Stories of the Survivors: An Alien Invasion Series - The Second Generation, #0

By Patricia Renard Scholes

The first invasion resulted in the creation of a new race. The third invasion brought an unstoppable military. 

But heroes are formed from the ashes of defeat. When all seems lost, a few rise to set things right.

 

•  Follow a youth as he teaches his people to hide behind the form of their enemies.

•  Watch a Mothertree encourage the beginning of a new race of beings.

•  Follow a group of survivors who find a way to survive against all odds.

•  View the journey of a prostitute as she struggles against her captors as well as her brother, both of which want her dead.

 

Heroes and betrayers, the honorable and the dishonorable, all become a part of the battle for the Homeland.

 

Award-winning author, Patricia Renard Scholes, provides this raw and stunning short story collection to introduce her alien invasion series. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patricia Renard Scholes
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201043391

Patricia Renard Scholes

Born into an abusive home, Patricia determined to make a better home when she married. She realized as soon as her first child was born that she needed to relearn how to parent. After much reading, trial and error, and advice, she accomplished her goal so well she began to parent other children in her home. That is the background Patricia brings into her stories. Her "children" are heroes, survivors who lived through tough childhoods and went on to become successful adults. Although her work is mainly science fiction, her characters are based on composites of real people who also must live with their decisions. Patricia and her husband, live outside of Durango, Colorado, surrounded by national forest, a great environment for a writer.  

Book preview

Prologue

Zilla wrapped herself in shadow and slid out of the compound without her usual guard. She needed to see for herself the reality of what the hunters reported. Outside the village compound, Zocassari flooded the City, bringing misery and destruction with every life they touched. Hardly more substantial than smoke; they made it difficult, for even one as threaded as she, to follow them.

Adding to the visual clutter, the homeless burned refuse in small fires to both warm themselves and to cook their meals. Clouds of smoke hovered, camouflaging the entities her people called Zocassari: Those Who Should Never Exist. They were the embodiment of corruption, disease, malignancy, horror, every atrocity ever committed. They fed on misery, especially human misery. How the Neevee counteracted their influence, Zilla didn’t know. All she knew was the constant disruption they caused.

She believed their conquerors’ rigid stance against her people’s abilities was caused by the Zocassari.

Since the Neevee takeover, many things had become illegal, but homelessness wasn’t one of them. However, her people’s ability to use the Threads of Life without forcing it into the framework of the Neevee’s Discipline, was punishable by death. From the very first, Neevee Searchers monitored them. Their conquerors sought out those with excessive ambigah, ready to kill all with the ability to use threads.

At least they did during the Long Trek. She wasn’t sure what had changed. Maybe the Neevee in this Sector were more lenient. Now, if her people kept most of their ambigah hidden, the Neevee seemed to ignore simple things like searching. Even so, Zilla searched with care. She did not want to be put to death.

During the Long Trek from the eastern coast where the Neevee first landed—the years her half of the village took to cross the main continent, zigzagging both north and south in their effort to find a place where the Neevee did not exist—her people had learned to hide. When they finally reached the westernmost edge of the world, the invaders still maintained control. There was no place to avoid them. The invaders dominated everyone and everything.

Except for the Southern Resistance, she recalled. But those in the Resistance are at war. The Krindarwee did not wage war. They found the concept of violence on such a vast scale more alien than the invaders from the stars who called themselves Nevians.

Her people called them Neevee: gray skins.

But what they brought with them was even more obscene than worldwide control—these smoky entities that warped behavior. She didn’t understand the wispy beings’ lust for chaos. But their influence was all around her.

The hunters were right. Her people’s resistance had never been against the Neevee, but against the creatures who influenced them.

BARDON, ONE OF THE hunters, surprised that his Sanasinni had not asked him to guard her, watched her return. Even though she used shadow, he noticed her pattern, for he was exceptionally threaded. He also noticed that one of the wispy entities followed at her back. It did not appear that she saw it at all.

CHAPTER 1

Tadellin’s home smelled like mint, the residue of the dried mint they had steamed last night. He took a deep breath and rolled over to slide his arm around his Chosen Sister’s large waist. The baby kicked as if in greeting.

Berita turned toward him, a secret smile on her face. They embraced, wordless. Their lovemaking filled them with satisfaction. Neither spoke as they rose to greet the day. Sometimes words weren’t necessary.

Chosen Sister, he said before pulling her back on their pallet. Are you sure we need to leave this warm nest of comfort?

She laughed. Now, what would people say if we stayed in bed together all day?

That we love each other?

I think they might consider ‘obsessed’ instead, Chosen Brother. But I do love you. She leaned over him and smothered his face with kisses.

He placed his hands on both sides of her face to still her, and gave her a single, lingering kiss until she melted in his arms.

Berita, chosen for him before she was born, had no say in their union. She chafed under her mother’s requirement to bear his seed.

No one asked his permission either. His father finalized the decision. Rather than take her as no more than an obligation, he worked hard to make her feel cherished. He wanted her to realize that of all the girls he could have wed, if he decided to disobey his father, he had chosen her.

You are so beautiful.

