by Megan Alban
Her moans of anticipation were like honey to his ears. She moaned again deeply and thrust her hips forward. Damn she tasted sweet.
Bee’s nectar for his soul.
Chapter Six
Back on the planet floor Slade Savage’s heart pumped full of adrenalin, as he ran toward a cluster of trees—after he’d witnessed what happened to Blake. The vines were coming for him next. He saw a few reaching for his ship and cut off the engine remotely as he made off in the opposite direction, with slithering, reaching vines at his feet.
He hadn’t taken off his helmet, unlike the impetuous fool who’d gotten him into this mess. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what the control readings said. As a cadet, he was taught to be cautious. He’d learned a long time ago, it wasn’t just about whether the air was breathable.
There were macrobiotic lifeforms who could wreak a lot more damage on the nervous system, than not having the ability to breathe. However, he had a bigger problem because the visor steamed up, as the heat from his hot, panting breath, fogged his view.
He’d noticed when he killed off all sound from his spaceship the vines recoiled. So he threw the helmet over his shoulder. The vines reaching for him paused, recoiled and then rushed after his helmet as it crashed, bounced and rolled along the ground. A few vines to the rear continued in their pursuit of him. He stop moving and leaned against a large tree, willing his heart to be still. He held his breath and waited.
The vines curled at his feet. He couldn’t feel the vibrating sensors, but his toes tingled as if he could. As the fleshy vegetation coiled around his boots, he closed his eyes, and remained completely still. There was no way to shut off his heartbeat, but he had a meditation technique for quieting it. Concentrating on his breath he lowered his pulse before the vine climbed up and over the top of his boots.
It paused at his thigh, for longer than Slade liked. But he remained in control and swept the green fleshy monsters to the back of his mind. He knew if he faltered, he’d be plowing the field with his fingernails—if this thing tried to drag him back into its gaping mouth. He wasn’t ready to be anybody’s dinner. And he certainly wouldn’t go down without a fight.
If that thing thought it could eat him alive, he’d make damn sure he gave the fucker indigestion. He concluded as these things didn’t appear to have eyes, they must be finding their prey by either vibrations or sound. Cutting off the power to his spacecraft suggested vibrations and possibly sound too, by the looks of those hairy suckers under the base of the root climbing up his leg.
He had to slow his pulse to try and stop the vibration of the blood flow throughout his body. The thickness of his boot wouldn’t save him once the plant reached the femoral artery in his thigh.
Slade managed to shut himself down so well, that there was no need to stifle a shudder as he held his breath, while the vile stuff crawled all over his hair, head, face and neck. Searching for a tremor of any kind, leaving a thick dollops of slug-like slime, as it went. Slade had no idea how long he stood there with the thing’s feelers caressing his body, before it recoiled and disappeared back into the cave. But when he released his breath and opened his eyes, he was covered from head to toe in its gunk.
Although adrenalin pumped through him, he was paralyzed by the thought of what almost happened to him. Chowder for a rocky mountain hadn’t been on the job description. He should fly off this Godforsaken planet, and leave the son-of-a-bitch who bought him here. He hadn’t been paid enough for this crap.
He was sure running for his life, so as not to be eaten by mutant spinach, was worth a damn sight more than five hundred thousand credits.
Slade breathed and pushed off from the tree he was glued to by the slimy, gummy substance that almost covered his entire space suit, and trudged toward his spaceship. This planet was like every beautiful women he’d ever known--stunning on the outside, with horrible hidden depths he wanted no part of.
A fucking mirage to suck in the weak and destroy the unsuspecting.
It really was another earth…
Well, pretty boy could fend for himself. What could he do anyway? He wasn’t risking his life another minute. Slade sighed and ran his fingers through the gunk in his hair and shuddered. He’d forgotten it was in there. He was covered in plant spunk. “Yuk.” He suddenly felt violated. That thing had rubbed its goo all over him. Something attached to his ship shifted then sprang off after being hit by the slime, and landed on his boot. It then jumped away as if hurt. The movement was that fast, he almost missed it.
