Emily was very tense. The darkness didn't allow her to see practically anything beyond a couple of steps away. It was a bit chilly, and there was a stale but tolerable smell of dirt, feces and food. Looking up, she could see the stars and the moon. A different moon from the one she was used to, which also had another one by its side. The largest one had a purplish hue and the smaller one was of a more reddish hue. Both were bigger than any moon Emily had ever seen in the night sky. She stared at them in wonder until some snoring and murmuring caught her attention.

Analyzing the situation, she thought she was in some sort of settlement even though she had never been in one before. She felt quite nervous, but to her surprise, she wasn't terrified as usual. Patiently, she lay on the straw, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Meanwhile, she watched the shooting stars. She had never seen any, but apparently, there were a lot of them there. All of them of a light blue hue. Emily thought it was a beautiful sight.

Despite the low temperature, she was not shivering with cold. A soft animal skin covered her, giving her a pleasant warmth despite smelling a little bad. In between, her body was still naked, so the contact with the straw was really uncomfortable. Some of the stems were bothering her excessively. After a few seconds she noticed that the pile of straw was directly on a layer of earth and small stones. Without barely moving her head, she also noticed that her pile of straw was not the only one.

"Shit! Did we all end up here? That means, so did they..." A knot in her stomach made her imagine how that disconcerting situation could get exponentially worse just by Beth and her filthy bitches being there.

As the minutes passed, the sky began to lighten. It was the first time she had seen a sunrise. She watched how the starry sky was gradually fading into a blue background. A dark blue that soon become more beautiful and lighter as time passed. She didn't see the sun, but she knew it wouldn't be long before it appeared and brought some warmth. A murmur began to become more and more audible. Emily kept pretending to sleep for as long as she could; and so she did, until a hoarse voice shouted.

"On your feet, you lazy bastards! It's about to dawn."

Some of her classmates, confused, woke up half naked and scared. Then, some humanoid began to hand out some sackcloth clothes to each of them, so that they could put something on. Emily poked her head out and held out her hand just as one of the individuals brushed past her. He gave it to her, trying to see if Emily showed any of her beautiful skin. Warily, Emily covered herself up even more. The humanoid threw two pieces of clothing at her, and whispered visibly annoyed.

"Do you think you just magically appeared on that bed? I have already seen you as you came into the world, you foolish human.”

Emily blushed deeply, imagining how that being and others had seen her naked and defenseless. A wave of impotence and fear ran through her body. She glared at the humanoid that was handing out the clothes while he laughed in complicity with his companions.

There were some students who protested demanding. "What joke is this supposed to be? Where are my clothes?" She recognized some of the demanding voices, Beth and Rebecca, accompanied by their stupid chorus.

Emily didn’t dare to uncover and see what was going on. She stayed under the animal skin, dressing herself in those clothes. She didn't even peek out when she heard a quick succession of heavy footsteps and screams that turned into sobs. Finally, after that, a succession of what she assumed were slaps. Emily froze, listening to their sobs. She had never heard them sob, yet she was sick of hearing herself do it. It seemed fair to her. Part of her wished that she could lean out and look them straight in the face. But she knew it would be a bad idea to see them right after such humiliation in front of everyone.

Rebecca was terribly vindictive. She'd shown it to her the first few years that Emily had confronted Beth when she had started bullying her. Beth had quickly teamed up with three other girls and the humiliations had multiplied by five. All of them conducted by fucking Rebecca. Emily gritted her teeth, remembering many of those bitter days. Days of having her clothes stained on purpose, painting her locker with a huge "Redcow" or telling lies about her, to everyone, leaving her as the ultimate shit.

Nina couldn't let her friend Beth get beat up. Nina wasn't very smart and rebuked the one who had just slapped them. "I'm going to report you to the police, you fucking son of a bitch." The humanoid approached her angrily, and punched her in the stomach. If Nina had had something in her stomach, she would have thrown it up. The blow was so strong that it left her unconscious for a few seconds.

"Stupid human!" Whispered one of the warriors surrounding them. Emily almost gasped at the sight. She had seen it uncovering just a little of the animal skin covering her, only to quickly cover herself again.

The humanoid that seemed to have hit several of them, raised its voice a lot, furious. "Put on your damn clothes! I'm sick of waiting!"

Before she fully pocked her head out, Emily thought the voice was too weird to be from a man's, but was too harsh to be from a woman's. When she finished dressing and saw her completely, she found her appearance fearsome.

The woman was much taller than Emily and very muscular. She had so much muscle that she looked almost like a man, except for her breasts. She was wearing tight skin clothes and pieces of what looked like wood. All tied together with thin ropes. Between her lips, fangs protruded from her lower jaw and her ears were pointed. Her hair seemed to be dirty and tied up in some kind of dreadlocks. She would look like an orc if it wasn't for the fact that her skin, was human. She was grotesque, but she still looked like a woman.

Emily looked around, realizing that it was a primitive settlement made of earth, stones and a wooden palisade that crowned the walls. She remembered many video games and stories where they recreated ancient settlements of this type, with great detail. She felt a sense of euphoria at actually being in a place like this; so ancient and precarious where the most advanced technology was a rope. For Emily it was an authentic place to live adventures with a newly created character. As if something imaginary became real. But it didn't last long. She understood that if she was there now, and that woman was real, something much more dangerous must be on the other side of the walls.

Surrounding all of the students, and close to the walls, there was a line of warriors standing guard. There were even more warriors on the wall, but they were looking outside. They were all visibly strong and wore armors made of skin, rope and pieces of wood just like the grotesque woman. There were so many warriors that they easily doubled their numbers. After a few seconds, spurred on by the muscular woman's screams, they were finally dressed up.

Emily counted them quickly. There were about twenty-eight students, of whom more than a quarter were from her class. All of them, including her, were visibly uncomfortable in clothes that didn't belong to them. Clothing made of very primitive sackcloth, rough and stiff. No underwear. One pair of pants for everyone and an extra piece of clothing for the girls; a kind of T-shirt made of the same fabric.

More than one began to scratch, complaining. "I think this is giving me an allergy."

The huge woman glared at him furiously and moved very close, raising her fist. "You can always go naked."

The boy was terrified, shielding himself with his hands. "No, please! I can handle it! I can handle it!"

The woman lowered her fist slowly as she smiled sadistically. "That's the way I like it, smart boy."

A voice raised above them, and all the students turned to look. Several individuals were walking towards them, calmly. One of them, was a male version of the woman who harassed them relentlessly. He was slightly slimmer than her, but still muscular. He must be a high rank, because no one was looking directly at his face, and everyone stood at attention

"My name is Tught and you are on Zurah, an insignificant place on a planet that is not your own, humans. However, that doesn't seemed to stop you from coming here." Several students murmured among themselves, but others shushed them. They wanted to listen.

Tught continued. "This settlement is our home and, in here, you will follow our rules. Anyone who wants to argue with this will be our dogs lunch. It's not negotiable." The man paused slightly, checking that everyone was watching him, then he revealed several scars covering his face. "I regret to inform you that there isn't enough food for everyone in this shelter. If you want to eat and sleep under our roof and protection, you will have to contribute. That isn’t negotiable either."