The dead cannot hear. Is that a truth or an assumption among the humans? The dead have their own rules same as the living. Maybe even their memories are erased so they can forget their living history. Maybe this whole existence is a loop. That's why hatred is natural. Maybe its a grudge over lifetimes. Death is not the solution really. It is just a procrastination of a bomb to go off one day. Or is it?

****Captain Hook held his gun with no emotions. His silk hair fell over his protruding forehead just above his sunburnt nose. His face was one hell of a look but courage made him admirable. That is the sole reason he rose above ranks.

" Hold your fire!"

He bellowed. His soldiers knew better. The captain was disappointed. Out of his twenty specially trained men only thirteen remained. This to him was the greatest loss ever since he begun commanding.

'It could have been worse,'

he thought to himself. After all hadn't China lost a whole army of a hundred and thirty four men. A week earlier Britain, the renowned host of the queen, did not survive a week in the same woods. Captain Hook had survived two weeks and seven men only lost. He tried to smile but losing a single man was painful. A single man was worth millions. That is much the States had invested in this soldiers

"All units standby, I repeat all units standby!"

"Roger that, sir!"

"FOBbit standby, launch code, Six Ten December Eleven March Mighty

I repeat Six Ten December Eleven March Mighty. Frontline, Pogues, gas masks on... i repeat...."

Captain Ann- who was second in command- listened as the orders of the captain faded. Maybe this wasn't the right approach to the whole thing.

" Captain, I think we..."

" We should what Ann? Do nothing, and a fucking alienitarian disaster clouds the region. If we intervene in a goddamn military way, we open the fucking Pandora's box and we walk into the goddamn alien hands. None of these approaches leaves us safe its all bullshit!"

"Sir" Captain Ann knew better than to argue. They were on a black on ammunitions maybe a missile attack could be a solution at the time. The intel from FOBbits at the control camp indicated that the assailants disappeared as soon as they appeared. As she was deep in thoughts, a soldier came running into their camp.

" Sir!" He shouted

"What is it with you Oxygen thief?"

"It is from Pogues, there has been a breach a raid, sir!"

"When?"

"Now, sir!"

"Bullshit, how the hell did that happen?"

"There were Gone Elvis on the east. They came in swiftly, no attacks, left as they came sir!"

"You sound impressed rainbow."

"No sir!"

"Any fucking casualties?"

"No, but four snake eaters have been taken, sir!"

"Tango Mike! Dismissed!"

"Captain!" He bowed as he left.

Captain Hook looked at Captain Ann and they all nodded with knowing faces of ' we are screwed'

"All units this is Captain Hook, black abort, abort, abort. Stand down we have been compromised. I repeat the balloon has gone up. Withdraw I repeat withdraw. F squad secure the perimeter. All other units back to the camp, mission aborted. I repeat mission aborted."

****

Division of the Manes:

First Clan

Alphas, also known as Mozillas. This clan has three families: Guzas, Kiasas and Mai.

Second clan

Sigmas, also known as Rimus. This clan has two families: Muis and Siastas

Third clan

Gammas, also known as Aathi. This clan has three families: Barracudas, Sombas and Anciemanes

Fourth clan

The Ancients. This clan is extinct;all known members are purported to be dead.

My name is Zodiac. I am a mane of the clan of Gamma, the family of Anciemane. I am a half cast; my mother is an Ancient and my father a Barracuda. I was born 24 seasons ago. I am of the pure race of Mitog. I was initiated to the chambers of the seniors when i was 20 seasons old.

When I was 21 seasons old, there arose a civil war; so they called it. Personally I name it genocide. Many members of my family were killed in cold blood. My blood mother was executed right infront of me at the chambers of the rulers. My father( who was the senior ruler at the time) named it an injustice. However, the vote of favour was not on his side. So he gathered a team of loyalists and declared a war on the family of Siastas of the clan of Rimus ( who were openly behind these misdoings). It only occured to us later that the actions of my father pleased few. This meant one thing: War!

My father thought he would have total support of our clan members but as it later came to light no one was on our side. The war was great; that is how I can recall it. I killed some few hundreds but thousands were coming. We had been betrayed, right inside our house.

