by Alyx X
I couldn't leave here without ensuring that this was Evvie's town. Going to the mine wasn't an option. If I moved one inch forward, the guard would spot me, even with the muted moonlight. I had to get off this hill, anyway. Sliding down, I cursed myself for the move, because it kicked up the sand and dust, but luck was still on my side. Nobody came outside until I was in the deep shadows behind the building the masculine voices could be heard in. The sound of sand crunching under boots was enough to make me risk a look.
A woman walked out of the building with the lights on and into the tent. I heard the sound of water, then a few minutes later she walked back to what was presumably her bunk. The tent must've been the bathroom. Nothing happened for a long time as I waited against the back wall of the building. It went quiet, then the lights went out in the other. I was sure the first one I'd come to was completely empty because there had been no movement in it at all. When I'd gone what had to be an hour with no movement in the camp at all, I decided to check it out.
Getting to my feet, I crouched and looked around, wondering how much longer it would be before Evvie returned from the mines. Did I dare risk it? When there was still no movement as I crouched and waited, I darted from the back of the guards' building to the empty one. There was a door in the back. I tried the handle and found it unlocked. And pitch-black inside. I switched on the flashlight and held my hand over the beam to dampen it. That meant I could only look around a few feet at a time, but it gave me more security.
The building was a bunk, I'd been right. There were four bunk beds, each three high. I dismissed them one by one, recognizing nothing. Evvie usually carried a small bag, brown leather with a long, mended strap. She always pulled the sausages out of it. On the last bunk, I spotted it. It hung from a nail on the wall near the top bunk. Her bunk. I climbed up and her scent was all over the blankets.
A noise at the door startled me. I jumped off the bunk ladder and extinguished the light. Dropping behind the bed nearest the wall, I snatched a blanket off of it and threw it over myself, leaving just enough of a hole to see out of. If no lights came on, I'd be safe. The moonlight illuminated one of the guards in the doorway. He shined a flashlight into the room, waved it around as if looking, then closed the door.
"Clear." His deep voice carried through the walls. "That's it until night shift is finished," he said. "Let's go eat." I stayed under the blanket. The room had some sort of climate control on it. It wasn’t as hot as outside, but not exactly cool either. I had to pull my head out and fan my face, silently cursing my long hair as it heated my neck and back. It had been far too hot under there. How did they sleep with these on them all night?
When I began to worry too much time had passed and Evvie would walk in and find me, I put the blanket back on the bed and slipped out the back door. A whistle sounded as soon as I shut the door behind me. I froze. Had I set off an alarm? Nobody moved, so I stayed put. I should've gone back to the cave, but I had to see Evvie. I had to know she was safe.
Not long after the whistle sounded, I heard voices. It was still dark, but the slightest rays of light peeked over the horizon. Luckily, I was still well hidden behind the building. I chanced a look around it and spotted her immediately. She walked beside an older woman—Alice, maybe—and she looked more beaten down and worn out than I'd ever seen her. My heart squeezed and then exploded with rage when one of the guards appeared over the hill behind her and pushed her forward. She stumbled down the hill and quickened her pace.
She never looked up or smiled. Her demeanor was hopeless. Lost. I had to get her out of here. If I drew the guards out one at a time, maybe I could take them down. The humans had no chance against me, a well-trained warrior, but she'd managed to sneak away many times. The next time she came, I'd convince her to just stay with me until we finished the ship and could leave. Then we'd both be free of our prisons, I realized with a jolt. Evvie was as much a prisoner as I was.
Leaving my heart there with her, I ran for my cave, getting out of sight of the camp before the sky lightened enough to expose me. I started working on the ship in earnest, going as fast as I could. The ladder still intimidated me after the bout of vertigo the last time, but I had a burst of energy and urgency to complete the repairs, so I climbed it anyway. Luckily, the vertigo was gone. I was able to make several repairs on top before the heat was too much and I had to go into the cave.
