Colonel Amos looked out at her troops doing laps around the perimeter of the compound. She was proud of how far they had progressed in what had been only a few weeks. After a few months these recruits, or scrubs, as they were informally called, would become privates in Earth's American army. But first they had to finish running their laps. The small herd of young women got into formation as they finished their final lap.

"Good time, ladies," Colonel Amos said, glancing at her watch. A look of dismay crossed her face as Johansen slowly cornered the compound and huffed into formation. "Yes, I am pleased with all of you. Except Johansen." Several of the women looked at their tardy peer out of the corner of their eyes. "You have all improved your time. Except for Johansen. You may now hit the showers. Except for Johansen, that is."

The women walked into the compound, leaving Johansen standing alone at full attention. She stood in the yard, dry mud caked on her boots and the sun setting behind her. The sunset lit the sky to a beautiful shade of orange. Once set, it would be another 20 hours before it rose again.

"Johansen!" Amos was actually in a good mood this evening, but had long ago discovered her ability to display unrelenting rage at a whim. She knew her talent would lead her to high ranks in the military. "Thirty-five minutes?! That is a disgrace! My great-grandmother can run faster than you just did, God rest her soul! Maybe we should cut back on your diet..."

Johansen squirmed without moving. All of her life, people had described her as "pudgy" or "chunky." She just thought of herself as slightly overweight. She could improve. She knew she could. Amos saw the fear and shame in her recruit's eyes and knew she had given her enough verbal punishment.

"Alright. Get down and give me one hundred. Lieutenant Majors will supervise." Johansen hesitated, shocked by the large number of pushups she had to do, then she hit the ground. The colonel walked to her office and the young Lieutenant Majors stood by Johansen, counting off her pushups.

The sun set and Johansen continued her pushups. She still had many more to do. Ordinarily, this task would have taken a few minutes, but she was tired from running and her arms ached.

Majors took pity on her. It was dark and cold outside. It was also dangerous to be outside at night on this planet. Previously thought to be an uninhabited planet, DH-90 was full of strange and deadly creatures. Most of more deadly among them were nocturnal, especially in this area.

"Okay, I'm going in," Majors told Johansen. The lieutenant then leaned over and said quietly to the recruit, "Don't worry. Everyone has a hard time at first. Just wait out here a few minutes and tell me when you're 'done.'" Johansen smiled at her kindness and waited until Majors had left to drop flat onto her stomach. She turned over and looked at the sky, reminiscing of life back home.

Majors turned on the officers' shower, thinking she had went too easy on Johansen. Her superiors often told her she was too weak, too nice. "You'll never make it to Major with that attitude," they said to her, subtly poking fun at her name while making their point. She walked into the shower, disgusted. She didn't see kindness as a fault. She cheered up, however, as she touched herself, thinking of her boyfriend on Earth.

Johansen walked into Majors's quarters. Majors was lying on her bed, reading a magazine. "I am finished for today, Ma'am."

"Did you lock the doors?" Majors casually asked.

"Oh, uh, no, Ma'am," Johansen answered. Majors sat up.

"Well, lock it right now, Johansen!" Majors yelled. While Majors was lenient, she was not stupid. It was very important not to leave even one of the locks open at night. She scolded herself for leaving a recruit alone outside. She went back to the magazine, relieved that nothing had happened. Suddenly, she heard a scream. Johansen's scream. Majors rushed to the door, guilt and fear gripping her body. Her mouth was left agape when she entered the front hall.

Majors immediately recognized the being standing at the entrance to the barracks as a gharat. Never having seen one outside of a book, she noted its hominid-like appearance, although the alien had the hard, scaled skin of a reptile, no noticeable genitalia, and several tentacles protruding from its back. It stood nine feet tall staring at her, as she stared back in shock. Johansen was nowhere to be seen. Majors turned around and began to run before the alien could head in her direction. She ran to the colonel's office as the screams began.

"Colonel! We need the tasers!" she panicked. The colonel looked up calmly.

"Majors, we didn't charge them today. You know we're saving our energy. Why..." Amos's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. The thudding sound of women's bodies falling and being slammed to the ground reached the office. "No..." said Amos softly, her body filling with fear. Another scream pierced the silence in the colonel's office. Amos looked down as she thought for a moment. "Call for help," she told Majors, "then meet me in the stock room." Majors called Headquarters as Amos left the room.

