Alien Claim: Book 2 by Rebekah Halt 🖤 at Inkitt

Chapter 1

Note: This is the second book in the Alien Claim series. Please read Alien Claim, Book 1, before proceeding.

Chapter 1

Year: 2201: One year after Fenn's return to Earth

The aliens always leave something behind.

Death.

Chaos.

Or sometimes fear.

And sometimes… it’s running water.

I swung my harvesting blade through the air, watching as it sliced through a thick stalk of wheat. I watched the stalks tumble to the ground before leaning down to gather them and place them into my basket.

A year ago, these fields were just a dry chunk of Earth. But now?

Neat rows of lush vegetation burst with life. Irrigation pipes ran around its perimeter, connected to silver water tanks standing tall in the distance.

Thanks to the water tanks that had been delivered to the colony last year, everything had changed. People weren’t getting sick as often, and crops actually survived long enough to be harvested before the heat dried them out.

Not long after my return to Earth, electric generators arrived. Tall metal monsters that used wind turbines to turn smoky air into energy that now powered our small colony. We no longer had to rely on batteries collected from alien space wrecks.

The people of the colony didn’t know why the aliens had suddenly delivered water tanks and generators. Or why, every week, mysterious shipments arrived with food and clothing.

But I knew why.

I tightened my grip on the blade and swung it above my head again, pushing the thought of him out of my mind.

He loved to do that.

Push his way into my thoughts…

“Fenn!”

My head snapped over my shoulder, and I saw my sister walking towards me.

Sola was making her way through the rows of plants, one hand clutching onto a toddler’s tiny hand. My nephew, Jace, toddled beside her through the dirt, his small legs wobbling as he tried to maintain his balance.

When I returned to Earth, I discovered that Sola had become pregnant. But she had waited until I returned to have her wedding.

I smiled and set my blade down in the dirt beside me.

“Just who I wanted to see,” I said, kneeling and holding my arms out to him.

Jace giggled and ran into my embrace.

“Be careful, Fenn,” Sola said with one eyebrow raised. “He learned how to bite.”

I ignored her and lifted him from the ground, squeezing him tight against me. My eyes moved from his boot-clad feet to his tiny hands. He giggled and clapped them together, and my eyes instinctively moved to his hand.

One. Two. Three. Four.

He had four fingers on each little hand. Another victim of our pollution. Just like I had been.

I kissed his cheek and shifted him higher against my hip.

“Happy Birthday Fenn,” Sola smiled brightly.

“Thanks,” I replied. I was twenty today, and for the first time ever, I’d have a proper birthday dinner. One with fresh meat and vegetables instead of stale bread with porridge.

“Father sent me to find you,” Sola said, reaching out to straighten Jace’s wild blonde hair. “The supply transport arrived earlier than scheduled.”

I barely looked at her as I stuck my tongue out at Jace and crossed my eyes. He giggled and reached out with one chubby hand and grabbed a fistful of my hair.

My eyes flickered to Sola. That’s when I saw her expression.

“What?” I asked carefully. “You look worried.”

Sola sighed. “There’s been gossip again.”

My stomach dropped. “Is this about the other aliens?”

She nodded, “They’re saying one of the other alien planets has gone to war with the Valtheri.”

I held Jace tighter, my heart thudding.

War. Of course…

I tried to hide the fear in my expression, “The aliens are always fighting each other; it has nothing to do with us. Besides, it’s just gossip.”

Sola shifted from one foot to the other, nervously. “Blaze overheard some of the Valtheri talking about it when he was helping collect some of the shipments. They said foreign alien ships have been moving near the outer systems for weeks.”

We stood there, staring back at one another in silence. Neither of us spoke-but we didn’t need to. I was certain that Sola was thinking the same thing that I was.

When the aliens were at war, one thing was for sure.

Aliens would command.

Humans would obey.

And in the end…it would be us who suffered the most.

It had always been this way. The Law had been sure of it.

Human colonies may be used as strategic resources during wartime.

Human colonies are not guaranteed Valtheri protection in the event of a foreign alien invasion.

Just then, a loud shriek pulled our gazes away from one another. We both turned to see a human from the colony waving their arms at us, from several yards away.

“Everyone to the colony center!” someone yelled towards the fields.

Sola froze, her eyes looking towards Jace.

I knew what she was thinking.

How could she, a weak human, protect her child from aliens far stronger than we were? The Valtheri certainly weren’t going to help us. Unless, of course, they felt the need to protect their livestock.

My stomach flipped as I looked down at my nephew. I had hoped that he would be raised in the new version of our colony. The safer, improved version.

