OFF-CUTS!

Lauren's so Lovely

She sits alone in darkness, in silence; her face is blank, her eyes are open.

What is she thinking about?

I've never understood exactly how their minds work; I'm sure I'm not the first to wonder about the workings of the female brain though; seems a bit clichéd to even mention here.

Oh well, originality died a long time ago, didn't it?

There's something about this girl, something oddly familiar.

I open the door, she stares up at me from where she sits on the cold concrete floor without a trace of fear in her eyes; she seems a stranger to emotion.

"Name?"

"Lauren."

Her reply is swift, as monosyllabic as my question.

I like Lauren already.

"Age?"

"Seventeen."

"Family?"

"Yes."

"Mother?"

"Yes."

"Father?"

"Yes."

"Siblings."

"One."

"Sister?"

"Brother."

I was sure that she'd breakdown with the mention of her family, but still she is calm.

How long can she keep this up?

My hand slips under her blouse collar, ripping buttons as it descends.

"Do you know why I've brought you here?"

She doesn't try to stop me, her face remains expressionless.

"No. Should I?"

I can't help but smile at her alluringly strange behavior, as I peel her blouse off her supple shoulders; my curiosity overwhelms me.

"Why aren't you scared?"

"Why should I be?"

"I'm not sure, but all the others before you have been. Don't you want me to let you go?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I like it here."

That's a first.

"You like it here? Why?"

She shrugs her shoulders as I reef off her skirt.

"I feel safe here."

"Safe? You're half-naked in a locked room with a stranger who kidnapped you, and you feel safe?"

Lauren nods; this girl is unlike anybody else I've ever met.

A strange feeling is welling up in the bottom of my stomach, I have a job to do however.

I take her by the hand and help her to her feet.

"This isn't the end, we have a short ways to go yet, Lauren. They chose you for a very special purpose. A purpose that I can't explain, but hopefully they will be able to, upon your meeting them."

"Okay."

I lead her out of the room, down the long hallway, to a ladder which I point to.

"Climb."

Lauren certainly is lovely, it seems almost a shame to give her away like this; like her though, they chose me a long time ago to serve them as they see fit, and I must follow their direction, lest they hollow me out and treat me like one of those wretched hollow beings.

We reach the surface, the cool grass softly tickles our bare soles.

I point to a large concrete slab which breaks the green of this lush verdant field.

"Climb up and lie down. This is where they'll take you."

"Okay."

I watch her as she follows my command, the freezing wind causes goose-pimples to rise on my skin, I can't imagine how cold that slab must feel against her exposed skin.

Not that I would know by looking at her, she's still as emotionless as ever.

She's positioned perfectly, I grab the fleshy device from my pocket and rip off one of the freshly grown tumors, alerting them to our presence.

Even though I've seen them come more times than I can remember, I'm still in awe of their wondrous majesty.

A colorful swirl of spinning bright lights grow closer overhead, their intensity blooms to such a grand magnitude, that it forces me to close my eyes.

When I open them again, Lauren is gone.

Strangely however, they are not.

Usually they disappear as soon as they take their sacrifice.

Why are they still here?

I peer down at the device in my hand, the disgusting cancerous bio-mechanical organism pulsates in an alarming fashion, it's never done this before.

The device starts vibrating, searing painfully into my skin; the burning sensation spreads throughout my being, though my eyes remain transfixed on the device as it melts my fingers on it.

Suddenly, I can feel it is an extension of me, a new corruption inside of me; this beacon, this unnatural burden that was thrust upon me all those years ago is now a part of me, changing me into something unseen.

My vision fades, all turns black.

It doesn't take long before it returns; I am on their ship, their portable flesh garden which holds the secrets to life in all its forms.

A familiar voice resounds from nowhere.

"Who are you and why have you come?"

"You know me, and I thought you brought me here, master."

The burning sensation ceases, I look down to see that I am a mass of tumors and twisted inhuman features, an abominable anomaly.

Vaguely human, though mutated beyond recognition of my former self.

"Do you not think I would remember our meeting. Now explain yourself, or succumb to a fate worse than death. A hollowing."

I panic.

"Master, it's me. The emissary you recruited from earth all those years ago, the sacrifice bringer. I'm Stuart."

His voice trembles slightly.

"Stuart? What has happened to you?"

"I don't know, master. I delivered the sacrifice like normal, then the beacon got hot and started vibrating, then the next thing I knew I was here."

"Hmm, strange. We did not receive a sacrifice, although I feel that you are telling the truth."

An odd sensation pulls at my newly misshapen chest, a terrible change is afoot.

The acres of skin covering the ground quivers, oddly rumbling, upending some of the strange humanoid tubers, who look like a cross between a slimy turnip and a fetus, each of whom screech like foul banshees.

I stand, my body shows an unflinching resolve in the face of this growing unholy skin-quake, I'm not ashamed to say that inside, I feel terrified.

"Stuart? What have you brought here? This thing is much more than alive. Ugh, I release you from my control. You are free to, to..."

His voice falls silent, and I know it has taken him.

Do I swear allegiance to this foul creature and hope it will spare me, or do I try to escape somehow?

My head swirls with options, my feet are firmly rooted in place.

The fertile skin field tears just ahead of me, a foul grey behemoth bursts through and starts feasting upon the loud tuber-things, trickles of their blood run down the beast's mighty jaw.

My revolting body shakes involuntarily, in fear of this newfound evil, as I the realization of what has happened dawns on me.

"Lauren?"

The gigantic monstrosity turns and faces me as it gnashes upon the defenseless beings, filling me with unbridled awe.

"Yes."

"Is that really you?"

My stupid question finally made her smile.

"In the flesh!"

Even as a gigantic marauding hellion, Lauren is still just so darn lovely.