Remaining Human

A story about love, survival, and the choices we make when everything is lost.

The car wove through the wreckage.

The driver and the passenger — Grace and Dmitry — exchanged a few hurried words as they sped away. They had escaped from hell, yet they still couldn’t believe they were alive.

Dmitry turned around to look at the city they were leaving behind and saw a monstrous wall of flames rising into the sky.

The government had reduced the city to ashes in a desperate attempt to stop the invasion.

Millions had died because of that decision.

“Tell me you still have the map,” Grace asked, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Instead of answering, Dmitry frantically searched through the pockets of his jacket.

For one terrible moment, he thought he had lost the most important piece of paper in his life.

When he finally found it hidden in the lining, he let out a shaky breath of relief.

He unfolded the paper and studied it carefully.

“I’m not exactly good with maps,” he admitted.

“Are we even going the right way?” Grace asked.

“I think so.” Dmitry nodded. “Look, what about this?”

Grace briefly took her eyes off the road and glanced at the map.

An explosion erupted behind them.

The highway disappeared beneath a blinding flash of light.

They had started using bombs as a last resort.

Grace trembled slightly.

In a hoarse voice, she said: “It looks like a teleportation code. And the device itself is located on a mountain near a lake.”

“Sixteen digits. It’s clearly not civilian technology.” Dmitry nodded. “There’s only one lake nearby — Two Keys. It’s about two hours from here.”

“We won’t have enough fuel. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way.”

The couple fell silent.

For four days, they had lived through the nightmare of an invasion.

Death had followed them everywhere, taking their friends and loved ones one by one, yet somehow they had survived.

Everything happening around them had started to feel like a cruel, impossible dream.

Sometimes Grace felt that all she had to do was wake up — and everything would return to the way it had been.

The feeling that none of this could be real numbed their fear.

An hour and a half later, the car came to a stop.

The couple quietly left it behind and continued on foot along the winding road.

“Do you think the teleport actually works?” Grace asked tiredly, without looking at her husband.

“Yes. It was built for military purposes, so the security systems must be extremely advanced,” Dmitry replied confidently.

“You’re lying.”

“Let’s say I’m really hoping they haven’t found it yet. Our defenses have improved since the last time. This time, several cities managed to evacuate their citizens, and they even destroyed some of their ships.”

Darkness began to fall.

The couple reached a small settlement and moved through it, trying to blend into the shadows of the worn-out houses.

The bright moon made that almost impossible.

As they passed an old four-story building, Grace heard muffled sobbing.

She stopped and grabbed Dmitry by the sleeve.

He turned around, irritated, but froze when he heard the desperate crying.

He looked at his wife sadly.

“We can’t,” he said almost automatically. Perhaps hoping she would agree.

Even though he already knew she wouldn’t.

“Dim… there’s a child crying.”

Grace stepped toward the entrance anyway.

Her green eyes shone defiantly in the pale moonlight.

She wasn’t leaving.

Dmitry didn’t hesitate for long.

He stepped into the darkness of the building and began moving by touch toward the source of the sounds.

Grace followed carefully behind him.

Near the staircase, Dmitry stepped on something soft.

A sickly, heavy smell of blood filled the air.

He gently took his wife by the arm and guided her around the body.

Grace understood everything without a word.

A wave of nausea passed through her when she realized what the smell was.

On the second floor, in a cramped, cluttered room, they found a small boy.

The child was curled up against the wall, trembling and sobbing uncontrollably.

Grace knelt beside him and gently reached out to stroke his hair.

The boy suddenly sprang up and rushed toward her.

He wrapped his arms around her.

Grace felt his heart pounding rapidly against her chest, like a frightened bird trapped inside a cage.

She placed a warm hand on his back and held him closer.

The little boy buried his face into her shoulder and slowly grew quiet.

Then, from somewhere on the first floor, came a savage growl.

Grace immediately covered the child’s mouth to keep him from screaming.

The Pursuers.

The aliens’ merciless servants, created for one purpose: to hunt and destroy.

The couple understood what it meant.

Death had found them.

Dmitry clenched his fists.

He had lost so many people over the past few days.

Too many.

But today, he would try to save at least one.

The man leaned toward his wife and gently kissed her.

Grace didn’t understand at first that it was goodbye.

She realized only when her husband left the room and began silently descending the stairs.

When he reached the first floor, he stopped hiding.

He ran.

He made as much noise as possible.

A furious howl shook the building, and something monstrous and savage rushed after him.

Dmitry managed to escape outside, leading the creatures away from them.

Grace pressed her face into her shoulder and bit down hard, trying to silence the scream tearing itself from her throat.

Her delicate skin couldn’t withstand the pressure, and soon the sleeve of her dress was stained with blood.

Grace froze, forcing herself to regain control.

No one could say how long she remained there, motionless, staring into nothing.

Eventually, still holding the child, she slowly stood and approached the window.

The street below was empty.

The full moon cast a cold light over the abandoned settlement.

Grace carefully made her way downstairs through the darkness of the entrance hall.

This time, there was no one to guide her around the body.

Her foot sank into the blood.

She slipped and fell with a loud crash.

Outside, the sound was answered by a deep growl.

She caught sight of a Pursuer outside the doorway. It was moving toward the building. Fighting the urge to run, Grace climbed the stairs as quietly as she could. Every step she took was almost silent, but she knew the monster could sense her location.

She had already climbed several floors when the creature entered the house with a loud roar.

Panic seized her.

She reached out blindly and took several steps forward.

Her fingers struck something hard.

Wood.

A door.

Grace found the handle by touch, opened it, slipped onto the roof, and closed it behind her.

Grace stood beneath the silver light of the moon, waiting for the Pursuer to break through the door.

There was nowhere left to run.

She held the crying child tightly against her chest and began to sing a lullaby.

The very same lullaby she had once sung to her little daughter.

Her gentle voice rose above the silence of the dead settlement.

The Pursuer let out a call for the others.

From all sides of the building, dozens of creatures rushed toward it like shadows spilling out of the darkness.

Their growls filled the air, drowning out Grace’s song.

The battered door exploded into splinters.

The creature stepped onto the roof, slowly rising onto its hind legs and freeing its front limbs.

It stood before the woman at its full height, towering over her.

Its bony hand, tipped with dagger-like claws, rose into the air, preparing for the final strike.

Grace pressed the boy’s forehead against her chest and straightened her back.

She lifted her head proudly.

She would face death without fear.

She had already lost everything.

There was nothing left to take from her.

The creature’s body was suddenly pierced by a storm of laser beams.

The powerful blasts tore through its massive form.

The entire rooftop lit up as if the sun itself had risen in the middle of the night.

Grace turned around in confusion.

A rescue shuttle hovered above her.

The craft descended carefully, touched down on the rooftop, and opened its cabin.

A ramp lowered.

Grace stepped inside.

The moment the hatch closed behind her, the rooftop was flooded with Pursuers.

They were met with a barrage of weapons fire, tearing the terrifying creatures apart.

Grace stumbled toward the pilot.

She could no longer hold back her tears.

Beside the unfamiliar man sat Dmitry.

Wounded.

Exhausted.

But alive.

Grace sank down beside her husband and pulled the child closer, trying to calm him.

“I couldn’t die without coming back for you, sunshine,” Dmitry said.

Grace reached out with a trembling hand and gently squeezed his shoulder.

“We’ll get out of here,” Dmitry promised. “And someday we’ll come back… and take our planet back.”