by Octavia Kore
“Jim,” she wheezed. “I was just grabbing my gear and heading to the docks. Running a little behind.”
“A little?” His face twisted into a frown as he watched her heft the bulky scuba gear from the shelf. “It’s almost evening.”
With a wince, Amanda smiled apologetically. “I know, and I’m so, so sorry. Has the boat already left?”
“You didn’t get my message? I could have sworn I sent it to everyone on the project.”
Anxiety spiked through her. Amanda had been so concerned about making it there in time to catch the boat that she hadn’t even stopped to check her cell before running out the door. She patted her pockets but didn’t find its familiar shape. “Uh, message?” Dropping into a squat, she unzipped her bag to rummage through the mess of notebooks, loose paper, extensive collection of pens, and snack wrappers. No phone. Crap, I probably didn’t even take it off the charger. She ran a nervous hand through her dark, tangled mane and huffed out a sigh of frustration.
Jim scratched at his short, graying beard before tucking the clipboard under his arm and shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“Seems that the guys upstairs have decided it’s too dangerous to proceed with Project Alpha for the time being.”
Ah, cue the universe and its fucking everything up.
“Too dangerous? How is it any more dangerous than it’s been in the last few years?” She stood, raising her brows as she waited for an answer. Men and women were still being taken, but not as often as before. Even so, the restrictions had only gotten worse, with some of the larger cities implementing curfews and limiting the amount of people allowed in public areas. “What does that mean for us exactly?”
“Unfortunately, it means no expeditions until we get the go-ahead from the investors. Their funding, their call.” He sighed when he saw her shoulders sag in disappointment. “I know this is a setback, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s a waiting game until this ridiculous war ends, and God knows when that will be at the rate we are going.”
Amanda looked down at the bag and gear lying at her feet, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the angry tears that threatened to spill. Disappointment flared in her chest as she mourned the loss of her favorite retreat. As a marine biologist who studied deep sea ecology, much of her work was spent in the depths of the oceans. She loved discovering new things, and even with the precarious situation at hand, she found herself wanting more and more to go out and explore. This was her project, something she had worked tirelessly on for the last few years. She couldn’t and wouldn’t lose this.
Jim turned back to his clipboard, effectively dismissing her.
“All right then, guess I’ll see you when we have the green light to proceed.” Amanda grabbed her bag and put the gear back but didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
Hiding out in a utility closet had seemed like a great idea hours ago when she first ducked inside, but now her legs screamed to be stretched and her stomach rumbled its disagreement.
Probably shouldn’t have eaten my emergency cheese puff snack ration in the bathtub the other night.
She rolled her head from side to side to work out the stiffness that had settled in after her nap, but she couldn’t risk leaving just yet. Jim was still doing his inventory of the gear room, and she wouldn’t be able to explain why she needed to borrow the expensive equipment if the project they were working on was currently shelved. It was still hard to believe the investors had decided it was suddenly too dangerous to continue their research. That was the whole reason they needed to continue working. Something about this whole thing just didn’t seem right.
It wasn’t like they were doing anything top secret. Her team was studying deep sea animals in the Gulf of Mexico to find a way to make ocean dwellings a possibility in the future—the near future, with any luck. The war with the Grutex was getting out of hand, and many people feared what would happen if the alien invaders won. Hiding out in the vast oceans might be the only way to escape enslavement or whatever it was they did with the humans they had already taken.
Amanda perked up at the sound of a door opening and smiled wryly at the pitchy rendition of a rock ballad echoing through the hall as Jim made his way out of the building. Finally. Her joints ached as she stood, opening the door and poking her head into the empty hallway. Coast seems clear. She slung her bag across her back and hurried back to the room to grab her gear. Jim had only left a small floor lamp on, and it cast a meager light around the open space. She was thankful they hadn’t gotten around to installing security cameras in the new facility just yet. It wouldn’t do for her to be caught skulking around when no one else was there.
