Fire in the Woods

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  Tears blurred my vision. “David, is this the scourge?”

  His lips formed a straight line. Fear, terror, and pain coalesced in his eyes, igniting a dread inside me far more horrible than anything the suffocating light could manifest. He clenched his teeth, straining against a scream.

  His body shook. His eyes glassed over, becoming less blue.

  I choked back the fist of terror punching through my chest. “David! No, David!”

  The weave of his sweatshirt liquefied, raising into the air and disappearing into the light. The remaining fabric from the front of his shirt fell into my hands. My mother’s necklace, free of the sweatshirt, fell down and dangled near my chin, the etching of the cross glinting in the light.

  David glanced up, grunted, and returned his gaze to me. His left cheek smoldered, pearly lilac skin showing through a melted elliptic hole in his human skin.

  His eyes opened wide, horror dripping from them as his gaze focused on me. “I—I’m s-sorry, Jessss.” His eyes faded to gray.

  “No!”

  The searing buzz around us ended in a resounding bass thud as the orange light disappeared. David collapsed on my chest, wheezing.

  I reached my arms around his neck and touched damp heat. Steam rose from his exposed violet skin. I lifted my hand and shuddered. Indigo fluids dripped from my fingers.

  “Is that blood? David, are you bleeding?”

  David closed his eyes. The oval of exposed Erescopian skin glinted on his left cheek, the surrounding human skin hung in melted waxy globs. He groaned and leaned off me.

  “David? David!” Tears streamed down my face.

  I smoothed back my hair, my gaze meeting Bobby’s at the edge of the runway. The trees behind him cast an eerie glow from the fires both on the field and within the brush. His blank expression remained fixed on me as the pole and noose that had held David cascaded from his hand and bounced on the pavement.

  Despite orders, Bobby had let David go, but the hurt in his eyes riddled my heart. He told me once that he’d always love me. I never believed him until that very moment.

  David moaned, and I touched his cheek. “David, please…”

  Holding my fingers over the burned flesh on his jaw, I brushed his other cheek with mine and kissed his forehead.

  “David, I’m here.”

  Bobby’s eyes lowered as he backed into the trees.

  “Bobby, wait!”

  I leaned up, but David stirred beside me.

  “David?”

  His eyes fluttered open. Blue. They were blue again.

  “Thank God.” I kissed his cheeks, his eyes.

  He smiled at me, straining as if it took the last of his energy. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “You saved me.” I brushed the hair from his forehead.

  “Yeah, well, now you can call us even.”

  I leaned away, grabbing my forehead. “I thought we were dead.”

  David frowned and turned up onto an elbow. “I don’t know why we’re not.” He ran his thumb across my cheek. “I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

  Strong fingers reaching from behind lifted me to my feet.

  Dad’s arms enveloped me inside a hug. “I thought I lost you again.”

  I relished his embrace, not remembering the last time he’d held me. “I’m okay, Dad.” I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand and turned. “Dad, this is David.”

  Officer Jerk dragged David to his feet. David winced, not fighting him at all. The jerk’s swollen red nose caught the light as he lifted the noose toward David’s head.

  “No.” My father snatched it from his hand.

  “What are you…” Officer Jerk gaped as Dad broke the noose over one knee.

  Soldiers crawled out from the smoldering wreckage throughout the field, all eyes fixed on the sky.

  David stumbled to my side and placed his arm around my shoulder. I braced myself, holding his weight as he leaned on me. The edges of his human skin along his back steamed, glistening like hot wax before it dries. His alien skin, now exposed, wept dark shiny ooze. I shivered, knowing he’d nearly sacrificed himself to save me.

  My father threw the pieces of the noose to the ground, and hesitantly approached.

  He stared at David for a moment. “You look like you’ve seen better days, soldier.”

  David laughed, and his chest buckled with a wince. “That’s a bit of an understatement, sir.”

  Dad put out his hand. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”

  David glanced at my father’s hand, his expression blank.