"Home base come in, Lieutenant Majors reporting gharat attack on camp W-5 on DH-90, Over," she said into the receiver. She heard a man's voice drowned out by static. The aliens had already damaged their communication system. She yelled into the receiver, "Alien attack- W-5 on DH-90! I need back-up! Over!"

"Lieutenant Majors, we read you," crackled the man's voice. "What is the species of the alien?" Majors tried to answer, but her throat suddenly locked into place. All her lips could do was quiver as she saw the gharat looking at her with sinister pupil-less eyes through the office window. She swallowed hard, staring at her reflection in its eyes, right before its tentacles burst through the glass.

***

The earth trembled slightly as the cosmocopter touched down in front of the base. The troop's armor and artillery clicked as the soldiers filed out of the ship and onto DH-90. Captain Ellis made her way to the front of the group and stared into the bright blue lights of the spacecraft. She waited in the cold night air until her troop was in formation.

"All right, people, listen up," Ellis began. "We don't know the situation inside, we don't know what species of alien has attacked the camp, we don't even know if they are still here. So I want you to keep your eyes and ears open. It looks like these ladies have been hit pretty bad, so of course," she paused for effect, "they sent the best. This is not a drill. Be prepared to fire. ...Let's go in and we will split up into rescue teams."

Ellis looked inside the barracks door. The compound was dark. Although it was secure when locked up, the compound usually emitted some light or sound. Right now it looked more like an abandoned warehouse. It had been only four hours since the distress signal, an ideal response time for an interplanetary trip; but it was rather slow for her troop, whom where based on one of DH-90's moons. In fact, they had been chosen for this mission because of their proximity to it. As she entered the barracks, Ellis noticed a scrub lying next to the door. It was obvious from her injuries that her body had been thrown lethally against the wall. Her tag read "Johansen." She hoped it wasn't the work of a gharat or something similar. She went in.

"All right, ladies. Lights on and safeties off. If you find someone who needs medical attention, but can't walk, get a medic to carry them out. That's what the medics are for. Squad 1- go left, Squad 2- follow me."

Ellis and her squad walked through the eerily quiet base, checking the bodies that lay strewn around the halls. Most of the female recruits were dead, either from having been beaten to death or hemorrhaging from their violent rapes. Every couple of minutes a soldier would call out for a medic to assist one of the women that were still alive. One of the squads noticed a recruit laying motionless, but still breathing, between a corpse and the wall.

"Medic! We have another live one!" she called. A medic ran over to check her vitals. Seeing that she was not too injured to be moved, the medic began to pull her away from the wall.

"Don't move me," she suddenly whispered. The medic paused. "Don't move me. They don't see you if you lie still."

"They're gone now," the medic told her, trying to calm her.

"They don't see you. Lie still." The medic shushed her and carried her out.

"Captain, this is Raynes," Raynes said over radio. "I believe the aliens are all gone. If there were any left, we'd have seen something by now."

"Good," Ellis responded. "Keep communications open. Tell me if anything changes." Ellis moved towards the stock room. Shining her bright flashlight through the window in the door, the captain saw two women looking back at her. She tried opening the door. It was locked. "Squad, keep moving through the base, I'm going to get these two. Check individual rooms." The squad moved on.

Ellis knocked on the door, mouthing the words, "Open the door." Colonel Amos looked back at her and swallowed.

"Are they gone?" Amos said loudly through the glass. "Are the gharats gone?" Ellis sighed. It was the work of gharats alright.

"Yes, they're gone. Open the door." Ellis then radio the rest of the troops. "Everyone, we've got gharats. Watch your back." She went back to Amos.

"Have you checked the whole base?"

"Yes. Open the door so we can escort you out of here." The base had almost been completely checked. Amos hesitated, slowly looking back at Majors who was sitting against the wall of the stock room. Then she unlocked the door. Ellis opened the door and walked in.

The storage room was in good condition, unlike the rest of the base, with objects still neatly on shelves. Amos seemed to be in okay condition, though her clothes were torn in some places. Majors, on the other hand, seemed catatonic. She sat completely naked against the wall. A little light from the flares that the troops had been dropping shined in through the window, illuminating part half of Major's face. She stared directly ahead at the door, occasionally blinking.

