Bambi's Alien Abduction (Earth Girl's Guide to Surviving an Alien Abduction Book 1)

by Aubrey Cara

  What happened to our furs?

  I go to reach for Bombee and realize I’m holding something already. My eyelids crack open, and I look around in confusion. I’m just inside the doorway to my domicile. My spear and bag of supplies is still clutched in my grasp.

  I climb to my feet, swaying as a wave of dizziness hits me. Where is Bombee? I step out onto the dirt and stone pathway, my head swimming as I peer left then right. There is no sign of the hildy. The few Alogorians milling about stop what they are doing.

  “Yon Tor? Is all well?” Tqe, a Alogorian from my youth, is beside me. He and I were in the same breeding cycle, but he left after his Wisdom Trials. I momentarily wonder if I’m actually awake or dreaming when I remember he recently returned to care for his oldest brother.

  He gasps and plucks something from my neck. He holds it up for my inspection. I weave in place, squinting at the ku’wow dart.

  My stomach roils and heaves as my heart races in panic. I should be springing into action, but the ku’wow is still in my system, making it hard to focus. I growl in frustration when I would rather roar my fury. I drop my spear and sack, and grab Tqe by the shoulders. “Someone. Has taken. My bynt ky’ab yhar.” My words are stilted and hard to get out. There are murmurs around me. Someone shouts that the Yon Tor has been poisoned and the blessed one taken. I close my eyes, trying to concentrate.

  “Water,” Tqe commands. “Get the Yon Tor water. And Bo’hob.”

  “Bo’hob is not here,” someone answers.

  My eyes spring open. Would Bo’hob take Bombee? I think to the somber expression of dejection he wore when I told him I would not be sharing her. A weight of hurt presses my chest. Surely, he would not betray me this way. My eyes close as I remember the yearning in eyes as he watched my female.

  I will kill the sihruka if he has taken her.

  What if someone else took her? At least, with Bo’hob, I know she’s safe. If she’s been taken by someone wanting to harm her or my ling…

  Rage and fear roll through me in waves, making my knees weak. I want to shout my fury. I’m no longer surprised by the intensity of possessive instincts arising in me when it comes to Bombee. She is mine in every way, and I did not protect her as I should have. If anything happens to her, I will no longer deserve life.

  Tqe hands me a water skin, and I drink deep, not thanking him until I hand it back to him, empty. “I will need a hildy,” I announce to those around me. I don’t have a plan. All I know is someone has taken my Bombee, and I have to get her back. “Did anyone see anything?” The Alogorians standing around look at each other, everyone including myself waiting for someone to speak up. “No one?” Disbelief paints my tone.

  Sie steps forward. He was also in my breeding cycle but hasn’t ever left. He has a son Vhar’s age. He’s always been an affable fellow, quick with a smile, but now his face is tight with worry, his hands clasped in front of him. “I helped your bynt into your hildy. She was alone, with nothing but a ne’dav. But that is all I saw. I had to go help Nhyl with the ne’dav hatching today. I didn’t think to stay—”

  I wave a hand, cutting off his words. “Thank you, Sie. Let your conscience be at ease. There was nothing you could do to prevent her from being taken.” I hold up the ku’wow dart I had been struck with so he and everyone else understands this was not just deliberate but thought out.

  Young Myk arrives with the hildy and hops out the second the shield slides open.

  When I climb in, Tqe fastens my spear to the side along with the rest already there and drops the sack I had packed for Bombee and Pluppy in the back. I have a moment to worry and hope whoever took my bynt has proper nutrients for her before Tqe jumps in.

  I jerk around, staring at him in question.

  “I’m coming with.” When I make no move to close the shield, he continues, “You’re in no shape to travel on your own, Yon Tor.”

  He’s likely correct. I have no idea if I can trust him. At the moment everyone is suspect, but I do not want to waste time arguing. I hit the control to close our shield and move slowly, winding through the village until we hit the gates to the open desert.

  “What’s the plan?” Tqe asks.

  “We search all the mah-kuns and then the mountains. Keep a lookout for anything out of the ordinary.” My gut clenches. Knowing my little warrior, she is even now putting up a fight. Ancestors only know what we will find when we reach her, wherever she is.

