Miah

I search through the smoldering rubble, looking for anything that might come in handy. My phone, food, water, anything.

I don’t find a damn thing. Everything is smashed, destroyed, or buried in the sand. The dead bodies scattered all around me don’t make it any easier, either.

The hot sun is wearing me down, and I realize what a massive mistake I’ve made in not following Beast. Even though he scares me, he seems like he knows what he’s doing.

I most certainly do not.

I call out for him. No response.

There’s nothing left to do but for me than do follow his tracks, and hope I find him before the sun knocks me out. I take off my shirt and wrap it around my head. Hopefully, this will stop my impending heat-stroke.

I have to force my tired, aching legs to walk, one step at a time, following in Beast’s tracks. He’s not even a blip on the horizon, and the rock formation seem impossibly far away, but I don’t have any other choice.

I can’t stay here.

As I walk, my mind starts to wander. The main goal is to survive until help gets here.

If help gets here at all.

It has to. Right? It has to. The Allure should have sent out some kind of distress call, some automated SOS. It’s matter of waiting and then I’ll be picked up.

And Onyx will give me big fat check as compensation and Abby can go to school and I can retire early. I’ll be the patron mother of a whole slew of artists, ushering in a new Renaissance!

That’s option A.

Option B… is that no one’s coming. Option B takes into account the fact that the Allure is, or was, a rickety piece of junk that didn’t send out a distress call.

Option B is far more likely.

The longer I think about it, option A seems more and more like a pipe dream. The universe is so big, it’s beyond my comprehension. There are billions of planets. It could take years for the Federation’s sensors to pick up our crash, if they even pick it up at all.

I have to figure out a way to stay alive — but I don’t know a damn thing about surviving on an alien world. I was born and raised in a megacity. That’s about as far from the wilderness as you can get!

I know Onyx’s quarterly profits by heart, but that’s not going to save me.

Unless…

Unless Onyx has sent a research probe to this world!

I stop dead in my tracks as a light bulb goes off in my mind.

Of course. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Onyx has sent out literally million of probes to map the galaxy and look for places to drill and mine and plunder.

If they sent one here, I might be able to find it, and use it to send a distress call. The research probes are programmed to find the highest spot on a planet, so all I have to do is climb the highest mountain I can find.

It’s a long shot, but it’s the best lead I’ve got. It’s the only lead I’ve got.

With renewed vigor I continue walking, feeling slightly optimistic for the first time since I got called into Davenport’s office. A rumbling in the distance grabs my attention.

“Beast?” I ask.

A beast appears — but not the one I was hoping for.

To my horror, a scaly worm rises out of the sand itself. It writhes and twists and turns, its horrifying mouth filled with rows and rows of sharp teeth, a gaping maw that threatens to swallow me whole.

I scream.

The beast lurches.

The next moment, right before the monster strikes, I’m knocked to the ground by a green blur.

“Stay,” my savior growls.

Beast! He saved my life!

He’s back up in an instant and points the gun he took from Hudson right at the enraged monster’s open mouth.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Click-click-click.

The Zoran fires several times until he’s out of bullets. The shots don’t seem to have made much of an impact, because the worm shoots forward again, making a horrible noise as it crawls through the sand.

Beast jumps into the air, landing on the scaly worm and using the gun as a weapon as he bashes the monster on its head. It howls in pain, the high-pitched sound making my eardrums bleed.

“You did it!” I say, as the monster scurries back into the sand.

Then, something strange happens. At first I think it’s an earthquake, for the entire world seems be moving, but then it dawns on me.

The entire sand dune is crawling with more of those worms.

My Zoran savior grabs me, throws me over his shoulder, and sprints towards a rock formation in the distance. I hold onto him as best I can, my heart racing at a million miles per minute as all around us the sand moves, quakes and trembles.

We reach the safety of the cave in the nick of time. The Zoran lowers me to the ground, his green body covered in a layer of sweat. Outside, the sand trembles and quakes, as if the worms are angry they don’t get to enjoy their delicious meal. A few moments later they seemingly disappear, the sand returning to its calm and serene state.

A total illusion. No way I’m stepping one foot outside!

“T-thank you, Beast,” I say, gasping for air, my heart still racing. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as horrible as those monsters before. They’re even worse than the crashed ship.

The Zoran inspects his body for any scratches or wounds, but it seems the worm’s narrowly missed him.

“What made you change your mind?” he growls. “Didn’t want to die alone?”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “I don’t want to die at all.”

“Tough luck.”

“What do you mean?”

Beast sits down on a large rock, resting his elbows on his upper legs. “It means that survival is all but guaranteed, human. This planet seems hellbent on killing us both.”

“I have a name, you know,” I say. “It’s Miah Dorsey.”

The Zoran warrior doesn’t respond. Instead, he gazes out the cave’s mouth, at the sand dunes. They look so idyllic from here.

“I bet that wasn’t the only wildlife.”

“That’s bad. Right?”

The alien shrugs.

“Means there’s water. It means we can survive. For now. Doesn’t matter though. We’re stuck on this rock.”

“Not necessarily,” I say.

This draws the Zoran’s attention. His radiant eyes snap up and look at me. His intense gaze makes heat rush to my cheeks.

“Explain yourself.”