"I am Colonel Amos and this is Lieutenant Majors. We're-" Amos paused. "Are you... Beta team?"

"Captain Ellis of Beta Team, ma'am," Ellis introduced herself, looking around.

"They sent an all-female troop on a rescue mission involving gharats?" Amos panicked.

"We were close by and did not know the nature of the alien. Is she alright?" Ellis motioned to Majors.

"Wh- No. No, she's not alright, she's been fucking raped by aliens! Do you think-"

"Colonel, I need you to calm down. I meant, can she walk?"

"I don't- Is she alright?! I mean-" Amos had lost her composure. Her fear began to scare Ellis as well.

"Nevermind. Lieutenant?" Ellis called to Majors. "Can you hear me?" Majors slowly moved her head in Ellis's direction. "C'mon, Lieutenant, let's go." Majors did not move. Ellis didn't know why, but she felt herself growing more and more afraid. "Colonel, go outside and there should be a medic or a soldier there to guide you to the ship. I'll be behind you." Amos began to breathe normally again. She nodded and Ellis watched her leave the room. Ellis looked back at Majors and not two seconds had passed when Ellis heard a scream. Ellis looked back at Amos and saw that she was wrapped in the tentacles of a gharat.

"Fuck!" Ellis exclaimed. A wave of terror came over her. "Colonel!" The gharat moved menacingly towards the stock room. Ellis did not hesitate in closing and locking the door as the adrenaline in her body became active. Gharat tentacles slammed repeatedly against the window in the door in vain. It was double-paned glass and the alien could not get in. "Fuck no," Ellis cried as the alien left, carrying a struggling Colonel Amos with her. Ellis reached for the speak button on the radio, but before she could say a word she recognized screams of her troop. She spoke anyway.

"Beta Team! They're back! The gharats are back!" She dropped to her knees and began to cry as she hear gunfire and screams, realizing she had led her troop into a trap. And she had sealed Amos's fate. "Fuck..." She looked at Majors, who had buried her head in her arms. Ellis looked down at the ground as the radio calls became cries for help:

"Shit! They're back!"

"Fire! Fire!"

"Somebody help me! Jameson is down!"

"Backup! I need some backup!"

"Goddammit! How do you kill these things?"

"They're behind us! They're-"

"AAAAAAAaaaaaugh!"

After a few minutes, it became quiet. Ellis feared they were all dead. She tried to contact the ship to no avail. Finally, she broke radio silence.

"This is Ellis," Ellis broadcasted. "Are there any other survivors out there?"

"Jameson here," the radio cackled. "I'm injured, but okay. I'm in a box in the east wing."

"This is Holzer," another soldier voiced over the radio. "We're in what appears to be the lecture room. There are five others with me. Are there any others there with you?"

"I am alone," Jameson said.

"It's just me and a resident here," Ellis told them. "Just eight survivors and the ship?"

"Well," Holzer hesitated, "Li is right outside... but the aliens have got her." Ellis heard the barely audible screams in the background. "We would try to save her, but we're low on ammo."

"Jameson," Ellis called, "how about you? Are you armed?"

"I've got a full cartridge left, but I believe there are two gharats in the area...," Jameson reported "I won't make it without assistance." Ellis looked at her gun. She had several full cartridges. She had to make it to the ship to call for help, or her troops would be stuck hiding in the building until dawn at least. Dawn was hours and hours away.

"I'm going to try to run to the ship. Stay where you are."

"Good luck," Jameson wished her.

Ellis looked back at Majors. She was going to have to get Majors moving again or leave her here. While contemplating her decisions, a body slammed on the door. It was Amos. Amos's clothes were mostly torn off. Her shirt covered her torso, but she was nude from the waist down. Ellis could not see this, however. Amos's waist was below the window she was pressed up against. Ellis stared at the colonel in shock, trying to figure out if she was dead or alive. Ellis was relieved to see the colonel's breath fog up a small area of the window. She then noticed the alien standing still behind Amos.

"Open the door," Amos said in a ghastly voice. Ellis stood, frozen. "Open door, please." Ellis reached for the door, but then drew back, seeing the gharat's gray tentacles extended from its body to behind Amos somewhere. Was it holding her there? "Open door," she repeated in the unworldly voice. "Open door- good." No, it couldn't be... A single tear dropped down the colonel's cheek and Amos realized the words were not the colonel's. It was somehow controlling her telepathically.

