Chapter 25

“You won’t be standing on any of your legs in just a moment unless you put your hands up and do exactly as I say,” a man’s gruff voice hissed. “Drop what you’re holding and turn this way.” It was the voice of Cutter from the other group of humans, which naturally meant that the female-looking shape next to him was Priya. Up close, it was clear that she was of indeed of Indian descent, with dark brown eyes that carried just as much ferocity as her leader’s commanding tone.

“Okay, I admit it: your instincts were right again, Cutter,” Priya grumbled, keeping her eyes and firearm focused dead ahead at Sarah and the others, who were slowly raising their hands. “We were being followed.”

“I’m surprised that they managed to make it this far,” Cutter scoffed. He had removed his face-coverings to reveal a hardened, middle-aged face with a gray-streaked beard adorning his broad jawline. He squinted at them with gray eyes that wrinkled around the edges. “Only amateurs would alert a Behemoth like that. So, what group are you from? Sullivan’s? Answer me quickly and keep those hands up where I can see them. That’s it ... nice and easy...”

“H-hey man, just chill, okay?” Steven stammered, sweat starting to bead on his forehead.

“Everyone calm down,” Sarah added. “Look, we’re cooperating. Let’s just all take it easy.”

“I asked you what group you’re from!” Cutter spat angrily. “Not whether you wanted to sing ‘Kumbaya’ with us!”

“G-group...?” Adam carefully replied. “We aren’t a part of any ‘group’; it’s just us.”

“Bullshit,” Priya snorted, keeping her gun steadily trained on him now. “What, you expect us to believe that you weren’t following us and that this is just coincidence? Can’t help but notice you stole some of our supplies.” She gestured with her chin towards the bags of food that Adam and Steven were still carrying.

“You drop-!” Steven blurted out, but was quickly cut-off by Priya snapping her aim towards his head.

“Shut the fuck up; I wasn’t talk to you, was I?” She turned back to Adam, a look of scornful bemusement on her face, as if begging him to do his best to try and explain this.

“Look,” Adam responded, still keeping his hands above his shoulders. “We admit that we saw you drop these bags, but it didn’t look like you were coming back for them, and we really need the food. We even said that if we ran into you guys that we’d give them back as a sign of good faith, right guys?”

The rest of them all frantically nodded in agreement – other than A’luhr, who remained still. Sarah could almost feel her yellow eyes scanning the room from behind her, looking for any opportunities to make an escape.

“Oh, is that right?” Cutter chuckled ruefully. “Then you will be all-too happy to very slowly drop the bags and push them over to us with your feet, right?” He made a show of cocking his pistol as a warning.

“You’re bluffing,” Adam retorted. “You wouldn’t dare fire those loud guns in here with all the monsters outside.” Cutter shrugged.

“I’d be willing to gamble that we could get away from the Harvesters while your crippled bodies distract them as nice, helpless playthings. So, what’ll it be? You taking that bet?” Adam remained silent. “Smart choice. Now then...” He gestured for them to slide the bags over.

Adam sighed. He nodded at Steven, and together they eased the heavy satchels down to the floor before awkwardly pushing them towards the two raiders. Neither Cutter nor Priya made a move to pick them up.

“Check them, Priya.” Cutter growled. “And you all, don’t even think about moving, or that thought will be the second to last thing that passes through your brains.” Priya moved towards Adam and the rest, keeping her gun trained on them. Adam, nervous that she was about to do a full-body search, instinctively squeezed his legs closed.

“Don’t worry, big boy,” Priya laughed. “I’m not after your little worm down there. I’m looking for your little worm in here...” She turned on a flashlight attached to her handgun then aimed it down Adam’s ear before peering deep into it. He flinched, but she grabbed his head and held him still.

“What are you looking for?” Sarah blurted out, unable to contain her curiosity any longer as she watched Priya move from Adam to Steven to check his ears as well. Cutter whirled his gun towards her, but simply raised a brow at her.

“You serious?” He replied, disbelief dripping from his words. When Sarah simply stared blankly back at him, he sighed heavily. “Huh. You really must be amateurs. Or idiots.”

“My vote is both,” Priya added with a smirk while moving over to Zoey next.

“We’re checking you for earworms. Making sure you’re not being controlled by the Harvesters. Did you really not know that? Or perhaps playing dumb?” He narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

“We’ve been hiding out in a bunker cut-off from the outside world this whole time,” Adam said, thinking quickly. “We had to leave because it became compromised. We don’t really have any idea what’s going on out here other than there being all these creatures around, which I am assuming are what you are referring to when you say, ‘Harvesters’.”

