The Alien’s Stowaway Page 4

  I blacked out for much of the journey, finally waking again to discover I was lying on the floor of a dark, cool cave. The heat of my skin had dissipated, and the demon touched my lips with something wet. I tried to jerk back, but only managed a tiny adjustment. The creature returned the water, or what I hoped was water, to my lips. As much as I wanted to drink, I couldn't trust it.

  "Get away, Earth demon!" I shouted in my language. Thankfully, I was able to move my arms and head slightly this time, though my legs still wouldn't budge.

  "Stop fighting, you big baby." The feminine voice insulted me. I didn’t know the monsters could be female. I also didn’t understand how I’d just understood what she said, and how she’d responded to me, but then I remembered the translator all my people had been given many years ago. Perhaps this female had one as well.

  "So this is how Earth demons fight? By taking advantage of an injured warrior?" I roared as loud and fiercely as I could. It probably sounded like an infant having a tantrum.

  The Earth demon snorted, then a light clicked on, illuminating the cave. "I'm hardly a demon. And I'm trying to help you. Drink some water," she ordered and held a rag out. "I've been dripping it into your mouth. Now, as I said, stop being a big baby."

  She came into the light, and I realized she was just a human. She was small, and wrapped in many layers of worn clothing. Oh.

  "I'm not a child, woman," I seethed. How dare she insinuate I was weak? Surely she couldn’t be observing my physique, my strengthened warrior’s body, and truly believe I was a mere child?

  "Then let me look at your wound. I noticed you haven't moved your legs since I got here." I'd noticed the same.

  “Before we moved to the cave, I was unable to move anything, and now I’m able to move my arms at least. It may be temporary," I said cautiously, still trying to assess if the female meant me harm.

  "Well, until you can move I can't leave you alone. But I can't stay much longer," she said. Why would she offer to stay? If she wanted to hurt me— or, the idea she might want to turn me in for a reward crossed my mind—she’d already had ample time to do so. The female continued, "We're lucky we found a tiny natural spring in here. If anyone else had discovered it, they'd have drained it dry. It must not always be here." She muttered to herself as she fiddled in the corner. The light didn't reach there, but I could make out the tiny tinkle of water. "I've filled the cups I have, but I don't have a way to hold any more than this."

  "Did you bring the emergency pack from the pod?" I asked.

  "Yeah."

  "There are bags for holding water in it. If it was fully stocked." I hoped it was, though why I was trying to help the Earthling was strange. From what I knew of Earth, water was a precious commodity, so why did I care if she stored more? Then, as she worked, I realized she meant the water for me. For the second time in a matter of minutes, I whispered ‘oh’.

  I appreciated her efforts. As she rustled through the bags and exclaimed in delight when she found the water bags, I tried to move my legs. "Ah," I shouted. "My foot moved!"

  She turned to look at me, a half smile on her face. With a start, I noticed that her face was beautiful. Interesting. "Excellent. Maybe you shocked your spinal cord. I've heard of that."

  As had I. As a warrior, I'd been trained in first aid and as a combat medic.

  "I'm going to check your wound now." She brought one of the bags of water closer.

  "There should've been packets of powder with the water bags," I said. "They probably aren’t labeled in your language, but they will purify the water."

  "I figured that was what they were for, but didn't want to use them just in case."

  I didn't bother lifting my head to watch her mix the powder into the water. I was too tired. Already feeling drained just from this conversation. Gods, what had that crash done to me?

  "Can I clean the wound now?" She asked. I tensed at her words. I’d never been one to accept help lightly. None of my people were. We valued strength, fortitude, and skill in battle. To be prostrate before an alien woman, at her mercy, was demeaning. Embarrassing. Yet… I couldn’t do it myself. Feeling how exhausted I was, how weak and immobile I still felt, I realized I needed to let her.

  "Thank you," I said warily, still unsure if I could trust her not to hurt me more than I already was. It was baffling to me that this stranger would want to help me in the first place. She leveled me with her gaze, warning me not to try anything. I stared back, then whispered, "I'll hold still."

