She stopped, lowering her window to rub her magic card against a box. The wall lifted, streaming sunlight into the darkness. A golden landscape stretched before them, shaped like the icy tundras of home, and a wave of longing washed over him. Specks of color dotted the ground.
As they drove out into the sunlight, he felt the heat intensify on his skin and he uncomfortably drew his arm away from the direct ray of light into the shaded areas of the car’s interior.
“Welcome to the Utah desert, blue man. Now let’s get you the hell off this planet.”
Chapter Seven
“Elenore Rollins, how far you have fallen,” Elle mumbled as she reached her hand into the partly opened window and shoved her arm as far as it could go. Her fingers fished for the knob so she could unlock the door. Stealing a rundown, prairie-tan-colored 1997 Ford Thunderbird wasn’t exactly on her bucket list of things to do, but here she was. It was the only car in the parking lot that had an open window—and a small screwdriver shoved into the ignition.
As the tips of her fingers touched the lock, she flicked them several times to get it unlatched. Her eyes met the alien’s where she’d placed him in the shadows. The sun was setting, which was good, because it seemed to be having an adverse effect on him. Though he didn’t speak, he’d spent most of his time staring at a bright dot of light on the dashboard, watching it move as she sped them away from the desert facility. It reflected off a laminated parking pass hanging from the mirror.
It would make sense. His core temperature seemed lower than a human’s. He was cooler to the touch and probably did have adverse reactions to heat. The desert was conceivably the worst place possible for him. His skin color appeared adapted to the colder climate, or at least blue made her think cold. She wasn’t a biologist, so she could just be pulling nonsense out of thin air.
The knob popped up, and she sighed in relief. After glancing around the parking lot, she waved the alien over. He walked toward her, his stride strong, as if he didn’t realize the danger they were in. It was probably just as well. It would have been worse if he was acting sketchy and panicked.
“Ma’am, do you know that man?”
Elle was startled by the voice. She’d been staring at her travel companion and had stopped paying attention to her surroundings. It was a rookie move. She turned to the speaker, realizing she’d been frozen in place with her hand on the door handle.
“Ma’am?” The older gentleman had a slight Southern drawl to his words. He began to walk toward her when she didn’t have a fast answer. It wouldn’t look good, her not moving and a man coming at her from the shadows, all dressed in black.
“What? Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s my boyfriend.” Elle held up her hand along the small of her back, trying to communicate that he should stop. The alien’s footsteps kept coming, boots crunching on pebble-littered asphalt.
“You do know he’s covered in blue paint, don’t ya, ma’am?” The man relaxed his stance, and he smiled. “Halloween isn’t until next month.”
She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced at the blue fingers gripping her. The alien tried to pull her behind him. She placed her hand on his and resisted his efforts. “Costume party in the desert.”
The Southerner nodded as if that made complete sense. “You two kids be safe.”
“Thank you, we will.” Elle waited a few seconds to make sure the man left before opening the door. To the alien, she said, “Get in.”
He studied her face. His eyes moved as he looked over her features. She remembered his kiss in the holding cell.
“We have to keep moving,” Elle said. She reached for his head to guide him into the car. But as her fingers met with the strands of black, she hesitated. His hair was soft. There were so many similarities between them—noses, eyes, lips. It was enough to make her wonder at the strangeness of it all. How could an alien, from another planet, evolve to look so much like a human?
She hadn’t been brave enough to watch him undress. She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to that particular question.
“How is it you…?”
She felt a tiny vibration in her fingertips.
“Aliens are supposed to be…different.” She let her fingers move through the strands of hair. “Tentacles and giant heads with scary black eyes that reflect like mirrors and…” Elle took a deep breath. “Get in.”
Elle pushed at his head, guiding him down and into the passenger seat. She shut the door and ran to the driver’s side. She reached for the handle, realizing she’d not unlocked it.
Elle looked in the window and pointed toward the knob. She tapped the glass.
He looked at her finger and didn’t move.
Sighing, she started to go back around. As she made it to the front of the car, she saw him lean over through the windshield. He flicked his finger on the knob, pulling it up.
Elle turned back around and opened the door.
“Thank you,” she said as she slid into the seat and slammed the door shut. She turned the screwdriver key. The engine sputtered a little but did eventually start. “I had an old rust bucket like this once. Lucky for us, they probably leave the window cracked so they can break into their own car.”
She glanced at the alien, but he didn’t speak. No surprise there.
The smell of the vehicle became noticeably strong, and she turned to see old bags of fast food takeout and pizza boxes had been thrown into the backseat. “Figures. The one car I can manage to steal, and it hasn’t been cleaned since the year it came out of the factory.”
