by A. G. Wilde
For a good few minutes. There was none.
Usually, the green orcs would be out of the vehicle already and would be searching the undergrowth close to the road for any sign of her.
Instead, they were still in the vehicle.
Squinting so she could focus, she was sure they were moving their heads as if arguing about something.
A few more minutes passed before the vehicle opened and a figure stepped out.
It was a different type of alien entirely.
She couldn’t make out the species clearly, but it certainly wasn’t one of the orc idiots.
This alien was tall and…blue.
And yes, it was a he.
It had to be.
Even from the distance, she could tell the alien was male.
A tall, blue alien male.
He was humanoid in the fact he had two arms and two legs, broad shoulders…
Staring so hard, Cleo forgot to blink, and when the alien turned to scan the mountain on which she hid, she flattened herself almost immediately.
He was looking directly at her!
Surely he couldn’t see her.
Cleo froze, not daring to move.
On her shoulder, Wawa stiffened too, almost as if he could feel her anxiety.
That was a coincidence, wasn’t it?
The alien couldn’t see her. Could he?
Her breath was stuck in her throat in the few seconds that the alien looked in her direction.
Shit.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
He was there for her.
She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did.
This man, whoever he was, was there for her.
Anxiety began crawling up her spine and something in the back of her mind was telling her to run straight back to her cave, pack everything she could carry, and retreat deeper into the jungle without a backward glance. It would have to be a toss-up between facing this dude and facing the wild animals that roared in the nighttime.
Staring at the blue alien, the feeling building within her suddenly became overwhelming.
This was more than slight anxiety—his mere presence was creating full-on panic.
The big blue alien turned back to the vehicle and she got the impression he was talking to the green orcs.
That only took a few seconds before he slung a bag over his shoulders, turned from the vehicle, and disappeared into the undergrowth.
Eyes wide, Cleo watched as the vehicle pulled away.
They were leaving him?!
…
FUCK.
…
She couldn’t breathe.
Somewhere deep inside her, there was a feeling of impending doom.
Trust your gut, Cleo. Her father’s voice echoed in her head.
Trust your gut.
Her instincts never failed her before. They wouldn’t fail her now.
This wasn’t like all the other times the orcs had come looking for her.
This time, shit was different.
That big blue alien was trouble. She could feel it.
As she moved away from the lookout spot, hurrying through the bushes, Wawa remained alert on her shoulder and that alone sent a shiver down her spine.
The only other time Wawa had stiffened on her shoulder in such a way was in their first few weeks in the jungle.
If he was alert…if he was worried…it meant she wasn’t overreacting.
He knew that a dangerous enemy was near too.
2
“Reckless fools,” Sohut muttered as he turned and headed into the dense growth of the great Koznia Jungle.
He doubted the Gori who’d dropped him off heard his remark. They were too busy driving away, rushing as far as they could from the trouble they’d gotten themselves into.
Not that what he’d said wasn’t the truth.
The Gori were reckless fools.
Only idiots would have lost an animal the way they had done. To boot, they’d failed to retrieve the creature after so many moons.
His ears pressed flat against the sides of his head, the only indication of his annoyance.
He couldn’t imagine the pure terror the animal must have experienced all alone in an alien world—and in the Koznia Jungle to add.
It must have been incredibly frightened before it died.
Shaking his head, Sohut walked slowly through the undergrowth as he contemplated this.
The Gori thought the creature was still alive.
He highly doubted that. A non-native species being lost in the Koznia Jungle was highly unlikely to survive.
The spined beasts alone would have quickly made the thing their dinner many rotations ago.
But no matter. If he didn’t find the animal alive, he was sure there’d be something he could use to prove to the Gori the creature was indeed dead.
It’s bones, maybe.
Senses primed as he made his way through the undergrowth, he scanned and noted everything even as he stepped over the twisting vines, shrubs, and small fallen trees in his path.
To any animals peering at him from their nests, he looked like a harmless visitor strolling through their domain.
To anyone who knew him well, they’d know that he was on the prowl.
Nothing escaped him.
Every slight movement of the leaves, he saw.
Every slight sound, he heard.
He was very aware of the tuli birds in their nests above him, silently watching, and the little zideks blending in with the bushes as he walked by. But he made no indication he knew they were there.
They were safe from him.
After all, he wasn’t hunting them. He was hunting something different entirely.
Something that was probably already dead but…
Sohut perked his ears, ducking under some hanging branches as he did. So close to the road, he was probably safe, but the deeper he ventured into the jungle, the more dangerous it would become.
The beasts of Koznia didn’t like intruders. Because of this, the jungle was untouched except for the reckless Torians that lived in its center.
Out here was…freedom.
