Page 3 of Sohut's Protection

Maybe they would.

She was kind of hoping on it, but she didn’t want her cage to fall apart just yet.

There was nothing but rocks and dirt as far as she could see.

This would be the worst place for her to try an escape attempt.

Squeezing the tears from her eyes, Cleo’s gaze moved to the other cages as she checked to see if any other creature was as alert as she was.

Farther up, closer to the front of the cart, one cage had a pile of black fur.

Earlier in the journey, she’d thought that was exactly what it was—a pile of fur like a huge rug. That was, until she saw six black eyes looking back at her.

The fur animal had its eyes closed now, but a shudder still made her skin prickle just looking at it.

Monster tarantula, maybe?

She didn’t see any legs, but she didn’t want to find out.

Directly to her right, another cage had a little gray animal that looked like a Chihuahua with tarsier-like eyes and a tail like a howler monkey.

Its big brown eyes blinked at her as it too gripped the bars of its cage for dear life.

The animal looked so small and innocent; it made her angry that they were keeping such a thing in a cage.

“I hope you find a nice home, little one,” she murmured to the thing and she didn’t know if it understood her or not, but it kept its large brown eyes on her.

There were about six other cages, all with different species—some she couldn’t see because of how they were lying—but there were no other humans.

She was the only one.

The sole lucky human.

Now, if only someone could tell her which raffle she’d accidentally won for this once-in-a-lifetime trip?

She’d like to return the ticket.

Her last memory of Earth was her finishing her shift at the bar she worked at in Cali. It’d been late and she’d just hopped out of her little Toyota, ready to hurry inside her apartment when she’d felt a strange pain at the back of her neck.

Next, she’d woken up to see a slug on a blue orb and a walking alligator.

Her first thought was that she’d been drugged—what she was seeing was impossible.

Only, the drugs hadn’t worn off. She was still in the nightmare.

What’s worse, the alien ship they’d had her on crashed.

What happened next was a blur.

She remembered the pain and the confusion, then she remembered the reinforced room she’d been locked in being opened.

The next image in her mind was that of Tweedle-orc-dum and Tweedle-orc-dee.

But she was alive.

She wasn’t on Earth anymore, the pink sky alone was proof enough of that, but she was alive.

Her father’s voice rang in her head.

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