  “May I ask you a personal question, Yon Tor?”

  “I may not answer, but you are free to ask.”

  “Why an imported bynt ky’ab yhar?”

  I huff out a breath, my gaze searching the landscape for a sign, any sign of Bombee. “My father had the insane belief we could use the humans to grow our population more rapidly. Then, perhaps, more of us would stay and build up Lehor, instead of going off world.” There is a trace of censure in my tone as I say the last. I am only annoyed that it is a Alogorian like him who put these events into motion.

  “Well, there has been more excitement in the village since your bynt ky’ab yhar arrived, than in our entire lifetime,” Tqe muses. “Mayhap we need to import more humans.”

  I grunt in acknowledgement. “You might feel differently if it were your bynt we were tracking down.”

  “I would count myself fortunate. Not to have had my bynt stolen,” he quickly amends. “But to have a human bynt ky’ab yhar. Human females are strangely appealing. I hope we find yours soon, Yon Tor. I am sorry this happened.”

  “Thank you, Tqe.” Then something occurs to me. “Have you seen other humans before?”

  “Here and there. Not very often. The Zapex keep them pretty well hidden away, but now and then one makes its way onto Neo.”

  This surprises me, but I’m not sure why. Neo is the trading moon planet where I purchased Bombee. “What do you do off world?”

  “I man a supply freight. Thought I’d see the galaxy, but I’ve been to every corner of Jun’pn more times than I can count. And, lately, it’s all starting to look the same. I am ready to keep my feet on the ground and a ling in my arms, but I guess I have another ten solars before that happens.”

  Momentarily distracted from the search, a smile tugs at my lips with an idea. You never know when the ancestors will drop good fortune at your feet. Here I have been trying to decide who would be best to send out to search the galaxy for Bombee’s friends, and I think I’ve found just the Alogorian.

  Before I can ask if Tqe would be willing to go, he shouts from behind me, “Over there!”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Earth Girl’s Guide to Surviving an Alien Abduction

  Tip #9

  Do not pick a fight with your alien captor…

  Unless he has it coming.

  BAMBI

  I must be the most roofied girl in the universe. The fuzzy head, roiling stomach, and cottonmouth are all too familiar sensations. I sit up from where my face is pressed against the glass of the hovercraft and wipe drool off my chin. That’s when I realize my hands aren’t tied. Who abducts someone, and from their original abductor, and doesn’t tie their hands?

  I’m somewhat insulted he sees me as so little of a threat.

  Fluffy has somehow wedged himself in between my boobs. His lower half is nestled in my cleavage and his other half hangs out of my halter top. I pat his head and smack my lips together, trying to wake up. He slithers out with only the briefest of snaky struggles and winds himself around my neck so tightly, I nearly choke.

  Desert landscape zooms past, and I scowl at the Alogorian driving the hovercraft. He not only abducted me, he’s obviously upset Fluffy.

  “Hey, you little shit. Take me back to your dad.” Without thinking it through, I smack his big head.

  He jerks and sneers back at me. “Quiet, filthy human. I’m going to take you to the Monrok where you belong.”

  Geesh. What is with everyone wanting to send me to the Monrok?

  “Sorry, no can do, turd. I’m going to see
the Elders. You know, the group of your leaders who sent you away?” Okay, the last was a low blow, but I’m so not magnanimous mood right now. “Think they’ll like me better than you?”

  Vhars snarls. “I do not need the approval of the Elders.”

  “Pah-leeze. You are pathetically transparent. You’ve kidnapped your dad’s pregnant girlfriend. Seeking attention much?”

  “My father was a fool to breed you.” He remains facing forward as he traverses the pink sandy plain, but I can see the tic of a vein in his neck. His voice is bitter cold. “I hope the Monrok terminate the disgusting half breed ling you carry.”

  Oh, no he didn’t. “Take it back.” My voice is deadly calm, but I’m vibrating with a simmering rage.

  “I hope they tear the yhar from your womb and stomp it into dust,” he goads.

  “Take. It. Back, Vhars.”

