Fire in the Woods

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  Heat rolled over my cheeks, and I blinked repeatedly. The orange spots receded, revealing my wardens standing opposite a large, roaring campfire. My jaw dropped, dumbfounded.

  The woman pulled back her hood and shook her head. Long, golden curls spilled on her shoulders. She turned from the fire. Her thigh-length brown jacket rustled as she walked toward David.

  “I need to get to my friend. You don’t understand. He’s freezing.”

  The blaze gained in height. I turned toward my shoulder, trying to shield my face from the heat. The woman knelt on the ground. Beside her, the broad guy tugged at David’s sweatshirt.

  “No! Please don’t do that. He needs to be warm.”

  The man swiped back his black hood. Light hair flew up from his head in static wisps. He rubbed his cheek, smudging dirt across his wrinkled skin.

  A sinking feeling drew my fear deeper within as I recognized the crazy old man in the coat that I’d seen in the woods a few days before. Stunned, my gaze moved to the woman. Her features flickered in the light of the flame. Recognition sent a shiver through my bones…the crazy guy’s daughter.

  I struggled to breathe as my heart worked to beat out of my chest. “Please don’t hurt him.”

  The girl lifted David’s head into her lap, and brushed back his bangs. Her cohort leaned close to David’s face and turned to the side as if to hear his breathing.

  She whispered a few words, and the man harrumphed. He lifted David from the ground, and carried his limp body toward the flames.

  “Stop! Don’t.” I struggled. The braided strands around my wrist dug and ate away at my flesh. “Let him go.”

  The man dropped to one knee and laid David beside the fire. I released the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, and searched for any movement from the boy who’d become more dear to me than I ever imagined possible. The light from the flames flickered across his still form.

  Please be okay, David.

  The woman knelt beside them and withdrew a pencil-sized silver rod from her pocket. The metal glistened in the firelight. She tapped the edge, and the pencil lit up.

  What was that?

  A line of yellow light shone across David’s face, and scrolled down his shivering form like a price gun at a supermarket.

  “What are you doing to him?”

  My captors murmured to each other. Their heads bobbed in nods and shakes before the man stood and unzipped his jacket. He spread the coat over David, wafting the fire in my direction.

  The blond woman watched, nodded, and turned to me. Her gaze locked with mine as she approached.

  Her eyes…so blue. No, not blue—turquoise, like David’s.

  She slipped her hands into her jacket pockets. “His temperature has dropped twenty degrees. He’s dying. If you could keep quiet, I might be able to save him.”

  My heart skipped a beat. My lips formed letters, but words didn’t follow.

  Her eyes narrowed, as if gaging my reaction. She crinkled her nose before gliding back to David’s side.

  Her partner sat by the fire, holding his hands close to the flames. My eyes widened. The old man didn’t have any pinky fingers.

  “You two are the scientists, aren’t you? You are the people David was signaling before his plane crashed.”

  The woman tucked the jacket around David and looked up. “This is the pilot?”

  My gaze flicked between her and David. “Yeah.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Well that explains some things.”

  “Curz cum qhoz puellima est,” the man said. His eyes remained fixed on the fire. His lips thinned to a straight line.

  The woman’s gaze trailed to me. “Nonz scirb est.” She removed the old man’s jacket from David, speaking more words I couldn’t understand.

  My chest twisted into a pretzel as the man rose to his knees and placed his palms on David’s chest. The woman squeezed David’s cheeks, forcing his mouth open. A clear vial caught the firelight as she tilted it toward his lips. A drop formed along the rim before disappearing into his mouth.

  David choked and sputtered. Dark liquid ran from his mouth in an incessant stream, staining his lips and cheek.

  “Oh, God! Is that blood?”

  The man grumbled and leaned down on David’s ribcage.

  “Stop it. You’re hurting him.”

  David’s body arched. Dull, emotionless eyes sprang open. They stared in my direction, but held no sense of memory, no sense of recognition, no sense of David.