The alien drew back Amos's limp but upright body, revealing her naked lower half. Amos appeared to have one tentacle in her vagina and anus each. With these two tentacles alone, the alien moved her around and made her speak. Ellis shuddered and struggled not to cry at the sight of her violated peer.

"God no...," she mumbled.

"Open," Amos said again. It had raped Amos and now wanted Ellis and possibly Majors. Ellis didn't know if Amos could hear her, but she spoke anyway.

"I can't," she said, starting to cry.

"Help me. Open..."

"I can't!" she yelled through the glass, through her tears. Ellis jumped as Amos was slammed into the door again. Blood dripped from her nose down the window. Ellis wiped her eyes and tried to build herself up again. She looked back at Majors, who remained sitting still, looking forward at the colonel with sad eyes. Ellis drew her gun, setting it on shotgun mode. "I'm going to make it out of here," she chanted to herself. "I'm going to make it." She waited.

The gharat drew Amos's body back again. Ellis pointed her gun at the window and fired, blasting the window open. Some of the glass shards cut at Amos's body, the rest falling near the alien's feet. Ellis set the gun on rifle mode and aimed at the gharat's head. She fired, smearing the alien's brains against the wall. Amos dropped to the ground as the alien slowly slid down the wall.

Ellis quickly opened the door, pulled out her machete and cut the tentacles connecting Amos to the alien carcass. She then dragged Amos back into the stock room and locked the door behind her. Ellis knew that she had little time; the window protecting the three ladies was now gone and the room was no longer secure. Anyone, or anything, could reach in through the window and open the door from the inside.

"Are you okay?" Ellis asked the colonel. The colonel nodded and coughed, drowsily getting on all fours. She looked up at Ellis.

"Thank you," she said. Colonel Amos looked down at herself and began pulling out the tentacle emerging from her vagina. Ellis moved over to Majors.

"Alright, Majors, I'm going to need you to move." Majors remained oblivious to the world around her. "C'mon, baby, I really need you to get going now. Please. Get up." Majors slightly moved her head, still not looking at Captain Ellis. Ellis slapped Majors across the face. "Majors!"

"What?" Majors winced. Ellis laughed a breath of relief.

"I need you to get up and run with me to the ship outside, where we'll be safe. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah," Majors mumbled.

"Okay, let's go." Ellis began pulling Majors up, but Majors just looked straight ahead again, not moving. "Majors. ...Lieutenant!" Majors's lip trembled slightly, and a stream of urine began leaking out of her naked body. Ellis opened her mouth in confusion, then turned around.

A gharat stood in the doorway of the now open door, holding Amos around the midsection and neck with two tentacles. Amos struggled to breathe, a severed tentacle still stuck in her anus. The gharat looked at Amos curiously, and loosened the grip on her neck. Then it threw her forcefully against the stock room wall, breaking her neck. Ellis uttered a sharp cry. She reached for her gun, but the gharat's tentacles wrapped around her before she could hold it. The alien's scaly appendages brought her closer to its body as her gun fell to the ground in front of Majors. Ellis tried to free herself, resulting in the alien tightening its grip on the struggling woman. Majors was her last hope.

"Majors! Majors, grab the gun!" Majors looked up at the captain. The gharat held Ellis with two tentacles and used a third to pull on her pants. "Majors! The gun!" Majors looked down at the gun. The gharat pulled Ellis's pants to her ankles and flipped her over. "Yes! Get it now! Shoot him!" Majors, coming back to reality, bit her lip and slowly moved forward. A tentacle entered Ellis's panties and ripped them off. She screamed. Majors dived forward, picked up the gun and fired. And missed.

The alien looked in Majors's direction and grabbed her with one of its tentacles. It quickly drew Majors to its body, causing her to drop the gun.

"NOOOooo!!" Ellis screamed. "Nooooo!!" She broke down crying as the alien maneuvered the two women in the air, trying to get the best grip possible. Majors squirmed a little, then gave up, realizing the futility of her efforts. She hung her head and waited for her second round of rapes to begin.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to Ellis. Ellis tried her best to reassuringly smile at Majors as a tentacle found its way into the captain's vagina. With that, her torment began.