Slade watched as the small piece of vegetation scurried back toward the direction of the caves. He’d intended to wash the gooey gunk off and fly out of there. Save himself. Deep down, he kinda knew he wouldn’t do that.
The kid said Steel was his uncle. Didn’t he owe Steel a debt of gratitude? For his life and his livelihood. Wasn’t he the only one to believe him and believe in him—during his dishonorable discharge from the academy and sector four? Hadn’t he been the one to loan Slade the money to buy the spacecraft he intended to fly off in, leaving the man’s kin behind?
But surely the kid was dead by now? He didn’t know that with any certainty. How could he know that? He hadn’t checked. Even if the kid was dead, the least he could do was bring back his body or what was left of him. Depending of course if that thing left anything of him to bring back. Slade raised his hand to scratch his head, then remembered the goo and lowered it back to his side.
What to do? The right thing, the voice in his head said. Isn’t this the chance to redeem yourself and your career? Have them believe in you and show you didn’t deliberately leave your comrades behind to die in agony on a distant planet much like this one? Only this time switch on the damn suit’s camera and record the fucking event and go rescue the kid, or his dead body. Bring him home to his family. Show the world what kind of man you were. Are. If for no other reason you owe Steel that much, he went to bat for you.
But he couldn’t go half-cocked, he needed a plan, and guns--as many as he could carry.
What he really needed was a fucking army, or to take his lucky ass out of there.
Chapter Seven
Initially his first instinct was to wash the gunk off him, before he embarked on his rescue mission. However, the reaction of the slime- filled vegetation, after he hit it with the muck on his suit, gave him food for thought. What if these slithering vines somehow worked independent of each other?
Was their slime a way for them to mark their territory? He could use this as a way in and get Blake out of there. All he’d need to do is make sure to cover the space where the plant hadn’t touched him.
In case he got felt up again.
Next he had to find out if this rocky monster could be hurt. But how? If his assumption was right and this creature worked off movement, sound or vibration, he could get it to change back into that fleshy substance again and fire at it. If it could feel pain? It could die.
Rubbing the sludge into all the gaps he could find on his spacesuit, he strapped a laser gun to his thigh, and filled his satchel with some egg-shaped plasma bombs. He threw the satchel over his head, shoulder and across his chest. A plasma-blasting rifle joined the bag over his shoulder. He left the spacecraft and made his way toward the cave.
For a while nothing happened. He began to wonder if it was the muck on him why the cave hadn’t changed. What was it that Blake did differently? He didn’t trust venturing any further until he knew for sure he could hurt this thing.
Do enough damage so they could get away from this Godforsaken planet and before the alien life force could recover. Best case scenario would be if he was able to kill the beast.
Slade stomped on the ground in front of the cave’s opening, marching back and forth.
He stopped and faced the cave. “Wake up turd, don’t you fancy something a little juicier?” He shouted. “Hey can you fucking hear me? Do something.” He waited. Nothing. “What, you scared? Has my rep as a bad-ass-mother-fucker reached this solar syste
m already? I’m so honoured,” he said, clicking his heels and giving a bow.
He got closer, but with caution. “You know, with such a big mouth, I thought you could handle someone with a little more meat on their bones.” He bent, picked up some stones and threw one, then another, then another. Watching as the stones bounced off the surface. Still nothing.
What was it Blake had done different?
He had to think of something else. Maybe even wash this shit off. Could that be it? Was being covered in its spew, what stopped it from attacking him? Did it think he was one of its babies? That meant he’d have to wash this stuff off, but if he washed it off, he’d leave himself wide open.
“Fuck this is a shit situation,” he yelled, turned on his heel and began to walk back to the ship.