  My heart sank, swirling into recesses further than oblivion. “Oh, God. Oh, God, David!”

  He kicked madly, thrashing toward the fire.

  The man bellowed in his own language as the woman fumbled for David’s legs. David’s foot flailed, kicking her in the face twice. Dark fluid ran from her nose, pooling in the crook of her mouth. The older man grabbed David’s ankles, pulling him from the edge of the fire.

  “Opules ahsah qanon rezpoadena est,” she said, reaching into her pocket. A blue vial sparkled in her hand.

  The old man shouted back at her in their own tongue.

  She mumbled in response. Her fingers squeezed David’s mouth open again. His body struggled against them. Vacant eyes glazed past me.

  “Please, David, please…” I whispered.

  A drop touched his lips. The woman stopped the vial and shoved it back into her pocket. David’s eyes blinked twice, before rolling into the back of his head. A deep gurgle erupted from his throat, and the shaking ceased.

  The man stood. The woman ran the light pen over David’s forehead and smiled. She murmured a few words to the old man, who mumbled and sat near the fire, his back to me.

  The woman tapped David on the forehead and replaced the jacket over his torso.

  I twisted and tried to get a better view. “What happened? Is he okay?”

  The man spat foreign words carrying a menacing tone.

  The woman looked up. “He wants you to be quiet.”

  “I’m sorry. I just want to know what’s going on.”

  The man abruptly stood, but his friend grabbed his arm and wrenched him down. His eyes bored through me, daggers piercing my skin. I backed as far away as the ropes allowed. Unanswered questions swirled in my mind, but for the first time in my life, I kept them to myself. My gaze settled on David as I leaned back against the tree and waited.

  ***

  Cranky-silver-haired-guy grumbled and picked up a piece of fruit from the ground. He rubbed his thumbs across the tender flesh, smelling the fuzzy skin.

  “That’s called a peach. David and I picked them before we…”

  He gnawed off a bite of the fruit.

  “Wait. That’s all we have!”

  Cranky stood and approached me. He leaned close and took another bite, purposely crunching the fruit in my ear. I scowled at him as he swallowed.

  He tilted his head to the side. “You covered him with your own body,” he said.

  Huh? “Wait, you speak English, too?” I adjusted my weight, giving my left foot a rest.

  He didn’t answer me.

  “Of course. I tried to help him. He was cold.”

  “Why do you care?”

  “Because he’s my friend.”

  Cranky laughed. “He’s not your friend.”

  I squirmed in my bindings. “Yes, he is.”

  He spit out part of the peach skin. “And what makes you think he’s your friend?”

  My gaze trailed to David. “He cares about me.”

  Cranky slapped his knee. His laugh echoed through the night. “He cares about you? Now that’s riper than this piece of fruit.” He turned to the blond girl. “The base, rudimentary reactions of these creatures disgusts me.”

  Blondie tucked the jacket around David’s shoulders. “But we have seen high levels of intelligence.”

  “Intelligence does not equate to sentience.” He threw the core of the pear into the woods. “Their animalis
tic nature makes them no better than the vermin infesting the cartilage tubing in our ship.”

  “We’re not vermin,” I whispered.

  He walked toward David, and stood over him. “No? Then why would you be so blinded by our young pilot, I wonder?” David turned in his sleep. “He’s handsome, isn’t he? You find this form attractive?”

  I fought against the ropes. “I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it.” More than 1,000 times.

  Cranky placed his hands on the edges of his tattered blazer. “Here I chose a form of an elder, one I thought would evoke feeling of knowledge and warmth, and I received nothing but sneers and disdain. He takes the form of a young, virile male, and finds a pathetic, affection-starved little girl to help him. Smart boy.”

  “I’m not pathetic.”

  “You’re entire race is pathetic.”

  I tugged on the bindings, but they gashed deeper into my flesh. “David cares about me. He does.”

