Page 5 of Rebirth

I see…life.

The camp is busy. The people on the ground are without fear as they hustle about the camp. Everyone is doing something, and those who aren’t working sit together. Chatting.

There’s the sweet scent of food, and children play.

Children…

Children that survived.

And there is…laughter.

“You there! Welcome to Unity!” A woman dressed in what looks like black, shin-tight spandex heads our way, pulling the attention of the males behind me. Not because of the outfit that melds to her like a second skin but because, behind her, like a dark shadow, stalks something I couldn’t have ever imagined was real.

Except, it’s right before me now.

“Hi, I’m Mina!” Her jovial demeanor does nothing to soothe the sudden stiffness that goes through the group of us. Her countenance falls a little, only slightly, before she glances over her shoulder. “Ah, sorry. Didn’t intend to introduce you to our allies so soon. We have an onboarding process and everything, but I suppose the sooner you get used to them, the better.” She grins again, turning and gesturing to the alien at her back. “This is San’ten.”

The Vullan.

At least, that’s what they’re called on the flyer. Aliens who liberated our world. Aliens who helped us.

Ones we can trust.

Their ship looms like a silent threat above what humans have built. And yet, the humans below it are safe.

It is almost too much to believe. And yet, it appears to be true.

We were advised. Every single soul who found a flyer would have seen the message, the warning on the back. A depiction of the saviors of our little planet. What they’ve done. How they saved us.

But the image on the back of the flyer was but a crude sketch compared to the creature before me now.

Bipedal with ridges running over its entire frame, it looks like a shadow taken form rather than something real. And yet, it moves so fluidly, head tilting upward in a way that makes me realize it had been holding me in its gaze but has now dismissed me, focusing on the males at my back.

“San’ten?” Mina pastes a smile on her face, eyes widening slightly as she communicates something unsaid to the creature.

Black, soulless eyes pull away from her, the suit the creature’s wearing rippling like a wave as he focuses once more on the males at my back.

“Welcome to Unity.”

Deep. Gruff. A voice I never expected.

They speak like us.

“Fuck,” one of the men behind me whispers.

A growl erupts, vibrating the air immediately.

“That female, maybe.” The creature leans forward over Mina and points directly at me with a hand with dark nails so long it looks like a claw. “But not mine.”

“What?” the guy behind me asks and the alien steps forward, so close to the small human standing before it that her back presses into him. The males at my back retreat, jumping backward, and I must be stupid or frozen, because I do not move.

This…thing…whatever it is, is incredible.

I am witnessing something my species only ever hypothesized. Dreamed of. Yet, here, it stands before me, as real as myself.

A low rumble comes from its chest and vibrates over my arms.

The alien inhales deeply, nostrils flaring as its mouth opens to reveal fangs.

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