by Luna Hunter
That thought lands in my stomach like a brick. I close my eyes and push the tears away. I’m not going to cry in the middle of this crowded ship.
“Welcome to the Allure,” Otto says over the intercom. “Is everyone strapped in?”
“Actually—”
“Good!”
With a deafening roar, the ship takes off. It shakes so hard I’m afraid the bolts are going to come right off, but to my surprise, she holds.
“See?” Ivan says. “Safe.”
“Still not convinced,” I answer.
I settle into my seat as the ship achieves hyperspeed. The minutes turn to hours, the stars outside a blur as we cross the galaxy at dazzling speed. I try to fall asleep, and even the chair is far from comfortable, my mind finally slips into darkness…
A massive roar jolts me wide-awake in an instant. The ship is rocked by an explosion.
My eyes fly open, my fingers gripping the seat tightly as the rooms spins all around us.
“What’s happening?” I stammer.
The soldier next to me curses as he unhooks his seatbelt. “We’re under attack!”
Attack? What?
How? Who? Why?
Could it be space pirates? The Nezdek? Tyk’ix? God forbid, the Zorans? I’ve seen the news reports about what happened in Pazar…
The soldier runs towards the cockpit and flings the door open. I’ve got a perfect view from where I’m sitting, and what I see makes my blood run cold.
A spaceship is headed straight towards us, firing lasers. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, ready for the explosion, the evaporation, the quick, merciful death… but it doesn’t happen.
“They’re missing on purpose!” Otto the pilot says. “They want us to surrender!”
“Fuck that!” the soldier screams. “Return fire!”
“Return fire?” Otto asks. “This is transport vessel, not a battleship! There’s nothing to fire! There’s nothing to do but surrender!”
“I forbid you from surrendering,” the soldier thunders. “I’m placing this ship under Federation command!”
“Fuck you, buddy,” the pilot responds. “This is my ship, and we’re not in Federation space. In fact, get the fuck out of my cockpit!”
Otto grabs the microphone. “Cease fire, cease fire, we surren-BAM!”
His head jerks violently backwards. Blood splatters all over the wall behind him. The Federation soldiers holsters his gun and pries the control stick from the pilot’s hands.
“H-Hudson, what the f-fuck,” another Federation soldier stammers when he comes up from the rear of the ship and sees the carnage his colleague just caused.
“I’m not letting them take us alive!” he screams. “Don’t try to stop me, Stephens — don’t make me kill you too.”
The one called Stephens rests his back against the wall and sinks down to his knees, holding his head in his hands, uttering prayers.
The attacking ship appears on the horizon once more. Hudson pushes down on the control sick, and our ship lurches forwards. I get sick to my very core when I realize what the psycho is planning.
He wants to ram the other ship.
Before I can even take a breath to scream in terror, everything descends into chaos.
The two ships collide.
A hail of twisted metal and glass envelops me. The room spins and spins, and the screams around me die away as the pressure is lost. I’m pummeled from every side, my hands holding onto the seat as best I can.
I feel my consciousness slip away, and my thoughts turn to Abby.
I’m sorry I failed you.
…
A cold wind blows in my face. Am I dreaming? My eyes open.
An alien, desert landscape rises up to greet me.
My breath falters. I’m still in my seat, my arms hooked around my arm rests, the Allure half destroyed — but not completely.
Not yet.
We’re about to crash on an alien planet.
A second later we smash into the ground with a thundering smack, and my lights go out once more.
…
“You dead? Hey, girl. Come on. You dead? Fuck. Seems like it’s just you and me, big guy.”
A weapon is loaded.
“I think a bit of vigilante justice is in order. Like they did it in the old days, you know. No courts, no laws to protect you here. They should have given you the chair when they had the chance.”
The man spits on the ground.
“No matter. I’ll make up for that mistake.”
I slowly open my eyes. My mouth is filled with sand, and every muscle in my body aches. What I see doesn’t seem to make any sense.
That soldier from before, the one that executed the pilot in cold blood, is pointing his gun at an emerald green, half-naked, bound Zoran.
A Zoran.
He’s chained to some kind of metal contraption, a muzzle covering most of his face, but there’s no hiding his massive green body. His impressive, naked chest is on full display.
My brain can’t make sense of it all.
Zorans are no longer welcome on Earth. They were all exiled to New Exon, after what happened in Pazar. Why would one be here?
I crawl up to my knees, my hands moving to my head. It’s pounding like a freaking drum.
“Ah, you’re alive after all,” the man sneers. “Just in time for the show.”
I remember his name now: Hudson.
I also remember him executing the pilot in cold-blood.
“W-what’s going on?” I stammer.
He cocks his gun.
“Justice is being served.”
“A-are you going to shoot him? You can’t do that!” I protest.
“Why not? Do you even know who that is?!
I get back on my feet, feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. Around us, scattered for miles, are the remnants of the Allure. The metal pieces glitter in the desert.
I also see several bodies. The other passengers.
“Are we the only ones who made it?”
