What it meant to be Human

Thirty years ago, the Kuhlecters arrived. Their alien origins were just as much a mystery to us as their reasons for stealing billions of humans from the face of the Earth.

They’d come in droves, thousands of them spread out like a black cloud upon a city, each with a sickly grin plastered on their eyeless, noseless faces. Their insectoid lower half would scurry across the asphalt whilst their humanoid upper half would spear people right through, pulling their writhing bodies onto the hook they had for a forearm.

They could fly like insects, their silvery wings reminding us of cicadas. They even sounded like them, a scream and the chittering of their armor as they pulled wailing humans away from their loved ones.

People that were taken didn’t die. They seemed to relax as if given anesthesia. Their eyes glazing over, breaths growing deep and slow.

Every ten years, just when we thought the Kuhlecters were gone, they’d arrive again. Over a single week, they would collect humans. Their sickening smiles and hulking bodies blotted out the sun while they loomed menacingly over panicking groups of people.

They took their time, making sure whomever they grabbed was exactly the right one they were looking for.

It wasn’t uncommon to see a single Kuhlecter holding over ten people on each of its barbed arms. The people’s bodies were still writhing, if not out of panic, then subdued pain. Then, the aliens would vanish again. Soon the population had dwindled into the millions, then hundreds of thousands.

Society crumbled. It may have been only a week that our alien enemy would stay for, but the aftershock was too much for the remaining populace to handle. We turned on each other, wars that had political meaning, now were small civil wars over territory among each continent.

Pointless, needless violence. Disputes over dirt and rocks. A planet that we could all freely call home, but still fought against each other for seemingly no reason.

Thirty years and not much was left of the human race.

I sat and stared out the window of my dilapidated home. My face was scruffy and my hair was long, but in times like these, there wasn’t much to do about personal looks. Not many professionals are left to even handle the pointless request.

I ran a hand through my hair, scratching the base of my skull before pulling a necklace out of my breast pocket and looking it over. When I’d bought it for Hector, it was rose gold. After the last ten years of riding in my pocket and occasional polishing on my part, it was more of a dull grey.

I felt my eyes prick with tears as I hesitated to click the release hinge, swallowing a lump that formed just by holding the damn thing. I breathed out, feeling my chest tighten, then opened the little door on the heart-shaped locket.

Inside was a picture of us both, despite the first visit from the Kuhlecters, the world had almost put itself back together again in the years that followed. We’d gone to his favorite restaurant. He was wearing that stupid hat they made you wear when it was your birthday.

A few close friends had joined us and took the picture. I was kissing his cheek while he was smiling, eyes wide with excitement. His black hair and beard were always a shock to the system each time I saw his image.

My plaid shirt and small ponytail were a sign of my dreadful fashion sense. A world-changing event had happened, was that justification for looking that bad? Who knows.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as the memories we shared came flooding back to me. When I met him in college, our first date, the numerous times I’d slept over at his small apartment while I looked for a job. He was my rock. My everything.

I found my thoughts drifting further into the abyss that was my mind at the moment, seeing glimpses of the mornings leading up to the next attack.

“Babe, I’m going to take Checkers for a walk, you wanna go with us?” His voice was like silk, it always eased my head when I was in a rough mood.

“No, not feeling up for it. Breakfast will be ready when you get back though,” I’d rolled over onto my side between words, turning my back to him. We’d fought the night before, he was arguing with me that the wars being waged had no reason behind them.

I’d opposed him and declared that all wars had a good reason and that it wasn’t a debate for people that wouldn’t fight in the war themselves.

Though bitter, we’d slept in the same bed. No matter how angry he made me, I always slept in the same room with him. It was a promise we’d made to each other.

The next day, I was still bitter. He’d already apologized, but my stubbornness kept me from accepting. We did our daily routine, he made coffee, walked the dog, then went to work.

I worked from home and being home allowed me to look at the news every single day. Wars, famine, fear-stricken nations. Even if the Kuhlecters had been gone for 10 years at that point, humanity had resumed what it was doing before they’d arrived.

My life at home without Hector was dismal. Nothing but pain and agony constantly painted the headlines. We were right back where we started as a species.

The next few days were a blur, but I remembered that we had been invited to a party. We’d be celebrating the birthday of our niece, Olivia. Her parents had lost their first two kids to the Kuhlecters at the beginning of the invasions.

Despite my protesting, Hector made me go. He knew I was still upset with him, but he wanted to try and cheer me up. On the ride over, he’d looked over at me from the driver’s seat, smiling big, “I love you, Warren. I love you so much.”