It’s not so much a question as a threat. I scrape my throat. Finally, the ball is in my court.

“Have you heard of Onyx?”

His purple eyes narrow. “I know them well, yes.”

“Well, Onyx sent out several million research pods to just about every planet that’s relatively close to Earth and showed the slightest hint of natural resources,” I explain. “If we can find one of those pods, we could send out a distress call. It’s a big if, I know, but still. It’s the best lead we have.”

“How do you know all of that?” he growls.

“I work for Onyx,” I say.

He jumps up as if a bee stung him, his eyes opened wide.

“You work for those criminals?!” he sneers. He points an accusing finger straight at me. “Traitor!”

“Funny, that’s exactly what Hudson called me after I saved your life,” I say, crossing my arms.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he sneers. “Onyx are criminals, the worst of the worst.”

“I thought you were the criminal here,” I snap.

His brow furrows.

“Is that what you think of me? A criminal? A monster? A beast?”

“Well, that is your name, isn’t it?”

“That’s the name you people gave me,” he says. “I should have let that worm devour you. If I know you were an Onyx stooge, I never would risked my life for you.”

The look he casts me is pure disdain.

“I regret saving you.”

“Same here!” I sneer, my cheeks red from anger. Who the hell does this Zoran think he is?!

He storms towards me and grabs the collar of my shirt.

“Do you want me to throw you out there? Or do you want me to choke the life out of you? That’s what you expect of me, isn’t it? What you think ‘Beast’ will do? I’m a cold-hearted killer, right? RIGHT?!”

His thundering voice hurts my ears, his amethyst eyes filled with anger — and pain.

“I-I…” I stammer, but I don’t know what to say.

I don’t think he’s a murderer, a killer, a beast. Even though that is what the media have told me for months. After what happened at Pazar, how could I think any different, right?

Yet, this man doesn’t seem like a killer to me. Yes, he did kill Hudson with a single, breathtaking punch, but to be honest, that guy did kind of have it coming. When I think of a killer, I think of a heartless man, someone without emotions, without morals, someone egotistical.

Beast — or whatever his name is — saved my life. He didn’t need to do that. And he’s anything but emotionless.

The seven foot tall Zoran lowers me to the floor and turns away, exposing his broad shoulders to me.

“What is your name, then?” I ask.

“I was Egon. Once. A lifetime ago.”

“Okay, Egon, I’m sorry if—”

He whirls around again, his face filled with fury. “Don’t use that name. You haven’t earned it.”

I hold my hands up defensively. “What do you want me to call you then?”

“Beast,” he sneers. “It’s what I am to you people.”

He’s really not going to let this go, huh?

“Okay… Beast… why does me working for Onyx upset you so much? I mean, they’re just a normal power company.”

He laughs, but there’s no joy in his voice.

“They’re anything but normal. They’re the reason for all of this.”

He spreads his arms wide, gesturing at the dark tattoos that cover his shoulders and upper-arms. I’m not quite sure what they mean, but they do look menacing to me.

“Explain yourself,” I demand.

“No,” he says abruptly. “You are human, you work for them, you are too close to the fire to see that the whole world is burning. Talking to you is a waste of breath.”

My eyebrows raise. I don’t think even Davenport or Miller has ever been this mean to me.

“Yeah, well, you need me get off this rock, big green guy, so I’d check that attitude if I were you.”

Beast whirls around again, his purple eyes filled with fury. Within two seconds he’s so close to me I can feel his breath on my skin, his body so big he blocks out all the light. The only thing I see is his massive frame, no matter where I look.

One hand moves around my neck. The touch sends a jolt of electricity straight through me.

“I ought to kill you right now, human, for your insolence, your betrayal, your crimes.”

“But you won’t,” I say defiantly.

And I pray that I’m right.

“Why not?” he growls. He leans down and places his forehead against mine, his amethyst eyes demanding all of my attention.

“Because you’re not a killer.”

“I killed that human male.”

I can feel his hot breath on my skin, tickling me, my heart racing so fast I’m sure he can hear it.

“He had it coming. He’s the reason we crashed; he shot the pilot and rammed the other ship like a madman.”

Beast’s pupils widen.

“There was another ship?”

“Yeah, they wanted us to surrender.”

“The Resistance,” he whispers. “They’re real.”

“Wait, they wanted you? We are down here because of you?”

“No,” he growls furiously, and his hand around my neck tightens. “We’re here because of you, Onyx.”

“I’m Miah,” I croak.

“You are Onyx to me.”

He lets me go, and I gasp for air. My pulse is racing, and I’m filled with fear, anger, and other more… sordid and confusing emotions…

“You need to me to find the research pod,” I say as I rub my sore throat. “And I need you to protect from those… things.”

“Why don’t you just tell me where the pod is?” he says. “I’ll go find it while you wait here. Much quicker.”

“And be abandoned by you? No way. I may be blonde, I’m not that blonde.”

“Fine,” he roars out of frustration. “We must go deeper into the cave first. I sense water down there.”

I peer into the darkness. “In there? It’s pitch-black!”

“I can see just fine,” he growls. “Be right back.”

The warrior walks into the darkness, and like that, he’s gone.

“Beast?” I cry. “Beast?”

My own voice echoes back to me.

Fuck.