A Yaujta's Handmaid

Ch. 2

On December 20th

Sunday November 7th was when I got awaken to a soft knocking sound on my door. Lifting my head up off the pillow, my eyes tried to focus at the clock in front of me as I yawned.

I groaned at the sight, 6:30.

It had only been a week since the call came that I got a letter delivered to my apartment. I could recall the first whole minute of the conversation as if it were a bible verse, "Good evening, is this Beth Marie Jacobs?"

"Yes, this is she." Middle name, that was unusual. My mom use that once, when I got a ticket in college for underage drinking, that was a cute story.

I remember wrapping the phone cord with my finger and I leaned my shoulder up against the wall, preparing myself. Formal introductions meant two things to me, someone died or it was a damn telemarketer. Man did I hate telemarketers.

"Hello Miss Jacobs, on behalf of The United States federal government, we are pleased to inform you that as of curtain extraterrestrial affairs, your service has been chosen."

Exactly a week went by with total silence. I sat in my room, thought about my life and how and why it led up to this, why and how me. How in hell did they flip thru all those folders and stop at mine and say, that one. There was absolutely nothing extraordinary about me, I got a 30 on my ACT exam, got a silver medal in track but that's about all I could think of.

There was a man at the door waiting for me.

The letter came in a large brown envelope that the UPS man had in one hand, in the other, a clipboard where I had to sign off on, confirming that I received it.

The envelope was tightly sealed, not a fold or speck of dusty on it. Only a blue and gold government seal pressed neatly in the far right corner. The Great Seal of The United State of America it wrote. The golden letters circled the iconic eagle the was in the center, it was quite the eye catcher.

As I grabbed the pen from the jaws of the large metal clip, the man stared straight at me, I don't think he even blinked. He knew exactly who I was. My hip held the door open as I let out a sigh, word traveled fast. Even the residents in Madison, Wisconsin weren't safe. Bookstore clerks weren't safe to be exact, who would of thought.

He wasn't the first person to glance at me in such a way, it was three days ago that my mother advised me to stay inside, away from any cameras and people. That was after she cried her eyes out, telling me it wasn't fair, to lie saying I had a medical history they didn't know about. She was even insisting she'd come fly in from Florida to see me but I assured her it was pointless. What was the point in fighting when I had no voice, no say, no choice. Some said that one woman threw herself off the Brooklyn bridge when she was contacted, death was the only way out.

No one knew where the women come from them when they were picked. It was at random.

Seattle, Nashville, Orlando was just a few of the placed I heard of that the women were being taken from in America. Cross the world? Not a clue.

There was outrage and protesting that followed the first couple of months when the world announced to the public of their deal with the aliens. But, the government soon sent the military out to silence the chaos.

How many women were taken? Less than a thousand, we were the first wave of guniea pigs, if all went well, they'd continue sending more.

'Protect our women' 'Earth women aren't cattle' the posters in the newspapers photos read off. I remember vividly hugging one of the newspapers tightly and stared off into space, what the fuck actually awaited me. Nothing felt real anymore.

It was in the letter that I learned I had to be taken to a location (in Chicago) where I was to learn their culture, the dos and don'ts. How to live according to their terms. There were three other women with me in that gloomy room. We all sat in wooden school chairs with packets laid out and a slide show with 60 slides presented in front of us. It was high school all over again. They knew about the women they chose, so the only respectful thing was to learn about them. We had to follow these guide lines or there would be trouble from both sides.

"How dare we send you off to their planet, their homes and you not know how to act! What shame that would be!" The federal agent held her arms out at us. She made sure to tell us to call her Agent Clark about a dozen times. She would of made one bitch of a teacher, "What honor you have been given ladies, this will top the history books, your names will be written in pages forever, everyone will remember your names." I narrowed my brows at her comment. We went around the room, introducing ourselves.

Clark felt it was appropriate, we were helping change the course of the world, the least we could do is know everyone a little. Cara, Savannah, and Juana. I think Juana and I would of made good friends, she looked as dead inside as I was. Her long black hair was as dark as mine.

When it was my turn I couldn't help but chuckle, it was a dumb cooping mechanism, "Hi, I'm Beth. Uh-I'm 25 years old, can't say I ever thought I'd end up here. I'm an only child which explains a couple of personality traits, got a degree in English and I can't swim, so there's that. Hope they put that in the textbooks."

I don't think my introduction was that bad.

We were to treat this like a job. This wasn't suppose to be pleasurable on our part, we were not to talk to them or touch them during any part of our stay there, they didn't like that. Sheep don't cuddle with wolves.

Once we were done, we could come back home unless requested by them to produce another child. Many women were already pregnant and they were awaiting the babies. The women were well cared for, the babies and mothers were monitored closely, anxious to see what this hybrid would do and look like. Clark said that it suspected that the babies wouldn't look human at all. An alien looking baby fit for an alien.

After birth, the males wouldn't be taken care of the offspring, once you were pregnant, the mate, if there is one, of the male will raise it. In their culture, men had nothing to do with the raising of the child.

They're the Yautja they told us. The great alien race that we have kneed down to.

They had come to earth before, hunted humans as a sport but they assured us we weren't they only thing they hunted and that they would stop hunting us. They had a code, morals they had on those hunts; never kill or harm the innocent. Heart warming, right?

"They're much bigger than us, if you look up at the picture up on this slide we can see-"

"Holy fuck." my eyes widened.

Agent Clark paused and shook her head slightly as my sudden outburst, "we can see they are on average of 7 feet tall."

The lesson on their biology and appearance was what shook all of us in the room to the core. What an ugly looking species, terrifying ugly. Four mandibles on their faces, scaly bodies, pure ass kicking muscle. No wonder Earth agreed, didn't seem like we had much of a damn choice if you ask me.

They were ranked in their society and only the top hunters or elders were behind the choosing, only children for the best and worthy.

On December 19th, it would of be a whole month spent learning about them. Agents watched us, in case we decided to run. Running would be stupid, where on earth would we even go? We'd be charged if caught, put on trial as if we had committed war crimes. They watched us in our homes, on our walks to the park, on the dinner date with my mother who came to see me despite my wishes. We all got chipped on the back of our necks right below the hair line.

3173 was my assigned number. It's for your safety they said, we can monitor and location your heart rate on earth. Make sure you're safe. I don't know exactly how they would save us if something happened.

And on December 20th was when Agent Clark came to get me. It was my turn to make our nation proud.