She grabbed the equipment she had shelved after her talk with Jim, double-checking that she had everything she would need for a solo excursion, and groaned under the weight as she swung her load up onto her shoulder. The loud thud of something slamming into the door startled her, causing her to drop the gear and stumble back into one of the dark corners of the room to hide. Her equipment sat forgotten on the floor not far in front of her. Eyes wide with fear and pulse pounding loudly in her ears, Amanda stood as still as she could.
Adrenaline flooded her system, forcing its way through her and trying to escape. When it came to fight or flight, she was firmly in camp flight, but there was nowhere to run. She was caught, fear rooting her to the spot. The door on the other side of the room burst open with such force that it bounced off the wall behind it and splintered.
The hulking figure that stood in the doorway was the stuff of nightmares. Grutex. The alien’s crown still reminded her of a dragon fruit. This male, like all the others of his species that had come in the last six years, had six glowing red eyes set into the elongated slope of his head, framed by numerous blunt-tipped protrusions. His exoskeleton was a deep mauve, and vine-like tendrils of varying sizes curled around his neck.
Many people had compared them to plants, since some of the males sported leafy-looking vines. The holes she assumed were his nostrils sat high up between his first four eyes and flared slightly. The Grutex male tossed his head back as he sucked in a deep breath, almost like he knew she was there.
Don’t look here, Leafy. As if hearing her thoughts, his head swung in the direction of the corner where she had taken refuge. Heavy footfalls vibrated the floor, the thundering sound shaking her body.
I need to leave! Get up! Get up! But where would she even go?
“Female, drop the device and put your hands up.” He growled, staring down at her menacingly.
Device? Amanda looked down at her hand and noticed she still had her bag clutched in a death grip. She wanted to tell him that it wasn’t anything dangerous, which is what she assumed he meant by device, but she couldn’t seem to find her voice.
“I don’t like repeating myself, human.” The Grutex reached for her, his hand shooting out with lightning speed.
Amanda’s throat filled with bile as the large male fisted her blouse in his clawed grasp and lifted her off her feet with hardly any effort. The fabric ripped beneath his hold, no longer hiding her body from his view. All of his eyes seemed to narrow on the flesh that he exposed, a rumble of appreciation vibrating his torso before his eyes focused back on her face.
“I have found you.” The words were whispered, as if he were in awe. “She was weak, but you are not, are you? You will succeed where she failed.”
As he pulled her closer, Amanda struggled against him, kicking and clutching at his forearms. The sudden shifting of the plating that covered his groin made her body seize with alarm. She stared down in bewildered horror as a thick, black appendage sprang free and grazed along her jean-covered hip. It was hooked, the tip pointing back toward his pelvis, where a smaller protrusion wiggled stiffly in a circular motion. She had seen one of these before on a dead Grutex, but now that she was seeing it in its erect form, Amanda couldn’t help but gape in fascination.
It looked like a giant version of a bee penis. Thank you, Nati
onal Geographic, for that fun little tidbit of information. The alien crushed her against him and buried his face between her breasts, all of the hard ridges and sharp points scraping against her soft skin. She was so startled by the warm, wet stroke of his tongue that she didn’t notice when he pried the strap of her bag from her hand.
“I have searched for you for so long, female. It will be my greatest pleasure to finally breed you, to hear you scream for me as I fill you with my seed.”
Amanda reared back in disgust and felt his sharp teeth graze the flesh of her chest. His words made no sense to her. “Let. Me. Go!” She screamed as she swung one leg forward, connecting with his unprotected cock.
The Grutex male grunted loudly, dropping both her and the bag to the ground as he curled into himself. Amanda didn’t waste any time. She ran, not even feeling bad about the whimpers echoing around her. She dashed through the empty door frame, not sparing a glance at the crooked door that lay against the wall. Every step was another one closer to freedom, and she knew that her kick wouldn’t keep the male down for very long.
