1 #2
The air around him had turned thick and heavy, like he was moving through water.
His feet left the ground, and he floated upward, his arms and legs frozen in place.
The light swallowed the campsite, the trees, the mountain, everything.
There was nothing left but the white and the hum of something he could not name, a sound that vibrated through his teeth and into his skull.
"No!" he shouted, and the word came out raw and ragged. "Melissa! Melissa, where are you?"
He caught a glimpse of her through the light, her body rising upward too, her face twisted with terror.
She reached for him, her fingers stretching toward him, and he reached back, but the space between them grew wider and wider until she was nothing but a shape in the distance, a silhouette swallowed by the glow.
The light closed around her, and she was gone.
Aiden felt himself being pulled upward, faster now, through something that felt like ice water and fire at the same time.
The hum grew louder, filling his ears, filling his brain, until he could not hear anything else.
He tried to fight, to swing his fists, to kick his legs, but his body was useless.
Then the light faded, and he dropped hard onto a cold metal floor.
His knees hit the surface first, then his hands, and the impact jarred through his whole body.
He gasped and sucked in air that tasted strange and sharp, like metal and ozone.
His vision swam, the edges of his sight blurry and unfocused, and he blinked hard to clear it.
He was in a room with blue lights. The walls glowed with a soft, pulsing light that cast everything in shades of cold blue.
The floor was smooth and metal, cool under his palms, and the air was still and quiet except for the distant hum of engines.
Aiden pushed himself up onto his knees and looked around wildly.
The room was empty except for him, just smooth walls and blue light and the cold floor.
His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his throat, and his hands were shaking as he pressed them flat against the floor to steady himself.
"Melissa!" he shouted, and his voice echoed off the walls. "Melissa, where are you? Answer me!"
Silence. Nothing but the hum and the echo of his own voice fading away.
Aiden got to his feet, his legs unsteady, and he spun in a circle, looking for a door, a window, anything.
The walls were seamless, smooth metal without any seams or openings.
He had no idea how he had gotten here. He had no idea where here was.
He had no idea if Melissa was alive or dead or somewhere else on this ship.
Something cold and tight settled around his throat, and he reached up and touched it.
A collar. Metal and warm, like it had been heating against his skin.
He tried to pull it off, but his fingers found no latch, no buckle, nothing.
The collar was smooth and seamless, and it sat tight against his throat like a second skin.
A heavy door slid open in the wall, and Aiden spun toward it, his hands curling into fists.
A figure stepped through the opening, tall and armored, with skin that was not human.
The figure was covered in dark plates that looked like chitin, and its face was a mask of hard angles and small, black eyes.
It carried a short rod that sparked at the tip, and it moved toward Aiden with a slow, deliberate gait.
"Get away from me," Aiden said, and he backed up until his shoulders hit the wall. "Where am I? Where's Melissa? What did you do with her?"
The figure said something in a language Aiden did not understand, and the words were harsh and guttural, like stones grinding together. Aiden shook his head and pressed himself harder against the wall.
"I don't understand you. Where am I? Let me go!"
The figure reached out with one hand, its claws scraping against Aiden's arm, and Aiden reacted without thinking.
He swung his fist and connected with the figure's face, something that should have been a jaw.
The impact jarred up his arm, and he heard a wet crack as something in the figure's face shifted wrong.
The figure staggered back, one hand coming up to its ruined jaw, and its black eyes widened with shock. Aiden did not wait. He lunged forward, swinging again, but the figure raised the rod and something shot out of it, a bolt of energy that hit Aiden in the chest.
The pain was instant and total. It felt like every nerve in his body caught fire at once, and he dropped to his knees, his vision going white.
He tried to scream, but his throat would not work, the sound trapped somewhere deep in his chest. The collar around his throat flared hot, and the pain doubled until there was nothing left in his mind but the white fire of it.
Then the darkness closed in, and he knew nothing at all.
When Aiden opened his eyes again, he was lying on a hard bench in a small cell.
The walls around him were a dull gray, and the air smelled stale and sour.
The blue light was gone, replaced by a harsh white glow that came from somewhere above him, and he could hear the distant hum of the ship still running.