If it didn’t want to dance he’d make it jump like a firecracker. Blast the fuck out of it and hope the fucker hadn’t dragged Blake so far down its gullet. That if by chance he was alive he wouldn’t be affected by the blast.
Especially if he just trimmed a little off the edge, he laughed. Caught up in his thoughts, Slade was a little slow to react to the ground rumbling beneath his feet, as rock transformed into flesh.
The vines spewed from the gaping mouth. Slade reached for the holster on his thigh. He jumped out of the way, blasting the pistol at the vines fast approaching. The vines which were hit shrunk back. He continued to fire as he ran to his ship. He was going to need the big guns.
The vegetation proved it could be hurt by the recoiled reaction, but he needed to see if old big mouth could handle a few rounds in the kisser.
“Be patient you wriggly fuckers, I’m coming for you,” he shouted, lowering the ramp remotely, and threw one of the plasma bombs behind him. When the dirt cloud cleared, the vines at the front were dry and shrivelled. He jumped onto the ramp, closed the hatch, and made his way to his battle guns.
Although this was a cruise ship, in his line of business, he’d be remiss not to have modified it with a few heavy guns. Jolted into the seat by the vines wrapping themselves around his ship, he strapped himself in, aimed for the beast’s mouth and let rip.
Under fire, the cave gave out a tremendous roar as if in pain and the vines shrunk back for a while, wriggling and whining. Then the ground trembled from a cry of a different nature. One Slade was quick to recognize.
The fucker was pissed.
More vines sprung from the mouth of the cave, clustered together like one massive giant arm, reaching out to grab the ship. He fired two plasma missiles into the mass and watched, as arm-like tentacles burst into flames and flew back the way they came. To Slade’s delight the fleshy substance screamed its protest and turned back into rock.
The healthier-looking vines shed their charred remains, and slithered back into the cave.
This thing could be hurt, his heart leaped and swelled with hope. Gathering the plasma bombs and plasma blusters, he jumped from the spaceship and ran into the cave that swallowed Blake. He moved fast, not wanting to give himself a chance to think about what he was doing, or the risk to himself of running into the belly of the beast. He just needed to find that idiot Blake and high tail their asses off the planet.
The first thing that grabbed him was the sickly sweet aroma of rotting vegetation, perfumed yet damp and musty. Almost like someone sprayed a fruit-based can of air freshener into a room that previously stunk of ten-day old cabbage water and a rotting corpse. In an attempt to hide the putrid scent that mugged the air he breathed, and stimulated his gag reflexes.
He cracked a glow stick and illuminated the cave, then pushed forward.
Bile rose to his lips as he walked past the scientists, one by one, each in various stages of deterioration. Pallid skin, eyes open yet sunken in, with a blissful smile on their faces.
Slade watched their erotic memories being plucked from their heads. They played out like a 3D hologram, which was then slowly absorbed into the walls of the cave. Their bodies, cocooned in a moss-like substance, looked sunken, as if being consumed. This thing wasn’t just feeding off its captive memories, it was devouring them in their entirety, slowly, but surely.
From what he could see the scientists were at different levels of absorption, the deeper he went into the cave. Maybe they was a chance he could save Blake, before this creature turned him into a meat patty. Even with the horrific sight before his eyes, Slade didn’t feel panic, or any type of fear response. Quite the opposite, a sense of tranquil peace fell over him from the moment he entered the cave, and continued to stay with him—as he trolled through the vast space searching for Blake.
He found Blake unconscious, his body horizontal across the wall. His arms were wrapped around a pretty woman, with his face pressed into her neck. This must be his Alexis, he must have grabbed a hold as he was dragged past. So the damn things left him dangling in mid-air. He guessed they couldn’t shift him.
Interestingly enough, she was in almost an identical state to Blake, nowhere near the decaying carcasses of most of the scientists he’d passed. She was still fresh looking. Like Blake’s, her eyes were wide open.
The lights were on, but no one was home, judging by their expression. A goofy smile etched on their faces. And from what Slade could see projected in front of him, they had good reason to be grinning like Cheshire cats.