We the Manes stick to fight even when master death is staring. The truth however, is always bitter. ' Thou a mane shan't fight whilst in servitude of Master death'. This meant that we had to live to fight another dawn. In the nights, my father arranged an escape. We were outnumbered and poorly equipped, so yes retreating was the best strategy at the moment. The Muis family stood with us despite the fact that they were going against their own brothers. The Sombas, who were supposed to be our blood supported our enemies. The Alphas are always unpredictable; no one knows where the loyalty of these shitheads lies. We however, got 25 percent of them.

At night we fled. My father knew, or so he claimed, a way out of Mitog into the Land of the humans. In total, sixteen thousand five hundred and fifty- four manes left. At that time we were so focused on survival that we did not realize that the deal was too good. We had rats amongst us and they led us into mayhem. My father could not save us since we were caught off- guard. We did escape The Mitog but only six hundred and six of us made it into The land of humans.

My father believed; there we could lay low, recuperate before planning on vengeance. I now can tell you my father's idea of laying low was bullshit. In fact it was an immature illusion. It was the dumbest idea he came up with at our point of need.

We only rushed from one murder environment just to rest into another. I can tell you for free that the moment the humans laid their eyes on us, they saw threats. Before we could even negotiate our terms of stay, there were armies up on our asses. We had to retreat into the wild and comprehend the type of mix we had blended ourselves into.

The humans we knew from Mitog, were not this hostile. They were miserable slaves of their own emotions. They could get killed empathising with a goner. They were so compassionate; in fact they had these certain fluids that flowed out of their eyes at their point of breaking down. Their emotions were their main weakness. To us Manes, killing is an aspect of control; to humans, every life is worthy however, miserable it is. Each life is a liability, if it reaches a verge of demanding more it should be relieved existence. Humans view life as the most valuable thing, or so we thought. Well i guess that is what blindsided us. We hoped that we would fall into arms of compassionate beings. Little did we know that compassion has a price.

We had to retreat and plan our next phase of defense. Well the best defense is offence.

I can tell you for free a weak mane is a strong human. An average Mane can run twice the fastest human. As i mentioned earlier, humans value every life. Such a distaste; in fact, an unnecessary principle that can get everyone killed. However, they were lucky, we were not looking forward to start another war after leaving another one. All we wanted was negotiation. So we took in our possession four human warriors. That was enough to send a message. We now had hostages, that meant power and an upper hand during negotiation.

******

"That is too risky Ann, we need to find a way, save our men without getting them killed. No one knows what these goddamn creatures are. I for one thought that they did not think but they are smart asses."

" Every thing that has breath thinks captain. Maybe all these creatures want is not war..."

" Get to your point..."

" If intention was war captain they would have just killed the east wing. The rainbow said that the East had gone Elvis so our wing was compromised."

" No shit! They are watching us..."

"How else can you explain China losing this fucking war"

" Then what the hell do they want? Am not losing another goddamn man!"

" Then open a goddamn negotiation captain!"

" How the hell do i get to them without getting my jackass killed?"

" Stand down, call off your men, they will find us!"

" No way am letting my guard down. Screw you Ann..."

" Then you will get us killed! If you think we are fighting this war to win then you haven't been paying attention...look aye captain, we will die both ways, with or without a fight."

" Then i better die a man."

" Screw you Hook you're a man with a healthy dick. Am gonna go out now and you better get your shit together because if not, am calling in a fucking vote!"

Captain Ann stormed out of Hook's tent angrily. This mission was heading south and the Commander was just being a catalyst. They had been sent by the world to win this war. If there was a way to negotiate it out then it was the best strategy. After all only god knew what kind of creatures they were fighting. They were literally ghosts.

When Congo cried out to the world that there were aliens that had appeared out of the blue, everyone freaked out. It became a serious alarm when Congolese army got wiped off like dust. No one knew what these creatures were. No one had managed to kill even one. Survivors said that they moved like the wind, roared like tigers, fought like vampires and disappeared like ghosts.

Anne was right, there was no need for a fight if there was an easy way out.