  She nodded and pressed something to my forehead. "I found this in the first aid kit."

  It had to be a pain reliever. "I'd rather not," I said, but it was too late. I smelled it as it soaked into my skin. Now my faculties would be further muddled for a few hours until the medicine wore off.

  Looking up at the woman, I realized again that she was beautiful. She looked like a sun-scorched, smaller version of the women from my own planet. I cocked my head at her deliriously, already feeling the effects of the drugs. She was very small. Strangely so. The women on my home planet were much taller, laced with graceful muscles. My head dropped back to the ground. While this female certainly looked strong, she also looked incredibly underfed. Sort of drained. My foggy mind wondered if she was old enough to fuck.

  She snorted. "I am old enough, and you're talking too much." I turned my sleepy gaze back to her. She wavered before me, turning from one Earthling to two, and back again. Had I been speaking out loud? Too weak now to care, I tried to hold out, but couldn't stop myself from falling asleep again. At least the medicine stopped the pain in my side.

  "I'm not a big baby," I whispered as darkness took me.

  5

  Evvie

  Golden eyes. The alien had golden eyes. As I trudged back to the salt mine, I thought over my night with him again and again. When he’d finally laid those beautiful, glimmering eyes on me, my heart had skipped a beat. He had been sexy as hell, all broken and moaning, but when I’d met his weary gaze, my whole being had begged me to kiss him.

  That certainly would have been a weird thing to do with an injured stranger, but I couldn’t deny how those eyes had made me feel. The trek back had been full of those eyes, his gruff voice, and his clear reluctance to let me help him. I was surprised at how strong my reaction to him had been, and I felt resolved in my mission to help him recover.

  After he’d passed out again I’d laid down a few feet away to get some much-needed rest. I’d only slept for a few hours, however, needing to return before I was discovered missing. How I made it back inside the camp without being seen, I'll never know. One thing I learned on the return trip was that, though it was unbearably hot, with the extra water I had from the tiny stream in the cave, it wasn't impossible.

  I made it into the bunkhouse just in time. "Where have you been?" Clarissa asked suspiciously. When the bunkhouse had come into view, I'd chugged the last of the water out of the bag the alien told me about. He'd passed out again before I could get his name, but I had to hope he'd be okay during the night until I could get back there.

  "Couldn't sleep," I mumbled.

  "I'd say not, after sleeping all night and day. They barely even beat you. I don't know why you were milking it." Clarissa sniffed and walked out the door. I watched her retreat, baffled by her words. I’d never understood the woman’s need to pick on me, but I also didn’t care. We were all here for the same reason, so I didn’t know why she got off on thinking she was better than me. I grabbed my tools and followed her out, chuckling quietly at her petty antics. Alice was a few feet down the path, looking out into the desert. "Come on." I passed her and slowed to a walk beside her.

  At some point I had to sleep more, but for now I could get by on adrenaline and hope. I'd found a packet of pills in the medical kit. The label was in a foreign language, but based on the images on the back, they were similar to caffeine. I’d risked taking one, and it had helped my sore back immensely, as well as the soreness from dragging the massive alien across hundred
s of yards. I also felt strangely awake for how little sleep I’d gotten.

  Alice and I walked slowly to let a bit of space build between us and Clarissa. The guard from the bunks would wait until we were out of sight, then go to the guardhouse. He was off duty once we made it to the mines, so as soon as we were in the clear, Alice hissed, "What happened? I was so worried."

  "There's a ship," I whispered, as low as I could. I didn't want Clarissa to overhear. "It needs to be repaired, but if I can do it, we can get out of here!" My excitement crept into my words despite myself.

  "I can't believe it. That might actually work." She looked at me with wide eyes. "Why were you gone so long?"

  "I had to save the alien pilot of the ship," I said. "He's hurt, but if he gets better he can help us fix the ship and get us out of here."

