MidReal Story
Rebel Tribes: Betrayal in Alien-ruled World
Scenario: 500 years into the future after an alien invasion, several human slaves break away from their alien overseers and form rival tribes whose goal is to survive by any means necessary while still on the run from their alien masters.
Create my version of this story
I pulled my long black hair over my shoulder and tied it into a tight braid.
The ruins of an ancient city loomed in the distance, a reminder of what once was.
A city so vibrant, so alive, now reduced to a desolate wasteland.
It had been 500 years since the aliens conquered our planet, but the buildings they left behind still stood tall, their concrete shells a testament to human ingenuity.
Or so I’d heard.
I’d never known the world before the invasion, only the one that existed after.
The one in which humanity had been enslaved by the alien overseers.
I turned away from the city and surveyed the forest that stretched out around me, the trees blocking out most of the sun.
The city wasn’t far; we could make it there by nightfall.
But I didn’t want to spend another night under the trees.
Not with winter fast approaching.
“We’ll walk for two more hours,” I told my tribe.
We were far enough from the aliens’ base that we could talk without fear of them hearing us, but I didn’t want to risk it.
I might be their slave, but that wouldn’t stop them from killing me if they found me out in the woods.
My tribe stood and followed me as I started walking again.
We’d been on this planet for five years, but it still felt unnatural to move through forests and mountains and not see any other life.
No birds in the sky, no animals on the ground.
All wiped out by our alien overlords.
Or maybe they’d just gone into hiding.
For all I knew, there were thousands of creatures watching us right now, hidden just out of sight.
Waiting for us to let our guard down.
The trees began to thin as we got closer to the city, and we picked up our pace.
We moved silently through the forest, our eyes and ears alert for any sign of danger.
But there were no dangers in the forest.
Not really, anyway.
We were the danger, and everything else knew to stay away from us.
We emerged from the trees and stopped at the edge of the city.
“Stay low,” I said, leading my tribe into the city’s ruins.
The buildings here had crumbled long ago, their twisted remains barely resembling the structures they used to be.
Nature had taken over, green vines snaking up the sides of buildings and through the cracks in the pavement.
The city was dead, but it was still beautiful in its own way.
It held a certain majesty that could never be truly destroyed, no matter how much time passed or how many aliens tried to conquer it.
“Remember,” I said as I led my tribe through the rubble-strewn streets, “no matter what happens, we fight.”
“We always fight,” Jake said, falling into step beside me.
“We’re rebels, after all.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, grateful for his unwavering support.
We reached what looked like the entrance to an underground bunker, a relic of the human civilization that existed before the aliens invaded our planet.
A heavy steel door stood in front of us, partially obscured by overgrown vegetation.
The word “WARNING” was barely legible on the door, a hint of secrets long forgotten hidden beneath layers of dirt and grime.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I examined the door, a chill racing down my spine for reasons I couldn’t explain.
The city itself was quiet, but there was something about this door that set my teeth on edge, a sense of foreboding that I couldn’t shake.
“Let’s go,” I said, taking a step forward and placing my hand on the handle of the door.
“Wait,” Jake said, grabbing my arm and pulling me back.
He knelt in front of the door, his deep blue eyes scanning the surface before landing on the keypad in the upper corner of the frame.
I nodded at him, giving him permission to do what he did best: hack into the system and get us inside.
He pulled a small device from his pocket and plugged it into the keypad, his fingers moving quickly over the keys as he worked his magic.
We’d been traveling for a week to get to this bunker, and we’d all grown anxious to see what was inside.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt like we were being watched, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.
I turned around, scanning the empty city behind us.
There was no one there, and yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone—or something—was watching us.
I shivered, the memory of our escape still fresh in my mind.
We’d been on the run for months—me, Jake, Sam, Ella, and another girl named Tessa—but no matter how far we ran, the aliens always found us.
They were relentless in their pursuit, their iron fists ready to crush us at a moment’s notice.
We’d lost Tessa along the way, but we’d never lost hope.
We were rebels, and rebels never stopped fighting.
I heard a soft beep and turned back to see Jake standing up, a triumphant smile on his face.
“We’re in,” he said.
I took a deep breath and pulled my knife from its sheath on my belt.
“Let’s go see what we’ve been fighting for.”
The door hissed open as Jake punched in the security code, and we cautiously stepped into the bunker.
Our footsteps echoed off the walls, and I couldn’t help but feel like we were being watched.