It was so different from the Sanctuary he called home with his brother, Riv…different from the mines they'd grown up in too. The Sanctuary was free but out here was a sense of natural freedom you could only get if you went out into the wild.
It was unpredictable.
There was no routine to things, no restrictions.
Out here…he could forget for a few moments.
He could be of use.
Out here, he wasn't a mistake.
He could pretend he wasn't the reason his brother had endured so much.
Pretend his very birth hadn't been a curse upon his family.
He could forget he was the reason all things had gone to hell.
It was probably the reason he liked taking these jobs.
Where Riv preferred staying within the perimeter of the Sanctuary tending to the animals they cared for, he liked taking jobs such as this one that took him all over Hudo III.
They reminded him that he was alive, gave him purpose.
Back at the Sanctuary, Riv handled almost everything with precision. Riv didn't need his help or his company. His brother only tolerated him because they were blood.
And so, he spent most of his time away, taking odd jobs all across the planet.
This was just one of them and he’d do what he was hired to do.
He’d hunt the thing, find his evidence, collect his payment, and head back to the Sanctuary he called home.
Repeating the description of the animal through his mind, Sohut kept his eyes peeled.
The Gori said the creature had red fur covering its head, running down its shoulders and its back. Otherwise, it was pale and hairless all over, with long spindly legs, translucent eyes, and a flat face.
It was not like any animal he’d ever seen before.
And, he had to admit, it sounded quite…strange-l
ooking.
He imagined it ran on all four legs and, for that reason, he surveyed the ground as he walked, looking for any strange paw prints in the areas where soft ground was exposed—just in case he was wrong and the thing still lived.
Absentmindedly, his forefinger moved over the single rectangular device that he held in his hand; the dark button at the top glistened whenever it caught the light.
It was a tracker, coded with the creature’s DNA and programmed to restrain the animal with an energy band once activated.
It’d been a long time since he’d seen such a device, and he frowned now as he glanced down at it.
This particular tracker was a device used mainly by the High Tasqals in the Great Wars when the Tasqals had gone about enslaving whole worlds. A master race, the Tasqals called themselves, and they always had the strangest technology.
The tech he now held was rare.
How the Gori got their hands on it was a whole different question.
Never mind that—he reached back and slipped the tracker into his satchel—he doubted he’d need to use it anyway.
Pausing for a bit, Sohut looked up into the leaves and vines strung in their intricate natural patterns above.
He’d been walking for some time now, and the dark cycle was almost upon him, but the farther he went into the jungle, the more a feeling of unease began settling over him—and it wasn’t because of the beasts he knew lurked in the shadows.
Long, long ago when he’d realized his love for tracking things, he’d gotten his nostril sensors enhanced and, now, the entire time he’d been walking, he’d been picking up a scent.
The scent was in such a pattern he was sure it was some kind of animal marking its territory.
The problem was, it smelled like…slizz.
He knew what his nose was telling him…but it was highly unlikely…almost impossible even, that he was right.
Slizz were rare.
They were like myths.
He’d only met one slizz once and it had been on the other side of Hudo III, right before it had killed three men and almost killed him too if it hadn’t been shot down.
He wouldn’t ever forget the smell of a creature that terrible, but he had to be mistaken.
What would a slizz be doing in the Koznia Jungle?
He had to be wrong.
Narrowing his eyes, he swatted some hanging leaves out of the way as he continued walking through the undergrowth.
He was trying to ignore the scent but couldn’t. His instincts wouldn’t allow him to.
Cursing underneath his breath, he began following the trail the scent marked.
Right through most of the dark cycle, he followed the scent around the mountain in a huge circuit that spanned even some flat areas at the base of the elevation.
Like an invisible barrier, it was warning all the creatures that dwelled in these parts that this was its territory.
And it was a clear warning—one he shouldn’t ignore.
But he was Sohut U’xol Cal-Pholy…problem was…he couldn’t ignore it.
Something deep within him told him the scent marking wasn’t coincidental.
What were the chances of him tracking an alien creature only to find territory marked with the scent of slizz?
Pausing in the darkness, he lifted his head to look up at the trees before him that were rising up the mountainside.
Whatever he was hunting must have a direct correlation with this “defense” barrier.
He just knew it.
Dropping his satchel, Sohut paused at the edge of this invisible barrier. His ears pricked from the sides of his head as he listened for any sound.
Nothing.
If it was a slizz, he wasn’t going to enter its territory in the dark. That would put him at a disadvantage.
Resting against the root of a huge tree, he knew what he was going to do.
The slizz’s scent would keep the other predators of the jungle at bay, for now.
That meant he could rest for the dark cycle and cross the barrier when the sun rose.
A little sliver of excitement ran through him at the thought.