  Cranky stood. “And such devotion! This pilot must be a master at manipulation.” He walked toward me. “He doesn’t care about you.”

  “He does. I know he does.”

  Cranky leaned close to my ear. “He used you.”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Oh, yes, he did.”

  “I’ll never believe that.”

  “What’s easier to believe, that he’s using you, or that someone that looks like this…” He pointed at David. “Would actually be interested in the pale, sniveling likes of you?”

  Tears welled in my eyes, my lungs constricting my breath. “Stop it.”

  He turned back to Blondie. “You see? They’d rather cling to impossible hopes than face reality.” His fiery eyes returned to me. “Want to know the truth, little girl? He’s going to get on that ship, and not even think of looking back. We are going to fly to safety, and he won’t even shed a tear when the scourge takes you.”

  A pain tore through my chest. “The what?”

  The woman pulled Cranky back. “Leave her alone.”

  He chuckled, and they both sat by the fire.

  “What’s the scourge?” I asked again.

  Blondie looked away. “It’s nothing to worry yourself about.”

  Cranky huffed. “I’d be worried if I were her.”

  Blondie shot him an angry glance, and returned her gaze to the fire. The flames continued to flash shadows across David’s sleeping form. I hung on my tree, arms too numb to feel the pain.

  Complete darkness surrounded us. The firelight didn’t seem to reach the neighboring trees. No smoke rose from the flames. David turned in his sleep. A smile touched his lips. He looked no less menacing than the night he slept in my closet.

  Cranky was lying. David would never hurt me.

  I shifted, testing my ropes again. The movement sent a stinging jolt through my knee, and my scraped knuckles throbbed. “Please let me down. This really hurts.”

  Cranky grumbled as he stood. “I’m done listening to this talking rodent.” He opened his sport coat and extracted a long silver instrument. “In the name of science, I’m going to see how long it takes her to bleed out.” He lunged for me, the sharp silver object twirling in his fist.

  I screamed and recoiled as the point spiraled toward my eye.

  20

  “No!” I cried.

  Cranky grunted, and I looked up. The old man stood before me, fist and blade still poised and pointed in my direction. His lips curled back in strain, as he hissed through clenched teeth.

  A hand held his arm in mid-swing…a bandaged hand with four fingers. Cranky twisted and growled as he fell to one knee.

  David hovered over him, his fingers indenting the skin on the older man’s arm. “Let go of it,” he ordered.

  Cranky’s lips formed a sneer, before the blade fell to the ground. David kicked Cranky’s chest, sending him on his backside. Smoothing the hair from his eyes, David plucked the instrument from the brush, and pointed the object at the older man. “Stay down.”

  Cranky flared his nose and turned away. Blondie sat by the fire, snickering.

  Warmth circled me as David rubbed the silver-thingy against my ropes. The severed bindings slid to the forest floor. Relieved beyond belief, I threw my hands around his neck.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I’m so glad you’re awake.” I clung to him, reveling in the safety of his arms, allowing my fear to fall away.

  “Look at that,” Cranky said. “How touching. What’s your name, boy?”

  “David.”

  Cranky’s lip curled. “That’s a human word. What is your real name.”

  I blinked and looked up at David. It never occurred to me that he had a real name.

  “David,” he repeated.

  Blondie rolled her eyes, and Cranky chuckled. “Suit yourself. So how did you get that annoying creature so devoted to you…or is it simply carnal attraction to the form you chose?”

  David tightened his grip on my arm. “You obviously wouldn’t understand.”

  Cranky snickered. “Please enlighten me.”

  David stared him down. “She helped me. She has a good, kind heart. Human beings are a strong, thriving race.”

  “The Caretakers would disagree.”

  “The Caretakers haven’t been down here. They haven’t experienced life with them. We have.”

  “Yes, we have, and I see no reason to counteract the timeline.”

  Blondie lowered her eyes and shook her head.

  “You can’t do this,” David said. “You need to tell them what we’ve found.”

