by Zara Starr
“Oh, gosh, I’m going to die here! I’m so going to die!” the female screamed as we continued to run through the underbrush.
I could not believe it. This creature was certainly lucky to have me with her because everything for miles most certainly could hear the obnoxious sound of her incessant shrieking.
It wasn’t too much further—soon enough we would be walking into the clearing of the tribal cave. Soon enough, I’d be free of the shrieking creature that I now wasn’t so sure I should have even saved to begin with.
Six
Ella
I was furious! I had thought that this person, this strange purple freaking creature, might have been decent.
I had even interpreted his drawing as him having rescued me from the weird Nessie-looking creature that had tried to eat me whole when I somehow wound up in that damn lake—or sea, or whatever it was.
My fists continued to beat against his back, but it didn’t seem to do me any good. What the hell was going on? I needed more answers than he had been able to supply, though I was happy to have learned his name.
I didn’t know where I was but I had gathered that we were running through the jungle at high speed. When a snapping tree branch nearly fell atop the both of us—I could only gasp in shock as Karr leaped over the damn thing and continued to run.
My head seemed to bounce around, my hair now a mess as it picked up loose sticks, dirt, and leaves from the forest floor.
Everything seemed to buzz by me like a blur—almost like the greying walls that flashed by on the New York subway that one time my family and I had actually chosen to visit the Empire State.
The Big Apple had been a big disappointment if you asked me—not that it made a bit of difference to my current dilemma.
I finally stopped hitting him on the back after he jumped over the log and busted from the tree line, into a widespread meadow.
Suddenly, he pulled me off his back and set me down gently on the ground. I glanced around with Karr standing right behind me. He lifted his hand and pointed toward the opening of what looked an even larger cave than the one he had first taken me to.
I perked a brow and scoffed. He’s crazy if he thinks I’m going in there after all this!
He pushed his massive finger into my spine and I shifted with a sigh. It looked like I didn’t have much a choice.
I found my feet moving against my own willpower. I stepped inside of the cave and my eyes instantly widened to the size of large saucers.
I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Had I really lost my mind?
I turned to look back at Karr who nodded, encouraging me to move forward.
I instantly felt eyes fluttering toward the two of us. The sound of strange grunts and hisses echoed all around me as I slowly made my way through the parting crowd. I averted my eyes, not wanting to make eye contact with any of these creatures.
Were they all as easy going as Karr had been? Were they actually a friendly group, or was I going to become the next headhunter dinner for this unknown tribe? What if they believed similarly to other indigenous tribes and wanted to sacrifice me to their gods, or worse?
My mind instantly began to recall all the horrific tales I had heard growing up and I wondered if they were cannibals.
How in the hell had I landed in this place with one hurdle after the next when it came to danger?
I knew now, without a doubt, that there was no way in hell I was still on Earth. There were so many purple men—men who seemed to be flooding toward me.
Karr grabbed ahold of my arm and began pulling me toward the center of the cave where a large bonfire was blazing with a bright orange ember.
As I walked alongside him I felt the eyes boring into my spine—as if the purple people were also just as surprised by my physical attributes as I was by their own.
He pointed down at the ground and I lowered myself to sit aside the fire, suddenly feeling like a captive in a place that I did not at all understand.
Were they a nice tribe?
I perked a brow as they began to grunt and, presumably, speak to Karr—though I could not understand a single word.
Karr
I placed the female, called Ella, near the blazing bonfire that the elders burned every evening since the dawn of our people’s initial finding of the tribal cave.
I knew that everyone would regard her with strange looks—that was expected. What I had not expected was for all the males to become completely captivated by her. I had hoped that I could hold back the revelation of her gender until after I had described and explained how I had come across her.
“What is this?” Julene approached, being one of the few female elders of our kind to address me. “Karr, where did you get this creature?” she asked me sternly.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“I rescued it from the lake. It was in the midst of the water when I was fishing for monlas to smoke and trade for more topas cheese, as well as grant to the others who enjoy it. The creature was waving its arms incredulously as a lake worm came very near to devouring it. Something seemed unnatural about the scene, so I chose to pull it out by rope.”
“This was just as the storms had come upon me and I knew that I had to find cover from it. The tremors from this storm have caused a ruckus in the forest and the lake’s creatures are seeming to grow more restless, and yet, I was still able to extract this being most intact. At least that is my hope,” I said.
Julene perked a brow and tilted her head. “What is it?” she asked again.
“I do not know,” I replied. It was the most honest answer I knew to give. “It appears similar to us, though. Do you deny this?” I asked her.
She suddenly shifted and began walking around the female, looking her over closely as she narrowed her eyes.
“No, but what is this attire she wears?” she asked.
I groaned loudly. She had already detected that the creature was female, even though I had not yet made it obvious. I shrugged, not knowing how else to handle the question.
