Stranded with the Alien (Starbound #1)

Ten

They submerged themselves in hot spring water to clean off their clothes. Kara made sure the waterline covered her modesty as she stripped off her shirt. To be honest, she wasn’t sure why she was bothering since the alien had already seen her bra.

She was beginning to suspect his forwardness the day before had been an intimidation tactic. He hadn’t tried to repeat the incident, nor had he insisted she make good on her promise of shaa’baara.

Which was just as well. If he really wanted to, there wouldn’t be a whole lot she could do about it. He was as strong as an ox and twice her size.

Hm. I wonder if that means he’s big all over?

She ignored the treacherous little voice in her head.

It was getting too late to continue moving rocks so that bone of contention was removed for the time being. They went back to the cave and the alien handed her a food pack. She saw him counting the remaining supplies.

With two of them to feed, her emergency rations were rapidly dwindling. The water might last a little longer – she’d noticed the Vraxian didn’t need as much hydration as she did. Maybe his scales did a better job of conserving moisture than human skin. Or maybe his alien metabolism was more efficient. But he still needed food and at this rate they’d run out in three days.

She had to get her beacon working.

She eyed the backpack, still sitting where it had been discarded. Hard to tell if it was in there or not. For all she knew, the alien had snapped it in half and chucked it away while she’d been unconscious.

Casually, she picked up the Hawaiian doll from the cave floor and brushed it off.

“Hey, Gloria.” She inspected its painted smile. “How you doing?”

The alien glanced at her. Kara waved the doll at him. “It’s a good luck charm. Do you have those on Vraxos? Good luck charms?”

The alien frowned uncomprehendingly. With a disarming smile, Kara pointed at the backpack.

“I’m just going to put her in there to keep her safe. Okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, she strolled to the bag and opened it. Conscious he was probably watching her, she pushed the doll inside while surreptitiously checking the hidden pocket.

Her pulse quickened. The beacon was still in there, snug as a bug in a rug.

She closed the bag and left it propped against the cave wall. She tore the top off her food pack.

“You not eating?” She gestured at her rations. “Not surprised, it tastes like shit.”

“ Sheet? ”

Kara’s eyebrows rose. It was the first time the alien had tried to speak her language, other than a garbled attempt at the word hooman .

“Shit. Like this.” She pointed at the drying stain on her shirt. “Shit.”

The alien pointed at the similar stain on his shoulder.

“ Zift .”

“ Zift? Zift means shit?” She waved the food pack. “Well, this is definitely zift then.”

She smiled. The Vraxian inexplicably found himself wanting to smile back and turned away, annoyed with himself.

They had shared a moment of levity earlier but nothing had changed. She was still the enemy.

Kara made a show of yawning repeatedly. She wanted the alien to think she was utterly exhausted, far too spent to have any ideas about running. Or that perhaps, after their brief moment of camaraderie, she might no longer want to escape.

But when she curled up in her usual spot, she found his tentacle once again winding round her ankle.

She bit back her anger and stayed silent. Let him think she was resigned to it. More fool him.

She pretended to sleep, slowing her breathing and letting her shoulders relax. It was hard not to drift off for real. She was dog-tired and every muscle ached. But she kept herself awake with the knowledge that the alien must be as beat as she was.

Even so, it was several hours before the tentacle loosened its grip. She peeked towards the cave mouth through half-closed eyes. The Vraxian was propped up in a sitting position but his hand had slipped to the floor beside him.

Quietly, moving her leg as little as possible, she unlaced her boot. Then, holding her breath, she slid her foot out.

The tentacle stirred a little, then relaxed. Kara glanced at the alien again. He hadn’t moved. She let out a breath. So far so good.

Leaving her boot behind, she rolled to her feet and grabbed the backpack. It was a shame there weren’t any water canisters close to hand, but they were stacked at the other end of the cave and she didn’t want to waste another second.

She edged towards the opening. It wasn’t large and the Vraxian’s long legs covered much of the gap. Her eyes fell on the pulse gun next to him.

Silently, she picked it up. If only I could shoot him right now. But she couldn’t. Even the thought of pulling the trigger caused little electric pulses to sting her neck. No, she couldn’t kill him.

But she was going to have to step over him.

Adrenaline flooded her system, making her heart race.

Calm down. You can do this.

The pep talk had no effect. Chest thumping, she straddled his legs, desperately trying not to wobble or trip.

Halfway through the maneuver, she couldn’t help looking down at the alien’s face. He looks a lot less fierce when he’s asleep .

She studied the bony structure that made Vraxians seem so frightening. Spiny ridges ran from the corner of each temple to a point between his brows. Where they met, a third ridge – more prominent than the others – rose to form a vertical crest that swept through the centre of his forehead and into his mane of white hair.

The rest of his facial features weren’t dissimilar to those of humans. His nose even had a slight crook in it, as if it had once been broken. But from the chin downwards, it was all distinctly extraterrestrial.

Starlight glinted off the scales of his throat, turning them silver. More scales glittered at the open vee of his tunic. For a split second, she caught herself wondering what they would feel like and if they would be warm to the touch.

The random thought was chased from her head when she realized she was about to tread on a tentacle.

