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“Peter? That’s a good name for him.” My mouth stretches into a gentle smile. “Zoe, we really need to go back inside so the birds can eat their lunch in peace.” At the little girl’s crestfallen face, I find myself adding, “We can come back and look for them tomorrow.” She is so young and as hard as this all has been on us, it’s probably doubly harder on her. If I can make her smile just a little by looking for the birds tomorrow, then I’m willing to do that.
“Promise?” Zoe looks up at me from where she’s crouched near the birds, her big blue eyes hopeful.
“I promise. Cross my heart.” I make an ‘x’ over my chest and return her smile, then hold out my hand for her to take.
Isabella steps through the opening and calls out to us, “There you guys are.” A beaming smile is plastered across her face as she excitedly waves us over. “Emily just woke up.”
“Really?!? That’s great.” I look down at the little girl. “Let’s go see Emily, okay? We’ll come back tomorrow to see the birds.”
Zoe bounces up from her position and grabs my hand. She skips alongside me as we walk the few yards back towards the vessel, humming a song under her breath.
I usher Zoe through the narrow opening with a sense of relief, but it’s tempered with a frisson of unease. There is still that niggling sense of being watched that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I pause and take one last look at the dense foliage and tall trees surrounding the clearing.
Something is definitely out there. I can practically feel its eyes on me, caressing me, leaving behind an odd trail of heat. My heart races and a shiver runs through me before I turn back towards the ship. Hopefully whatever is watching us is just curious and not dangerous. But knowing how shitty my luck has been lately, it’s probably some weird alien with a taste for dining on humans.
When we enter the medic bay, Emily is still lying in the scanner, but there’s a huge improvement from earlier. Her gray eyes are open and clear as she focuses on Mara.
“How are you feeling?” Mara asks her, as she leans over to check on Emily.
“Like shit.” Her voice is a soft whisper that is barely audible, but at least she’s finally awake and responding.
“Can you tell me your name? And where you are?” Mara asks.
“Emily Adams, and I guess I’m still on the spaceship.” She looks around at us.
I notice the deathly pale color of Emily’s skin has faded and her cheeks even have a slight pink hue to them. Wow, that med scanner works like magic.
Mara shoots her an apologetic look and responds, “Yeah, unfortunately you are. Wish you were home, right?”
“What happened to me?” Emily questions.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I remember waking up to lots of loud explosions and being tossed around, and that’s it. That wasn’t a dream, was it?” She asks, her eyes wide and questioning.
We fill her in on everything that’s happened. The crash, searching the ship for anything that could aid us, and the medic scanner.
None of us mention the loud roar or anything about returning to Earth. For the first few days, finding a way back home was all I thought about, but as each day passed and we travelled further and further away from our own galaxy, it became apparent that returning home was hopeless. And now that we’ve crashed, we’re probably stuck on this planet.
After a few minutes, Emily begins to tire and her eyelids droop low over her eyes. She releases a large yawn, then apologizes with a wobbly smile for interrupting Maddie’s recitation of how I ‘mopped the floor with that gray freak’.
I take charge and usher everyone away so Emily can get some rest, while Rose promises to sit nearby and keep an eye on her.
I walk over to the other side of the medic bay where the other girls have dragged the thin pads that served as mattresses on our cots. They’ve laid them out side by side along one wall. Since the medic bay is less damaged than the other room, we decided we would all sleep in here together.
I think we all feel a little safer staying close together, and safety is something that has been in short supply lately.
Chapter 9
Draggar
The sun has set and the sister moons of our planet are just visible over the lush treetops. They cast a blue glow over the land making the clearing in front of me ethereal and dream-like.
But this is not a dream. Unless, I have suddenly taken to dreaming of strange aliens from other worlds and one in particular who makes my chest pound and my blood sing through my veins. No, this is not a dream as there are no hunts or strong games.
I am still in awe that there are females on Laedirissae. It is a sight I never expected to see.
It has been many hours since the females went back inside their vessel, and I have not seen them again. I watched as the sun made its journey across the sky, my hopes high that I would get another glimpse of them – of the one female with thick brown hair that curled around her fabric clad shoulders – but none of the aliens ventured out again. I wonder if I see the alien again will I experience the same strong pull towards her.
