by C. R Corbin
"Oh my god!" I shouted.
"What?!" he asked me.
I pointed at the road as we got onto it, there was a large truck, like an armored swat car with a hatch on top, with several of their soldiers on it. He begins firing once more but it quickly becomes apparent that it was a hopeless endeavor. The only hope we had now would be to speed away.
"No, no!" I shouted.
"It's alright, it's alright." he said.
"How is this okay in anyway?!" I asked him hysterically.
He reached into the pile of guns and sorted through it, I continued trying to dodge the beams of energy aimed at us. Luckily they weren't aiming to kill, well most of them weren't, so I was able to avoid most of it. They did hit bystanders of course, in my rear view mirror I saw a couple cars flip or get blasted off to the side.
"This should work. One shot" he said.
He lugged out this large sniper rifle, i'm assuming he found it with the original team that came to capture me. He walks to the back of the van and kicked open the back door. The truck was in hot pursuit, twisting and turning as it readied another beam of energy. He hoisted his rifle up and pulled the trigger, hitting the truck in the tire and causing it to flip as it rolled and caused quite the mess behind us.
"You got them!" I said with great relief and joy, he sighed and got back to the front.
"Alright well we obviously can't use this car anymore....." he said.
"What do we do? Is there a town nearby?" I said.
"No....but there's that." he said, pointing to a farm.
"What are you going to do?" I asked him with a bit of fear in my voice.
"Just keep going." he said.
#
Kelian
I get out of the van and cocked my pistol, this was the only way we were going to be getting out of here. I kept my sidearm handy, telling her to stay in the van, an order she ignored, as I fiddled with the lock of this truck that we were trying to take. She looked concerned as I did this, huddled under these long tall yellow wheat strands, I could hear the farmer and his wife talking to one another inside.
"I don't know about this." she said.
"Do you want to live?" I asked her with a bit of frustration.
"I do but...." she stated as the door popped open and I hopped in, directing her to get into the other car before driving off the lot.
It was a large farm some ways off the road, the car looked to be in good condition, well taken care of I would imagine. Just a large red barn as well as a small beige home in the midst of the wheat fields. The infinite blue sky shone down onto us, I listened in on the small radio transmitter I managed to fit together using some spare electronic components.
They were close.
"Alright." I said, getting out of the car and helping her load out supplies into the truck. We only had a matter of seconds to get this done before we were off once more, driving quickly down the road, I stared out the back of the truck, there were distant lights that I knew belonged to our enemies.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I just.....feel bad." she muttered, gripping the wheel.
I almost got a bit indignant at the idea that she would be angry at such a thing before I remembered that she was just an innocent girl before this. She knew not what was going to happen to her should they get their hands on her, she didn't know the extent of what they could be doing to her.
"Don't be. Sometimes we have to do evil to avoid evil." I said to her, sliding my hands together, she shook her head.
"You were a criminal back home weren't you? On Verona? We could have found a better way to do this, that old couple probably has no way to get around now." she told me.
"Stop it." I said.
"*sigh* I know, I know, this probably saved my life." she said.
I looked over at her, the gold in my eyes flashing as she steered the wheel and barreled us closer and closer to the west. I checked the GPS system I brought along, we were in Illinois, there was still a ways to go.
What shocked me was the vigor, the innocence, she still believed in doing a measure of good to those that meant nothing to her. She still wanted to help even in the midst of all that pain. How could something so beautiful exist in an aura of decay and sorrow. How? I'm not sure, it was as if a flower sprouted from nuclear waste.
"I....I don't know how you can still remain so.....good. After all this happened to you and you still think of anybody you come across?" I asked her with a bit of curiosity, where I came from the only time you helped out as when you owed a man. The rest was yours for the taking, with some exceptions of course.
"I do....I know it's probably stupid so you don't have to tell me but....I....it's good to do good is all." she told me.
"I'm sorry I don't understand. I was just trying to keep you safe. That's my only goal now." I said and she blushed, smiling a little.
"I'm lucky to have someone like you after all of this." she said.
"And i'm glad to have you. You exceeded your father's stories by a great margin." I said.
"I did?" she asked with a bit of cheer in her voice.
"Yeah, of course you did. You're even more beautiful than you were in your photo.....and that is one hell of an achievement." I said.
"Most guys don't think so. I already told you my ex-boyfriends said I was too......big for their tastes." she said, biting her lip, I could tell the issue was a bit of a sore spot for her.
"And I already told you I think you look marvelous. You're one of the most beautiful women i've seen in the whole galaxy." I said, she might have thought I was just aiming to flatter but that was not the case, for the first time in a while, I meant everything I said. Everything I ever said to her I meant.
"I thought you said last night was just a way for us to relieve stress. You're getting soft on me?" she laughed.
"I don't know..." I contemplated.
"You sure i'm not your mate?" she asked and I shrugged.