It was curled on the ground next to him like a python. She had one foot right next to it and the other was suspended above the sleeping alien’s legs. She caught her breath as she fought for balance.

Pirouetting clumsily, she managed to put her foot down on the other side of the coiled limb. With a final step, she was clear.

Letting out a shaky breath, she set off in the direction of the hills. They were at least a two-day march but for now, she just wanted to put as much distance as possible between her and her captor before dawn.

It was harder than she anticipated. One, because the ground was rocky and uneven. Even with the unnaturally bright stars above, she didn’t want to risk breaking an ankle. And two, she was missing a boot. Her military socks were pretty sturdy but having one shoeless foot was slowing her down.

She covered the first thirty minutes at a fairly good clip, only once stepping on a sharp rock that stabbed at her heel. She didn’t have time to deal with it, merely adjusted her sock and carried on.

But then it got harder. A lot harder. Clouds gathered overhead, obscuring some of the stars and cutting down the available light. It became tough to see where she was going.

Her flight jacket had a small torch clipped to the shoulder and she switched it on. It helped, but not much. The circle of light extended just a few feet ahead. Twice she ran into thorny bushes that left painful welts on her face and hands.

“Goddammit,” she cursed, wiping a trickle of blood from her lip. “This planet’s a fucking nightmare.”

She took a breather, wishing heartily she had some water to sip. It was maybe ninety minutes since she’d left the cave and she hadn’t got as far as she’d hoped.

At a normal jog in daylight, she could run at least fifteen kilometers in that time, maybe twenty. But here, in the dark, stumbling across uneven terrain, she’d probably only covered half that.

She lurched on, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and hoping like hell the torch battery wouldn’t run out. When she heard the first growl, she thought it was her stomach.

“The minute I get back to the Idaho I’m eating a big juicy cheeseburger,” she muttered. “Maybe two.”

The growl came again, louder this time. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck.

She stopped and swung round. Beyond the torch light it was impossible to see anything. Just a darkness that played havoc with the imagination. She tried to calm her nerves.

“Get a grip, Singh.”

She took another couple of steps. Something growled again, directly behind her. And it wasn’t alone.

A second snarl came from her left. A third from her right. Kara halted, paralyzed with fear. Whatever was out there, it was in a pack and it was stalking her.

She unholstered her gun, painfully aware she couldn’t shoot what she couldn’t see. And if she fired a warning shot to scare off whatever was out there, how long before the alien found her?

She turned in a slow circle, trying to gauge what kind of creatures were hunting her. A set of eyes gleamed and she pointed the torch.

Something padded into the light.

Hellhound. That was the first thought that came into her mind. A beast created by Satan himself. The creature had a canine look about it but any semblance to a domestic pet was wiped out by the brutality of its features.

Standing chest-high, it had sleek grey skin perforated by boney spurs jutting from its spine all the way to the base of its slender, reptilian tail. Huge paws balanced out the lean, muscular body. Powerful jaws dripped with yellow fangs, and black eyes stared at her mercilessly.

Kara licked her bloodless lips.

“Hey there,” she whispered. “Good dog.”

The animal cocked one leathery ear towards her, a snarl rising in its throat. Three almost identical companions appeared silently beside it.

There was no longer any choice, she knew that now. She was going to have to use her gun. She aimed at the biggest hound, the one she thought of as the pack-leader.

One of the smaller beasts leapt towards her. Without missing a beat, she changed her angle and shot it. It fell limply to the ground and its pack-mates melted into the night.

She knew they hadn’t gone. But they would be more wary now.

She doubled her pace, wincing as sharp stones pierced her unprotected foot. Her heel throbbed painfully and she was fairly sure the skin was torn. The feral beasts didn’t even need to keep her in their line of sight. They could just follow the smell of blood.

The next time she heard the growls, she was ready. She aimed in their general direction and loosed off another shot without stopping. She had no idea if she hit anything, but she had to assume not.

The sound of claws scratching across stones came from her right. Again she aimed and fired without stopping.

“Just fuck off, will you?” she screamed. A snarl came from directly behind her. She began to turn, finger tightening on the trigger, but it was too late.

The beast took her down. She landed on her stomach, the breath knocked from her as she was slammed into the dirt. The blaster flew from her hand.

The animal sank its teeth into the backpack and dragged it off her, shaking it viciously left and right. Kara used the distraction to push herself onto hands and feet, trying to scuttle away, but the beast was already bored with its prize.

It dropped the bag and seized her arm. Pain ripped through her as its jaws closed on her elbow. Only the resilience of her flight jacket saved her from serious injury.

It was the pack-leader, she realized. Dizzy with shock, she heard the snarls of its companions as they circled around, watching and waiting for their chance.

She rolled onto her back and managed to dislodge the creature’s grip. Drool dripped into her face as it prepared to bite again, this time going for exposed skin. In the light of the torch she caught the flash of its teeth and a sob rose in her throat.

And then it was lifted clean off her and hurled into the darkness. She heard the nauseating crunch of bones snapping as it landed heavily. Bewildered, she shone the torch into the darkness. A shadow loomed over her.

“Tai shalam, hooman.”