by Zara Zenia
Susan rolled her eyes at me but smiled, “You wouldn’t do that to me.”
I grinned at the little girl and reached behind me, producing a small, wrapped, red candy. “You’re right. I could never do that to my favorite patient. Promise me you will stay away from the dunes from now on though, okay?”
Susan nodded her head and jumped down, her eyes glued on the candy prize in her hand. I pulled Carla aside while Susan was distracted. The little girl wasn’t out of the woods yet. I couldn’t count the number of injuries I saw because of the dunes. Vaxivia was no place to let your child wander outside of the outpost limits. There hadn’t been a war in decades, but the very planet itself was a death trap unless you knew your way around it. No five-year-old should be wandering alone.
“You will need to watch for an infection. The dunes hold sand that can eat away at the skin.”
Carla folded her hands nervously in her lap, “Okay. I know she shouldn’t have been out there. I will be dealing with Michael when I get home.”
“He’s only eight, Carla. You know he shouldn’t be left alone with her all day. Isn’t there anyone who can help you out?”
She shook her head, “Please don’t tell the guards. I promise I won’t let it happen again.”
I took her hands into mine. Her story was all too common. Work on Vaxivia was hard to find. Often the men of the family left to find work and never came back. Some still sent money back home, but many, like Carla’s husband, were ghosts in the wind. She worked part time at the small diner to make ends meet, but childcare was just too expensive. My heart ached for her and the plight that she was in.
“Why don’t you send her here tomorrow? I have some things she can do around the clinic and I can keep an eye on her wound.”
“Really? She won’t get in the way?”
I smiled at Susan who was still looking at her foil wrapped trophy. Running a clinic wasn’t easy. The last thing I needed was a young girl running under foot. Still, I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her.
“She will be fine, I promise.”
Carla thanked me all the way to the door. I knelt to speak to Susan, “Are you going to come help me tomorrow?”
She nodded her head and ran after her mom with more joy in her eyes than I’d ever seen. As I was standing up, I saw Mikey Jones running toward me at full speed. At once my heart jumped. He never ran that fast. Slight in build, Mikey was ten going on forty. Like all the young boys in the community, he had far too much weight on his young shoulders. I turned the clinic sign over to ‘Closed’ and grabbed my medical bag. I met him at the old hoverboard parked on the road.
“Jennifer! Jennifer!” he called to me. “There’s an alien ship crashed outside of the outpost!”
The blood drained from my face at once, as I quickly glanced around. I didn’t see Courtney’s nosey eyes peering through her curtains. The last thing I needed was her running around and telling the guards that we had an alien. Not when I couldn’t be sure that Mike was right. I jumped and covered his mouth with my hand. His eyes briefly shifted to fear before he nodded his head. I winced at his fear. I had momentarily forgotten about the abuse his bastard father had inflicted on him before he skipped town.
“Okay Mikey, we will go take a look but you’ve got to keep your voice down, okay?”
He nodded his head, “Sorry, Jennifer. I’m so stupid. I forgot.”
I winced again, “Mikey, you are far from stupid. I don’t want to hear you talk like that about yourself ever again, okay? I just don’t want everyone to know about the alien just yet.”
“Got it, I will be more careful,” he whispered.
Nodding, I pressed my thumb against the scanner and the hovercraft slowly roared to life. It needed to be replaced years ago, but the money just wasn’t there anymore. It shook and rattled as it lifted off the ground. I waited there for a few more seconds, giving it a chance to warm up. Once it was about a foot from the ground I pushed the handlebar forward and we started to move briskly through the streets. Within seconds we were coming up on the outpost wall. I glanced at the two guards and sighed. This was going to be tricky.
“Mikey?” I asked my passenger. “You are going to hear me lie okay? I don’t want them to know what you’ve found until I know it’s safe.”
He nodded his head and said nothing. I knew that he wouldn’t say anything to the contrary to what I was going to say. He was another good kid tossed into a bad situation. His father wasn’t missing though, he was buried in the small outpost cemetery, a victim of the dunes. With two younger sisters and a working mother, he would run errands for me and I would slip him any payment I could. Whether it was drupees or food, he was grateful for it all the same.
As I slowed to a stop, the younger of the two men sauntered over to me. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Instead, I plastered a smile on my face. He was the last person I wanted to deal with knowing how the heavyset man felt about me. My numerous rejections of his advances never seemed to dull his attraction to me. No matter how one-sided it seemed to be. It was the same story with most of the other single men in the outpost. I didn’t want to deal with any of them. The pool wasn’t very deep on Vaxivia.
“How are you doing Zach?” I asked casually.
He winked at me, leaning against the hoverboard. “I’m doing a whole lot better now that you are visiting, Jennifer.”
“Well, unfortunately, this isn’t a social visit. I need to get out to the Jones’ homestead. One of the girls has a bit of the flu. I just want to check on her to clear my mind.”
He glanced around the hoverboard and saw Mikey for the first time. His mood changed at once. As soon as he realized he wasn’t the center of my attention I knew that he was going to be a hard sell.
Zach shook his head, “No can do, Jennifer. We got word today that there might be hostiles in the area. Aren’t supposed to let anyone in or out.”
