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“And in the end the princess kissed the prince awake,” Bree whispered, watching her pride and joy breathe in and out, her delicate chest lifting and falling. She kissed her daughter’s warm forehead before slowly backing away, careful to not wake her.
“Mommy?” Kattie asked, her soft brown eyes opening sluggishly. They looked as though they would collapse back down at any moment.
“I’m right here, in the bed next door.” Bree smiled. “Remember, we’re roommates for a little while longer.”
“I had a dream.” Kattie adjusted her shoulders, her tangled chestnut-colored locks fanning in all directions.
“What kind of dream?” Bree leaned forward, curious. Kattie always had the most vivid and colorful imagination.
“My eyeball fell out.” She blinked as though checking to see if they were both still there. They were.
“That sounds more like a nightmare to me.” Bree had nightmares of her teeth pouring out from her mouth, but never once losing an eyeball. Even in sleep, she had the most creative child.
“But I wasn’t scared,” Kattie hurried on. “I just dealt with having one eye as if it had always been that way.”
“That’s good.” Bree pressed her fingers to Kattie’s lids and drew them shut. “Both your eyeballs are still intact. Now get some rest.”
“What do you think the new world will be like?”
“Hopefully better than the last. But humans have a tendency to destroy things, and you should know that, just so you’re prepared in case this planet becomes awful, too.”
“We’ll help to take care of this one better. I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you, Kattie Kat.”
Bree padded to her bed and sat on the edge. She glanced over her shoulder, where she found her husband, Will, already fast asleep. As she slid beneath the covers, finding herself comfy and shutting her eyes, a shuffling sounded from outside the door. She ignored it, but then a buzzing came, drifting up like a swarm of bees. She shot out of bed and yanked open the door. Nothing. Not a bee. Not a person. Only an empty hallway.
She searched left and then right while gripping the handle, the pale-yellow glow of the night lights guiding her sight. Above her, one of the orbs flickered, and Bree chalked it up to that being the sound she’d heard. “We pay all this money for the voyage and they can’t even have decent lights that work,” she grumbled.
Quietly, she shut the door and tiptoed back to bed, careful not to disturb Will or Kattie.
In between the dream state and the real world, Bree’s body seemed to float until she felt something lightly slither its way up her thigh, causing her eyes to flick open and tug her back into reality.
Bree’s stiff shoulders relaxed when she realized it was just Will’s hand trailing up her leg, trying to get some action again. His firm length pressed against her hip, and she rolled her eyes as she casually moved his arm back to his side. But then his hand crept toward her once more. Bree smiled and turned over before nudging Will in his ribs.
He stirred for a moment, grunted, then went back to sleep. So this time, she pulled her elbow up and jabbed him harder in the arm when he poked against her again. Will’s eyes flew open in the almost-darkened room, highlighted by a night-light on the wall across from the bed. Bree couldn’t do without one, even though she was a grown woman.
“What the hell was that for?” Will asked, his voice rough from sleep. He brought the heel of his hands to his eyes and rubbed them.
“Shh, you don’t want to wake Kattie.” Bree suppressed her laugh. “You were doing it again.” It was the fourth night in a row where she’d awoken to him wanting to score. She understood—she would have liked to as well. Weeks on a ship headed for their new home planet with their ten-year-old daughter in the same room was no canister of sunshine. However, Bree was old enough to control her hormones for the remainder of the journey. Will, on the other hand, still had the sex drive of when they’d first met.
“Sorry, I can’t help it.” He was already trying to drift back to sleep as he turned to his stomach, eyelids fluttering.
“Just a few more days, and I promise for the first week I’ll make it up to you when Kattie’s in her own room,” Bree said with a widening smile. That caused Will’s eyes to open a little more. She hadn’t thought it would be that bad to share a room with their daughter. It wouldn’t have been either, but the room was tiny even for one person, and the days had been long aboard the ship after they’d left Earth. Bree had even found herself space sick a few times, expelling the contents of her stomach on several occasions.
