The Alien’s Stowaway Read online

  Jarix looked over at me as he hopped into his pants, “Exactly.” I smiled over at him, and when we were completely dressed he closed the distance to kiss me again.

  “So, the blonde woman inspired you, eh?”

  He laughed at my quip, yanking my head back to kiss me again. I liked how rough he could be with me. I also liked that I could handle it. We fit together. Jarix pulled away from the kiss, smiling hugely, then said, "Let's rest for a while."

  As we settled down, using the blanket as our pillow, I burrowed close to Jarix. He tucked me into his chest, wrapping that beautiful body around my own. It was cool enough in the cave that we could sleep in each other's arms without getting overheated. As I fell asleep, I couldn't help but become overwhelmed with gratitude. I would've died in that camp eventually if Jarix hadn't arrived.

  Now Alice and I stood a chance at real life. A real future. All thanks to him.

  14

  Evvie

  "What was your life like before all this?" I asked as we ate. As usual, our meal was tasteless mush. No meat this time. That was only at breakfast. Alice hummed and sipped at her gruel. We were on our lunch break in the mines. She looked pale, so I wanted to get her talking. I didn't know what else to do for her. She'd been slower and in more pain since the beatings. We just needed a few more days to get the ship going, and I could get her out of here.

  Finally, "I ruined everything for love," she said with a disgusted laugh. I'd asked her before, but she'd always said she didn't want to talk about it. She'd never fully opened up about her assignment before being sent here to the salt mines.

  "What do you mean?" The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I gulped down the rest of my meal and took Alice's bowl over to the privileged workers that fed us. Knowing there would be hell to pay if we were late, we hurried toward the mine we were working in today. It was a new room and the salt came off easily, but also meant we were extra covered in it.

  When we got into the hallway and relative privacy, she continued after checking to make sure nobody was around. "I was assigned to a household of a wealthy merchant. The planet was cruel, and they hated humans, but my employer was the worst of them, as far as I could tell. He beat us regularly to keep us in our place. It was still far better than this, but at the time I thought I was in Hell." She shook her head and picked up her ax, but her hand shook. "What a fool I was."

  I waited for the guard to pass by and knocked my Ax against the wall a few times, loosening bits of salt. He was the one that was sometimes nice. When he walked on by toward the other side of the room, I swung my ax and watched how weakly Alice swung hers. I worried about her. We had to get that ship working in the next few days. "What made you a fool?" I whispered.

  "My employer’s son came home from college and we fell in love," she said. Her eyes sparkled for a second as she remembered. "Real love. Not infatuation or lust. He wanted to run away with me. When it was time for him to go back to school, we were going to leave then. He had plenty of money he'd tucked away over the years and planned to take more of his father's money to see us to some new place that we could be together."

  We both turned our heads and pretended to ignore each other and work as the guard walked by again on his slow circle of the room. I went over what she’d said in my mind. Alice deserved so much better than this. She had been young and fallen in love, not committed a crime. My heart ached for her. Not wanting to get too emotional, I refocused on my work. If we didn't get enough salt out of the room today, we'd be in trouble. They monitored it.

  "Well? What happened?" I asked once the guard was out of range, dying to know the rest of the story. Obviously, she hadn't been able to stay with her love, and something had happened.

  "We were caught," she said. "His father knew of our little relationship the entire time and stripped his son of all of his belongings and money the day we were to leave. After a beating, he put me on the next ship back here." She sighed and hefted the ax again. I wanted nothing more than to yank it from her hand and whisk her away to Haltrean.

  "You've been here in the mines since then?" She nodded and it felt like my chest was cracking. Her story was heartbreaking. She'd been about to escape, about to be with the man she loved, but ended up in a prison camp for over twenty years. I went quiet thinking about the parallels. I was about to escape and be with the man I—I stopped mid-thought. Did I love Jarix? I wasn't sure. Love was a complicated emotion, one that took time to grow, didn't it? "Is it possible to love someone you don't know very well?" Though, was that true? I knew it had only been a short amount of time that I’d known him, but I felt as if I did know him. To the core.

