by Rinelle Grey
The creature roared, and Folly instinctively ducked, stumbling on the uneven ground. She gripped the side of her stomach where a stitch stabbed at her.
The building was in sight. Nearly there.
The rush of wind hitting her back was the only warning she had. She tucked and rolled, and one of the creature’s claws scraped across her back, tearing her shirt.
She threw her body to one side, rolling out of the way. The doorway was only a few steps ahead of her.
A roar of triumph filled the air.
It was not going to win.
Folly scrambled forward on all fours, pulling herself through the doorway. The creature grabbed one of her ankles with its iron like claws.
With the last of her energy, Folly lunged for the rope that hung in the doorway. In her mind, she followed the path of the rope as she tugged on it—around the corner, lifting out of the sand she’d buried it in, up the opposite wall, and around a single brick—a single brick that held the roof up.
Above her, the wooden beams groaned. The creature’s head jerked up, and the hold on her ankle released. She took her chance to scramble forwards, out of the way of any falling rubble, all the way to the wall of the next building. A blast of dust and a roar of sound followed her.
Folly pulled herself into a sitting position and collapsed against the wall, staring at the pile of rubble. As the dust settled and nothing moved, she heaved a sigh of relief. Right up until this moment, she’d been afraid the alien would somehow make it through the doorway or out one of the other exits in time. Or simply push its way up out of the rubble like a robot on a science fiction novel.
But it hadn’t. It was completely buried in the rubble. It wouldn’t trouble them again.
“Folly? Folly? Are you there?” Kerit’s high pitched voice called from the other side of the rubble.
Pushing herself to her feet, Folly half ran, half stumbled around the debris, and waved a hand at him. “Here,” she managed.
He ran around to her, and pulled her close as she half stumbled into him. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice concerned.
Tears started in her eyes. He was so busy being concerned that she was okay, that he didn’t realise that she had been just as worried about him. But he was alive, and in one piece. In better condition than she was apparently.
“Folly?”
Words couldn’t express what she was thinking, so she did the next best thing. She lifted her face to his and kissed him.
His lips were warm and soft and seemed to melt under hers. He didn’t push, just responded to her own movements, not taking the lead. His lips parted slightly, and feeling encouraged by the control she had, Folly let her tongue dart into his mouth. Kerit groaned and his hands tightened around her waist, sending a thrill of excitement through her body.
Folly rested her chest against his, feeling safe for the first time in what felt like days. This felt right. Perfect.
Kerit lifted his face from hers and stared down at her, his eyes dark, that blond hair falling across one of them.
Self-consciousness hit her like a wave. What had she done? They barely knew each other, and here she was kissing him like she wanted to keep on doing it.
She did want to keep on doing it!
That was even worse. What if he didn’t?
“Are you okay?” Kerit’s voice was soft.
It was only then that Folly realised that her legs were shaking. She managed a nod, then forced the words out, “Yes, just tired from running. Legs have had it.”
Kerit nodded, his hair bobbing.
An overwhelming urge to brush it out of his eyes assailed her, and she fought it for a few moments before giving in to temptation.
He smiled, and his head drifted towards hers.
Her eyelids drooped. Her eyes threatened to close and her body swayed towards his, anticipating the feel of his lips on hers again. Then panic bubbled up on her.
“We should get back to the shuttle,” she blurted out.
Kerit pulled back, a slight frown crossing his face. He glanced towards the pile of rubble that had once been a building.
“Your brother is probably worried. And we should get out of here. I think that alien is probably dead. Surely he is after having a whole house fall on top of him. But just in case, we probably don’t want to hang around here.” She was babbling, she knew that, but she couldn’t seem to make herself stop.
She desperately wanted him to kiss her again. About as much as she was terrified of it.
“What happened?” Kerit asked. His arms loosened on her waist, though he didn’t remove them completely.
Folly shrugged. “I saw this house on my way through, nearly knocked it over in fact, and when I was trying to think of a way to get the alien away so that you could escape, it seemed like the perfect solution.”
“Do you think he’s dead?” Kerit’s voice sounded weird.
Folly looked up at him. “I hope so. Why?”
“I... Well... What if he wasn’t so... bad?”
“What do you mean, not bad? It carried you off! And you’re lucky it didn’t kill you.” Folly stared at him. Had the alien hit him on the head and he wasn’t thinking clearly?
“I don’t know.” Kerit shrugged. “I just thought... Never mind. You’re right, we should get back to the shuttle.”
She should have been glad that he pulled back, given that she didn’t know if she wanted him to kiss her again or not. It gave her a chance to sort out her conflicting thoughts.
But somehow, it was hard to convince herself of that.
Chapter 14
“Are you sure it’s dead?”
Tyris’s curt question stirred up conflict in Kerit’s thoughts again. His brother didn’t seem to have any doubts that what Folly had done was the right choice, even with his pacifist nature.
So why couldn’t he feel so sure?
Was it just because the creature had tried to talk to him? Well, they had exchanged names after all. It wasn’t really so surprising that he felt remorse. Or was it some weird twisted version of that thing with hostages, where he had felt a connection to it because it had been in control?
