“Oh, then why are you bringing us? Isn’t it dangerous to go out there now?” I couldn’t believe he wanted me to go out into that crazy jungle. And with some insectoids still out there too.
“I will be able to protect you. We are bringing two squads of warriors with us. I thought you might enjoy getting out of this place, and helping me to find, and save, some of your friends.” His smile was waning, and the color of his veins started to pulse blue. The beautiful purple was gone.
I wanted the purple to come back. Some instinct took over, and I reached my hand out to him. As soon as I realized what I was doing, I pulled back. “Okay, sure. As long as you don’t let any of those bugs near me again. Seriously, I still have that smell on me and can’t seem to get it off. I don’t want to add any more of that slime to my body.”
He chuckled, and I was filled with joy. Which was odd, since this was not the place to feel joy. However, it was the first time I had heard anything like a laugh from him, and I liked it.
He let me and a few other women out of the cells. Two of them I had met- Lucy and Betty, and the third I did not know. I walked up to her and introduced myself, “Hi, I’m Natalie.” I stuck my hand out and she gave me a good, hearty shake. She had some strength in her grip.
“My name is Rachelle. Nice to meet you.” The second she let go of my hand, her head turned toward Zelan. “Oh Zelan, I’m so glad you insisted I accompany you on this mission. I’m ready to help you any way I can.” She eyed him up and down and drew nearer to his body. She was practically in his arms.
He smiled down at her, looked up at me, and the smile was wiped off his face. Zelan took two steps back from her, turned around, and started walking out of the holding cell area.
Rachelle looked back at me and smirked, then ran to catch up to him.
“Lucy, what was that all about? Is Rachelle trying to get Zelan to choose her?” I asked. Then I looked over to Lucy as she laughed and shook her head.
"Oh Natalie, don't you see it? You’re her competition. Be careful with that one. She can come off really nice and sweet, until you cross her. If she wants Zelan, she’ll do whatever she has to. I was in her cage when we were first abducted. In the beginning, she was like all of us, ticked off that we had been abducted by aliens.” She looked over to Rachelle and Zelan who weren’t too far away, then lowered her voice a bit more.
“But as soon as she saw how well Paris and the others were treated, she began looking for a mate. She wanted Cazon, but he was too into Sheila to pay attention to any of us. So, she turned her sights to Zelan. He was assigned to our holding area a lot, so she flirted with him every chance she got. And he flirted with her real good too. I thought for sure he would choose her. After the crash, things changed, and he hardly paid Rachelle any attention.” Lucy winked.
“Huh, I wonder what happened?” I mused as we followed behind at a discreet distance from Rachelle and Zelan.
“You don’t know? It’s quite obvious to everyone else. Zelan wants you. Look at his veins. They are flashing an orange color. He never flashes that color with you, does he?” She nodded toward Zelan as we continued to follow him and the new girl.
“No, he’s usually purple. Earlier he was blue, and that made me sad. I was happy when he laughed and turned purple again... Have you figured out the colors yet?” I hadn’t figured it out yet, but I was beginning to think purple meant he was happy, and blue meant sad, but the other colors still confused me.
“Not yet, but I have an idea. Betty and I have been paying attention to the aliens and their colors. We think they are tied to their emotions. Zelan used to flush a bit of green, and sometimes even purple, when flirting with Rachelle, but lately it has been more orange.” Lucy’s confirmation on the colors being tied to their emotions really had my interest peeked.
Betty jumped in at this point, she had come up to my other side and whispered her thoughts, “I think orange is frustration or maybe anger. Although, I did see one warrior flush black once, and that was when a guy grabbed Paris and hurt her arm. However, I was across the room, so can’t be sure it really was black.”
That reminded me of the insects I fought a few days ago. “Wait, I saw Zelan flash black once. We were scavenging on the old ship, and a couple of cockroaches attacked me. His veins turned black as he viciously killed them. I was happy he did because one had crawled up my body and spit out some sort of goo onto my face. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced in my life! I still have nightmares about it.” I shivered just thinking about that day.
“Oh, so that’s what has you tossing and turning at night. I wondered if it was just our situation. I can understand after being attacked by giant, mutant, cockroach-grasshopper bugs, you wouldn’t sleep well. That would be enough to put me in a catatonic state for quite some time!” Lucy wiggled her arms and stuck her tongue out while she hunched her shoulders. She was totally grossed out, but who wouldn’t be when faced with what I went through?
“I only saw one from a distance when the warriors picked me up from the old prison cells. We were making our way out, and there were three of them trying to climb up to us, but the warriors shot them. It took several tries too. Their exoskeletons are really tough! It was rather surprising that only the head shots killed them,” Betty recollected. She rubbed her hands on her arms and scrunched up her nose.
Zelan turned around at that moment and noticed all of us a bit freaked out from sharing our encounters with the Zateelians. “What’s wrong? Why the weird faces?” He cocked his head to one side while looking at each of us.
"Oh, it's nothing. We were just sharing our stories of the past week and those disgusting bugs. I honestly don't know how you guys can fight them and not be freaked out by what they are." I shivered again just thinking about the one who had its head blown off when it was over my stomach.