“I’ll hold you up to that promise.” Will chuckled softly while gently rubbing Bree’s thigh.
Bree sat up and slowly dragged her fingertips across Will’s face and pressed her body against his, teasing them both. “Since I’m already awake, I’m going to get something to eat and drink in the lounge. Do you want anything?”
“My throat is a little parched. I’ll take some water.” Tilting his chin toward the ceiling, he rubbed at his neck like he’d never had a sip of liquid in his entire life.
“Aww, my poor baby is thirsty. I’ll bring you back a little drink,” she said in a sarcastic motherly voice and grinned while patting his arm.
“Just the way I like it,” he whispered seductively, his hand at her lower back, his fingers dipping into the waistband of her pajama pants.
“Enough with the Psycho foreplay already before you try to get frisky again.” Leaning over, she held her smile and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. As she pulled away, he tugged her down for one more sweet kiss, his warm lips tasting hers as if they were his water. She returned the embrace eagerly, running her hand over his shorn hair. She still missed his long locks, but she also liked that she could see his cheek bones and jawline better now.
Bree loved Will now as much as she had thirteen years ago when she’d met him at eighteen. They’d gotten married at twenty, and everyone told them they were too young. Well, who was laughing now? They were still together and just as happy as they’d been back then. Her heart still beat for his, the way his did for hers, even though life had gotten more complicated. But that’s what happens as you grow up. Kattie was lucky to still get to be a child for a while longer.
Pushing back the thin blankets, Bree kicked them off her and stepped out of the bed. Before she left, she walked across to where Kattie lay sleeping. She stood there for a moment, listening for her daughter’s soft breathing until she heard it. With a small sigh, she tiptoed the remainder of the way toward Kattie, and reached over to stroke her hair, finding it a little damp. Bree wondered what Kattie was dreaming about to cause the beads of perspiration on her forehead. Was it the missing eyeball nightmare returning or something else? She lowered her hand and felt Kattie’s forehead to make sure there was no fever. The skin was cool to the touch, and Bree let out another relieved breath.
Kattie had suffered from seizures since she was six months old. They used to occur every month until they, thankfully, became sparser. It had been three years since her last one, but Bree still panicked every time Kattie developed a fever, since it was a precursor to the seizures. That was why she still found herself checking on Kattie every so often, just to make sure she wasn’t sick. Even though her daughter was ten, when Bree looked down at her, she still saw the baby girl she’d first held in her arms. And that feeling would never go away.
Bree leaned down to give Kattie a light kiss on the forehead, vowing to bring her back a cold water to sit by her bedside in case she needed it.
First thing first though was the bathroom—she had to pee like a racehorse and had no time for leakage, so she hauled butt to relieve herself. Finding herself a little more relaxed after doing her everyday business, she silently left the room, and glanced at her loved ones one more time before she shut the door behind her with a soft click.
In only a few days’ time, they’d be arriving on the new planet, Sorsa. Earth had become more overcrowded over the last several decades, and when Sorsa was discovered and visited, things looked up for mankind. Bree didn’t think her family would be one of the lucky people chosen, but they had been after she’d entered the raffle. She and Will were given new jobs and Kattie would be attending the private school that was built there. Everything was falling into place.
The gorgeous pictures and unpolluted lands were the main reasons Bree had applied. Fresh air and no longer having to wear oxygen masks when going outdoors. The Sorsa crew had only been accepting families with at least one child at the time, so they were a perfect match.
Outside the room, the poorly-lit hall had become darker. The flickering must have spread and somehow knocked the entire row out. As Bree pressed her hand to the smooth wall, she stumbled over something on the floor and kicked it to the side, not being able to see what it was. But it felt soft.
While walking through the dark, it seemed as if an eternity had gone by. Can’t someone come out and fix this? she thought to herself as her movements sped up. Luckily, just up ahead, a glowing light came into view.
Rounding the sharp corner, Bree released hold of the wall when she entered the large lounge. The open area was decorated in neat rows of silver circular tables, each surrounded by four metal chairs. Other than the tables, everything else was alabaster with a single white clock on all four walls, as though someone could easily lose track of the time.
