Tess’ feet slammed into the ground as she jogged down the lightly forested trail. With her thirtieth birthday just around the corner, she had taken up running a few years ago to keep the slump that her older sisters had endured from catching up to her. ‘Catching up…’ A shudder ran down her spine as she realized she could still feel those predatory eyes on her. A quick glance over her shoulder. He was still there. Right behind her.
How the man kept up, she wasn’t sure. When she arrived at the park for her morning jog, he was there stretching. It wasn’t long before the man had started awkwardly flirting. Sure, he was kind of cute, reminding Tess of her grandfather. He was friendly and jovial but obviously overcompensating for his age, determined to make 75 the new 25. When the flirting turned overtly sexual, Tess had taken off down the trail with a laugh.
“Maybe if you can keep up,” she had giggled. Tess was starting to regret those words. She was starting to tire, sweat soaking through her sports bra, but she knew the older man was still right there behind her, smiling his cocky little smile, probably staring at her ass.
Chancing another glance over her shoulder, Tess missed a step, stumbled, and pitched headlong towards the ground. She missed.
“What the f… Where?” was all she could manage as Tess found herself floating gently in the air several feet over dark purple grass. It took nearly twenty seconds for her to gently settle to the ground, though it felt so much longer. The alien landscape around her was one she’d never seen before. Waist high purple grass, narrow blue and pink trees hundreds of feet tall, and… what had happened to her clothes?!
Her jogging clothes were gone, replaced by loose fitting canvas pants and a lightweight shirt. As she tried to right herself, she finally noticed the large pack frame strapped to her back. The thing must have weighed 100 pounds, but she barely felt it in the low gravity.
“Oh get up, Tess! It wasn’t that hard of a fall! We’re almost to the campsite,” laughed her friend Jillian.
“Campsite? Oh! Right!” She remembered they had traveled to the nature preserve on Altuv for some wacky survivalist camping trip that Jillian had won in the Clearing Station Sweepstakes, send your ID Scan here to enter instantly, no purchase necessary. Could she really take seven days in the wilderness like this? Of course she could. That’s what the expert personal guide was for, all expenses paid, some restrictions apply.
Altuv was well known for its beautiful landscapes and complete lack of predators or toxic plants. Except for the wild boars that had been “accidentally” imported from earth, it was the safest wilderness in the galaxy.
It seemed like no time at all before the tent was up, the fire was lit, and some local tubers were roasting in the coals. Tess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The cooking tuber smelled delicious… like… fried chicken? Opening her eyes with a start, she found herself face to face with a pimply teen in a bright red uniform.
“I said, do you want fries with that? Geez, lady, I don’t got all day.”
“N-no. That’s fine. Just the entree,” Tess managed to stammer. Taking her cup, she went to fill her cola. How had she been talked into upgrading to a large? Sure, it was just a quarter more, but was it really worth it when you got free refills anyway? Dang, she should have gotten the fries. She had a coupon! She could have had free fries!
Shaking her head sadly as she looked for a table, she realized it was too late. She’d have to redeem her coupon next time and settled for making a note in her calendar to return Thursday. Thursdays have a two for one discount apple pies, limit one per customer. Tess briefly wondered what Jillian was doing, but the thoughts quickly evaporated as the tiny hover droid arrived with her tray and settled onto the table. She’d worked up an appetite hiking, or maybe it was jogging, and this was going to be a great meal.
“And that’s how you properly install deck plating. The job shouldn’t take more than two hours. Remember, the ship will launch for Rigel in only ten days, so you have to get this job finished.”
Deck plating? What the hell? Tess had never done any kind of construction in her life. How did she even get this job? Judging by the confused, vacant stares of the other four people listening to this lecture, she wasn’t alone. Great. Just great.
Two hours later, the foreman came by to see how Tess was doing. She’d long since given up and gone outside for a smoke. Screw all of them. She didn’t care if they thought she was the worst person on the team. She was done with this job. Taking a long drag on her cigarette, she closed her eyes briefly to enjoy the nicotine.
“Tess! Tess!” shouted the officer as he shook her by the shoulder. “Tess! Quit daydreaming! We’ve got a job to do.”
Right. Stay focused. This was important. The Jorderit were a peaceful people. They’d invented space flight before projectile weaponry for goodness sake! They’d never had so much as a minor skirmish until they’d joined the galactic community. Ever since the introduction of earth football, or “sock her” as some humans inexplicably insisted on calling it, the Jorderit had become increasingly violent. The celebratory riot after the Jorder Bengals earned a slot in the playoffs had crippled the infrastructure of the Jorderit capital for nearly a month!
Feeling some responsibility, having a bit too much experience, or maybe just loving the sport, humans had been hired for security almost exclusively, Tess among them. Tonight was going to be rough. The Bengals were down 0-12, and they were clearly not going to make it to the Galaxy Cup this year. Hefting her riot gun, Tess braced herself for a very long night.
The explosion knocked her off her feet. The soldier beside her lay unmoving in a puddle of his own blood. All the gods damn them! The Krelok were invading. Fuck! By all accounts, they’d been completely wiped out forty years ago when they had tried to invade earth. How were they even here?
Tess turned down Berber Street, lobbing a grenade behind her. Her squad had been sent to the elementary school to search for survivors, but the Krelok had slaughtered them to the last child. The ambush set in the ruins had taken out her squad. Fuck. Jerry was supposed to be getting married next week. He’d proudly shown her the picture of his girlfriend just this morning.
Tess was going to make those fucking bugs pay! She just had to survive this. Rounding the corner, she realized her mistake. She had turned onto a cul-de-sac. There was nowhere left to run.
“Now wh..” Her hesitation ended abruptly as a scythe-like claw burst forth from her chest. The clicking laughter of the Krelok drone behind her was the last thing she heard as shock overtook her.
It was so cold…
“Cold!” Tess shouted as she pushed at the weight on her chest.
“Sorry. Are my hands cold?” purred the man lying on top of her.
She was in bed. How did she get in bed? Oh! It’s the guy who was jogging with her earlier. No, wait, it wasn’t. This was someone else. Still young, but with eyes Tess could have sworn had seen centuries.
“It’s fine. I’m sure mine are just as cold,” Tess giggled as she settled back into the bed and slid her hands under the man’s shirt and against his back for emphasis.
The man kissed her face then, a smile playing over his lips as Tess closed her eyes and relaxed. His lips gently fluttered against her cheeks, her chin, her ear…
A shudder ran down her spine as he kissed his way down her neck to her collar bone, slowly unbuttoning her shirt as he dragged his kisses lower. When he started to slide back up from her chest, Tess’ instincts screamed.
Maybe it was just jitters from the bugs’ invasion, but Tess knew something was wrong. Kicking hard, she managed to shove the man off of her just as he bared long fangs, ready to plunge them deep into her neck.
“Oh, fuck no!”
Tess instinctively reached for her sidearm before remembering she didn’t keep a gun in the house and grabbed for whatever she could on her bedside table. The vampire pounced at her, causing Tess to knock the brass lamp she’d been reaching for to the ground. Instead she grabbed a wooden pencil, thrusting up into his chest.
Drawing back in shock and toppling off the foot of the bed, the vampire seemed stunned as he stared at the pencil lodged in his chest, black blood slowly oozing from the wound. With an overly flourished roll toward the foot of the bed, Tess lept to her feet. An open palm strike thrust the improvised stake through the monstrosity’s heart. Then only faintly glowing ash remained.
Ripping the device from her face, the electrodes that were stuck to her temples tore free with a loud pop as Tess threw the device to the floor in disgust and sighed.
“Why do I even pay for this? Six million channels and still nothing to watch!”