by Maven, Ella
“First date?”
“I’m kidding.”
But his eyes were intense, like a shark scenting blood. “Tell me what’s a first date?”
It’s like he knew there was something to those words and wanted me to say it. “A date is… when you’re interested in someone else. Romantically.”
“You want to mate them?”
“Well, I guess but you want to get to know them first. Before the uh, naked stuff, so you go out on a date.”
He was so interested, his intense eyes taking in every word. “Go out?”
“Yeah, like to eat a meal, or watch a movie, or attend a sporting event, or whatever.”
“And the purpose would be to get to know each other to see if mating was compatible?”
It was a blunt way to put it but not altogether wrong. “I … yeah. Sure. That.”
“Did you go on first dates a lot?”
“Not really. I was always pretty terrible at picking men, so for the last year I stayed single.”
“What does this mean that you were terrible at picking men?”
“They were usually shitheads.”
“This word … shithead? … is an insult?”
“Yeah, they were mean or cheaters or liars.”
His eyes went wide with a spark and his chest puffed out. “Earth males are like this?”
“Well, not all of them, no. There are plenty of good ones. I always seemed to be attracted to the crappy ones.” I didn’t want to say this out loud, but clearly my track record hadn’t improved now that I realized I was attracted to an alien-planet version of an ex-con. Jeez, Rian.
“Would you go on a first date with me?” He asked out of nowhere.
His question left me a little speechless. “Uh, I’m pretty sure there’s nowhere I want to go in here.”
He shook his head. “Pretend we’re not here. Pretend we’re safe. Would you go on a first date with me?”
“I mean … sure.” What was the harm in saying yes? Mikko had shown signs of good character, and I felt safe around him. A voice in the back of my head warned he could still betray me, but I swallowed down that dreaded thought. I rested my chin on my palm. “Where would you take me?”
His eyes went a neon purple and he shifted forward with a sly smirk to his lips. “If we were on my home planet, I’d take you to a hot spring. We’d eat fresh guara and drink spirits until we felt full and happy. Then we’d bathe in the spring. After that, I’d lay you out on some furs and lick your sweet cunt until you screamed.” He leaned back as he prodded at the corner of his mouth with the tip of his tongue.
My draw dropped open. That had gone from zero to one hundred. I was still stuck on drinking imaginary spirits. How did I suddenly get naked and orgasming?
Mikko wasn’t ashamed of his speech or embarrassed at all. He watched me smugly. “Why are your cheeks reddening, Rian?”
I pressed a hand to my heated skin. “I’m just… I’m…” I shook my head as I fought to collect myself. “You moved a little fast on that date.”
“While eating and drinking, we’d find out we were compatible to mate, so why wait?”
I narrowed my eyes. “How are you so sure we’d be compatible?”
He exhaled loudly with a satisfied grunt. “Because I know.”
“Okay, well how about this… You get me out of this hellhole, and I’ll take you up on that date and spread myself out like a buffet.”
His tongue—his pierced tongue with three silver balls in the middle—stretched down to his chin. He wiggled the tip before slurping it back in his mouth and clacking his teeth in a playful biting action. “I’ll be holding you to that, fierce Rian.”
Four
Mikko
That night, I slept on my side close to Rian. She gave me a wary look, but I couldn’t sleep sitting up another night. My spikes made that uncomfortable and while I didn’t need tons of rest as a Drixonian, the more I got, the more alert I felt. And I was going to need every single brain cell to get us out of this flecking place.
Of course, I knew where to go, but the difficult part would be evading the rest of the prisoners and ensuring they didn’t follow us to my escape route. I’d worked hard on my escape tunnel for ten cycles, and I still remember when I’d first emerged from the Pit to the sinking sands on the Vixlicin surface. I’d felt the sun on my face and breathed fresh air for the first time in ages.
It’d been one of the best moments of my life, a life that had been filled with enough heartbreak and pain to last many lifetimes.
Second best moment was this time alone with Rian. She was more trusting of me now. She let me get close to her as we moved about the space. I needed to exercise, and she watched me while she casually ate some muhs. She no longer raised her little fists in defense or stiffened when I drew close. I was utterly proud I’d earned her trust. It felt a bit like I’d tamed a salibri, and I vowed never to betray her trust.
“What did you do to get in here?” she asked as we ate a meal of muhs.
“I killed my owner.”
Her eyes went wide. “Did you try it or was it an accident like me?”
“I tried it.”
She clamped her jaw shut and muttered, “Oh.”
“They threw me in here.”
“But you escaped … and now you’re back. Did you get caught?”
“No.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Did you kill someone else?”
I scrunched my lips to the side. “Well, yes, but I didn’t get caught and that’s not the reason I’m here.”
She looked completely confused. “Then how the hell did you get thrown in here again?”
I chewed as I considered what to tell her. “I didn’t get thrown in here. I came back on my own.”
Her eyes bulged. “You… came back?”
“Yes.”
Now she looked at me like I had three heads. “Um, why?”
I bent my legs and rested my wrists on my knees as I wondered where to start. “Well, you got a decent look at this place, right? The bottom pit of living dead, the conditions we are forced to survive in. The food drop only happens every three days, and by the time the package reaches the lower levels, there’s nothing but scraps. It’s a place that shouldn’t exist. So, I came back to end it.”
