Page 68 of Holiday with the Aliens

“Arest,” she responded just as quietly.

He stared for another few moments before giving her a nod as if deciding something. “Food?” he asked.

So they weren’t going to talk about the kiss. Good. What was there to say? “Water first.”

There wasn’t much of a camp to clean up since all they’d done was sleep. But before they left, Stella thoroughly searched the room. The ceiling was as tall as a building back home, but mostlyin shadow since the light came from the floor. No convenient skylight offered them a way out and she wondered how deep underground they were. She expected to feel claustrophobic, like the whole place could collapse and bury them at any second.

As soon as she thought it, her throat started to get tight and her heartbeat kicked up. Best not to dwell. She looked back over at Arest and caught him watching her with open interest. There was no hurry in him, he simply watched as she made her rounds.

“Did you find anything interesting the first time you came in?” she asked him. It had been too dark for her to see anything when she was in there alone, but it seemed his eyes were far better than hers.

He strode toward her and then past, over to the far wall, and knelt down. Stella followed quickly. Flush into the stone floor was another one of those strange handles they’d seen on doors in the rest of the tunnels. Doors that Arest hadn’t liked.

“Bad?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Safe.”

She glanced over her shoulder to the panel beside the door. All night it had remained lit up, along with the lights on the floor. She hoped that meant that they’d be able to open the door to leave in a few minutes. Worry niggled at her. This place was full of traps and if they opened the door here, some other trapdoor might open and release one of those monsters that had already attacked them twice.

But Arest said safe. She would trust him.

She flipped up the first part of the handle and freed the depressor. Taking a deep breath, she pressed it down and the door slid aside, revealing a small storage cubby. Jackpot.

They weren’t lucky enough to find liters of water and meal bars, but Stella grabbed a compact blanket and a small pouch, a lighter, and two collapsible bottles that could be used to carry any water they found. Everything she took could fit in herpockets, at least until they found water. Stella unpacked the rest of the cubby, looking for anything else that they might use.

No food. No weapons. No detailed map leading out of the tunnels. Just some old cleaning equipment and a tattered book.

When she was done, Arest reached in and ran his hands along the edges of the cubby, but he didn’t find anything else. Stella stuffed everything back in except for her newfound treasures and closed it back up, tidiness a habit ingrained by long travel on confined spaceships.

Arest gestured for her to stay back from the door when it was time to leave. She didn’t need to be told that it was in case there was another monster waiting for them. She shuddered to think what the one they’d left there all night looked like now. But she kept her eyes open and shoulders forward. She wouldn’t flinch, not from this. If Arest could protect her, she could deal with the aftermath.

The door slid open with a whisper and the lights lowered. She braced, waiting for the attack that didn’t come. Arest checked outside and waved her through when he was satisfied that it was safe. When she stepped outside, Stella didn’t see the monster’s body from the night before. She looked around and then at Arest, the question in her eyes.

He shrugged.

Strange. This place held secrets and she didn’t want to find out any more.

The air slowly grew damp around them and the sound of water tinkled in Arest’s ears. It grew into a lapping call as they moved deeper into the tunnels and the walls became more like caves. Stella walked beside him, her face set with determination.

His shoulder brushed against hers, a reminder that they were together in this. Had they only known one another for a day? Perhaps a little more, as it was impossible to note the passage of time without a sun or any sort of clock. She’d already dug her blunt human claws into him and he knew that their parting would tear out some part of his heart he’d thought long ago destroyed.

But part they must. With every step, his thoughts became clearer and his hunger grew. Hunger for the fight, for blood and pain and misery. Whatever drugs had been used on him weren’t only to blunt his resistance, but also his anger.

Each time his arm or his hand touched Stella he could remember that there was a man buried somewhere under the layers and layers of beast. But he feared that soon it might not be enough, that he’d turn on her and show her the same horrors he’d shown to that trainer. And the ambassador.

And the merchant.

And the princess.

And the knight.

And the king’s guard.

And the priests.

The list of victims went on and on, pictures of horror dancing through his head like a macabre holovid. But he could remember the blood on his hands, the screams that pierced his ears and set his blood aflame. Whoever had done this to him had taught him to love it, to revel in it. He’d become their beast and lived for the kill.

Stella placed a hand on his shoulder and Arest sucked in a steadying breath.

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