Wyatt had never been happier in his life and certainly not in the past two weeks. He thought about leaving Earth to live on an alien planet two galaxies away with the love of his life, knowing his family, his best friend Hunter, no one would ever find out what happened or why he’d disappeared.
The more he thought about it, the more he decided it was a viable option he should seriously consider—especially with Valene attached to his side.
The headlights of a vehicle coming up behind them occupied him for a few moments until they turned off the highway and onto the rural route. After a quarter of a mile, Diesel pulled into the drive of a nice home nestled another fifty feet into the woods.
A row of half a dozen trash cans, three of them turned on their sides with garbage strewn across the road, served as evidence that something odd had happened. While it was possible animals were to blame, it was unlikely, considering the bear-proof lids. Wyatt would have bet money only humanoid limbs and hands could open them up.
“Someone’s been dumpster diving for dinner.” Cam put his flashlight on the mess, following a few pieces of trash that formed a trail into the woods away from the cabin.
“Looks like they went that way.”
Wyatt heard the sound of crunching leaves behind them. He turned and flashed his light in that direction, but didn’t see anything. He also didn’t hear anything else. He’d spent the last two weeks waiting for Daphne Charlene to jump out and surprise him. What with alien criminals on the loose, it was no wonder he was jumpy.Stop being paranoid.
“What?” Diesel asked.
“Nothing. Thought I heard something.”
“Don’t flake out on me. You’re likely the only one of us that can hit our alien prisoners using only one shot. Plus, now that you’ve saved my life, I believe you have to keep doing it per some ancient proverb or something.”
Wyatt laughed, pushing out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Great. Don’t memory erase me and I’ll do what I can to keep you alive from now on.”
A cloud descended over Diesel’s features. He didn’t frown so much as look saddened that a memory erasure was definitely in Wyatt’s future, no matter what anyone thought.
A horrendous unearthly shriek pierced the night air and jerked their attention to the task at hand. Someone—or something—crashed through the woods away from them, as if fleeing a horde of evil beings. The howling continued. Meanwhile, the crashing sounds became more distant as Wyatt led the way through the trees toward the racket.
In a small clearing, Wyatt discovered what had made the horrid noises. The alien was humanoid, but with longer arms than a human, lots of body hair and claws tipping the ends of four-fingered hands. The alien was caught in a steel trap. The smooth edge of the trap’s clamp, even without sharp illegal teeth, had broken through the alien’s hairy skin. Its ankle was covered in orange blood. The being’s eight claws were ragged and bled a dark orange substance as it tried to pull the smooth, strong jaws of the trap off its ensnared leg.
Wyatt shot it in the chest, instantly subduing the escapee. The clawed fingers went slack as the purple goo soaked into its chest hair. Diesel moved forward, using his foot to stomp on the lever and release the prisoner from the animal trap. He pointed his flashlight around the area, especially in the direction they’d heard what was presumably another fleeing convict who had abandoned the trapped furry orange-blooded alien.
Axel and Cam stayed with the shackled alien to dress its wound.
Diesel led the way further into the woods, with Valene between him and Wyatt as they carefully followed the trail of broken branches and tamped down forest floor until they came to a small gray alien half the size of the one with the fur and claws, but with a larger head. The alien panted as if exhausted and sat leaning against a fallen tree trunk, half rotted through at the other end. Wyatt thought it looked like a live version of Maxwell the Martian. Maybe it had been the model.
The gray alien put both skinny little arms in the air, hands displaying three long slim digits as if to indicate his surrender.
Wyatt shot it in the side and purple goo dribbled down its hip. The spindly arms dropped and the alien’s head went back against the fallen tree trunk. It stared glassily up into the canopy of the treetops with a goofy, happy smile on his extra-small mouth.
“Why is he smiling? Does the purple goo make them high or something?”
“No,” Diesel said. “The planet we hail from is very arid and hot with mostly sand on the majority of the land and super salty sea water when there is any. Potable water is scarce in most regions on Alpha-Prime and what few trees we have are rarely taller than we are. Most of the aliens who come to this planet are fascinated by Earth’s tall trees.”
“Huh.” He looked around for any clues that other aliens might be in the vicinity, but didn’t see any. “I’m going to circle the perimeter and ensure these are the only two here.”
Diesel nodded. “Be careful,” he said as he put a set of handcuffs on the alien’s slim wrists and began to lead him back to his captured compatriot.
By the time Wyatt completed his search and rejoined the group, they had carried the hairy alien to the dirt road next to the trash cans and tied a makeshift bandage—it looked like a light gray Maxwell the Martian T-Shirt from the truck stop—around its lower leg. Orange alien blood had soaked through the fabric in some spots.
Gage, still in his white lab coat, pulled up in a green panel van Wyatt had never seen before. The Big Bang Truck Stop logo was emblazoned in colorful paint on the side, but the open doors at the back revealed what could have been the interior of a human ambulance.
Cam and Axel helped him load up the hairy wounded alien, who lay atop a makeshift gurney that looked more like a tall military cot with wheels than a medical stretcher.
Gage handed Cam the keys to get the van started. The small gray alien went into the van next at Diesel’s short command. Valene’s oldest brother tossed his keys to Wyatt. “You’ll have to bring my SUV back, okay?”
“Sure thing.”
Valene slipped her arm into Wyatt’s. “I’ll go with Wyatt.”
Diesel didn’t look elated, but didn’t argue. “Bring my vehicle back to the truck stop, right?”