“End it?”
“Cave it in. Collapse the whole Pit so they can’t throw in anyone else to rot.”
She crept forward. “So, are you going to show everyone how to escape first?”
“Why would I do that?”
She blinked. “Because they’re still… living beings, Mikko.”
“They’re criminals. They’re in here for a reason.”
“You were in here for a reason,” she demanded.
“Yeah, but—”
“And I was tossed in here for no reason. Well, there was a reason, but it was self-defense. I didn’t have a trial. No one cared I was fighting for my life. How many others are in here that have a similar story?”
I curled back my lips in a snarl. “You don’t know the kind of creatures in here. I do.” I slammed a fist against the door behind me. “Everything out there wants to violate you before tearing you to pieces, and you’re defending them?”
“I’m not defending them. I’m saying that you don’t get to decide if they all die. Maybe they belong here and maybe they don’t. But you condemning them to a death sentence is above your pay grade.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and I just stared at her. How could I make her see my point of view? I’d lived here for many, many cycles. I knew who resided here. I took a deep breath to calm myself. “If someone collapsed this Pit with me in it, I would have felt my death was justified.”
Her eyes got big and watery. “I don’t know about that. You killed your owner in self-defense. Did you kill anything else for the fun of it?”
I frowned. “No, but I also couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy killing Plikens who threatened to hurt me and my brothers.”
“So, i
t was self-defense for you too?”
There was a little bit of hope in her voice, and that made me flinch. “I don’t think Fatas would look at it that way, Rian. I’m not sure that it’s a good idea for you to look at me as moral and right. I left those desires long ago, and I have come to peace with that. I’m not the best Drixonian warrior. I’m not the best on this planet. I may not even be the best warrior in this Pit. But I am the one who knows how to escape, and I also know where the guards keep the riot explosives I’ll use to collapse the entire prison.”
She looked away, and I wished I could lie and tell her I still had honor, but I’d dedicated myself to the destruction of the Pit. I believed it was the right thing to do. I wished I’d met her long ago, before the Uldani and the Pit and the anger that took hold of my mind.
“But I will save you first.” Her eyes met mine when I spoke again. “I might not be the most moral, but I still have some honor left. So, I will complete the mission to save you before returning to carry out my own.” I swallowed. “I’m sorry I am not the male you thought I was.”
Her eyes glistened, and she opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. She closed her mouth and gave me a shaky nod.
“Finish eating,” I said. “We leave soon.”
* * *
Carrying Rian on my back wasn’t an option because of my machets, so she was forced to run at my side. For someone who couldn’t see in the dark, she did well. That had to have taken a massive amount of trust to let me lead her blindly through a prison with hundreds of prisoners who wanted nothing more than to get their hands on her.
When I’d first entered this prison all those cycles ago, I hadn’t expected to ever get out. I hadn’t even tried to find an escape. It was by sheer accident I’d discovered a concealed tunnel a few feet above the third floor, only accessible by stabbing my machets into a slightly softer stone there and hauling myself up.
The Pit never slept—too many races with different resting needs and schedules, but the third level prisoners kept to themselves in their private cells. While walking, I kept as close to the wall as I could so the teeming masses below didn’t see us creeping by. I heard a few scuffles, moans, and groans from the bottom of the Pit as we jogged along the pathway. Rian’s palm was damp in mine and I could feel the trembles running down her arm. Her fingers squeezed mine with more strength than I realized she had.
I’d scouted the tunnel entry point many rotations ago—when I’d first re-entered the Pit and found it intact and unmolested. Bricks of stone fitted together perfectly to hide the tunnel, and it had been luck I’d walked by and heard the slight shifting of them, caused by a thunderous brawl in the cell two floors down.
The stone which comprised the Pit where we lived was garmin—a cheaper stone found on many of the planets in the galaxy. The upper walls of the Pit were quazal, an expensive and rare stone—but also hard and smooth. I couldn’t climb it using my machets, but the tunnel had been carefully built—I didn’t know by whom—in the garmin stone.
I’d already explained to Rian I had to climb up first, and then I’d drop a rope and pull her up. I didn’t like leaving her alone for even a moment on the pathway but there was no other way. Her claws were short and useless. I’d even caught her biting them shorter a couple of times. I suggested she grow them sharp like mine, and she’d muttered she’d “Think about it,” but I was fairly sure she’d been humoring me.
The closest cell door to the tunnel entrance was about five body-lengths away from me. The prisoner who resided there was a Vilke, who had excellent sight but only average hearing.
I left Rian on the path, directing her to stand with her back plastered against the wall, extremely still, and motioning for her to be silent.
She nodded; her eyes wide as she sought to focus in the dark. Clearly terrified, she didn’t whine or cling to me. I respected her show of bravery.
I took a few steps back to the edge of the pathway, and with a running leap, launched myself as high as I could. I hit the wall with a thunk and cringed as a few stones and dust crackled to the ground below.