Zelan chuckled and walked towards me, “Natalie, I promised you I would keep you safe, and I meant it. You don’t need to worry. In fact, I would be happy to stay next to you this entire trek. Would that make you feel better?” He put his hand on my shoulder, and I started to calm down. His veins went from pulsing orange to a beautiful shade of green, and he matched the trees around us.
We made our way outside and stopped while we waited for the two squads of warriors to take their place around us. There must have been twenty warriors. Three took point, three took rear, and the rest were spread out along the edge of our small group. I did feel better.
I noticed a couple of friendly faces in our protectors as well. “Hi, Cazon! How’s Sheila? And why isn’t she with us on this expedition?”
“Hi, Natalie. She is helping Paris with something. I think they are trying to figure out some better meals for you guys until we can get the new food replicators online. Sheila had me try that stuff we normally feed humans, and I can understand why you wouldn’t want to eat it.” He chuckled as he moved forward in the group.
“Yes, that chalky jello stuff is not what I want to eat for dinner tonight. The food ration bars are much better, but that isn’t saying much.” My stomach turned sour just thinking about the stuff they called food.
Zelan looked at me and his veins pulsed purple for a few minutes. That is, until Rachelle interrupted us.
I needed to find a way to keep him purple. There was something calming and assuring about that color on him. The way I felt when he flushed purple, and even green was something I liked. It was almost like drinking chamomile tea on a cool fall evening, relaxing.
“Zelan, I thought you were going to stay by my side for this journey?” She pouted her lips and coyly looked up at him through her eyelashes. I wondered if he knew what she was doing. Her attempts to attract him didn’t seem to be working.
He yelled out, "Telan, come here." A very imposing warrior, he must have been as tall as the Commander. He had to be close to seven feet; however, his shoulders weren't as wide. Still, this warrior was strong and very good looking. "I want you to meet Rachelle. She would feel safer if a
warrior kept an eye on her today. Would you mind staying close to her?"
“Rachelle, this is Telan. He is one of my best warriors. He will be sure to take good care of you today.” Zelan introduced them, but Rachelle didn’t seem happy. She gave me a fake smile, tilted her head, and gave a very insincere little laugh.
She did, however, look Telan up and down very slowly. When she reached his chest, I noticed a small smile forming on her lips, and she reached out her hand to touch him. “Well, Telan, you certainly are a strong specimen, aren’t you?”
“I would prefer it if you didn’t touch me. Your protection is my responsibility, and touching me will not help you,” Telan gruffed out. Then he put his hand on her lower back and pushed her forward. The rest of us moved along as well.
I noticed we were headed in a different direction from the old ship. We seemed to be making our own trail now. The way to the old ship had a well, worn path. Probably from so many trips back and forth already. Zelan had told me that they were trying to get everything they could out of the old ship and over to the new one before the insectoids cleaned it out.
They weren’t sure, but the latest estimate was that there were most likely still over 150 Zateelians on this planet, all close by. Weren’t we the lucky ones! Humph. Yeah right. The sooner we got this mission over with, the better. While I appreciated being out of the super cramped cell, I did not want to encounter another mutant cockroach for as long as I lived!
Chapter 4
The planet was warm, if I had to guess, maybe mid-eighties. The sun was shining. I could hear birds chirping, small animals scampering about, and I thought I caught sight of a snake in a tree. It was either a snake or one of those willow type of branches that was swaying in the wind.
These trees looked similar to what we had back home on Earth, but they were bigger. Probably because we cut down our trees and never gave them very long to grow. I doubt these trees had ever been cut down.
A few of them looked like something out of Swiss Family Robinson. I suppose that if we didn't find any more of my people, they could easily create rather large tree houses in this section of the woods once we left. Until then, I hoped they stayed out of sight. Getting caught by us or the insectoids would be worse than trying to make a go of it in these woods.
I still wish I would have run after Paris let us out of the cells, but I was too dazed and confused to think straight. Once I did finally think about running, it was too late. The warriors had already found us.
The warriors up front with Lorlo cut a path for us. Then, all of a sudden, Lorlo, who was in the lead put his right fist up, then the rest of the aliens stopped chatting and motioned for us to be quiet as well. Lorlo stopped and knelt down to look at the foliage on the ground. There looked to be vines crawling all throughout the small bushes. Now all of the warriors seemed alert and were looking around us and up into the trees.
I whispered to Zelan, “What’s going on?”
“Shh, Lorlo has found signs of others coming through here,” he whispered back so low, I could barely hear him. His lips were directly next to my ear, and I tried to stop the shiver that raced down my back, but I couldn’t. Hopefully, Zelan was too busy paying attention to our surroundings to notice how much he affected me.
It wasn’t like I was attracted to him. I think it had just been so long since a nice-looking man had touched me that my body reacted. That was all it was, or at least that was the story I was sticking with if anyone asked.
Lorlo stood up and motioned with his hand toward the right side. He held up three fingers and motioned three times to the right, like something out of a military movie. The warriors moved forward quietly, while those of us untrained in stealth, made a bunch of racket.
