There was also a third woman. Her short golden-blond hair and striking blue eyes caught my attention, and I couldn’t place the uniform she was wearing.
She let out a bitter laugh. “I would welcome you, but I don’t think you’ll enjoy your stay.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Fucking aliens have abducted all of us.” With contempt, she spat, “it seems we were all taken at different times.”
Her words penetrated my thoughts, but I couldn’t comprehend any of it for a moment.
Memories flooded my mind. I remember sitting in my mom’s backyard and witnessing an unfamiliar spaceship in the sky.
It came closer, and I’d gone to examine it, but it projected a beam of light toward me and everything went dark.
This, along with the memory of the ugly aliens, made me feel sick with the knowledge I’d been abducted and had no idea how long ago.
With my heart racing, I leaned against the rough wall and mustered the strength to stand.
How much time had passed?
I glanced down at myself and noticed I was still wearing the same clothes from when I was sitting in my backyard.
My t-shirt bore the marks of my struggle with my abductors, with a couple of small tears, but my shorts looked unscathed, despite being dirty.
My hair was a mess and I could smell my own sweat on me.
I took a peek at the women. They weren’t faring much better. “Were you also taken by the pig aliens?”
They nodded.
“Where the hell are we?” I asked, crossing my arms and rubbing them in an attempt to stop my body from shivering. My stomach was all twisted up.
“It’s unclear. We each woke up here on different days,” the woman with a ponytail stated, stepping nearer. “Oh, by the way, I’m Riley.”
She pointed to the blond woman next to her. “This is Avery.”
The woman gave a single nod. “We both arrived a day after each other. Ithinkit was a day, at least.”
The woman with the heart-shaped face moved closer, wringing her hands while she gazed at me. “I arrived just before you. It looks like we might have been taken around the same time.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I woke up a few hours ago. I’m Olivia, by the way,” she volunteered.
Riley nodded. “She’s telling the truth. We watched the same aliens’ carry each of you in here, but Olivia woke up first.”
I touched the base of my throat. “I’m Grace.”At least I’m not alone. That’s something I guess.
Seeing Riley’s military uniform reminded me of my older brother who died a couple of years earlier.
His death had been really tough on my mother and me. We only had each other after my father died long ago.
It wasn’t long after my brother’s death that mom got sick.
The mere thought of their deaths sent a wave of sadness through my chest, but I couldn’t let it distract me from the task at hand.
I forced myself to push away thoughts of my loved ones. Now wasn’t the time to let emotions get the better of me.
Smoothing my hands down my sides, I cleared my throat, taking in the three women. “Where are you all from?”
Riley put up her palm. “Luna Base One. I was on patrol when they grabbed me. I arrived a day or two after Avery.”
Avery jutted out her chin. “I fly shuttles from the Moon to Earth. I had just landed on Earth for a drop off and was leaving the shuttle when they took me,” she explained.
