The Complete Alien Apocalypse Series (Parts I-IV Plus Bonus Novella): An Apocalyptic, Romantic, Science Fiction, Alien Invasion Adventure

by JC Andrijeski

  Exhaling, and shaking out her hands and arms, she tried to resign herself to the whole thing, to not make it a big deal.

  “Do you need me to hold it up?” she asked him.

  “No,” he said, his voice gruff.

  Hearing the change in his tone, Jet glanced up, in spite of herself.

  His eyes didn’t meet hers.

  Instead, he was staring down at where his long fingers gently gripped the fabric of her shirt. He got it up high enough to expose most of her side and part of her belly, bunching up the loose fabric in his hand. He seemed to hesitate then.

  When Jet looked up that time, Laksri’s eyes were on hers.

  A flicker of what might have been nerves crossed his expression, right before he pulled her closer.

  “I won’t,” he said, blunt. “I won’t. Even if you ask.”

  Jet blinked up at him, bewildered. “I thought you said you had to?”

  Laksri stared at her just as blankly.

  Then his expression cleared, his dark eyes sharpening.

  “Not sting,” he clarified. “Sting, I do. I must do.”

  “Then what are you talking about?” Jet said, still confused, and now a little annoyed, since his words briefly got her hopes up.

  “Sex,” the Nirreth said. “I mean I won’t do sex. Even if you want.”

  Jet smiled, her lips creeping up, before she could stop them.

  “I don’t think you need to worry about me asking,” she said. “No offense, Laks. I’m sure you’re handsome and all, as far as Nirreth go, but you’re not exactly my type––”

  “Shut up,” he said, his voice gruff.

  She did, but not so much for his words––more because the end of his tail brushed against the bare skin of her side. She jumped a little, looking down in reflex, then immediately felt her whole body tense.

  Laksri tensed, too.

  His fingers curled more tightly around her hip, gripping the bone and flesh, and he tugged her nearer in the same set of seconds, less gently that time. His other hand lifted her shirt higher, even as he pressed the end of his tail into her side.

  When she looked up at him, he was staring at her again, his eyes half-lidded.

  “You’re getting off on this a little too much, Laks,” she muttered.

  Just then, his body tensed more…

  …Right before his tail jerked against her.

  That time, it felt different.

  It still hurt. It hurt as much, if not more, than the last time. He’d done it so quickly in the hold of that culler ship, Jet didn’t have time to feel much of anything.

  This time, he pushed into her slow, his fingers gripping her hip and side harder as he did it.

  Maybe because she’d been expecting it to be worse, based on her half-baked memories of when she’d first been caught, or maybe because she’d been expecting it this time, it didn’t seem that bad. Not bad enough to struggle, anyway.

  She found herself gripping the Nirreth’s arms instead, watching his face as she winced against the pain.

  That time, the drug or poison or whatever it was released into her slowly.

  She watched Laksri’s eyes close as it did, even as his face tightened. She had time to think his features looked almost open in those few seconds at the end…

  …then the drug hit her system.

  Her limbs lost all of their resistance.

  When she looked up next, the Nirreth’s eyes appeared darker, the flecks of color lighter, more beautiful than before. He was looking at her again, and for a moment, she had the absurd thought that he might bite her.

  Not viciously, but more because of something unexpressed she could see in his eyes, as if he were holding back some intensity of feeling.

  Instead, he let go of her shirt, and raised a hand to her hair, stroking it as if she were a cat. By then, her side didn’t hurt at all, and she found herself leaning into his fingers, moving closer to where he stood.

  When she slid an arm around his waist, he stepped back, releasing both her hip and her hair. His disengagement confused Jet more than embarrassed her.

  Then it made her slightly sad.

  When she frowned up at him, she found him looking at her again, his eyes hard, but again holding more than she could really pin down.

  She felt strangely floaty, but surprisingly clear.

