Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NORA
With the urgency of a full bladder, Nora shot awake.
Sunlight illuminated the hall just outside the door.
The alien man’s name—airik—was still written on the wall in front of her.
Fuck… It hadn’t all been a dream.
Her stomach tightened as the cold realization hit that she must’ve slept the whole night in Airik’s bed. He’d saved her, brought her aboard his ship, and sheltered her. For his efforts, she’d kicked him out of his own room and bed.
The least she could do was not piss on his floor. Plus, she didn’t want to listen to his otherworldly teasing.
Swallowing her embarrassment, she shuffled out of bed and hesitantly tested her weight on her injured foot. It hurt, but not so excruciatingly that she couldn’t walk to the bathroom.
Nora was about to turn the stall latch when she heard the uneven trickle of water from behind the washroom door.
Was Airik showering? No light shone through the metal slats of the door, but water splashed in the unmistakable pattern of water running over a large body. He must’ve been most comfortable in the dark. Tempted by curiosity, she went to the door and leaned forward.
What did he look like without the suit? Was the rest of him stone gray, like his hand?
She caught herself as she leaned in, shame thick in her throat. What the fuck was she doing? Airik had made it clear he didn’t want to be seen.
An unpleasant pressure grew between her legs—her bladder demanding release.
Do you really want to have an accident on the floor of a man who “breaks planets”?
Nora pushed away from the bathroom door and rushed into the narrow hall.
At one end stood a large chair. A pilot’s chair, she assumed.
The windshield was broken, which reassured her that the air here was breathable.
At the other end was a large rectangular depression in the wall with more slats—possibly an exit ramp.
Though Airik’s ship was far less impressive than she’d assumed for space-faring aliens, each of the forty-three steps to the main door was agony.
By the time Nora reached what she hoped was an exit, she was nearly in tears from the throbbing pain. Catching her breath, she tapped the door latch. Several icons of curling script projected into the air just above it.
“Well, shit.” The Abeona had an interface like this. It was finicky and often put Nora into fits of “fucks” and “goddamnits.”
She waved her finger over one of the icons. Nothing happened.
There was no way she’d pee on Airik’s floor like an untrained puppy. As she had usually done on the Abeona, she smashed the icons and waved her hands through them all.
She jumped back as the door beeped. It hissed and slid open. A ramp emerged from beneath the ship, extending outward and then lowering until it reached the ground, crushing long purple wheat-like grass.
The air smelled like Earth’s oceans. The saline breeze prickled her nose, dredging up memories so heavy she had to lean against the door or risk falling off the ramp.
It was bright. Nora stood in the doorway, waiting for her eyes to adjust and her heart to calm. Airik had said the ocean was close but not too close. She’d be okay.
Fuck, it was bright. Her vision blurred the sun into two. Or maybe it was the sedative, as she was still deep in the grip of a hangover.
Did Airik wear his helmet to shield himself from the light? It would explain the pale skin on his hand—maybe the result of evolving on a darker planet. She’d once watched a documentary about cave creatures that, over time, had lost all color and sight.
Though it was clear Airik could see. Maybe the helmet was doing the seeing for him. It was possible he didn’t have eyes at all. Or perhaps he was a small worm floating around in a humanoid exosuit that fed him sensations.
Her bladder cramped, forcing her to cross her legs. Worse than anything would be to wet herself and the floor of Airik’s ship, a nice little cherry on top of puking her guts out over the side of his bed. Twice!
Nora rocked onto her good leg, preparing to step off.
Airik had asked her not to leave, that something “death causing” had happened.
But…he’d also said he’d take her out once she woke, so whatever was deadly couldn’t be an immediate concern.
All she had to do was get to the trees. It wasn’t far, maybe a hundred feet away, and it would only take her a few moments to pee and come back.
She didn’t want to do it next to the ship—it’d leave her too exposed.
Decision made, Nora eased down the ramp. She winced as the soft grass gave way too much, straining her ankle. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could get back—maybe before the alien had finished showering.
She looked to her left and right, confirming that none of the creatures from earlier were in the field.
Taking in a deep breath, Nora hesitantly moved to the edge of the forest. A glowing boundary in the ground separated the forest from the field, and two parallel lines of light pulsed, leading deeper into the woods—a walkway. Clearly marked and maintained.
She turned back to Airik’s ship. As he’d said, its wings had been ripped off. Surprisingly, it resembled Earth’s old airplanes—with a nose, cockpit, and small fuselage. Such a primitive design for a civilization that claimed to break apart planets.
Wanting more cover, Nora crossed the boundary into the forest. The trees surrounding her were shaped like Earth pine, only their bark was iridescent.
Rainbow eucalyptus, she remembered in the charming British man’s voice from the documentaries.
She followed the path deeper in, just far enough that Airik’s ship disappeared from view, giving her some privacy. A tiny part of her brain screamed: You idiot. But the louder, slushier part of her mind said: Just pee and get back. It’ll all work out just fine.
Flying creatures flitted from branch to branch around her, but they moved too quickly to see. A twig snapped as she shifted her weight. The creatures burst into an uncanny song, the pitch much lower than any birds on Earth.
Her bladder about to explode, Nora spotted a large boulder to relieve herself behind. She dug a shallow hole to go into, dirt caking under her nails. When she was finished, she waited a bit to dry off. She should’ve packed that soft, plush roll of toilet paper Loretta had given her.
Nora’s chest tightened.
It should have been Loretta on the shuttle. She deserved to be saved and would at least have had toilet paper. Nora, ill-suited to nearly everything, hadn’t even packed a go bag as Joe had instructed.