Blake was one lucky mother.
Slade tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy, for a better angle of what the two people in front of him were doing. He was glued to the vision of the couple’s lovemaking memory.
Were the happy thoughts of everyone in this place based around sex? Although these two were a lot more agile, not to mention it was a much more pleasant sight, watching this young buck going at it—than some of the wrinklies he’d just passed.
He shuddered and squinted his eyes. Saying that, they both looked younger than they did in reality. Maybe he’d missed the earlier episode on the aging couples.
A crackling sound alerted his ears. He shifted his gaze toward the noise. He saw some of the vines that were wrapped around Alexis transform into the moss he’d seen on the others, starting at the young woman’s feet and working its way up her body.
This brought his attention back to his surroundings. And the circuit plate that was once the distress call button on the shuttle, clutched firmly between the woman’s fingers.
Slade pointed his glow stick out into the cave and saw the shattered debris of the small shuttle that brought these people to the planet.
As he surveyed the wreckage and scattered remains, he had a new-found respect for the woman. She hadn’t made it easy on them, to have at her. He guessed she must have been in the craft. They’d shattered it into a million pieces, but she held on, judging by what she still held in her hand.
More crackling sounds as the moss was almost at her thighs. He’d better get a move on if he was going to save them. He’d start with Blake, and together they could make light work of freeing his woman. Slade started talking to Blake as he began to untangle him, pulling on his clothes as well as the vines.
He realized too late, the vines which restrained Blake, were different to the ones which dragged him in. These were sharp and cut his fingers. When he yelped and pulled back from the pain, he fell against the plant and its razor-sharp skin cut through the arm of his suit.
Blood trickled from his fingers and down his arm, landing on the vines. The cave groaned and turned from rock to flesh. Vines grabbed Slade, and pinned him to the walls. Closing his eyes, Slade thought about the park he saw Blake and Alexis in, when their memory changed.
He hoped to God he woke up there.
Chapter Eight
In the line at the ice-cream cart, Blake looked back at Alexis as she sat on the bench in Franklin’s Park. The place where they’d met as kids. Doing now what they did then. Feeding ducks by the large pond. She gazed toward him smiled and waved. She was so beautiful, he could have stayed in bed with her forever. She wanted to reminisce and insisted he brought h
er here.
Now she wanted ice-cream and he would stand in a line a mile long, to give her her heart’s desire, if only for a glimpse of the smile she sent his way every so often.
He should be happy. He had everything he ever wanted, right here right now. Yet something was eating at him. A niggling itch he couldn’t scratch, because it was just out of reach. He was supposed to remember something. Something important. It ached in his mind for acknowledgment, like an elusive word at the tip of the tongue you can’t quite utter.
But every time his eyes met hers, what he needed to do or say seemed to slip further and further away. Until the ache was just a numbness he no longer wished to explore.
He made his way back to Alexis with the two cones firmly within his grasp. The shadow of a man passed before his eyes. He blinked and it was gone, but it brought with it that sense of urgency again.
He wanted to feel anxious, but something was stopping him, holding him back from a feeling, which felt more natural to him. Though he couldn’t understand why. He was in an amazing park with the woman he loved—he should be satisfied. He could never feel more at peace than he did right now.
But his mind and body felt as if it were being dragged in two different directions. The man’s face pressed up against his, looming in his mind’s eye, looked familiar. It pulled at him. Shaking him to remember.
Remember what?
Blake handed Alexis her cone and sat next to her on the bench. His mind was a million miles away.
“Are you okay?” Alexis furrowed her brow as she gazed at him.
“I guess, I just think there’s something else I should be doing,” Blake said, shrugging his shoulders.
“We’ll have more time for that later, after I’ve cooked for you. Which is what I’d planned to do earlier.” Blake smiled at the rose color, which darkened her cheeks, as she lowered her gaze.