I gritted my teeth and batted my eyes. Letting my fingers trail off the controls and over to his. He twitched but didn’t move his hand. His eyes lit up and a wide, white grin crossed his face.
“That’s a shame. I was hoping to slip out there real fast, then be back at Sammy’s by quitting time,” I whispered.
He cleared his throat, the smile still on his face. I hated to lie but I knew if he thought I would be at the local pub later, he would let me go. He waved to the man at the gate and they slowly started to open.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
He winked at me, “You can thank me later, honey.”
My cheeks flushed red but not out of admiration. I didn’t like having the attention of any man, least of all him. Blushing was my defense mechanism but he didn’t need to know that. My skin felt like it was crawling from where I’d touched him. I was suddenly grateful for the sterilizing solution I had in my bag. I gave him one last smile as I slowly pulled through the gates and let them close behind me. As soon as I rounded the forest and I was out of sight, I pushed the throttle as hard as it would go.
“Where did you see it?” I asked Mikey once we were finally clear.
He pointed to a clearing in the forest, one that hadn’t been there before. It didn’t take me long to realize that the clearing was the aftermath of a large wreck. My stomach started to flutter. I couldn’t believe that Mikey was telling the truth. He wasn’t prone to lying, but your eyes could play tricks on even the most discerning child, especially one with a wild spirit like him. I swallowed hard and followed the trail. The closer we crept to the wreckage, the more I was regretting my decision to bring Mikey with me.
“Whatever you do, stay behind me. Do you understand?” I asked him as we parked.
He nodded his head, ducking between my arms and trying to see the wreckage. I’d never seen a ship like it before. It wasn’t large, maybe a few dozen meters in width without its wings. I briefly glanced around but didn’t see the wings anywhere.
“Why don’t you go find the wings and other wreckage for me
. I don’t know what we are going to find when we open the hull, okay?”
Mikey nodded and disappeared off into the woods. The black craft was badly damaged, looking more like an ancient, buried torpedo than a ship. I looked for a door, following a trail of steam as it seeped from a thin seam. Still in shock that Mikey hadn’t been lying, my attention turned to determining if there were any survivors. I was no stranger to aliens, but I kept my small gun close at my side just in case. The ship wasn’t an Infernian vessel, that much was evident.
A low whistle escaped the pod and I stumbled backward, watching in stunned silence as the seam widened as a door opened. In a puff of smoke, the door creaked back on its dented hinges and my mouth fell open. There was someone inside of the pod, and from the small hole poking through the fumes, I could see a man’s chest slowly moving up and down.
“Thank God,” I whispered. He was alive.
When the last of the smoke cleared, I was once again stunned into silence. There wasn’t much blood, less than I had expected. What gave me pause was the alien’s stunning looks. His body was rugged and muscular, with olive-toned skin that I could see where his uniform had torn open. Swallowing back my words, I let my gaze travel up his body to his face. Though his eyes were closed, I could only imagine the beauty that they would behold, if they matched the rest of his figure.
His dark, auburn, hair fell loose down to his shoulders. A strong jaw and thickly lashed eyes rounded out one of the most attractive faces I’d ever seen. When a groan slipped past his lips, I jumped. As his head listlessly turned to the side, I saw the reason he was unconscious. A gaping wound cut through the side of his head. I quickly pushed my fear and wonder aside and reached into my medical bag. Any emotions that I had before were now gone. He was injured and nothing else mattered but keeping him alive.
“Mikey!” I called out.
The child was at my side in a flash. I looked deeply into his eyes, praying there would be enough strength to lift the alien between the two of us.
“We have to get him back to my apartment, and fast,” I whispered to him.
Click HERE to continue reading book 1 of the Aliens of Dragselis series, Zaruv: A Sci-Fi Alien Dragon Romance if you haven’t already!
The Blue Alien’s Mate Preview
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The Blue Alien’s Mate: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Celestial Mates)
Chapter 1-Urie
“Ok troops, we’re cleared for landing.”
“Roger that,” a crackled voice came through my earpiece. “Brace yourself. It's going to be a bumpy landing.”
Traversing through a planet’s atmosphere is always a tumultuous experience. Often there are vast temperature fluctuations that can create chills across your skin. They are so frigid it can feel as though your limbs could snap with the cold. Other times, the descent to a planet can be raging hot with temperatures so high blisters would form across our bodies if it weren’t for our protective suits.
This landing was not to be any easier. One thing you have to get used to is the speed in which you plummet to the ground. It sends shock waves through your body as the velocity batters off your organs. You have no choice but to grit your teeth and grip your fingers into the armrest to steady your body as it tumbles through the air at the speed of light.
I looked across the craft to the ship’s pilot. As per usual, he was taking it in stride, his face steady and stoic with a grim determination pursing his lips together. He focused on the screen in front of him, ready to maneuver the ship at the precise moment. His eyes were steely and gray with concentration. He turned his head at the last minute and touched his fingers to his temples.
“Ready captain,” his voice came through my earpiece once again.