"Only time will tell I suppose. The sense hasn't gone off but I suspect it may come up again, especially if you flirt like that." I said.
"Flirt? You're the one flirting with me." she accused with a coy smile.
"You got me there......The mating process, it brings more changes other than physical and emotional bonding." I said.
"So what does it entail exactly?" she asked.
"I draw a symbol on my body and my mate's body, it links us somehow, the ink must be made of a mixture of our blood, it sinks into the skin, each pattern is different and determined by my own instinct. After that.....oh that's just a stupid legend I suppose, i've never seen it." I said to her, rolling my eyes.
"What? What?" she asked with great interest.
"You're supposed to develop an ancient power, it's all hoopla I feel but it's nice to get kids to start finding their mates earlier. The ancient power....oh you're going to love this. You summon lightning, like electricity." I said to her, nearly laughing as I said it.
"That sounds amazing! Why are you laughing at your tradition? Here all you get is morning sickness and a lot of headaches." she said, grinning.
"Because it's silly!" I said.
"Just you wait, your mate is out there and when you find her you're going to become a thunder god." she said, slightly envious.
"I don't think it'll ever happen." I said.
She drives further and further, gradually we see more cities and ride through them. They were likely tracking this truck by now, hell they probably found the farm and interrogated that couple on the location of their truck and how it looked. We had about 2 more days on the road if nothing went wrong, I could see that she was tired of all the driving. We were in a large city, Champaign I think it was called. She seemed hesitant to steal another car so we went to a used car lot, I left the truck outside and gave her the cash I stole from an ATM. This one was a large red van with tinted windows, two seats in the front and that was it, the rest was storage space for me to sit
in.
Soon we were out of town, but before we could do that she wanted to stop somewhere to eat first, I obliged.
"I'll never get over how good food on this planet is." I said to her and she smiled.
"You like burgers huh?" she asked as I munched on the meaty and crispy sandwich, grinning as I did it.
"I do, I do." I said, ketchup crowning my lips.
#
Penny
He seemed to be more jovial now, at first he was on edge and with good reason I suppose but now...he almost seemed human.
I stared at the hints of his alien heritage, the markings on his chest, the horns protruding out of the bed of black hair. His fangs. I glanced at him and smiled, admiring his physique, he was well built which led to a lot of fretful stares from people around us which i'm sure he wasn't too pleased about but I felt safe, he was large by human standards, he was my tough guy which sounded weird in my head. I haven't felt this way about someone in a long while and it is refreshing..... To say the least.
"Tell me then. Do you even like your life? What do you even do exactly? You never really told me." I asked and he thought about it for a bit, resting his fingers on his chin and munching on his fries.
"I'm a contractor. I work for various organizations, savory and unsavory. I do whatever they want basically, fight, shoot, labor, taxes, you name it." he said.
"Taxes?" I asked.
"Hey I never said I was any good at it, only some of it, the rest i'm pretty good at." he said, sliding his fingers along the table.
"I see. So what do you think you'll be doing when you're old then? Do aliens retire?" I asked once more.
"I'll probably die, i've accepted it. Might as well have some fun while i'm at it." he said, a sad glance was exchanged on my part.
"That sounds so....dire. You can still have a family. The one may be out there." I said and he flinched for a moment when I suggested that there was still hope that he could foster some sort of family, he looked at me as if I had three eyes before nodding.
"I'll take it into consideration. What are you going to be doing?" he asked.
"You mean.....in the future? I was planning on going back to school at some point I think, I want to be somewhat successful. As far as a family goes i'm not entirely sure if I can even get one, the dating scene for girls like me isn't exactly rife." I said.
"I guess we're kind of in the same boat then, unsure." he said.
"I suppose we are." I said with a smile.
Being here made me feel different. Being around him made me yearn, made me hope for something that I never thought could exist in my life after the last year. The look in his eye, the way he laughed, the way he stood guard over me at night. I know he said it was just a fling, something physical to get our minds off the pain but that night when he made love to me I felt something else, I felt like I was meant to be in his arms.
I.....I was falling for him. The alien. I was falling for a freaking alien.
"Well we should be on the move soon." he said, getting up from his booth and gripping the bills in his hand, sliding them onto the counter and waiting for me to get up as well.
"Yeah, i'll be happy to." I said with a smile.
CHAPTER SIX
Penny
We linger on in the long fields of Kansas, making our way further west while he sits in the back and hums intergalactic tunes in my ear. The sun shines onto the hood, for the first time in a whole day I really feel at ease.
"As far as the eye can see....gold." I muttered, tapping the steering wheel, I think he was asleep at this point.
The way he held me that night, the way he loved me, it felt like so much more than just a physical connection. I wanted him to stick around, I wanted him to be here after he got into his pod. Some part of me wanted to follow him into the unknown, god knows he's already proved he could keep me safe in the face of danger. Back home there was nothing to go back to, Hannah was getting married and wouldn't be paying too much attention to me at that point. There were no boyfriends, no declarations of matrimony.