  “You’re supposed to shake his hand,” I said.

  “Sorry.” David reached out his left hand, and shook the back of my father’s fingers rather than grasping his palm. Dad pretended not to notice.

  A deep hum filtered through the airfields. The trees shook as dozens of huge, gleaming black ovals descended. They hovered, sparkling in the lights shining on them from jeeps and hand-held spotlights below.

  I cowered beside David. “Are those nice, friendly, pick-you-up kind of ships, or mean nasty blow-us-up kind of ships?”

  David flinched. “Those are the blow-you-up kind.”

  “Great Lord in Heaven,” my father whispered, moving closer to me as more vessels appeared.

  The ships hung like huge molten raindrops in the sky, as if someone had melted millions of black pearls, poured them into oblong lakes, and then rendered them weightless. The amorphous, liquefied masses contorted until slow waterfalls of shiny ebony drizzled from each craft, shifting and shimmering in the moonlight. The glinting and flexing cascades solidified as they touched the tarmac. Each filled into a dense rectangular pole, attaching respective liquescent masses to the ground.

  A slice of light burst from the base of the first waterfall, followed by another and another. The landing strip pulsed in their amber glow as golden lights drew upward, illuminating the waterfalls and spreading until each pole shone brighter than a lighthouse beacon.

  David’s grip on me tightened as dark figures appeared inside the lights. Long, lean, lavender Erescopians glided from the ships one at a time. Each held a silver saucer not much larger than their hands. As they touched the blacktop, they raised the instruments, pointing the shiny disks outward.

  Across the field, human soldiers scrambled, readying weapons and taking cover behind any debris they could find. Dad stood beside David and me: tall, secure and serious. Major Tomás Martinez calculated the situation, while the man I knew as my father reached out and slid a comforting hand around my wrist.

  David leaned toward my ear. “Stay beside me. No matter what, you don’t leave my side.”

  More ships disseminated above the field, dropping black waterfalls below them.

  My stomach tingled while my heart fluttered. “Where would I go?”

  The aliens scattered themselves around us. They seemed to take no heed to the crouching and hiding soldiers. Their forms glided with each step, almost majestic in their gait. Violescent from bare head to toe, their bodies showed darker purple splotches in indiscernible patterns that seemed unique to each being.

  My grip on David’s arm tightened as a few of his people came closer. While quite manly from a human perspective, I couldn’t tell if any of them were male or female. A tremor ran down my spine. The skin where their legs met seemed smooth and devoid of sexual organs. Glancing at David, I couldn’t help but wonder: did they have sexes where he came from?

  One of the aliens touched his turquoise gaze to mine before turning his attention back to the ships as another Erescopian stepped out. The being appeared no different from the rest, but his bold carriage held him above the others as he moved past his predecessors. His eyes fixed on us. His gait quickened as silver-disk-carrying alien soldiers flanked him.

  “What’s so special about this guy?” I asked.

  David tensed. “He’s their commander.”

  The being sto
pped less than a foot from David. Grimacing as he arched his back, David tried to stand taller. The commander’s bottom lip quivered before he reached out and pulled David into his arms, muttering something in a melodic dialect.

  “Oagnaribysso, oxhamata, est.” The sound of David’s voice speaking the strange words startled me.

  The alien touched David’s back. Dark liquid stained his hand. He showed the bloody tint to David.

  A slight shrug brought a frown to David’s face as he uttered another series of words in the odd tongue.

  The commander’s eyes quavered before he clamped David into another embrace. He whispered into David’s ear. The gesture seemed extremely intimate, even for an alien culture. The two closest Erescopian guards looked away, almost as if giving them privacy.

  A flush of understanding overcame me. Could this alien be David’s father?

  David leaned away. “Xaqnon oxhamata. Oate zeplurs opoluus zmecit est.” He pointed at my father before rattling off another series of foreign words, his eyes both pleading and hopeful.