Up here, in the ship amongst the stars, you can be within an arm’s reach of one another but still not hear a word. Outer space speaks its own deafening language of crashing space debris and chaos. To remove one’s earpiece is to hear nothing but static and jarring metallic chattering. Up here, without our earpieces, we would go crazy.
“I hear ya,” I saluted the pilot. “When you’re ready.”
He nodded at me then returned his eyes to the screen.
“3.”
He pulled the lever beside him.
“2.”
He spun the wheel.
“1!”
His voice bellowed as he swung the ship into a steep decline. It roared downward, the air gushing past the windows with such ferocity, I wondered if the glass would break. But it never, ever broke. I’d traveled to other planets a thousand times with this pilot and never, had a single thing gone wrong. He was the best and that was why he was my pilot.
Wild turbulence shook the ship from side to side as we plunged our way down further and further into the atmosphere. Then, out of the stardust and clouds came the ground. It loomed up at us, red and barren. I could see the force of our approaching ship kick up the arid sand into a dusty tempest as we landed. Then the loud crash came, cacophonous like thunder and at last, everything was still.
The sand drifted across the windshield as I got my bearings. My heart thudded hard in my chest and I held a hand to my stomach, took a deep breath, then unlocked the belt that had been holding me into my seat.
I watched as the dust settled and fell around the ship. It was night time but the stars were bright and they illuminated each particle with a glittering radiance. Through the gritty mist, figures began to form on the horizon. They appeared to be growing, coming closer with every passing second. Then they were upon us, my troops, coming to retrieve their leader.
The side door was flung open and the smell of a new land permeated the cabin. The troops were eager to show me their alliance, saluting me the moment they saw my face.
“Our leader,” the biggest one said. “We don’t have much time. We need to transport you to the battlefield immediately.”
“Yes,” I stepped out of my chair and looked out the open door. “We must hurry.”
As I placed an intrepid foot down on the alien soil, I felt the excitement of a new world with all its new smells and textures. But it was not to be my new home, nor was it to be a place I would have the chance to explore. Rather, I was here to save it from invading forces.
The X’Sorians… The bastards. They are a fascist race, one hell bent on conquering what is not theirs. They arrived on this planet with the intention of invading it, of taking it away from our system but that was not to happen. I had arrived to fight back and with my reinforcements by my side, we would soon defeat them. As I was taken from the ship to the battlefield, my Shocktrooper Elite Force surrounding me, I had fire in my heart, a burning desire to crush the X’Sorians.
“Tell me,” I pointed into the distance as I addressed the nearest lieutenant. “How many are there?”
His expression was grim but honest.
“There are thousands,” he bowed his head. “Too many to count.”
His words sent a shiver down into my gut.
“Ok,” I held a clenched fist to my chest. “It does not matter how many there are, what matters is the quality of the warrior. We are the finest, we are the best. Isn’t that so?” I bellowed.
“Yes!” they roared back.
“We are the best because you are our leader,” said the lieutenant.
“Thank you,” I touched a hand to his shoulder. “Your loyalty will never be forgotten.”
In a convoy, we drove fast across the desert with the sound of missiles and explosions becoming louder as we traversed the arid landscape. The battlefield soon came into view with the bright lights of the bombs blinding me. I held my arm over my face to shield my vision.
“They are desperate,” the lieutenant spoke at my right side. “They are taking extreme measures and if I may be permitted to express my opinion, I would say that means they are scared. They are not confident in their own fighting skills so they have resorted to blustering bombs.”
“You are right,” I turned to him. “They may
be scared but I also think they are powerful,” I leaned in closer to him. “Don’t spread the word, but I think… I think, we will need to ready ourselves for a colossal fight.”
He looked worried, pulled back and blinked at me.
“It’s true. This will not be as easy as the others but we are strong and you must remember that every challenge changes you for the better. It makes you tougher, stronger, a more valiant warrior.”
“What doesn’t challenge you, doesn’t change you,” he thought out loud as he glanced at the upcoming battlefield.
“My thoughts exactly,” I slapped the side of his arm. “You have been trained well.”
The truck screeched to a halt on the edge of the field. My gun was by my side with my sword secured tightly in the sheath on my belt and my lucky club secured to a strap around my waist. I thought of everything we had to fight for and took a deep breath. I was ready.
“Troops,” I stood up, hanging from the side of the open door with my rifle hanging from my shoulder. “We must advance!”
The battle cries roared in my ears as we ran. The X'Sorians, mighty people almost twice our size, were fearless and angry. It had been so long since I had seen one in person and there was a flutter of fear in my chest as I looked up at the nearest one and saw the look on his face; dark, twisted, sadistic. He was here for the love of death, for the lust for power. His muscles rippled as he waved his ax above his head, his skin red and glistening with sweat. The ax crashed down on the ground beside me and I rolled to escape it, tumbling across the ground as I fired shots up to him. I swung my club and saw as it connected with the side of his head. He bore his teeth at me in rage. They were sharp, dripping in the blood of his victims but I’d hit him square in the chest with my barrage of bullets and he was wounded, screeching in agony. As he staggered from one foot to the other, he stumbled to the ground, but not before he pulled a grenade from the strap across the chest and yanked the pin out with his teeth.