  She paused and let her ax rest on the ground for a second. "I think so. I think the souls recognize each other. We can recognize when we find the special person that will make our souls happy and content." That resonated with me. Maybe my soul recognized that Jarix and I were kindred spirits and would do anything for each other.

  A few hours later, close to the end of the day, Alice dropped her ax without warning. I turned to see what was up, and she looked at me with a horrified expression on her face. Her mouth moved but no words came out. "Alice?" I whispered, shock coursing through me. What was happening? This was my worst nightmare coming true. Was she hurt or sick? I raised my hands, fluttering over her general body, looking for wounds. Had she accidentally swung her ax into her own leg? That had happened before.

  Her hand lifted to her chest and she clawed at it, then she stumbled forward. I caught her with a shout and we sank to the ground as my mind buzzed with terror. What could I do? Alice’s blue eyes locked with mine as she wordlessly gasped for breath. My heart was thudding loudly in my ear, and I wasn’t sure I would have been able to hear her anyway.

  "Help!" I screamed brokenly, but I knew it was fruitless. They'd never help us. We were products to them. The sounds of the clanking and working stopped as everyone turned to watch us. The guard was on the far side of the room, but he turned and walked toward us as I panicked. "Alice, hang on," I yelled. "Don't do this, Alice!" Her eyes were closed and her breathing was now shallow, but she weakly reached up with one hand to place it on my cheek. I shook with sobs. "Help her!" I screamed at the guard. He was walking over so slowly, as if out for a stroll with a date.

  When he reached us, he looked down at her and shrugged. "Nothing to do. She's old, what did you expect?" He'd been the nicest one to me, but if I could've held Alice and stabbed him with my ax at the same time, I would have. He looked at the rest of the women in the room. I met some of their gazes, demanding their help. I knew it was too much to ask, we were all broken here. "Get back to work!" he barked, and they all lowered their gazes back to the ground. It was shameful, but I understood.

  I looked back down at the aged woman I’d named my closest friend, holding her frail hand to my face. She was more than a friend, sometimes being a mother figure to me. I didn’t want to lose her. It was unbearable. In my arms, her breaths came further and further apart as the sounds of the mining started up around us. "Just leave her," he said roughly. "You need to work too.” Ignoring him, I pulled my only friend into my arms and rocked, saying anything I could think of to drown out the sounds around us. I didn't want the last thing she heard before death to be the sounds of the mines.

  "Thank you for being my friend," I said. "Thank you for looking out for me. I'm so proud to have known you." Her breathing stopped too quickly, and my heart froze in my chest, but then a few seconds later she sucked in a sharp breath. I nearly screamed. "Thank you," I said between sobs. "Thank you for making my life bearable here." That last one was whispered, I didn’t want to share these feelings with anyone else, much less the guard who would likely beat me for wasting time.

  After that final gasp, Alice breathed out a long sigh and slowly passed away in my arms. Tears dripped down my face as I watched hers go slack. I knew she was gone when her face paled and no sounds of life came from her. I didn’t let go of her hand, just crying and rocking there in t
he piles of salt. I knew the guard would react soon. I knew I needed to rise, but I couldn’t stomach it. Not yet. Alice.

  The guard grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet before I was ready. Tears blurred my vision, and my eyes never left the lifeless body of Alice. He yelled at someone to move her, but I couldn't see anything except her entire life wasted. She'd almost been happy once. She'd almost gotten away. I stood beside the guard with my hands over my face and sobbed until he nudged me. "They took her away, but if you're still standing here bawling when they return, you know what will happen." He pushed me toward my spot in the line.

  I tried to suck in my tears, but they kept flowing. All I could do was wipe them away when they obstructed my vision. I lifted and dropped the ax woodenly until the bell rang, making plans all the while. Determination hit me with the force of a raging chidder. I wouldn't have an almost, like Alice. I wouldn't stay here and let them work me to death. I'd either make it to a better life or die trying.