  My mind whirled, taking in their musical speech. The entrancing tones enlivened my senses, while the curious side of me itched…wishing I knew what they were saying to each other, especially when David’s tenor became anxious, unsure, and panicked.

  After a brief interchange, David shook his fists and spoke with a harshness I’d never heard from him.

  The commander’s eyes narrowed. The being’s gaze fixed on me before his hand darted out and snatched my wrist, hoisting me into the air.

  My skin burned beneath his touch. “Ouch!”

  Dad reached for his gun. Eight silver disks rose in Erescopian grips and shined on his face.

  “No!” David raised his hand. “Jess’s father, please put your weapon away.”

  “What is he doing?” Dad asked.

  A hiss escaped David’s father’s lips as he shook me. My shoulder stretched, threatening to pop from its socket.

  “Stop hurting her,” Dad screamed, moving toward us.

  David yanked him back. “They don’t believe you are a thinking, feeling race. You need to prove it.”

  The burning deepened. I imagined my muscles tearing. “Daddy?” I said, unable to force out another word.

  Dad’s face contorted. He holstered his gun and dropped to his knees. His gaze lowered. “Please. Please don’t hurt my daughter. I love her, I need her, and I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to her.” He raised his eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks, carving a crevice into my soul. How long had it been since I’d seen him cry?

  My toes hit the ground, releasing some of the strain on my arm, but the commander’s grip remained firm. He reached out with his other hand, and brushed a tear from Dad’s cheek. He rubbed the dampness between his fingers. All I could do was pray that tears had the same meaning in their culture.

  David fell to his knees beside Dad and whispered a string of harmonious words. His eyes softened, pleaded, yearned for acceptance.

  I balanced on my tip-toes, trying to find sure footing. Struggling for any positive sign, I held my breath, both terrified and encouraged by the hopeful yet acquiescent expression on David’s face.

  The grasp on my wrist slackened, and I slipped gently to the ground. Relief charged me as I reached for my father and helped him to his feet. I hugged him, burying my face in his neck.

  His grip tightened around me. Warm emotion coursed through our embrace. This kind of affection had been lost between us since Mom died. I slipped deeper into his hold, realizing these feelings had always been there. We just needed to reach for them.

  One of the saucer-holding aliens approached, mumbling in their musical tongue.

  The commander’s short-bridged nose twisted. If he were human, I would have thought it a sneer. He tapped a finger to his lip as if contemplating before raising his voice, shouting in his foreign speech. His words sliced though the silence.

  Several of the Erescopians holding the disks lowered them. The remaining glanced to their comrades, wide-eyed.

  My mind whirled. What had he said? Was everything okay? Were they calling off the attack?

  One of the human soldiers left his hiding place behind a mangled metal plate and moved toward an alien with a lowered disk. The Erescopian, probably just as nervous as we were, turned quickly, raising a glowing circle in his palm.

  “They’re attacking,” the soldier yelled.

  “No,” David screamed, but the deadening boom of the soldier’s rifle had already shattered the silence.

  A slice of dread cut through me as the Erescopian’s head whipped back. The disk shot an amber glow in a circular pattern as it flew from his hand. The device clanged to the blacktop a second before the body of its owner hit the ground.

  The world moved in slow motion as a beam of light from the fallen disk shot into the soldier’s abdomen. The man howled, clutching his stomach as he fell. His rifle bounced once on the asphalt beside him.

  I drew in a slow breath, tensing as every prayer I could think of sped through my mind. Dozens of the Erescopian’s silver disks rose to eye level, changing colors as they swirled.

  “No!” David flung his body on top of the wounded human soldier. The lights from his own people’s weapons shone on his bare human skin and caught the etching in my mother’s necklace. The oval glinted, sending rays of light in all angles. David’s blue eyes sparkled, changing in hue as the amber rays illuminated them.

  My breaths became slow, calculated. My body remained rigid, my mind reeling over the calamity about to ensue over such a simple misunderstanding.

