’ll be weaker. If we give him relief in darkness, he’ll get better faster,” I said.

“The Lieutenant’s right, keep him in the light,” Otto said, smiling at me.
 
 
We’d prepared a cage for him, some way from our base of operations, and outside where natural light would keep him at a disadvantage. He started to resist and struggle long before we got there, but as soon as Otto showed him a flare and threatened to use it, he quietened down. At no time did he try to communicate with us, but he maintained an expression of disgusted superiority the whole time. If looks could kill we’d all be dead a thousand times!

We heard the sounds of another military patrol giving chase, so we hurried up, leaving three men to set some traps. We were certain that they wouldn’t risk another mix-breed, so these patrols were only manned by human mid-wiped soldiers, rendering individual thought and initiative as unlikely at worst, or impossible at best.

As a result, we heard a distant rumble of a sonic bomb and our three grinning comrades appeared, carrying two dazed red-clad soldiers, destined to become more of our troops in the statutory few days.

Actually, I’d been right about the telepathy, but that was in the pure-breeds. The Mix-breeds had some powers but not a patch on the real thing. Hampered by emotional disruption and simple distance, we’d been lucky. We found out by accident, as Roj, one of our techs, came from Albion, a planet with a strange natural radiation that caused minor ESP gifts to many of its inhabitants.

Roj was a minor telepath, so, as soon as we’d caged our beast, he’d come over to watch. I noticed he was sweating and appeared nervous.

“What’s up, Roj?”

“He's trying to call for help,” he told me.

Frowning, I turned and looked at the prisoner. He was rocking back and forth while sitting on the floor of his cage. With his arms over his eyes, no sound came from him.

“What?”

“He’s telepathic and is trying to call for help.”

I gave Otto a ‘told you so’ look.

“Can he get through?” Otto asked.

Roj shrugged. “I don’t think so. I can only just hear him, but one of the pure-breeds may be able to pick up his call.”

“Can we cloak it, or jam him somehow?” I asked.

Roj simply shrugged again. This was beyond all our experience.

We looked at our prize. Naked, he still looked impressive, although nearly seven feet tall, his muscular torso was in proportion to his height, unlike some humans, who can appear too slim for their height when they reach such sizes. He was very male, boasting equipment that would make most human males envious. I walked over to the bars. The sun was low in the sky, but it was still daylight and I could tell the light was causing his distress. He kept his eyes closed, with an arm across his face.

“Can you understand me?” I asked him.

There was no reaction to my words.

“Roj, can you communicate with him?”

“Possibly. What do you want me to say?

“First, can we communicate?”

Nothing was audible, but the creature looked up and squinted at Roj, who laughed with little humour.

“He’s just asked me how I want to die.”
 
 
We continued to try to gather information from him, but he wasn’t playing our game. I did notice that as he watched the shadows lengthening, he became bolder and more arrogant.

“Otto, can we get some floodlights brought up?” I said quietly.

He simply nodded and within a few minutes, two sweating soldiers arrived and set up two floodlights with a generator. The creature watched this with detached insolence until it became clear what the items were. His arrogance dissipated suddenly and he huddled at the bottom of his cage with both arms over his face, whimpering again, even before we’d switched it on.

“Ask him how many pure-breeds there are,” I said.

No response.

“Tell him to answer, or the lights go on.”

The creature whimpered again, burying his face in his arms. I nodded at the soldier by the generator. One pull, and the generator burst into life, the lights went on, flooding the cell with very bright light. The creature started to wail.

“Roj, tell him the lights will go off if he answers my questions.”

“He says you are barbaric to torture him like this.”

I felt the icy tendrils of anger well up and start to take me over.

“Barbaric? I’ll give you barbaric! Tell him that as far as I’m concerned, he and his whole race should be exterminated for the untold mass genocide he and his things have committed against mankind. For the horrors they are going to our girls and women every minute, and for what they’ve done to me. Barbaric! He hasn’t seen me barbaric!”

There was a lengthy period of silence.

“Well?” I asked.

“I think he’s thinking about it.”

“Then leave him to think. Keep the generators going.”

Otto looked uneasy.

“What?” I asked.

“He may not like lights, but his friends can’t help seeing us, we’re lit up like a Christmas tree.”

“Tough, we need him to talk. Just leave a man with them to turn them off if necessary.” I turned and walked off, hoping the others would follow. They did.

