His movements grew more frantic like he was suffocating. No one stepped forward to help him. Vince and I clutched each other, unable to look away, as Agk called for bets on how longthe human would last. It felt like an eternity, but I doubted it was more than a minute or two.
When he was dead, Vince and I dragged him to the incinerator. Neither of us said a word—we didn’t know his name, let alone anything about him. What might we have said? He was a human who had been alive, but then was dead.
We burned him to ash along with all the others. All the others who haunted me, asking why I was alive when they weren’t. I didn’t know. I had stood passive and watched them die. I probably deserved to be ash while they breathed.
“Bartholomew. Bartholomew.”
I jerked. Serlotminden was staring at me. I responded, “Yeah?”
“Are you alright? You didn’t answer me. My Flower, are you ill? Cold? What is wrong?”
I breathed through the past and filled my thoughts instead with him—his smile, his petrichor scent, his radiating warmth. “I was thinking about the past. I’m fine.”
His worried expression didn’t change.
“You worry too much about me.”
“Not so.”
“Yes, so.”
I continued along the river, hugging myself as I avoided the sharp brambles. He followed behind me, getting further away than before, but not enough to concern me. Mindy was searching for something for us to eat, but I don’t know what he was expecting—a deer to wander by and let itself be shot? We weren’t exactly being quiet. Traps or snares would work better, not that I’d made either before.
My mother Charity had tried to teach me—she was big into camping and hunting—but I drew the line at killing animals.
Though apparently not sentient people.
Brutally, I shoved the thought away and moved further from the river, looking at the trees and bushes for berries or fruit. That seemed easier. As long as we saw animals eating them, we’d probably be fine. Or maybe Serlotminden had a device that could tell if it was poisonous?
One second I was standing, and the next I was on the ground. My back and hips throbbed as lights flashed behind my eyes. Blood filled my mouth and my chin hurt terribly. Serlotminden yelled my name before breaking off into his rough language.
Something huge was on top of me, squeezing the air out of me. I wanted to thrash, but I was stuck in place by the massive weight. I tried to inhale, but nothing came in. Black dots filled my vision, and my lungs screamed for air, but they weren’t able to inflate.
There was a lot of yelling. Whatever was on me was snarling too; I felt their body vibrating. The thing was covered in light fur and dense muscles, and they were warm, warmer than Mindy.
My head whooshed while a crackling static filled my ears. I was going to pass out. It was coming. If I didn’t get to breathe soon, I’d faint, and there was no way in hell that was going to happen. Serlotminden might need me. My panic was strong, though, and it was freezing my muscles in place and filling my mind with fluff. Even if I wasn’t crushed by the ginormous thing on me, I wasn’t sure if I’d actually be able to move.
Finally, the weight lifted off me, and I took in a sputtering breath before coughing.
God, nothing had ever felt better.
As suddenly as I was knocked to the ground, I was lifted up. An alien, the one I’d spotted earlier, or one of the same species, held me in their arms before tossing me over a broad shoulder, letting me see their toned ass covered in a fur loincloth. So I was captured again. How the fuck had this happened?
Serlotminden snapped in his language, and the alien screamed right back. I didn’t think they understood each other, but I was pretty certain they were threatening each other. Mindy was probably brandishing his blaster while the other alien was lifting their club.
The other alien gripped my ass, and I scoffed.Are you fucking kidding me?Was I giving off an air for people to touch me? I wasn’t even that attractive, especially right now. I was scruffy, skinny, and dirty. But most of all, I was done. Done with everything.
The panic that normally froze my muscles vanished under waves of anger and frustration and most of all rage. I rammed my elbow into the alien’s ear. He screeched, and I fell. The air whooshed out of my lungs when I crashed into the ground, the hit reverberating through my bones. My back throbbed, and my hips weren’t that happy with me either. Serlotminden rushed toward me, but the alien lifted a massive club, swinging it. Mindy dodged, skidding backward, before lifting his blaster and calling my name.
I crawled on the ground toward Mindy, but the alien swiveled in front of me, barring the way. When he reached for me, I tried to slap him away, but terror filled every cell. This alien was going to take me, and who knew what would happen then. My breath sped up and sweat trickled down my spine as my thoughts clouded into a tangled mess.
An orange beam smacked into a tree, making me jolt and sending bark raining down. Serlotminden. He was still fighting for me. He would always fight for me. Of that I was certain.
The alien whipped in Mindy’s direction and crouched, as if he was about to attack.
I tried to breathe, move, or do something, but panic and pain twined. My spine and hips throbbed, my chin burned, and every movement sent shards of glass through my veins.
The alien launched at Mindy. They were at least a foot, maybe even close to two feet taller, and they were muscle on top of muscle with four fucking arms, but Mindy held his own, clawing and punching the other alien. He kneed the furry alien in their stomach, making them huff. The alien smacked Serlotminden in the side and drew a shriek from Mindy.
