Abducted by an Alien Savage Page 15

  Herds of the massive Leaf Eaters usually wander the Big Valley, but it's strangely empty today. There must be too many big dinosaurs out.

  Gemma’s hand slides over the wide broken piece of the wagon as she moves around it. When she gets to the front of it, she stops. One of her hands goes to her mouth.

  Her energy waves drain. A sadness gathers around her, and I break into a short jog to be nearer to her.

  “Oh my God,” she whispers, and I slip an arm around her waist.

  She isn’t interested in my comfort, though, and hurries out into the aftermaths of their attack.

  Chunks of the wagon are scattered across the grass. Shiny white sheets and bits of broken shards. All sorts of alienware. Some things look like clothes. Others are instruments I have never seen. Small squares of white leaves with black markings on them. Strange cubed rocks and the wrapper remnants of some sort of food that’s long since been eaten.

  Then there are the bodies.

  I wish I could shield my Gemma’s eyes from what’s left of the alien bodies there in the grass.

  At a glance, I count five. Or at least those are the ones that are still relatively whole. The clothes are ripped from the forms and there's mostly bone left. Something, or a herd of somethings, came across this place after the attack and cleaned up the carnage.

  Gemma stares at the remnants with fingers pressed tight into her lips and eyes glistening.

  I take a deep, slow breath. I should have known better than to ride through the Big Valley, but I was only following her directions to the mountain. I forgot about the remains that would await us.

  "That's…" She gulps and I try again to wrap an arm around her. This time she doesn't refuse me. "That's horrible."

  “I am sorry,” I murmur, and she leans into me.

  A silence draws out and I wonder if I should leave her with her dead companions. But now that she’s tucked up under my arm, she doesn’t seem to want to move.

  “We were warned about the dinosaurs,” she says after a moment. “They told us to stay near the camp and not to go out after dark. To always carry an airhorn and some bear mace.” She sniffles a little and I squeeze her against me. “But no one said anything about those giant bug things.”

  I understand her sentiment. So many Kutarians have been lost over the years to the stagni. They’re truly horrible creatures.

  But nothing I say will help her, so I just keep hold of her.

  When she’s had her moment, she steps away and wanders through the wreckage. Mokto chirps at us and I return to soothe him. The valley smells of death and he doesn’t seem to care for it. I rub my hand along his long, smooth neck.

  I don’t care for it either.

  Gemma stops to pick up some items here and there. She starts to put things on her hip, as if she has a pouch there, and then just resigns to holding them. When she returns, I hold out a hand. She hands the items to me without question.

  There are long skinny devices, a piece of jewelry of some sort, a small weapon, and some things I’ve never seen. I tuck the supplies into a small bag on the side of my saddle, and we mount up again. This time she sits facing the front, but she still feels perfect riding against my body.

  “We camped right up there, you know,” she says as we ride away.

  I follow her eyes to the high plateau at the edge of the prairie.

  “Maybe I should go up there. At least tell them I and the other women are safe.”

  My quills prickle at the thought of her going back to a camp full of the aliens. Even if they are her people.

  “Though I can’t imagine they’d believe me,” she continues. “It kinda sounds more dangerous than it’s worth right now.”

  I wholeheartedly agree, but I rub a reassuring hand over her thigh.

  “We haven’t had proper contact with your humans. They may be afraid of you when you approach.”

  She nods and doesn’t say another word.

  Thankful that conversation is over, I turn my attention once again to keeping my eyes open to properly protect us.

  The mountain’s foot is just beyond the edge of the prairie. If we continue at a good pace, we should be able to reach whatever it is she’s looking for before nightfall.

  The ride through the rest of the valley is silent and somber.

  Gemma

  My eyes follow the edge of the plateau above us as we leave the valley.

  I know it’s too dangerous to attempt, but what if people are looking for us? Risking their lives to locate us?

  I’m sure they’ve seen the massacre down in the valley and probably assume we’re all dead. But it sure would be nice to let our base know so others back on Earth aren’t worried about us.

  It’s been nearly a week since the attack. Have they notified our families? Put out news bulletins?

  The thought makes me queasy.

  That can be something I handle later once I’m human again though. I don’t want to die for real because I go marching up on base as a big alien chick.

  Once we reach the mountain, Kovak steers Mokto right up a path into the rocks. I half-expect him to protest more, but he’s been pretty silent and compliant this whole time. I want to think my little white lie fooled him back there and that he’s just being nice and wants to help. But I just can’t latch onto the idea that he doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s intelligent and I’ve seen that glint in his eye, where he doesn’t fully believe what I’m saying.

  Yet he’s taking me up there anyway.

  That piles on an even bigger load of guilt.

  Why is he helping me? If he knows what I’m after, doesn’t he know what I want to use it for? That would include turning back into a human and making sure all my girls turned back into humans too. Then we would leave.

  Like, run the hell away from this planet on the next ship out before I see another dinosaur that wants to eat me.

  It’s ironic really.