“It is my mantle. This is not the attire I first found her in. I found her hours ago and left her to rest in my home cave while I cleaned up and prepared the rest of my catch for the day. She was dressed entirely differently when I first encountered her,” I explained.
“Is that so? Why did you not bring her directly to us, Karr?” Julene inquired.
“I feared the loss of meat that was crucial with these storms upon us, Julene. I would not allow my catch to become the feed of dragons or rot away to draw in the clinovis,” I said in defense.
“Does she not know that it is uncustomary for a female to don the mantle of a male if he has not yet joined her triad?” Julene pressed on.
I chuckled slightly.
“Julene, I do not think this creature understands ritual, let alone our tongue,” I said.
“Have you tried to speak to her?” Julene asked, her eyes dancing over Ella curiously as she spoke.
I knew she would have picked up on what she had easier than most of the others, and was happy to see her take an interest in Ella so quickly. If Ella was ill, Julene would be the only person who could fix her.
“I have, but she shrieked at me. I could not understand anything but shrieking. It reminded me of the shrikal buzzards that feast on the dead worms that become beached on the lake’s shores,” I muttered.
“How did she respond to the brine?” Julene asked, perking a brow. “I assume you have already offered her food and supplement?” she finished.
“I created a platter of topas cheese, smoked monlas, and moon berries on a Guayana leaf. I left one cup of brine for her and when I came back she had changed into my mantle, drank the brine and left everything else on the leaf except the moon berries,” I said.
This was something that I was concerned about because I knew that the topas cheese was something Julene considered to be her best talent. She sneered slightly as she glanced back at the female.
A few others—Dew, Bahl,
my brother Khay, and Arh—stepped closer.
“Are you saying it is a female?” Khay asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked over Ella.
I perked a brow. This was what I had hoped to put off. Funi and Otoro approached; the two longest-standing elders in the tribe.
“Why is she not purple?” Otoro asked. I could feel my agitation rising with every second and it took everything in me not to snap in his face.
“I do not know,” I replied, my tone short and to the point. “But I have come to speak with the elders about her. Privately,” I said as I glanced at Khay. I looked toward the female and back to Julene. “Will you stay with the creature and keep it company?” I asked her.
“If this being is female we have a right to know, Karr,” Arh said with some vehemence in his voice.
Funi stepped forward and narrowed his eyes as he looked to Arh. He shook his head and glanced back at me.
“Karr has found this being and he has requested an audience with the elders—alone. Ritual demands that counsel is provided before anything else shall even dare be considered,” he reminded him.
I looked down at Ella and pointed at her, my eyes meeting with hers as I parted my mouth to speak.
“Stay here and Julene will look after you,” I muttered, pointing toward the bonfire and nodding. “Beside the fire, you will be warm and safe. I will return soon.”
I knew she could not understand my words, but I hoped she would understand my meaning.
Otoro and Funi looked back at Julene and the other congregating men.
“You will leave the creature be until I say—all of you. Julene you will tell me immediately should any of the males approach the creature while we consult,” Funi said.
“I shall,” Julene said, placing her hand together and nodding toward the two elder males.
Ella’s eyes widened as she watched me walking away with Otoro and Funi but I kept my head up, continuing to walk with the elders as I disappeared from her sight.
She would be fine, I told myself. I had to do my duty. Which, oddly enough, was the same feeling I had when I’d chosen to save her.
Ella
I was terrified. Karr had disappeared from my sight, but not before making sure to say something to me. Something that I couldn’t freaking understand—again!
It left me reeling in wonder because of the way he had said it—mostly because of the actions he took. I wanted to scream but I knew I couldn’t—not with eyes scanning every inch of me.
Were they actually going to eat me? Were they going to put me to the pyre over this insanely huge fire they had created inside the cave?
I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to all sorts of horrors, but I did find some comfort from the way he had looked at me.
The depth of his eyes revealed a surprising tenderness that I was truly floored by. It was only at that moment when he turned to leave that I really began to feel scared.
I had been shocked when I first came into the larger cave, mostly because I couldn’t believe what I had no choice but to accept.
I was on another planet. That much could not be denied.
What surprised me even more, was the lack of women. There was only one that I could see, the one that seemingly had a watchful eye over me.
I had noticed her engage in some sort of conversation with Karr for a bit longer than the elder males who he had left with. I wondered, then, if they were chieftains of some sort or perhaps a shaman.
What were the belief systems of these people who seemed to be eons behind Earthlings? Still using primitive weaponry and living in cave systems.
I wondered whether I would see Karr again or if I had utterly screwed up that opportunity with my endless panic attacks and scream fests. I didn’t know how else someone in my shoes was supposed to act, though.
The only two things I had connected up to this point were that there were crazy, obnoxious storms that had been ongoing on Earth and that same pattern of problem seemed to be prominent here, as well.
I had noticed that from the flashes of lightning and the insane way the land seemed to tremble with every roar of thunder that rolled through the lightning cracked sky.