  As soon as the bell rang, I darted out of the mines. Heading straight for the bunks, I made sure none of the guards were milling around, then went straight for Alice's bunk. I grabbed the box she kept under her bed and wrapped it in her blanket, using it as a sling to carry it. Then I snatched my belt, blanket, and satchel that held my only belongings and walked out the back door.

  I took off at a run, tears still streaming down my cheeks. I wasn't sure if we'd leave immediately or hide out in the cave, but I couldn't stay in the camp for another moment. Before I even got out of sight of the bunkhouses, Clarissa ran up behind me. "I know about your ship!" she shouted.

  I halted and whipped around to stare at her. Luckily no one else was around. "What are you talking about?"

  "I followed you. I watched you fuck an alien." She strode toward me, her face curled in disgust. "Besides that being obviously disgusting, I know you are trying to escape with him. He’s probably a wanted criminal."

  "That's rich coming from you," I spat. "You don't know anything." She tossed her hair back and grinned. "I know TerraLink is on their way. If they find the ship where I told them it is, I've bought my freedom. And your death." I didn't give her another second of my time. I had to get to Jarix before the TerraLink Program did.

  "Maybe you'll get there in time to see them haul him away," she yelled after me. "Have fun dying!"

  I ran faster than I'd ever run in my life. All the way, all I could think about was how I'd feel knowing Jarix was gone. Not because he was my escape, but because I couldn't imagine the pain of knowing he'd been captured. They would hurt him. They would turn him back over to the prison ship.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I was too full of adrenaline and pain to figure out if I loved him, but he was now the only person left on this entire fucking planet that I cared for. TerraLink wouldn’t take another person from me. I ran for dear life.

  15

  Jarix

  Even though I didn't know when Evvie would return, I worked with a huge smile on my face. It was still early, and I'd been working inside the ship all night, using its power to light my workspace.

  It was done. The only problems left were cosmetic, which meant I could ignore them. I worked on a few of them anyway as I waited for her, hoping she'd come tonight. I couldn't wait to see the expression on her face when I told her we could leave at any time. She'd be thrilled. I found myself humming a little tune and couldn't figure out where I knew it from. As I worked, glancing out the windows every little while to see if she was coming, I kept humming, content and looking forward to the next step in this strange journey.

  Finally, I remembered the song. It had been a nursery rhyme my sister sang frequently. My heart stuttered at the memory, but the sadness wasn’t overwhelming this time. In fact, singing it made me feel closer to her. Thinking of my sister, I thought about my life and the choices I'd made that had led me here. To this life. To Evvie. Did I deserve to be this happy?

  With a jolt, I realized I was happy. Happier than I’d ever been with anyone before. My sister and I had a relatively happy and easy life back on my home planet, but now felt different. It felt right, even though I was still a wanted criminal on a dying planet, desperate to escape. As I worked, sweating slightly, I briefly ran through my past relationships. I’d had a few, none lasting very long. I just hadn’t truly felt a connection with anyone the way I did with Evvie.

  I was fairly sure I loved her. She had a spirit that shined through like no one I'd ever met before. I wanted to learn everything there was to know about her and her life. Her past. Her dreams for the future. Up until our first kiss, I'd planned on using her to help me fix the ship, then leaving her here. But once she confessed the real reason she wanted to leave, and told me her truths, I knew I'd never be able to leave her behind. The weeks after that, getting to know her, had been completely unexpected.

  It had also been the best time I'd had since I lost my sister, which was weird considering we’d been underfed and overworked these last few weeks. By all accounts, I should be miserable. The fact that I wasn’t miserable helped me understand that this was where I was meant to end up.

  I kept humming, dreaming about taking Evvie in the pod on the way to our new home. There was nowhere for us to go for privacy. It was a one-room deal in there. I switched my fantasy to taking Evvie on our new planet, laying her on a big, smooth rock under a waterfall. She'd be thrilled to have that much water around. Like a dream come true for her. For us both.

