Page 28 of Rok's Captive
Whatever the reason, I’ve screwed up, and now this golden-skinned warrior looks ready to do that meat-off-the-bones thing I feared earlier. If I could only get him to understand?—
A blood-curdling screech tears through the air, much closer than before. The alien’s head snaps toward the sound, his anger instantly replaced by something closer to alarm.
Another screech answers the first, this one from a different direction, and the alien makes a decision so quickly I barely register the change. One moment he’s glaring at me, the next he’s lunging forward.
“No, wait—” is all I manage before I’m upended, my world tilting as he throws me over his shoulder like I’m a sack of potatoes.
“Put me down!” The wind is knocked from my lungs as my stomach connects with his shoulder. “What the hell?”
He ignores me completely, breaking into a run that doesn’t feel natural. It’s too smooth, too fast. Each stride covers ground that would take me three steps, yet he moves with a silent grace that seems impossible for his size.
The blood rushes to my head as I hang upside down, my protests muffled against his back. The skin beneath my hands is warm to the touch and unexpectedly smooth, almost silky despite its appearance of toughness.
For a moment, I’m distracted by the little points of light that appear where my fingertips press into him.
Another screech tears through the air, closer now, and the alien picks up speed. My complaints die in my throat as I realize that whatever’s making that sound ishuntingus, and the alien—despite his obvious dislike of me—is trying to get us both away from it.
“What is that thing?” I gasp, though I know he can’t understand me. “And where are you taking me?”
No response, of course, just the steady rhythm of his running and the increasingly frantic pounding of my heart. The desert blurs past in my inverted vision, darkness falling rapidly as BS (Batshit Sun) disappears completely.
Wait. He’s running parallel to the rock formation I was heading for, not toward it! My carefully plotted course, my water calculations, my deliberately placed markers—all becoming useless with every step this alien takes.
“No, no, no—wrong way!” I smack his back again, which accomplishes exactly nothing except probably annoying him further. “The big pointy rocks! That way!”
Nothing. It doesn’t make a difference. He can hear me, I’m sure, but he can’t understand me and even if he could, I’m not sure he’d listen. Fuck. Not only am I being kidnapped while something with murder-screech capabilities hunts us, but now I’m going to be completely lost.
The screeching grows louder, then multiplies—more than one of whatever nightmares is out there. The alien’s pace somehow increases even further and I catch glimpses of rocky outcroppings passing by. We’re no longer in the open desert but moving through more rugged terrain.
“Jacqui will never find me,” I choke out, fighting back tears of panic. “None of them will. I’m supposed to be heading back with information, not getting abducted deeper into…wherever the hell this is.”
My words are lost in the wind of our movement. The alien shows no sign of slowing or changing course. Every passing moment takes me farther from the crashed bus, farther from the women depending on me.
The others won’t look for me. They’ll think I succumbed to the unforgiving desert. But Jacqui…Jacqui will. She’ll come after me. She’ll follow my markers straight to where I was supposed to be, but I won’t be there. She’s going to think I’m dead, or worse—she’ll keep searching until she runs out of water herself.
“Please,” I try again, voice cracking. “My sister—I have to—” But the alien’s grip only tightens as he changes direction, veering sharply toward what looks like a sheer cliff face in the deepening darkness.
It’s pointless. What’s worse, the screeching behind us has multiplied. Three, maybe four distinct screeching calls now, getting closer despite my captor’s impressive speed. Whatever’s chasing us, it hunts in packs.
The alien suddenly drops into a crouch. The movement is so abrupt I nearly lose the single biscuit I’d scarfed down for lunch. The emergency blanket gets loose and flies away.
“Wait!” Oh shit.
I reach for it, but he’s moving again. Different this time. More stealth than speed, weaving between rock formations I can barely make out in the darkness.
The screeching stops.
Somehow, that’s worse.
The alien freezes and I hold my breath, acutely aware that my racing heart might as well be a drumbeat announcing our location. His muscles coil beneath me, and I know with certainty that whatever’s hunting us, it’s close enough to taste our scent on the wind.
The alien moves. Not running now—climbing. The world tilts again as he scales what feels like a vertical surface with me still slung over his shoulder. How he’s managing this with one arm, I have no idea. The rock face scrapes against my side as he maneuvers us into…a cave?
The absolute darkness is disorienting. I hear him moving, feel the shift as he finally sets me down. My legs wobble beneath me, and I reach out blindly, finding cold stone at my back.
“Where—”
His hand clamps over my mouth, callused palm pressing hard enough to hurt. There’s nothing gentle about it. The message is clear: silence or death. Given the circumstances, I’m voting for silence.