  The human soldiers advanced, forming a wall behind their wounded comrade. Terror raged in their eyes as the aliens mimicked them. Ranks formed two lines. Disks and rifles pointed at each other in shaking hands.

  “Xaqnon zrhaimittam est,” David’s father called. “Aountenzrzhere est.”

  “Stand down!” Dad ordered, but the humans remained locked on their targets.

  David held one hand out toward his people. He rattled off words in his own language, the desperation in his voice enunciated by the terror in his eyes, but his words seemed to have no effect.

  He kept his palm raised, and looked back toward the human soldiers behind him. “Please, listen to Jess’s father. Stand down. We do not need to fight here.”

  An endless silence riddled the field. My pulse throbbed through my temples as humans and Erescopians stared at each other, distrust flaring in their eyes.

  “Stand down!” My father’s voice echoed through the field. “Everyone—lower your weapons. That’s an order.” Across the tarmac, firearms hesitantly lowered, the soldiers casting uneasy glances toward the aliens.

  The saucer pointed at Dad’s face turned back toward its handler. David closed his eyes and exhaled.

  “Xaqnon zrhaimittam est,” the Erescopian commander bellowed, and the remainder of the disks lowered to his people’s sides.

  Relief-filled tears blurred my vision as my father helped David to his feet. “I don’t know what you said kid, but whatever it was—that was pretty brave.”

  David smiled and unsuccessfully tried to cover a wince as he moved his arm. “I wasn’t so sure it would work.”

  Two guards flanked David’s father as he approached.

  Dad held out a hand to the slightly taller alien. “Can we have peace?”

  The commander tilted his head to the side. He obviously couldn’t understand what Dad had said.

  David stepped between them. “Let me translate.” He placed two fingers on Dad’s outstretched hand. “Apacem zrahpetiit, evfronossimezrah est.”

  The commander nodded before turning toward Dad. “Aet inter zeplurs scirrf crestmiglova.”

  David smiled. “My father says that we can learn from each other,” David tugged his father’s palm toward Dad’s. Relief flooding me, I helped them place the correct hands together for a proper grasp.

  Dad tilted his head sl
ightly, shaking the alien’s hand. “Well, I guess that’s a step in the right direction.”

  I released my breath in a huge puff. “We did it. We actually did it!”

  Dad gripped my shoulder in a reassuring hug. “At least for now. There’s a long road ahead of us.”

  David’s smile warmed me, giving me the last spark I needed to finally relax. Careful of the broken skin on his face, I leaned close to him and brushed his cheek with mine.

  A shrill noise robbed us of our tender moment. A lighted beam cut through the black waterfall below the center ship. The last of my relaxation ebbed away, lost in the fading darkness and the agitated, ever-changing movements of the Erescopian soldiers. I held my breath as a form filled the light and a wide, much taller alien strode out and treaded toward us. The Erescopian soldiers lowered their eyes as he passed. Commander-Dad adjusted his footing, and followed suit.

  “Why is your father bowing? I thought he was their leader?” I asked.

  David’s eyes trembled before he bowed his head. “He is only a commander. Everyone bows to the Caretakers.”

  23

  The larger alien ambled past the commander and grabbed David by the neck, raising him into the air.

  “Hey, Stop!” I shouted. My father grasped my arm, holding me back.

  The Caretaker’s eyes seared into David. He spat out words in the alien tongue with a sense of hatred and authority, completely lacking the musical tone of David or the commander.

  No one in the assembly moved as David reached for the hand around his throat. His nails dug unsuccessfully at the larger man’s grip.

  A tear fell from David’s father’s eye, but the commander stood back, watching his son struggle for breath. His lower lip quivered slightly before he pressed his lips taught.

  No freaking way…we’ve come too far. I bent my knee and kicked backward, nailing my father in the shin. His grip slackened, and I bolted toward David.

  I reached above my head to slap the solid lavender arm that held David aloft. “Let him go!” I hung from the huge alien’s arm, feeble, staring into David’s swollen eyes.