Chapter 1 #2
Remington wasn’t fortunate enough to get one because of the job they assigned him. That’s why they put us in the same room—so I can be his translator. If the aliens think I’m smarter than Remington, who’s a lawyer, they aren’t as clever as they made us believe.
“I’m not sure, but that’s what it sounded like,” Remington replies. “It was hard to understand their accent. But you know what they say. There are only three options for humans out here: pet, meat, or mate. With my luck, I’ll end up being someone’s dinner.”
I snort in response. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” If that were true, what did that make me? I guess I could be some alien’s pet. Maybe they consider a human that can play the guitar and sing to be like a dog that can do cool tricks.
“But if it is true, I hope I’m a pet with a real good owner. It’d be pretty nice to be like one of ‘em dogs that belongs to those rich, childless folk. You know what I’m talkin’ about?” I elbow my new friend in the side, and he starts to sniffle.
“Don’t talk about dogs!” he wails, collapsing back against the bed.
I hurry to pull my legs out of the way. The aliens in charge made it very clear there’s no canoodling allowed onboard, and I don’t want to see what their punishments are.
It’s probably a good thing they were clear about that, because I would so canoodle with Remington.
The man’s hot, in a rich-white-guy kind of way.
Even the way he talks sounds all fancy and educated.
I doubt he would ever be into a dirty country boy like me, even if he did happen to swing my way.
“Alright, alright, I won’t mention the D word.
” I climb out of bed and stretch my arms, a soft groan escaping me as I work some muscles loose.
My shirt slides up revealing a sliver of stomach, and I catch Remington checking me out.
Oh, maybe he is interested after all. Better get out of here before I start something and get the both of us in trouble.
We aren’t exactly trapped in our room, but wandering around isn’t really encouraged.
“I’m gon’ go check out the common room. You comin’ along? ”
“Nah, I’ll stay here.” Remington curls up on his side facing the wall and wraps his arms around his knees. “I want to be alone.”
“Suit yourself,” I say with a shrug, heading out into the main area with my guitar. If other entertainment is off the table, I’ll just have to provide some myself. I’m sure everyone on board will be thrilled to finally have some excitement around here.
Apparently, aliens do not appreciate human music.
The first few days go by fine. On the fourth day, I don’t even make it through half a song before one of those copper-colored, elf-like aliens takes my guitar away.
Alright cool, maybe they don’t like the guitar.
Weird, but I guess it’s not for everyone.
I’m nothing if not adaptable, so I switch to finger drumming instead.
When that’s suddenly off the table the next day, I sing a cappella.
Then that’s not allowed either, so I’m left with beatboxing, which I’m admittedly not great at.
Next thing I know, I’m put on a small ship and taken down to an alien planet
“Uh, y’all sure this is where I’m supposed to be goin’?
” I ask for the third time, looking at the two big aliens that are nudging me off the ship.
It’s hotter than blue blazes down here. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so sweaty in my entire life, not even when the AC broke down in Mamaw’s double wide right at the end of July and we had to suffer through sticky bed sheets for the rest of the summer
“Yes, yes, it’s only for a few moments while we…” One of the aliens looks at the other, who quickly jumps in.
“Finish preparing your surprise party!” the second alien exclaims. “Now look, you’ve ruined the surprise. So you’ll have to pretend when we come back for you.”
“Oh!” Now that is a surprise. It’s not even my birthday!
At least, I don’t think it is. I’ve kind of lost track of time since I left Earth.
“It’s mighty sweet of y’all to do all that for me.
” They’re certainly going through a lot of effort.
They even gave me all my stuff so I wouldn’t get bored down here.
I’ll definitely make sure to act super surprised at the party.
“Yes, yes, very sweet,” alien number one agrees. “Now you just wait right here while we go get everything ready. We’ll be right back.”
I glance around as they hurry back onto the ship.
There doesn’t appear to be another living creature in sight.
Is it getting hotter? It feels like it might be getting hotter.
When I turn to ask them if they can take me to a slightly cooler planet, they’re gone.
Not just them either; the entire ship is gone. Huh. Hopefully they’ll be back soon.
Hours go by. It gets to the point where I figure I can’t just keep standing around out here under the sun, especially since I don’t have any water. I need to find some sort of shelter to cool down before I sweat right through my jean jacket.
Everything here is orange, even the sky.
Probably because it’s some kind of fire planet.
It seems like the sky would be smoky or something, with all the flames and what not, but it’s actually clear.
It’s just so…alien. There aren’t really any tall trees to provide any shade, but there are some caves.
That’s probably not a good choice if I want to be easy to find when they come back for me. It would really suck to be left here.
I try to find some other source of shade, but it’s quickly clear that it’s far, far too hot for me to be wandering out here. Cave it is then. I’ll just have to peek my head out every so often so the ship doesn’t miss me.
Unfortunately, the cave I pick is already occupied.
“Alright y’all, how about we just step back and take a breather?” I ask, holding up my hands in what I hope looks non-threatening. It would be to another human, but the three giant flaming slug things bearing down on me are still acting like I pissed in their cereal.
They’re starting to crowd me, and the closer they come, the bigger the flames get.
Sweat rolls down my back, finding nowhere to go in my already soaked t-shirt.
I take another step back, and I can’t help but notice the flames are especially big around their heads, where they flare up like some kind of antennae.
Their bodies are dripping, like they’re made of lava.
Luckily, they’re not fast. I could probably make a break for it, but the heat is starting to slow me down. If I can muster up just one more burst of energy, I might be able to make it out of here unsinged.
I turn and sprint, backpack and guitar smacking my back as I go. I make it a good fifteen yards when I hear a weird, crackling sound under my boot. And then I’m stuck. A strange vine is wrapped tight around my right ankle. I shudder as it inches its way up my calf.
The air gets hotter, and I see the fire slugs gaining on me. Panic surges through my body. If I don’t get out of this mess real quick, I’m in trouble. I can’t fight these things like I used to wrassle pigs at the county fair.
I attempt to jerk my leg free, gasping when hooked thorns dig through my jeans and straight into flesh.
Momentum has me tumbling over onto the red-packed dirt.
I turn and try to pry the vine off my leg, but the thorns are in too deep.
They kinda remind me of the little spikes on a cat’s tongue, just a lot sharper.
Speaking of tongues, the vine is kinda wet like one too.
Must be some kind of sap. I may be from the country, but plants aren’t my thing.
The more I scramble, the more the thorns dig in, causing blood to well up and stain the fabric of my jeans.
No. It can’t end like this. This isn’t supposed to happen to me.
I did the impossible. I fought tooth and nail to drag my family out of poverty, and they won't see a penny of that money if I die here. I still have things to do, and I’m going to do them even if I have to saw my own leg off to do it.
I don’t need a leg to sing and play the guitar anyway.
It’d be a worthy sacrifice…or I supposed I could just cut the vine.
Yeah. Yeah! That would be way easier than trying to lob my leg off at the knee.
The problem is, I’m sorely lacking when it comes to sharp instruments, and any second now, those things will be all over me.
The flames dancing around their bodies are already so close I can feel the sweat on my arms evaporating.
This is it. This is really it. I close my eyes, thinking of everything I left behind on Earth—Viola, Mamaw, the dream of a lifetime.
Mamaw always said that if things were too good to be true, they probably were.
She ended up being right, just like she always was.