Harry and I walked for over an hour before we came across our first human.

He was an older black man with mostly gray dreadlocks, pushing a Target shopping cart covered in a blue tarp and wearing a long coat, Seahawks teal and lime green scarf with matching hat and fingerless gloves. I assumed he was homeless based on his cart but then realized so was I. Visibility was so low that we were practically running into him. I put my hands up to show they were empty. Harry was still in my hoodie, poked his nose out through the neck hole and meowed.

“Hi there, we’re friendly and don’t want any trouble!” I spoke first, wishing I had my pitiful pocket knife available, just in case. I will just rely on my years of customer service to help me. Despite my look, I am covered from head to toe in tattoos and have a blonde mohawk. I have never been in a physical altercation in my life and before today considered myself a pacifist. I have worked in customer service since my dad died when I was 15. I have a knack for reading people fast.

He was taller than me but didn't look me in the eye. He stared at Harry as he popped his head completely out and met eyes with the man. “Ain’t you seen them angels? The rapture done came and you left here too, huh.” He leaned in towards me, “I ain’t gon hurt you. Angel's might, but I won’t. I ain’t never hurt nobody.” He looked at me appraisingly, nodded then handed me a brand new bottle of water from his cart. He looked at Harry and handed me a 2nd bottle. “Be careful out here. Saw some bubbles eating up whole buildings, people and all. Demons!” He paused and looked at his hands. “Bubbly demons.” He made exploding gestures with both hands and mouthed POP!

I took the water, genuinely grateful and shoved them into my satchel. “Thank you! What’s your name? I’m Lisa and this is Harry.” Harry meowed agreeably.

The disheveled man smiled and nodded his approval but did not answer my question. He started walking again, the way we had just come.

“There isn’t much out that way. Where are you going?” Turning to follow him, “Do you want some company?” Suddenly my face reddened. Was I an idiot? The guy gives you water and you assume he’s nice? Get it together!

He laughed deep and wild and then merged into the swirling green abyss,“Nah girl, you gonna be safer without me. Going to get in on yonder Angel doin!” His laughter followed him into the swirling fog.

Well that was a lucky treat, we drank a little of the water. Harry masterfully lapped water from the cap while still in my hoodie and we continued in what I still hoped was north.

It took another 4 hours of walking to reach what I think was left of the once enormous downtown Seattle. I estimated based on the darkening of the green that the sun had set. It should be very dark but green hue made the world almost like dark vision goggles. Harry came out of his safe space and walked alongside me. I kept his harness on him but he kept stopping to sniff and meow his complaints. Finally I just took it off and put it in the bag. The flat gravel that used to be I-5 cut through beautiful green spaces that looked haunted with fog. Eventually we came to an intersection of roadways, or where the roads must have been, as the path plunged deep into a newly carved ravine. A few sidewalks and random street signs remained. I saw a wrecked Mazda Miata and ¾ of a bicycle, but nothing useful so far. I thought of Justin and if he would be heading south towards me. I stopped suddenly paralyzed with the idea. “Should we have just stayed put, Harry?” I asked the cat, who was walking uninterested in front of me. I suddenly sat down in the dark Emerald gloom to have a meltdown.

I pulled my knees into my hoodie and wept. The idea that some alien invasion, or biblical rapture or Nuclear vaporization or something even crazier had just wiped out all of Seattle, maybe all the world, was just too much. I could not imagine a life without Justin. We were high school sweethearts. I literally fell out of the bus in front of him, he scooped me up like a dashing hero. My dad died when I was 15 from a heart attack. So I was a depressed mess, but he quickly became my best friend. He confessed he loved me and agreed to wait till I was ready to date. We waited a year to “officially” start. We went to Prom together. We got married right after graduation and then surprised his folks by buying a house at 25. Even though I grew up dirt poor I was a hard worker and we were happy. Then the rest of my family died after dropping some crazy life-changing news and I kinda lost my mind. Justin supported me 100%. We ended up filing bankruptcy, selling the house and moving to Seattle to start over. I got heavily tattooed and started therapy. Weekly, then bi-weekly. I started school and had been working on my Bachelors in Art Therapy. Justin was working at an apartment community and had climbed the ranks from Maintenance Tech to Maintenance Director with multiple properties under his supervision. We were finally starting to get our lives on track again. And then this happened. I could not believe that he was gone. Our next wedding anniversary would have been 20 years.

