Arrival, page 5
part #1 of Captured Earth Series
They are thinner than human lips and there is a set of ridges running down his chin to disappear down his strange black suit.
I should be more terrified, but I feel my fear ebbing as each moment passes.
Still, I keep my arm up, the branch I found pointed in the alien’s direction.
It is the only thing that seems to be keeping him at bay. Though, deep down, I know this is not true.
He isn’t coming closer for some other reason.
I’ll take that as a win for now for he looks like he could snap me in two with one hand.
It feels like I’ve fallen from one bad situation right into another, but at least he isn’t attacking.
He’s not doing…anything.
Maybe I have seen too much horror over the last few months.
This should scare me more than it is.
My back is against tree bark. There’s nowhere for me to go.
I hadn’t expected him to find me so quickly. I’d thought he’d head farther into the trees and then I could run in the opposite direction.
Obviously, that plan hadn’t worked. He’d come directly toward my location as soon as he’d entered the trees.
As if he knew I was there.
That thought unnerves me but at least he remains frozen and a safe distance away.
He speaks every now and then to the other one.
Strange sounds. A combination of clicks, whistles, and hums.
Sometimes, there is a deeper sound that vibrates the air around them and when that sound occurs, both aliens look in my direction as if they are talking about me.
His friend has come into view now and I’m greeted with piercing burgundy eyes.
That’s the only thing that separates them visually. If not looking into their eyes, I would think they are clones.
Lava Eyes says something and my gaze shoots back to him.
He is speaking to me, I think.
He’s looking right at me, at least.
Good God…his eyes are intimidating.
It’s like staring into a fire that will engulf me if I get too close.
He says something again—a click followed by a thrum—but, of course, I cannot understand him.
He takes a step closer and I inhale sharply, my eyes darting to his friend then back.
A sharp click leaves his lips then and his friend responds with one of his own.
And then the friend is leaving.
I am alone with Lava Eyes.
I do not move.
I do not know how long I wait.
Hours maybe.
I only know a lot of time has passed when nighttime rolls in and the sky grows dark.
The alien moved from my view some time ago.
But he’s still out there.
Waiting.
Every now and then I hear twigs snap and I’m aware he hasn’t gone far.
What is he waiting for?
Surely, I can’t be that interesting.
I turn my gaze to the sky, watching the darkness swallow it, and I wait too.
It’s my only chance of sneaking out undetected.
Maybe the alien will fall asleep. Maybe he will get bored and leave.
I do not know.
But what’s worse, I do not know what he wants.
The giant walking orb was hostile. That had been clear from the very first moment when it landed.
I still remember the moment I realized that a catastrophe was beginning—when my body had been bathed in the blood of someone who’d been alive right beside me just moments before.
As I turn things over in my mind, I cannot ignore the fact that there’s a strong possibility the orbs and these beings are related.
Were they the ones controlling the orbs or are they fighting against them?
They destroyed one.
But why?
Who are they?
The chances of Earth being invaded by two separate species of alien in such a short time is highly unlikely.
That only brings me back to my previous conclusion.
The two are related somehow and I’ve seen enough shit in the past few months to just throw caution to the wind.
I know it’s a miracle I’m still alive.
I’m not about to throw that away.
And Sam…Mina…
I gulp hard and readjust myself against the tree trunk.
Everywhere aches and my stomach is empty.
My arm lies limp at my side and my wrist is throbbing.
I feel battered and bruised. The only thing I want to do is take a moment to rest.
To breathe.
But every cell in my body is still on high alert.
I’m not safe.
Not yet.
No more sounds have come from the lakeside since I heard that scream.
I wonder if Sam and Mina are still alive.
For one brief moment, I squeeze my eyes shut and think.
I can do this. I’ll get out of this somehow.
The stars are beginning to appear when I realize it has been some time since I heard any sound outside my hiding spot.
Maybe the alien has finally left.
I sure as hell hope so.
I need to head back to the lake, check on Sam and Mina.
I have to at least know if they are alive and maybe we have a chance of making it out of here together.
I can’t just leave. I have to check on them.
But I have to wait a little longer.
The darkness is my only ally.
Minutes tick by and it soon becomes so dark I can’t see my hand before my face.
Only starlight guides me as I ease forward, my ears perked for any sound.
I haven’t heard a twig snap in ages and though I assume the alien finally left, I’m not sure that’s the case.
For all I know, he’s out there close by.
Watching.
Waiting.
I lean out of the tree, gritting my teeth at the pain that ricochets up my back.
I have some pretty bad bruises. Healing is going to take a long, long time.
I wince, the pain causing me to hiss, and then I freeze, cursing myself for making any noise at all.
But there is no other sound.
Nothing, not even a slight breeze moves in the trees.
