Chapter 12
Haley
Great, I’m fucking lost.
I came into the jungle to find Zoe, but I’ve managed to get completely turned around and now I can’t tell one tree or rock from another.
Not long after starting off on my search, I heard a loud rustling in the bushes, and at first, I thought it might be Zoe. When she didn’t answer my call and the noise grew louder and sounded as if it was headed in my direction, I panicked and ran. Not a great move. Since then, I’ve spent hours walking around with just the weird glowing leaves and vines to keep me from being swallowed up by the oppressive darkness of the dense jungle, and everything looks the same.
But now, the glow-in-the-dark foliage has grown dim, and I can barely see my hand in front of my face. Zoe could be right next to me, and I wouldn’t even know it. Hell, a dinosaur could be right next to me, and I wouldn’t have a clue. Not until it opens its mouth and chomps down on me.
I reach out with my hands to feel my way, carefully shuffling forward through the thick undergrowth and layer of dry leaves covering the ground so as not to end up face first on the ground. I still haven’t seen a single trace of Zoe since I stepped through the dense line of bushes and trees, and I don’t know how I can face the others if I don’t find her.
But that’s if I am even able to find my way back to the others.
What I wouldn’t give for a GPS right now. I hiss as a low hanging branch smacks me in the face leaving my skin stinging. Or a flashlight.
The only good news is I that haven’t seen any dinosaurs or heard any more rustling sounds possibly chasing me. Not that the jungle has been silent or anything close to it. The quiet chitter of nocturnal animals high up in the trees above me has followed me, but I’ve tried my best to ignore the sounds. It hasn’t been easy, but I keep telling myself that it’s probably just this planet’s version of a squirrel or a chipmunk. Yeah, something cute, furry, and sings in a squeaky voice.
I stumble into what feels like a small puddle, but as I take a step forward and another, I realize it’s a creek. The cold water moves against me as it rises with each cautious step until it reaches nearly to my waist. It’s an odd, disconcerting sensation not being able to see my feet or the water, and I cringe at the thought of what sort of animals might call the creek home. Please don’t let there be any leeches. Or snakes.
After several minutes of shuffling across the creek and trying not to slip on the slimy rocks and mud, my outstretched hands touch a solid wall of dirt and I realize it must be the bank of the creek. I reach out to steady myself for a moment before I clumsily scramble up the steep slope. I remember seeing a wide, murky looking creek not long after I set out on my search for Zoe, so maybe I’m finally headed back in the direction of the ship. I really hope so. Cause I am so over this.
My muscles are sore and I’m freaking cold, I think with a shiver as I wrap my arms around myself. Nighttime is a lot cooler on this planet than I thought it would be.
I never should have come by myself to look for Zoe. I should have woken up the others, but I just had to handle it all by myself.
What a dumb thing to do. Now, I’m cold, tired, and lost, and I still haven’t found Zoe. Way to go, Haley. I can practically hear Chad’s voice mocking me all the way from Earth. And he’s right.
I’m startled out of my thoughts when a loud roar echoes from my right and an enormous monster bursts from the depths of the darkness. A scream erupts from me as a flash of silver that looks like a sword comes sweeping down to cut me in half. I throw my arms up in front of my face and steel myself to feel the sharp blade slice into my flesh at any moment.
Nothing happens.
Taking a deep breath, I move my hand an inch and peek out – and up – at the beast standing in front of me.
It’s tall, close to seven feet in height and it’s. . . It’s a human! Oh my God.
Wait. . . no, it’s shaped like a human. If humans had muscles on top of more muscles.
The creature is covered in skin that changes colors right before my eyes – green, blue, bright turquoise, before it settles into a teal color. Glacial silver eyes glare down at me, pinning me in place.
Shit, shit, shit. It’s a fucking color-changing alien. Just when I thought things couldn’t get weirder on this freaking planet.
My hands tremble as I slowly lower them and warily eye the being in front of me. I should run, but my legs won’t move. I’m frozen in place as I warily eye the alien. Its gaze runs up and down my body, and it feels like it penetrates deep into my soul absorbing everything about me.
As the tense moment stretches out between us and the seconds turn into minutes, a sense of calm begins to sweep over me replacing the fear I felt earlier. It’s completely insane, but I feel safe. If this being was going to kill me, it would have already done so.
Wouldn’t it?
There is no reason I should feel any sort of safety or peace right now, but I do. My gut tells me this alien won’t hurt me, and I believe it. Peace flows through me and I feel my shoulders relax. I meet its eyes and it feels like its cold gaze grows warmer, and weirdly, my belly flutters in response.
