Them

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "Don't look now"

Them

Erik summoned strength to swing his mighty sword one last time.

The now-headless dragon fell in a heap.

“Not bad, old man,” quipped Isaac, his youngest son.

Erika grunted and said nothing. The men stood silently, back-to-back surveying the devastation. Bodies were strewn across the battlefield. Elephant and dragon carcasses were visible from the high ground they’d chosen to make their stand.

“Strange beasts, these,” said the elder, wiping blood from his sword.

“Aye,” agreed the son before nodding towards the shiny orb in the distance, “But that’s where the real beasts reside.”

Erik took a knee to catch a moment’s rest. He didn’t want his son to know how close he was to giving up. He needed to be strong. He needed to last long enough to swing his sword one last time…at them. He turned his head towards the alien craft; towards “them”.

It had been an indeterminate amount of time since they’d been plucked from the shores of home. Their captors explained they would be tested in what was best described as “survival trials.”

At first, things had been easy. They’d be dropped off to face whatever came at them. A small staged skirmish here and there.

Back then, they’d actually enjoyed the adventure.

Eventually they came to grow tired of being tested. Thoughts of family and home became more dominant.

Pleas to their captors had always been answered with, “Just a few more tests.”

Now they understood. There would always be a few more tests.

Erik’s reverie was interrupted by the sound of charging hoofs.

“Don’t look now but we have some more company…again,” said Isaac.

The old man stood tall once more. He stood tall for his son, for his family and for the time when he would swing his sword one last time…at them.

Word count 300