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Aria, standing nearby and cradling her arm, asks, “So, what do we do now?” She turns to me, and with dawning horror, I realize they’re all looking at me expectantly. Shit. Like I know what to do or something. Like I’m their leader or something.
Insecurity settles in my stomach like a lead weight. I don’t know how to be a leader. I’m just a chubby administrative employee for a charity, not a leader. But these women, my friends, are all looking at me so hopefully and I don’t want to disappoint them.
I clear my throat and try to make my voice sound confident, but on the inside, I’m a mess of self-doubt. “Food, water, and shelter are most important right now.” I nod to the room we’re in. “We have shelter, even if it’s not in the best shape. That leaves food and water. I think we should search the ship to see if we can find anything useful.” I gesture at the cabinets along one wall of the medic bay and to the open door that leads back into the cargo bay.
I’m honestly just making things up as I go and saying whatever makes the most sense to me, but it must be a decent plan because no one disagrees with it.
Crystal smirks and claps her hands. “You heard the lady. Let’s get moving.”
Rose agrees to stay behind and keep an eye on Emily with Zoe staying with her while the rest of us get busy foraging through the two rooms in search of anything we can find that might help us.
When I enter the cargo bay, I reluctantly glance over to where the bloody body of the Sub-Captain should be, only to see a large puddle of congealing gray goop. Well, that’s one less problem to worry about, I guess. I didn’t really relish the thought of sharing quarters with the dead body of someone I killed, even if they did abduct me.
We spend the next hour searching the ship high and low.
When the search is finished, we meet back in the medic bay with our finds. We pile our meager rations in the center of the medic bay and my stomach clenches with how small the pile is. It is a depressing reminder that the odds are stacked against us.
We found a container of the thin porridge, the fishy protein bars, a lot more of the spandex bandages, a large cannister of clear gel, a metal box of tiny black discs that I think may be the translators that were inserted inside us, and that’s it. Not a very impressive haul.
I pick up the large cannister of clear gel and open it. It has a harsh medicinal smell that makes my eyes water.
When the others hesitate, I decide to go first and apply a small amount on the wound on my forehead. There is an immediate warming sensation as soon as it touches my skin followed by a tingling that spreads through my head. The sharp headache and dizziness I had been fighting against fades away to a dull throb and I look down at the gel in shock. The others quickly follow suit and dab the gel on their wounds.
After applying some of the gel to Aria’s arm, Mara and Crystal use bandages to fashion a sling to hold her arm steady. She’s been a real trooper, not complaining at all, even though I know she’s in pain.
We also discovered a sink in the medic bay that emits a thin, minuscule trickle of water, which is fortunate since most of the sinks in the bathrooms in our cells have stopped working. Isabella thinks the water probably comes from a holding tank somewhere on the ship. We don’t how much water is in the tank, but for now, I’m grateful for it.
But it won’t last forever, and we’ll have to find more water sooner rather later. Having a reliable source of water is the biggest problem we need to address.
That means we’re going to have to venture outside to the planet we’ve crashed onto, and that is something I’m not looking forward to. No one could ever accuse me of being adventurous. No thank you, I like my air conditioned and my bathrooms inside. Unfortunately, I have a feeling I’m not going to find any air conditioners or normal bathrooms anytime soon.
“Well, it could be worse.” Aria states, her voice still bright despite the circumstances.
Crystal arches a well-manicured brow at her in disbelief. “How exactly?”
“We could have found nothing and crashed on a planet without oxygen.” Aria shrugs, then hisses in pain at the movement.
It’s only once Aria mentions it that I realize the air pouring in through the many cracks in the ship’s walls is fresh with a heady aroma that smells like room spray from a high-priced boutique. I take a deep breath, filling my lungs, and it almost feels as if I can breathe easier here than on Earth.
At least, we don’t have to worry about suffocating to death. I turn my attention back to the minuscule amount of supplies we have to survive on and try to quickly calculate how long the food will last before we’re forced to venture out to find more.
A loud, distant noise that sounds almost like a roar brings my thoughts to a grinding halt.
“Crap on a cracker, what was that?” Jayden whispers, her brown eyes rounded in shock.
“The part where it gets worse,” Crystal answers, her voice flat with resignation.
Someone shushes her as we all listen, tension crackling through us as we wait for more roars. But nothing happens and everything is so quiet and still we could hear a mouse fart. You know, if there are any mice on this planet.
“Maybe it was the wind or something.” Rose shoots a look at me before nodding towards Zoe who is clinging to her arm with her eyes wide with fright.
“Yeah, it was totally the wind. Nothing to worry about.” I say, a false thread of cheer in my voice.
We all exchange looks, and a couple of the other girls speak up, agreeing with me, and both Zoe and Jayden visibly relax. My heart aches for them. I’m an adult, and I’ve had a hard enough time dealing with everything that’s happened. We all feel protective towards the two youngest members of our group. They’ve become like our little sisters.
And who knows, maybe the wind on this planet sounds like it could be at home in Jurassic Park. Maybe that’s just how it sounds. And maybe I’ll wake up in my bed and this will all have been a dream. A very weird, realistic dream. Yeah, I’m not going to hold my breath on that.
“So, what are we going to do, now?” Maddie changes the subject and speaks up from where she’s sitting on the floor leaning against the base of the scanner.
