“You want me to wear that?” I call through my box. I’m not sure if this is a good idea. Still, I don’t have much choice. With one last gasp of air, I hold my breath as the creature lifts off the lid and shoves the mask on my face. I don’t breathe until the straps are tight around my ears and I hear a mechanical device click on. Sweet, clean oxygen rushes into my system and I feel giddy for a second.
My neon-clad rescuer grabs my arm and drags me through the carnage. We make our way through a maze of corpses. A blinking red light guides us to our destination, a small shuttle that looks like something NASA built twenty years ago. In fact, I see the letters “nasa” spelled out on the side.
I look sharply at the figure that grips my elbow. Maybe I wasn’t being kidnapped by aliens after all!
We race up the ladder into the air-locked entryway of the shuttle. Blinking lights beep all around me and a sliding door clenches shut. When we are safely sealed inside, my rescuer pulls off the bubble mask, revealing a short crop of gray hair and a face I know by heart.
“Mom?” I gasp. I rip my mask off with sweaty hands.
“Emilia! Baby!” Mom throws her arms around me and I’m enveloped in a tight hug, the synthetic fabric of her spacesuit swishing against my cheeks. “I told myself not to hope.” Mom sniffs. “But here you are!”
“Oh. My. God.” That’s all I can get out before I become speechless.
“Your father is waiting for us at the International Space Station. Earth is still a mess right now, but we should be home in a few months.” Mom tucks a strand of hair behind my ears and kisses me on the cheek. “I’ve searched the galaxy for you. Our sources indicated that you, Lex, and Carter might all three have survived. Every planet we visit exterminating Roaches, I tune my sensors to look for your DNA. But they failed! I had no idea there was any human being alive on that planet, let alone my own daughter, until your signal pinged while I was on the ground.”
A door behind us opens and an astronaut interrupts our reunion. “Excuse me, Captain Reid. Should we prepare for liftoff?”
Mom looks at me expectantly. “Yes, unless Emilia knows of any reason to stay.”
I think of my friend’s lifeless body, and the four primitive women who are most likely dead, and shake my head. “No,” I answer. “There’s only me left.” I reach for my neck where bruises are forming. “And the sooner we leave this roach motel, the better.”
About the Author
* * *
Jennifer Bardsley writes the column “I Brake for Moms” for The Everett Daily Herald and is the author of the young adult novels Genesis Girl and Damaged Goods. Her next book, Narcosis Room, comes out in 2019. Jennifer lives in a book-filled house near Seattle with her family, and poodle, Merlin.
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Also by Jennifer Bardsley
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Eighteen-year-old Blanca has lived a sheltered life. Her entire childhood has been spent at Tabula Rasa School where she’s been protected from the Internet. Blanca has never been online and doesn’t even know how to text. Her lack of a virtual footprint has made her extremely valuable and upon graduation Blanca, and those like her, are sold to the highest bidders. Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeal’s are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is. All those mind-numbing years locked away from society have made her mind almost impenetrable. By the time Blanca is ready to think for herself, she is trapped. Her only chance of escape is to go online.
Zoo Girl Page 2