Either way, they couldn’t possibly trust it. It was better that it was out of the picture.
So why did he still feel guilty?
Was it because he admired what Folly had done? He’d just sat around, trying to talk to the alien, while she had thought up and executed a daring plan to rescue him. One that had worked spectacularly. And then all he’d done was criticise her, in his own mind, if not out loud.
“We didn’t wait around to check out the body, just in case,” Folly said dryly. “If it is still alive, it’s going to take a while to dig its way out of that rubble.”
“Hmm.” Tyris went silent for a moment. For some reason, Kerit found himself holding his breath. “You’d better get a move on,” Tyris came back. “Its life signs are weak, but they’re still there.”
“What?” Folly said sharply. “A whole building fell on it. How could it still be alive?”
“Well, it does have rather tough armour,” Kerit pointed out. He tried not to sound relieved. He should be concerned. The alien’s continued survival posed a risk, not only for him and Folly, but for the people in the caves and those waiting on the Resolution, hoping to make this planet their home.
“It may not survive long,” Tyris said. “It’s not moving at all. And either way, as soon as we have the go-ahead from the rest of your people on the planet, we can start the terraforming. Even if that alien survives being buried, he won’t survive that.”
“Good.” Folly nodded. “We’d better get moving then. Are you going to meet us there?”
How had it slipped into her organising things with Tyris? Surely he should be the one asking those sorts of questions. Folly and his brother had never even met, yet now they seemed to be conspiring to take over the operation that should have been his. And he wasn’t doing anything about it.
“Might be best if we
arrive first,” Kerit interjected. “Everyone might get a bit of a fright if they see a huge ship landing without warning.”
“True,” Tyris agreed. “I will have to land the Resolution anyway, as we can’t complete the transformation with anyone on the planet. Hopefully your people won’t take too long to pack. But you should be there ahead of me. I won’t have a re-entry window for a couple of hours yet.”
“Maybe they’ll all be packed and ready to go by the time you land,” Folly joked. “With the complaints I’ve heard about the living conditions on the planet, I’m sure they’ll be eager.”
“Well remember, we can’t take them back to Urslat straight away,” Tyris warned. “We need to get everyone settled here first. It could take a month or two.”
Kerit felt a twinge of sympathy for his brother. Marlee’s baby was due any day now, he wouldn’t want to miss the birth. He wouldn’t really want to leave so soon afterwards either, but some things had to be done, regardless of how little you wanted to do them.
“We’ll let them know,” he assured his brother.
“Thanks. Well, I guess I’ll see you in a few hours. Good luck.”
The radio went silent, and Kerit turned to Folly. “Shall we go?”
She nodded, and both of them walked wordlessly to their seats and fastened their belts. Kerit focused on getting the launch sequence correct, but he couldn’t help his eyes straying to Folly, where she sat staring out the window.
His mind kept drifting back to that moment when she’d first seen him after the building collapsed. The look on her face, her eyes wide, her smile unaffected. And that kiss…
He’d lost where he was up to. Kerit sighed, and began the checks again.
Folly looked over at the sound but didn’t say anything. Kerit felt his face heat regardless. He needed to focus. He didn’t want to make a mistake in the launch because he was thinking about kissing Folly.
He bit back another sigh and started again, keeping his mind clearly on the sequence. This time, he managed to complete it successfully and the shuttle lifted gently off the ground.
He set course towards the mountains and then he could relax for a little while.
Folly was still staring out the window.
He wanted to ask her about the kiss, ask her what it meant, but something held him back. He suspected it had come as a shock to her as much as it had to him, and that she might not want to talk about it just yet.
So instead he asked, “Is Chicken okay?” Since the little creature had warmed to him, he was beginning to feel quite fond of it.
Folly turned and smiled. “Sure. She was in danger of dying of pure fright a couple of times, but she managed to survive.” She pulled down the edge of one of her jacket pockets, and Chicken stared up at him with sleepy eyes.
Kerit smiled. “I’m glad.” He looked directly at Folly. “And thanks for rescuing me back there.”
She smiled back. “It was nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Leading that alien away from me wasn’t nothing,” he corrected. “It could have caught you or hurt you.”
The thought of the alien hurting Folly in any way dissolved all the good will Kerit had felt towards it earlier. It was stupid to think that they could reason with the creature. The sooner they dealt with it permanently, the better.
Folly shrugged. “Well, I needed you to fly the ship. If it killed you, I was screwed.”
Indignation rose in Kerit. After all they’d been through together, the only reason she’d helped him was because he could fly the shuttle?
Then he saw the look in her eyes. They were dark with a worry that belied her light teasing words. A worry she wasn’t ready to admit, even to herself.
“Ahh, I see,” Kerit said lightly. “Well, how about I show you how it works, just in case?”
The worried look vanished, replaced quickly by eagerness. “Really?”
“Sure. I can show you the basics. Don’t expect any in depth explanations though.”
