Black Pillars

The whirring sound receded but neither of them moved. It felt like some sticky glue stuck their butts where they are. Aristia didn't want to stand because she was sure that her knees would buckle up.

A hand reached and grabbed Calista. They both jumped in fright. It was Rowan who looked frantic and panting.

Her eyes darting everywhere and then she whisper-hissed at them, "Drones are swarming the place. We have to get out of here now!"

Calista who was gasping for air shook her head "Then we should stay here if there are drones outside we are safer here. They won't see us here."

Rowan hissed, her eyes reddening a bit, "We can't! why do you think drones are dispatched in broad daylight? I heard loud and heavy footsteps above. If we don't get out now, they will find us.

Aristia's eyes widen in realization. No, no. they can't be here. The Zarkenian can't be here. She needs to go home. Heloise and Quinn are waiting for her, she can't sit here and wait for the Zarkenians to drag her away.

Calista was hyperventilating from fear, "The perfume, we won't smell nice. They will not follow our scent. Let's stay here. I- I can't go out there, I'm scared."

Rowan grabbed Calista's wrist and gave her a hard stare, "Don't you still get it? This scent we have is just a mask to deter them. Those humanoids have a good sense of smell than any species out there. We can mask our scent but we can't change the scent underneath all this stink!"

They were silent for a heartbeat until she decided to grab Calista's other arm and hauled her up. "We need to go Calie. We can't be trapped here. Think about our family waiting for us."

Calista cried as quietly as she could, "The Zarkenians… scared…I want to go home." She kept muttering those broken sentences as she let us drag her out and run.

We were crouching on one pillar, observing. They were currently trying to cross the wide expanse of the second-floor rotunda and escape through the fire exit.

"Snow and Green?" I whispered worriedly.

"Don't worry about them, they are probably outside by now. My brother knows what to do in case this happens." Rowan said and hissed at Calista, "Stop it! You will draw them here with your sniveling."

The scared and crying Calista huddled on her side. Her heart broke from looking at her trembling form. She rubbed Calista's shoulders, "Calie, calm down. It would not help our situation if you cry like this."

Calista sniffled, "But I'm scared."

A vein in Rowan's temple throbbed. "I'm scared, Aristia's scared, we are all scared. But do you see us crying? No, we are thinking about ways of how to get out of here safe. But your blubbering is hurting our chances of escaping undetected!"

"Rowan, enough," Aristia said. Calista was only sixteen and was thrust into this kind of situation for the first time. Her reaction is only natural.

Rowan glared at her and spat, "Don't cuddle her too much, she had to get a grip of herself if she wanted to survive in the new Earth."

Aristia and Calista could only keep their mouth shut. Rowan was right. Crying would not solve anything. They need to be level-headed to survive.

They surveyed the vast area one more time and deemed it safe to cross.

"It's clear. Go, go, go!"

They make a run for it. Freedom was in their grasp when halfway through their sprint a big, black thing landed from above, three meters away from them.

The heavy impact shook the ground.

They felt the sudden quake all over their bodies. It was jarring and scary like the thing in front of them.

The thing was crouching, bracing one knee and hands on the floor, fine dust swirled around its feet.

Slowly, the thing unfurled. A humanoid body clad in a black mask and uniform stood before them.

Even if they were a few meters away from it, they still had to crane their necks. The humanoid before them must be seven feet tall and more. Tall, massive, and big all over, its body looked like Thor's but pumped with steroids.

No skin on display but they are sure its color would be golden-tinged.

A Zarkenian.

Oh, f*ck me.

Only a Zarkenian has that kind of body, had that kind of power to jump from a high place without breaking any bones.

Aristia's mouth had gone dry. The thing was not moving, just standing there facing them. They can't see its feature, even a strand of its hair was nowhere in sight with the full mask on.

Gears and contraptions decorated its massive body. Making it bulkier, deadlier. The size of him really scared the wits out of her. Its hand alone can grab her head and twist without much power. Such body and physic never belonged to any human.

She watched the unmoving humanoid with a sick churning in her stomach. She looked at Rowan, the girl slowly took a step back and she and Calista followed suit. She saw her hand moved and she held her breath. Desperation and panic made a knot on her throat.

Three.

She slowly reached for Calista's hand.

Two.

The other gripped her backpack tightly and exhaled.

One.

"Run!"

The three of them run in the opposite direction but another humanoid landed. Calista shriek from fright when it landed more closely this time. She bit back the whimper of panic rising in her mouth.

The three of them backtracked and made a run again but the same thing happened.

Wherever direction they run to, a Zarkenian will land. They looked like black pillars falling from the sky, unmoving, caging them, trapping them.

Until they were completely surrounded by eight big, scary, Zarkenian.

Rowan made a desperate move and took out her weapon. She raised a pistol with only three rounds of bullet and aimed it at the Zarkenian in front of her and bargained with a trembling voice, "We only came here to get some things. We don't mean trouble. L-Let us pass or I'll shoot."

Aristia then remembered the hunting knife she hid on her boot and took it out and aimed the thing towards the men.

Calista did the same and took out her weapon from her backpack clumsily. Aristia wanted to groan when she the tool.

An unevenly sharpened bread knife. Shit.

Calista held it and was about to point it to the aliens when the tool slipped from her grip and cluttered on the floor noisily.

She bends over to retrieve it. Rowan and Aristia stared at her, even the aliens watched her grope for the thing.

Calista wanted to stand up again but her knees gave out. She looked up to Aristia, trembling hands holding the bread knife, with tears in her eyes, "I-I can't stand up."

Aristia wanted to cry too. The Zarkenians wouldn't be the death of her, Calista will.