Page 14 of Pandora: Alien Games

As I hang upside down, I can smell the guy who is holding me. To be honest, he doesn’t smell bad at all. He has a raw animal scent. His dark skin feels cool and soft against my face. He wears his hair shorter than Edoo and his eyes, even though purple, have a different expression.

Having become used to the disgusting scent of unwashed bodies from the space station, I admit this is not at all what I expected. I assumed he would wreak like them, dirty and sour. Instead, he has an aroma like freshly ground coffee. I smelled coffee only once when I worked with the head engineer who grew his own and he let me taste the bitter liquid. I’m not crazy for the taste but the smell is one of my favorites.

How could I explain to these guys that I’m stranded, that my best friend is out there somewhere, and that I need to find him? Thinking Van could be hurt makes me cringe inwardly and bite the inside of my cheek until it bleeds.

My injured shoulder registers a light throbbing. I don’t think it’s an infection. Whatever Edoo did to me, it worked well. Incredibly well.

What was it with the Anubis? The fact that Edoo fixed my badly injured shoulder showed me that they were a civilization that had resources and had progressed a lot, because that was medical technology. But the way these guys behaved made me believe I had landed amongst a bunch of savages. They all had the same pulsating green crystal embedded in their chest.

Will they sacrifice me to their God? Sell me as a slave? Eat me?

Edoo didn’t give me that vibe, so maybe not. What do I know? Fear clawed at my insides again.

I’m thirsty and hungry and my back burns from the way the three suns radiated against my exposed skin. The dirty t-shirt I wore slid down toward my neck. My skin is pale. I’ve never been exposed to sunlight, but I’ve read about sunburns. I’ll surely get one.

I feel too sick to be afraid anymore. I try to wiggle again. Hopefully, they’ll let me go.

Are the Anubis the worse things out here? I recalled those tentacle creatures that popped up from the sand and surrounded me. The way their disgusting, squishy appendages felt against my skin made me want to wash myself for hours. They were so disgusting.

In less than twenty-four hours, if my internal watch was right, I had managed to crash on this desert planet; lose Van; get attacked by creatures; injure my shoulder; meet Edoo and Banoo, who I missed dearly; get attacked a second time by squishy squid-type, Cthulhu-type creatures; and saved by my kidnappers. Well, kind of saved.

Great, I mumbled to myself through the gag.

The ropes that tied my ankles, knees, and arms hurt. With each of my moves, they dug deeper into my flesh. I’m sure the ropes are going to burst through the skin soon.

Van, fuck you. Death was a better idea than whatever was going on now.

Everything hurt. All I could see through my hair, which kept falling over my face, was sand. With my hands tied up, it was impossible for me to wipe the sweat off my face and stop the small drops traveling to my eyes, stinging like hell. I closed my eyes.

Van, fuck you!

Images of Van returned to me. He’s so smart. He was always the smartest boy I ever knew, full of ideas and resources.

Van was part of the group that plotted the mutiny against the Commander. I agreed with it but, to be honest, I only took part because of Van. Since childhood, I’ve followed him around like a lost puppy. Nothing has changed over the years. Van was never handsome even as a young boy, but he never looked awkward or ugly. His perfect blue eyes matched his golden blonde hair that he always wore cropped short. There was that twinkle in his eyes that made one want to be his best friend. And that was me. I’m his best friend and nothing will change this.

Why was I so unfortunate to land so far away from him?

Maybe he died. Maybe the space shuttle burned up in the atmosphere and Van is no more. Tears rolled toward my forehead and my chest hurt as I tried to breath. My nose felt swollen and breathing became harder and harder.

I hoped to die.

I hope I’ll choke on my tears and die.

Deep sad moans and hitched breaths broke my chest.

Something happened. I don’t know what, but the animal we were riding stopped. Mr. boob grabby dropped me on the blanket he used as a saddle. I now lay on my belly in front of him. One of the other guys put his arms around me and picked me up, gently. He was so strong he lifted me with no effort at all as if I were as light as a feather. The new Anubis put this arm around me and pulled me in front of him while the one who had tied me up kept saying something I couldn’t understand. The new one held me in front of him without making a sound. His eyes looked kind but didn’t fool me. He was a predator.

He lifted his muscular arm and touched his maw with a finger that ended in a claw, making something the universal sign for silence. I was halfway facing him, my hair still sticking to my wet, sweaty face. He touched my lips with his claw and his eyes locked on mine, asking me to remain quiet.

I nodded.

All around us was sand, dry and hot. The three suns blazed on our backs and parched my throat.

This Anubis had a thick chain around his neck with a series of pendants that I wanted to inspect further. His skin was snow white and that made him handsomely creepy in a weird way. His eyes were not purple but yellowish-green and his lips smiled, making the sharp edges of his face look soft. He used his claw and cut through my gag then took it out of my mouth for me. The corners of my mouth hurt.

I saw that there were four of them. One looked as if he was the leader. Boob grabby guy who tied me up and gagged me, and who I hated. The snow-white guy. Next to him was another one who looked like the other two, his thick skin colored in shades of black and with a drawing like an intricate tattoo.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I’m done. Exhausted.

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