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CHAPTER ONE

Twenty fifth of April, 2155 was the worst day of my life.

And I've had terrible days, in fact, a terrible life generally but today, the final nail to my metaphorical coffin will be hammered in and I couldn't do anything about it.

Why, you may be wondering; well, since the aliens came to our planet and conquered us without breaking a silly sweat, they've created the “Synchronization of Species” system where young girls from ages eighteen to twenty are paired with alien men for procreation. They host this crazy event where young girls are auctioned for aliens of all levels except the lowest ones.

You are forced to have one child and wean them before going back home and if the alien decides to keep you, then he pays your family a huge amount of money, bigger than what they get if you were to have gone back and that's it. You'll be an alien's sex slave for the rest of your life.

So as my mom and younger sister fussed about the room, trying to dress me up so I won't look as horrid as I felt, all I could feel was putrid hatred for the fact that I'll be forced to lose a great part of my life and that these aliens don't even care about our opinions.

“Tess, you have to stop crying. It won't change anything and you're ruining your makeup!” My mom exclaimed, obviously stressed.

“I'm sorry momma” I apologized and took a wipe to repair the damage.

“You have to look good, okay? Who knows? You might get paired with a kind one. And we do need the money, your father's surgery is very expensive so see it as a sacrifice for the family, and once you are back, you'll get your life again. It’ll be like you never left” She said, trying to make me or herself feel better or whatever the attempt was.

All I knew was that I won't make this easy on them. Whoever gets paired with me would regret it, I'll not go down without as much fight as possible.

“Tess, do you imagine one of them would fall in love with you?” My sister Anna said as she brought my bag that was filled with necessities and nothing extra because they were going to provide everything we needed for the whole year.

“I hope not. Besides, I plan to be as terrifying as possible. They won't break me” I declared, giving her a fake smile. I didn't want her worrying about me in my absence. She still had a few years ahead of her and it's best spent doing things that make one happy, considering the limited resources.

“Please be careful, daughter. I don't want to lose you to their cruelty,” my daddy said as he wheeled himself into what will not be my room for the next foreseeable future.

I took deep breaths to steady myself, keeping the tears that threatened to flow intact.

“Thanks Daddy. I'll be back in no time so try to miss me a lot,” I said and hugged him.

“Let's go, Tessa. It's better we go ourselves than to have those horrible things in our house” my mom said and I nodded in agreement.

The last time they came here, I lost my brother and we've never been the same as a family ever since.

The aliens were cruel in a way that showed how much they couldn't feel, always on autopilot. They hated how humans loved and were able to make sacrifices for their loved ones.

This whole situation was because they wanted the ability to feel as well.

And once in a while, we hear the story of some of them falling in love and there's a huge celebration by their kind. They have another event which is aired on all TV stations and we are forced to watch some of our own get paraded as a sign of progress and integration but if you looked closer, you'd see how unhappy they really were.

From what we knew, they didn't just want to colonize us, they wanted to wipe out our existence but still maintain a part of us that was good and till date, no one knew how they were doing it.

I shook my head of the dreadful thoughts and focused on the present.

“Ann, come here” I called to my sister who was standing at the door, crying.

She ran to me and I hugged her like my life depended on it.

“I'll be back soon, Anna. Don't feel terrible and don't give momma any more gray hairs, okay?” I kissed her cheek and we waved at each other as I got into the beaten van we used for our family business.

Mom was an unusually fast driver because of her anxiety but today, it seemed she didn't want the car to move.

I looked at her face and I could see how much she was trying to be strong and not break down in tears. I guess I never mentioned it but a lot of girls die in these events and some get sexually assaulted immediately they are chosen and nothing is done about it because they see us as lesser creatures. Their whole ideology is that we are tools they are using to advance their species and the concept of humanity is lost in the whole process.

So I understood Momma's hesitant driving and I refused to mention it. If she wanted me to see her only in her strong state, it's fine. She's the best I could have ever asked for and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

But when we eventually got to the venue, she couldn't hold back her tears.

“Tess, my treasure” she cried, hugging me tightly like she was scared that if she let go, I'll combust.

“Momma, don't worry. I'll be fine and I'll be back very soon” I assured her even though I wasn't sure of that.

“Make sure you do my child. Don't let the system swallow or change you and don't fall in love with our enemies. You must survive and come back to your mother, you hear me?” She said and I nodded before coming down from the car.

“Hey! Move that crap away from the road, bitch!” a human/alien mix shouted.

Now, there were classes of our captors based on how much alien versus human a person had.

Once the children that were born were up to the age of eighteen, they were tested and placed in different categories.

The very alien ones with human emotions were superior, the perfect mix were normal citizens with special privileges like a consistent job and access to some luxurious places and the last were considered failed experiments, an example was currently screaming his frustrated lungs at my mother who was packed in the parking lot left for humans. We'd have to walk a long way into the building because of this.

I guess the parking lot for the failed experiments was filled up and he thought he could come park here but we were in a spot reserved for us and I wasn't going to stand for him screaming at my mother like that so I replied to him.

“If you are done screaming your frustrated lungs out, you'll take that crap away from there”

“Who do you think you're talking to? Tell your bitch of a mother to take that contraption away from there, I have a right to it more than you do!” He shouted, his throat which was shoved out of the window popping out veins.

“At least, I have a mother. Where's yours?” And that did piss him off.

My mom came down from the car, shaking her head and I did the same but before we could walk towards each other, I heard tires screeching and the sound of cars hitting each other made us scream.

The guts of this guy to hit our van because of a temper tantrum.

Luckily for us, a superior was walking out of the main entrance and saw the whole thing.

He whistled and we all focused our attention and I was fuming.

“What seems to be the problem, XYZ?” He called, referring to the guy’s lower status which was pretty normal but I guess in this situation, it reminded the guy of who he was and it made his green face darken.

“They wouldn't leave the space for me to park, Master,” he said, bowing his head.

“But it's their parking lot or have you suddenly gone up in rank?” He asked, coming closer to us.

“Of course not Sir, I'm still your lowly servant. I just thought since they were on the bottom of the food chain, I was higher than them,” he exclaimed, trying to defend his actions but I was boiling.

“Dude, you are literally a failed experiment. The rest of us have more use than you do” I shouted at him even though I hated that fact. At least, they could live normal lives if they stopped acting so hateful.

'Tess calm down!’ my Momma shushed me. She hated attracting attention and I went to her back to avoid getting the superior alien pissed. I guess he was already angry at me but they could rot in hell for all I care. I just didn't want my Momma getting hurt in any way.

“Humans, I'm sure you are here for the SOS event so I won't keep you much longer. Go on in and when you get back, Madam, head home. Your car will be delivered to your business place in good condition tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, you want her to walk home?” I asked, alarmed at his suggestion.

“Tess! Please ignore her, My Lord. I'll hitch a ride with someone. Now, young lady, come let's go. We're already late.” She replied and dragged me into the humongous building where they take our humanity and give it to children we will never raise or know.

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