Chapter 2
From that distance, Chris could almost believe it was human. It stood tall and straight with its two arms hanging at its sides, and square, strong shoulders jutted out on either side of its head. Two sturdy legs stretched down to the ground, and it looked across the field with a steady, fearless gaze. Chris’s heart gave a leap. Here was a glimmer of hope, a lifeline in their hour of need.
The next minute, her spirits plummeted as another figure broke the horizon and stood next to the first. Then another appeared, and another, until a ring of strangers surrounded the crash site in a ring around the bowl. These could only be some other species of alien, come to take advantage of their misfortune. Maybe they planned to attack the stranded women and eat them. Maybe they would collect them and ship them back to the intergalactic slave market anyway.
Then, to her horror, the ring of figures advanced on the crash site. The ring contracted with every step, coming closer and closer. “Holy crap!”
She put out her hand to grab Sasha, but at that moment, the creature on the ground jerked and rolled to one side. The chunk of metal holding him down on the ground sailed off and thumped down on the grass some distance away. The body underneath it was nothing more than a flattened mass of pulverized flesh. Only the creature’s trunk, head, and arms moved from its waist.
With lightning speed, he reared up off the ground. His tentacles stretched out from his face to an incredible length and snaked around Sasha’s ankle. He collapsed back on the grass, but his tentacles kept a death grip on Sasha’s leg and pulled her down with him.
The instant she realized what was happening, Sasha kicked and struggled, but she couldn’t free herself. The creature dragged her down on top of him, and he crushed her against his chest with his handless arms. More tentacles slithered out of his face and surrounded Sasha’s throat. They covered her face and chocked off her surprised cries. But it did no good. She disappeared under the mass of tentacles, and only a horrible gurgle came out of the creature’s mouth as he sucked her down.
Chris stared down at them. Horror and disgust welled up from the depths of her being and she attacked the creature with an enraged bellow. She kicked it as hard as she could on the side of the head, and after the first kick, she couldn’t stop kicking it again and again. She stomped on its face with the sharp point of her heel. Then she picked up a steel bar from the ground and bashed its chest and head with every particle of her strength.
She heard her own voice echoing over the field, but she couldn’t stop herself. This thing took her and all these women away from their homes. They marooned them on an alien planet. And now, with the last of its life, this hideous thing was destroying in front of her eyes the one friend she’d found in this place.
She roared at it and pummeled it with her club until bright violet ooze trickled out of its mouth and eye sockets. The tentacles retreated back inside its face and left Sasha’s head and neck clear. The creature fell back on the grass and didn’t move again. Not even its tentacles twitched. Every sign of life vanished from what was left of its body.
But Sasha didn’t revive. She rolled free of the creature’s grasp and lay still on the grass. A livid band of purple bruise stood out on her neck, and her chest no longer rose and fell with breath. Chris bent down to feel for a pulse on her neck, but another sight made her whirl around the other way.
The figures that ringed the meadow increased their pace and closed in on the crash site. By the time she finished bludgeoning the Romarie to death, these new aliens were close enough for her to get a good look at them.
She no longer mistook them for human beings. They stood several inches taller than the tallest human she’d ever seen, and their hair spread over their cheeks and ears to form a distinctive ruff. Pointed ears stuck up out of their hair, and their noses pointed down to their mouths in a strange way. Their noses twitched as they approached the wreckage.
The first alien Chris noticed was distinctly male. Her eye swept to the next figure in line, and he was male, too. They must all be male. They were coming for the stranded women after all. She leapt forward with another roar and challenged them with her club.
Even when her eye fell on another figure in the line, much shorter than the others, and registered that it really was another human female, she still didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Adrenaline surged through her veins, and she swung her club at these newcomers.
Her challenge only encouraged them. They strode faster and faster toward her until they broke into a run. They couldn’t possibly be human beings. They loped over the grass with a smooth, skipping canter, and they covered the distance in the blink of an eye. In a flash, the first figure closed on her.
The other women ran around in frenzied terror. They screamed, and some of them snatched up weapons and tried to fight back, too, but the aliens moved too fast. The human female in the line ran with the choppy motion of any other human being. What was she doing there, with those aliens? Why was she attacking the stranded women along with these other strange males?
Chris didn’t stop to think about it. She swung her club at the first male, but he caught it in his hand and moved it harmlessly out of his way. He threw his arms around her and clasped her against his wiry body.
“We’re here to help you,” he growled into her ear. “Stop fighting. We won’t hurt you.”
Other males grabbed the other women and held them helpless, too. None of the women who tried to fight back landed so much as a single blow. In the twinkling of an eye, the aliens removed every weapon from their hands and held them captive.
