by Ivy McAdams
He plops me into it unceremoniously.
I’m so far removed from the exterior door now that I’m shaking in fear. The moment his fingers leave my arm, I lunge forward to run, but I’m slammed back so hard in the chair that it knocks away my breath.
“You fucker,” I choke, before realizing he’s not even close to me anymore.
He’s standing at a small countertop a few feet away.
Some kind of force-field restraints shimmer around my wrists like clear, iridescent ribbon, holding me to the metal rails of the chair. I wiggle my arm but the wrist is held tight. With a determined growl, I flex and lift with all my strength and manage to get my arm half a foot in the air before the restraint jerks it back into place.
The bands go around my ribs and ankles as well. No matter how hard I fight, I’m not going anywhere.
The alien regards me silently with those glowing green eyes from his spot at the counter.
I bare my teeth at him. “Who the hell do you think you are? Get me out of this thing.”
The light isn’t that bright in here, but it’s better than inside the dark house. I can see his stern face, brows lowered and strong jaw set as he stares at me. His skin is matte black. A gold tattoo follows the line of one of his eyebrows, crosses itself in an intricate design, and curves to run up his horn.
The pair of curving bones look strangely similar to some livestock horns I’ve seen, each sprouting from the scalp just behind his forehead and curving back over his head and into the air. The ridges in them seem to ripple through the surface.
He leans off the counter, and I glare up at him. He’s got to be at least seven feet tall. Long, lean body with a wide chest, all hidden underneath what looks like a black flight suit.
“What the hell are you anyway? Some space X-Man looking for a good time?” My fingers shake with nerves, but I’m not letting this asshole treat me like a ragdoll. “You’re obviously not from around here. Why are you here on Earth? In my house?”
He’s like a statue, frozen and staring. His eyes move subtly as he looks me over.
Is he freaking deaf?
Or does he not speak English?
I feel a little stupid yelling at a being that’s not from my planet like he can speak my language, but at least I said it with gumption. There’s no way he won’t get that I’m pissed at least.
Unless he’s some sort of unfeeling robot alien that can’t read emotions.
Then I’m screwed.
“Ugh!” I growl as I pull on my restraints again. “Take these things off me, you numb slug! I don’t care if you don’t speak or if you’re too sociopathic to communicate with anything more complex than a mushroom, didn’t you at least grow up somewhere with manners? You don’t just go around picking up strangers.”
The shimmering ribbons hold me tight to the chair and I thrash about, kicking and throwing my body around in a frenzy. The nearly clear force fields don’t look like much more than holograms shining over my skin, but they pinch in tight and I can’t budge them.
That’s frustrating enough to make me pull harder. But it doesn’t do a damn bit of good.
After a moment, I sag against the seat, all the energy drained from my body. I pant and my eyes roll as I stare at the ceiling, my muscles burning as much as the bruising flesh I’ve broken against the restraints.
Yep, definitely screwed.
I’ve been abducted by an alien. And it doesn’t even matter how close that exterior door is or if it’s open anymore because I can’t get out of this chair.
I roll my eyes back to my captor. He’s still watching me, but if he’s entertained by my making a fool of myself, he doesn’t show it. Of course.
When I no longer fight and simply lie sprawled back in my chair, he finally takes a step toward the door. His big horns just miss the top of the entranceway, swaying left and right as he walks away, shaking his head. As if he’s exasperated with me.
The nerve.
Unfortunately, I don’t even have the energy to raise my voice again. Not a bit of me feels strong enough to go off again.
But at least he’s gone.
He moves out the door and disappears around the corner. Once the sound of his boots echoes down the hall, I close my eyes and try to ignore the musky smell.
A real fucking spaceship.
My lip trembles as I gnaw on it, the hot anger inside me subsiding as real fear slides over me. An alien has snatched me up and taken me aboard his spaceship. I’m—
I gasp as realization crushes me.
I’m being abducted by an alien.
He broke into my seller home. He stole me away to do God knows what to me. He attacked Zeus.
The thought of the dog weakens my resolve. Such a loyal animal, putting his life on the line to try to rescue me. We may still be rather new to each other after three months, but we were comfortable with one another. He was a good dog, dammit.
My chest hurts as the image of him crumpling under the red light runs through my brain over and over.
Stupid alien.
The tears stinging the corners of my eyes drop onto my cheeks as I ball my hands into fists and clench my teeth.
How dare that asshole just waltz onto my planet, into my life, and disrupt things like that.
“Hey!” I shout, kicking my heels back against my chair.
It reverberates like metal. And it hurts. So I press my feet in tight and lean forward against my straps to snarl out the doorway. “Get your ass in here and let me go. I am not a toy and I’m not interested in any joyride.”
Nothing answers and another angry wave hits me. Picked up by an asshole that doesn’t know English. What luck.
I slam back against my chair, slipping down to slouch in my seat with a scowl.
Isn’t the police or someone here yet? Can’t they come in and get rid of him?
If there isn’t a protocol on flying alien craft, there should be. Obviously. Does anyone else know there are horned aliens around here?
