Later that afternoon Abigail went to have a bath before supper. She enjoyed soaking and letting the water soothe her still aching body. The men had come back in for lunch and then went right back out to work the farm. Both of them were sexy with their sweaty t-shirts and smears of dirt on their faces. Then there was Cherie, looking delectable in the kitchen as she licked spoons tasting what she was cooking. More than once Abigail found her hand between her legs in the bathtub but resisted knowing the real thing would be so much better.

Now she’d dressed in some clothes Cherie had let her borrow and gone downstairs to see what was for dinner. She could smell it from the tub and it smelled delicious.

Abigail relaxed against the high-backed chair in the living room. She was feeling completely satisfied even though the situation was still a little weird. Cherie was cooking in the kitchen while Ruby and Halo played on the floor in front of her. The whole house had an open plan so the kitchen was really only the kitchen by what was in it and the living room was determined by the furniture.

“Can I help you do something Cherie?” she called to the woman who was chopping and mixing up a storm.

“No, you just rest, dear, I have it all under control.”

“You’re so good at juggling everything,” Abigail said.

“I had to learn young how to keep house and mind children. It was something ingrained in me and now I get to actually enjoy it. Back then it was a punishment.”

“What do you mean?”

Cherie started to answer when she stopped and looked out the window. A high-pitched squealing noise interrupted the tranquility and caused Abigail to jump up out of the chair. Ruby started to wail and Halo started knocking over his block fort.

“What the hell is that?” Cherie asked rushing over to pick Ruby up and comfort her.

“I think the lady brought them,” Halo said and ran into his room. When he returned he had a device that looked like one of those hand-held price checkers she’d used when she worked at the grocery store. Only this one was beeping and had strange buttons on the side.

“What are you doing, son?” Sca asked moving forward to see.

The little boy didn’t answer. He brought the machine up to Abigail and ran it over her leg and up her side. It beeped the same and she felt a bit like a plot of land being searched for metal. The boy ran the machine down her arm and it started beeping loud and fast when he reached her wrist.

“It’s been beeping since she got here,” Halo said handing the machine to his dad.

“They’re tracking you. Abigail, who took you?” Baston demanded.

Suddenly everything became very urgent. The high-pitched noise was getting closer and Abigail realized she recognized it. She’d heard it when she was taken. They were coming back for her! Being true to her mind always wandering to the wrong thing at the wrong time, she wondered why they hadn’t wanted to know this information earlier.

“What do you mean they’re tracking me,” she said her voice sounding far from her own. The words choked out.

“The aliens who took you. Did they have red armor? What did they look like?” Baston had now turned his attention to Abigail.

“Um,” Abigail fought with her brain to remember what they’d looked like. Everything seemed draped in a fog she couldn’t clear. Slowly her mind started to form a picture of the things, a memory of being on the ship. “They had dark black skin and tusks coming out of the bottom of their mouths. They did have some sort of red plate on their chests. I think their eyes were yellow.”

“Those are Jaca. No doubt that’s who’s after her,” Sca said.

Baston nodded. “Cherie, kids, go to the bedroom shut the door and get in the closet.”

“I have to tell you something Baston, and you aren’t going to like it.” Sca stood in front of the tall man and suddenly looked smaller to Abigail.

“When Ation showed the Astro Fox to you, I followed you. I knew you went to see where it was. I heard you say I had hungry eyes for it. You were right, I took some.”

“You aren’t supposed to know about that Sca, there was a reason he only told me.”

“I know but I did, I followed you and I took some recently.”

“You did what?” Cherie came back from sorting the kids out with her hands on her hips.

Abigail didn’t know what was going on but sensed some sort of betrayal.

“I told you to stay in the room,” Baston said.

“I’m not staying in the room when y'all are out here fighting who knows what for our family.”

“How could you do that Sca? If they find it here, they’ll destroy this planet, they’ll kill Ation and his people. Did you not think of that?” Baston’s eyes burned and he stood even taller over Sca as his voice rose.

“I wanted to make Ruby a birthday present, Baston. I took the smallest possible amount.”

“You have to hide it, well. If we’re killed the Jaca can’t find it. You understand what you’ve done?”

“Don’t talk like that, Baston,” Cherie said. “We are not going to be killed because we’re here for our kids.”

Cherie had moved to stand between the two men and she held her hands on her hips. Both of them immediately looked apologetic and moved to hug her.

“Men, it’s time to keep our new lover safe.” Cherie winked at her and went to a closet at the back of the kitchen. Abigail hadn’t noticed it before because it was built into the wall. She pulled out a gun. Well, Abigail assumed it was a gun. It had a trigger, but there were also a lot of buttons. She tossed it to Baston and pulled out more.