  Everything around her seemed much more clear, really. Everything seemed more real. Everything looked bright. She had a sudden desire to take off all of her clothes and lie on the green sofa, or maybe the eggshell smooth floor.

  “No.” Laksri shook his head, his voice firm. He took her arm, and strangely, she felt a sort of regret through the skin of his fingers.

  If he didn’t want to say no, Jet thought. Why would he?

  “No,” he repeated. “We go out.”

  “You’re hungry,” Jet remembered, as if through a thick pane of glass. “You want food. Right? Is that it? You need food.”

  He nodded, once, but she felt his relief.

  Pulling her towards him, he hesitated.

  She could almost feel him thinking that time.

  “You want to sting me again?” she said. Thinking about it, she caught hold of the fabric of her shirt, lifting it on the same side as before. “Okay.”

  Laksri stared down at her, his dark eyes blank.

  Then she felt his hands tighten.

  She felt him make up his mind, seemingly before he let himself think about it clearly, then his tail wrapped around her waist from the other side, holding her in place before he stung her again.

  That time, he let out a short gasp, his tail tightening around her until their bodies were nearly flush. He gasped again as he continued to let out the venom, and that time, Jet felt the same rush of warmth and release in her own body, as if through the middle of his chest.

  It was intense enough that she clutched at him with her fingers, leaning against him.

  He didn’t unwrap his tail right away, but when he started to, she grabbed hold of it, shaking her head.

  “Another,” she told him.

  That time, she felt a near-panic on him. He shook his head, even as a denser feeling rose from under that panic.

  “No,” he said.

  He started to uncoil his tail.

  Jet felt a swell of disappointment, strong enough that Laksri looked away, as if he felt it, too. It took Jet another few seconds to realize he’d stopped moving away from her.

  “Why not?” she said.

  She noticed that his tail remained around her waist as well, if more loosely than before. Laksri looked down at her, as if preparing to answer, and that time, the colored points in his eyes seemed to stand out in the deep black like stars, even miniature constellations.

  “One more,” she said, seeing the doubt that stood there.

  Her voice was cajoling.

  Laksri looked away, then his expression hardened.

  When he looked back that time, his tail once more coiled sharply around her waist. He gripped her tighter that time, his long fingers holding her shoulder in one hand, her rear in the other.

  It didn’t bother her. It didn’t even occur to her that maybe she should wonder about that, too. Instead, she found herself feeling what it was like inside his body, the different rhythm of his pulse against her fingers where she held his arms.

  Her other hand caressed the skin of his tail, then the leg below, exploring the definition of his muscles through his pants.

  “One more, I might do sex,” he said, his voice gruff. “Want it. Already I want.”

  He stared down at her, his tail tightening enough that she had her whole body against his, and even then could barely breathe.

  “…More than I thought,” he added after the pause. “More than before.”

  “You wanted sex with me before?” Jet found the idea bewildering, but not repugnant in any way. Not even undesirable really, which made her mind pause.

  “Yes,” he said, short, while she still thou
ght about this. “Yes, before. Since the ship.”

  Jet looked up at him, at a loss for words.

  “Would that be… bad?” she said finally.

  His tail tightened more, forcing a gasp out of her.

  “You will be angry,” he said, after she watched emotions war across his suddenly, vividly expressive eyes. She couldn’t remember seeing so much in them before, and had to assume that must be from the venom.

  Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to question it really.

  “Sting me again,” Jet suggested. “Then we can decide.”

  Laksri looked down at her, again his expression almost hesitant.

  Then his jaw hardened, right before he pressed his tail against her side again, seemingly harder than before. He shoved it up against her skin right before the barb went into her, and that time, Jet let out a little gasp, even as Laksri wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her tightly against him.

  He let out a low, rumbling sound in his chest, like the purr of a great cat, just as the venom in his tail started to let go.