I stepped on a twig that broke, and I heard Lucy stomping on a small bush. There was no way we were going to sneak up on anyone. Still, I couldn't figure out why they thought bringing us would be a good idea.
As we moved through the jungle, I could no longer hear the birds or see any small animals. I thought about all the scary movies I had watched growing up. The girl who gets eaten by a monster, or killed by the crazy guy, always noticed how quiet it was before the psycho monster attacked. I kept alert looking around us as we moved very slowly towards the area Lorlo kept gesturing toward. Thankfully, I was mostly in the middle of the group, and Zelan was next to me as he promised.
I heard some rustling up ahead as I lost sight of those in the lead. Then I heard a phaser gun go off. In fact, I heard several phasers fire. My eyes grew wide, and I was about to scream when Zelan pushed me down on the damp earth. I turned my head toward the sound of the fighting and noticed that other warriors had tackled some of our women. My heart was beating out of my chest. Why were the warriors laying on top of the girls with their weapons drawn? What was going on in front of us? I tried to count how many were still in our party, but I couldn’t turn my head far enough to see those behind me.
I watched as Lorlo came back and looked at everyone lying down, “Zelan, I need to show you something. The rest of you might want to back off a little.” He turned around to go back to where he came from, and Zelan jumped up and started to walk away.
“Hey, I thought you weren’t going to leave my side the entire time? You can’t leave me here while there are still who knows how many bugs out there that might attack.” I started to walk after him, then he turned around.
“Natalie, you are right. Be careful and stay close.” He put out an arm out for me to grab, and when I did, we walked toward Lorlo. His firm face softened when he looked at me and it made me feel better.
As soon as we caught up to Lorlo and the other warriors, I almost puked. I wished that I would have stayed back where I was. Down on the ground were two women who had their heads blown off. But that wasn’t the worst part. Inside where their brains should be were small cockroaches! They were covered in them.
I turned around and started to gag, and Zelan put his hand on my back. “Shh, it’s alright. Natalie, there was nothing we could have done for them. Trust me when I say it is better that we killed them now.”
“What happened? Why did they have so many cockroaches on them? And what do you mean it’s better you killed them now? Haven’t they been dead a long time? How else did all those bugs get on them?” I blurted out as I tried to clean off my face.
Then I remembered a scene from CSI where one of the main guys, Grissom, said that bug infestations took at least 24 hours. With all those bugs on them, it must have been several days since they died.
“This is how the Insectoids reproduce. They infect a humanoid host with their offspring by inserting their reproductive gland inside the mouth and delivering a sack full of eggs. Once the host is infected… there is no cure other than death. If they stay alive, they will suffer a fate worse than death.” He shook his head and took a deep breath.
“Once those bugs hatch, they eat their way out of the host’s body. The host suffers more than you can imagine for hours before they finally die. This is why we checked you as soon as you had been attacked by that Zateelian. When I killed him, he may have sent his sack into your mouth. It is rare that it happens that way, but not unheard of.” He held me tight to him and rubbed my back.
I pulled away and turned my head back to where we had come from.
His veins pulsed blue and I knew he was upset. But I did not know the cause of his angst. Could it be he was sad that humans had to die in this manner? Or was he upset because the Zateelians were procreating? Or, was it something else?
“Is that what the doctor meant when he said I was clean? Even though I was covered in goo?” I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm myself. I was very grateful that humans didn’t have veins pulsing different colors to show our moods.
“Yes, he meant that your body was clean of any possible parasites.” Zelan grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close for a hug. Normally I would have pulled away, but today, I needed it more than I needed air.
"They w
ere still alive when you guys found them?" I asked as I took several breaths and tried to keep from passing out or puking.
Lorlo walked over to us. “Yes, they were barely alive. The parasites had already started to eat their way out. I think we killed them all, but since they are so small, it is really difficult to say.”
“What about the rest of the people who escaped? Do you think they have been infected as well?” A sinking feeling in the pit of stomach told me I didn’t want to know the answer.
"It's hard to say. Some of them probably got far enough away before the Insectoids even got close to our ship. As long as they kept going, and didn't stop along the way, they should be fine. But I must warn you, there are other predators on this planet. Also, some of the vegetation might look edible, when in fact, it is poisonous. So, don't touch anything without asking one of us first." Lorlo left us and went back over to the bodies.
“Zelan, what do we do about those bodies now? We can’t just leave them here out in the open for predators to come and eat. They need to be buried.”
“Actually, we have to burn them. I am sorry, but it is required of all bodies that have been infested. We have no way to know that there aren’t other parasites inside waiting to be hatched.” He rubbed my back, and I realized I was still in his arms. Even though there were two dead bodies in front of me, I actually felt safe and protected.
“Can we leave yet? Or do you have to burn them now?” I pulled out of his arms and looked back in the direction of where the rest of our group was. It felt strange and nice being in his arms, which only confused me. This was not something I wanted to think about right now. Although, it was a nicer topic than the cockroach infested corpses in front of us.
Worlds Collide Page 2
