Mistaken

A few years ago, there was an invasion. Hordes of tall, grey aliens with tusks arrived in spaceships the size of cities. Before the news channels went dark, humans named the creatures orcs. The human armies fought and failed. War crimes were committed on both sides. Eventually, when food supplies failed, society collapsed and the government was overthrown. Humans turned on each other. Nowhere was safe. The orcs rounded up the survivors and locked them away in refugee camps. In the fullness of time, some women had little grey babies. In a field that had been repurposed as a prison, Kari watched a screaming, cursing woman give birth to Max. Afterwards, the woman shakily got to her feet and left him there to die - alone and unwanted. Even if he was only half human, and Kari was living as a conquered species in one of the many refugee camps on Earth, none of that was his fault. He was just a baby. She couldn't bring herself to leave him there. So she adopted him. Max wasn't the only grey child in the place. Kari and the others raising grey children had formed their own family group, which was eventually noticed. Suddenly, they were assigned orc fathers and taken from the camp where they had been living. This asshole may be the official father, but, as far as Kari is concerned, if he thinks that means he's part of their family, he is mistaken. One way or another, Kari has to figure out how to make this work. Her son needs her to keep him safe. When part of her extended family is brought to her new home, she has a couple of allies. Kari slowly starts to understand that maybe the orcs aren't as monstrous as they seem. She will have to face her past and come to terms with her new reality before she can face her future.

My name is Wilhemina Jensen. I am one of the few people who survived when aliens first made contact. "You cannot live on the food we have for you. That leaves me three choices: Let you continue to starve, slowly dying. Or put you out of your misery, and save the resources of feeding you for someone who has a chance to live." The orc gave me a long, calculating look before he continued, "Or I can find you someone who is willing to spend his personal resources to care for a defective human." It wasn't the invasion that made society fall, we did that all on our own. People panicked. The food supply chains broke down. We started fighting each other for the last loaf of bread or bag of flour. That was before I ever saw one of the orc-shaped aliens. One day at a time, concentrate on getting through today, worry about tomorrow if you got there. Be safe, be smart, be invisible. Take care of each other. And don't forget to feed the cat. I managed to hide for more than a year before they found me. I ended up living in a tent city set up in a school yard that felt like a human zoo for months when one of the orcs pulled me out of the food line. He and his friends fed me the first real meal I'd had in ages before sending me back to my tent. I wasn't trying to attract attention, but the next thing I know, I'm getting special treatment. When I asked why, I didn't like the vague answer I got about Romeo, Tybalt, Mac, and Iago deciding to keep me. I don't know what they're up to, and it's hard to trust monsters at the end of the world.