Megan watched as the slender yet defined girl walk into the room. The girl's flowing blonde hair hung just above her shoulders, which was regulation for the school. The girl stopped beside the teacher as she scanned the room for an empty seat, the only one being next to Megan.
"Students, we have a new student today, Kelly Dessler. Her parents just moved to our school from North Carolina. Please make her feel welcome." The words almost seemed lost on the above-average sized girl standing beside the teacher, as it didn't seem to Megan as though she had any apprehension or nervousness. Kelly made her way over to the seat next to Megan's, and sat down.
"Hi Kelly, I'm Megan." Megan's voice was chipper as the second grader held out a delicate hand. Kelly glanced at the outstretched appendage, and managed to break a smile.
"Hey Megan, its nice to meet you too." Kelly gripped the smaller girl's hand fragilely, holding back her strength in an effort to conceal it. Nothing could be done about her height and muscular definition, but Kelly didn't want to give them any more reasons to call her freak as they did back in Carolina.
Perhaps she was a freak of sorts. Her parents had been upfront about her adoption, and while offering love and warmth; they could not offer her answers. No one could, as it seemed Kelly just appeared out of nowhere. It was a couple of years before she had gotten adopted, and the kids on her street seemed to not waste time labeling her due to her unusual features.
She had played the outcast, and the thought of this girl reaching out without judgment spoke volumes to Kelly.
At lunchtime the pair sat across from each other, and discussed their likes and dislikes, and who the cutest boys were. Kelly wondered why it seemed Megan didn't have other friends sitting with her. She seemed average enough, her curly brown hair and fair complexion was adorned with soft features, and Kelly mused the kids would have less to criticize Megan for than her.
"Hey Aylesworth, seen any ghosts lately?" A brunette with a food tray condescendingly said from behind Kelly.
"No Anna, remember, it was aliens she saw." Another girl burst in with a correction.
"Whatever, as long as the weirdo keeps away from me." The two girls giggled as Megan's head drooped lower, tears formed in her eyes.
"What are they talking about?" Kelly already didn't like the girls due to their tone, but wanted to know what they were referring to.
"I don't want to tell you. You will just think I'm stupid like all the others." Tears began to flow down Megan's face as her voice became more broken.
"No I won't. Those girls are just stupid." Kelly didn't know why, but anger quickly built within her. She had to restrain herself. She couldn't afford to make a scene on the first day at the new school.
Megan thought to herself a moment before speaking. "Sometimes… I get hurt. I can't see them. They just hurt me. They make me fall down or push me into stuff. See?" The little girl motioned for Kelly to look under the table as she lifted her shirt slightly. On her abdomen there was a rather large bruise that ran from front to back. Megan winced as she touched the area.
Kelly was quite skeptical about the whole alien theory. Maybe the girl was just clumsy. Kelly also knew that on military bases people didn't ask a lot of questions. All Kelly knew was that she was going to help her new friend out.
"Hey Megan, would you like to come over to my house after school? I have swings and stuff my dad hung to play on."
"I will see if I can. I will have to go home first though, I've got chores to do."
Kelly stepped off the bus and walked toward her home. Images of Megan's bruise flew through her mind, and didn't sit right with the seven year old. Kelly had managed to get a bit more information as the day went on. Megan's father was a ranked and respected officer named Charles, which Megan spoke proudly of. Megan's mother worked at the base's records division.
Kelly plopped her backpack down on the floor beside the computer desk and turned on the system. Once the machine finished booting, Kelly browsed directly to the base's website, and began looking up housing information. The Aylesworth's lived in a house three blocks over, then two blocks up from Kelly's house.
Every house on the base looked the same, with the yard cut the same and the bushes neatly hedged. Uniformity was always the goal on a military base, and although Kelly had no fondness of it, she had gotten used to it.
Dinner had been especially bland, the result of another long day of work for Kelly's mother. Something about Megan continued to bother Kelly throughout her bath and as she slipped into bed. The young girl stared blankly at the ceiling filled with luminous plastic stars that gave off a dull green glow. The stars always managed to give Kelly comfort, and she quickly lost focus of her thoughts and drifted into dream.
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"Stop hitting her!" Megan cried out as Charles landed another open hand against her mother's face.
"Shut up you little brat or you're next!" Charles's rage was over nothing, at least nothing that Megan could understand. He always got this way when he drank, and he always seemed to be drinking.
"Megan, go to your room!" Her mother desperately pleaded in between sobs, cupping the right side of her face.
"One of these days you two bitches are going to learn to do what I say!" Charles started toward Megan as her mother reached out and clasped his arm, trying to keep him from approaching the child.
"Daddy no!" Megan pleaded as Charles turned around and backhanded her mother, knocking her unconscious to the wood floor.
Megan looked at her mother lying there and forsaking herself began to run to her. As she passed her father, he scooped her up into his arms and tossed the little girl like a rag doll. Megan's body slammed back-first into a wall, then falling face down on the floor. Megan noticed her father's footsteps walking away from her has she too began to slip from consciousness.
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Nyo'Tak switched off the monitor as he watched Kelly pass into sleep as he had done many nights before. She was his prize, and he intended to watch her grow. His prey was developing well. She seemed keenly aware of her…differences and guarded them from the knowledge of others. The bio-recorders implanted in Kelly had revealed something interesting though, an emotional reaction to the Megan girl perhaps. Kelly had became stressed since being introduced to the little girl. It was slowly awakening the Yautja aggression deep within her, and Nyo'Tak felt confident that she would display it soon enough, although he didn't know what the intended target would be.