If not, I should tell them. The thought sends a light through me. I should call the cops, the news, Dan, anyone.
I reach into my jacket pockets but only pull out a set of keys. Strange.
With a hard twist in my seat, I check my other pockets, but they’re all empty. I fly back through the evening’s details. I know I put it back into my jacket pocket before coming to the house.
Except…
My lips pinch in tight when I remember that Dan called back just before I was snatched. I must have left my phone there in the kitchen. What luck.
My eyes roll in frustration and I rest my head back against the seat.
Deep breaths.
It feels good to be in the darkness in my head for a moment. I can pretend all of this is a dream. I just ate ice cream way too late last night and got lost in a crazy nightmare.
See? There’s Zeus’s nose in my hand to tell me it’s five a.m. and he’s ready to go outside.
Except, that snout really is wet and furry.
My eyes pop open, and I find Zeus standing next to my chair. I blink in surprise as he sits and opens his mouth in that cute grin that he knows gets him an extra treat.
“Zeus?” I hiss in disbelief. “Are you okay? Oh my God.”
I can’t reach him with my hands or feet, but he seems to understand and reaches forward to touch my palm with his nose again. Some strange sentiment from deep inside me bubbles up and I choke on a few tears.
“I thought he killed you,” I murmur through a watery smile.
I want to bury my face in his fur and hug him. If anything can make this nightmare feel better, it’s a big warm hug.
Well, you know, and not being in this nightmare.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I whisper to him, a new feeling of urgency taking over. “I’m stuck. I need you to do some Lassie shit and get me loose.”
He cocks his head to the side, one of his oversized ears twisting in question.
I wiggle my hands and feet. “He’
s got me tied up with some weird…I don’t know, unicorn ribbon or something. Is there a switch on the seat somewhere to let them go?”
Zeus’s eyes are trained on my wrists for a moment, and I think he’s got the right idea, but then he turns around and trots around the room.
Oh my God. My freedom depends on a dumb dog.
I bounce in the seat with a pitiful pout. “Come on, Zeus. Get back over here. I’ll get you a treat. I promise. I mean, I don’t have one on me, but if you come sniff around over here for buttons I’ll be sure that you get a whole box of treats when we get home.”
He sniffs along the counter at the side of the small room where the alien was, then wanders off behind me. The tips of his claws clink along the metal floor behind me.
I pull against my chest restraint to turn and see him. Push, pull, stretch. I heave against the ribbons, trying to twist my head and find Zeus.
Then something beneath me hisses and moves. The chair’s going to swallow me whole. I jerk upright with wide eyes.
The restraints glimmer and detach, melting back into the slits in the chair. They’re gone just as fast as they popped up.
“What?” I bleat, snatching my hands up and rubbing at the sore skin along my wrists.
Without another thought to how it happened, I leap out of the chair. Hell if I’m going to let that thing snag me again.
Behind the chair, Zeus has his paws on the wall near a small panel with a row of buttons. He pants open-mouthed at me, looking unbelievably smug.
“What the hell?” I murmur.
He reaches his nose along the panel, flicking a button, and the chair makes sounds again as it tilts.
Mother of all that is holy. Did that dog really find the release switch?
“Are you sure you’re not related to Lassie somehow?”
His eyebrows move, cocking in the air for a moment.
“Nevermind. Thanks for the help, boy. Let’s go while we still can.”
He falls in line behind me as I creep to the doorway. I’m not sure how to sneak out of a spaceship. Does it have locked doors? Alarms?
I crane around the side of the wall and look out.
The dim hallway runs in both directions. Thick black wires hang from the ceiling, looping through the metal struts running across the top of the corridor. Dust has collected along all exposed edges. One of the many small white lights posted overhead is out while another flickers. There’s a strange, old, musty smell.
On the opposite side of the corridor is an even smaller room with a square-seated chair and a strange odor that makes Zeus sneeze. Space bathrooms? No thanks. A few more feet down, the hallway opens up into the large main room. It looks even older and more strewn with debris from this angle.
“This thing is a dump,” I whisper back at Zeus.
We creep along silently until we can see through the rest of the dim space. There are two doors at the opposite end of the room. One is the exit.
And it’s still open.
Chapter 3
My heart skips a beat as I stare at the open exit door, a sliver of the clear night sky and twinkling stars peeking through. The view sends my pulse racing.
“It’s still open,” I choke as silently as I can manage.
I can’t believe there’s still a chance for escape. We need to run.
Through the second open door, lights and screens glow in the dark behind the silhouette of a tall-backed chair and a pair of horns.
I stare at what I can see of the alien, wondering what he’ll do if he catches me. How good is his hearing? The exit door is so close to his cockpit.
He’s like a silent, ominous statue sitting in there. A fierce monster just waiting on me to try him. Will he kill me? Vaporize me with a laser blaster?
I don’t even know why I’m here. He may already want to torture me. I don’t pay attention to the news or politics. Not since my mother got sick, and that was over a year ago. And I sell houses in a small town for my mediocre living. I’ve eaten takeout and leftovers for four days straight. I have so little information that could give any insight into human life it’s not even funny. I may be the last person someone would want to abduct for inside information on Earth.
