Disintegration: Chapter 7
"Are you going to eat or what?"
After asking this question, Sasha stared at Suko as he played with his food. Overall, his meal comprised of random canned goods while she had some similar food sitting on her plate. Beans, potatoes, and meats were just a few of the foodstuffs. She shrugged and stabbed a potato with a fork. "Well, at least this beats military rations."
Sasha promptly put the food in her mouth and began chewing, resulting in her face scrunching up as cold and slimy potatoes graced her taste buds. Immediately, she twisted the plastic cap off a nearby bottle of water, breaking the seal, then immediately began chugging it down to wash away the foul taste. The woman gasped afterward. "Christ! And now I know why you were playing with your food..." She looked towards where Suko was once sitting, just to discover that he was gone. "Oh, for the love of God."
A quick glance to the right revealed where the boy was. He was sifting through some kind of small chest residing next to an old television set. With a sigh, Sasha stood from her seat and strolled towards him.
"Come on, kid, I thought you were hungry. Beggars can't be choosers and all of that. Oh, and the giant bitch might get angry if you're not being fed or something..."
Ignoring her words, Suko pulled a toy from the chest. He made a pair of puppy dog eyes once he was holding a large doll that resembled an action figure of Godzilla. As this occurred, Sasha approached the chest, where she saw some more toys inside. Most were collecting dust. This included a bag of plastic soldiers, which Suko also seized for himself as he momentarily blocked Sasha's view. What made her raise an eyebrow was spotting a few things that didn't belong in a toy chest at all, including a child-sized fishing pole, a bundle of rope, and a winter coat. When the woman looked back at Suko, she found him taking toy soldiers from the bag and setting them up one by one, including a plastic tank modeled after a Soviet T-34.
Without warning, the flap to the tent opened up, and a distorted human voice filled the room.
[Mommy is home!]
A chill went down Sasha's spine from hearing these three words. Despite this, she forced herself to peek out a nearby window. All she saw was a scaly tail covered in armor as it wagged in the air, and the sight inspired the human to make her way to the RV's front entrance. Meanwhile, Suko used his Godzilla toy to knock over plastic soldiers complete with creating sound effects with his mouth, and he ripped the turret off the T-34 at the same time Sasha opened the front door and walked away.
Soon, Sasha was strolling across a large desk. It wasn't long until she was at the edge, where she found Ishtar searching for something underneath it. The alien eventually looked up, and her unblinking eyes stared directly at Sasha.
[Ah, there you are!] exclaimed Ishtar as she stood back on her feet, albeit the massive alien was still covered head to toe in armor. Between being taken aback by Ishtar's titanic form and movements, the human noticed that some paint was missing on her armor, including the torso and a single pauldron. The mere sight also sent flashbacks surging through Sasha's mind as Ishtar sat down, allowing them to speak on a slightly more even playing field.
[In hindsight, I should have checked your new mobile home first.]
Sasha shook her head. "Where did you think I was?"
[I assumed that you were going to make an idiotic escape attempt. Then you wouldn't know what to do after you reached the ground, which would have involved me having to find wherever you scattered off to within my tent. Fortunately, you didn't do any of that!]
Rather than gracing the rynar with a response, Sasha crossed her arms.
In return, Ishtar cocked her head to the side. [Does that mean you have come to accept your fate as my new servant? I know all of this may be troubling you...]
"No! What troubles me, Ishtar, is the whole getting kidnapped by a giant fucking alien thing. Oh, and becoming your slave. That's what's been bothering me recently!"
Ishtar raised a clawed finger. [First of all, we've been over this. The proper term is indentured servant. Secondly, I am not a giant alien currently in the process of procreating. Why... I'd never do something like that in front of Suko!]
"That's not what I..." Sasha paused to facepalm. "It's a human expression that I've used before. Your translation device or whatever must have messed it up. Either way, the point is that while it might be safer for me to be in this tent with you, I'm not so fond of being forced to become a babysitter, a servant, or something similarly bizarre. It's all very cruel."
Leaning forward, Ishtar narrowed her eyes. [I have been nothing but kind and accommodating towards you, Sasha.]
The human put her hands on her hips. "Really? You almost killed me! You're a literal alien invading my home and hurting people that I consider my friends and family!"
[You have to understand something, Sasha. It's complicated...] Ishtar placed a water canteen on the desk as she spoke. [All of this is for the greater good of the Rynar Collective, but I have mixed feelings about the entire situation. While it may be for the betterment of my people, this conflict was supposed to be over rather quickly, and I don't care for the unnecessary cruelty or violence. Oh, and believe it or not, I have feelings too!]