Exhausted from making the journey to the ‘town’ twice, plus working harder than I yet had, I fell asleep with Evvie on my mind. I had to get her out of here.
13
Evvie
Even though I was only going to the cave every other night or so, the interruption in my sleep was beginning to get to me. When I arrived at the cave, I wanted to go straight inside and lay down to sleep beside Jarix, but we were so close to finishing the pod. I couldn't.
He was often already out there working when I arrived, but today he wasn't. I looked at the ship, confused. When I'd left, the top right panel of the pod was off where I'd been trying to get a part back in the shift modulator. Had Jarix gone up there? If he had, he was healing better than I thought. I hurried toward the cave and inside. "Hello?" I called.
"Back here." Jarix came forward with the flashlight. "I was just taking stock of my provisions. I've only got a few more days’ worth of food." I'd figured that. He had to have been eating pretty lean for it to even have lasted this long.
"Should we get started?" I asked. He grunted and shut off the light. "I brought you two sausages today," I said. "So that's better than one."
Jarix gave me a look that was either irritated or worried. "You look tired."
"Alice hasn't done well for the past few days." She hadn't done well since the beating, actually. It had taken a major toll on her. "I've been working harder to make up for her slow progress."
He furrowed his brow as we walked out of the cave into the morning sun, not responding. Confused, I looked at him as we walked, but he kept his gaze forward. I didn’t understand it. Ever since that day, when we’d finally let loose all of our pent-up tension and desire, we’d been almost like a real couple. We’d laughed, gotten to know each other better, and touched each other enough to make any person roll their eyes. Today he seemed distant. "What's wrong?" I asked, trying to sound like it wasn’t a big deal, whatever it was.
"Nothing. I got some stuff done on the ship while you were gone," he said. "I think she can fly like this, but not far. If you want to, we can leave here and camp somewhere farther away from your..." He cleared his throat. "Town."
Why had he said that so strangely? "No, that's probably not the best idea. We need to get to The Glass City. If we tried to work any closer to it we might be discovered by patrols. Once we're inside the city, we can disappear and work on getting transport off the planet. Out here in the wild, the only thing protecting us is how far out we are."
He nodded. "I see."
Irritated at his coldness, I grabbed a wrench, stalking away from him. "What should I work on today?" I called back. We were into repairs now that were too intricate and beyond my capabilities to help with. I'd just been doing as he asked so far, fixing what I could with my hands. Jarix walked up beside me, then showed me a part that needed to be put into the back of the ship. He walked around the curve of the pod and placed his hand on it. "Not long now," he whispered to himself. Watching him, I grew more irritated. Was he suddenly planning on leaving me? Why was he acting so weird?
We didn't speak again until a few hours later when we were back in the cave, hiding from the worst part of the day. I’d been simmering both under the heat of the sun and the heat of my own emotions. I’d debated the entire time whether or not I should break the silence, and ultimately had been too proud to do so, to my dismay.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" I asked as we chugged water from the med kit bags.
"I came to visit you in your town," he said, not meeting my gaze. Dread immediately washed o
ver me. He'd seen the camp. What must he think of me? Words and explanations flashed through my mind, but I gaped at him soundlessly, unable to form a coherent sentence. “It is not a town.” Yeah that was obvious.
“You’re right. I lied about where I come from.” I looked up at him, begging him to meet my eyes. After a heartbeat, he did, the golden color smoldering in the dim light.
“Why? What do you have to hide from me?” He didn’t seem sad about it, just worried, and it occurred to me that he might have thought I was working for TerraLink. I gulped, finally willing to tell the truth. I cared too much for him to keep it up.
"I lied to you, too," he said before I could answer his question. He took my hand in his own, and that smolder became a blaze. "My ship didn't break apart." My dread lessened as curiosity replaced it. He took my hand and continued. "My sister was very sick on my planet. I was the only one who could care for her, seeing as my father was dead and my mother gone. My city was ruthless growing up, and the people left my sister and me to fend for ourselves. She was my closest ally, my greatest friend. We grew up though. We made it, and we were happy. Until she got sick. While we weren't beggars—I had a very good job—we didn't have enough money for her treatments. At least, that's what I thought."
