by Sara Fields
I couldn’t help but laugh as I ran off in search of our resident doctor. I found her deeper in the caves just as I expected, steeping some leaves in a pot of tea. When I explained what I needed, she agreed without hesitation. She understood my need to find my sister and trusted me as a leader. I was thankful for that.
I waited for a few minutes while she went off and gathered the supplies she needed. I pulled up my sleeve and gave her my wrist when she returned. She sterilized the back of my right forearm with an ethanol wipe and took the cartridge into her hand.
I looked away. I’d always hated needles.
With a swift click, I felt the tracker insert under my skin and yipped slightly at the sting. Only a second later though, the numbing reagent cooled my skin, chasing all the hurt away.
Dr. Lily placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Take care, Alaina. We all look up to you. You are strong and so is Kira. She’ll survive. I just know she’ll come back to us soon,” she said, her gray-blue eyes searching for mine. The corners of her eyes crinkled with concern and I grinned softly in response.
“I’ll be back soon. Thanks, Dr. Lily,” I replied.
She nodded, looking away.
“Good luck,” she whispered as I walked away.
I waved. I returned closer to the entrance of the caves where I’d set up my bedroll and began to pack a few things in a small backpack. An extra change of clothes, some dried meat and fruits, and some weapons. I picked up a knife from my shelf and sighed. I ran my thumb over the handle. Kira had lent it to me some time ago and I’d forgotten to give it back to her.
I shoved it in my jeans pocket. I’d give it back to her soon. I hoped I would anyway.
Once I was fully packed, I sat down and took a deep breath. Kira had always believed in me and told me I was strong, that I was a leader. I had to trust in her instincts and my own. I pressed my shoulders back and took a deep breath. A shoe scraping against the rock echoed loudly and I looked up to see Kaela and Danika coming toward me.
“Hey,” I began, beaming at their excited smiles.
“We brought you some goodies for the trip,” Danika offered, and I grinned as she passed me a cloth with what looked like a few pieces of cooked bacon.
“I’d been saving this for a rainy day too,” Kaela started, before she passed me a small package, in addition to the bacon.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Lemon cakes. I was able to find a cake mix in that treehouse I mentioned, and I tweaked with a few special additives, including some lemons from the trees we found nearby. Saved them as a special treat. From us for you,” Kaela said.
“I helped Kaela bake them myself. We burned a spot or two when we put them over the fire, but they should still taste pretty good. I taste tested one to make sure,” Danika explained with a sheepish smile.
“Thanks so much, guys. It means a lot,” I said.
Danika sat down beside me, but she fidgeted just a bit. I stifled a laugh in my throat.
“How’s Kaze doing then?” I said, with the most serious tone I could muster. Beside me, Kaela descended into a fit of giggles and Danika pretended to look surprised, but I saw the littlest indication of a smirk at the corner of her lips.
“He seems to like you, huh…” I observed cheekily.
“Shut up, Laina,” Danika protested, but she leaned into me instead, for support. We were all very close, but as the older sister, I had always looked out for them. They looked up to both me and Kira. I grinned and hooked my arm around her shoulders.
“I’ll only be gone for a few days,” I mused. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I know. Just, since Kira has been gone, it makes me nervous that you’d go out there, all alone. I’ll be pissed if you don’t come back,” Danika said. Kaela nodded as she sat next to me too.
“Just be smart. Find Kira, but don’t get caught in the process,” Kaela warned.
“In the meantime, though,” Danika began, pulling a small flask out of her pocket.
“You did not!” I exclaimed, knowing exactly where it had come from.
She laughed hysterically and even Kaela began to giggle too.
“Took that from Kaze, huh? Must have lifted it from his pocket when he kissed you, I would guess,” I thought out loud and she nodded.
“Your ass is toast,” Kaela laughed.
We each took a sip and made a face at the burn of the booze as it slid down our throats. Turned out Kaze had an old store of tequila and in no time at all, the three of us were feeling it. My skin buzzed as we joked and giggled as the sun went down. My sisters made sure my night was memorable, that was for sure. We didn’t go to bed for some time, at least until the three of us made sure the flask was completely empty.
“You guys better thank me when he finds out we finished his stock. I have a feeling he isn’t going to be too pleased with me,” Danika mused.
“Probably not,” I chuckled. “You might get a few more swats to the ass for that one.” I winked at her.
Her cheeks flushed.
Feeling rather tipsy, I slapped my hand down on her thigh.
“You listen here, Danika,” I started. “You keep that Kaze wrapped around your little fingers. Maybe one day, we’ll have little Danikas running around here.”
“Alaina!” she exclaimed.
Kaela giggled incessantly, almost falling off the rock she was sitting on.
Someone from within the caves shushed us and the three of us started laughing even harder, until a large shadowy figure came wandering from one of the nearby caverns.
“Ladies…”
“Shit, it’s Kaze,” Danika said rather too loudly.
“Quick, hide the flask,” Kaela whispered. Also way too loudly.
Kaze didn’t say anything but took a hold of Danika’s arm and led her away. I could tell he was trying not to laugh, but he was attempting to remain as serious as possible. She protested the entire way, but eventually it was just me and Kaela again.