  “I take back nothing, you nasty hisham—”

  I launch myself at him, lock my arm around his throat. Whatever else he was about to say gets cut off by my sudden attack. With my other arm, I smack and punch him in his head. My fist hits one of the big ridges there square on, and I shriek in pain. Shaking out my hand, I tighten my arm around his neck in retaliation for his ridge hurting my fist when I hit him. He makes a supremely satisfying gurgling sound.

  Fluffy jumps into the fray, striking it out and biting Vhar’s face. The Alogorian flings my fat snake off his face. Fluffsters just sinks his fangs in Vhar’s thigh. He yells out and claws my arm wrapped around his throat. I scream, releasing him. Clutching my bleeding arm, I fall back in my seat but bring my feet up to donkey kick him in the back as hard as I can.

  Freaking asshole.

  Like a wounded banshee, I keep kicking and screaming in earnest.

  You know those moments that happen in slow-mo in movies? That’s what happens as my foot connects with Vhars’ head. It’s the perfect ninja kick. Like a force field of energy shot out of my leg or something. His face snaps against the glass dome surrounding us once, twice. There’s a loud crack. The hovercraft careens wildly, spinning. Vhars is slumped forward, not moving.

  Holy shit, I’ve killed him.

  That’s my last thought before we crash into the desert terrain at an angle, sending me flipping through the air. My head snaps to the side. Pain explodes.

  For the second time today, all goes black.

  ~*~*~

  It’s strange the things that play through your mind when you’re in that land between being asleep and awake. Seat belts. That’s the first thought that flows into my stream of conscious-unconsciousness. Visions of old station wagons with the seat facing backward go through my head. I’m too young to ever ridden in one, but I was always fascinated that there was a time people didn’t wear seatbelts.

  My mother used to make me watch Wonder Years reruns with her when she was hungover. She’d regale me with stories of the cross-country road trips my grandparents would drag her and her older siblings on. My mom and her youngest brother would sit in the seat that faced the rear, and there were no seatbelts.

  I never met any of my aunts or uncles. And I only met my grandparents once when I was really little. I remember it being a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I’m not sure if it was or if it just seemed that way because decorations were up and they gave me two presents. A doll and a bible.

  They were super religious.

  After a big dinner, in which I ate the best home-cooked meal I had ever had, something happened. My mom was screaming at my grandfather in the kitchen. My grandmother was trying to distract me, but then she stopped to listen, too, her face pinched with upset.

  My mom came into the living room where we were and snatched me up.

  Grandpa followed us out of the house. “Godless whores aren’t welcome here,” he yelled as my mother loaded me into the car. I was in a booster seat, and my mom had to really reach past me to snap the seat belt into place. She smelt like the pretty perfume she always wore.

  “Don’t come bringing that little bastard of yours around here again,” he shouted. My mom huffed a repressed scream between her lips and slammed the car door shut before stomping around and climbing behind the wheel.

  In the doorway of their seventies-style ranch house, my grandmother was crying.

  She was holding the doll and the bible. Clutching them to her chest like she had wanted to race out and give them to me but couldn’t.

  My grandfather shoved her back into the house. As we were pulling away I saw her face in the window, watching us leave. I remember wondering what would happen to my doll. It had been one of those fancy ones with porcelain faces and old-fashioned poufy dresses.

  That was the last time I saw my grandparents.

  My mom had gotten me a similar doll when I mentioned we’d left the other one behind. I called her Fancy Franny, but it wasn’t the same…

  Good news, bad news.

  When we crashed, I wondered if I was going to die. It was one of those fleeting thoughts that are there and gone. I didn’t realize I thought it until now, when I’m waking up alive.

  Not opening my eyes, I take inventory.

  My right shoulder and arm hurt. I have throbbing knots on my cheekbone and forehead. My left ankle is screaming in pain. All my aches and pains are pulsing to agonizing life as I wake. I’m lying at an odd angle.

  I blink my eyes open and stare up at the other side of the hovercraft and sky. The vehicle is tipped on its side, and Vhars and I are wedged together. I push up and away from him, and my wrist twinges in protest.

