"Hey! How have you been?" Trae asked with a laugh as he placed the bag he was carrying down.
"I've been okay," Ali replied as she leaned over to see what was in the bag. She pulled out the stuffed bear and a Monopoly board game. She tucked the bear under her arm as she looked with wonder at the board game. She took the lid off and touched the playing pieces gently. Trae watched her for a minute and then asked, "Have you played this game before?"
"I can't remember," Ali replied.
"What do you mean you can't remember?" Trae asked. Ali didn't look up but she placed the pieces back down and walked away from the game, still holding on to the bear. Trae followed her as she walked over to the bed in the corner. She turned to him as she reached the bed and asked, "Do you know what happened to me?"
Trae knew that it had been bad but didn't know the complete extent of what had happened to this little girl. So he answered truthfully, "I really don't know sweetie."
Ali hung her head and whispered, "Last night I had a bad dream, I was in a white room and there was something next to me. It was hard to tell what it was because it was really blurry. But I could defiantly tell that it walked on four legs, not two."
Trae sat down slowly on the bed next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head against him and said, "That isn't the only thing. I sometimes see the face of a girl about my age in my mind. She looks sad about something and she sometimes says things."
"What does she say?" Trae asked
"I don't know, she moves her mouth but no sound comes out," Ali replied.
"Can you describe what this girl looks like?" Trae prodded gently.
Ali thought for a moment and then answered, "She has long dark brown hair and really bright green eyes. She had a really pretty smile too."
As the guard walked in at the end of the session Trae turned to Ali, "Is there a special game that you want me to bring for next time?"
Ali thought for a moment and said, "Can you teach me to play that card came you played yesterday?"
"Sure, I think I can find a lonely deck of cards around here somewhere," Trae answered and Ali smiled happily.
As Trae walked into the room, the first thing he noticed was Ali on her bed. She was singing softly to herself and was rocking the bear slowly in her arms. But Trae let out a gasp as he looked at the bear; the head had been ripped off. Trae looked around as he walked to Ali and saw the head across the room. Judging by the trail of fluff that had fallen out, Trae guessed that the head had been thrown after it had been torn off.
"Did you do that?" Trae asked.
"Do what?" Ali asked
"Did you rip your bear's head off right after you got it?"
Ali shrugged her slender shoulders and said, "I guess I did, it just sort of happened, though." Trae stared at her in shock for a moment but then she asked, "Did you bring the cards?"
"Yes, I have them right here," Trae replied, holding up the deck of cards and then said, "Maybe I can find someone that will sew your bear's head back on."
Ali just shrugged, as if it didn't matter to her.
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded through the quite room. Ali's head shot up but Trae didn't pay any attention to it; he was used to unusual crashes and banging around the building. But Ali was disturbed by something else and after awhile Trae heard it too; a strange and almost eerie hissing noise. Ali got up and walked to one of the walls; she placed an ear up to the wall and listened into the hallway beyond. She could hear the sound of something fast running toward her room.
The sound of screaming could be heard right outside the door of Ali's room and Trae turned sharply when he heard them. The door suddenly began smoking and with a sizzle the door completely disintegrated as two strange animals walked in. The two animals had no visible eyes and their heads extended down to the base of their neck. One of them had four dorsal spikes on its back and was a dark blue color and walked on its back legs. The other didn't have dorsal spikes, was brown and walked on four legs. The two aliens slowly made their way into the room and, paying no attention to Trae, began walking towards Ali.
Ali stood there, frozen, as she stared at the two aliens approaching her. The one that walked on four legs was the one that caught her attention. Something about it seemed familiar, but she couldn't think of what. Suddenly, like a movie going in fast forward, clear images began shooting in front of her eyes.
Her in her room, crying, and an alien-like creature walking out of the darkness
Her calling the alien Timothy
Her running down a dark hallway with Timothy and laughing
Her and Timothy hunting a human
Her hugging a giant alien, calling it Mother
Her crying over Timothy's fallen body
"No!" Trae yelled and he jumped in front of Ali, interrupting the flow of memories, and tried to protect her from the aliens. But a look of shock came across his face as he felt nails dig into his back. He fell to the ground and looked up at Ali with shock. She stared at his dark red blood that covered her hands and smiled darkly.
"Ali, what are you doing?" Trae asked. She ignored him and walked to the two aliens. They hissed lovingly to her and she smiled. She wrapped her arms around both of the alien's necks and closed her eyes.
"I remember," she said softly, not really to Trae, but to herself, "I remember everything. I remember being hated by people and I remember my Mother, the Alien Queen."
"But I loved you Ali, I didn't hate you, I treated you like my own child," Trae shouted desperately.
"Yes, that may be so," Ali said, opening her eyes and turning back to Trae, "but you were under orders, right?" Trae didn't respond and Ali laughed. As she turned and walked away the aliens began to move in for the kill.
"No! Leave him here," Ali said. The two aliens hissed in annoyance but they stopped advancing and walked out of the room. Ali turned back to Trae before leaving and her eyes softened momentarily but that look only lasted a minute before being replaced with the dark hatred that Trae had seen flash in her eyes yesterday.
As Ali walked she realized the aliens were following her more willingly than they used to. Before they would only listen to her if it was convenient to them, but, back in the room with Trae, they had obeyed her almost immediately.
The aliens wanted to leave as quickly as possible but there was something Ali needed to do. She wandered around for a while the aliens followed behind. A large door with a small gold plaque in the center drew Ali's eyes. She smiled, opened the door and walked in. The man sitting in the chair turned to face her. "I figured they'd come for you soon. I was hoping that you would be on our side by the time they came," The Colonel said.
"Yeah, I figured that was your goal. But let me make something clear; I hate humans with a deep passion and even if you wipe away my memory and make me live with people forever, I'll still hate them." As soon as she had said that one of the aliens stepped forward and looked at Ali, as if waiting for permission. "Kill him, he is too old to become a host," Ali said as she turned to the door. The alien hissed in reply and Ali could hear the solid thud as the alien's second mouth shot through the Colonel's head.
She walked out of the building with the aliens and the Runner Alien offered his back to her. She shook her head and let out a joyful laugh and started to run down the mountain with the aliens hissing happily behind her. She ran faster and faster, enjoying the rush of the air on her face. The two aliens ran alongside her, one on either side.