Half an hour later, we returned to the cage. The lights gave no quarter, bathing the creature and every inch in a white light. There was a foul smell.

“He’s shit himself,” the soldier explained with a grin.

Roj looked at me. I nodded.

“He says he’ll answer your questions if you turn the lights off.”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. If he answers the questions to my satisfaction, then I might turn the lights off for a while.”

“Ask then.”

“How many true-bloods remain, in total?”

“Eight.”

“In total, not just here?”

“Eight.”

We all looked at each other. None of us had realised how few there were left.

“How many like you, Mix-breeds?”

“Eight hundred.”

“How many true-bloods here, on this planet?”

“Three.”

“How long have you known of our presence?”

“Since you murdered one of us.”

I was silent, trying to think of something sensible to ask. Roj coughed.

“What?”

“He wants to know how you want to die.”
 
 
I turned looked at the cowering creature that was almost human. It was the part that wasn’t human that I detested. I walked up to the bars, but as he hid his eyes, I couldn’t make eye contact.

“You can’t kill me twice, you bastard. You already killed me once, when I was left in the pit to burn with all the other dead. I rose from the pit to destroy the evil he represents. I will not rest until all true-bloods and mix-breeds have been sent to the same flames as I felt. You and your kind have destroyed my life, my family and my world, so there’s nothing left to kill. When you’ve taken anything, the only thing left to me is working out how to destroy you!”

“Turn the lights out,” I said, and there was instant darkness.

I sensed that he looked at me, but I couldn’t see anything.

“I am going to die of old age, but only once you and all your kind are no more.”

With the darkness, I sensed his strength building, so I allowed my words to sink in and then drew my pistol, chambered the first round and shot him between the eyes. The back of his head disintegrated, covering the back of the cage with his brains. His lifeless body slumped back and fell to the ground.

Without a word, I holstered my pistol, turned and walked away. Otto shouted some orders and hurried after me, grabbing me by my arm.

“Why did you do that?”

“He was of no further use to us.”

“We could have gotten good intelligence from him,” he insisted.

I turned and carefully removed his fingers from my forearm.

“Think, Otto, it was getting stronger by the second. Darkness brings out their strength. He wasn’t able to tell us any more, but he was a danger to us, for every second he was alive, he could bring us down. Now, destroy the body and let’s move!”

He stared at me saying nothing. I held his stare until he nodded.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“I am, Otto. Look on the bright side, only seven hundred and ninety nine left.”

I left him staring after me.

I think I’d hoped to feel better after killing my second half-alien, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel bad, but neither did I feel any satisfaction at all. My predicament wasn’t entirely the Mix-breed’s fault, as it was the Pure-bloods who had that honour. Now I was determined to get them. That was the only way to stop them.

I was grateful to be left alone for a while. Otto was busy organising everyone, so I took some time out to think.
 
 
I had come to terms with what they’d done to me, in that I was able to function reasonably well as a girl. It had been almost two years since I’d found myself in that pit, to be hauled to safety by Seth. In those two years, I had adapted to be the person I now was. What that person was sometimes confused me. Inside I was Carl, sometimes and when I allowed myself to think of better times. Those times were becoming less and less, as the pain of losing so much so quickly threatened to engulf me each time. Otto made me feel like a girl. He was a constant feature of my life, offering me help, guidance and strength. I’m not sure what he got from me in return, for he’d never tried to take our relationship into anything other than just friends. In a way, I was disappointed, as he invoked strange feelings in me. I enjoyed seeing him smile at me and I always felt safe when he was close. I enjoyed being with him, even if we didn’t speak, just being close was enough to make me feel good.

It dawned on me that I might just be falling in love. I tried to look at girls in the same way I had as Carl, but it didn’t work. Shelly was a friend, and although I thought she was pretty, I didn’t feel like taking a relationship over into the sexual realms with her. With Otto, on the other hand, I often tried to imagine what it would be like to make love to him. Whenever I thought such things, strange things happened in my body, so I tried to think of something else. It didn’t work very well, but my confusion was becoming less as each day as Carla passed.
 
 
I had my own room now, if one could call it a room. It was very small, but it gave me the first taste of privacy on this planet. In a way, I was happier in company of other people. It took me several days to get used to being on my own. I was sitting on my bed when I heard the others return, having disposed of the body. Otto paused by my open door.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded, not feeling like saying anything.