Folly listened attentively as Kerit explained the different instrument panels, and what each did. Within minutes, she was asking questions he didn’t know the answers to. It seemed she wasn’t happy with knowing how to make the spaceship fly, she wanted to know why the controls made it lift and turn. Kerit had to shrug helplessly and admit his lack of knowledge. “I don’t know.”
She smiled. “Never mind. Can I have a go?”
As he had expected, she picked up the controls in no time, flying with far more skill and confidence than he had. He sat back, happy to leave her in control, while he watched her animated face as she checked each instrument, taking in the information it presented to her.
“What’s that?”
Kerit sat up and stared at the radar, frowning at the dark blob in the middle of the endless sand. “I don’t know.”
“Can we check it out?”
“It’s a little out of our flight path,” Kerit looked at the distance, torn. They needed to get to the caves and get people moving as soon as possible. Before that alien escaped and came after them.
“What if it’s important?”
“It will still be there after the terraforming,” Kerit said firmly. “We can’t spare the time now.”
“A few more minutes won’t make that much difference. Tyris can’t land for another few hours.”
Kerit stared at her hopeful face and sighed. “All right,” he allowed, against his better judgement.
Folly grinned and altered course without any assistance.
The blip on the radar grew larger and as it began to take shape, a sense of unease began to grow in Kerit’s mind. When they hovered over the shape, moonlight glinted off the black shiny hull, reminding Kerit immediately of the shiny armour of the alien, he swallowed. “It’s a ship. I guess that confirms that the alien isn’t from this planet.”
Well, they’d pretty much already guessed that. Still, having confirmation sent chills down his spine.
The pieces were scattered over at least fifty metres, the impact having thrown them in all directions. The main body was all that remained intact, its nose buried half under the sand.
“That must have been some impact.” Folly’s voice was hushed.
“Yes, and the alien survived it.”
It was a sobering thought. Somehow, Kerit didn’t think they’d seen the last of the alien. The idea that it could survive a crash like that, yet be killed by a stone building falling on it, seemed impossible.
“We’d better get to the caves,” he said quietly.
Folly nodded and turned back to their flight path without a word. Every now and then, she glanced at the shadow on the radar, as it receded behind them. She bit her lower lip.
“It won’t be able to survive the terraforming,” Kerit said, as much to remind himself as to reassure her.
Folly nodded. Her eyes stared out the front view screen, even though there was little to see in the dark desert. They were skirting around the edge of the mountains, but at a great enough distance that there was no risk of collision. No real need to concentrate on the journey.
He suspected she was imagining the same thing he was.
“We won’t let it get to the caves,” Kerit assured her.
Folly nodded, and took a deep breath. “It’s still trapped right now. Your brother would have told us if it had moved, wouldn’t he?”
“Of course.”
As if on cue, the radio crackled. “Kerit? Are you there?”
Kerit picked up the radio. “I’m here.”
“Is everything okay? Why did you detour?”
“We saw something on the radar and wanted to check it out. Turns out it’s the alien’s ship.”
Tyris’s reply came back quickly. “You shouldn’t have gone near it. There could be others and the ship could have working weapons.”
Kerit’s heart skipped a beat at that thought. It hadn’t even occurred to him that there could be more than one alien, or its ship might have weapons. He shouldn’t have let
Folly fly near it.
“You need to start thinking before you act, Kerit,” his brother’s voice continued.
All the concern Kerit had felt evaporated. Why couldn’t his brother treat him like an adult? He bit back an angry retort. This wasn’t the time for squabbles. “It wasn’t going to do anything. It’s in pieces. I’m surprised the alien survived it at all.”
“There was no sign of any others?”
“No, nothing moving at all.”
“Ask him about the alien,” Folly said.
“Have the alien’s lifesigns changed at all?” Kerit asked.
There was a brief silence. Kerit held his breath, trying not to think about the fact that if he made it out of the ruins, the alien could catch up to them relatively quickly. It could fly after all.
“No, it’s still the same. Weak, but not moving.”
Kerit heaved a sigh of relief, echoed by Folly.
“Let us know if it changes,” Kerit said.
“I will,” Tyris agreed. “And no more detours. You need to get to your destination and convince those people to leave as soon as possible. If that alien gets out, it’s a danger to everyone.”
Chapter 15
“The entrance is just over here.”
Kerit looked where Folly was pointing, but could see nothing to distinguish the patch of rock she pointed at from all the others surrounding it. He nodded anyway.
Despite having had a few hours sleep outside his shuttle with the alien, he was exhausted. And starving. And cold. It had been a long day. All he wanted was to tell the news to all Folly’s people, get them started packing, and get off this planet. He wasn’t going to be able to rest until everyone was safe.
He didn’t even want to think about the fact that someone was still going to have to climb to the top of the mountain to place the beacon.
Folly climbed over a rocky outcrop, and then Kerit could see it—a square of wooden boards with a ring on one side. Kerit bent to help her, and the hatch lifted, revealing a hole underneath.
It stretched away into nothingness, darker inside that out, where the moon was just dipping towards the horizon. Kerit strained his eyes, and slowly, distant pockets of light emerged, shining off… leaves? Well, Folly had said that there were trees in the cave, even if the idea still seemed unbelievable.