Did the storms have something to do with me winding up in that lake?
I felt sudden despair that I couldn’t even describe. I had no idea if I would ever get out of this place, or if I would see any of my friends again.
I sighed and shifted slightly, the one female perking her eyebrow as she looked down at me.
I was suddenly feeling really thirsty and wished there was some normal water to drink.
Remembering how I had first made any sort of successful communication with Karr, I chose to grunt at her and stuck out my tongue, pointing to it as I panted slightly.
She perked a brow and uttered a strange clicking noise and then walked away from me.
I glanced around, noting the sizes and shapes of the other males who had stepped closer to me. They all had their eyes plastered upon me as if they had not seen someone like me ever in their lives. It made me feel small and targeted.
Why the hell were they all practically salivating at the gums as they looked at me?
The female walked over to me, her hair plaited with the same beads Karr had, along with some strangely shaped and yet entirely beautiful flowers strewn throughout them. I had not noticed this before because her hair was turned away from me.
I perked a brow as I noticed she had a stone goblet—what appeared to be some sort of marble—in her hand. She lowered to her knees and held it out before me.
I took the goblet and glanced inside. The fluid inside was hard to make out due to the lack of light, but she nodded at me and I prepared myself to consume the horrible salty water that I had drank earlier.
I brought the cup up to my lips and sniffed it slightly, sipping the liquid slowly. As the beverage flooded over my lips, I was surprised by how refreshing and sweet it was.
What the hell?
It was water—that much I was positive of. Except, something was entirely different about this compared to the nasty effervescent stuff that Karr had left for me. It reminded me of sweet spring water from somewhere like Colorado or Oregon!
I smiled widely as I brought the cup away from my mouth.
“Thank you,” I said, bringing the cup back to my lips as I polished off the remnants.
The woman suddenly moved away from me and walked back to the opposite side of the fire. I watched her as she collected the same large fan-shaped leaves that Karr had laid the food on and presumed that they were definitely platters or plates of some sort to the purple people.
I laughed as I thought to myself. I couldn’t very well go on calling them the purple people and I wondered if I could at least learn the woman’s name as she walked back around the fire toward me with the large leaf and a few pieces of the food I had noticed from before.
Oh, God, I thought. She was going to try to encourage me to eat again and I didn’t know how I wouldn’t offend these people by continually refusing the food they had offered me.
I could feel my stomach beginning to growl, though, and I knew that some food might be better than none at all.
I looked up at her and pointed at myself. “EL-Luh,” I said.
She looked back at me and knelt down, placing the leaf before me. I noticed quickly that there were a few more fruits than what Karr had offered—some that appeared like the same strange strawberries and others that looked like oranges, except they had a strange green skin that had weird star-shaped growths which were a deep and bright orange, like a tangerine.
I figured they must have been a citrus fruit of some sort and reached for one. The woman looked up at me and pointed to herself as she made eye contact with me.
“JOO-Leen.” She said loudly.
I perked a brow. At least their names were easy enough to pronounce. I wondered if the rest of their language was as easily enunciated.
“Julene,” I said. Her name actually sounded very pretty
and unique.
She nodded and smiled, revealing the same widespread and very sharp canines that had appeared in Karr’s mouth when he too had smiled at me earlier.
It was highly frightening to see such jagged teeth, but from the appearance of the female, she did not seem at all interested in harming me.
In fact, I suspected that Karr had intentionally left me with her because of that. Yet, as I looked around and still saw no other females, I wondered if she were indeed the only one.
I lifted the goblet toward her as I pulled the citrus fruit closer to myself. She took the goblet and nodded as she pointed at the other foods grouped on the leaf.
I smiled and nodded as I began to peel the skin away from the fruit and pulled a juicy piece of the meat from inside.
Sure enough, it came apart much like an orange would—except that it was a lighter shade of green, sort of like a lime.
When I bit into the fruit, however, it tasted nothing like lime or orange. Instead, it was similar to a sweeter lemon. Like a lemon with sugar sprinkled on it.
I sucked up the juice and grinned as I realized it was almost like having freshly squeezed lemonade—without any of the work. It was refreshing and delicious—completely unlike anything I had ever tasted before—which I found intriguing.
Julene returned and held out the goblet—filled yet again with the same tasty beverage she had given me before.
I wondered if maybe Karr simply just offered me what he had on hand and if there were only a few things that these men knew how to make. With Julene being the only female I could see, it made sense that it could very well have been the case.
I decided that I would continue to eat the rest of the fruit and drank what Julene had brought me before I lifted another of the strange strawberries I had thoroughly enjoyed earlier.
One thing I had noted was that these strange fruits were oddly satisfying, in ways their Earthly counterparts never seemed to be. I wondered if this was due to them being uncontaminated—truly GMO-free and totally organic in ways that food on my planet hadn’t been in ages.