The silence between us stretches on. I want to speak, but I don’t know what to say or if I should. What do you say to an alien, anyway? I come in peace. Take me to your leader. Yeah, I’ve tried that once already, and it didn’t exactly help matters.
Moving slowly, the alien sheaths its sword in a holder hanging on its back. That’s when I notice he – because it’s obvious he’s male based on the large bulge at his groin – is almost naked except for what looks like a long loincloth that stretches nearly to his knees. Seriously, a freaking loincloth.
The alien shifts his feet, his muscles rippling under his skin, and I feel my cheeks flush a deep red as I gape at his massive chest. Holy shit. I did not expect teal bodybuilder aliens in loincloths to be anything I’d ever encounter.
The alien reaches up and places a balled-up fist against his massive chest right over a pec, and the deep growling sound of his voice emerges making goosebumps rise on my arms. “Draggar.” He raps his fist against his chest and repeats the same word again.
Ohhhh, that’s his name. Draggar.
Oh my God, he’s introducing himself. Surprisingly, I feel a smile spread across my face. Well, I guess I should try to be polite and reciprocate. So, I do.
I ball up my fist and place it on my chest in the same manner he did and say my name. “Haley. My name is Haley.”
“Hell-lii.” He repeats my name, mangling the pronunciation a little and drawing it out until it has twice as many syllables and sounds decidedly hellish.
I repeat my name again, and with his eyes focused on my face in deep concentration like it’s the most important thing he’s ever done, he repeats it. “Hell-lii. Hell-lii. Haley.” I nod my head in excitement when he finally gets it. The corners of his lips tip up just the slightest and I wonder if he’s smiling.
I point at him and say “Draggar.” I turn my finger to point at myself. “Haley.”
His smile widens at my words making a dimple appear on one side of his mouth, instantly transforming his fierce appearance, and I laugh giddily. I can’t believe I’m actually standing here introducing myself to an alien. I realize that in the time we have been standing here staring at each other the sun has risen and a weak band of light cascades down to illuminate the space around us, and I can see the details of his face that I missed earlier.
A strong, square jaw that would be at home on any model, a broad nose with large nostrils that flare out wide, and wide silver eyes that almost seem to glow. His eyes have large, nearly vertical pupils like a cat, and I immediately wonder how good his night vision is.
There’s a prominent ridge of flesh – or maybe bone, I don’t know – where his eyebrows should be and it tapers up across his wide forehead before disappearing into a lush shoulder-length mane of hair that is a sparkling silver. Despite the silver hair, I don’t get the impression that he’s elderly. His muscular physique, quick reflexes, and alert gaze indicates someone much younger, probably even close to my own age.
Studying his wide mouth, I shiver when I notice that in addition to a full set of normal-looking teeth he also has two slightly elongated, sharp teeth on bottom and two on top – he has freaking fangs! – that look like they could easily tear through meat.
His ears are larger than a human’s and pointed at the top like they would be more at home on an elf, and as I watch, they twitch, almost as if he’s filtering through the different sounds of the jungle as it wakes up around us. It is an alien, otherworldly face that would not at all be considered handsome by human standards, but somehow, it’s striking, and I can’t tear my gaze away from this man.
This alien, I remind myself.
My eyes drift lower of their own accord, and I realize the ridges continue down his body. Over his abdomen where his heart and lungs would be if he was a human and along his very thick, muscular thighs. It looks almost like built-in body armor.
Now that I can see him better, I realize his skin has a sheen that makes it shine like chrome – holy freaking shit, he has metallic skin – and he’s not one solid shade of solid teal like I thought at first. Instead, there are areas of his body that are darker and others are lighter, almost aqua. I quickly realize between his coloring and his color-changing skin, he’s probably able to camouflage himself into his surroundings.
No wonder I didn’t realize he was there until I nearly walked on top of him. He’s perfectly designed for this planet with its jungle and dinosaurs. Unlike me.
For a guy from what seems to be a pretty dangerous world, he’s been surprisingly friendly. Even now, the corners of his lips are tilted up in a boyish grin that makes my stomach clench.
I wonder. . .He might have seen Zoe or maybe he could help me look for her. I open my mouth to ask him, ready to mime out whatever I need to to get my meaning across. “Have you seen. . .” My words end in a strangled gasp as a large hulking shadow darts out from the bushes behind the alien.
It’s a dinosaur, and unlike the pterodactyl-ish creature yesterday, this one looks like it stepped right out of a movie. Well, if dinosaurs had blue polka dots on them, that is.
Fucking hell, it’s an actual dinosaur. Like with teeth and claws and everything.
My brain seems to freeze for a split second as it tries to reconcile the fact that there is a freaking dinosaur just yards away with its cold, reptilian eyes trained directly on me as it lowers its head and begins to charge straight toward us.
