“I don’t know.”
“Look, we’ll run out of supplies eventually, and then it’ll be up to us to make do with whatever we can scrounge up on our own. You know it makes sense at the very least for me to go and figure out where we are and what other resources might be nearby.”
A look of growing panic began to form on Harper’s rapidly paling face. “Don’t leave me. Please, I don’t want to be alone out here.”
Olivia moved close and rested her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “I’ll be back in a jiff. Just a few days, I swear. An outand back scouting trip is all for now. You know I’ve gotta do this. We can’t just sit here and wait.”
Harper’s lip quivered, but she said nothing. Olivia felt her heart break for the poor woman. She was hurt and stranded on an alien world, and very soon she’d be all alone. But it would be brief, and she’d meant what she said. They needed to know what they were up against, and sooner than later. There simply wasn’t another choice.
Olivia affixed a sharp piece of metal to a relatively straight piece of a branch and handed it to Harper.
“Something bigger for you, just in case.”
Harper nodded but said nothing, trying her best to be stoic.
Olivia gathered up some water and her makeshift pack. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
And with that, she headed out, ready as she’d ever be to face the unknown.
CHAPTER SIX
Two days later Olivia had covered a lot of ground but had not encountered any sign of an alien society.
“This is about far enough for a first outing, I think. Tomorrow morning I’ll head back,” she decided, wiping the sweat from her brow and continuing onward.
She had been fortunate to have been wearing a light jacket when she was abducted, and the Raxxians had allowed her to keep it. To them it really didn’t matter what coverings their livestock wore. When it came time for the slaughter it would all be removed anyway, so they simply didn’t deal with it.
Now, traipsing through the woods where there were not only thorns and branches to contend with, but also potentially dangerous insects, not to mention the strange alien sun, the extra layer of covering was doing her much good. The fabric was already dirty from her stay aboard the Raxxian ship, but other than that, it was in good enough shape for her needs.
Equally important, it was a thin enough material that it would provide a layer of protection while not causing an undue amount of discomfort should the day’s heat become more intense. Luckily, while it had grown warm pretty much as soonas the sun crested the horizon and began its lazy crawl across the orange morning sky, the temperature had remained relatively stable with what Olivia now knew to be multiple branches of a larger body of water providing a soothing breeze as the winds passed across their surface.
The terrain was relatively easy close to their crash site, but as she walked farther in the direction the water was flowing (following her father’s words, yet again, that if you were lost in the wild, following the water was your best bet at finding civilization), she came across several stretches of large rocky outcroppings that required her to scramble over what were essentially fields of boulders.
“Lucky thing they took me when I was wearing trainers,” she mused, grateful for both the support as well as cushioning against the more treacherous parts of her trek.
Had she been snatched while wearing heels, things would have been a lot different. She’d have still headed out on her quest—there really wasn’t any other option in her eyes—but it would have been both miserable as well as very slow going. At least with proper foot coverings she could make some time.
A copse of tall trees towered high atop a nearby plateau. It was a little out of her way, diverting her course from her intended track, but the trees had what appeared to be relatively low branches. If she was right, a quick climb could do her far more good than a day of hopeful, but unguided, hiking ever could.
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” she decided, kicking into high gear as she began the ascent to the massive tree trunks. Olivia paused to break a fallen branch that had tumbled down the hill into a workable walking stick, then continued on her way, moving up, up, up, her lungs burning from the effort but nothing that she couldn’t handle.
“All those cardio kickboxing classes paid off at least,” she said with a chuckle when she finally hit the top, breathing the fresh air deep into her grateful airway. The trees were huge, she had realized before she even got truly close to them. But the lowest branches were, indeed, within arm’s reach. If she took a running jump, that is.
The trees themselves were different from the more tropical-looking variety closer to the water. These had a distinctly pine tree look to them, though rather than fine needles, they had a broader type of leaf. Striated green and violet, they were about as wide as her little finger and twice as long. The tips were pointed, but so long as she didn’t actively slam into one, she felt she could make the climb unharmed.
Olivia sized up the trees and selected the best candidate then took a swig from her water stores and shed her pack, hiding it in the bushes at the base of the tree. Unencumbered, she took several steps back, rolled her shoulders, and psyched herself up for the climb.
“Okay, big guy. Let’s hope you’ve got something to show me.”
Three steps and a leap were enough for her hands to find purchase around a low branch. From there it was just a matter of slow and methodical climbing. She moved carefully, making sure not to jab herself on the pokey leaves, gradually ascending to a point near enough the top where she had a relatively unobstructed view of the area.
“Whoa,” she gasped, not only at the sprawling, colorful alien landscape and the now-clear pattern of streams running through it, but also the multiple charred impact points where other sections of the destroyed Raxxian ship had clearly come down. Apparently, the planet’s gravity had pulled many of them in the same general direction, though she had to wonder where else they might have ultimately arrived on the surface.
From what she could tell, some seemed to have been hard landings using emergency descent rockets, like the one she’d arrived in, giving her hope that, perhaps, there were other survivors. Others did not look promising. Not at all.
Craters where the craft had slammed into the surface were visible, the fires from their impacts spreading further than any controlled rocket blast would. There would be no survivors from those unfortunate craft.
As for signs of civilization, she couldn’t see any no matter where she looked. Of course, she had to remind herself that there were civilized areas back home that looked just as remote. For all she knew, there could still be something nearby, just a little bit further and out of sight.