  Cranky sneered. “By this time tomorrow, it won’t matter.”

  I turned to David. “What is he talking about?”

  Cranky smiled, folding his arms. “Yes David, what are we talking about?”

  David’s gaze fell to the forest floor. The light of the fire cast a sparkling glow about his raven hair.

  “David?” I put my hand on his arm. “What’s going on? What’s the scourge?”

  David’s eyes darted fierce anger across our camp. His chest rose and fell in deep, careful breaths.

  “This is going to be good,” Cranky said, his grin nearly touching his ears.

  “Can we have some privacy, please?” David grasped my hand.

  “No,” Cranky said. “We need the heat of the fire, and I don’t want to miss a second of this.” He sneered. “Go ahead David. Tell her why we’re here. Tell her about the scourge.”

  Blondie threw something into the fire, sending sparks into the air. “Leave them alone, Cassum Ael.”

  “David, what’s going on?”

  The confusion in his eyes frightened me. He slid my other hand into his. “Okay…I told you I was born on a ship.”

  “Yeah. Alien. Got that.”

  “Everyone in my generation was born on a ship, and I think most of the generation before us as well. Our planet became unlivable some time ago, and we had to leave it. Ever since, we’ve been searching for somewhere else to live. We came across several planets, but they were inhabited, like yours. So, we collected data from them, and moved on.” David’s gaze trailed to the fire. “We came across the fourth planet in this system. I studied it. There are enough building blocks from its previous life to bring it back.”

  “Which one is that?” I asked.

  “The red one. You can see its glow in the morning and early when your sun sets.”

  “That’s, umm, Mars. So, you’re going to terraform Mars? That’s actually cool. We’ll be neighbors.”

  David’s nose flared “No. The Caretakers rejected my proposal. They said it would take too long to warm the planet enough to support our race.”

  “Okay, so, what does that mean? Can you use Mercury or Venus?” David tilted his head. “I mean the other two planets that are pretty close to us.”

  David blinked. “No. They are both too warm. It is easier to harness the power of a
sun to warm a planet than it is to fight a sun in trying to cool it.”

  “I guess that means you’ll have to look for another solar system?”

  David closed his eyes, and inhaled. “The reason they won’t wait for the terraforming project, is that we are low on fuel and supplies. The planet won’t be ready before our people start to starve, and we haven’t found another planet close enough.”

  My stomach sank. “What does that mean?”

  David rubbed his face with his hands. “We’re not monsters. We’ve been waiting for years. Your planet was getting warmer. You were destroying yourselves, and fixing the climate for us all at the same time. So we sat back and waited for your natural demise.”

  “You mean that global-warming thing everyone talks about? You just sat there and watched us ruin the planet?”

  “Yes, until the ozone layer started to repair itself in the past several years. The Caretakers decided to scourge the planet before the climate had a chance to recover more, so we’d be able to warm it faster.” David chewed his lip and looked at the ground.

  Why had he turned away? “David, what-is-the-scourge?”

  He grimaced, before slowly raising his eyes. “A scourge is the removal of an offensive life form…before colonization.”

  I leaned back. “Offensive life form. You mean humans?”

  “Yes.”

  My hand darted up to my lips.

  Cranky laughed. “So, is your boyfriend still the man of your dreams? Do tell.”

  I steadied myself, doing my best to push aside the thought of global annihilation. “Okay, wait. They are picking you three up, so that means you won’t survive this scourge thing either. Right?” Their uncomfortable glances gave me my answer. “Then we can stop it. Just don’t get picked up.”

  David placed his hand on my arm. “No, Jess. Three lives are not worth risking our entire race. The scourge starts at sunrise, whether we’ve been extracted or not. By noon tomorrow, it will be over.”

  Rage throttled through me with the force of a seven-forty-seven. I slapped his hand off me. “So that’s it? I’m supposed to stand here and let you kill us?”

  “Jess…”