None of the clocks were digital either—they were all old-school with long metal hands that repeatedly tick-tick-ticked. She’d held a pocket watch once but never had an actual mechanical clock in her household. However, she loved old antiques and old horror films from decades and decades past.
She scanned the area and expected to see a few of the usual familiar faces, but no one was around. The previous nights when Bree would venture out of her room after being woken by Will’s advances, there were always at least a couple other people in here, or at least someone working behind the counter.
Bree marched up to the counter, her bare feet feeling sticky against the ceramic floor. Across the white countertop, an unknown green substance lingered that resembled jelly. She ignored the questionable substance and peered over the edge, hoping she wouldn’t catch a fright if the worker popped out. But no one was there. Shrugging to herself, she leaned back and figured maybe they were off getting some action, or maybe some sleep of their own. The one thing she didn’t like aboard the ship was that technology was nonexistent. No screens, no phones. Everything had to be stored in the belly beneath the ship.
The familiar buzzing crackled from the lights above and as she peered up, two hands grabbed her by the waist. She let out a scream and whirled around, prepared to punch the person in the face. Only to find Will chuckling at her.
“Boo,” he said.
“Boo my ass. What are you doing?” She scanned the area, waiting for people to come out of their rooms to ask why she’d been screaming. But everyone must’ve been too deep in sleep or didn’t care to see if she’d just been murdered.
“You were taking too long with the water.”
“I literally just stepped into the lounge, you impatient man.”
“No, Kattie Kat woke up, drenched in sweat and saying she needed water. So here I am, hero and bringer of water.”
Bree’s hand flew to her chest, her heart slamming against her palm. “Is she sick?”
“No fever, just thirsty, Bree. Like me, like you. Don’t worry so much.” He gave her a soft peck on the nose.
Will took three bottled waters from the refrigerator and handed her one. “Looks like no one’s around if you want me to come back after dropping off the water.” He waggled his eyebrows.
She cocked her head. “Really?”
“You know I’m just kidding.” He walked backward with a smile. “Or am I?”
“Do you want me to check on her with you, though?”
“No, you sit out here, eat, relax, and I promise I’ll stay awake and look after her until you come back. Then you can kiss me goodnight again before we both drift off, preferably a long one like the princess gave to the prince in the story.” His grin grew wider, daring.
“So you were awake during the story?”
“Hey, it was an interesting one.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “The kiss was a peck.”
“We can make it our own version then.” He blew her a kiss and chuckled before leaving.
“When you get back,” she called, “can you buzz the crew and tell them the lights are off in the hall and this one out here started flickering?”
“Will do.”
Blowing out a breath, Bree pushed away from the counter and walked over to the clean white cabinets. She opened the first one, a squeak echoing throughout the area. Inside, she sifted through, finding all sorts of healthy snacks. There were no goods, so she immediately closed that one, not in the mood for those nasty types of treats. With a pivot, she scooted to the next one, discovering it to be stacked with coffee supplies. Gross. While sticking out her tongue like a child, she closed that one even faster.
Quickly, she pulled open the third cabinet, wishing for anything fattening and amazing. And, she’d hit the jackpot. Bree snatched a couple snack cakes with fierce precision as though they’d disappear before she made contact. She closed the door, apologizing in advance to the next lone person who would enter it since she took the last of the sweets.
Bree opened her bottle of water and swigged half of it down as she shuffled her way to one of the small tables. Pulling back a chair, she sank down and propped her feet up on the metal of another seat while crossing her ankles.
Dark locks of hair swung forward and she brushed them aside while unwrapping her delicious treat. The plastic crinkled and the sweet smell radiating off the frosting hit her nose.
Before the softness touched her tongue, the light above flickered, startling Bree for a moment. Glancing around the room like she’d discover the bandit who committed the crime, she found nothing.
Oh, well. She shrugged to herself, hoping Will had gotten ahold of someone to fix the light problem. If she had to call down to them, she wouldn’t be as nice as Will. She wasn’t an angry person in general, but with that sort of thing she could be.
