Page 38 of Guardian's Heart

She tapped on the new machine's screen, and a cup appeared, filled with, lo and behold, water.

"Come, sit with us."

"How did you know how to use these?" I turned my head back at the machines as we walked to the table where the men sat, silently watching us.

"Your alien, Zaar… something,"

"Zaarek," I filled her in.

"Zaarek, he came and showed us."

How nice of him, my mind snarked.

"Here, sit." Amy tapped her foot against the floor and a stool rose from the ground, identical to the one the others sat on.

"That's Lutz from Germany, Panuta from Indonesia, and Maxim from Kazakhstan," Amy introduced me. "Guys, this is Nova." Lutz looked like one of those playboy types in a magazine. His hair was blond and a bit long, but I was willing to bet that, at some point, it had been perfectly coiffed and styled, down to the blonder highlights. His blue eyes shone with confidence, and I would have judged him to be in his early forties. With no ring on his finger, or even a trace of one having been there, my theory of him being an overconfident player seemed to be spot-on. Panuta was younger and wirier. Probably about my age, twenty-five-ish. He looked dwarfed right next to the man from Russia, who was massive. His head looked square from hairline to jaw. With his receding hairline, some pudge that was still there even after weeks or months of starvation. I would have put him in his early fifties.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Privet."

The men greeted me in the same order they had been introduced. I managed a wry smile and sat down to stick a sporkAmy handed me into the food, thought better of it, and drank the water first.

"So, where did you go?" Lutz wanted to know.

"Go?" I swallowed the water, decided it wasn't too bad, and put it down to attack the food.

"When you ran," Maxim clarified.

"Oh, there was a forest." I put yellow mashed potatoes on the spork and pushed it into my mouth. Not bad, I decided after a tentative chew. The texture reminded me more of overcooked yams than mashed potatoes, more stringy. Amy had been right too; the taste didn't remind me of anything. It was neither sweet nor bitter or spicy, but it tasted okay.

“What did you do in the forest?" Lutz asked.

"What did the alien do when it found you?" Maxim wanted to know.

"Zaarek." I sighed. Had he not introduced himself to them?

"What did he do?" Maxim reiterated.

I would have given anything to eat in peace, but without being rude, there was no escaping from here. The four people expected a story, so after eating another bite, I dove in and told them about the forest, Zaarek and me, leaving the juicy parts out.

"He didn't hurt you?" Panuta looked me up and down.

"Did you have those tats before? They're dope." Amy pulled at my arm, where it poked out from the sleeve.

I was spared an answer at the arrival of another woman waving at the others. I wasn't going to divulge that Zaarek had the same and that they had appeared after we… frolicked in the bushes.

"Anusha, from India," Amy introduced. "An, this is Nova."

Anusha looked sweet with her dark hair and soulful brown eyes. She, too, was pretty short, and I felt a twinge of guilt for not having asked their names before. They seemed to all be friendly with one another as if they had been friends for years, notbrought together by alien captivity. I should have commiserated with them, but even now, I only tried to figure out how to get away from them.

"The alien caught Nova in the forest. He didn't hurt her," Maxim filled Anusha in.

"Zaarek, his name is Zaarek.”

Maxim leaned over the table. "You trust him? This Zarrack?"

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