Alien Hunter's Fated - A SciFi Alien Abduction Romance

by Vivian Venus

  “Kaylee Mentz?” Tor said, concerned.

  “I’m okay,” she said, her voice shaky, and she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “And please, just Kaylee.” Toovah looked up at her, his ears flattening down with worry, and he took a small handful of her shirt. Tears still pouring down her face, she looked up and held out her plate to Tor. “Can I have another piece? I’m starving.”

  Tor smiled warmly and obliged.

  She decided that she was going to learn everything she could to survive on her own here until she could be rescued. It would be like her boot camp for becoming her new self.

  Kaylee also knew then that she didn’t have to be afraid of Tor. She would trust him and depend on him, but to guide her, not to carry her. Yes, she knew she could trust him. There was something in his eyes, an earnestness that she had never seen before in any man on Earth. And there was something else that had also sparked deep down in Kaylee, something that she didn’t even consciously know at the time – feelings for Tor, a want for him to be her man.

  After finishing the meal, Tor set to work to prepare Kaylee a stone knife of her own. It was a tool that all Ulduuk carried when they reached a certain age, essential for survival in the jungle. While she played with Toovah, chasing him around the village, he sat by the fire pit and dashed two stones together, flaking off razor sharp pieces. He thought about what she had told him and the tears that had followed. He was still certain that Kaylee had been sent by the Great Ones. She had fallen from the sky – their sky – and after he had asked for their help, but in her tears he could see that she was afraid and lost. Perhaps it was his test to see if he was worthy enough to hold the Ulduuk on his shoulders.

  Tor wondered if he was. He hadn’t been anything special before the sickness, just a young Ulduuk who had just been about to finish his rite of passage and earn the title of hunter. He would be a part of a hunting pack, but never lead one himself. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why the Great Ones had chosen him for this task. They could’ve chosen from so many stronger Ulduuk, but they had chosen him.

  He would rise to their challenge.

  He ground the edge of the stone blade and then tied it securely into a handle fashioned from one of the bones from the animal he had killed for their breakfast, and then fashioned a sheath from the bark of a tree. Then he made a cord belt and attached the sheath to it so that Kaylee could wear the knife at her waist. He polished off the blade, which was black as the night sky and shimmered like light on moving water, and tucked it into its sheath.

  Toovah laughed as Kaylee chased him around, and she caught up to him and scooped him up in her arms, spinning him around. “Raahrr, I got you!” she teased, tickling him and sending him into fits of giggles. Tor smiled and collected up the water canteens and a small wrapped leaf of dried meat. Before Toovah had gotten sick he had been sullen, silently following Tor around each day.

  “Toovah,” he said, walking over to the two of them. “How do you feel today?”

  “Good,” Toovah said, running over to him. “Kaylee is showing me how to fly.”

  “Is that so?” It had been a while since he had heard him speak so much. “Toovah, we need to help show Kaylee through the jungle today. You need to help protect her. Alright?”

  Toovah nodded, suddenly becoming serious. “Alright, Tor,” he said, standing up straight, his ears perked right up. “I’m ready.”

  Tor patted his head as Kaylee came over. “He’s so adorable,” she said.

  “You have a way with him,” he replied. “I haven't seen him with such good spirits in some time.” He held out the knife to her in the palm of his hand. He had purposely napped it smaller for her, and it sat in his hand almost like it was a piece of jewelry, the cording hanging between his fingers like the cord of a necklace. “Take this,” he said.

  She gave him a perplexed look and took the knife from his hand and then slowly pulled it out of its sheath. Her eyes widened. “Holy crap,” she said. “Did you make this?”

  “Yes. When an Ulduuk begins training to hunt, they receive their own knife. It’s a weapon, but also an important tool for life here, and especially out there. And when you return home, this knife can continue to bring you protection.”

  Toovah looked up at Kaylee and took a handful of her shirt. “Are you going somewhere, Kaylee?”