Finally, she got the bite she so desperately wanted. Mid-chew, the light flickered again. Bree whipped her head up toward the ceiling, when a buzz came again, and this time wouldn’t stop. Annoyance hit her then, maybe even a bit of anxiety kicked in, too. What if the ship lost all its power? What if the ship never made it to its destination? What if the ship blew up? The thought of being trapped in space haunted her to the core.
Silence surrounded her again, and she wished someone else was in the lounge. Maybe she should have asked Will to stay, or to bring Kattie with him. No, they both needed their rest.
Hurriedly, she stuffed the remainder of the cake into her mouth and chewed fast, taking a larger swallow than she should have. Coughing, Bree reached for the bottled water. She hastily opened it and took a heavy swig to help push the cake down. It worked. Dying from choking would have been a shitty way to go.
She gasped and stood from the chair, the buzzing still ringing in her ears. Just as she took her first step, the last of the lights disappeared. Enveloped in darkness, she remained as still as a statue, but then realized that was ridiculous. It was only a little dark, nothing to fear. She was a grown woman, yet one who still needed a night-light after the sun set. She remembered her mother locking her in a dark closet when she was younger, saying she needed to be disciplined. Bree had chosen to be nothing like her mother when she’d become pregnant with Kattie.
In the dark, something rustled, causing her to continue standing frozen. The noise came again, a scurrying and pitter-patter across the floor. It had to be her imagination. When she used to be in that closet, she’d always imagined things, but they’d never sounded this real, this near.
Her heartbeat kicked the inside of her ribcage, and she took a couple steps in the dark. Bree’s muscles, her blood, her veins all felt the increased pump when her heart beat again. Another patter came, growing in sound as whatever it was drew closer. Bree held her breath, careful to not make any noise.
Right when she was about to take off running, to get away from whatever was lurking around, most likely a stowaway rat, the lights flashed back on, blinding her. From her peripheral, she could see something shifting on the floor. She spun to the side, her eyes clearing and focusing on a baby girl on all fours crawling, smiling at her.
Tight red curls surrounded the head and bright green eyes gazed into hers. Bree smiled back at the baby. But then her smile dropped as she searched around the room for the mother or father. The baby must’ve somehow snuck out of her room and crawled in here.
“Where did you come from?” Bree asked, hurrying to the child. If Kattie had crawled off somewhere when she was a baby and Bree discovered her missing, she would have had a panic attack. She needed to find the baby’s parents before they became too scared.
As she inched closer to the child, something seemed off when she scanned the face more closely. Thin lines, resembling cracks, etched the baby’s face, arms, and legs, as though someone had drawn on her. That can’t be right. But it was right.
Heart accelerating, Bree bent down and scooped the baby girl off the cold floor, never taking her eyes away from the child’s green irises. Bree’s breaths increased as she observed the child’s skin. She could now clearly see the fissures all over her, not drawn on lines with a writing tool. She had to find someone. Now.
Lifting a hand to touch the baby’s warm cheek, to let her know things would be okay, Bree brushed across the warm delicate skin. Under her fingertips, she could feel the separation of skin and was pretty sure that things were not okay.
Just as Bree pulled her hand back from the cheek, the baby snapped forward with a hiss and an open mouth, almost too wide. It took only a split-second to draw herself out from the stunned moment, but when she did, Bree screamed. Bright red dripped down the child’s lips and chin as she lunged again. Bree dropped the baby, then dragged her hand to her face, shaking, seeing blood—the red on the baby’s lips was from Bree.
Fingers.
Her fucking three fingers were gone, all the way to the base. Thick blood oozed out from the wounds, and she stared in horror at her pinky and thumb that were still there. Her eyes fluttered as panic sewed its way throughout her entire body, in her bones, her nerves, her muscles, her skin. Then she peered down at the baby on the floor who wasn’t coming after her, but instead convulsing on her side. Bree’s fingers were nowhere in sight, the thing must’ve swallowed them.