Gathering some courage, I squeeze the rest of the way out of the tree and pause, cocking my head as I listen.
Still nothing.
Twigs snap under my bare feet as I head in the direction I think the lake is.
A part of me prays the aliens have left and somehow Sam and Mina are still alive, but even as I think this, I know the thoughts are like those of a juvenile.
The world doesn’t work that way. It never did. And especially now, this world doesn’t work that way.
I break into a limping sort of jog, fighting the pain echoing across my entire body and the tears that spring in my eyes as a result.
I’m making progress and my courage begins to build when the darkness to my left moves.
My breath hitches in my throat.
There’s only a single second before something crashes into me.
Pain shoots through me but I am dimly aware of it. All I can feel is that I’m being encased by something, someone, much bigger, much stronger than I am.
A terrified glance behind me and molten lava eyes meet mine. I can’t breathe, choking on air, choking on the scream trying to barrel through my chest.
I’m in his arms somehow, his chest against my back. He holds me in place without much effort.
“No!” Oh God, please no!
I kick back against him, slamming my heels and my elbows back, but it’s like hitting against a wall.
It is clear I am having no effect on the beast that has me in its grasp.
My life flashes before my eyes.
I don’t want to be captured again.
I don’t want to be a pawn for another race once more.
Thoughts of my time within the orb, waiting for the day I’d be bred, the day I’d die, those thoughts flash across my mind.
Since the aliens landed, I’ve never been free.
“Please,” I beg, a sob tightening my throat. “Please, just let me go!”
The alien grunts and it feels like his arms tighten around me even more.
I can’t imagine what he wants to do to me.
But even as I struggle, I realize something.
He’s not…manhandling me.
As a matter of fact, his arms are simply like a cage. He isn’t moving.
I’m so terrified, my heart thumps so hard I swear I can hear it.
I can’t think straight but fighting against the alien’s strong grip isn’t working. I’m like a fly caught in a web, weak and overpowered, just waiting for the predator to devour me.
There’s a click above my head as the alien speaks, and then he does something else.
I can only describe it as a vibration that starts in his chest. It runs up my back as the alien lifts one hand from my waist and grasps my neck.
My head is forced back against him and as he leans down, it feels like I am being attacked by darkness itself.
He melds into the shadows as if he is a part of them.
His face is covered again but nothing can shield those eyes.
I grit my teeth, struggling to break free as I stare up into my end and the red-eyed demon holds my gaze.
I grasp the hand holding my neck and it’s almost as if I can feel his skin—no, his suit—writhe under my touch.
I lift my foot and kick backward. If he has nuts, I surely just made them retract into his body but this motherfucker is tough.
He doesn’t flinch.
I don’t even see any indication in his gaze that I managed to hurt him.
Reality is slowly sinking in as the seconds tick by, and I have to face it.
He’s bigger.
Stronger.
Before all this happened, before Earth was captured, I wouldn’t have stood much of a chance against him.
I sure as hell don’t stand a chance against him now in my condition.
Muscles flex against me as the alien adjusts his grasp and that deep vibration of his continues as he lowers his head to my neck.
I jerk and try to get away. I’ve seen his teeth.
It’s clear what they can do.
But the alien only holds me steady.
This vibration he’s emitting is interjected with clicks and the intensity increases as I lose the energy to fight back.
Outside of this situation, the sound he’s making would be almost…comforting. Calming.
I stiffen as my heart continues to hammer against my chest.
Is that what he is trying to do? Calm me?
The click-clicking and the thrumming purr don’t stop.
The alien continues to vibrate and I swear there is a strange sensation against my skin.
The throaty vibration seems to surround us even as the alien spins me to face him.
I’m suddenly lifted and a screech leaves my lips.
In one movement, he throws me over his shoulder in a sort of fireman hold and my front is crushed against the pure, hard muscle of his back.
I try to fight, slamming my lesser-damaged fist against him as I kick my legs.
But he’s moving now. Ignoring my pitiful attempts at freeing myself.
I choke on a sob before I roar at him—at the universe—at fucking everything!
But my actions have no effect.
Once again, I am helpless.
Chapter Nine
ADIRA
The alien clutches me as he heads through the trees.
If I lift my head, I can see where he’s going but that doesn’t help much.
I thought darkness was my ally.
I was wrong.
It’s his.
His suit melds seamlessly into the night. Even if I’d be fast and silent, I wouldn’t have spotted him before he caught me.
This had been his plan all along.
I shudder, my gaze flicking around through the darkness, as I try to think of a plan.
My senses are overloading and the more the seconds pass the more fear overcomes me.
I’m so terrified, my body is shaking and I cannot stop it.
The alien stops abruptly and I hear when he inhales. The intake of air sound loud in the stillness of the night.