  She crouched down to his height and patted him on the head. “I need to go home, Toovah,” she said. “I’m not from here. I’m sure you knew that.”

  “Where are you going?” he asked again, quietly.

  “It’s far away from here,” she said. “I don’t know how far. But I can’t get there without your help, Toovah. Will you help me?”

  His face lit up again and he nodded. “I’ll help you, Kaylee.”

  The three of them left the village, and Kaylee couldn’t help but keep gawking at the epic expanse of jungle spreading out below them and the wide blue sky that was streaked with thin clouds that hung like wisps in front of the hazy yellow face of the gas giant. Flocks of strange bird-like creatures soared in the distance.

  They walked down the rock cut pathway that curved around the ridge until they were back at the vine crossing. Toovah ran ahead, leaping out and swinging from vine to vine with the confidence of a little monkey in a tree, and landed on the opposite side waving for them to hurry. Tor knew what must be going through Kaylee’s mind, and when he looked down at her he saw that she was sweating.

  “I’ll carry you,” he offered.

  Kaylee shook her head. “I have to do this,” she said.

  Tor heard a determination in her voice and knew that there was nothing further to be said. He was pleased – conquering the crossing was the very first test an Ulduuk took before going out and learning the jungle, and Kaylee was taking it on her own. Perhaps the Great Ones did expect him to show her the way.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he said. “You must run, do not hesitate, do not look down.”

  “It’s easy!” Toovah shouted, waving.

  Kaylee wiped her palms on her shirt, and then wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. I’ve got this, she though. I can do this. Don’t hesitate, don’t look down. Easy.

  “Okay!” she shouted, “I’m going!” She wiped her hands on her shirt again and bounced on her feet, like a runner getting ready for a race. “I’m going,” she said again, almost to herself.

  Three…

  Two…

  One…

  She bolted ahead and leapt out, hands outstretched and grabbed hold of the closest vine. Her body swung out into space and Kaylee found herself involuntarily making a glance down. Now it was day and she could see perfectly the entire dizzying depth of the crevice, traveling several hundreds of feet down into a sharp V shape where the rock met. She let out a stifled shriek, felt her body hit the peak momentum, and reached out for the next vine

  She grabbed it! She had it now and she let go of the first, and she swung forward with ease, her body now feeling the motion. She zeroed in on the next vine, grabbed it, swung forward, then again and again until she released and landed solidly on the other side.

  Toovah hooted with glee and threw his arms up high as he leapt in the air with excitement.

  Tor was just behind her and dismounted onto the ledge, and he gave her a smile. “Let’s go,” he said, “there’s lots of ground to cover.”

  “Right,” she said with a curt nod. A welling of confidence had sprung inside her.

  They proceeded back down the boulders, past the waterfall which now glittered brilliantly in the sunlight, and down alongside the stream where they had collected water the night before. They were back under the cover of the jungle, and streams of bright sunlight broke through the leaves and slanted down around them. The noise of the jungle was as loud as a city, Kaylee observed, the calls of different animals like the symphony of car horns and holo-advertisements playing and people shouting. Huge insects buzzed by and she gasped, frightened for a moment before
Toovah ran to chase them, occasionally leaping up to grab onto their legs and hover above the ground before letting go and watching them zip off into the canopy.

  All sorts of things hidden to her during the night were now visible – gigantic flowers with vibrant colors, their bulbs leaning in slightly towards her as she walked by. “They aren’t dangerous,” Tor said, tapping the flowers with the end of his spear. Each of the bulbs sucked closed and pulled away. “But watch out for hanging blue vines. If you get trapped in those there’s no coming out.”

  They walked for a good while and stopped at a fallen tree that was grown over with huge yellow mushrooms. Toovah climbed up one and perched up on its cap, his legs dangling off the side. Tor lodged the end of his spear into the dirt so that it stood straight up, and then took a seat on the side of the fallen tree. “Let’s take a break and eat,” he said. “Toovah, gather hookul grass and gezhul greens.” He pulled out his knife from his belt and held it out, and Toovah took it from him with a wide eyed reverence and then ran off.