I’d pulled my lip into a tight line and remained silent. His hand squeezed my thigh as we approached the bowling alley, “Well, when you’re ready to talk to me, tell me you love me. Okay?”

Hours after we started bowling, the building collapsed in the middle and one of Kuhlecters descended from the ceiling as if it were an angelic being. It was fast, I’d seen them several years earlier but only on the news. It had easily taken around ten people by the time it selected Hector.

I screamed for it to let him go, I tried anything I could. I threw objects at it, I tried to pry him off of the barbed appendage. The beast ignored me, grinning as all the others did.

His eyes had darkened and started glistening, showing signs of fear. He wasn’t my Hector anymore. He was theirs. The necklace I’d bought for him with a heart-shaped locket had slid from his neck and landed amongst the powdery cement and rubble while the alien walked away with its prizes.

I ran after them, trying everything, pleading eventually in the hopes that I could reason with the monster. It didn’t listen to me, it kept moving. It was as if it was being driven by an unseen force once it was done collecting. Its animalistic movements are now replaced by jittery and sluggish ones.

Finally, it spread its wings and hovered like a blowfly, heavy in the air as it lifted off and headed towards the sky. I screamed until my throat was raw, begging, pleading, sobbing, and bawling the whole time.

I watched as the rest of them slowly rose out of the city and joined the one that had attacked the bowling alley, their screaming faded as the sounds of sirens and mournful human cries took over.

The memory faded as I focused on the locket again, tears rolling freely from my eyes. I swallowed another lump before I held the trinket to my chest and shuddered harshly.

“I love you. I love you so much, Hector. I love you so, so much,” I repeated myself, my eyes blurring as I cried harder, my lips dangling strands of saliva as I sobbed between breaths.

The world outside looked abandoned, plant life littered the once pristine streets and sidewalks, vines grew unchecked upwards on the still-standing skyscrapers, the remnants of others from the last attack still piled like anthills made of rebar and rock.

I sobbed as I stood and walked outside, staring up at the night sky. “Take me too, you monsters! I want him back!” My voice echoed through the neighborhood, empty in most places, some homes still stood. The Kuhlecters were never gentle when they took someone, the structure never mattered, only the living being.

Someone shouted back at me from somewhere down the road, “Hey shut the hell up, buddy! No one cares if you wanna die!”

Then, from high above, somewhere hidden in the murky blackness, the screaming started. It was low at first, then it slowly rose in volume. They were back.

I dropped to my knees as I watched them descend, masked by the darkness and only betrayed by the slight shimmer around their bodies that was cast by the moon. One of them landed in front of me, slowly standing to its full height and towering over me with that same sickening grin on its face.

I clutched the locket tight in my hand as I extended my arms, closing my eyes in preparation.

A warmth I’d never felt before in my life slowly rolled over me. My muscles relaxed and my limbs dangled gently as I was taken away. There wasn’t much human life left in the world for the Kuhlecter’s to capture, so the visit was short.

Then, darkness took me.

I stirred sometime later, could have been minutes, hours, days. I would never truly know. The warmth had faded away, now I was cold. Freezing. My teeth chattered loudly as I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them a few times to ensure my vision was clear.

I was seated at a table, the chair under my body was not of human design. It seemed to be a panel that floated behind my back and against the backs of my knees. Across the table from me, was Hector.

Was he real? I gasped and went to move before I realized I was heavy, unable to lift my arms or legs. I writhed for a moment before he spoke, “Don’t move, just sit still.”

My eyes streamed with tears as I spoke over him, “I love you! I love you, Hector, I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you all those years ago, you know I love you!”

He smiled, his clean-shaven face showing genuine happiness, “Do you have any questions?”

I blinked and looked around, seeing thousands of people talking to each other from across a table with each other. “Y-yes… Where are we?” My response was timid as he watched me from his side of the table.

“We’re on their homeworld. They’ve placed us in their collection,” He turned in his seat, gesturing to the white walls and floor, then to the blank sky above. “This is our home now.”

With a fluttering heart and a sudden fear, I asked, “Why did they do this?”

“Because they wanted to understand what it meant to be human, studied us for 30 years and we disappointed them every time they’d leave some of us behind,” He rubbed my hand, tears streaming down his face.

“They just wanted to see us establish peace, but we never did,” He cried quietly as he held my hand tightly, “But you held onto me, instead of fighting.” He touched the locket chain dangling from my hand.

“Thank you, for loving me.”