Page 5 of Alien Rescue

“Who are you?” High cheekbones and a square chin jutted beneath the green-and-gold skin that reminded her of a snake’s. “What are you?”

What on earth had happened between Parnell putting her in that hole and now?

The messed-up thing was...the being touching her forehead looked familiar. What was he? She’d think alien, but the one that contacted Mr. Parnell had looked very different. He’d been purple. This one leaned over her and she flinched away from him. “What are you and how did I end up in this strange place? Am I a prisoner?” she asked. Maybe she was still in the hole and hallucinating from hunger.

“I am a Zyrgin. I rescued you from the hole in the basement.”

Fury coursed through her—she trembled with it, and wanted to shout at him, but her voice was trapped in her throat. Sheer rage expelled her breath. She clenched and unclenched her hands, wanted to scream and cry, but only managed to jab a weak finger in his face. “I’ll kill you.” Her voice emerged guttural, like something from a horror show on the TC. There was a pounding in her ears and her vision clouded, her breathing fragmented.

He canted his head. “I saved you. Why would you want to kill me?”

“You didn’t save me. I was proving myself and you...you...just...you?” She didn’t have the words to tell him how horrific a thing he had done to her.

“You wanted to be in there?” His skin was not as pliable as hers, but still he managed to look astonished.

She literally saw stars in front of her, and for one horrific moment she couldn’t hear or see or even speak. When she came to herself, she grabbed his silver uniform shirt, and holding on with one hand, tried to plant her fist in his face. He effortlessly evaded her punch. “I could’ve proved myself. I finally almost managed it and you come and destroyed any chance I had of ever making it.” This couldn’t be happening. “This time I would’ve succeeded,” she screamed in his face. She tried to shake him, but he was as solid as the Komodo dragon she mistook him for.

He cocked his head in a motion so reptilic, she was half-convinced he was descended from a dragon. “Why would you want to be buried alive?”

“I wasn’t buried alive, you whatever you?”

“I am a Zyrgin warrior. With superior?”

“Who cares, I was proving myself, would’ve become a full agent, but nooo, Mr. Zirc whatever had to come and?” She coughed, her throat so dry she could barely breathe. “Water,” she gasped. She could always kill him later.

She tried to clench her fists and was too weak to do more than curl her fingers a little. The outburst had left her weak and trembling.

“What is wa-dah?” the alien asked.

“W-a-t-e-r,” she spelled out the word. Apparently, aliens had the same trouble as some of her teammates who didn’t know basic English either.

Rose was vaguely aware of the alien leaving the room. She slumped back. He took away her last opportunity to prove herself. She couldn’t go back in that hole again. She clutched her arms around her middle. She just couldn’t. The moment she had her strength back, she’d kill him. Rose looked around her. She was in a bed in a large room cluttered with odd things. The alien had left through the wall and she couldn’t see a door. Or windows. Just endless silver surrounding her. Like a box without escape routes. Breathe, Rose, just breathe.

Did Mr. Parnell know that the aliens got her? Did they get him, too?

The stranger returned, carrying a silver cup. Rose turned her head to get a better look at him and she sucked in a breath. The fucker was big, freakishly big. He did look the way a dragon would if they walked upright like humans. She’d seen a docu about the Komodo dragons, that became extinct centuries ago. That’s what the alien reminded her of with his green-and-gold skin and that ridged head he cocked in an inquiring manner. Even the silver uniform and boots he wore didn’t detract from the impression of an immensely strong lizard. She had a vague recollection of dreaming about a Komodo dragon eating her hands. She flexed her hands and sighed in relief when she felt them move.

He handed her the cup and she swallowed greedily. She almost moaned when the cool water soothed her tongue and throat. She held out the cup. “May I have more w-a-t-e-r?” She spelled it out in case he got it wrong again.

He leaned closer, and Rose pressed back into the soft surface she lay on, wishing with all her heart that she could burrow into the mattress. She smelled him. She’d half-expected a rancid lizardy smell. Not that she knew what a lizard smelled like, but she was sure she’d recognise it. But he reminded her of roasted coffee beans and her father’s prized expensive brandy. A curiously pleasant smell for such a mean-looking alien. A curiously sexy-looking mean alien.

Rose squirmed. There was nowhere to go to get away from him, and those gleaming-white teeth of his looked awfully sharp. Red-and-black eyes looked at her, unblinking.

He straightened and moved away, and she sighed in relief. He scared the hell out of her. There was no shame in admitting it. Even Parnell would feel fear if he was trapped with this alien.

“You cannot pronounce the word water, my breeder. I will ask the doctor if he can assist with your speech problem. If you speak gibberish, our translator will not work.”

She gnashed her teeth at the reasonable tone he’d adopted. He left but almost immediately returned and held out the silver cup again.

Superior asshat. “I don’t speak gibberish,” she mumbled. She drank the water, not as greedily as before, but still faster than she probably should. She frowned at the large, silver-clad alien.

“Do you need more wa-ter?” He sounded out the pronunciation in an obnoxious way that made her palm itch.

“Yes, please.” She wasn’t about to cut off her nose to spite her face. She needed to get strong so that she could escape. “What happened to the other people in the building?” Her colleagues? She’d been so focused on proving herself, on becoming an agent, that she’d never made any close friends. But she didn’t want any of them to suffer.

Without answering, he left through the door that seamlessly slid into the wall. He returned, again so fast that the water had to be either just outside this room, or he moved really fast.

She tried to take a sip of water, but her hand shook too much. The word “breeder” kept repeating in her head, along with images that should distress her much more than they actually did.

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