A loud roar bounced off the walls and labored breaths followed her down the halls, tipping Amanda off to the ever-decreasing space between her and her assailant. She made it out the front door and bolted toward the first place she saw. The dock stretched out in front of her and the large boat at the end rocked in the water.
If I can just get to a boat, I might be able to escape!
The moonless night didn’t aid her at all. Her feet slid on the loose gravel, refusing to find purchase, and she managed to scramble on to the boardwalk just as the Grutex slammed into her back, pinning her to the weathered planks.
“You’re mine. I will not lose you again.” The feeling of the male grasping her hair and pulling her head back before sliding a hand up her thigh sent icy rage through her.
“No!” Amanda screamed, wrenching her body violently, but it was no use. The male on her back was massive, and she had no hope of throwing him.
Please don’t let this happen, she pleaded desperately to the Universe just before hot liquid sprayed across the back of her neck. She gasped when the heavy male was suddenly torn from her body. A sharp crack penetrated her shocked mind, and she rolled to the side. Struggling to her knees, she prepared to run but hesitated when she caught sight of the scene unfolding behind her.
She had expected to find two Grutex locked in battle since it was something she had seen on television too many times to count. The large males would challenge one another for the rights to a human before abducting them. Instead, Amanda watched with wide eyes as the Grutex reeled backward from the force of the blow that the tall, lean male landed to his midsection. Her stomach heaved at the sickening crunch the exoskeleton made when it shattered, and she turned away, squeezing her eyes shut and slamming her palms over her ears.
This can’t be real. I’m dreaming. I’m obviously still asleep in the closet waiting for Jim to leave.
The muffled sounds of fighting stopped just as suddenly as they had started. Amanda hesitantly opened one eye and steeled herself for what she would find as she slowly turned her head.
A bright gold glow filled her vision. It radiated from the exposed body of the stranger, who was crouched over the broken, twitching form of the Grutex, its blood soaking the boards beneath it. She watched as the lights raced angrily over the new male’s face in the same way she had observed in comb jellies. They followed the path of small barnacle-like growths that started over his large yellow eyes and swept across his brow, disappearing behind long, pointed ears. His chest rose and fell with each labored breath, the slits in his face where a nose should have been flaring as he looked her over.
“Are you injured, female?” He swayed on unsteady legs, stumbling forward before collapsing.
Amanda lurched forward in an attempt to catch him before he could hit the boardwalk, but he was heavier than she expected and they both tumbled to the ground. She carefully pillowed his head against her upper thighs and brushed back the ends of the black dreads that had fallen across his face. The harsh black suit he wore looked a lot like a wet suit and was torn. Blue liquid seeped from what seemed to be a decently sized wound on his side. His limp arms were tipped with long, blood-soaked claws.
As the lights from his body faded, his skin seemed to transition to a deep gray, and gills on either side of his neck flared slowly as his muscles relaxed into unconsciousness. She wasn’t sure who he was, or even what he was, but he had risked his life to save her. Leaving him here to possibly die wasn’t any way to pay back the sacrifice. She needed to get him somewhere safe so she could clean him up.
“Looks like you’re coming home with me, big guy.” First, she would retrieve her bag from the floor in the gear room, and then she would figure out how to get her unconscious savior out to her car.
Chapter 3
Gulzar
“Do you think it is safe to be out so far from the village, Gulzar?” Kythea turned her anxious face in his direction, the light of the early dawn glinting off of her xines as it filtered down through the trees above them.
“Ky,” Gulzar whispered, sighing in exasperation, “if you were so concerned about being outside of the village, why did you beg to join me on my hunt?”
A twig snapped beneath her feet as she took another careless step forward, wincing when the sound bounced off of the trunks of the trees around them. “Sorry.”