There was something across that barrier—something worth finding.
He could feel it as well as he could feel the frilli on his nose.
3
It’d been a day since, against his better judgment, he’d crossed the scent barrier.
Since then, the scent had steadily faded, making him believe he’d been right about it being a perimeter marking.
As he walked now, the terrain was rising on an incline. He was climbing the mountain and the farther inland he went, the more that feeling of something huge happening increased.
Walking through the undergrowth, he kept going for a few moments when his steps halted.
Yet, he wasn’t quite sure why.
Turning his nose to the air, Sohut sniffed.
There was a smell in the air…a new scent…different from the territory-marking scent yet still somewhat mingled with it.
The smell was faint; so faint, he almost missed it.
For a few moments, he stood unmoving, processing the scent as it flowed into his nostrils.
It wasn’t a spined creature or a mog.
It wasn’t a tuli or a zidek.
It wasn’t a fruiting or flowering plant…
This was the smell of a creature.
A strange creature.
Something alien.
The scent was a few days old but there was enough of it for him to know he’d never scented anything like it before.
Thank Raxu for the lack of wind under the canopy or the smell might have been too faint for him to notice.
Blinking rapidly, Sohut’s brows furrowed and his ears stood up from the sides of his head as he scanned the bushes around him.
He knew he was alone…at least, as alone as he could be with the animals in the jungle around him.
No creature had crept close enough to him without him realizing it.
He still scanned the bushes anyway, his frown deepening when he finally lined up with the direction in which the scent was strongest.
Inhaling deeply, his ears perked even more as he processed just what he was scenting.
Maybe the Gori had been right.
He couldn’t believe it…but maybe the creature they’d sent him to find still lived.
As he inhaled deeply once more, he took a step forward only to pause again, his eyes widening.
A curse slipped from his lips.
The creature was female.
Somehow, he knew that fact with clarity.
Phek.
Undeniably female.
Taking another breath, a groan rumbled in his chest that had him stiffening for another reason.
Horror couldn’t describe what he was suddenly feeling as his gaze slowly fell.
The phlickin’ phek?
Pressing against his trousers was his…phekking draxx…he was solid and hard.
His lips pulled back in a snarl, his fangs baring.
He was aroused by the scent of an alien creature?
Raxu in the phekking stars.
Growling underneath his breath, he stretched the muscles in his back, more than slightly perturbed by this occurrence.
This was something that never, ever happened before and he sure as phek wasn’t going to acknowledge it.
Pushing the disturbing thoughts from his mind, he focused on his task and the scent that was drawing him farther into the dense growth.
Time to do the job he was hired to do.
It’d been three days.
Three days since she’d seen the blue alien enter the jungle.
Three days since she’s been hiding in her cave.
It was the best place for her to remain out of reach but whenever she peeked through the vines and leaves covering the entrance to the cave, she didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary happening in the jungle below.
But that was little consolation.
Whenever she looked out, she was looking over the tops of trees.
That didn’t tell her what lurked beneath their branches.
Nevertheless, if she hadn’t seen the blue alien enter the jungle with her own two eyes, she wouldn’t have known he was somewhere within the dense growth.
Nothing seemed out of place and the thought made her uneasy.
She could have easily gone hunting for food and encountered the stranger.
Unaware of his presence beforehand, she’d have been at a huge disadvantage.
Cleo paced, her bare feet moving over the thick dried grass she’d laid as flooring on the rock floor.
She could make a run for it.
Fear was telling her to escape but there was just one problem.
Logic said she should stay.
And she was going to listen to logic.
On her shoulder, Wawa bumped his head against her neck as if he could sense her restlessness.
Living by herself for an extended period could have made her paranoid.
Maybe they hadn’t sent the blue alien after her.
Maybe he’d entered the jungle in search of something or someone else?
Maybe she was just overreacting…
But there was that niggling feeling inside her that told her she wasn’t overreacting.
He was there for her.
She was sure of it.
And what was she doing? She was waiting like a sitting duck.
If he somehow found her, she’d be caught without any defenses.
She needed to do something.
Taking a deep breath, she crouched by the small mouth of her cave and looked out.
There was a safe distance in her mind that the alien shouldn’t cross, and that was an invisible line she drew right at her water hole. If he crossed that line, then she was in trouble.
He’d no doubt find her.
It’d take him some time to do so—her cave wasn’t the easiest to spot—but she couldn’t stay in her little hidey-hole for weeks on end.
She’d starve to death, but realistically, she’d probably die of thirst first.
Biting her bottom lip, she looked out into the jungle.
If the alien came close, she’d have to get rid of him.
There was no other choice.
Well, there was another choice but that one involved her getting eaten—and not in the way that would make her scream in pleasure.