Page 54 of Orange Town
“What kind of dumb help was that?” he shouted back at me as our vehicle continued to roar. Where is the button for the seatbelt?
Zirc is not yet finished with his rant. “I thought you were an intelligent life form! You do not risk your neck when you can perfectly sit and wait for me to finish my job.”
“Well excuse me, Your Majesty, that I did not do your bidding.”
“I am not a King,” he shouted and slid a quick narrow eyed glance at me.
“I was trying to be sarcastic!” Plainly, having a word fight with an alien is tough. Not like when we’re having sex. Looks like the honeymoon is over!
His chest rumbled. Apparently, he is still not finished with what he has to say, “You should have stayed put and be quiet! But no, I can hear your whining all the way from the back.”
“I don’t know what your problem is. Just to let you know this does not happen on my planet. We do not behead people.” Well, humans have a history of violence and there are militant groups of men who still behead people. I just could not understand why he’s so angry at me.
“Will you two stop bickering like old mates?” piped someone from the back.
Zirc looked behind through the mirror while I craned my neck to the back to check on Roqs. He was now sitting up, his hair blown away from the wind so I could see his amused face. He still looks pale.
“Are you okay?” I asked earnestly.
Zirc rumbled angrily again. I decided to ignore him.
Roqs smiled sweetly at me. “Glad you care, Brynn.”
At least he got my name right unlike some other douchebag in this vehicle.
“What happened back there? Why did you all freeze up?”
Silence in the vehicle. Okay, so most likely whatever it was, it is a top secret. Or is it?
When Roqs was about to answer, I heard Zirc hurriedly say, “Not here. We’ve got company.”
I did not notice the billows of dust gathering on the horizon. The town looked too far away. Everywhere I look is still an open space. I see some hills or maybe just sand dunes. But I can’t see any town nearby.
Roqs turned from his seat and looked back.
"Four raiju, two scouts.”
It’s either their eyes can look that far away or he can deduce from the distance and the level of dust approaching us. Six to one is not a favorable odds to me.
I can see Zirc trying to gauge the situation himself looking at the rearview mirror.
“Fruck,” Roqs exclaimed. “I can hear a winox.”
I cannot hear a thing, only their voices. I think we are going faster. I find it hard to breathe against the wind slapping on my face. Whatever the winox was caused Roqs to turn around, meet Zirc’s eyes in the mirror, then he glanced at me.
I had a bad feeling creeping up my spine. “What?” I was looking back and forth between the two. Zirc’s jaw is tight.
“No,” Zirc’s tone is firm. Roqs’ shoulders also visibly relaxed. That lessened my worry a bit but I had no time to think.
Roqs produced a set of stones from his leather pouch, but they are elongated. More like colorful long crystals. Despite the danger, I carefully turned my body so that one hand is on the metal bar in front of me, the other to the long metal behind my end that extends from my side to Zirc’s side. Thankfully that did not earn a growl from the driver’s seat.
Roqs started to insert each crystal to a slot in front of him which is the back of the driver’s seat. There are four of them. As the crystal is slotted in, I saw a light, the same color of the crystal, travel down in a straight line and disappear below the driver seat. Only for the light to emerge back. It spread out from below the driver’s seat and is now travelling to the side of the vehicle as it continues to spread towards Roqs at the back seat.
“”How far?” Roqs asked.
“Fiveimpes.”
“To Coone?”