“That’s right. You, me, and Beast over here. That’s right: Beast. The Butcher of Pazar. Part of the Exon Four. That monster.”
My eyes dart towards the locked-up Zoran. Could it really be true? Is this man one of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy?
Why would he be here? This is making less sense by the minute. Did I bump my head? Am I still dreaming?
“What?” is all I can muster.
The news clips made me believe that the Zorans were bloodthirsty monsters, devilish abominations… but this man is drop-dead gorgeous. His body is beyond perfect, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And even though a muzzle covers most of his face, I can see his radiant, beautiful, amethyst eyes.
They make my knees tremble.
All of this is making me very confused. I know one thing for sure though: executing a man in chains is wrong, no matter his crimes.
“We were transporting him to Blackgate in secret, as to not attract any attention,” Hudson explains. “The Resistance found us anyway. Seems we’ve got a rat somewhere. Not that it matters, I’m ending this — now.”
“No!” I scream. I’ve seen more than enough death already. I won’t stand idly by.
The soldier turns back to me, scowling. “If you hadn’t noticed, we’re stranded on some backwater planet, with no food, no water, no nothing. Killing him is the humane thing to do. It’s kill or be killed out here. Let me do my job.”
I glance around, hoping to see some sign of civilization, something, anything. A space station in the sky, a tower up in the distance… but no.
All I see is desert, mountains, and some trees far, far away. To add to the alienness of this world, no less than three moons fill the sky.
If no help is coming, and we’re the only people left alive… that means I’m at this soldier’s mercy. If I have to choose between ‘The Beast’ and this Federation soldier… I’ll choose the Beast every time.
There’s something in those
amethyst eyes of his that make me feel like I can trust him.
“You get it, don’t you?” Hudson says.
He raises his gun again and squeezes the trigger.
Bang!
The soldier fires — but not before I’ve flung myself at him. I hit his arm, throwing him off-balance, and the bullet hits one of the Zoran’s chains, shattering it.
“What the fuck?!” the soldier curses. He pistol-whips me, and I fall back into the sand, my nose gushing blood. “Traitor!”
Beast has one hand free now, and that’s all he needs. He rips his other chains off as if they were made of string in the blink of an eye.
It’s unbelievable how strong and quick he is.
Hudson raises his gun, ready to shoot again, but he’s too late. Beast grabs his hand and squeezes, and I can hear the soldier’s bones shattering. Hudson cries out in pain and drops down to his knees.
The Zoran pulls his arm back, his massive fist raised.
“Over your dead body,” he growls.
His fist connects with the soldiers jaw with a sickening crunch. Hudson falls over backwards. Lifeless.
Beast rips his muzzle off and turns to me. He towers over me, seven foot tall of pure muscle, his emerald green skin glistening with sweat in the hot sun. His brilliant, purple eyes find mine, and my heart races at a million miles per minute.
Instantly, I feel chemistry.
I try to crawl away, my emotions all over the place, but I don’t get very far in the loose sand. He’s got the look of a predator in his eyes. And I know exactly what predators do best.
Fuck and kill.
I’m just not quite sure which one he’s thinking about right now.
“You saved my life,” he growls. “Thank you.”
Beast turns away, leaving me dumbfounded. For a moment, there was a animalistic glint in his eyes, like I was his prey, like he wanted… me. I thought for sure he was going to take me right here and now, in the hot sand, and a small part of me had already made peace with that idea.
The Zoran bends over the soldiers dead body and takes his flask and gun, before heading towards the smoking wreckage and rummaging through the rubble. I climb up to my feet and wipe my bloody nose with my sleeve.
It seems I’m at the Beast’s mercy now.
I watch him work from a distance, admiring his impressive, muscled body. He’s only wearing pants, which are damaged, showing glimpses of his green skin underneath. I’m not quite sure why the Federation soldiers didn’t give him a shirt, maybe they wanted to treat him like an animal or maybe they were just too scared to get up close, but I’m not complaining. Watching the sweat slide down his emerald green muscles gives me a moment’s respite from our dire situation.
I know we’re in deep, deep trouble. I don’t want to think about dying of thirst in this alien desert. I’d rather check out Beast’s manly figure. He’s sifting through the debris, cursing as he digs for something.
“The ship is completely destroyed,” he says to me, wiping his hands on his worn trousers. “No chance of sending out a distress call. The escape pod seems functional, but it’s got no power. We’re stranded here.”
He stares at a rock formation in the distance.
“We should get out of the sun,” he says. The Zoran starts walking, and turns back to me after several yards.
“Are you coming, human? Or do you want to stay here and die?”
My eyes dart towards the lifeless figure of the Federation soldier. Beast killed him in cold-blood. He smashed his face in.
If he’s really the Beast, the famous murderer… then perhaps I shouldn’t follow him. Even though my stomach is fluttering and my palms are sweaty and my mind is swimming with thoughts...
The Zoran doesn’t have time for me to make up my mind.
He turns and walks away.
Chapter Four
Beast
Suit yourself, human.