  I couldn't wait to get here to see them. I was like a kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve night for months. Grande Iced Caramel Macchiatos became my best friend just so I could function during the day, studying and preparing for my trip to observe real-live dinos on Xion V.

  My dream come true.

  Now they’re my ultimate nightmare.

  Nothing turns your loyalty like a spinosaurus trying to snap you up and eat you like a pig in a blanket.

  Halfway up the mountain, I can’t stand the silence any longer and nod toward the sun sinking toward another mountain range in the distance.

  “I bet you have amazing sunsets here.”

  “You will see one soon.”

  “There are a lot of buildings and lights blocking the skies where I’m from. I don’t get to see sunsets often.”

  “That is a shame. They paint the sky in wonderful colors. Sunrises are even better.”

  A little flutter goes through my body and I smile. Maybe I can watch a sunrise with Kovak before I have to go.

  We ride on for another half hour before Kovak breaks the silence. “Do you know where we’re going?”

  “In the mouth of a cave. There will be a marker nearby.”

  I can feel Kovak’s body stiffen a little. “What kind of marker?”

  “I’m not sure. She didn’t say.”

  The tension thickens between us, and I think if we weren’t nearly there I may have chickened out. Suspicious Kovak makes me nervous.

  I’m so relieved when we come across a cave around the next bend that I point and shout. “There it is!”

  A wide, low opening in the rock goes far into the mountain, leaving a dark hole in its face. Plants of all colors dot the floor just inside and there’s a big red handprint on the wall next to them.

  Kovak’s body tenses when he sees it. “That is the mark of the Shaman on the wall there.”

  My eyes jerk back to the handprint.

  Oh shit.

  I guess there’s no fibbing my way out of this one now.

  “Are we at the Shaman
’s sacred grove?”

  Are you serious? Sacred? I choke back a sound of defeat.

  “It’s where Waella suggested I go to look for the herb.”

  I slide down from Mokto’s back before Kovak can turn us around. He doesn’t even try to stop me.

  “What is it you need from here again?” There’s an edge of anger in his voice.

  “Green plant with yellow berries,” I call back over my shoulder.

  Hurry, hurry. Get to them. Just grab a handful and go.

  There’s a thud behind me and my pace quickens. He’s coming after me.

  "Green plant with yellow berries," he says slowly, and I can hear his feet moving. "As I said before, I don't know much about plants, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that one."

  The rocks in the mouth of the cave are wet. Water trickles from inside the crag, feeding the array of plants growing in the shade. I step carefully to keep my footing.

  Kovak is right behind me, and there’s a sharpness in his voice that makes my skin prickle.

  “You came all the way out here to steal some lofo?”

  I freeze.

  Steal? I’m surprised how offended I feel over his word, as technically I know it’s true, but the stuff was used on me against my will. I’m entitled to a little to make things right again I’d say.

  “I only have a couple more days until my body dies,” I say, rounding on him. My voice is a little angrier than I intended, but dammit, I have enough going on without him accusing me and getting butthurt over me taking a stupid plant.

  He looks surprised as well. Then his eyes narrow.

  “You’re just going to swap back, and then what? Skip out of the village a free lady? You can barely breathe out here. You have no transportation. You’ll be in an even slower and weaker body than you are now when the Thunder Jaws come to hunt you. That’s even if you get that far. I’m sure you know how passionate the Shaman is about his plan.”

  “What?”

  He nods. “The Shaman isn’t going to just let you walk away. You’re the answer to saving our people. You may leave this body, but he’ll just stick you in another one.”

  My mouth hangs open, lip trembling, as I stare at him. But only for a moment before a wave of rage hits me.

  “The Shaman? He’s crazy, but only a small step up from you. I’m sure he would demand I be brought back, but you’d be dragging me back before him.”

  The muscle in Kovak’s jaw clenches and his eyes become hauntingly empty. I’ve hit maybe all his nerves at once and I don’t like that face. He’s back to the barbarian I first saw in the valley.

  The voice that comes out of him is a low growl that sends a shudder through me. “If you left, I would be devastated, but I would never force you to stay.”

  My chest tightens and I can barely breathe. His words cut deep, mostly because they’re delivered with a voice as solid as steel. Not the warm one that’s made me smile the last few days.

  I want to call off the whole operation and wrap myself around Kovak until the shine in his eyes returns and he speaks to me with love in his voice again.

  But I’m not the only one at stake here. All the other girls will be counting on me.

  And I may have just cut my tie with Kovak.

  My heart hurts at the thought, but my resolve is strong.

  With tears stinging my eyes, I march over to a vine of the green leaves and snatch a couple handfuls.

  When I stand and face Kovak again, his eyes flash. We stare at one another in a moment of silence that could strangle a brontosaurus. Then he turns and stalks back to Mokto without another word.

  I wait a few breaths before I follow him.

  I finally have my hands on the voodoo herb that will set things straight. I just have to get back to my human body and eat the leaves to put everything back to normal.

  I expected my victory to feel much better.

  Chapter 19

  Gemma

  There’s a curve in the trail halfway down the mountain and a small overhang that creates a lean-to-like crevice in the rock wall. Kovak decides it’s the best place for us to bed down for the night.