“All right, Abigail. The green button powers the gun up, the yellow button finds your target. You just have to get the cross arrows on it and the red button will fire and continue until that target is dead. Then you find your next one.”

“Dead?” Abigail said aloud as she took the gun.

“Yes, we aren’t dealing with your friendly neighborhood abduction. They wanted you for their science, but now that you’ve escaped them they’ll just want to kill you for sport. They’ll kill all of us for you, too, so just remember when you’re shooting them it’s kill or be killed.” Baston went to help Cherie and left Abigail standing in the kitchen just holding the strange gun in front of her.

“You can do it, babe,” Sca said. The term of endearment gave her a little thrill of pleasure. This soon turned to despair as she realized her abduction and running away was what brought this poor family to this point. Now she’d brought an evil alien race to them and they were going to have to fight for their lives instead of living their peaceful little existence by themselves.

She wanted to tell them she was sorry, but a loud bang on the side of the house silenced her.

“Get ready,” Baston yelled.

The first of the large black tusked men burst through the door and was met by a blast from Sca. He retreated back behind the dining table turning it over on its side. The large alien didn’t seem to be stopped. Sca fired at him again and waited as Baston ran at him and pushed him back from where Sca was crouched.

Sca ran to the china cabinet on the side of the room and quickly retrieved something before darting to the back of the house with it. Abigail assumed it was what they were arguing about. Baston aimed his gun at the alien, but the creature was too fast and knocked it out of of Baston’s hand. He picked Baston up and threw him across the room through the large glass table. Abigail fumbled with the gun she’d been given unable to remember how to use it.

Another large alien came into the room through the hole that used to be a door. It made some strange noises to the other and then let out a high-pitched screech when it saw Abigail. As it rushed towards her, she once again tried to make her hands work the gun. It was another fail and Baston recovered from being thrown through the table and ran at him again. He leapt onto the alien’s back and squeezed around its neck.

The alien just laughed as they moved around the room. At least, she thought it was laughing. It became hard to tell. They smashed into a clock on the wall sending it crashing to the floor. It shattered and Abigail’s heart sank a little. Their gorgeous home was getting destroyed because of her. Their children were in danger because of her. She hoped they were tucked away somewhere safe where they couldn’t hear what was going on. She was extremely concerned they’d be scarred for life.

Sca was back now and fighting the other tusk man in the room. He got knocked into the wall and then threw into the kitchen. The alien marched towards Abigail and she finally got her act together. She charged the gun and shot it right at him. It kept shooting him and he kept coming.

He reached her, grabbing a handful of her hair and pulling. She saw spots in front of her eyes from the pain and tried to pull its claws away from her tresses. Cherie somehow came out of nowhere with a large stick and clocked him on the head. The alien let go and made a horrible noise as he turned on Cherie.

Abigail pushed off the floor and scurried to her feet. She surveyed the room for a weapon to help fight. The alien turned to Cherie and attempted to grab her but was no match for her swing. Cherie pummeled the target again and again until the thing crashed to the floor. Abigail located a chair and thrashed the alien across the back of the head.

A crash in the other room alerted the pair to another attack. The china cabinet lay on the ground, shards of glass and plates were strewn about. An angry being charged at Cherie, one of its tusks was broken off and oozing a slimy matter. Abigail prepared herself as Cherie, belly and all, got ready for the fight. This time she grabbed a poker from the living room and plunged it deep into the eye socket of the creature. The monster-like alien screamed out in pain and backed away from the fight. Cherie smiled with approval as the aliens retreated from the room. They went to see if they could help Baston who was continuing his fight in the kitchen.

The aliens were strong and large, but also clumsy. Baston easily slipped the monster to the ground after fighting with him a few rounds. He grabbed a nearby appliance, something that resembled a toaster, and beat the alien’s head in. He landed a few good whacks across the tusk and an electric boom sent a shockwave through the room. The creature lay stunned from the shock before getting up and running from the room.

The family assembled in the kitchen and Cherie made sure everyone was accounted for. Abigail felt a heavy guilt. If she'd not been there then the family could have lived their lives in peace. Just a few days ago this world knew nothing of her, nor she of it. Now there were battles, wars, and innocent beings were being hurt all because of her.

Abigail ran to the front door but was quickly apprehended by Sca.

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We know the risks. We want to protect you.”

“He’s right you know,” Cherie responded. “We can replace everything in here, but we cannot replace you. You have become family.”

The group moved slowly through the rubble and aftermath. Abigail wept heavily as Sca tried to console her. The evening grew darker and the trash filled with broken pieces of furniture and cutlery. Abigail quieted but in the back of her mind, a plan was forming.