It was as if Bree was frozen in terror, unable to remove her eyes from the child on the floor. Something’s not right, she thought as her hand throbbed and shook frantically.
The baby’s trembling calmed. From the child’s face, a chunk of skin peeled away and fell to the floor, revealing green muscle beneath. Was the baby molting? Another few pieces slid off and spiraled downward.
The baby continued to hatch out of its skin, then rolled and crawled toward her, leaving a trail of green slime in her wake that matched the mysterious spot on the counter Bree had seen earlier.
Why am I still standing here?
The shock wore off, and Bree needed to get help as her hand continued to throb. She took off toward the front of the ship to warn the crew that they needed to do something. Arrest the baby? She didn’t know! It was too insane to think about.
As she tore down the hall, she cradled her hurt hand to her chest, all the while shouting for someone, anyone. Not a single door opened. Why were they ignoring her? Had they encountered the baby?
“Hello!” she yelled as her legs pumped and her bare feet hit the cool ceramic floor. But then she stopped in her tracks when her gaze met pools of blood seeping out from the bottom of several doors.
Chest heaving, Bree tried to unlock both doors to see if anyone needed help, but they were locked. She avoided the blood and continued down the hall to the crew’s working quarters at the front of the ship.
The door was already slid open. She paused. It should’ve been closed, and she should have to hit the button to retrieve a crew member.
Bree felt the need to run back to her room now, but she had to warn the crew of the strangeness, because if not, things could potentially get worse. But it’s only one mutated baby. And whatever else caused blood to leak out under doors!
As she slipped inside the area, empty white tables with red handprints slid into view. Her gaze dropped to the floor, where bodies were sprawled about. Three women and two men wearing white uniforms splashed with red. All of them stared wide-eyed in slumped positions with holes in their chests and body parts ripped off.
Bree swung her unhurt hand to cover her mouth, bile rising up her throat. This couldn’t be happening. She hurried past the dead bodies, sharp stings radiating through her hand. Up front, in the cockpit, she found the three pilot chairs, each holding a body tilted over, soaked in blood.
A choking breath echoed. Bree gasped and darted toward the hurt woman.
“What do you need?” Bree asked, making sure to not touch her. “What happened?”
“The—the—chi—”
Bree didn’t get to hear the rest because the woman’s breaths stopped. There was no one, no one at all, piloting the ship. Only the dead.
Will. Kattie. She had to get to them.
When she rushed back out of the room, past the strewn bodies, to the hallway, the lights were flickering. All the doors opened. The lights shut off completely before Bree could have a peek inside. A stirring came from each room.
She didn’t stand around to wait for what happened, she took off on a hard sprint down the darkened hall, praying to make it back to her room safely. Not for her life, but to warn her loved ones.
When she turned the corner, the lounge was still lit, the trail of the green gore on the floor leading to the counter. A growl and gurgle sounded there, and she didn’t stop to see what the monster baby was doing.
As Bree was about to turn the corner to take the hall back to her room, several little people coming to her shoulder stepped into view, blocking her path. When she inched closer, they were possibly children, causing her to gasp. Bree’s gaze bounced around, searching for the molting baby who could sneak up on her, but she came up empty. Her attention focused on the sickly green children who stood in front of her, staring, hissing. Or maybe they weren’t children, but some monstrous form who looked as though all their skin had been wiped away, leaving only muscle showing. The hue was of a deep green, the color of the darkest leaves on a tree that could be found on Earth.
Behind her, the stirring did come then, the snapping baby had made a comeback. Three green monster children, one vicious baby, her missing fingers. I can do this. Bree took off on a mad dash, barreling toward the three creatures—she was going to knock them down like bowling pins.
When Bree collided, instead of the children breaking apart, she was thrown back by their strength. Her body flew several feet away, landing smack on her tailbone. A sharp pain raced up her spine, and a small squeak escaped her lips.
She turned to the side, her eyes meeting the mutated baby crawling toward her, completely green and bald, growling and hissing. Not wanting to lose what was left of her fingers, Bree pushed up to her feet, stumbling her way back to the little monsters standing in the hall.