"Ah, yes, my bad for forgetting about the personal feelings of the giant bitch that almost killed me before deciding to make me her slave!"
In response, Ishtar exposed a few fangs. [Now you're testing my patience. Again. If an underling decided to berate and insult me like this regularly, there would be severe repercussions.] The rynar woman stopped speaking for several seconds to sway her tail like a cat looking down at a particularly annoying mouse. [I have been lenient so far due to the circumstances and the stress this ordeal must be placing on you. Speaking of which, this has been stressful for me too. I just wanted to come home to relax, see my baby, and then maybe eat a meal together with you two like a family...]
"Ah, so we're your pets then?" interrupted Sasha.
[No.]
"Right, right, my bad." Sasha spent a few seconds laughing to herself. "Ah, wait, I get it! I'm your servant or whatever while the kid is your pet. So... if your hard day of invading my planet has been so difficult, maybe I can help you relax. Do you want me to feed you fruit, rub your feet, or some other stupid and degrading bullshit?"
The alien woman stuck out her tongue, creating a mischievous blep. [Actually, that doesn't sound too bad, now that I think about it...]
Sasha went silent and slowly created a facial expression that could only be described as a blend of horror and revulsion.
[...But no. That's not why I brought you here. I'm assuming that you were either joking or mocking me by asking that question. As I said before, I only expect you to take care of Suko while anything else is just extra, and I'm also being very benevolent compared to what my peers would do.]
"Like what?" asked Sasha with a sneer.
[Allow me to give you a general idea.] Ishtar paused to pick up a cage on the ground, then she gently placed it on the desk. [They finally listened to me and acquired proper means of imprisoning humans, albeit these cages are usually reserved for small animals or vermin...]
"Small...?" blurted Sasha as she stared at the bedroom-sized cage with her eyes as wide as saucers.
[I consider them a bit small and cramped by rynar standards.] continued Ishtar with a flick of her tongue. [Additionally, my compatriots are currently storing captured human military personnel in cages like this and stacking them on top of each other. These humans are basically being treated like animals. As far as I know, they only receive the bare minimum amount of food and water needed to survive. Anything else is considered a waste of limited resources.]
Sasha looked between Ishtar and the cage. "You're... going to keep me in that, aren't you?"
[It depends.]
"...On my behavior?"
Ishtar cocked her head to the right. [Yes, but it's not what you think. Rynar soldiers are now issued cages like this when possible, but they're rare so far. I believe I only received one due to my rank and the request that I made. Regardless, it could be useful for moving you and Suko in the event that I need to move my tent... but you might end up inside it for a while too if you continue to give me trouble. Oh, and speak of the gods!]
While Sasha gave the cage a one thousand-yard stare, Ishtar beamed up. The one responsible for the alien's reaction was a human child stumbling out of the RV with his new toy in tow.
[Hey, little guy! Did you miss me?] The rynar lowered her head to the desk while her tail wagged a little. [I certainly missed you!]
Ishtar reached over the desk and activated her computer. As it booted up, she gradually removed her helmet before setting it aside, just to exchange it for a slim earpiece residing in a drawer. Both the microphone and the earpiece synchronized to the computer, allowing her to communicate once more. After this, Ishtar placed her head directly on the desk as Suko made his approach, and she squinted upon spotting a toy the boy was holding. [What's that?]
Suko proudly presented the Godzilla toy to Ishtar by raising it in the air with both hands and standing on the tips of his toes. "You!"
A cute yet crooked smile formed on Ishtar's face. [Aw! That doll does look a little like me!] As she spoke, Suko hugged her snout, and she gave him a surprise kiss with her serpentine tongue by slightly flicking it from her muzzle. Afterward, her eyes turned toward Sasha. [What is that, and where did he get it from?]
"He found it in the mobile home." replied Sasha as she rubbed her eyes. "As for what the toy is? It's an action figure of something humans call Godzilla."
Ishtar spent a moment nuzzling Suko, arousing a giggle, before lifting her head back up. She also cocked it to the side. [Godzilla? What's that?]
"It's a... a character from a movie."
[What's the movie about then?]
Sasha broke eye contact. "It's about a giant monster going on a rampage through a city."
Slowly, the smile disappeared from Ishtar's face. [Wait...] From there, she frowned. [Is that what Suko sees me as? Some kind of giant monster?]
"Well, you fit the bill." answered Sasha with a shrug. "Especially after I saw some of the things that you did."