The pain in his golden eyes broke my heart. I pulled us to the floor to continue talking, then scooted closer and took his other hand in mine. "What happened?" I whispered.
"There were experimental treatments that were not covered by our health co-op. They weren't guaranteed, but one was promising. I was so sure if I could pay for it, she'd be fine." He looked away, as if ashamed to tell me what he'd done. "I stole my government’s money to pay for it. In the end, after they investigated, I was found out and sent to a space prison. It was too late for my sister."
"The treatment didn't work?"
He shook his head, and in the dim light, it was hard to tell but I thought he had tears in his eyes. "No, it made her worse. I believe she would've had another year or two with me if we hadn't tried the experimental treatment. I learned of her death and was sent to the prison ship on the same day."
My heart, already broken by the news of his sister's death, shattered. Oh, my Jarix. How noble that he’d tried to save his sister, and how terrible that he should be punished for it. And in such a harsh way, too. I wasn’t sure what a space prison was, but it sounded bleak. Especially considering Jarix had once again broken the law in order to escape it. I realized with a jolt that we were both prisoners, both trapped. "How did you escape?"
"I got lucky and took full advantage of a prison riot," he explained. "Took the pod, and here we are."
"We're both prisoners," I whispered, wanting him to understand that I empathized with his history. Then, needing to dispel the tiny bit of worry I still saw in his handsome face, I took my turn to share my history. "After I returned from Hydronia, TerraLink sent me out here to work off my debt to them, but what I didn't tell you is that it's a prison camp. It's not a town or village. I wake up, I work, I sleep. There is nothing else here, and the beating I took last week was because they figured out I had been sneaking out of camp. They took it out on Alice, beating her in front of a crowd. I got back in time to stop them, but they turned on me instead. I’m sorry I lied, I was just too embarrassed to tell you the truth. I couldn’t beg this gorgeous alien I’d just met,” Jarix smiled lightly at me, “to take me away from here, when I didn’t know if he’d just turn me in. Knowing now that you’re also on the run, I wish I hadn’t done it. We could have gotten out of here sooner, maybe."
His face hardened. "If I'd known that you had been beaten, rather than won a fight, I would've killed them all last night. It would not have been difficult." Seeing his gleaming muscles in the light of the flashlight, I nodded. He could probably kill them all without even a weapon.
"Why did you come?" I asked. What had possessed him to try to find me? "Was something wrong?"
"No, I just didn't want to wait to see you. Evvie, we can leave. We can go right now. We'll find another place to hide and figure all this out. You have to get away from that camp."
He didn't understand. "Come over here," I said. Standing, I took his hand and led him to the cave entrance.
It was blazing hot here, but I had to show him. "You've seen the size of Earth, right?"
He nodded. "Yes, on the way in."
"On the whole planet, there are only two cities left. The Smog City and the Glass City." I kicked some sand into the cave and used my hand to draw a circle in it. "I'm not sure how close this is, but it'll give you an idea. There are some human settlements around, but they're small and they struggle. They won't let outsiders in, especially an alien." I made a dot in the sand. "We're here."
On the far side of the circle, I made two more dots. "These are the big cities. It's a long distance to get to them. Even in your pod it will take hours just to get to the city."
I drew a line not far from us. "This desert is the worst in the world. It's unmonitored, but the rest of the world has sensors, alarms, digital notifications for the TerraLink Program. If there is someone on this planet, TerraLink knows where they are. They leave the little human settlements alone because there are enough people in the cities to keep themselves wealthy. But make no mistake, they know they're there."
"Why were there no vehicles in your camp, and only three buildings?" He asked.
"The vehicles are driven into the mines when they're here. They get too hot in the sun. One of the buildings you saw is the night shift's bunkhouse and the other is day shift's. The third is the guardhouse and kitchen, and where they store everything else."