  Her face fell, to my dismay. I thought she’d be as elated as I was. "He'll turn us over to the TerraLink Program," she said, looking dejected. She had a point; I hadn’t considered that possibility. I risked grabbing her hand. If a guard saw us I might be beaten again, but we were on the part of the path that was difficult to see from both the mines and the bunks. "It's our only chance, Alice. I have to risk it." I looked into her aged face, hoping she would understand.

  "What about the alien?" she asked. "What planet was he from?"

  We were coming into view of the mines, so I let go of her hand and continued walking. "I couldn't tell. He's enormous, though, and gorgeous." I flashed her a cheeky smile and hurried ahead. She followed on my heels. We had to catch up or we'd be yelled at or beaten for lagging behind. Before we got too close, I turned. "Oh, yeah, and there's water in the cave I hid him in." I wiggled my eyebrows at her, knowing the prospect of free, unrestricted water would tempt her.

  Her jaw dropped, but she quickly schooled her features. "That changes everything." My sentiments exactly. We got to work, and it was difficult to keep the smile off of my face. If I seemed too happy, the guards would know something was up. Still, scenarios about the ship, our pending escape, logistics, and everything else ran through my mind as I worked. I realized that it was a good thing the mines weren't closer to The Glass City, or the ship would've flagged their sensors. The old stories said at one point the Earth had sophisticated technology, enough that they would've known a ship had entered the atmosphere, but the planet was far too decimated now for that sort of widespread monitoring.

  I swung my ax halfheartedly, too focused on my thoughts. Once the ship was operational, we simply had to fly it close to The Glass City. Then we could arrange a means of transport off the planet. I chewed my lip, considering. Even if we never left the planet, there were small settlements all over the world that we could disappear into. Weirdly, I wondered if the alien would want that. Then, with a jolt, I realized I didn’t even know why he was here in the first place. Was he here to scout? Pillage? Learn something? Or, based on his crash landing, was he running from something?

  Well, whatever the reason, I resolved to ask him what his plans were. I knew I’d do anything to get that ship for myself and Alice, but there was no reason he couldn’t accompany us wherever we went. A small part of my brain told me I just wanted him to come on the slim chance he’d be interested in me, and I had to chide myself for being vain. He had wondered out loud if I was old enough to fuck, but was that just his delirious mind talking, or was he actually as attracted to me as I was to him?

  My thoughts propelled me through the first half of my shift at lightspeed. When the guards went to get our water ration, I looked up in surprise. Already? Dropping my ax, I sidled up to Alice. "How was it while I was gone?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "Difficult. Clarissa is a problem."

  I moved back to my spot and continued working before the guards returned with the water. If they came back in and saw us talking, I'd have another painful trek to the ship. Having Alice cover for me was dangerous for us both. If they caught me missing and knew she'd lied, they'd put her on day shift for sure. At her age, she wouldn’t have survived many days in that heat.

  "This is nearly as bad as the daytime heat," I grumbled. The summer season had begun, which meant the nights were nearly as bad. But after traveling across the sand in the latter part of the day, when the desert had baked under the scorching sun all day, I could honestly say it was far worse than this. The possibility of escape was worth the danger of being caught. If we didn't escape, we were dead eventually, anyway. What did we have to lose?

  Later, as we ate our lunch, Alice leaned in close. She put her bowl to her lips to speak. "I'll cover for you again. When are you going back?" I smiled at her. I was so grateful for her in my life. I would make sure that wherever we ended up after this, she’d be as comfortable as any TerraLink lackey.

  "As soon as we get back to camp and everyone is asleep." I'd be exhausted by the time I got to the cave, but at least this time I knew the way. The return trip had been better, and I was confident I'd find my way faster this time. "I'll be back about the same time tomorrow as I was today."

  She nodded. My heart beat extra hard as I watched her out of the corner of my eye. I'd never known my real mother, but I liked to pretend it was Alice and neither of us knew it. I had to keep her safe. Traveling to the ship was dangerous, but I had to try. For Alice. She'd lost a child many years ago to an illness that had spread through the Smog City, where she’d lived. I’d never been there, but she had mentioned it wasn’t much better than this camp. Like most of the ‘cities’ that weren’t The Glass City.