  “Is he okay by himself?” Kaylee asked.

  “He’s safer than you would be,” Tor teased, smiling at her. Kaylee put her hands on her hips and gave him a look.

  “It’s part of a Ulduuk’s training,” he continued. “All leading up to becoming a hunter. One must go out into the jungle and be able to survive on their own. Of course, Toovah is important. I would never let anything happen to him.”

  She looked around. “But he’s gone,” she said. “I can’t even see him.”

  Tor pulled out the wrapping of jerky, separated a thick piece and handed it to Kaylee. “I can hear him,” he said. His ears twitched slightly, dog-like. “You can’t?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing but jungle noises,” she said. She looked at the shaft of Tor’s spear, stuck up in the dirt in front of her. It was intricately carved with images of Ulduuk hunting animals, ornate patterns, and at the very top near its stone blade a series of concentric circles with an eye in it. She looked up and through the trees she could see the great yellow gas giant.

  “Were you a…leader?” she asked. “Of your people, I mean.”

  He looked up at her quizzically.

  “It’s just…I don’t know.” Kaylee felt silly for asking the question. “It was this feeling I got from you that you were someone important in your village. And the carvings on the spear, I thought maybe you might've been a really good hunter or something.”

  Tor smiled. He pulled the spear up from the ground and then sat down right next to her. Kaylee felt quite small next to him, and he had come so close to her she could practically feel his body heat.

  “This spear,” he said, turning it over in his hand and placing it across both of their laps, “was constructed by the lead hunter for me in the first step of my rite of passage. I carved this story onto it, of the first hunter who was sent here by the Great Ones to start the Ulduuk people.” He pointed to the figures and the story carved in the wood, and told her the myth of the first hunter who was born without knowledge and his marriage to the first woman who unlocked the memory of his quest. Something about the way that Tor told the story to Kaylee set her heart beating wildly.

  “Now you’re the first. The new first,” she said. She wondered who the first woman would be, and felt a tiny match flame of a desire deep down inside her say maybe it’s you. She pushed the thought away immediately. She would be leaving this place soon, the rescue party would be here for her.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Tor said. “I’m not a hunter.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean? You hunted this meat.” She waved the piece of jerky in her hand. “You have your spear. You’re a hunter.”

  Kaylee thought she saw a glimmer of doubt on Tor’s otherwise confidently handsome face. “I was in the process of completing my rite of passage to receive the great name of hunter,” he said. “But then the sickness came. I’m not a hunter, Kaylee. Not yet.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “I was to be given a trial to complete by the four elder hunters,” Tor said, a tinge of sadness in his voice. “Upon their completion, then I would be declared a hunter. Without passing that test…I cannot be complete.”

  “What was the trial?” she asked.

  Tor stuck the end of his spear back down into the dirt. “Only the four could tell me,” he said. “Or the Great Ones above.”

  “Tor! Kaylee!” Toovah emerged from the jungle holding a huge broad leaf that was folded in half like a sack. “I found hookul, gezhul, mushrooms, and these!” He set the leaf on the ground in front of them and unfolded it. Kaylee jerked when she saw the huge black grubs inching their way along the thing. She looked at Tor, expecting him to laugh and reprimand Toovah for bringing back the bugs, but instead his eyes lit up and he smiled proudly.

  “Well done, Toovah. Arglodans! And just right for eating.”

  Kaylee felt like she was going to faint. Tor picked up a bunch of kale-like leaves, some pink mushrooms, and small white onion looking bulbs and held them out to her. “Your hand, Kaylee,” he said, and she shakily extended it. He placed them in her palm and then picked up one of the grubs, which looked to be the size of her fist. “The plumpest one for you,” he said, smiling.

  “Plumpest!” Toovah exclaimed.