Ishtar's tail abruptly stopped wagging. Her black pupils narrowed. Then she bared her sharp fangs, putting them on full display. [What is with you, human? You're usually not this rude to me. I mean... do you want me to properly turn you in like the other prisoners of war?]
"Of course not!"
[Well, what exactly do you want me to do at this point? I can't exactly change the past. My only regret is that I decided to pick and spare you, specifically, when a different human might have better served my purposes...]
The human stared at the alien with fire in her emerald green eyes. "Maybe you should have just killed me because you are a fucking monster! What you're doing to us is wrong. That kid is NOT your damned baby, and you shouldn't be trying to take care of him, much less taking part in the invasion of my home and making me your prisoner!"
For a while, silence dominated the room. Ishtar remained completely still for a few long yet tense moments. Out of nowhere, she let out a slight snarl, and the computer spouted complete gibberish in a human voice as she abruptly slammed her fist on the desk...
...Right next to Sasha.
It was like a miniature earthquake as the human flinched, screamed, and fell on her back. Before she could recover, Ishtar pinned her in place with a clawed finger. Sasha's heart rate skyrocketed, and her heart skipped a beat upon hearing Ishtar utter some words in an ice-cold tone.
[If I'm truly a monster, Sasha, then I can be that woman you met not so long ago... but without sparing your pathetic little life this time.]
From there, Ishtar made what sounded like a mix of hissing and snarling. She used her clawed finger to apply some pressure to Sasha's chest. Consequently, the human had the air forced out of her lungs, and a giant claw ever so slightly pierced her uniform. It almost sent Sasha into a state of shock as her face turned red. She began rapidly breathing in and out. The woman also felt nothing but goosebumps as she watched Ishtar form a face befitting of a feral animal with her jaw going completely agape, exposing all of the sharp fangs making up her menacing maw.
[If you don't love me... you'll learn to fear me.]
The rynar positioned her head closer to the human. Pressure gradually increased as Ishtar unleashed a blood-curdling cry that sounded like a hybrid of hissing and screeching, piercing Sasha's ears and causing the blood to drain from her face.
This familiar war cry was only disrupted by the similarly familiar sound of a child crying.
Ishtar's predatory gaze completely disappeared upon hearing it. She removed her clawed finger from Sasha as her armored tail slumped down. The pupils of her reptilian eyes rapidly expanded as she looked down at Suko, who was sobbing to himself as some tears streamed down his eyes, accompanied by mucus streaming from his nose.
[Suko!]
The alien quickly removed her gauntlet and gradually brought a clawed hand to where the boy was standing. Suko trembled as she did so. Ishtar's eyes watered up while she stuck her tongue out and hissed in a low and gentle tone.
[I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you by doing something like that. Just... her. Mommy would never hurt her own hatchling!] Ishtar brought her head down again to kiss and nuzzle the boy, making him calm down as he hesitantly sat on her hand. [I'll make sure you never see that side of me again...]
Meanwhile, Sasha stood back on her feet. She filled her lungs with fresh oxygen by taking long and deep breaths. She then looked down at her torso. Although a claw pierced the fabric on the center of her chest, she didn't appear to be bleeding, much less have any other damage that could be seen or felt. However, her fear rapidly festered into anger.
"...Are you so sure about that?" asked Sasha as she patted herself down before clenching her fists. "Would you do the same thing to him if he did something to piss you off?"
Ishtar's head perked up. Following a few moments, she frowned. [Listen carefully. You deserved that sort of treatment. I rarely lose my patience, much less allow my anger to get the best for me. When it comes to hatchlings, it's different. They're innocent and mean no harm if they do something wrong... they just need to be taught right from wrong. I would not hurt Suko as a teaching tool in that regard.]
"Not even on accident...?" continued Sasha. "Just a little more force, and you would have stabbed me in the chest with your finger. Is that what you meant to do?"
[No, I... didn't.] answered the alien as she looked away. [My apologies for taking things too far...]
"And what if you didn't intend to hurt either of us in the first place? Just dropping something or forgetting that one of us is on the ground while you're walking around could kill us both. I don't think you realize how dangerous you really are to me and that kid!"
Once Suko got up, Ishtar shooed him away with a clawed hand. She then stood from her seat and looked at the ground. [You're right. Maybe in a way, I am a monster. You've made a decent argument for that.] With a low pitched hiss, the alien took a few steps back before beginning to remove her armor, which she proceeded to stash under her bed. Sasha watched on with cold indifference. During this process, Suko wandered back into the RV, and the human woman sat on the ground while resting her head in her hands. When she eventually looked back at Ishtar, she saw her wearing nothing more than a skin-tight black outfit that didn't cover her hands, head, feet, or tail.