Hopefully it would be against a worthy opponent so Nyo'Tak could get a sense of how her skills were progressing. A human child obviously would be no match for his creation, but if nothing else it might let him see how she will control her Yautja capabilities.
The Yautja quickly switched off his screen as another presence came in the room. "Nyo'Tak, the Council requires your presence. Follow me."
There was definitely foreboding within the sentry's voice. The Council did not bother with day-to-day Yautja affairs. Could this be about his project? Perhaps Ako'Ten had finally ran his mouth to the wrong people. It was wrong to allow him to be reassigned due to his knowledge, but Nyo'Tak failed to find a convincing argument that would allow him to stay under his internship.
While the Council Hall doors were not particularly colorful, they were ornately etched in grand Yautja fashion. There were hieroglyphs of past hunts, including those against the greatest prey, the Xenomorph specimens. The heavy Trilimium doors parted as the swung silently into the Great Hall that housed the Council.
"Sentry, you may be gone, your presence will not be required." The Yautja warrior hesitated momentarily, the bowed back out of the room as the doors began to shut behind Nyo'Tak. It was then that he noticed another Yautja standing beside the Council, Ako'Ten.
"We can dispatch with pleasantries and formalities, Nyo'Tak. We assume you know why we have called you." Berated Grand Chancellor InuSut
Nyo'Tak glared at Ako'Ten, who stood firm and motionless.
"You are but a fool, Nyo'Tak." Another voice came from the Council that was much softer than that of the Grand Chancellor. Chancellor RekJof continued. For many cycles we have denounced the practice of combining human and Yautja DNA. Do you know why we forbade it? Or are you so blind to our history as to cause us to relive our grief?
The chancellor's words puzzled Nyo'Tak. He had researched before beginning his project and had turned up nothing other than the law banning such a practice. "I found no such history chancellor. What is this grief you speak of?"
"Surely your resources go beyond mere genetics? Perhaps not, for you will soon understand what you have done, the shame you have brought on yourself, and danger to us all."
Grand Chancellor InuSut motioned for silence with his hand before speaking. "There was a time when Yautja did not hunt humans. They were primitive, even more than they are today. They could not supply sufficient armaments or skills to warrant a hunt, although their design leant itself to be sought out as trophies. An idea was born, one that would give the humans enhancements from Yautja DNA. Male specimens were taken and returned to the humans' planet. We watched the specimens grow, then the unthinkable happened. The specimens began to mate and the infusion of the DNA produced an genome anomaly. This anomaly produced powerful offspring, offspring that we could not control. Born unto the humans were the Nephilums."
The word struck Nyo'Tak as he began to absorb what the Grand Chancellor was saying. "No, that can't be, the Nephilum were mythical, nothing but children's stories!"
"And still you remain ignorant! The Nephilum were indeed real. They became out of control, their aggression grew even against their own people. The Yautja race were shamed into fighting against them in a costly war that almost claimed us and humanity. Yet you, you have even used the more dangerous female Yautja DNA. Nyo'Tak, you are hereby summoned for the hunt."
"The hunt? But the girl is not ready! There can be no honor in such a thing!" Nyo'Tak remained defiant but cautious against throwing insults against the council, for which he would surely be killed.
"There will be NO honor in this hunt, for it is a matter of grave consequences. The child must be dealt with before she can breed to produce the Nephilum. Even at this stage I am afraid you may not be able to destroy her. I am sending Ako'Ten with you since he knows of your project. Bring me the body of the child as proof. There must NOT be failure in this hunt, although there will be no acknowledgement of its success. This incident and your project is to be stricken from all archives. That is all from this Council."
With that the entry doors reopened and the sentry reentered to escort Nyo'Tak to the preparation room.
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Megan held up another cheery front to Kelly as the two ate their square pizzas and drank down small containers of milk. Kelly thought the girl was being unusually quiet, although she had to admit she didn't really know Megan that well.
"They hurt me again." Megan's tone was sulking and hesitant, as if she didn't really want Kelly to know, but needed to tell someone.
"Where did they hurt you?" Kelly began looking Megan over from across the table.
"On my back. I don't remember what happened. I woke up and my back hurt."
"Did you tell your parents?"
"No, they wouldn't believe me. No one ever does." Megan refused to make eye contact.
"Well I believe you. Maybe you could come stay with me tonight?" Kelly found herself eager to try to help out the situation.
"No, I have stuff to do when I get home. Besides, what could you do?"
"You would be surprised."
Kelly finished her dinner, then excused herself to her room. Every fiber in the young girl's body screamed to find out what was happening to her friend. It was making her angry.
Where were her parents when this was being done? Why didn't anyone seem to care?
Kelly stuffed a flashlight into her backpack. She then stuffed her bed to give the appearance she was sleeping. Kelly hoped it would be enough to fool her parents in case they checked in on her. She quietly unlocked her window and stepped out onto the second floor awning. With one quick motion she leaped onto the ground and burst out into a full sprint, quickly leaving her house and yard behind. Her hunt for aliens was on.
That's it for chapter 2. Hope you enjoyed it! Please read and review!