  He placed it on top of the greens in her hand and a shiver went down her arm to her entire body. “I’m s-supposed to eat this thing?” she stammered.

  “Eat!” Toovah said. He grabbed one off the pile and tossed it into his mouth. Crunch.

  Kaylee’s vision blurred. Oh,God. “W-when in Rome…” she murmured to herself.

  Tor took a ripping bite of his jerky, tossed one of the onion bulbs in his mouth, chewed them, and then took a huge juicy bite out of the arglodan grub he held in his other hand. “Mm,” he said. “Delicious. Well done, Toovah.”

  Toovah smiled proudly, and then looked over at Kaylee, his expression changing to concern. “Kaylee? Why aren’t you eating? Aren’t you hungry?”

  She was starving. She stared at her hand, the grub trying to inch its way off. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and…

  Crunch.

  She bit its head off. Her eyes opened wide as its flavor spread through her mouth. “It…it tastes like filet mignon,” she exclaimed, amazed.

  Tor and Toovah just watched her, pleased that she seemed to be enjoying the meal so much. She chomped down the rest of the grub and polished off the greens and jerky not so long after. Tor was still finishing his food when she finished. “You were hungry,” he observed.

  They continued on, Toovah often running ahead to look at some insect that was crawling along a tree or to inspect the variety of colorful plants that surrounded them. Kaylee walked close to Tor, not wanting to make a misstep and find herself being snapped up by some unfriendly flower.

  So he’s not a prince, she thought. He’s just trying to find his way, like I am.

  “Tor!” Toovah called from up the path. His voice carried a mixture of excitement and concern. “Look!” He pointed to the dirt.

  Tor and Kaylee hurried to catch up with him and Tor kneeled to inspect the area where Toovah was pointing to. Kaylee peeked over and saw that the dirt impacted into a clear animal track. There were dozens of them crossing perpendicular over the trail, and in the directions they came and went the foliage was trampled, ripped and disturbed. Her mind shot back to the night before and those creatures that had followed them en masse, and she remembered the terrifying red orbs they had for eyes, like a spiders.

  “The vizer tracks,” he said. “These were from last night.”

  Toovah let out a little eep and backed away from the prints. Tor stood and looked around, sniffing the air, his ears shifting like radar dishes. “Don’t worry,” he said. “They’re not here. But the pack we encountered last night…It was larger than any I had seen before.”

  “What would cause that to happen?” Kalee asked nervously, remembering the low thunder of their movement
through the jungle night, a migration of death.

  “I’m not certain,” he said. “But I suspect that it had to do with your arrival.”

  “My arrival?” she repeated, horrified.

  He nodded. “The light of your star and the disturbance it caused when you fell into the jungle might’ve attracted them. It’s the way they hunt. They move nests often, constantly investigating for new prey.”

  The three of them continued on. Tor had said that the vizers were gone but he seemed to move more cautiously now, stopping occasionally to inspect things he found on the trail. The vizer’s tracks had now merged with the way they were following, and at one point Tor held up a shiny, shredded green piece plastic that was lying on the ground. “This is strange,” he said, inspecting it. “Not like any leaf I’ve seen before.”

  “That’s not a leaf,” Kaylee said. She felt a deep sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to like what she found when they reached the pod. “That’s a wrapper.” She took it from him and read the label. “From an emergency ration kit.”

  After another mile of walking, Kaylee noticed that a number of trees had been smashed over and otherwise decimated and that the ground was ripped up, stretching out in a long line of destruction through the jungle. They walked over this area where the jungle seemed to have been parted in two, and for a second Kaylee wondered if this had somehow been the work of the vizers too. Then she realized that it wasn’t the vizers that had done this. It was her, her pod when it had come crashing down through the jungle canopy. They followed this new path, the soil blackened and some of the splintered stumps of chewed up trees charred into coal, and Kaylee felt terrible for the destruction she had inadvertently caused.