  She had her arms wrapped around his waist by the time he finished, her fingers caressing his tail where it left the tailored hole in his pants. He gripped her tighter as she kept touching him, tighter still when her other hand slid under his shirt, caressing the smooth muscles and skin. From what she could tell, every part of him was muscle.

  The velvet skin moved over those hard slopes and planes like a silk covering.

  She didn’t remember them changing positions, but suddenly, Jet was aware of lying on her back on something hard and flat.

  She had a vague recollection of the Nirreth pushing or pulling her somewhere, putting his hand on the wall…

  Then being here, in this dimmer space, and now Laksri had no shirt.

  His upper body had an angular symmetry that threw her a bit.

  Hairless, of course, with no nipples, and ribs that seemed more vertical than horizontal. His shoulders were larger and more banded with muscle than they’d seemed even when he wore clothes. He pulled her against him, his tail wrapped around her, only this time, inside and under her shirt.

  “Again?” he asked her gruffly, raising his head from where he’d been sucking on her throat with his mouth and tongue. “Again?” he said, his voice cajoling as his fingers stroked her bare skin under the shirt.

  Jet’s breath was coming hard now, in strange, short pants, and she found her hands roaming to places on the Nirreth she’d never even explored on another human being.

  His hand slid inside her pants, gripping the back of her thigh in long fingers, even as he sucked more on her shoulder and throat. She felt desire coming off him in waves. Wanting him to feel more of it, she explored his body with her hands, feeling him react under her fingers.

  “Again?” he said, his voice more urgent, despite the murmur. “Again? Please?”

  Before Jet could answer, another voice broke the quiet, seemingly from right over where they tangled together on the mattress.

  “I think you’ve both had enough,” it said, booming over the small space. “Don’t you?”

  7

  Interrupted

  Jet looked up, dazed, her whole body tensing as she clutched protectively at Laksri’s arms.

  If she’d been remotely in her right mind, she would have known what to expect when she searched for the owner of that voice––or who, at the very least, given the wry humor, the near smirk mixed with a darker sort of warning.

  As it was, she could only blink in surprise at the image of Richter standing there, fully clothed, arms folded.

  A hard look lived in his coffee-colored eyes.

  “Laksri!” Richter commanded, his voice holding more of that edge. “Get up. Or I’ll shoot you with your own stunner. Like we talked about, incidentally.”

  He chuckled, but Jet still saw that hard, angry look in his eyes.

  “I figured I’d better check in on you two. Make sure you didn’t get too carried away for your first time. I guess it’s good I did.”

  Jet glanced at Laksri, who frowned, still obviously having trouble focusing his eyes.

  She saw him glance at her, right before his face tightened more.

  He said something to Richter in that gutteral Nirreth language, gripping Jet with his fingers and tail. His body remained heavy on hers, and it took Jet that long to realize her own hand was between them, caressing the front of his pants. Even as she thought it, Laksri pressed tighter against her, letting her know he didn’t mind as he gripped her possessively.

  “We talked about this, my blue-skinned friend,” Richter said, his voice warning as he cut Laksri off in mid-speech. “Laksri, I’m not kidding about the stunner. If you need to get laid that badly, we’ll find you someone in the slave pens. We’ll do this experiment another night. When you’re thinking with a different part of your body…”

  At Jet’s cry of protest, Richter only spoke louder, his gesture at her dismissive.

  “Plenty of girls down there who’d be more than happy to get you off, buddy… but not this one,” he said, emphasizing the word darkly.

  He pointed at Jet without looking her in the face.

  “We need this girl, Laks. You know it, as well as I. I don’t care what kind of puppy dog crush you think you have on her, I’m not about to let you start screwing her for kicks. She won’t help us at all if you make a habit of raping her, simply because you can’t control yourself…”

  Again, Jet tried to protest, but Richter cut her off.

  “So what’s it going to be, pal? You really want to go toe to toe with me on this? Spend all of tomorrow with a hangover from the stunner? Or can we compromise? Find you another mammal to play with?”

  Jet felt her mouth harden as she stared at Richter.