I open my mouth to scream, but the sound is cut off as Draggar pushes me out of the path of the beast and I land with a grunt onto the soft ground.
The dinosaur pounces on the alien just as he pulls his sword free. Its sharp claws swipe across his flesh and leave a bloody streak behind that stretches across his chest. I feel my stomach roil as blood pours from the wound, but the only reaction Draggar has to the injury is a slight wince and then he’s off. He feints to the left, slashing at the dinosaur with his sword, but the blade glances off, barely leaving a mark on the beast’s thick scales.
I resist the instinctive urge to get up and run away and instead I crab walk over to a fallen log and crouch down next to it, in an attempt to make myself as unobtrusive as possible. I don’t want to risk the massive beast noticing me and chasing me down or distracting Draggar and causing him to be further injured.
I watch as Draggar jabs his sword into the dinosaur’s neck, but the sharp blade barely penetrates the thick hide. It’s like it’s covered in bullet-proof – uh, sword-proof - material. The dinosaur shakes its head as if it’s stunned that Draggar is actually fighting back, and then it opens its mouth and releases a vibrating roar that sounds almost like a foghorn and I slam my hands over my ears.
Razor-sharp teeth line its mouth in a double row and they glint menacingly in the light. A whiff of its breath reaches me and it’s pungent with the vile smell of rotting flesh that’s stuck between its teeth. Vomit rises in my throat, but I gulp and force it down.
The dinosaur kind of resembles a t-rex, but shorter and squatter than the ones I’ve seen in museums. It’s about as tall as a big truck and walks upright on two legs with two spindly arms that stick out from its chest. Its powerful back legs bunch and stretch as it lunges quickly towards Draggar with its jaws snapping shut and its arms lashing out with knife-sharp claws. A line of spikes sticks up from the top of its head all the way down to the tip of its tail. It’s a dark green in color with bright, almost neon blue spots all over its body.
It knocks Draggar to the ground and lunges to land on top of him. He grunts as the bulk of the beast’s heavy body presses him down into the ground. There’s little room for him to move with the large dinosaur on top of him, but he manages to wedge his sword between them to keep its massive jaws from taking a bite out of him. That doesn’t stop the beast from trying though, and it snaps its mouth full of sharp teeth closed over and over, trying its best to reach the struggling alien.
They’re in a fight to the death, and my breath catches in my throat as I watch frozen in fear. I’m terrified the dinosaur is going to win the fight. The urge to do something, to help the alien man who has fought so tenaciously, overrides my common sense, and I search the ground for something, anything I can use.
I spy a rock the size of a softball, and I pick it up, hefting it in my hand. I may not have ever been very athletic back on Earth, but I’ve always had pretty good aim.
Quickly rising, I steady myself, then rear my arm back and let the rock fly loose. It tumbles through the air and smacks the dinosaur right in the middle of one of its large eyes. The beast rears back with a roar, blinking for a moment as if confused about where the rock came from before it shakes its head and focuses its gaze back on Draggar.
I spy a tree branch lying on the ground nearby that looks like it’s just small enough for me to handle, but heavy enough to at least get the dinosaur’s attention. I quickly grab it and run forward getting as close as I dare to the ferocious battle in front of me.
Putting as much strength behind my swing as I can, I wallop the wannabe t-rex right across its head with a resounding crack. The dried wood of the stick crumbles, pieces of it flying everywhere. The dinosaur makes a whining noise and shakes its head as if stunned. Then its eyes slowly blink before it tilts its head and focuses its cold gaze right on me.
I can see the muscles bunching in its body as it prepares to launch itself towards me, but Draggar uses the moment of distraction to slide out from under the beast and slash his sword at the underside of the dino’s neck. Blood trickles out of the wound, but it barely fazes the animal. It rears back in a frenzy, preparing to lunge, its focus now back on the alien man battling it. As it does, Draggar’s sword goes tumbling down to the ground, knocked out of his hands by the dino’s claws.
Fuck!
I hold my breath expecting to see Draggar become dino breakfast in front of me, but he jumps out of the way at the last minute. The momentum of the lunge causes the not-a-t-rex to stumble, almost toppling over, but it regains its balance at the last moment and charges again towards Draggar with its jaws wide open ready to snap him in two.
I cringe, terrified for the alien that I only just met. He’s going to be killed right here in front of me.
But that split second of the dinosaur’s stumble allowed Draggar to regroup and grab his sword. He plunges the sharp blade deep into the open, gaping mouth of the beast as it runs towards him. The not-a-t-rex releases an earsplitting shriek and staggers forward a few steps before collapsing on top of Draggar with a rumbling groan. A thick trail of blood pours from its mouth as it rattles out its last breath and finally grows still.