The female refuses to follow me. Good. One less mouth I’ll have to feed. So far I’ve seen very little signs of life, with the exception of a few sparse trees in the distance. If they don’t lead me to either water or food, this survival mission will be a short one.
The sun is beating down on my back as I trudge through the sand, sweat dripping down my body as I clench and unclench my fists.
It feels damn good to be free of those chains. I’ve spent months in them, with no way use my many muscles. Unfortunately for the human male, my strength and agility haven’t deteriorated in the slightest.
I look up at the sky. Three moons circle the planet, but I don’t recognize any of them. Our location is a mystery.
I mean my location. I left the shapely human behind.
My thoughts keep drifting to her. If it weren’t for her, that male would have killed me. Humans haven’t shown me kindness in a long, long time…
But she had made her choice. I offered her my help, and she refused it.
She’s not my problem.
Chapter Five
Miah
I search through the smoldering rubble, looking for anything that might come in handy. My phone, food, water, anything.
I don’t find a damn thing. Everything is smashed, destroyed, or buried in the sand. The dead bodies scattered all around me don’t make it any easier, either.
The hot sun is wearing me down, and I realize what a massive mistake I’ve made in not following Beast. Even though he scares me, he seems like he knows what he’s doing.
I most certainly do not.
I call out for him. No response.
There’s nothing left to do but for me than do follow his tracks, and hope I find him before the sun knocks me out. I take off my shirt and wrap it around my head. Hopefully, this will stop my impending heat-stroke.
I have to force my tired, aching legs to walk, one step at a time, following in Beast’s tracks. He’s not even a blip on the horizon, and the rock formation seem impossibly far away, but I don’t have any other choice.
I can’t stay here.
As I walk, my mind starts to wander. The main goal is to survive until help gets here.
If help gets here at all.
It has to. Right? It has to. The Allure should have sent out some kind of distress call, some automated SOS. It’s matter of waiting and then I’ll be picked up.
And Onyx will give me big fat check as compensation and Abby can go to school and I can retire early. I’ll be the patron mother of a whole slew of artists, ushering in a new Renaissance!
That’s option A.
Option B… is that no one’s coming. Option B takes into account the fact that the Allure is, or was, a rickety piece of junk that didn’t send out a distress call.
Option B is far more likely.
The longer I think about it, option A seems more and more like a pipe dream. The universe is so big, it’s beyond my comprehension. There are billions of planets. It could take years for the Federation’s sensors to pick up our crash, if they even pick it up at all.
I have to figure out a way to stay alive — but I don’t know a damn thing about surviving on an alien world. I was born and raised in a megacity. That’s about as far from the wilderness as you can get!
I know Onyx’s quarterly profits by heart, but that’s not going to save me.
Unless…
Unless Onyx has sent a research probe to this world!
I stop dead in my tracks as a light bulb goes off in my mind.
Of course. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Onyx has sent out literally million of probes to map the galaxy and look for places to drill and mine and plunder.
If they sent one here, I might be able to find it, and use it to send a distress call. The research probes are programmed to find the highest spot on a planet, so all I have to do is climb the highest mountain I can find.
It’s a long shot, but it’s the best lead I’ve got. It’s the only lead I’ve got.
With renewed vigor I continue walking, feeling slightly optimistic for the firs
t time since I got called into Davenport’s office. A rumbling in the distance grabs my attention.
“Beast?” I ask.
A beast appears — but not the one I was hoping for.
To my horror, a scaly worm rises out of the sand itself. It writhes and twists and turns, its horrifying mouth filled with rows and rows of sharp teeth, a gaping maw that threatens to swallow me whole.
I scream.
The beast lurches.
The next moment, right before the monster strikes, I’m knocked to the ground by a green blur.
“Stay,” my savior growls.
Beast! He saved my life!
He’s back up in an instant and points the gun he took from Hudson right at the enraged monster’s open mouth.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Click-click-click.
The Zoran fires several times until he’s out of bullets. The shots don’t seem to have made much of an impact, because the worm shoots forward again, making a horrible noise as it crawls through the sand.
Beast jumps into the air, landing on the scaly worm and using the gun as a weapon as he bashes the monster on its head. It howls in pain, the high-pitched sound making my eardrums bleed.
“You did it!” I say, as the monster scurries back into the sand.
Then, something strange happens. At first I think it’s an earthquake, for the entire world seems be moving, but then it dawns on me.
The entire sand dune is crawling with more of those worms.
My Zoran savior grabs me, throws me over his shoulder, and sprints towards a rock formation in the distance. I hold onto him as best I can, my heart racing at a million miles per minute as all around us the sand moves, quakes and trembles.
We reach the safety of the cave in the nick of time. The Zoran lowers me to the ground, his green body covered in a layer of sweat. Outside, the sand trembles and quakes, as if the worms are angry they don’t get to enjoy their delicious meal. A few moments later they seemingly disappear, the sand returning to its calm and serene state.
A total illusion. No way I’m stepping one foot outside!
“T-thank you, Beast,” I say, gasping for air, my heart still racing. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as horrible as those monsters before. They’re even worse than the crashed ship.