I stop moving, desperately trying to prevent myself from shaking when the alien makes a sound that sends a new wave of terror down my spine.
It is a hiss, one like an alligator would make.
I know enough about animals to recognize it’s obviously a warning sound, though I don’t know what I’ve done to cause him to respond in such a way.
He has me at his mercy.
There’s not much I can do.
For what feels like painfully long seconds, the alien remains rooted in the spot.
His lack of motion doesn’t calm me in one bit.
“W—What do you want from me? From us?” I whisper.
There’s a lot of vibration in his chest and he clicks a few words.
I lift my head and squint. My eyesight isn’t the greatest but I don’t see any of his kind around.
He is talking to me.
Despite the hiss, his words don’t sound hostile, but I could be wrong.
I’m no good with languages. Especially, ones I’ve never heard before. Alien ones.
Abruptly, the alien starts walking again and we break through the tree line. Lifting my head, I strain as to look over his shoulder. He’s heading toward the water.
I can see it shimmer in the light of the moon.
Movement catches my eye and another surge of fear envelops me.
There’s more of his kind waiting there.
Like shadows in the night, I barely make out their shapes in the darkness as we pass them.
I count at least six and one thing is evident in the way the alien moves. He can see much better than I can in the dark.
From my position, I can’t make out much, but the others seem to be moving around.
There are a few thrums and clicks from the alien and some of the others respond.
He turns and my head flashes around as I try to get a sense of what he is doing.
I do not dare to speak, as if doing so will somehow alert the others to my presence.
I’m confused as to what’s happening when I’m suddenly moving again.
The alien hoists my body as if I weigh nothing and sets me down.
I scramble backward immediately, my eyes on the huge alien before me.
I don’t know where he’s set me down, I’m dimly aware of the hard dirt, pebbles, and twigs beneath me, but I don’t stop scrambling away till my back hits a tree and I can go no farther.
There’s a small fire here and…two bodies resting at the roots of the trees.
Human bodies.
“Sam!”
The word is barely out of my mouth before Sam darts a glance in my direction.
She’s lying on her belly but her gaze is on me. It’s obvious she’s been alert the whole time, watching us.
Watching him.
She doesn’t reply. Her gaze only flies back to Lava Eyes.
There’s tension in her shoulders and slowly, cautiously, she rises and moves over to me.
She grips my hand, her gaze still on the alien.
“Adira…” she whispers. “You’re alive.” She’s gripping my hand so hard, it disturbs the wounds already there. But I don’t push her away.
There is a bigger problem in our midst.
All through this, neither of us move our gaze from the alien before us.
He stands across the fire and light chases shadows across his face.
Those strange eyes of his move over us both before landing at where we’re gripping each other.
I don’t understand.
Sam is alive.
But the scream I heard…
“Is Mina…” I swallow hard.
“No,” Sam whispers. “She’s alive. She’s just… Her energy…”
Sam stops speaking but she doesn’t need to continue.
The parasite within her…that’s why Mina sleeps. She wouldn’t be asleep otherwise.
Our gazes remain locked on the alien and those pointed ears of his twitch a little.
He’s standing with his hands at his sides, but even without doing anything, he looks intimidating.
Firelight flicks over his chest, his torso…
With us on the ground, I can see he is more than a bit over six feet.
I’m thinking seven feet. Seven feet and a bit?
“What do you want?” The words come from my lips in a whisper but I know he hears. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t even blink, but those ears of his twitch again.
“What do you want?” I repeat, louder this time.
No response except for a sudden thrum that he begins in his chest.
I’ve worked with a lot of creatures, and to me that sound he’s making is almost like a cat’s purr.
Just…deeper and with a second low tone that I almost cannot hear because of how deep it is.
Why is he purring at me?
“Where did you come from?” I whisper.
At the sound of my voice a third time, the thrumming suddenly stops and the alien’s ears twitch again.
I don’t know how I’m able to pull my gaze away from him but I somehow do.
Sam’s gaze doesn’t falter though and as I look her over and then glance toward Mina, her eyes remain trained on him.
She’s a bit less dirty than before. I am too.
Almost drowning must have cleaned us a little.
“Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Has Mina…has she woken since…” My voice sounds so weak, I almost don’t recognize that it’s me that’s speaking.
“She’ll be…fine. It’s…like usual,” Sam whispers. “They revived us when they took us from the water.” Her hands tighten against mine as the other moves to her throat.
I assume they revived her the same strange way he revived me.
“Adira, I thought they’d killed you.” Sam sobs and my gaze darts back to the alien close by.
As she sobs and I reach for her, tears rising into my own eyes, I notice the alien’s ears are perked so much now, they are almost pointing in our direction.