A holler followed the sound from somewhere deep below, and I remained frozen there, machets plunged into the soft stone. The noise eventually quieted. After checking to make sure Rian was all right, I gritted my teeth at the pain of using my machets and continued to climb.
Blood trickled down my arms to drip off my elbows. Once I reached the tunnel entrance, I carefully pushed a few stones through. When I was able to get my fist inside, I picked them up one by one and placed them gently inside the ground at the front of the tunnel. As soon as I had a hole big enough to slip my body through, I leapt inside and immediately dropped a rope, letting it slap against Rian’s shoulder. She turned, wrapped it around her wrist, and waited. I pulled her up and watched as she aided by efforts by using her feet along the wall.
When she was safely inside the tunnel entrance with me, I didn’t take the time to celebrate. The entrance had to be rebuilt before anyone walked by and saw it. I had about half the stones replaced when the clank of a cell door opening sounded in the distance. For a split second, I froze, and Rian sucked in a breath. Stones crunched under boots as footsteps approached, and I placed the stones quicker, white noise roaring in my ears as I fought not to panic. My hands had to be steady.
The hole got smaller and smaller, and just when I detected a figure coming toward us, I placed the last stone, sealing us off from the Pit.
For a moment, I didn’t move. I only heard Rian’s breathing, which sounded loud as fleck in the small space. I placed my hand over her mouth, and she fought me for a second before settling.
The footsteps drew closer, stopping just outside the tunnel entrance, and then kept going. Another cell opened, voices greeted each other, and then the door closed. After that … silence.
I dropped my hand from Rian’s mouth and whispered, “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said back.
I took her hand and led her deeper into the tunnel.
* * *
Rian
He could have been leading me to a dungeon. A torture dungeon. A sex dungeon. And not the fun kind. Anything really, and I would have had no choice but to blindly follow him. I couldn’t see anything in the pitch black, not even my own hand. I tried to hold it a few inches from my face and ended up poking myself in the eye. So, I stumbled at a dead run, my hand clasped in Mikko’s, as we ventured farther into the tunnel.
I had thought for a minute there that we’d been found out, but Mikko had stayed calm and focused as he replaced the stone entrance of the tunnel. I’d been going out of my mind, my heart beating so loudly in my ears I couldn’t hear a thing.
We ran for what felt like an hour but was probably only fifteen minutes. By the time his pace slowed, I was gasping for breath. He’d definitely shortened his strides so I could keep up, and while I wasn’t in the best shape, fear had a way of moving my muscles past the point of exhaustion.
Finally, he came to a stop and let go of my hand. I immediately bent over, hands on my knees, and panted like a dog. A click followed by a hiss sounded in the tunnel and suddenly we were illuminated. I straightened to find Mikko staring up at the ceiling of the narrow tunnel. I followed his gaze to find nothing, but a hole covered by a metal panel.
I reached for it, but Mikko, immediately snatched my hand away. I frowned at him. “Why can’t I touch it?”
Mikko’s nostrils flared, and his chest heaved. He picked up a few pebbles and tossed them at the panel. When they hit, sparks flew, and I yelped as I scrambled out of the way. “That’s why,” he growled at me.
“Okay, so… what’s the plan? How do we get past it?” He’d done this before, so he knew, right? Except I didn’t like the look on his face and the way his mouth went tight at my questions.
“I thought…” he shook his head and let it drop between his shoulders. “Fleck.”
“What? You thought what?” I tried to stop the swell of pani
c rising up my throat. “Mikko, what’s wrong?”
His desperate gaze clashed with mine. “This wasn’t here when I escaped. I don’t know how much area is charged…”
“What are you telling me?”
“I’m telling you we have to find another way out.”
I began to hyperventilate. All I could think about was that massive alien who was turned on at the sight of my “blood,” at the way he hollered two nights, at his threat to share me with the other prisoners. The hope died in my chest and turned into a rotten sludge that settled in my stomach like lead.
I dropped into a ball and covered my head with my hands. Tears didn’t come because I was too in shock to cry. A warm hand settled on my back. “I promised you I’d get you out of here, and I am going to fulfill that promise.”
I gazed up at him, his expression so serious that for a moment I thought I had hope again, until the reality of the situation swamped me again. “Don’t give me false hope.”
His jaw ticked. “I’m not.” He hauled me into his arms, and I felt like a child. “I’ll buy us some time,” Mikko’s deep voice rumbled. “I have a few favors I can call in.”
Extinguishing the light he’d lit, he plunged us into darkness again before he began to walk. I felt helpless and worthless, but fear had frozen my limbs. By the time we reached the tunnel entrance, my heart was working overtime to pump my thick blood through my veins. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Mikko or trust him. I just knew without a doubt my luck had run out.
We burst through the tunnel entrance, and Mikko landed on the path outside the cells with me in his arms. He didn’t bother to replace the stones at the entrance. What did it matter when the tunnel had no value anymore?
High above us, a lonely ray of sun peeked over the corner of the Pit. We raced around the pathway and were a few feet from the door of Mikko’s cell when it opened.
It. Opened.
The red alien named Lozoric stepped out, followed by a few others. Mikko skidded to a halt, and I felt every muscle in him tense. His machets began to vibrate, almost like a bristling porcupine.