“He can’t be gone,” I wept aloud sobbing for a moment, 2 hot tears running down each cheek.

“Someone there?” A man’s voice called out to me. I could hear footsteps running but I couldn’t tell where they came from.

My heart was in my throat, what should I do? I reached into my purse and pulled out my 3 inch pocket knife. I looked around for Harry but he was nowhere to be seen in the dense fog. A blur whipped past me, it was the cat, charging the voice of the man, I pushed myself up to my feet and followed. A few steps and I see Harry right in front of a young man in a UW hoodie. Harry’s tail began to lash side to side and he had his mouth open inhaling deeply. Being a crazy cat lady, I know this means he is “scenting” data with his Jacobsen organ located in his mouth. As I approached, just a step away from Harry, he began to growl low and deep. Then my 10 pound, hairless, house cat launched himself at the jogger with the ferocity of a jaguar. He flew directly to his face claws out. Harry was almost 4 years old and was the most even tempered cat I have ever known. He never got into a fight unless it was playful. This was not playful. This was yowling and spitting, clawing and biting, slapping with full claws. He tried to grab the cat but Harry climbed around his back before he could. Finally he ripped the pissed off pussy cat and a spray of blood came with him. He threw the little cat towards me. I watched it all happen in shock, I had never seen him do anything like that. I saw Harry land on his feet and hiss menacingly at the man.

“What the fuck is wrong with your cat?!” He screamed at me. He looked at his bloody hands “I will fucking kill you!” then he charged me.

In my almost 40 years I have never been in a real fight. I held my knife wielding hand up and tried to look menacing, bracing for impact. I noticed how small the blade in my right hand was. The pink metal was chipped from opening Amazon packages, the only thing I ever really used it for. He reached me, his hands around my throat. Harry jumped on him from behind, swatching his face while claws digging into his shoulders. I tried to scream but couldn't. I jabbed my blade wildly, aiming for his chest and stomach. My vision started to go black around the edges and my lungs burned. Finally Harry dove off the man’s head, pushing his neck onto my upturned blade. I flailed and he thrashed and suddenly my right hand was soaked in a gush of hot, thick blood. The man loosened his grip on my neck and wrapped his hands around his own neck, now pouring blood. My knife was still in my now blood soaked hand.

“Bitch.” He croaked weakly then fell down, twitched and crawled a few feet before he bled out. The massive blood trail looked black in the green gloom.

“Harry?” I called raspy, my voice raw. I looked around for Harry but still couldn't see much further than a few feet. He appeared from the smoke, limping slightly and covered in blood. “Why Harry? Why did you attack that man?”

He limped up to me and I picked him up, inspecting his damage. To my utter shock Harry responded by saying “He was a bad man. He was going to kill us.” I dropped the cat. I have truly lost it. He started cleaning himself. He paused thoughtfully then said “I found the alien worm creature that lets me talk.”

I stumbled away from the talking cat to take in the now dead man. I hope he is dead. I waited a very long time and then I kicked him real hard in the head, just in case. I don't know if the talking fuckin’ cat is right but I did need something to take my frustrations out on and his corpse was here. I kicked it a few more times for good measure. Once I was done panting for air, I assessed what I needed to do next. A lifetime of RPG games has taught me this one. I didn’t want to do this but I knew I needed the supplies. Loot the Body.

I left his shoes, much too big for me but I took the warm, wool socks. I also took his pants and slid them over my much too thin yoga pants. His fleece lined jogging pants with real pockets would serve me better. I cut off his bloody sweater, now cold and heavy, using my knife and made “clean” bandages from the back of it. They were much less splattered but still contaminated with his blood, but that can't be helped right now. He had a wallet with an Washington ID that said his name was Sean Hawkins. He was only 26. I found $57 and a blue bandana folded up. I took it all and then threw his wallet on his body, now nude save for navy blue boxer briefs. It felt wrong to leave him lying here on the gravel where I-5 used to run.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Sorry we had to kill you. I hope you are at peace.” I mumbled awkwardly, some eulogy better than none. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church but fooled around with all sorts of religions before deciding I was Atheist. If aliens are real, and somehow made my cat able to speak, does that prove there is not a god? My brain feels rattled, my body going through the motions of an autopilot.

