The one with the lava eyes.

Why? I do not know.

But…he is not here.

Panic floods my soul and almost as if in unison, I hear the aliens sniff.

One of them hisses and immediately steps away from the circle.

Others stiffen and I can almost see the tension in their shoulders.

Their response confuses and frightens me a bit.

“Sam!” I put some urgency in my voice this time.

That’s when the circle around us parts.

For a moment, I am confused.

That’s when I see him.

He’s walking toward us from the lake and I do not know how I know it is him. I just do.

The morning sun reflects off his suit in a strange way. Almost as if the rays disappear into the fibers themselves, sucked into the ultimate dark void that is his suit.

His head is bent and my gaze moves to where he is looking.

He is carrying something and I can’t make out what it is.

It looks almost like a dead jellyfish.

Whatever it is though, it’s creating an unexpected response from the aliens surrounding us.

Another hiss begins and it rises, thrumming from each and every one of the aliens.

Their lips pull back, showing their fangs and their muscles tense.

Sharp blades, just as I’d seen the night before, appear on each and every one of their arms like magic.

Blades appear even along their backs as well.

“Shit!” Sam is suddenly by my side, gripping my arm as we both stare up at the beings in front of us.

“What—why are they acting like that?” Sam asks. She is suddenly fully awake, her eyes wide.

“I…don’t know.” But as my gaze falls back to the strange thing Lava Eyes is carrying, I get the sense the aliens aren’t acting so strangely because of us.

That thing Lava Eyes is carrying. It is the reason why.

As if he knows I am looking his way, his head lifts and his gaze finds me like a homing beacon.

The intensity of his stare makes my breath hitch in my throat.

He walks with purpose, heading in our direction and the aliens around us move out of his way.

Their hissing is now interjected with clicks and snarls that vibrate the air around us.

Lava Eyes comes to a stop a few feet away from us, his gaze still on me as he drops the thing he is carrying before me.

I stare up at him, trying to read those slitted eyes of his, but I have no idea what he wants—what they want.

The look on his face is identical to that of the others.

His lips are pulled back, his eyes even more fiery than the night before.

He stares at me before his gaze drops to the thing on the ground and I finally look at it.

My mind cannot comprehend what I am seeing.

It’s not a jellyfish.

It’s more like a…dead octopus?

Gray. Fleshy. Several arms.

It’s about three feet long from the top of its head to where its legs begin and it is obviously an aquatic species.

I frown as I stare at it, barely aware of Sam’s questioning whisper.

She has no idea what the hell the thing is either.

But it can’t be an octopus.

Octopi don’t live in lakes.

“Do they want us to eat it?” Sam asks and I can hear the horror in her voice.

I hope the hell not.

But when I glance at Lava Eyes, I still do not know what he expects of me.

What is this thing he brought?

What am I supposed to do with it?

A trembling arm stretches toward the thing, my trembling arm, and I hear an even louder hiss begin around us.

My gaze darts up and I freeze again.

I am speechless.

The utter rage on Lava Eye’s face is evident. The ridges that mark his features are even more defined and his arms…there are sharp spikes coming out of his arms now too.

They look like long dark blades capable of slicing anything they come in contact with.

“Doh-n’t. Toh-ch.”

I blink.

I didn’t imagine it. Did I?

He just spoke.

He spoke English.

Don’t touch.

The inflection is strange, as if his tongue isn’t used to forming such syllables and the words are almost unrecognizable.

“You…” My heart does a big thump, hitting my chest hard. “You can speak?” My whisper is near to being inaudible.

As I retract my hand, I watch in awe as the blades in his arms slowly lower.

“Noh-t…yoh-r…eh-nih-mee,” he growls.

Fuck.

His voice is so deep it is almost terrifying.

My mouth falls open as my gaze darts to the other aliens then back to him.

He is communicating with me but his words don’t register.

All that hits me is that he can talk.

“They can speak…” Sam’s voice reflects my shock.

“Noh-t yoh-r eh-nih-mee,” the alien repeats and I note how much surer the words sound on his tongue. “We are not your enemy.”

Lifting a leg, he kicks the octopus thing and it rolls closer to me on the ground. “They are.”

His words register but they don’t make sense till my gaze falls and I shriek.

The octopus has a face.

And I don’t mean a face belonging to an octopus.

This face is all wrong.

Large dark eyes look up at nothing. They’re placed above two dark holes, which must be the nostrils, but I see no mouth.

Lava Eyes kicks the thing again and it flips over to reveal three rows of sharp teeth in its center.

I shriek and scramble back. Sam follows.

Yea…this doesn’t look like any octopus I’ve ever seen.

And then it all becomes clear.

His meaning becomes clear.

This thing that I’m looking at…this thing isn’t from here.

What I’m looking at is another species of alien.

This thing is what has enslaved us all.

“That’s…” My eyes widen as I stare at it.

It starts with disbelief…then I feel fear…then…anger.

Hatred. Anger. They both fill me as I stare at the thing.

Somehow, I unwrap Sam’s arms from around my own as I crawl on my hands and knees., moving closer to the gray, fleshy being in the dirt.

I hear the hisses of the aliens around me. In the corner of my eye, I see Lava Eyes’ blades rise once more and I pause.

My gaze meets his but he does not stop me. So I slowly move forward again, closer to the gray blob.

I stare down at it when I get near.

This…this thing.

This is what was in that machine?

“Your enemy…” Lava Eyes speaks. “Our enemy…”

I can feel my heart thumping in my throat at his words.

I am understanding now.

Maybe Sam is right. Maybe these new aliens are on our side.

I look up at Lava Eyes and take some courage in the fact that not one of his kind has interacted with us…yet.

They certainly look like a hostile race…not the saviors we prayed for.

But why would this alien lie to me?

Him and his kind have the upper hand.

They can do whatever they want…

Which leads me to the conclusion that…Lava Eyes is telling the truth.

As the thought settles, my gaze falls back on the crude face and strange body of the dead alien before us.

What I thought were octopi-like limbs turn out not to be so.

It had about six arms and they aren’t boneless. Its limbs have more joints than I can count and they are pretty long.

A shiver runs through me.

I cannot imagine what this species looks like alive and walking.

But what catches my attention the most is the face.

The dark eyes look back at me and even though there is no life within them, I can feel the soullessness of the creature’s gaze.

This thing has sucked our blood? Destroyed my world?

Impregnated us?

This what I’m looking at is responsible for so much?

I stare at it without breaking focus.

It is taking some time for my mind to comprehend that what I’m looking at is responsible for all the death and destruction I have witnessed.