The human in the distance was waving their arms again impatiently.

“Move it! Hurry up!” they screeched.

“What the hell is going on?” Sola whispered under her breath.

I heard commotion all around me, as the other humans working in the field abandoned their tools and began emerging from the tall wheat stalks. Sola and I moved with them quickly, making our way to the colony center.

By the time we reached the colony center, dozens of people had already gathered in swirls of dust as their boots landed against the dry dirt.

I squinted at a large, metal crate that sat in front of the growing crowd. My father stood next to it, peering down at a panel with glowing numbers.

I blinked at the symbol painted on the side. I felt a familiar flutter in my stomach but tried to ignore it.

I knew that symbol. I had seen it so many times before…

Valtheri.

The crowd kept their distance from it, as if it were a ticking bomb.

“What is it?” Sola said, leaning towards me.

I shrugged, “It’s just a crate from Valtheri. We get them all the time.”

“So, what’s the big deal then?” she asked.

I looked at her and shrugged again, “I don’t know.”

After years of being in charge of colony shipments, my father knew every Valtheri code needed to open supply crates. He was the only human allowed to possess this knowledge.

The Valtheri were notorious for creating indestructible materials and structures. Breaking into anything they had designed was nearly impossible.

I watched as my father typed a number sequence along the top of the panel.

Then suddenly, the crate let out a high-pitched mechanical hiss.

The locks along the edges of the top slowly unlatched and the lid lifted open.

The smell was immediate, slamming into the crowd mercilessly.

I winced in disgust. It smelled like…a dead animal.

People began gagging and covering their noses as they stepped backwards. Then the walls of the crate fell open, hitting the ground with a gentle thud.

That’s when I saw it.

The body inside was large, very large. I leaned forward slightly, and my eyes widened when I realized what I was looking at.

A Valtheri.

A dead one to be exact.

Its pale skin was covered in dry, purple blood. His uniform had been ripped through to its armor, exposing mangled flesh. A long, bloody ear sat next to its body. It looked as if another creature had ripped it away from its skull. One of its arms was bent backward into an unnatural position.

Whatever had killed this alien had not shown a single moment of mercy.

But it was the blue symbol on the chest of his armor that caused my breathing to speed up. The symbol was slightly different from the one on the side of the crate.

It was the same one that I had seen in Zarek’s home.

Royalty.

This Valtheri was an important one.

“We are completely fucked,” Sola said, her eyes wide. “What the hell are we meant to do with a Valtheri body?”

I ignored her, and instead, I walked forward, inching my way towards its body. I stopped just in front of it, holding back the urge to vomit as the overwhelming stench smashed my sense. There was something clutched in its hand.

I knelt down.

“Don’t touch it,” my father warned from where he now stood beside me.

“He’s holding something,” I said, leaning forward to look more closely at it.

It was a small piece of fabric. It appeared as if he had grabbed something in his last moments, and a small piece had been left behind in his grip.

I tilted my head, “It’s a silver symbol."

“I recognize it,” my father whispered cautiously as he knelt to the ground beside me. I could tell that he didn’t want the other members of the colony to hear him.

I turned to him, “And?”

“Dravros,” he replied, his voice still low.

I blinked at him, “The ones that the Valtheri are meant to be at war with?”

“Yes,” he replied with a sigh.

I knew of Dravros, but only through stories. They were meant to be large, vile creatures with sharp teeth and red eyes. The stories described them as a ruthless species that had an appetite for a very specific delicacy.

Humans...

***

The decision had been easy.

We were not going to report the dead body to the Valtheri. Instead, we’d burned it.

“What a great way to spend your birthday, Fenn,” Sola sighed. “Sorry, it was spoiled with that dead body.”

I turned to look at her with a smile, “It’s not spoiled. Look around.”

We turned towards the stovetop, where my mother was pulling steaming potatoes from a pot. My father stood next to her with Jace tucked in his arms.

The perfect birthday.

Soon, we were all sitting around the table, our plates loaded with fresh, steaming piles of food. I sighed happily as I eyed the birthday cake in the middle of the table.

I had never had a birthday cake before.

I picked up my fork, aiming for a small chunk of potato.

Then-

It began.

First, the lights flickered.

The single bulb hanging above our kitchen table buzzed.

It flickered again.

The room fell into darkness.

Jace whimpered, and I reached through the darkness until I found his tiny body. I pulled him into my lap and clutched him against my chest.

“What was that?” my mother whispered.

I could hear the generators outside slowing down, moving from a steady hum to total silence.

A strange feeling crept up my spine.