  “Vhars?” He’s facing toward me, a bloody gash on his forehead. I shake his leg and realize it’s twisted under him at an odd angle. I jerk back as if burned. My stomach heaves, and I try to pull it together. “Vhars, can you hear me?” I reach out and squeeze his arm this time. He groans but doesn’t wake, so at least I know he’s alive-ish.

  Then I spot smooshed blue scales under his shoulder. My stomach threatens to revolt again. “Fluffy!”

  The hovercraft rocks as I get to my feet. I’m hunched over Vhars, trying to lift his shoulder and pry Fluffy out. I finally get him pulled free, and my breath hitches in my throat. My snake’s fat body hangs limply over my hands. I pull him tight against my chest and plop down on my ass, petting him. Hoping he’ll wake.

  There’s no movement or signs of life.

  Fluffy.

  A sob breaks free. I cover my mouth to hold it in, but I don’t know why. There is no one here to see or hear me cry. And I sound wretched. Even to my own ears. My sobs are amplified in the confined space, making it sound like others mourn alongside me.

  But it’s just me.

  Me, my poor Fluffy, and my murderous alien soon to be stepson. I mean, there’s no such thing as marriage here, or anything, but I think Oathar may be my lobster. As in, I’m having his babies and wants me to stick around for a while. Maybe forever.

  That thought the air seize in my lungs.

  Him being “the one” is so not something I need to analyze right now.

  When did life get so complicated?

  OATHAR

  At Tqe’s shout, my gaze jerks over to see a giant huzah lying out in the sun. At first glance, its back is bowled like it’s bloated, but then I catch sight of the shiny tail end of a hildy. My pulse rate spikes as I change directions and punch forward, racing toward the huzah.

  It lifts its head, but I’m prepared and avoid getting hit by one of its giant claws. Round and round I go, taunting the creature until it abandons the felled hildy and follows me. The huzah population has gotten out of control. There aren’t enough beings, Alogorian or Gyhan, to hunt them.

  “What are you doing, Yon Tor?” Tqe asks with no little concern in his voice.

  “I’m leading it away. When was the last time you killed a huzah?”

  “Twenty solars ago at my Wisdom Trials. And I do not remember it being that big.”

  I grin as I circle the vehicle down to land facing the creature charging at us. “Sou
nds like you’re long overdue.” I’m hopping out of the hildy and snatching a spear off the side of it the second the shield slides open. I toss a spear to Tqe as he jumps out.

  The huzah’s screech fills the air as it’s almost upon us. We get into stance, squaring our feet and angling our shoulders in preparation. “Remember to mind the venomous fangs and tail.” I nod to my shoulder and the scar running down into my torso.

  Tqe’s eyes go wide. “Lehor is a lot more exciting than I remember it.”

  “Welcome home, my friend.”

  Tqe chuckles before he shouts and charges forward.

  We haven’t hunted or battle trained together since we were barely older than ling, but we fall into a pattern of striking one side of the beast and pulling back as the other strikes the opposite side. It’s imperative to disorient the huzah to be able to get in close enough to stab a spear through its vulnerable throat or eye.

  The huzah’s head whips back and forth.

  From the corner of my eye, I see a hildy gliding toward us. A huzah claw swipes across my vision. I roll away and jump to my feet before lunging at the beast with my spear. It’s flaying wildly now and catches Tqe with a hit of its head. He is flung to the side and skitters in the sand. I fall back as the beast’s stinger-spiked tail slashes in my direction.

  Heart pounding, I clench my fist more tightly around my spear. I’m about to charge forward to deliver the killing blow but pause as I hear a familiar battle cry.

  Out of nowhere Bo’hob appears. He jumps onto the huzah’s swinging tail, races up its spine and, with a mighty shout, plants his spear in the beast’s skull. It gives out one last earsplitting screech before falling. The earth trembles under my feet as it lands in one direction. Bo’hob lands with a thud and rolls in the other.

  That is the second time in less than a moon cycle I have fought a huzah and had the glory of the kill taken from me.

  Just the thought of my little warrior being near has my feet moving. I race around the dead creature to where Bo’hob had landed his hildy, but the craft is empty.