“What else?” Cutter rolled his eyes. “Those tentacle fuckers take control of people with little worms in their ears. Not really sure how, but once they’re in there, they’re a bitch and a half to get out. Much easier to just put the host of their misery.” Zoey gulped as Priya’s intense stare pierced through her eardrums.

Sarah was pretty sure that none of them had such “earworms”, seeing as they appeared to be thinking normally, but it’s not like she had thought to look recently. Thinking back on how the thralls they had met before acted, it wouldn’t be impossible to imagine that they could easily pretend to be normal in order to lure unsuspecting prey into a trap...

Sarah eyed Priya nervously as the intimidating woman moved towards her. Sarah gave every intention that she would willingly comply with the search, but even still, Priya grabbed her by the hair and painfully jerked her head around to inspect her ears. Sarah held her breath, her heart beating in her chest, but Priya seemed satisfied after a minute.

“These ones are clean,” Priya reported, clicking her tongue. Sarah detected a note of disappointment in her voice, as if she had been hoping to have a good excuse to use the pistol she was now aiming at A’luhr. “You. With the cow udders. Take off the helmet nice and slowly.”

Sarah and the rest exchanged worried glances. There was no telling what would happen if A’luhr’s identity was revealed.

“Listen,” Sarah spoke up, her body tense. “She’s been with us the entire time. Obviously, she’s not with the, uh, Harvesters.”

“Then she has nothing to hide,” Cutter grumbled. “Not that those cute little uniforms allow you to hide much anyway. I admit that I’m impressed by your lack of shame.” Zoey could be seen blushing in the dim light, her raised hands aching to cover the tight fabric around her full, perky chest. Cutter had been surveying all of their bodies carefully as Priya conducted her search, but his eyes were filled with distrust, not lust.

“She has a really bad burn!” Steven blurted, his eyes clenched. “She doesn’t like people seeing it ... she kinda has a meltdown if that happens – a trauma thing. You wouldn’t want to risk that and draw the Kr- Harvesters to us, right?”

“Hm,” Cutter sniffed. “That’s true.”

“Pathetic.” Priya huffed. “I wear my scars with pride; they remind me of what I’m fighting for.” She approached A’luhr and seemed about to remove the helmet herself before suddenly backing away. “Whatever. Crazy that even with all these alien bastards fucking everyone that some people still choose to be huge pussies.”

“What’s with the getups, anyway?” Cutter asked, finally squatting down to pull the bags of food towards their side of the store while still keeping his gun trained on the group.

“These are simply some tactical garments we found that are easy to move in,” A’luhr replied, playing along.

“Oh, the bitch can talk!” Priya replied with mock surprise. “I thought maybe all her brains had gone to her chest.” She snorted. “And where’d you find these? Comic-Con or something? Well, that’s not important.” She glanced down at the various alien weapons the group had dropped on the floor, along with the daggers strapped to A’luhr’s hips. “What do you make of these, Cutter?”

“Looks like some shitty toys that came with the suits,” Cutter replied, eyeing the rods and orbs with disinterest. It was clear that he was more of a gun guy.

“Those blades on ‘Big Tits’ over here look nice enough,” Priya whistled softly.

“Good eye. Grab those and let’s get out of this shit hole.”

“Her tits?”

“The knives,” Cutter groaned. Priya chuckled to herself for causing the man such distress. She turned back towards A’luhr and held her free hand out. “Give them here. Don’t make me test whether that precious helmet of yours is bullet-proof.” A’luhr remained motionless, save for her shoulders, which were shaking with barely-contained anger.

For a moment, Sarah was worried A’luhr would attack and complicate things more than they already were. But her worries were for naught, as the trained alien warrior quickly but carefully slid the daggers out of their sheaths and handed them over to Priya, who took them and returned to Cutter.

“So, let’s say we believe you for now that you just happened to run into us here.” Cutter continued, motioning for Priya to inspect the contents of the bags. She hunkered down and began to inspect the canned goods for anything suspicious. “What were you doing here then? This is a pretty dangerous place. I can’t imagine you’d risk it just to throw a birthday party.” He gestured towards the helium tanks that were on the floor next to A’luhr’s feet.

“Maybe they needed the helium to keep their balloons inflated,” Priya snorted again, eyeing the women’s unusually large breasts. Sarah was starting to get a little pissed-off. It’s not like Priya was a chalkboard herself. Though she wore a Kevlar vest, it was pretty clear that her own bosom was rather impressive in its own right.

“We’re using it for fuel,” Steven explained.

“ ... Oh, really?” Cutter replied slowly, raising a brow. Adam also blinked in surprise at this, but did his best to put on a sincere smile. Before Cutter could continue, Sarah spoke up.