I approached Harry to clean his wound and saw him sitting beside, my best guess, a 9” chef knife. Was the dead guy carrying that knife? I noticed the blade was covered in wiped off blood. Had Harry been right? I took the knife in my bag and sat down beside the injured cat. He nuzzled his head under my chin in his familiar “I’m sorry” gesture. Using a little water and the strips of cotton jersey I cleaned the mud, blood and gore from him as best I could. I used one of my bandages on his leg which was scratched badly. I also wiped my own face and hands. I already feel the pain in my hands, my neck, my shoulders from the fight. We drank the rest of one bottle of water and then Harry walked towards the man. I heard the sound of him eating and momentarily was confused. Then I realized. He was eating Sean Hawkins, the man who attacked me, choked me, tried to kill me. I hated it but I also knew Harry was hungry and this was protein. I walked far enough away to not hear him eating. I reorganized my bag, taking stock of my dwindling inventory. Then I laid down, using my purse as a pillow and surprisingly fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to a looming creature across the street from me. It was still so dark out so I must have only napped a few minutes. The alien creature was massive, I could barely understand what I was seeing at first. As I slowly scrambled to my feet, I watched the creature. It was roughly 12 feet tall with 4 elephant-like legs and a bulbous frog-like head and torso. Its two arms are disproportionately smaller than the legs. I couldn’t see its face since it was facing away from me. It looked like it was blowing bubbles from an old fashioned vacuum cleaner. The violently green bubbles dissolved structures on contact. An awkward Pine St. street sign had been jutting from the previously dissolved intersection, now it disappeared under the suds. Harry was nowhere in sight, which was still shrouded in a dense fog. I did not want to get the monster's attention so I quietly collected my purse and ran down the exit. There were huge holes where buildings had been and once upon a time, in 1889 according to the Underground Tour we had taken; Seattle burned down in a fire and rebuilt itself on top of its former foundation, bigger and better. The aliens had taken it all. Everything, down to the surf and sand, making the area I was currently at a high ledge to the pit below. I was breathing hard and scared I had lost Harry forever in this Escher inspired pit of former roads and sudden drops.

I saw a green space with massive evergreen trees, it must be a park but I would be damned if I knew which one. I ran up the path into the tree cover and crouched to catch my breath. I was wheezing, I know I smoke too much. I realized I had not hit my vape pen since this all started. Justin would be so proud. He kept encouraging me to quit. I noticed the green space had fresher air, less fog. Harry came running up with something in his mouth. He meowed a very specific, “I caught something” high pitch urgent meow. My stomach growled and then I was disgusted by that. I approached trying to see what he was holding, when the black slug-like creature jumped from his mouth to mine. It looked small as he approached, it felt huge like an anaconda as it forced itself into my throat. Instead of going down to my stomach, like I had anticipated, the cold snot climbed up into my sinus cavity. I gagged helplessly as it slithered all the way in, hanging for a brief moment down my lips then zipping up. It felt like my face was going to explode. My ears rang in a high pitched tinnitus tone and then the world faded to white.

A human sized black worm was sitting across from me in the empty white abyss. Without eyes I could still tell it was looking at me. Its pointy beak mouth said, “Hello hu-man, Lisa! I am here to do your on-boarding!” Its voice was androgynous, placid but friendly. A white patio set suddenly appeared in front of us and the worm elegantly slithered into the chair, curling up on itself comfortably.

“Welcome! It seems your world was chosen to join the Transgalactic Interverse Society aka TIS. This is a multi-system conglomerate that hopes to unite all sentients everywhere in commerce. You have survived the culling purge portion of the system upgrade. Congratulations! Most do not! Over 75% of the native population has been eliminated.” It paused and waited for my reaction.

I was honestly dumbstruck. What the actual fuck is happening to me. My brain is not working at all. “What are you?” I managed to ask.

“I am a representative of TIS. My species is from the planet Oligo, and we are called Helminths. We are of a shared mind species that adapts well into a symbiotic relationship with most carbon based life forms.” It paused to flip the tip of its tail remarkably like a hand toss, then continued, “Over the next few cycles, er, hours you and other survivors will be brought online on our new Earf. New inhabitants arriving from other systems will be relocated to Earf and then Phase 2 will commence. You will be required to get a system approved job and contribute to the financial stability of the new economy. Your previous life skills will be taken into consideration and your options will be based on your skills. You must get to a safe space and speak with a vendor to continue.Good Luck hu-man.” Then it tilted its head in an up and down bob and I woke up.

