U.S.S.A Alice

Chapter 5 Unwelcomed guest

I woke up groggy as hell in my bed with a splitting headache. "Oh wow, ow what happened?"  I checked the time on my wrist cell, it was noon. There was a notification on the top part of the HUD, it was a reminder to file my taxes. Oh great, it was that time of year again. With all the power I've been using lately, my heat tax was going to be higher than my electricity bill, unfortunately, it's one of the cons of my hobby and sometimes bringing in equipment from work. Also another unneeded notification, my wrist cell battery is about to die. From many of the old technologies I've studied; most electrical appliances used to require either being charged by plugging them into electrical sockets, as opposed to being charged by darkwave energy that flows out into the world from darkwave power stations around the world.  

I called up Lisa to ask about what happened last night and if anything happened with that guy, his name escapes me. "Hey Alice, how're you feeling?"  I wasn't sure what to tell her between the migraine and the sick feeling in my stomach.- "Kinda like shit."- "I'm not surprised, you almost drank me under the table last night. I didn't think you had it in you."  I have to not get distracted, that happened too often in our conversations.- "So that guy who bought us drinks; nothing...you know, 'happened right?"  The tension in my stomach was tightening in anticipation, waiting for her to answer.- "No...at least I don't think so, not that I saw. Fidel was surprisingly respectful, he even drove us home." - "So that's what his name was, god how much did I drink?"- "We let him drive us home?" I could hear her shuffling a bit.- "Yeah but I was there to make sure he didn't try anything on you, you were pretty wasted, he even told me you are really cute when you're drunk."  I palmed my face in embarrassment when she said that; god I hoped nothing happened between Fidel and me. I don't think I could forgive myself if I cheated on Damien. "You still there Alice?"  I wasn't sure what to say.- "Yeah I'm still here, so what else did we do?"- "Well you still remember the three of us dancing right?"  It was one of the last things I remembered.- "Yep, there were also some other things too, but they're mostly a blur."  Lisa paused for a bit, though I couldn't say why.- "We just drank, danced, and drank a ton more, especially you. Like damn girl."  That made me smile a bit.-"Okay well that's all I wanted to know. It was really fun, we should go out more often and also, are you going to see Fidel again?"  She cleared her throat, probably not expecting me to ask her that.- "Uh well he did give me his number, he is nice and hot as hell. I just might."  

We ended our call after discussing work stuff. My stomach still didn't feel great from the copious amounts of alcohol from last night, but I needed to eat and do something. I ate some toast and plugged my ARP into the augmented reality port on the back of my neck, I thought back to that dream I had just before I cut my hand. The landscape and buildings looked very familiar like I had seen them before. Other than the voidrians and non-sapient Xeno lifeforms, humanity has only found the remnants of dead civilizations. While scrolling through a list of planets that once had intelligent life inhabiting them, several of which I've studied at. I saw the name of one that belonged to an agrarian civilization that disappeared around ten thousand years ago, Radegast. Radegast is an agricultural world now that produces a variety of foods from meat and produce to herbal medicines; several large villages around the planet were discovered in varying states of disrepair and ruin, and what little evidence that could be collected seemed to indicate that either the cause was due to warfare or some cataclysmic event. 

I selected it to explore, a digital world formed around me. I saw the building blocks of code and textures form into a massive grassy field, it's just how I remembered it. I felt the warm sun on my skin and the wind blowing the smell of the alien grass into my face,  the air had a sweet earthy scent. I had only been to this village briefly when I was just starting as an archaeologist. I walked into the long-abandoned village, it looked just as it did when I first and last came here. As I stood in the middle of the village square. I felt my head throb with pain, my vision blurred for a bit and as I looked back...everything was different. It was night time and the village was lively with the beings that used to inhabit this planet before I could get a good look at one of them up close. The loud sound of a guttural roar pierced my ears, I along with everyone were frozen still as we all heard an alarming scream come from inside one of the homes. The wall of one of the buildings collapsed as something blew right through it and standing right there I saw the creature...that beast that had been haunting me. 

