Survivors (The Chosen, Act 2 Part 4)
Act 1:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part7
September 17th, 2171
Tiny droplets of sweat were running down Jeremiah’s back, as he approached the delegation of vessels that had invaded their protected community. He wondered how they had been able to enter their airspace undetected. This shouldn’t have happened. And while he was trying to portray the embodiment of calmness and authority, he was scared. Scared of these invaders.
Approaching the ships, the woman that had been announced as being the one wanting to speak to Jeremiah came in sight. She was heavily armored and surrounded by guards, who were pointing weapons at her. Her own guns were still safely attached to her belt, and her hands crossed behind her neck, resting on her helmet. The visor was open, and as he was coming closer, Jeremiah could see her dark eyes fixating on him.
He gave the sign to activate the protective force field, only barely containing the shaking of his hand. The humming sound of energy flowing calmed him down only slightly. Somehow, he doubted that this would stop a serious attempt on his life.
”Welcome to the South pole”, Jeremiah addressed the woman. ”Your arrival was quite unexpected. May I ask for your purpose?”
To his surprise, the woman laughed.
”My, my”, she said, ”aren’t you a formal one.” Jeremiah didn’t know what to answer. Neither did anyone else around him. The woman sensed the awkwardness and sighed. ”Shouldn’t have volunteered, never been a good talker”, she mumbled, looked around, and settled her gaze on Jeremiah again. ”May I take off my helmet? It’s a tad uncomfortable.” @suesa
”Yes, but slowly. Hasty movements might startle one of our soldiers.” Jeremiah called the guards soldiers intentionally. He hoped for a more threatening effect. But the eyes of the woman showed no reaction. Instead, she slowly lifted her hands up and pulled off the helmet.
Jeremiah had expected long hair to flow down over her shoulders, like in one of the action movies he had seen during his exploration and search missions. Instead, the woman had her hair trimmed short, military style. He wondered why he felt disappointed by that.
”My name’s Tif. I’m a soldier with the legion of the Venezuelan democracy. And I’m here to ask for your assistance.”
If it hadn’t already been as silent as the grave, silence would have spread at this moment.
”Life on the American continents have been destroyed”, Jeremiah whispered. ”You’re lying.”
Tif gave him a crooked smile.
”The aliens tried damn hard to eradicate us, that’s true. But they didn’t do their job as well as they thought.”
71 years. It had been 71 years since the news that the aliens had defeated North and South America, after the armies of the countries there had united and attempted to get rid of the foreign invaders. Their uprising had been brutally beaten down and the civilian population slaughtered. Shortly after, the British federation had been founded and taken over most of Europe, with the help of the aliens. It had changed everything.
”What happened?” Was all Jeremiah managed to say through his confusion.
”They weren’t as thorough as they would have needed to be”, Tif said. ”The aliens were lazy. They didn’t want to waste resources. Why kill 100% of the population, when killing 90% is enough to destroy a country? The remaining 10% will die off on their own, right? Well. They miscalculated. We were more resilient than they expected - at least some of us.”
”What happened?” Jeremiah felt like a parrot, repeating the same phrase all over again. But the revelation of what he was being told made him unable to form other questions.
”The southern countries survived, especially those who had already been suffering for a long time. You see, if you had generations struggling with corrupt governments, hyperinflation, and other shitty situations, you get a population that’s highly adaptable. And while there were basically no survivors in North America, South America thrived. In silence, of course, to not attract new attention from the aliens. Not until we’re ready.”
”You said something about Venezuela. What …” Jeremiah’s voice trailed off. He wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to ask. All this new information numbed him. So many people thought dead, but they survived?
”Venezuela ended up as the leader. We had the highest rate of survivors and were able to unite everyone else who was left under our flag. That’s how the Venezuelan Democracy was born. Since then, we’re rebuilding, protecting our people, and assembling an army to strike back. And we’ve been watching.”
”Watching?”
”Watching. Everything. That’s how we found you. You came up as an irregularity, one that we investigated. Once we figured out that your people pose as missionaries, it was easy to track you down. We only had to wait for the right moment to approach you.”
”How long have you known about us?” Jeremiah asked. He didn’t like the thought that, after all these centuries of secrecy, they had so easily been discovered.
”About three decades”, Tif said and shrugged.
”Three …” The head of council turned white. Too long. They had known about the society of the enlightened too long. He bit his tongue and forced himself to stay calm. The buzzing of the force field touched his senses again, reminding him of how much energy they were burning here. He had to stop wasting time.
”Why do you approach us now?” He asked Tif. ”What do you want from us?”
”Your cooperation. We need to get rid of the aliens, once and for all. Your society is technologically advanced, and you don’t appear to be allied if the British federation. In contrary, you seem to be hiding from them. All we want from you is your help in restoring order to the world, and getting rid of the alien invaders.”
”We will have to discuss that”, Jeremiah replied, finally giving the signal to turn off the force field again. He didn’t expect Tif to attack, not anymore. ”We will need time.” Tif nodded.
”Our ships are equipped with everything we need”, she said. ”So don’t worry about us. We will stay right here and behave.” Again, that crooked smile. Tif had noticed that Jeremiah was feeling uneasy. And she seemed to like it.
Without any further comment, Jeremiah turned around and headed back to their settlement. There was one thing that he didn’t know yet, and the question burned in his mind. But asking Tif about it would reveal that there was a secret.
He didn’t know if this legion of the Venezuelan Democracy knew about the chosen one. If not, he’d need to ensure it stayed that way. But if they did …
Jeremiah didn’t like the thought of another genocide.
Signature by @atopy
Hahaha! I feel important because you wrote that the Venezuelan soldiers arrived at the base where the chosen one is.
I want the return of democracy in my country to become a reality.
I'm going to tell you a secret: I chose Venezuela because you've been consistently commenting on this story, and I've seen you're from there :)
What a nice detail! Thank you very much @suesa! It is really very special for me to be able to inspire you to write this story.
I hope that in my country hope and democracy will come back one day. I will not miss any chapter of this story! Thank you!
I'm quite sure if this ends up in humans winning and killing the aliens, it turns out the aliens were good guys and people of America the evil ones from the start.
I've read enough stories to know this.
Maybe EVERYONE is the good guys this time?
It's more likely that everyis a bad guy.
I can't really argue with that.
Is it based on the bible? I hope that many of us will share this good story. Thanks for sharing bud!
It's not based on the bible. It's based on me thinking "How cool would be a story about a chosen one, where it's not really about the chosen one but the social issues the world might get from an alien invasion and the implications that come with the chosen one being a human-alien hybrid".
No bible there.