Despite the situation, Margot somehow wasn’t panicking. It was strange, she realized, but somehow, she felt startlingly at ease. She was out in nature, and the air was fresh and crisp. And, given this was an alien world, it was not only refreshing, but it was also not toxic to her human lungs.
All things considered, she was feeling pretty okay. Not great. Her head was still pounding from the crash, after all, and the exercise forcing more blood flow was really not helping any. But she was alive. And she was free. Compared to her prior situation, she was out of the frying pan but had somehow managed to avoid landing in the fire.
She walked on and on, taking in the sights, when she stumbled on a loose patch of ground, pulling herself up short as she nearly tumbled into a pit covered with thin branches and leaves.
“What the hell?” she wondered as she crouched down and carefully looked closer.
It wasn’t naturally occurring. Someone had made this. A trap. Primitive and not built with futuristic alien tech at all. Not what she would have expected of an alien world, especially after the whole spaceship abduction thing. But whatever the case, someone was out there. Aliens who could think and plan. Aliens who used tools.
The brush rustled, her ears only picking it up after so long with only the ambient sounds of the forest around her that she’d unconsciously become sensitized to it. She sat perfectly still and watched as another of the same type of animal she saw earlier emerged and cautiously sniffed around, moving closer. She was downwind, she realized, and it hadn’t picked up her scent. She also had the revelation that since she was crouched down to look at the trap, she’d inadvertently avoided its gaze. Animals had a weird way of noticing eyes on them even if the owner of them was otherwise camouflaged.
She watched as it sniffed around, searching for something to eat. This one was leaner than the others. An adolescent by the look of it, off grazing on its own. Margot took the opportunity to really get a good look at its morphology. It was fascinating.Utterly alien, yet beautiful as it moved with grace through the foliage.
The animal’s head jerked up suddenly, nostrils flaring wide, eyes bright and alert. The normal background sounds of an active forest abruptly went silent, as if every last animal was suddenly on high-alert. Margot felt her stomach knot instinctively at the abrupt absence of sound.
A moment later, a deep, bellowing roar echoed out through the forest. The sound of an apex predator, there was no mistaking it. The motionless animal turned immediately and bolted in a flash, disappearing into the woods in an instant.
Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I need to hide!
Margot’s eyes darted all around. She was exposed here. An easy target. And if the horrifying beast she’d heard was nearby, there was no way she could afford to bolt off through the unfamiliar woods. For all she knew, she might run right into its clutches.
She scanned everywhere, but only one place seemed to have even a slight hope of sufficing. There was a small rocky area nearby. It wasn’t proper cover, but it could at least provide a little protection from being seen. It would have to do.
She made her choice and hurried to it as quietly and quickly as she could. Fortune was on her side, she realized when she arrived. Some animal had previously made a small den there, but it was clearly long abandoned. The space, however, remained more or less cleared of excess materials. It would be tight, but given the alternative, she would most definitely make it work.
Margot pushed up against the rocks as she slid into the space and pulled the leftover nesting materials over herself, hoping the faded scent of native wildlife would mask her own.
Of course, she had no idea what was out there, nor did she know if it hunted by sight, smell, or sound, but whatever thecase, she lay absolutely still, wondering if that was what had happened to the others. Wondering if she would survive and finding herself almost missing the relative safety of her alien captors’ ship.
Almost.
CHAPTER TWO
Margot had woken up very confused, with blurry eyes, a dry mouth, and a throbbing headache. Last thing she remembered, she’d been walking her neighbor’s dog, a sweet Dobie rescue with natural, floppy ears named Daschiel. It was an odd name, but she adored him, and she’d been more than glad to help exercise him when his parents worked long shifts.
Because of his breed’s perception as a dangerous animal—though he was as far from that as could be imagined, and his terrifying snarls were just his way of smiling—he made it almost a joy walking him even in the wee hours. And that was what she’d been doing that fateful night.
One minute, she was walking the bestest boy, enjoying the night air, feeling about as safe as a woman on her own late at night could be with the intimidating, black and tan dog at her side. The next, she woke lying on hard metal, and given the stiffness in her joints, her body felt like she’d been out for hours. Worse than physical discomfort was the massive, green-scaled creature looming over her as she roused.
A monstrous looking thing, and unlike a dream, it didn’t fade away to a normal reality when she rubbed her eyes. It just cameinto sharper, horrifying focus. All of those sharp teeth, and its bulging muscles flexing angrily as it growled and hissed at the others around her in an absolutely terrifying tone and intensity. It was a brutal creature, of that there could be no doubt. And she was utterly vulnerable. If it wanted to harm her, there was nothing she could do about it.
Fortunately for her, it seemed to be preoccupied with the others locked in her compartment. The creature stormed across the compartment and grabbed a bright-yellow-skinned woman with orange hair and an almost feline set of eyes, hauling her out the door by the thick hair on the back of her head as if she weighed nothing, the door sealing shut, cutting off her cries, as soon as they passed through.
It had all happened so fast. It was an unfathomable sort of terror, bombarding her still-dazed mind in a flash, her first moments of waking hitting her as though part of some horrible fever dream. She sat up and spun around, adrenaline pumping hard into her veins at the sight of her companions.
There were three aliens, each from a different race, and all staring right at her. They were odd, strange looking creatures the likes of which she’d never even dreamed of. A scream built in her throat, threatening to burst free, when a firm hand gripped her mouth. A hand belonging to a stout, dark-skinned woman with thick, curly hair and wide-set eyes. Ahumanwoman at that.
“Shh. You don’t want to be making no fuss,” she commanded with a thick island accent that Margot thought sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t quite place.
Margot fought hard to get her reeling mind under control, and when the woman felt her start to calm a bit and breathe more normally, she finally released her grip.
“That thing. What was that?” the confused newcomer gasped.
“They’re called Raxxians,” what she now confirmed was the only other human in the compartment replied. “Nasty things, them. Eat people, don’t ya know.”
“Eat?”
“Aye. We be food for dem, nothing more.”