What could he possibly want with me?
While I’m staring and pondering my puny existence, Zeus takes the lead and treads quietly through the main room. He sidles up alongside the wall nearest the door and keeps going.
I follow numbly, doing my best to watch both my feet and the cockpit. Sneaking out behind him feels too risky, but it’s my only chance.
Zeus’s ears move and he lifts his head to sniff a few times, but he keeps a steady pace toward the door. I wish I had his confidence. My boots rock heel to toe as I do my best to creep with him. But it’s hard to pull my gaze from the alien.
This sweep, my eyes linger on a recessed shelf in the wall next to the cockpit door. It’s stacked with black equipment that’s difficult to make out in the dull lights. Hanging from a hook next to it is some sort of weapon. A complex-looking rifle.
I wonder if I grab it and try to use it, if it’ll melt my face off.
Or the alien’s.
That would be one way to ensure he doesn’t follow us. Zeus and I could run right out the door and meet the police in the front yard. No one would prosecute me for killing an alien in self-defense, right? I doubt there are laws against extraterrestrials.
But who cares. I’d rather do jail time than get abducted and taken to God knows where in outer space.
I change direction as discreetly as I can manage.
I don’t know much about rifles but I see the handle and some sort of trigger. That’s enough for me. When I’m almost near enough to touch it, something pulls on my leggings. I nearly gag trying not to gasp as I spin around.
Zeus tugs on the cloth again, his body low to the ground and a look of insistence in his eye. He growls softly, tugging me toward the door again.
I can see the back of the house outside through the open hatch. That horrible, stinky house that I’d love to be back in right now. It’s right there. I could probably run there before the alien got to me.
But then what?
Those walls aren’t going to stop him. He got in the door earlier without even breaking in.
Even if the cops are out there, would their guns slow him down? What if this gun vaporizes all of them with one push of a button?
I don’t have a damn choice.
The opportunity is right in front of me. I have to take it.
One last big step gets me in range and I slip the gun off the wall. It’s heavier than it looks and I go straight to a double grip.
Zeus shies away from me when I adjust the weapon, trying to find where to put my hands. My nerves rattle as he backpedals, but it’s now or never.
Except the silhouette around the corner has shifted. He’s getting up.
My heart hammers in my throat and Zeus barks, lunging at my leg to shove me toward the door. I trip and hug the rifle to my chest, even though I nearly have a heart attack once I do it. I don’t want this death stick pressed up against me. What if it explodes or something?
My teeth are clenched hard and my fingers tremble on the gun.
When I look up this time, the dark face is staring at me from the doorway, and my knees go weak.
Zeus faces the alien and snarls, but the figure steps out without giving the dog much attention. His eyes are on me. And the gun in my hands.
Now or never.
My nerves are at an all-time high and it stabs into my brain. I’m going to die.
I fumble with the rifle to get it pointed at my captor, but he’s faster than me. His big hand closes over the barrel and he wrenches the gun away. I shriek as I fall back away from him.
Oh God, I’m going to die now.
What a wretched being to pick on me like this. I scowl at him as I stumble back.
His glare is hard, unforgiving. He dumps the gun on one of the shelves.
Zeus l
unges to push me again, and this time, it sounds like a fantastic idea. Except for the small problem of the tall alien with long arms.
As I turn to sprint away, he grabs my wrist and jerks me up. I scream as his fingers pinch and wrench my tendons.
Zeus breaks into a fit of snarls.
“Run, Zeus!” I shout, twisting to kick the dog toward the door.
But he doesn’t, and the alien grabs him too.
Now that dog is huge. Like, breaks both my femurs on days he insists on sitting in my lap and I can’t see the television past his big head. Now he’s hanging from the alien’s grip like he’s a puppy that’s piddled on the floor. A pissed off one that’s kicking around and barking in a frenzy.
The alien snorts as Zeus snaps at his face, and he maneuvers the dog to a safe distance. His suit is tight enough to see his biceps and shoulders flex and bulge beneath it. I swallow a lump of nerves and jerk my gaze back to his stern face.
I don’t think we’re getting away from him.
But hell if I’m not going to give it my best effort. I’ve heard alien probing stories.
In one last fit of determination, I yank back and twist in his grasp. My wrist bends and pops, nearly to the breaking point, and I scream as I lunge for the open door. His fingers tighten on me, and he growls.
And that’s that.
I’m locked in like my arm’s been caught in concrete.
If he can overpower me so easily, what else could he possibly do to me?
My brain runs wild with horrible scenarios. The hair on the back of my neck and down my arms stands on end. I go into a fight or flight mode I’ve never experienced.
“If you don’t let go I’ll rip this arm off and run without one!” I snarl, pulling again even though I know it’s fruitless as tears stream down my cheeks.
Zeus snarls like he’ll eat this beast’s scowl right off, but he’s hanging helplessly too.
The alien narrows his eyes and stomps to the exit door, and for a fleeting moment, I think he’ll toss us out on our asses. It’ll hurt like a bitch but I’ll drag myself across the yard and away from the ship if I need to. Freedom!