“Can I come in?”

I nodded again, so he sat next to me on the bed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

We sat in silence for a while.

“Carla?”

“What?”

“If ever you want to talk, you know I’ll be there for you?”

I nodded again.

I felt my emotions rise, and tears came to my eyes, as I fought to stop myself crying.

“Otto?”

“Ja?”

“Hold me?” I asked.

Very tenderly, he placed on large arm round my shoulder and I snuggled in close to him. I cried quietly into his shoulder.

I became aware that he was stroking my hair, which I liked, so I looked up at him. He slowly bent his head down and kissed me. My instinctive reaction was to push him away, but somehow couldn’t. Instead, I just enjoyed it.

He broke off first. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I shook my head, smiling.

“Thanks.”

“What for?” I asked, frowning.

“Making my day. Have you any idea how long I’ve waited for you?”

I shook my head again.

“Since the first day I saw you.”
 
 
From that moment, Carl was forgotten and I can honestly say that Carla was complete. It was also the day that Otto and I declared our official status of ‘walking out’ together. Our ten new soldier-captives were housed in a secure unit that had once contained large predatory fish. Our techs had discovered the nature of the drug, and had developed an anti-toxin that accelerated the period needed to be free from its clutches. So, unlike Otto, who came off the drug while tied up in a small confined space for two weeks, these soldiers would be free of the drug within forty-eight hours.

Seth, Roj, Gustav, Otto and I, together with some of the others held a strategy meeting. We now had forty mouths to feed, forty people to clothe, equip and train, and forty people to hide from the increasingly alert and ruthless enemy.

“It's only a matter of time that they locate us,” Gustav said.

“Then we can fight!” said Otto, the ever-enthusiastic Marine.

“And lose!” I said. “Look, on Devia, we had technology, manpower and warning, yet we hardly slowed them down. What the hell can we do against an enemy that can literally throw endless resources at a problem?”

Seth was being very quiet. I knew he felt uncomfortable about leaving the dome, but most of us had had enough of the enclosed spaces. He had been happier being a rat, now we were like rabbits he felt particularly insecure.

We waited as an almighty roar deafened us. Every six hours a vast enemy transport landed and took off, bringing more hapless souls to the baby farms and military ranks, no doubt. I wondered how many more planets had fallen by now. It gave me an idea.

“There is a way,” I said.

However, they were in mid-argument, so I waited for a lull.

“There’s a way,” I repeated, a little louder.
For a change, all were silent and looking at me. I felt embarrassed being the centre of attraction, so I swallowed and put my thoughts into words.

“If there are only eight True-bloods, and three are here, that means five are somewhere else. The three here will be well guarded and they have a vastly superior force. I also believe that it is inevitable that they will eventually track us down and kill us, so I just think we should stack the odds more in our favour.

“If we could get off planet and start a resistance movement somewhere else, we could be away from their power-base and build a force to take them down. We could get onto one of their freighters, land on a planet that has recently been invaded and start a revolution before they can remove the population off-planet. The soldiers will all respond to the anti-toxin, as will the techs. Imagine a planet-wide revolution, and the logistics if we had control of one of their invasion fleets?”

They were all silent. I waited for someone to start laughing, but no one did.

“How do we get onto a transport?” Otto asked.

“They ship in with potential soldiers and girls to be bred, right?”

“Right.”

“So, do they ship out with trained soldiers and techs, if they’ve an invasion to run?”

“No. These aren’t invasion ships, they’re space going cattle trucks.”

“So, are they empty when shipping out?”

“More or less, apart from crew, a few key personnel and replacements.”

“Then we stow away on one of the freighters.”

“How?” Otto repeated.

“Shit, I don’t know. Firstly, we have to get close enough to take a look and then see what safeguards are in place. At the moment we’re a minor domestic irritation, so I doubt that they suspect we’ll want to target the spaceport and steal a ship.”

Otto shrugged looking around the group.

“I agree, it makes sense to leave this place,” Gustav said, looking at Seth.

“Hell, I thought I was gonna die here, if you find a way off, I’m going’!”

They all looked at me.

“Okay, so now we go take a look at our way out of hell!”
 
 

*          *          *
 
End of Part 3
 
 
To Be Continued...