“Listen, we know you’re down some men,” she said, doing her best to speak quickly without fumbling over her own dry tongue. “It will be difficult to carry all of this back to your base. We can help you bring them to your camp and then be on our way if you let us go.”

“What, and then you’ll go tell your other friends in hiding where we are?” Priya scoffed. “Not likely.”

“Well hold on now, Priya,” Cutter remarked, holding up a gloved hand. “The woman’s not wrong. We could always put them to work back at camp...” He seemed lost in thought for a moment. “Unfortunately, I don’t trust any of you, and we don’t have time at the moment for you to gain my trust. So how about we just go our separate ways here and you just keep hoping we don’t run into you again? Sounds good to everyone?” Sarah sighed, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

“We’re just letting them go!?” Priya snapped in a terse whisper.

“They’re as good as walking sex dolls for the Harvesters with their skills,” Cutter replied, picking up one of the bags and slinging it over his free shoulder. “Now, grab the other bag and let’s leave before we join them.” Priya opened her mouth to argue, but simply opted to grumble in annoyance while glaring at Sarah and the rest. She hoisted the other bag onto her back and began to move towards the main entrance alongside Cutter, both keeping their guns and eyes trained on the others.

Suddenly, a giddy, inhuman shout broke the tense silence.

“GYAHAHA! STEP RIGHT UP ... IF YOU DARE!”

Everyone in the store jumped and wheeled around in surprise to see that one of the Halloween decorations on display, a clown animatron, had suddenly burst to life with glowing eyes, hideously distorted laugher, waving arms, and loud, creepy circus music. Priya had apparently stepped on the battery-powered mat on the floor that activated the clown. Startled, she accidentally fired-off a single, deafening gunshot.

The bullet pierced through the clown’s colorful costume, and a moment later the laughter and music crackled out in a mixture of static and garbled noises before the whole machine grinded to a quiet halt. For a few seconds, everyone stared at the plastic charlatan’s eerie painted smile in shocked silence. Cutter was the first to snap out of it.

“Find cover!” He barked, swiftly grabbing Priya by the arm and pulling her behind the counter where Sarah and the others were already diving to the floor. A moment later, the front door of the store suddenly crashed open as an evolved Krinis thrust through it with a tree-like arm before lumbering into the dark building.

As the sound of falling rubble died away, it was replaced with the soft, lustful moans of the woman strapped to the creature’s chest. It was Jenna. Her partner had been removed, likely taken away by another grotesque beast, leaving her alone to bounce up and down on both of the monster’s huge, rigid shafts each time it took a lurching step.

The snout-like tentacle on the Krinis’s face was stuffed down the woman’s bulging throat, which was clearly being filled with orange nectar. A series of thin tendrils had branched off of the creature’s sides near her chest, and had tightly coiled around the base of both her taut breasts to such a degree that the exposed peaks were starting to turn a dull shade of purple while more feelers flicked and teased her erect nipples.

Jenna’s tearful eyes were half-closed and partially rolled back into her head as her helpless, limp body was forced to endure orgasm after orgasm while the monster began to wander around the store’s interior.

Sarah and the rest watched from behind the counter as the Krinis approached the destroyed clown figure, feeling around the dark aisles with its long, tentacle fingers while scanning the area with the beady eye-like organs on its mottled head. Cutter and Priya held their pistols at the ready, but everyone else remained unarmed, too scared of making even the faintest of noises to reach for their weapons that remained on the floor only a few feet away.

Sarah was surprised to note how the humanoid creature investigated its surroundings with obvious intelligence, grabbing individual items from shelves and lifting them up to its sensory organs to inspect each one, even going so far as to deftly open some packaging now and then. As it moved back around towards the row of creepy clown animatronics, it, too, happened to activate one.

“GYAHAHA! STEP RIGHT UP ... IF YOU DARE!”

The Krinis lunged a malformed hand at the gyrating decoration, yanking it into the air, tentacles seemingly poised to strip it nude as if a real human, before the creature appeared to understand what the clown was. To Sarah’s astonishment, the Krinis began to go around the section of the store while purposefully activating the various battery-powered surprises. It was hard to get a read on its simplistic expression, but the way it cocked its head to the side displayed a sense of curiosity and entertainment.

Sarah recalled observing that some of the outrageous sex acts performed by the Krinis didn’t seem too efficient in terms of breeding, and that perhaps this was simply a form of sick entertainment for them. This newly witnessed Krinis behavior certainly gave credence to the notion that not only were the alien invaders quite sentient, but they were also in need of entertainment – and perhaps sex wasn’t the only thing that interested them.