“I hope she gets laid,” Kaela murmured.
The two of us broke out laughing even harder.
“You should get to bed. Morning comes early,” she said after she recovered from her attack of the giggles. “Stay safe, okay? I’ll miss you till you get back.”
“I will. It’ll only be a few days.”
“I know. But Kira said that too. So I just want to make sure you remember that,” she replied a bit forlornly.
I stood up and hugged her tightly.
“Love you, sis. Let Danika know I said the same,” I reassured her. She had nothing to worry about. I was strong, maybe as much as Kira was. The Vakarrans would rue the day they tried to mess with me.
We bid each other good night and I fell asleep a short time later, awash with the leftover buzz from the tequila and the anticipation of going off on my own when the sun rose.
* * *
When I woke up in the morning, my head was pounding. The rising sun was too bright, and my stomach felt a bit nauseous, so I was thankful to find a piping hot coffee and some homemade bread buns that Kaela had made next to my bedroll. I ate them slowly, allowing my stomach to settle bit by bit. I didn’t waste much time though and made my way out of the caves before many of our band woke up. I trudged into the forest and followed Kira’s paths into the trees.
The walk was quiet and peaceful, leaving me with my thoughts and the sounds of singing birds and wildlife. I didn’t make it to the command center that Kira had visited last until the sun was beginning to set and by then, I was starving.
When I finally got there, I was excited to see that she had a portion of a military dinner left on the table. I dug right in, noticing that everything was still powered on inside—the computers, one of the generators. There was also a book I didn’t know she had.
Weird. So much for them being as rare as I thought.
The food tasted stale, but I didn’t care. I was hungry.
I typed in a few commands into the ancient computers an
d rewound the software back to a few weeks ago. I let it play, and I saw everything.
How she’d been lured into the forest by that woman. How the aliens had seemingly appeared out of nowhere after they captured her in a rope trap. After I watched it all, I sat back in disbelief.
So, they had taken her after all. And the fuckers had some sort of camouflage skin too. Odd. None of us had known that before.
I ran my fingers through my blonde hair in frustration. I had no idea where they went together, only that they had cuffed her and wandered off into the trees, with my sister and the other human in tow. Without some kind of direct connection to the Vakarrans, I had zero chance of finding out where she was now, especially if they took her off Earth and somewhere else.
I chewed my lip.
What should I do now?
I looked around, seeing a weapon by the doorway. It was some sort of gun. When a dinging noise began beeping intermittently, I turned back toward the screen and realized she’d left some of her traps she was so proud of still active. I opened up her data files, learning about what each one did until the sun fell beneath the treetops and darkness descended around me.
After a while longer, I finally called it a night and curled up on a small cot she had set up at the back of the room. I dreamed of all the various ways I could kill the Vakarrans who took my sister.
When I awoke the next morning, the dinging sound was going wild. I rushed over to sit down and see what was going on, only to see something that I hadn’t expected. It was a lone Vakarran soldier. All alone. Tempting me.
I noticed he was treading dangerously close to one of Kira’s traps.
My mind started with race with the possibilities of it. What if I could capture him? What if I could use him? Force him to give me information on my sister. Make him tell me where she was now before I killed him too.
Could I kill him? I’d never killed anyone before. I pressed my teeth together in determination. I knew I had no choice. I would have to kill him eventually. I had no choice. Once he knew I existed, he couldn’t be allowed to survive another day.
Kira’s trap was a steel door pod that opened up into a hole underneath the ground. This particular one had the option to have spikes protrude from the bottom, so that the victim would be killed instantly from the power of falling on them. I turned that part of it off, for now. I just wanted to capture him for a little while.
He was wearing black combat gear, heavy-looking black boots, and only had a knife on his waist. No gun. I grinned at the prospect. He wouldn’t be able to shoot me. A very important fact. He had dark hair and ram-like horns protruding from either side of his skull, like most Vakarrans did. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew what they looked like, copper with a black outline. Chilling, really.
He wandered closer to the trap and then closer still. I placed my fingers on the keyboard, activating the capture functions of the pod.
Time seemed to slow as he walked on top of the steel doors. When he approached the exact center, the trigger initiated, and the door swept open. He went down like a rock. Perfection.
I squealed with success. Thank you, Kira, for setting up such a fantastic tool. Before I ran out into the trees, I made sure to check the surrounding area for any other aliens. I found nothing. It was safe to venture out. I looked around Kira’s command center and found some rope, some old-school metal handcuffs, and a few other devices and took them all. Next, I grabbed the gun by the door and set out, aiming to make it to the captured Vakarran as quickly as I could. Within ten minutes, I saw the trap and slowly approached the edge, looking down about ten feet to see him staring up at me.
“Who are you,” he spat, glaring at me.
“Your captor, it seems,” I started, smirking at my success. The walls of the pod were smooth, slick, and oiled so that whoever was inside would have difficulty climbing out. To me anyway, it looked impossible. He seemed to have come to a similar conclusion as well.
I began to feel more confident. This was going to work.
I took a moment to study him further, noticing that he looked younger than the other Vakarrans I’d seen. He also looked pretty pissed, if not a bit nervous. I sat down on the edge of the pod, crossing my legs over one another.