  I’m not thrilled with the idea of sleeping in the wilderness with all the wild animals, but at least none of the big carnivores can get to our spot there on the side of the mountain.

  Mokto has somehow folded those big beefy legs beneath him and is lumped on the ground outside our mini-cave, snoozing away. Kovak has just returned from a quick hunting trip with a small furry animal.

  I sit on the levadon saddle he spread over the ground, huddled against the wall behind a fire we built. He’s skinned and prepared his meat to eat, all the while saying nothing. My stomach grumbles but I’m not about to ask for any of it. I may not have much left in the world, but I’m sure as hell not throwing him my last bit of pride.

  He hasn’t spoken to me since our angry words earlier. I’m not sure what to say to him or what I want from him, but I know I’m uncomfortable. And I miss him.

  But I’m not telling him that either.

  It’s strange because I never thought of him as a conversationalist before, but I miss his voice. Having him ignore me hurts more than I want to admit.

  I lie down on the saddle―which honestly does little to shield me from the hard rock floor―and close my eyes. If I can just get through the night and the ride back to the village tomorrow, I’m sure I can locate some food. That is if I even care to at that point. I may just want to switch bodies and be done with it. Hang this big body’s empty stomach.

  I’ve just settled in, as much as I can on these nightmare rock shards, when Kovak clears his throat. I look up at him from the ground.

  He’s holding out a seared chunk of meat.

  I stay still, doing my best to remain stoic and calm, but my nostrils flare at the smell of cooked food. My stomach does a celebratory summersault.

  “You still going to feed me?” I ask with a hint of venom.

  I catch the slight tic of his brow. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

  Damn stomach. He must have heard it.

  “I didn’t think you cared.”

  His ears slant back and I’m not sure if that’s a sad look or one of defeat, but his energy wanes and fills me with a lulling shade of blue.

  “I won’t stop caring just because you decide you want to leave.”

  Ouch. I lower my eyes sheepishly, but he’s not finished.

  “Now eat. I know all you can think about right now is what body you inhabit, but it is you―in there―that I am concerned with. Who I care about and want to keep alive. I will nourish whatever body you possess.”

  He holds the meat out closer and I’m so moved by his words that I can barely find my voice.

  “Thank you.”

  My cheeks burn as I sit up and take the food. I draw my long legs up against my body and hide behind my knees as I eat.

  The meat is delicious and it courses through me, waking up my body and helping to clear my fuzzy head.

  It feeds my heart that’s beginning to thump faster as I watch Kovak work to prepare his own food.

  He still wants to take care of me, even after all my threats to swap back to my human body and foil the plans, to take the rest of my crew and leave forever. It’s exciting and uncomfortable.

  He hands me another cooked piece before he eats one himself. We finish off the rest of the small creature in silence. Then he discards the bones and banks the fire before lying down on the rocks under the overhang.

  I try not to dwell on the fact that he’s avoided being next to me on the saddle completely. I know there’s plenty going on in his head.

  He’s super pissed at me, that’s for sure.

  The firelight jumps up and down his back, twinkling off the scaly skin that runs down his shoulders and tapers off just above his tail. The dark ashy platelets of armor that are hard but smooth to the touch. The light shines off the long quills woven in and out of his thick black hair.

  A week ago I n
ever would have imagined I could look at someone so foreign and exotic-looking and find him attractive. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have been able to see an alien from another planet and not lose my shit.

  That reality seems so long gone now. Things are very different.

  Because now I am staring at a being from a planet other than Earth. A ten-foot-tall giant that I've found myself completely enamored with. His silvery skin and scales are just part of him now. Even his tail.

  I mean, I can’t judge. I have one too.

  For now.

  With a rough sigh, I lie down on the leather square and try to get comfortable.

  If only I’d taken a different path the day before and avoided those spinosauruses. Or figured out a way to escape them on my own. Or maybe even swiped a levadon so I could have outrun them. I might have avoided Kovak catching up with me. Then I at least could have gotten the herb and returned to the village without his disappointed, angry energy following me around.

  But at least I have the lofo. It’s tucked into a satchel I fashioned out of two large leaves and some viney thread. It’ll be ready for when the other girls wake up. If they ever do.

  I’ve let the nagging worry slide a long while, but I’ve been awake for four days already and when I left, no one else had stirred. In any of the bodies.

  What if the swap didn’t work for them? What if their spirits are lost?

  An icy fear creeps up my throat.

  I could be the only human left in the village.

  I clamp my jaw closed and my eyes shut. I can’t think of those things. Hopefully there will be others awake when we arrive tomorrow.

  Either way, I just have to push forward. No one will save our human bodies if I don’t.

  Frustration boils in my body.

  I want to be back at the village now.

  I’m ready to test if the swap is even going to work again, and it hurts too much to see how my decisions are affecting Kovak. I want it all to be over.

  Kovak

  I can’t stand the silence anymore. I lived in a quiet world before Gemma came along. My warriors and I often worked without speaking. It was normal.