  When the guard turned to speak to the cook, I nudged her with my shoulder. "Not much longer," I breathed. When we got back to camp, Alice yawned. "I'm exhausted," she said. "This heat is getting to me."

  "Me, too." I stretched and made quick work of cleaning the salt off of my body and tools. "Let's get to sleep." Everyone else agreed, and as I stretched out on my bed, I wished I could join them in closing my eyes. Having only slept a few hours in the cave and after a full day's work in the extreme heat, I knew I needed sleep badly. Too bad it just wasn’t in the cards for today.

  When everyone was silent and breathing evenly, I climbed carefully out of my bunk. This time I positioned my blankets to make it seem like I was under them and left my little bag of belongings. It would lend credibility to anyone looking that I hadn't taken them with me. I did pull out the bag I’d brought to hold more water from the cave and tucked it into the folds of my clothes.

  "Where are you going?" Alice whispered. If anyone was still awake, this conversation would provide a cover for my exit. We'd planned it on the walk back to the bunk.

  "Bathroom." I patted her hand. "Be right back."

  It wasn't unusual for one of the workers to try to have bathroom time while the others slept. It was the only time we got any privacy, because our bathrooms were holes dug in the sand with a small tent placed over them. The tent was portable so that when the trench was full, we simply covered it and dug another. Everyone wanted to pull digging duty. Digging the sand out was preferable to the salt.

  Walking away from camp was as easy as the previous time. Once in the heat of the open desert, I soon discovered I was right. The walk to the cave and the hurt alien took easily half the time. I knew where to go, and this time I was more recovered from the beating. When the caves came into view, I broke into a run, hope and excitement filling my chest until I couldn't contain it.

  The interior of the cave was pitch black, even though the sun was well over the horizon by the time I arrived. "Hello?" I whispered. "Alien? Are you awake?" The light switched on, blinding me even more than my transition from bright sun to dark cave had.

  "Here." His deep voice startled me. "I'm awake. I was beginning to think you were a dream."

  I rushed toward the light, passed the alien up, and collapsed beside the water. "One sec." I tried to speak in a normal voice, but it came out as only a whisper. Even though I'd made the journey quickly, I'd done it without water.

  "Wait," he said after hearing me slurp up water
. "I purified more water. Drink this so you don't get sick from some unknown bacteria in that." He held out a bag of water, and I eyed him warily. Even though I’d resolved to help him, there was no reason for him to do the same.

  I scooted closer, accepting the bag. "Thank you."

  "It took me half the day to get over there and do that, but it felt good to move. And my legs are moving more now." His golden gaze was intense, like he was trying to figure out what kind of wild animal I was. That I understood. The way his lip quirked up when he saw me drink the water though, that was unexpected.

  "I'm glad you remember we talked about it," I said, trying to not get lost in those eyes. "I'd worried you had a head injury from the crash."

  He moved his head around on his neck, testing it. "I don't think so. Maybe a mild concussion." I drank more slowly now in an effort not to make myself sick. In the absence of my response, the alien quirked his head at me. "What's your name?" he asked.

  A dribble of water fell onto my chin, and I swiped it off and stuck my finger in my mouth, but instantly regretted it when I tasted salt. Ugh. "Evvie," I replied. "Yours?"

  "Jarix." What the hell kind of name is that?

  We studied each other in the meager light. "I’m pleased to meet you, Jarix." Far more pleased than he could possibly have realized, and for one more reason than I should have been. The ship. I had to focus on the ship. And in order to start fixing the ship, I needed the knowledge of the still injured Jarix. I leaned forward, setting aside the water now that I felt more normal. "May I check your wound?"

  He nodded, but I could see the tension in his muscles at having to accept my help again. He’d have to get over that if he was going to recover. "I would be appreciative." He leaned back and lifted his shirt so I could remove the bandage and check it. His eyes never left my face as he said slowly, "Evvie, you do understand that on my planet, I am not a child, do you not?"