She pulled up her pants with a little too much aggression, then covered the hole.
A scratch sounded over her. Nora froze, her hands still on the zipper of her pants. She crept back from the boulder.
Two large, pointed ears and three red eyes with slit pupils peeked over the edge.
Nora took another step back. The rest of the creature came into view. It plopped onto its haunches, watching her move. It had a wolflike snout and the rounded body of a bear. Furry, about the size of a large dog.
It was ridiculously cute.
“H-Hi,” Nora said.
The creature licked its nose in response, as her cat, Stinky, would. Suddenly wanting to touch something soft and emboldened by the fogginess still softening the edges of her mind, Nora raised her arm, ignoring the prickle of instinct trying to keep her still.
The creature, who had been lazily observing her, tensed. It let out a growl so loud that Nora felt it in the ground through the soles of her sock-covered feet.
“Fuck,” she whispered, her heart racing so fast her chest hurt. She backed away in jerky steps, despite her ankle’s protests, until her back hit a tree.
Nora had a great memory, even if it sometimes worked slowly. It never let her forget how terrible she was, the sorrow she caused, or all the stupid things she constantly said.
And now—too late—another memory. A small, large-eyed Australian primate with poison glands on its arms. When it still existed, it could’ve killed a man with a single toxic bite, then leap back into a tree, looking cute as a button as it watched its victim die.
The creature bolted up, its eyes locked on her. It made a strange clicking purr as its back arched into a stretch, talon-like claws thrusting from its paws.
“Shh. It’s okay. Everything’s fine,” Nora said in the softest voice she could muster. “I’m gonna go now and stop bothering you. Thank you.”
The creature leapt down, landing on all fours.
It shook off the effort, then sauntered toward her with the lazy grace of a lion after a nap.
Pinned by fear, Nora pressed hard against the tree.
The creature’s pupils constricted to thin slits.
Its mouth fell open, saliva dripping between two rows of serrated teeth.
Terror twisted her insides—even her bones knew she was in grave danger.
She slid down the length of the trunk, her eyes cast down so as not to inadvertently challenge it. Maybe if she made herself as small as possible, it wouldn’t see her as a threat. It would know she was just a weak, stupid human who hadn’t listened to someone who knew better.
The creature flexed, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw dozens of spines thrust from its fur like a spiked pom-pom dog from Hell. The crunch of the creature’s footsteps turned excruciatingly slow. Tears slid down her face as she heard it lick its lips.
The crunch of leaves stopped. So did her heart.
A guttural roar tore through the forest. The creature’s. A rancid odor struck her—its breath—causing her to heave.
Resigned to this being the end but unwilling to witness the exact moment it came, Nora covered her face. Her mind went blank, like a curtain falling too soon over a show, the one-woman performer still mid-act.
Sorry, Joe, I wasn’t worth saving. I kept telling you that.
The angel’s beautiful face filled her thoughts. She hoped it would be him who would come to collect her soul. Unable to resist the urge and surprised that she had thought of him at all, she smiled.
Air burst past Nora’s face, blowing her hair over her fingers.
She heard a thud. A violent shriek. Then a pitiful whimper.
Peeking out, she saw a towering, suited man where the creature had been just seconds earlier, wielding a thick branch like a baseball bat. A few bloody spines jutted from it.
Airik.
The creature scrambled to right itself. Airik reared back for another swing. In his left hand, he held his unlit gun, hitting its handle against his side. Was it glitching? As the creature shot at him, it coiled its body, spines projecting outward in a mass of spikes.
He swung toward its center.
The creature uncurled, digging its claws into his ungloved hand. Its other leg hooked around his back. Its teeth gnashed against the branch, crushing it into splinters that flew everywhere.
Airik let out a grunt, his right arm shaking.
Blood dripped down it as the creature thrashed.
He jammed the gun—its lights now on—into its gaping mouth.
The creature’s eyes blew wide open as it bit down.
Unable to penetrate the metallic skin of the suit, its teeth scraped against the material with an agonizing screech.
A blast shot out the back of its head. Airik’s armed hand pushed through the smoking hole in the creature’s skull.
Airik made an unintelligible noise, then roughly shoved the creature off. Its body crumpled into a heap of smoking flesh and fur.
Nora watched, a horrible wrenching in her stomach, as the creature’s eye dulled. For the briefest moment, she saw an innocent animal that had done nothing wrong but exist and cross her path. “I-I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I’m so sorry.” She tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t work.
“Sorry to who?” a low, strained voice asked.
Two steel arms pulled her to her feet like she was a rag doll. “Sorry to me or to it?” He pinned her to the tree. “You should be sorry to both.” He searched her body, touching every part, leaving dark, bloody handprints.
“I’m sorry—”
“No talk!” His voice was thick with fury.
Nora stared at herself in his helmet as he checked her over, letting him move her this way and that. He reached for her hands and stopped. She heard him let out a sharp breath. He ran a thumb across her dirty fingernails, caked in mud from when she’d relieved herself.
He asked in a low, ominous tone, “Did you dig?”
“Y-Yes, I had to—”
Nora’s world spun into disarray as he heaved her over his shoulder. Her head hung upside down over his back, her thigh pressed tight against his ear.
He sprinted back toward the ship, and she didn’t resist him.
Instead, Nora let herself hit the strong expanse of his back, limp and dead.
He had to know it now—how useless she was. That she wasn’t worth saving. Maybe he’d finally kill her. Or deciding she wasn’t worth the trouble, he’d throw her out with the rest of the broken parts of his ship, leaving her out here alone.