With an agitated huff, he searched the forest floor for signs of his prey. Considering the amount of noise Kythea had already made he wasn’t sure that today was going to be fruitful at all. Anything with even the most basic survival instinct had probably fled the area by this point. Gulzar turned to see his childhood friend scrunch up her short nose as she inspected the bark on a nearby tree, the gills on the side of her neck flaring as the aqua lines of her fushori glowed with her lingering embarrassment.
How Kyra had ever thought they would make a proper mated pair was beyond his knowledge. Her daughter, unlike Gulzar, wasn’t the least bit curious about the world around her. Instead, Kythea was content with staying in her dwelling, learning daily tasks like cooking, mending clothing, and rearing children. Perhaps these were traits that other males sought when courting a female, but not him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Kythea, or even love her, but he would never choose to have a family with her. Somewhere out there was a female for him and he refused to settle. In recent years, his existence had been filled with solitude, days upon days alone in the forest searching for something that wasn’t there. No matter how many times he found himself standing among the trees or lying on the soft, mossy ground to stare up at the green, swirling sky, Gulzar always came away feeling empty. His little goddess had been so distant, and where he had once felt her love and acceptance, he now felt her absence. Most days, he wished death had taken him when it had stolen his mother away.
Gulzar the Damned.
Damned to spend his miserable life within a tribe that hated him, to spend his life alone as an outcast among the people who should have cared for him when he needed them the most. In their eyes, his curse could never be lifted. Kyra had spent so long telling him there was no curse, that it was all nonsense, but he had seen the way she looked at him each time she lost one of the young she carried, like she was trying to keep herself from blaming him. After all, Kyra had nursed him after his mother’s death. Surely she had not escaped without some sort of retribution.
Today marked his first accompanied hunt, but it wasn’t necessarily by choice. Ky had made such a fuss about going with him that he had agreed just so she wouldn’t draw attention to them. He couldn’t say what had possessed her to make the decision. Maybe she thought spending time alone with him would convince Gulzar to strengthen their bond. He knew she wanted that, but no matter how hard she tried, he was never going to allow it.
When he was old enough, the elders had insisted that he go through a ‘reeducation’ so that he could safely live within the t
ribe. They believed he needed to understand what he had done so that he might spare more lives, but all it had done was to point out how much of a threat he was to any female he came into contact with—and that included Ky. Even with her losses as evidence of the dangers they faced by associating with him, Kyra had held out hope for so long that he would find a mate with her daughter.
He had insisted from a young age that he had a bond with a goddess, a special connection that allowed him to communicate with her anytime he wished, but when it wasn’t ignored by the elders, it was seen as a desperate attempt to be accepted. Despite the ridicule, Gulzar had continued to see her, to experience her emotions, to grow with her. In truth, his little goddess was the only being who had never judged him. She had never seen Gulzar the Damned, only Zar, as she had called him. They couldn’t understand each other’s languages, but she learned his name, or at least a portion of it, long ago when they were young.
There were days when even Kyra and her family had given him the same looks, the same wide berth that the other villagers had, but did his little goddess? Never. He loved her. She was the reason he could never bond to another, could never mate and create a family with anyone other than her. Gulzar might be damned, but he wasn’t ignorant. He knew this was impossible because goddesses didn’t fall in love with mortals. In all of the stories Kyra told him when he was young, the deities never gave up their existence for someone like him.
His xines wriggled restlessly on the broad expanse of his shoulders and chest as if they were reaching out to his goddess. He longed to feel her, to touch her pale skin, her dark mane that looked so soft. A shiver ran up his spine as he tried to turn his attention back to the hunt.
When he had awoken this morning, it had been with the feeling that today was going to be special, and he didn’t believe Ky insisting on coming with him had been what that feeling was predicting. Gulzar reached up to scratch at the tingle that danced along the back of his neck. The forest had gone quiet and when he looked around, he no longer saw Ky. Where had she wandered off to? When he tried to call out to her, he realized he couldn’t hear himself. He couldn’t hear anything. A jolt of fear speared through him and he stumbled forward, his shoulder slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree. This fear wasn’t his own.