“What’s your name, Vakarran?” I asked, keeping my tone strong and sure.
“Davon,” he responded warily.
“Nice to meet you, Davon. I’m Alaina,” I replied.
“Where’s your Vakarran master? I’m one hundred percent certain he wouldn’t approve of this kind of nonsense. I’ll make sure to tell him to take a belt to your ass and to get back to training you the right way. If anything, he should be reported for just allowing you to wear clothes. It’s fucking disrespectful,” he said angrily, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I don’t have a master. I’m a free human, unlike you right now, dumbass.”
“What the fuck do you mean? You can’t be free. It’s against the law,” he glared. His fingers tightened into fists. I was glad he was down there. I’m afraid what he would do if he was in my immediate vicinity.
He placed his hands on his belt. His copper eyes smoldered red.
“I do what I want, thank you,” I said.
“The fuck you will. The moment I get my hands on you, I’m going to punish you, good and fucking hard,” he growled.
Hmm. Emotional, this one. Impulsive.
I wasn’t going to let him get close to me. He’d probably beat me or rape me. That’s what they did. Treated humans like property, something they owned to do with whatever they pleased.
It was sick. And now they had my sister.
“I think you forget who is in charge right now, Davon,” I began, and he actually growled at me, bared his teeth and everything. “I can sit here all day until you tell me what I want to know,” I continued boldly.
After a good ten minutes of silence, his bravado faltered a bit. Suddenly he seemed a bit unsure of himself. The longer I was with him, the more I got the feeling that he was a younger man, that he wasn’t battle tested and hardened like the others I’d seen before.
“Where did you come from, Davon? Did you arrive on Earth long ago?”
“No,” he answered, sound vaguely defeated. “I only came here yesterday. I’m to be stationed at the training camp, but I was doing rounds. Higher-ups are convinced more humans are wandering free.”
I said nothing. I didn’t want to hint at the existence of any of the others who depended on me for protection.
He sat down and gazed up at me. He chewed his lower lip.
It was actual kind of cute. I mean, if he wasn’t an alien of course.
“What do you want with me?” he asked.
“I lost a sister some time ago to a group of four Vakarrans. I want to know where she is, what they did with her,” I said, leaning forward to watch him.
“How do you expect me to know?” he scoffed.
“Aren’t you guys connected somehow? Some sort of technology or something?” I asked.
“Don’t you think I would have already signaled them directly if I did?” he responded with a sigh.
I watched him for a moment. He looked rather sheepish.
“You forgot it, didn’t you,” I guessed, and his expression turned immediately guilty. Bingo. He didn’t look at me as he kicked the steel wall gently, testing it.
“I left my com back at camp. Morgn is never going to let me live this down,” he whined. I struggled not to laugh.
“I don’t let you out unless you help me out here. I need to know where my sister is so that I can rescue her. She doesn’t deserve to be bred like cattle at the hands of you bastards,” I replied, my jawline tensing.
His jaw ticked and then he sighed. He pressed a button on the corner of his earpiece. A hologram screen appeared as his pupils began to search, moving back and forth as he read some alien text scrolling before his eyes.
“That doesn’t allow you to signal your comrades then?” I asked with suspicion.<
br />
“No. Not this,” he replied.
I scoffed. I didn’t know whether or not to believe him.
“What’s her name?” he sighed.
“Kira Stryke.”
“So, you’re Alaina Stryke, then. Younger sister, I’m guessing?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
He was quiet for a while longer.
“She’s on the ISS Starrider. With the first battalion. Four men to one woman. Says here they claimed her as theirs, by capture right law, I guess,” he said.
“Where’s that?” I asked, ignoring his other comments.
“In space.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” I mumbled.
“Happy to be of service,” he grinned smugly. Overconfident prick.
At least I had information now though. I had a direction and an answer, even if it was an impossible one. I’d never be able to travel into space, but at least I knew where she was now and who had her. I sighed and stared down at him. I wasn’t going to learn any more useful information from him, except for a few little details. His usefulness was quickly coming to an end.
“What’s their names? The Vakarrans who have her?”
“Zaavyr. Coltan. Jax. Aedan. All high-ranking military guys,” he replied.
There was nothing more I needed him for. I took a deep breath. It was time. I couldn’t let him go. I couldn’t let him run off to his alien superiors and tell them that I existed. I’d never be safe. My other sisters and our group of humans would never be safe if I let him run free. My hand brushed against the gun at my hip. I swallowed deeply. Would I be able to do it? Could I kill a man, even if he was a Vakarran?
I shook my head, trying to shake myself of such stupid thoughts. There was no questioning what I had to do here. He had to die. There were no other options. I had to do it. With a deep, shuddering breath that rattled me to the core, I slid my fingers over the holster, gripping the handle with a reluctance that I knew he could see.
His expression grew wary.
“What are you doing? I did what you asked!”
“I don’t have a choice,” I whispered, whipping the gun from my belt and leveling it in his direction. I looked through the site and aimed at his head, figured that would be the surest and safest shot to ensure that he died quickly and quietly.
