Page 20 of Alien Rescue

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d be captured by aliens and that she might have to save Mr. Parnell and the others from him. If only she knew what had happened to them. Zanr had given her a TC, but it only allowed her limited access. She knew very little of what was happening in the world. She’d been so focused on proving herself, that almost a year had passed between being in that hole or recovering from being in there.

If anyone had asked her before, she’d have guessed being captured by aliens would be awful. Guilt consumed her. While her colleagues might be captured or worse, she was living in luxury, with an alien who offered to buy her whatever she desired. She’d mentioned movie nights and he’d shown her an episode of The Space Ranger. She thought of the way Zanr had awkwardly eaten the popcorn with his sharp teeth and pointed out all the faults of The Space Ranger while bragging about having all the episodes.

There had to be something wrong with her because how many people got kidnapped twice? And once by aliens!

She had to escape, before she got an even worse case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Chapter Seven

Two days later, much stronger and desperate to escape, Rose went through the dwelling in search of a weapon. She moaned out loud. She was even speaking like him now, calling this place their dwelling.

He held her in his arms all night, and that was seductive comfort after years of being alone. And he slept naked and his body was dangerously sexy. She had to get away because, more and more, she forgot he was the enemy.

Only the thought of the fifty little warriors that leader alien had threatened her with, kept her head in the right place. Not that Zanr would let her forget. He’d talk about how they should maybe have more than fifty. She shuddered. No matter how sexy the alien was, and there had to be something seriously wrong with her to find him attractive, she was not birthing fifty babies. Hence the search for a weapon.

She found another closet, but she sighed. Empty. He’d given her a bag of cookies last night. She’d casually mentioned the cookies she liked to buy from the old woman in a shop in Washington, and the next thing she knew, he handed her a bag of it. Who did that?

She opened the walls in the third empty room and found closets with shelves. No, she had to escape before he seduced her with her favorite coffee. Something shone near the back of one of the shelves. “Yes.” She lifted the laser pistol. It was human-made, so she’d have no trouble using it. It was fully charged, as well.

It had a stun setting; she wouldn’t have to kill anyone. She glared down at her dress. She would’ve liked to wear the silver uniform again, but it had disappeared, and the alien wasn’t talking. She went and crouched next to the spot where she’d seen a door form when he left. She moved the laser pistol from one hand to the other. What if the stun setting worked like a kill setting on the aliens?

She gripped the pistol until her knuckles ached and had to force herself to relax. Her duty was clear: escape and return to HQ and report. She settled back against the wall; she’d try and rest while she waited for Zanr, no, the alien to return.

She’d almost fallen asleep when the door slid open without a sound. She didn’t give herself any time to think or worry; she simply pointed and shot him, and watched him fall with a loud moan and sickening thud. He had such fast reflexes, she didn’t expect it to work and she stared at him, disbelieving, for precious seconds. He crumpled to the floor with a hoarse groan.

The only reason Rose got through the door was that his legs, lying in the doorway, prevented the doors from closing. She should run, but she crouched down next to him, her heartbeat loud and panicky. She held her hand in front of his nose. Warm air. He was alive! She clambered over his body. “Bloody big alien,” she muttered, relieved that she hadn’t killed him. She stroked a finger over the ridge on his head. When he brought her gifts, when he waited for her reaction, he’d stroke a claw over it. Then she shook her head, got up, and forced herself to take a step back. It was now or never. She ran and didn’t stop to see if anyone noticed her. If she was going to escape, it was going to take a lot of dumb luck. She couldn’t second-guess herself now or hesitate.

Rose was panting even before she ran a few paces, but she clutched the laser pistol and kept going. She couldn’t suppress a scream when an alien appeared in front of her. He did an odd grab and miss, and she fumbled with the pistol, but managed to shoot him. With her fumbling, she prayed she didn’t accidentally kill him with the wrong setting.

He spun twice, his eyes comically wide, and with a louder, even more dramatic groan than her alien, fell with a thud. Wait, what? Zanr wasn’t her alien. She kept running.

Weird, the way they made those dramatic noises when she stunned them. With them so weirdly literal and expressionless, she’d thought they’d act stoically. After all, they didn’t know her pistol was set on stun. And she definitely didn’t think they’d be that easy to put out of commission. She didn’t have time to think about it. Careful to stay out of grabbing distance, she ran around the fallen Zyrgin and prayed she didn’t kill him. If they caught her, she’d be in real trouble if she killed one of them. They might be invaders, but Zanr hadn’t harmed her. So far.

She ran faster toward where she could see the old truck and then forced herself to slow down. If she broke her ankles on the uneven mountain terrain, she’d lose this chance to get away.

Another alien loomed in front of her, as if he came out of nowhere. She screamed. He went for his weapon, weirdly slow.

“Oh no, you’re not shooting me when my means of escape is a few feet away,” she shouted and stunned him.

He spun three times and fell with a bloodcurdling noise, something between a scream and a groan, his arms waving around. He flopped around, groaning and writhing before he stilled. Her stomach roiling, she checked his breath. He was still alive.

She didn’t have time to waste. Rose kept running, fear giving her strength—this was too easy. What were the chances of her putting three aliens out of commission?

Another alien stood, peering into the truck. He turned to face her, almost in slow motion. She shot him and he spun four times before he fell, making even weirder noises. She had to waste precious moments to roll him out of the way so she could get into the car. “Bloody heavy alien,” she mumbled.

At least stunning the enemy was not difficult at all. She’d had so much trouble killing the images during training. She kept thinking if they were real, they’d have friends and family that would mourn their passing if she shot them, and she’d hesitate and lose points.

She couldn’t believe her luck when she saw the old-fashioned key still in the ignition. The truck was at least two centuries old or built in an older style. Vehicles didn’t use keys anymore. She’d seen a docu about old cars that used keys, and she never thought one day it would come in handy. When she turned the key, the engine came to life.

She wasted precious time figuring out the pedals, and the truck died on her twice, jumping forward and sputtering. At last she drove down the mountain road and would’ve shouted with victory, but she didn’t want to jinx her escape. Who knew what kind of vehicles they had to chase her down? Her stomach roiled at the thought. Zanr might’ve been nice to her the whole time, but if he got hold of her again? She didn’t want to think about it.

Now to get to Washington and find any of her colleagues who’d managed to escape the aliens so they could rescue Mr. Parnell and the captured agents. She looked in the mirror and saw an alien chasing her on foot, but she quickly left him behind.

At least now she would find out where their nest was for when she came back with the army and the police and the national guard. She’d stop at the first town that came up and get her bearings.

While she drove down the mountain unhindered, it kept bothering her. Her escape had been too easy.

Chapter Eight

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