It stared vacantly into the crowd, its skeletal jaw unhinged as it let out an extra blood-curdling roar. The beast rushed towards the closest person and with a quick swipe, sliced them horizontally in half. Before they fell to the ground, it grabbed their upper half and...oh god. I could hear the sound of bones crunching and blood squirting from its mouth, my fear quickly turned to panic as I tried to exit but couldn't. The beast charged the villagers, it began to slaughter and consume them as they fled. We all ran for our lives as it chased us into the farm fields; one by one as we ran through the field, the beast hunted them down like a starved predator. their screams passed by me as all I could do was run for my life, I collapsed out in the open grass in exhaustion. Tears were streaming down my face as my lungs felt as though they were burning. All I could hear was the thumping of its heavy footsteps as it got closer and the wind rustling through the grassland. As I wiped the tears from my face. I noticed that this hand wasn't mine, the skin was a dark reddish color with strange finger-like digits, Who's eyes were I looking through?   

I stood back up to see where it had gone, the beast was neither near me nor in the field. I made my way through the field and back into the village; there was so much death and destruction, the half-eaten bodies of unrecognizable villagers strewn about as well as flames burning homes unhindered. I looked through the first hole it had made, there was only strange furniture and the body of a slender being. Their body looked quite similar to the one I was inhabiting, what was happening? Was this what happened to this village millennia ago? I felt loud thumping from behind, an awful feeling in the back of my mind. there it was, hunched and clad in otherworldly dark purple armor. The beast looked down at me with a thousand-yard stare, do I even dare to move a muscle or stand there like a piece of meat on a hook. The beast put both of its hands on me, ready to bite down into my flesh. As it bit down on me, I was suddenly spat back out into the real world. 

I screamed out loud as I still felt a large pair of hands gripping me tightly, I tried fighting back but then I heard a familiar voice speak. "Alice calm down it's me, what happened?"  My vision returned to normal; when I saw his face, the fear I felt began to dissipate.-"Damien? What are you doing here?"  His grip loosened and instead held me with a surprisingly gentle grasp.- "Here let's get you up first, what was going on in there?"  He helped me up and we sat down at the table, my hands were still shaking a bit as if I was freezing. "Well to answer your question, the ship wasn't supposed to arrive on Earth for another 15 hours but I guess we just made good time."  His face grew concerned. "So what was going on in your AR game when I came in?"  I don't know if I could describe to him what even happened, I barely knew myself.- "I was revisiting a planet I studied on some years back and...something freaky happened when I got to the old alien village, we should maybe get it checked for viruses or something." -"Huh, yeah that's probably a good idea."  

He looked to be lost in thought, there was an awkward silence for a moment. I looked up at him and gave him a tight hug.- "I missed you a lot." I felt his arms wrap around me. - "I missed you a lot too, now how about we catch up on things?"  I chuckled when he said that.- "Oh we've got a lot to catch up on."  I said seductively, then I sat myself down in his lap while facing him. He tensed up a bit, he always did when I surprised him like that. We looked into each other's eyes, our gazes became tidily locked. His hands placed on my hips and slowly worked their way up my body, my spine tingled as I felt his hands touch my bare skin. -"Ooo burr, your hands are freezing."  I said shivering.- "Sorry, it is pretty chilly out."  He started to move his hands but I stopped him.- "But I've got somewhere warm you can put them."  I placed his hands underneath my shirt on my bare chest. Damien's face flushed red. I always found it cute when he blushed like a boy touching a girl for the first time. He lowered his lips to mine, I rose to meet him. As our lips touched; I felt him becoming more aggressive, I felt almost as if he was going to eat me. Damien's grip around me tightened; threatening to crush my body, but not hurting me. My mind went blank as our lips let each other. I could feel his hot breath on me. As I opened my eyes, I looked on into a pair of glowing white eyes.