  "Jarix!" Evvie's voice was faint, as if far away. It jolted me out of my thoughts, and I darted out of the ship and looked in the direction of her camp to see her running as fast as she could toward me. She ran as if something chased her, but she was alone.

  I jogged toward her, picking up speed and meeting her in the middle. "What's wrong?"

  "TerraLink," she gasped. "They're coming!" A jolt of terror sparked through my spine, making my muscles tense. My body immediately reacted, ready to fight the unseen enemy. We ran together toward the cave.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked. "How do you know this?"

  "No time to explain." She was very winded. She must've run all the way from her camp. "Someone found us out and called them. They're on their way."

  I turned and scanned the horizon, heart thumping, adrenaline surging. There were no ships in sight in the clear blue sky. "I think we're okay for the moment. I have good news anyway." I sucked in a deep breath and beamed at her as we ran, disappointed that I’d have to deliver my good news in the wake of a crisis. "It's ready."

  Evvie's jaw dropped, and she stumbled in the sand. "It is?"

  Nodding, I gestured toward the pod in the shimmering heat. "Now we need to get Alice.”

  I expected her to throw her arms around my neck, even though the situation was dire, but she burst into tears instead. "We can't," she sobbed. "She's dead. Alice is dead. She died right before I came here." Evvie slowed to a walk, her face contorted in sadness. All the adrenaline that had been gathering in my heart and muscles shuddered, quickly turning to pain. I hadn’t known her friend, this Alice, but I could see the pain in Evvie’s face as she cried. Wrapping my arms around her, I scooped her into my arms and walked into the cave.

  "I'm sorry you lost your friend," I whispered. "I wish I could've gotten it working sooner." Evvie didn’t meet my gaze, instead tucking her wet face into my shoulder, mixing her tears with the wetness of my sweat. I pulled her tighter, letting her cry.

  "If we hadn't taken breaks. If I'd come more nights, we could've saved her," she sobbed, shaking against me. I didn’t respond, choosing to let her get out her feelings. I didn’t know if what she’d said about coming more often would have worked to save her friend, but I didn’t want to diminish my human’s feelings. They seemed more potent than my people’s emotions, and I wanted to respect Evvie.

  Suddenly, as I set her down, Evvie straightened and met my gaze. It was firm, resolved. "I can't fall apart now! We have to go. We have to go now."

  I met her steely eye
s, understanding that this was the only way she could deal with her pain. "Okay, we can go. I was bored during the day and packed and organized everything in case you wanted to hurry and leave soon. It's all over here."

  We hurried to the corner of the cave and began gathering the last of the supplies I hadn't already packed up. It wasn't much, unfortunately. We were almost out of food, but I'd managed to fill up the water reservoir and all the bags. That would be a big help on a planet with no water to spare. We could worry about replenishing our food stores when we were in The Glass City.

  “Come on. Let’s get these on the ship,” I said, suddenly worried that we’d be caught. I was so close to what seemed like a perfect future for myself, and I knew my sister would have wanted this for me. I couldn’t mess this up, and I began packing hastily in my worry.

  I took the bags, leaving Evvie the blanket and the last two meals to carry. We hurried across the sand to the ship. By the time we arrived, we were both sweating even more, and I whisked us inside. I tossed the bags on the floor, heedless of where they landed. I wasn’t sure why, but my worry seemed to be growing. Evvie came in behind me, panting slightly. I pressed the buttons to start the engines and they came to life with a soft purr, idling gently now that we’d fixed everything. Every time we started them before I finished, they’d rattled like a deathtrap, so I was pleased with my work.

  After a quick look around, I was about to take us off the ground when I realized the water bags weren’t in here. “Come on.” I ran out the door. “I forgot the last of the water bags!” On any other planet I would’ve left them, but here on Earth we wouldn’t get far without all the water we could manage. There were three bags, and each was big enough that it was awkward to carry. I could’ve managed all three, but it was faster to have Evvie go back into the cave with me to grab them.