AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Borraq didn't so much as glance his way, deftly unpacking supplies with an economy of movement.
Elian swallowed thickly, undeterred. "What's your name?"
Silence stretched between them, thick and oppressive, broken only by the ambient sounds of the alien wilderness. Elian's cheeks burned with a mixture of embarrassment and loneliness so acute it hollowed out his chest.
Still, the words tumbled from his lips, a torrent he couldn't contain. "Okay, well… I... I don't know where I am. My ship crashed, and everyone else..." His voice cracked, eyes stinging with unshed tears. "They're all gone. I'm the only one left."
Elian drew a shuddering breath, hugging his knees to his chest as the weight of his solitude threatened to crush him. "I don't even know why my ship crashed. Or if anyone's looking for me." A bitter laugh escaped him. "Hell, I don't know if anyone will notice the ship went down… It was supposed to go dark, it wasn't meant to make contact with home base for years."
Elian faltered. The woods seemed to press in around him.
"I'm just… alone out here," he confessed in a small voice. "And scared."
The admission hung heavy in the silence. Then, just as Elian's fragile hope began to wither, the Borraq spoke in a deep, rumbling baritone.
"Rael."
Elian started, eyes widening. The name was uttered simply, without preamble or inflection, yet it unlocked something in Elian's chest.
A tiny spark of possibility amidst the overwhelming darkness.
A tremulous smile tugged at the corners of Elian's mouth as he met Rael's inscrutable gaze. "It's nice to meet you, Rael. Or, uh, I wish it was."
Rael didn't seem eager to continue talking. He turned back to his work, but that was okay.
Elian had never expected to be in the middle of the woods at night, watching an alien set up a tent.
The sight was surreal. Rael moved with a lithe, powerful grace, every movement efficient and purposeful. He started a fire, arranging branches according to qualities that Elian couldn't even begin to recognise. Satisfied, Rael moved on, preparing his rations for the night.
It was like watching a nature documentary, if the host of the documentary happened to be a seven-foot-tall alien with muscles that could crack rocks.
Elian sat still, watching him. Despite the heat of the fire, a shiver ran down his spine. He was still in the clutches of an alien, out in the middle of nowhere, with no one to hear him scream for help.
But there was something else, too. Curiosity, he realized. He was seeing something incredible. This was an alien, right in front of him, doing… Well, doing something.
Surviving, just like humans did. Despite the gulf of difference between them, there was something universal about the need for shelter, the way that all creatures sought out a safe place to rest.
That universal similarity was a little comforting. It was something that Elian could understand, something that made the world — no, the universe — a little bit less unknowable.
Then, Rael's gaze pierced him. "It's time to eat."
Those four simple words made Elian's blood turn to ice. Memories assaulted him, a greatest hits compilation of every ghastly tale whispered about the Borraq in hushed tones.
They were cannibals, insatiable in their hunger for flesh — human flesh. They gorged on the raw, still-twitching bodies of their victims, relishing in the screams as teeth tore through soft, vulnerable skin. Everyone seemed to know someone who knew someone who'd heard someone else say that they'd seen it on the battlefield.
Some said the Borraq delighted in the suffering, keeping humans alive and conscious for as long as possible to prolong their agony…
Elian's skin crawled. Were the tales just wartime propaganda, twisted fictions designed to demonize the enemy? Or did they hold a horrifying kernel of truth, a glimpse into the brutality the Borraq were capable of?
His gaze skittered to Rael, lingering on the alien's powerful physique. Those broad shoulders and corded muscles could easily overpower Elian's comparatively slender human form. His throat constricted with terror as he imagined himself trapped in that vise-like grip, helpless against Rael's strength.
Then, with agonizing slowness, Rael began to move towards Elian.
Elian's heart hammered in his chest. "P-please," he stammered, his voice cracking with fear. "Don't kill me. I'll do whatever you want, just please don't kill me."
Rael paused. He regarded Elian for a moment, the fire casting his features into sharp relief. Despite the play of light and shadow across his face, his expression was inscrutable. "Why would I kill you?" he asked.
"Y-you said it was time to eat," Elian said, his words tumbling over each other in his haste to explain. "And e-everyone knows what Borraq do to the humans that they catch—"