“What’s going on here?” she asked the three children while avoiding Snapping Baby.
One of the creatures took a step forward, leaving Bree almost enough of a space to break through. She couldn’t tell if the green child was a boy or girl because there was no hair on the head, and the features seemed to blend in with its coloring. The child wore a cotton white shirt with matching pants, as did the other two who stood beside him or her.
“We are taking over. It’s time for you to say goodnight,” the monster child spoke matter of fact, the sides of its lips pulled downward.
“Well, yes, goodnight sounds fantastic. Let me head to my room now.” Bree lunged one more time, but the child was prepared. Latching on to Bree’s wrist with the missing fingers, the child squeezed to the point where she couldn’t feel the throb of the missing fingers any longer.
“This is what we needed. Bodies. But yours won’t do for us.” The green child’s eyes also glowed emerald, like that of the baby. In fact, they all did.
Before Bree could say anything, a loud crack echoed in the room. It happened too fast—Bree couldn’t breathe. The piece of shit had snapped off her hand just above her wrist like a tree branch. The howl of agony then came. She needed to vomit—her precious cake from earlier rose up her throat and spewed on the child’s bare green feet.
Repulsed, the monster child backed away, and Bree took the opportunity to dart past what she could only assume were a green murderous cult. Her wrist pulsed where the hand was missing, and her skin grew paler by the second while blood leaked out.
“Your time is coming,” the child seethed down the hall.
“No, your time will be coming once I get my hand wrapped up and find a gun, you little shit,” she murmured to herself as she hurried down the darkened hallway.
Breathing heavily, she strained to find her door. As soon as her hand reached the handle at the end of the hallway, she pushed it open. Lungs hurting, everything hurting, she rushed inside and slammed the door behind her, locking it. She needed to wake Will and Kattie immediately.
Her entire body shook as she pressed the button for light. A bright beam spread through the room, and Bree trembled as her eyes tried to adjust, her brain unsteady from all that had occurred.
She blinked as she studied the floor. Her blinks became rapid as she saw what looked to be tan skin. Her eyebrows drew together while her body swayed, making her feel as though she was a Hawaiian dancer, or a drunken one, from the blood loss.
Bree’s brain wouldn’t connect the pieces of what the skin on the floor meant. And then it did. Her head snapped up toward where Will lay on the bed. She backed into the door, her handless arm flying to her mouth as a half-cry, half-scream gurgled out.
Green. A green child stood hovering over a bloodied Will. Her husband’s chest was a torn mess, bone exposed, a still heart resting next to the body.
“Kattie,” Bree whispered. She had to get her and prayed to all things supernatural that her daughter was all right and not torn to pieces. Her eyes angled to Kattie’s bed, finding it empty with a huge wet spot and blankets crumpled on the floor.
Bree’s hand continued to tingle with numbing pain as her gaze went from the bed, to the skin on the floor, to the green child who was now watching her with intensity.
Hands drenched in Will’s blood, dripping, dripping, the green child stepped toward her, wearing a white nightgown that matched Kattie’s. “Hello, Mother.”
“Shit.” Bree began to sob—she didn’t understand what was happening. Somehow this green monster was Kattie, and her normally brown eyes were now the same emerald shade as the other children from the lounge.
Kattie took several slower steps toward Bree while shaking her hand to the side. Something happened, and Kattie’s bloodied fingers now resembled sharpened daggers coming to a deadly point.
“Sorry, Mother. We need these bodies for our home planet. Yours is past puberty, so it’s unusable.”
Home planet? They were aliens... “I don’t understand. Where’s Kattie?” Bree looked one more time at her handsome husband who would never speak his beautiful and hilarious words to her again, then back at this monster that had taken her sweet daughter.
“Kattie’s gone.” Using one swift thrust, the creature shoved her knife-like fingers into Bree’s chest. With a now mostly empty rib cage, Bree sank to the floor as all her good memories turned into emptiness.