"And the tent is your restroom?" He asked.
"Yes. We used to stay in the mines all the time, but the salt dehydrated us faster if we didn't spend some time out of them."
"I'm very lucky you found me," he whispered. He took my hand and led me deeper into the cave and pulled me into his arms. "I hadn't realized how alone I felt until I met you. We may need to change our escape plan, if things on this planet are as you say. I don’t want to work this hard on the pod, with you in danger every day, just to be caught as soon as we get airborne.”
I nodded against his chest, glad he understood. “We can discuss the plan in greater detail. I want to get out of her quickly too, as long as we can bring Alice.” I felt him nod on top of my head.
Turning my head up, I offered him my lips. "Jarix," I whispered.
Hunger flashed in his eyes. "Unwrap your trousers," he said. He put his hands under my arms and lifted as soon as I did. After making quick work of my pants, he pushed me back against the smooth cave wall. I grunted from the pain of the hard stone, but Jarix greedily trapped my mouth with his. After an intense tongue exploration, he pulled away, "I saw one of your guards do this with a blonde woman," he said breathlessly, his already hard cock jumping against my belly. The thought of Clarissa right now was exactly the opposite of what I wanted, but I was intrigued to see what he’d do. I sighed as his hands dragged up to remove my shirt, gripping my breasts on the way up and the way down.
His cock jumped against my belly again, and he leaned forward to gently kiss the spot between my neck and shoulder. Suddenly, he lowered enough to grip me by the ass, lifting me until we were chest to chest, then pressing me against the wall again. He was truly enormous, both body and cock-wise. I hadn't believed it when it actually fit inside me the last time, and I couldn't wait to have him in me again. "Hurry," I urged. He supported me with one strong arm, lowering the other hand until he cupped my mound. I sighed into his shoulder, he responded by sliding his hands in my juices and using them to lubricate his cock. I held on with my legs and one arm, reaching down to position him at my entrance.
Jarix didn’t hesitate. At first slowly pushing inside, then making tiny thrusts in and out until he could enter me as fast as my body allowed him to. Crying out, I pulled closer to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and clutching him as he pushed his way fully into my body. I tingled, m
y core throbbing with desire and the need for Jarix to fuck me hard.
He braced himself on the wall behind me as I pressed my shoulders back, poised between the stone of the cave, and the stone of his body. Then he did everything my body had been craving from the moment I’d stepped into the cave. He slammed into me, careless of my ass hitting the wall with every stroke. I didn’t care either, I wanted him to overpower me. Claim me.
Every time he withdrew, the ridges of his head teased me, and every time he sheathed himself completely inside of me I moaned. The sound seemed to spur him on, and he flexed his hips and legs in time to wring every ounce of pleasure from me. The abandon of the moment helped me rise into a climax faster and faster, his thrusts bouncing my body up and down as my back scratched against the wall.
Jarix growled and moved faster, his arms clutching my shoulders as I fought to keep my balance and lose myself in the pleasure of his movements. He said my name in his deep, sensual voice, and it was enough to undo me. I cried out, yelling my pleasure into the empty cave as the climax took away my senses. I tried to relax my muscles, but they clenched over and over as Jarix increased his speed.
He buried his face in my neck, repeating my name from lips muffled by the contact. I held on tight as his powerful body flexed and tensed around his orgasm. His breathing was hard, and he squeezed my ass hard enough to hurt, but honesty was just sexy. When he calmed from his climax, he put his hands under my thighs and backed away from the wall. I put my feet on the floor shakily, the orgasm lingering as he slid out of me and held me still, panting.
Standing on my wobbly feet, I smiled up at him. His large hands encircled my waist, and he smiled softly down at me. The embers in his eyes flickered at me, and it was all I could do not to throw him on the dirty blanket and have another round. Instead, I kissed his chest, then stepped away to let us both redress. "That was…” I was at a loss.