You always say that.

You never believe it.

She laughed. A part of me does. I love making love with you, for then I feel like there’s no other person in the whole universe you’d rather be with. But you’re too...

She was going to say beautiful. Nonsense. The outward package means nothing. And you’re stuck with who I am on the inside.

They shared everything, even the most internal thoughts. He knew his being uncommonly attractive became a detriment to winning Berita’s heart. She felt ugly next to him.

By the same token, she knew his inadequacies too. No matter how well he succeeded, he always felt like a failure. The Long Trek, the journey that brought them to this place behind walls, cost them the lives of far too many people. Tadellin blamed himself since he had been the one tasked to find a place not overrun with the Neevee.

After washing and dressing, they strolled hand in hand to her mother’s home for breakfast, a daily appointment he tolerated. He always kept his reluctance to visit Zilla behind a tough shield, covering it with a layer of mundane thoughts to keep her from prying. Of all the people in the Village, she alone held the authority to search beyond the surface. She was their Sanasinni, after all.

Zilla welcomed them with open arms. One of the many things he couldn’t fault her for was her deep love for Berita and their unborn daughter. Regardless of her impatience with him, he held her in high regard for that one fact.

Our hunters found Blades wandering the perimeter, she said as she gestured for them to join her at the low table. We have people checking for possible gaps in the wall.

Tadellin arranged a pillow for Berita to sit on. With the time of delivery so close, she was uncomfortable in just about any position.

She waved him away. Quit fussing. Her giggle told him she appreciated him trying to help, regardless.

He sat next to her, their thighs touching. He liked to touch her. He especially loved touching their baby girl’s mind whenever possible. She knew her parents.

That means, Zilla continued. I want the two of you to stay as far away from the perimeter as possible.

We will, Mother, Berita said. She placed her hands in her lap and waited.

Zilla gave a satisfied nod and raised her hands. Khaadi, we thank you for this bounty. You have cared for us through the Long Trek, this uncommon winter, and continue to care for us. For that we are eternally grateful.

Eternally grateful, Tadellin and Berita echoed in unison.

Breakfast was the same as always, a grain mash flavored with whatever fruit was in season. All winter their stores provided dried fruit, bits of apple, winter spice, and allinfruit, mostly. Today, to his surprise, Tadellin bit into a slice of fresh snowberry, the first fruit of the season. Even though sour, the taste of the fruit pleased him.

There isn’t much of it, Zilla said. I traded a pillow for it with one of the street vendors.

Mother! Berita’s alarm caused them to look at her. You know better! You are our Sanasinni. As Grandmother of this village, you also should take care against Blades.

Zilla raised an eyebrow. "I searched the area before I went outside, and I took hunters to guard me. I’m not entirely stupid. Besides, my little unborn Daughter of Promise needs all the nutrition we can give her. She still has a mooncycle before she greets the world."

When we moved here, just before the snows covered it, I found a patch of mint growing near the wall. I harvested what we could, even though much of it was frost burnt. Last night we used the last of our dried mint to scent our home. I wonder if any of it has begun to break ground.

Send a Landtender, Zilla said. You stay away.

Berita said nothing. She hid a sigh. Tadellin felt it, so Zilla probably did as well. No one matched Zilla’s ability to access the Threads of Life.

You might, if you ever chose to use what was given to you, Zilla told him in mind speech.

Tadellin made no comment. It was the same argument he had endured since the first day she had chosen him to father Berita’s child. For one as gifted in the Knowledge as you, how is it that you use so little of it? she had said then. In all this time her opinion never changed.

Right before his birth, his mother had forced him through the Rite of Eswe’in: her last gift to him before she died. The herbs too potent, the Rite too advanced for an infant’s mind, she had placed barriers to the Knowledge so that he would never access more than his mind could tolerate. But he had never been able to access any of the Knowledge easily. The internal barriers made him struggle for each part.

Zilla excelled in her ability to guard the minds of the unborn and small children. She lacked patience with adults, especially the many-threaded. Tadellin often felt the brunt of her irritation, more now that the Daughter of Khaadi, Berita’s child, prepared to be born. She was conceived to save her people from the Nevians who now dominated the whole planet. Tadellin knew the baby’s grandmother would take a major place in the infant’s life after birth. He and Berita wondered if she would allow them to parent their little girl at all. 

After breakfast, Berita helped her mother clear away the dishes while Tadellin strode into the fresh spring morning to meet his class. Although snow still crouched in shady places, today’s sun warmed the morning.

He loved teaching. He especially loved teaching the basics of using threads: the Song and the Dance. As he taught, the energy flowed around him like cool silk. It vibrated throughout his whole body and made him feel refreshed. He knew his students felt it too. They were Krindarwee. The Song and the Dance filled all of them. It fell to Tadellin to impart the knowledge of how, when, and most importantly, when not to use their innate gifts.

I used to travel from village to village to share news of the Neevee encroachments and bring new students of the Threads of Life to Zilla and my father. But that responsibility died as Nevians eventually took over the world. They forbade travel of any kind. He found teaching a fulfilling substitute.

But what he taught was illegal. So, his first