I can just barely see the alien’s booted feet sticking out from where the massive beast has landed sprawled on top of him. He’s completely still, and a bolt of fear races through me as I worry that the dinosaur did manage to kill him.
“Draggar? Are you okay?” I don’t know why I should care so much about this strange alien, but I do. The thought of him dying leaves a hollow ache deep inside of my chest that makes me want to run towards him to make sure everything is okay.
But I don’t. I cautiously approach, drawing near to the massive pile of dino and alien. Leaning down, I get a close-up view of the scary mass that is the not-a-t-rex’s scaly head, its yellow, reptilian eyes are fixed and already beginning to cloud over. Now, that I’m closer, I can see the top of Draggar’s head peeking out just above the point of the beast’s muzzle.
“Draggar?” I bend down closer and raise my voice a little louder. The tension ratcheting down my spine feels like it will explode. “Draggar?”
A rumbling groan makes me take a step back and warily eye the dinosaur. Before I can react any further, a brawny arm reaches out and shoves the massive beast aside to reveal Draggar drenched in sticky blood. He groans again as he stumbles to his feet with a grimace on his angular face.
I gape in awe. He just shoved aside a dead dinosaur like it was nothing. Seriously, those muscles are not just for show. Then again, watching him fight proved that. Then, I shake my head and snap back to the present and move forward to wrap my arm around him as he sways where he stands.
“Here, let me help you.” I reach out and up and wrap an arm around his broad back, and I nearly jump out of my skin. It felt almost like a static charge raced from his body to mine as soon I touched him. He must have noticed it, too, because I felt him stiffen in reaction.
He stares down at me, and his pupils dilate as his gaze bores into me. Now, that I’m closer, I can see that his eyes aren’t just silver. There are small flecks of gold bursting around the center that seem to grow larger as I watch. A frisson of awareness develops between us growing bigger and stretching until it almost seems to become a living, breathing connection tying us together. We’re both frozen in place staring at each other until the call of a bird in the distance breaks the spell.
Draggar turns to me, the prominent brow ridge over his eyes bunches in what I think looks like concern. He reaches out and quickly, but efficiently runs his hands down my body.
My eyes widen and I yelp, but I let him. I’m on the verge of opening my mouth and telling him to go find someone else to grope, when he speaks, “Are you injured, Haley?” His eyes are warm as he gazes down at me, and I notice that his hands tremble as he runs them over me. Huh, he’s just checking me for injuries.
I snap my mouth closed and shake my head no. He moves behind me and checks over my back, and when he is satisfied that I am not injured, he grunts in approval and releases me.
Draggar bends over to remove his sword from where it’s still imbedded in the dinosaur’s mouth and the hitch of his breath reminds me of his injuries. It’s then that the full reality of what just happened finally hits me.
This alien saved me. He went head to head with a freaking dinosaur and he won!
Without a second thought to himself, he pushed me to safety and risked his own life to take down the dinosaur, and when it was all over, he was more concerned about whether I had been injured than himself. I place my hand on his broad chest, pat him, and look up to meet his gaze.
“Thank you. You saved my life, Draggar. You’re a hero.” He wrinkles his brow and looks at me quizzically. So, I try again a little louder. Maybe he’s a hard of hearing or maybe the fight with the dino injured him in some way that I can’t see. I raise my voice until I’m almost shouting. “Thank you for saving my life.”
He shakes his head as if he doesn’t understand me, and then with a dawning realization, it hits me. He reallydoesn’t understand me. I’ve become so accustomed to having the translator chip and being able to communicate that it didn’t even occur to me that Draggar might not be able to interpret my words.
But his next words clear it all up for me. “I do not know your strange language, Haley the alien.”
Well, shit. This whole time I’ve felt some sort of weird connection to him, and he can’t even understand what I’m saying. What a let-down.
Before I can decide what to say, a piercing foghorn roar echoes through the trees. Tremors run through me as I realize that whatever it is sounds exactly like the dead not-a-t-rex and based on the crashing noises that seem to be growing louder, it’s on the move and getting closer.
There’s another one coming. A crash and another almost identical roar echoes from behind me. Oh shit, there’s two.
My stomach sinks as I look up at Draggar. His eyes are focused on the dense thicket of trees directly behind me as his pointed ears rapidly twitch. Then, he moves so quickly I don’t have time to react. He picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder, and we’re off, racing through the jungle.
My head hangs down his back, and I can see the ground rush by me in a dizzying blur. My hands grip the waist of his loincloth to try to stabilize myself and keep me from bouncing around as he runs faster than any human could ever run. That’s when reality suddenly crashes down on me.
I’m being abducted by an alien for the second time. Fucking hell.