Before I could move from my lying position, a little black worm icon appeared in my vision, like Clippy from Microsoft Office when I was in High School. As soon as I focused on the icon, it came to life and spoke in my mind. “Hi Lisa! I am your new companion from TIS. I am part of the hive collective universe. You may name me and ask me any questions you have. I will keep track of your development and I will give any tips I can. I also will give you system notifications from TIS.”

“Uh huh” I said out loud to the worm in my head.

“Oh you can just think directly to me, I will read your intent easily. I can read your discomfort and I empathize. The system is invasive for non-share minded species, but I promise you will get used to it and soon we will be so in sync you might forget I am a separate entity from yourself!” It said this joyfully with a happy squirm. I wondered if it felt my revulsion.

“Well I will just call you Wormy for now, okay?” I thought to it.

The little worm did a cartwheel in joy. “Wormy is a great name! You can see your current character sheet by just thinking about it. Let me pull it up for you now! Apparently, you recently leveled up! You have 2 Undistributed points you can use to level up your skills or purchase new skills with a trainer.”

I focused on the strange panel floating in my vision. I couldn’t touch it as it did not exist outside my head. Suddenly the panel looked like a printed sheet of standard paper. I could focus on each part and Wormy would helpfully explain it. He went line by line giving me a breakdown on each and every part. I tried to remain neutral and just take it all in. I was humbled to see my lifetime of learning and experiences summed up so lamely. This is not a good indicator of my life. I felt white hot rage shoot up from my stomach to my brain. I managed to breathe it away.

Name: Lisa H. Janpop Level: 2

Species: Human

XP: 0/200. total XP: 153

Career: Undetermined

Finances: Undetermined

Missions: 0

Age: 39

Health: 97/100 _______________________________________________

Skills: 1- Beginner, 2- Competent, 3- Proficient, 4- Expert, 5- Master

Undistributed points: 2

Survival 2

Navigation 2

Scavenging 2

Shelter Creation 1

First Aid 2

Self Care 1

Education 3

Psychology 2

Biology 2

Philosophy 1

Technology 2

Occultism 1

Earf History 1

Reading 4

Storytelling 1

Writer 2

Creative Arts 3

Drawing 4

Painting 3

Material Working 1

Wood 1

Leather 1

Glass 1

Clay 2

Paper 2

Fiber 1

Domestic 2

Cooking 2

Housekeeping 3

Laundry/ Sewing 2

Simple tool usage 2

Complex tool usage 1

Customer Service 3

Negotiation 3

Persuasion 3

Intimidation 1

Conflict Resolution 2

Inventory 2

Accounting 1

Budget 1

Animal Care 3

Feline 4

Canine 2

Tarantula 2

Acrobatics 1

Athletics 1

Melee fighting 1

Swimming 2

Ping Pong 2

Yoga 2

Zumba 2

“Some features of your character information are undetermined because you have not yet unlocked the Safe Space rewards. You have 2 points to add to any skill but must unlock a safe space first! Your first Mission is to “Find Safe Space and talk to a Vendor to Upgrade” The worm said and then spiraled down to its diminutive standard size of the worm icon.

The worm icon never left my vision, just fazed out of noticeability. It reminded me of my bridge piercing. People always ask if I notice the little blue opals at the top of my nose but your brain tunes it out. I only notice them if I try to. The icon was mostly like that.I dismissed the worm and the sheet and stood up to find Harry. I was still on the grassy, pine tree haven some time ago. It was now brighter green outside and my stomach was growling so it must be some hours later. Harry was looking down at me from the lowest branch of the closest evergreen. He croaked a little meow then said, “I have a worm too. They made me give it to you. I am sorry.” His speaking voice was much deeper than his meow.

I sighed. I always wished he could talk to me and now he can but it took the literal end of the world. I tapped my fingertips to my shoulders, my signal for him to jump on me. “I know Harry. I know this is not your fault and I wish you had told me before but I am not mad at you. Come here, please.”

Before I finished speaking he jumped into my arms and we hugged it out. He climbed onto my shoulders and while purring head bumped me affectionately.

Worm icon activated! “Would you like to add Harry as a companion?”

I thought Yes and our worms informed us that we could now communicate telepathically via a message rely through our alien worms. “Oh goody” I thought with sarcasm. My stomach growled and we started to search for the “Safe Space.”