"Uh... hello?" said a masculine voice emitting from the water canteen. "I heard a kid crying and several other people out there. Can you get me out of here, or am I interrupting something?"
Sasha's jaw went agape upon hearing this. She turned to face Ishtar, who was returning to the desk, and gave her a death stare. "You didn't."
[I'm afraid I did.]
"Why?"
[He may be useful to me in some way, shape, or form.]
"How many humans are you going to abduct?!"
Ishtar tilted her head upwards in a condescending fashion. [As many as I need to. Would you prefer me to kill them?]
Sasha pivoted away from her. "I don't know."
The rynar let out a huff and blew air from her nostrils. Once she sat down at the desk again, the alien brought her hands onto it and revealed something was clutched between them. Sasha immediately recognized it as a pallet of Russian MRE's bundled with packs of water, and it was placed next to the RV.
Before Sasha could speak, Ishtar cut her off...
[I found that and thought it would be useful. Resume being silent, please. Continuing a conversation with you would likely result in the further loss of my sanity when I have another human that I need to interrogate.]
Without further delay, Ishtar opened the cage by using a small hatch on the top of it. She picked up the water canteen, removed the cap, and proceeded to tilt it towards the cage opening. A Russian man momentarily shouted as he ungracefully landed at the bottom of the cage, which Ishtar immediately closed, before he frantically got back on his feet and stumbled around with water dripping from his drenched officer uniform.
[Sorry about that.] hissed Ishtar as she stuck out her serpentine tongue. [The canteen was all I had before I returned to the deployment zone. You're being kept in that cage until I decide on what to do with you and as a simple security measure.]
Meanwhile, Sasha watched on with crossed arms as the man looked around in complete confusion.
"Well... wait... what?" mumbled the man as he looked at Ishtar, Sasha, and then Suko as he stood near the RV and played with a fishing pole.
Ishtar suddenly picked up the cage by using a handle at the top, making the man fall on his ass, and brought it next to her face. [Here's the short version. You have been captured and are a prisoner of war. There are some other humans here too, albeit I took pity on them and decided to protect them...]
"Bullshit!" shouted Sasha from below.
[...But my main priority is the child. As for you, I am going to question you for information. Do you understand?]
The man stared at her in an emotionless fashion. "Yes."
[Good.] said the alien with a flick of her tongue. [Before we begin, I'd like to let you know that you can call me Ishtar for the sake of simplicity. What might your name and human military rank be?]
"Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Kamenev." answered the man in question.
Ishtar nodded. [Very well then, Vasily...]
"Are you going to force him to take care of the kid too?" screamed Sasha.
[On second thought...] The rynar lowered the cage to the desk as she spoke. [It might be for the best if I questioned you when I'm in a better state of mind. I'd rather not snap again. Therefore, I'm going to leave the tent for a while to groom myself. I haven't done that since I got to this planet, mostly out of fear of accidentally destroying an ecosystem, and it might help me come back with a cool head. Then we can do your interview.]
"Uh... okay..." muttered the man.
With that, Ishtar stood from her chair. [As always, I'll return soon.] Her tail swayed in an annoyed fashion as she exited the tent, leaving the humans to their own devices. Sasha made short work of approaching Vasily as he tested the bars of what might as well be his new prison.
Additionally, the human woman fiddled with the new gash in her clothing. "How the hell did the giant bitch capture a Lieutenant Colonel of all people?"
"They swarmed the base I was stationed at." replied Vasily with a sigh.
"Wait... there are others still holding out?"
"Yeah, but in my case, I got lucky." explained the man. "The base near Omsk was something of a secret. It took the prishelets a while to figure out where it was, but that didn't stop them from destroying what they thought was a mere airfield..."
Sasha put her hands on her hips. "Then do you know what the hell is going on?"
"Just a little, but let's slow down a bit first. Who are you, how'd you get here, and why aren't you in a cage like me?"
"That's a long story." said Sasha as she glanced to the side. "I'll give you the short version. I was the only one that survived when my crew decided to abandon our tank. That's when Ishtar found me. She basically decided that since I was a human woman, that meant I knew how to take care of human children, and she has me here to act as a babysitter for some kid she found and felt sorry for."
Vasily stared at the child as he threw his fishing pole off the edge of the desk. "That explains him, at least."
"Yup, but there are a few problems with that. The alien named the kid Suko, and I think he speaks English."
"...And why's that?"
"Because when he does talk on rare occasions, it's in English. Like... it caused a problem before. I hardly speak that language myself, but the kid was asking for juice in what I recognized as broken English, and Ishtar thought he was asking for jews thanks to her computer translator."