  Her eyes shifted up to Laksri’s.

  The Nirreth returned her stare that time, and again she felt that glimmer of regret, as if through his very skin. At the same time, she felt him avoiding the question in her about whether he intended to do as Richter suggested, and find another “mammal” in the slave pens.

  Using his arms, Laksri lifted himself off her, uncoiling his tail from around her waist and back. Jet only let go of him when he pulled the rest of the way out of her reach, and even then, she did it reluctantly, fighting not to take his withdrawal personally.

  She watched, half-sprawled on the cushioned surface where she lay, as Laksri pulled his shirt off the floor and tugged it over his head once he’d straightened.

  Looking down at herself, Jet was mildly relieved to find herself fully clothed––although perhaps not as relieved as she should have been.

  When Laksri left through a rounded door to a brighter, larger-seeming room beyond, Jet felt another stab of loss.

  Glancing around for the first time, she found herself lying on a flat, wide cushion. Square cushions formed what might have been pillows, with everything wrapped in several layers of sheets of a pale, blue color.

  Richter chuckled, reminding Jet he was there, that she wasn’t alone, despite how alone she felt. She looked up at him, and he motioned towards the bed.

  “Looks like he spruced the place up for you, kitten.” Winking at Jet, he added, “Nirreth don’t normally use pillows. Or sheets, for that matter.”

  But Jet was staring up by then, seeing a scattered pattern of lights embedded in the darker blue ceiling, almost the same color as Laksri’s skin.

  Lights shone from there, some pale blue, some white, some with faint-colored tints of orange, green, red, and yellow. One even seemed to flicker in a myriad of different colors, like a tiny kaleidoscope.

  “Are those… stars?” Jet said.

  She’d only really seen stars since she’d been in the Green Zone, when she ventured out in the night and gazed up at the recreated stars of the dome.

  Richter shook his head, rolling his eyes as he approached the bed.

  “He got you a few times… didn’t he, kitten? You’re high as a kite…”

>   He took her arms above the elbows to help her off the mattress.

  Jet didn’t help him or herself to move, still pointing upwards.

  “But, are they––”

  “Yes,” Richter grunted. “They’re stars. Now get up, girl, or I might be tempted to finish what that big lug started––”

  A hiss emanated from by the door.

  Jet glanced over and saw Laksri standing there, his cat-like face taut, his teeth bared in obvious displeasure at Richter’s words.

  Richter tensed, even as he tugged harder on one of Jet’s arms.

  “Take it easy, Laks,” Richter began, his voice cautious. “It was a bad joke.”

  Laksri said something harsh in the Nirreth tongue, speaking too quickly for Jet to make out more than a few words.

  His sharp gestures and violently darting tail conveyed the tone of the message well enough. When the Nirreth took a step closer to the bed, Richter released Jet entirely, holding up his hands in a kind of peace gesture, maybe even a form of submission to the larger male.

  “Fine,” Richter said. “Just remember yourself, my big, blue friend. After all, I wouldn’t need to be here at all, if you had any self control. So don’t get high and mighty on me. Got it?”

  By then, Laksri had inserted his larger bulk between Jet and Richter.

  Turning only then, the Nirreth helped her off the mattress with careful hands. Once Jet managed to pull herself upright, his tail coiled around her protectively, even as he turned to face Richter. He spoke strongly, loudly, in the Nirreth tongue.

  Richter had his hands up again, in the same gesture as before.

  “Understood,” he said, when Laksri paused. “When you’ve come down off your little horomone surge, then we’ll have words. Agreed?”

  Jet looked between the two of them, then up at the stars on the ceiling.

  She heard Laksri grunt a few more words in Richter’s direction, then he gently steered her towards the door to the main room, using his palm and his tail. Jet followed along willingly enough, still a little confused by the hostility between the two of them, and uneasy about the thought of Laksri going out to find some other human to sting once they’d finished dinner.