Rulers

Swiftly, she ran through the forest, the underbrush scraping at her bare legs and sending jolts of pain through her exposed feet. She could still hear the screams of the sorority sisters who had been initially attacked, and she feared for them.

She feared for herself.

Let's go skinny dipping in the river! Connie had suggested. Since they had not seen another person for three days during their backpacking adventure, it had seemed okay, that nothing bad could possibly happen in these mountains. Especially under the cover of night, so long as they stayed near their campsite and did not venture too far up or down the river, they should just fine: just five sorority sisters enjoying an adventure hiking through the mountains.

Winded, she finally stopped, leaning against a tree, her legs aching from so much running. She had definitely lost her athletic edge since the boating accident in her junior year of high school, for only adrenaline and fear had propelled her this far.

Yet she could still hear the screams of Samantha and Kristen.

She could still "see" the purplish tentacles suddenly sprout up from the water – two of them wrapping around Samantha's waist, and one entrapping Kristen's left arm – and those were just the tentacles which she could see above the water. She had been fortunate to have just stepped out of the river, wanting to get a quick drink from a canteen, or else she may also have been initially attacked.

Connie had been standing still in a natural pool of the river, her astronomer's eyes studying the full moon, while Becky held her from behind. The lovers had both been instantly frozen by the screams of Samantha and Kristen, and something had dragged them underwater before they could react.

She had seen Connie surface, but not Becky.

Kristen had somehow made it safely out of the river, but Samantha tried to run for the riverbank and fell as other purplish tentacles rushed to her, entrapping her arms and legs.

And, from her vantage point, she watched in horror as a thick tentacle slowly rose from the water, aimed at Samantha's sex, and drove into her with reckless abandon.

It was her friend's shrill scream of fear and pain which had propelled her to run. She had no idea where she was running to, knowing only that she was trying to get as far away from the river as possible.

And suddenly, she realized that she could no longer hear any screams.

A new fear seized her heart and cut short her breath. One or more of her sorority sisters could be missing.

...or worse.

Cautiously, she willed herself to return to the river, moving slowly, hoping she was actually headed in the right direction. After a few minutes, she could faintly hear the river ahead of her. In time, she could see the faint glow of the campfire upon the trees. Above the thundering of her heart, she could hear no voices.

She was soon close enough to hear the crackling of the campfire, and then she was within the small clearing they had selected for their campsite for the night.

She spotted Samantha laying face-down upon the grassy riverbank, her lower legs still in the water. The brunette's body and the immediate surroundings were coated with a thin slime of an original she could not identify, and the slime seemed to be most copious between Samantha's parted legs.

"Semen," she whispered to herself in horror. One of her sorority sisters had just been raped by something which was not even human.

Kristen, Connie, and Becky were not in sight. She heard only the flowing of the river, the crackling of the campfire, the rustling of the leaves in the cool breeze, and the crickets which filled the forest.

Kneeling beside her friend, she rolled Samantha onto her back, saddened and nearly sickened by the sight of the blue-tinted inhuman semen upon Samantha's tanned face. At least Samantha's breathing, she thought, trying to find a ray of hope in this most bizarre situation.

After dragging her friend back to the campfire, she used whatever she could find in the tents to try to clean the inhuman semen from Samantha's face and hair and body. Several times, she thought she would retch, but somehow she was able to fight off that unpleasant feeling and focus instead upon the task at hand.

Five naked women alone in a strange forest, she thought. What the hell were we thinking!?!

Only then did she realize that, even though she had cleaned between Samantha's legs, the inhuman semen had "reappeared." She cleaned again, only to find that copious amount of the blue-tinted semen kept trickling from the brunette's precious womanhood.

"She's the chosen one."

She froze, shocked to see a tall figure cloaked in black standing at the edge of the campfire's light. His voice was not menacing, yet it was definitely not calming. If anything, he sounded as if he was simply stating a well-known fact.

"She will give rise to the new rulers of this planet."

"What!?!" She was clearly in disbelief, but her unconscious friend and her three missing sorority sisters were proof that whatever this strange man was saying could very well be true.

"Her body is compatible," he continued, slowly approaching the campfire at an angle, the hood of his black cloak positioned to obscure his face.

"Where are the others?" she asked, nervousness and fear evident in her voice.

"Two of them were taken underwater to be consumed by our rulers," he stated flatly. "One of them escaped, but she will be captured. As will you."

Feeling a hand upon her shoulder, she screamed.

A hard slap across her face caused her eyes to snap open to bright sunlight. "What's the matter with you!?!" Samantha hissed. "You'll be late for the Spanish exam if you don't get up right now!"

It took a moment to comprehend what had just happened, but when she did, she pulled her roommate into a fierce hug and began to cry tears of joy.