"I feel so lonely." I muttered.
He was the same apparently, there was nothing waiting for him back home except for another contract on some backwater. He might be opposed to the idea, he didn't seem to be the sentimental type. Those looks in his eyes, those glances, they made me hope for a bit more than I initially thought I could, I would bring the idea up to him later, not now, not was not the time for any of that.
"Ithyria wasn't like this. It was a land of jungle, littered with storms and winds that continuously battered the ground. Lots of rain and mist all around, our cities were these great structures built near lakes, on the shores of oceans that could swallow entire planets." he said, staring out the window.
"Do you know what happened?" I asked.
"An explosion...fire....some people say disease. It doesn't really matter how the planet was lost, hell I think it might have even been a solar flare. The only way it means anything to me was if an alien species did it to us." he said.
"So.....you think the Trezodians did it? How many species are there?" I asked.
"About 5 intelligent ones that I know of, that's just in this quadrant of the galaxy however. The Trezodians, you, me, Carpathians, and Juzoms." he said.
"Carpathians and Juzoms? You think they did it? Are they powerful?" I asked.
"Well Juzoms run the planet I live on right now, they're not particularly dangerous, a bit self-serving but they're after riches more than violence. Carathians are.....well they're not all that powerful, most of them go to work for Juzoms and Trezodians. Trezodians....I have my suspicions, they've always been after power and word back in the day was that they hunted us because we might have posed a threat." he said.
"Is that why they want you now?" I asked.
"Maybe, they don't track us down on purpose but if we get into their crosshairs they'll come after us hard." he said.
"And why did you pose a threat?" I asked.
"Ithyrians are gods, as you already know." he said and I laughed.
"Sure, gods." I giggled.
We stop at a motel for the night, apparently he thought that one night in the cold fields was enough for me. I was grinning ear to ear, if we weren't being hunted I might have jumped for joy at the prospect of having something akin to a friend...maybe even a lover. It was a standard room, two beds, a TV, a sight for sore eyes in my humble opinion. We take turns in the shower before I find myself lying there across from him.
"Are all your channels so dull?" he asked, flicking through the TV.
"For someone like you? I don't think anything will do." I said, nestling on the next bed over before deciding that I wanted to be lying beside him.
"Getting attached?" he asked with his charm.
"Think I am." I said, nestling my cheek into his shoulder.
The channel flickered in front of us while he overlooked some maps, I glanced at the phone screen, it was a map of northern California, where his pod apparently laid. My thoughts traversed to the idea of him leaving without me, about him saving me and then scurrying off, I hated the mere prospect of it.
"So where do you think it is?" I asked.
"A 5 mile radius around this point, I don't know where." he said.
"That's not that bad actually." I muttered.
"We're only two people. So it should be a bit difficult. I have things that can help on there, weapons, facial reconstruction, fake IDs, something to get you money to go somewhere else on this planet, things like that." he said.
"So you're leaving?" I asked.
"...I don't want to but I ha-" he began but I cut him off, hugging him, leaning in, our lips barely grazing one another, this time the tension was more emotional than sexual.
"You don't want me to go." he said, his eyes averted to the ground.
"I don't....you're my friend. You're very important to me." I said, part of me wanted to call him my lover but I knew that
I wouldn't go as far as to say that immediately.
"You are as well. You're the closest thing i've had to a friend in a while. When I landed and your people took me in, I thought all humans were like that. Your father set me free and I admit I saved you more out of obligation than care but....now it's something more. I want to protect you, something deep inside of me wants to keep you safe. I don't really know what it is but......I can't bear to see you in pain. Maybe we are mates after all." he said.
"Would that be so bad?" I asked.
"I can't afford to put you in danger anymore than I already have. For your sake I hope that's not the case." he said.
"And if I think differently?" I asked him.
"You want to be my mate?" he asked, I avoided the question as best as I could.
"I'm not sure I do, I just want to be around you for now." I told him.
"We still have a couple days left, we'll figure something out. Trust me you don't want to follow me, i'm bad news." he said.
I think a great deal of his being was denying me the right to have him because of some misplaced fear. He had a bit of trouble getting attached, usually in the animal kingdom when someone finds a mate they don't let go for a long while. Their mate and them are attached at the hip, so to speak. He wasn't like that, he was afraid he might harm me even more, that he might bring harm. That feeling that he spoke of, that need to protect me, I knew it well.
".....Love." I whispered.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing, it's nothing, just something I wanted to mutter." I said, shyly smiling.
We fall asleep in the flicker of the television, he turns off the lights and yawns, I hold onto his horns, nestling in and hugging him close while muttering to myself, shaking my head as I took in his scent, that sweet scent that I have come to adore. His muscular arms tensed around me, his strong body flexing while the rains began outside.
#
Kelian