The man raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me right. Don't make me repeat myself. Now... can you tell me anything about what's happening out there? My unit had communications completely cut off after the first day of the invasion. All I know is that everything west of the Urals apparently belongs to a bunch of aliens calling themselves the Rynar Collective now."
"If only you knew how bad things really are..." said the man as he stopped speaking to scratch the beard on his chin, "We're being invaded by beings not of this world."
"No shit."
"They started by bombing major cities." continued Vasily as he began pacing. "Moscow got hit pretty hard. However, the Americans are having it worse than us. I heard Washington DC basically turned into a crater after a concentrated bombing effort while everything surrounding turned into a wasteland. Meanwhile, the Chinese army got massacred after trying to defeat prishelet ground forces with overwhelming numbers of infantry... but don't get me started on that ongoing bloodbath."
"Christ." said Sasha as she shook her head and glanced at the ground. "Is there a reason why we haven't nuked these things back to hell yet? Personally, I think that if we can't have Russia, no one else can."
"We tried to." answered Vasily with another sigh. "However, there was a big problem. I don't mean that literally. These aliens are almost exclusively occupying or sticking to major population centers. After barely avoiding a nuclear war with everyone else, we considered the nuclear option for dealing with those things, but we couldn't do it without killing countless civilians."
Sasha ran a hand through her hair. "So they're basically using our people as human shields..."
"Correct. The only suitable targets were in more rural or isolated areas. Although some tactical nukes were used to deal with them at first, the more long-range stuff like the ICBMs got shot down by either ships orbiting our planet or some sort of ground-based laser weapon. There wasn't a point in using them once we figured out that would happen every time, which is why my superiors avoided authorizing their use at the base I was stationed at."
"So... you're telling me you guys had access to nukes and didn't use them?" A scowl spread across her face. "You could have at least killed a bunch of those fuckers like the giant bitch if you rigged your base to blow up!"
Vasily rolled his eyes. "There are a few problems with that." He raised a finger. "Firstly, some other bases that were attacked before us went that route, and it caused more harm than good once the radiation spread to areas with civilians. Quite frankly, killing their infantry isn't going to make a difference when their ships are the real threat, and who knows how many soldiers they have?"
"Then why didn't you at least try to launch everything you had at the ships?" asked Sasha.
"Like I said, they got shot down. Even then, they'd only be able to hit ships orbiting our planet. They're not really designed to go deep into space." Vasily raised a second finger. "As I was saying... secondly, something weird happened. We were one of the only bases holding out, and some guys showed up... possibly Spetsnaz. I'm not sure who they were. I suppose it doesn't matter since they basically barged in after speaking to us, took as many nuclear warheads as possible, then they demanded us to disassemble or destroy any nuclear weapons that they couldn't take with them."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "And you did that with no questions asked?"
"Of course. I wasn't so fond of committing suicide like some of the others by rigging the base to blow in case we got overrun. That wasn't happening on my watch. As I mentioned before, it wouldn't have really made a difference if we only took out a squad of their infantry."
"What are you... a coward?"
He tilted his head upwards and looked down at her. "No. Although I've cared less about myself over time, I still got kids and grandkids that I need to make sure are still alive and-"
Vasily went into silence once Ishtar burst back into the tent. The rynar had a wicked grin spread across her muzzle as she chortled to herself. Both of the humans stopped speaking to stare at the alien as she made her way towards them.
[I heard all of that.] Once Ishtar reached the desk, she used a clawed finger to tap on the microphone, and an orange circle glowed at her touch. [I'll admit, that was all a complete accident, but I forgot to turn off the computer and remove the headset before I left.] She mimicked a human smile, exposing her pearly white fangs. [Thanks for doing all the questioning for me, Sasha!]
The human woman put on the appearance of not being fazed as she looked away. "Aw, don't mention it. He probably would have spilled the beans anyway."
"She's not wrong." said Vasily.
Ishtar's tail began wagging. [The most exciting thing that I heard is that he has extensive experience with human hatchlings of all varieties! Does that mean you're good with kids, Vasily?]
He shrugged. "I guess so."
The rynar looked at the other human adult in the room. [And you know what that means, Sasha?]
"Uh... you're going to force him to take care of the kid too? Maybe you'll spout some bullshit about how Suko needs a father figure while you're at it?"
Ishtar closed her eyes and made a sly yet crooked smile. [That's a good guess! You were close, but I'll tell you what that actually means...]
The rynar leaned forward, getting uncomfortably close to Sasha.
[It means that I don't need you anymore.]