The air was stale down here, a stark contrast to the alien-infused atmosphere above ground, and I took a deep breath, trying not to gag on the dust.
Jake led the way with a flickering flashlight, its dim light barely illuminating the corridor in front of us.
He moved quickly, his footsteps sure and steady as he navigated through the darkness.
Sam and Ella followed close behind me, their footsteps silent as they moved across the concrete floor.
They’d been members of our tribe for years now, ever since we’d broken away from our alien overseers to form our own little family.
We knew each other better than we knew ourselves, and we could communicate without saying a word.
Sam stepped on something hard and metallic, making me jump.
I glared at him over my shoulder, and he gave me an apologetic shrug.
I turned back around, trying to keep up with Jake as he led us deeper into the facility.
As we moved through the dimly lit corridors, I couldn’t help but feel like this bunker was different from all the others we’d explored.
Most of the bunkers we’d been in had been stripped of anything useful, their technology long gone.
But this one was different.
The technology here was old—older than any technology I’d ever seen—but it was still there, still functioning.
I felt a glimmer of hope start to form in my chest, but I quickly pushed it away.
I’d learned long ago not to get my hopes up, that this world was too cruel for dreams.
But what if this was it?
What if this was what we’d been looking for?
What if this was what we needed to finally win this war?
I shook my head, trying to push away my doubts.
There would be time for that later.
For now, we needed to see what was inside this bunker.
Jake stopped suddenly, and we all came to a halt behind him.
I heard his breath catch in his throat, but he quickly recovered, his hand tightening around the flashlight as he lifted it higher, trying to illuminate whatever it was that he’d seen.
“What is it?”
I asked, my hand tightening around my knife as I prepared for an attack.
I could hear Sam and Ella shifting behind me, but they stayed silent, waiting for Jake’s response.
He didn’t say anything at first, his eyes scanning the corridor in front of us until they landed on a small metal box attached to the wall.
I heard him curse under his breath as he reached out a hand, his fingers hovering over a small button on the side of the box.
And then he pressed it, and everything went dark.
I stumbled back as Jake’s flashlight flickered out, plunging us into complete darkness.
The walls around us rumbled once more, and then a bright light appeared at the end of the corridor, illuminating a set of double doors that hadn’t been there before.
My heart dropped into my stomach as a voice boomed over unseen speakers, speaking words in a language that hadn’t been spoken in centuries.
I didn’t recognize the voice, but I could tell that it was female, and I could feel the power in her words as they echoed down the corridor toward us.
Ava Thompson, I presume?”
It was then that I realized we weren’t alone in this bunker, and I stepped forward, my knife at the ready as I scanned the corridor for any sign of movement.
But there was nothing, nothing but empty walls and a set of double doors that hadn’t been there before.
And as I looked at those doors, I could feel a pit forming in my stomach, a sense of foreboding that made my blood run cold.
There was something dangerous behind those doors, and I didn’t know if we were ready to face it.
But we didn’t have a choice.
The voice that had welcomed us inside this bunker had gone silent, and there was no turning back now.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward, my footfalls muffled by the thick carpet as I moved toward the doors.
The doors hissed open in front of me, revealing a long corridor that seemed to stretch on forever.
It was completely dark inside the room beyond, and I could barely make out anything more than the outlines of the walls and another set of double doors at the end of the hallway.
My heart pounded in my chest as I stepped forward once more, my knife at the ready as I moved cautiously through the corridor toward whatever it was that awaited us on the other side of those doors.
We had no idea what we would find in this bunker, but I knew one thing for sure: it wouldn’t be good.
Nothing this good had ever come without a price in our world, not since the aliens had come and destroyed everything we’d ever known.
I turned back to look at my tribe, at Jake and Ella and Sam, and my heart ached as I watched their expressions shift from fear to hope.
They knew as well as I did what we were up against, but they didn’t care.
Nothing else mattered to them in that moment, not when there was a chance that there might be supplies inside this bunker, or anything we could use to fight back against the aliens that had enslaved us for so long.
I knew my words were useless, but I said them anyway, just in case they were listening.
We won’t be staying here long,” I said, my voice firm as I looked each of them in the eye in turn, making sure they understood what I was saying.
“We’re not going to make the same mistakes our ancestors did, do you understand?
We’re just going to look for supplies and then we’re going to leave.”
A flicker of doubt crossed their faces, but it was quickly replaced by determination as they nodded their heads, each of them clutching their weapons a little tighter than before.
They knew the stakes, knew what they were up against, but they didn’t care.