Chris thrashed against her captor’s arms. She kicked at his shins and smashed her head into his face, but he paid no attention except to move out of her way. His lithe arms pinned her arms to her body, and he lifted her off the ground so her feet kicked at empty air. She was no threat to him or anyone else.
“Let me go!” she shrieked. “You can’t do this to me! Let me go before I beat you black and blue.”
He only chuckled, and all around her, the other aliens surveyed their victory over these helpless women. They stood in a ring around the crash site so none of the women could get away. The other women stopped struggling, and one by one, the aliens set them on their feet and let them go.
Some collapsed in sobs on the ground. Others sat down and stared in front of them at nothing. They couldn’t comprehend what was happening to them. Chris couldn’t stop herself from fighting back. They could tie her up or lock her in a cell. She would never stop fighting. Her own rage and fear took over, and her brain no longer functioned.
The tallest alien strode over to her and nodded at the man holding her. “Put her down. It’s all over now.”
The alien holding her set her feet on the ground, but before he could back off, she aimed her head back and cracked him across the nose. He growled in pain and cursed under his breath, and he immediately strapped his powerful arms around her again and lifted her back off the ground where she couldn’t move.
The tall alien gave a wry grin. “She’s a fiery one. That's for sure.”
Chris kicked and fought harder than ever. She would get away from these things if it was the last thing she ever did. But just then, the human female who advanced on the scene with the aliens rushed forward. She pushed the tall alien out of the way. “Leave her alone, Caleb. Can’t you see she’s out of her mind with terror? You would do the same thing if you were in her situation.”
Caleb turned away. “You talk to her, then, Marissa. You understand her better than anybody.” He walked away and left them alone.
Marissa watched him walk away. Then she sighed and turned to Chris. Her face softened. “It’s all right. You don’t have to fight anymore. They won’t hurt you.”
Chris snarled and spat at her. “You’re one of them! You’re one of these sick aliens. You killed Sasha! I’ll never stop fighting until I kill you, too.”
Marissa studied her. Then she glanced down at Sasha’s still form on the ground. “None of us killed Sasha. We don’t kill helpless women like the Romarie. We came here to help you after your ship crashed on our planet. We came to take you home and give you food and blankets and shelter. Is that what you want?”
Her steady gaze and gentle words started to penetrate Chris’s brain. She still fought against the arms holding her, but her strength weakened, and she didn’t kick as hard. “How do I know I can trust you?”
Marissa smiled. “Look around you. Do you see anyone else here you think you might like to trust?”
Chris frowned. “You’re one of them. I saw you come down the hill with them. They’re surrounding us right now so we can’t get away.”
“That’s right,” Marissa replied. “They don’t want to let you get away because you wouldn’t survive the night on your own. They want to make sure you get to safety before it gets dark.”
Chris frowned. “Who are you? How did you get here, and what are you doing with... with them?”
Marissa sighed. “The Romarie captured me and some of my friends, too. They stopped here on their way to the market, and we escaped—with the help of the people of this planet. They don’t have space flight capability, so we had to stay here. We made our homes here, and we’ve been very happy.”
“Well, I won’t be very happy here,” Chris shot back. “I’m getting out of here.”
Marissa fixed her with a sharp stare. Then she nodded to man holding Chris. “Put her down.”
“Not a chance!” he growled.
A smile touched Marissa’s lips. “It’s all right, Turk. Put her down.”
She brandished her club, but she didn’t attack him. She glared at him, and for one moment, they faced off in equally matched hostility. Then she let her club fall and turned back to Marissa.
Marissa nodded again. “You see? They won’t hurt you.”
Chris narrowed her eyes at Marissa. “Leave me alone.”
“You can’t leave,” Marissa told her. “There isn’t a single vehicle on this planet that is capable of breaking orbit. You’re stuck here like the rest of us. It’s terrible, and you don't want to believe it. No one understands that better than I do, but it’s the sad truth. You won’t get back to Earth. Your life is here now.”
Chris looked around her. On every side, these aliens spoke to the stranded women in the same soothing tones. They must be explaining the same thing to all of them. Some of the women broke down in tears. Others attacked the aliens as best they could, but the aliens never fought back. They kept the women from harm until they calmed down.
Chris’s shoulders slumped. “What is this place?”
“It’s called Angondra,” Marissa told her. “It’s a beautiful planet. You couldn’t ask for a planet more like Earth, and the Angondrans are kind, caring, honorable people.”
Chris lowered her eyes. “When you came down the hill with them, I thought you were coming to kill us or take us prisoner again.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Marissa replied. “Once you’re all ready to travel, we’ll take you back to our village. You can have something to eat and rest.”
Chris nodded. “I suppose your friends will be happy to have some other human beings around.”
Marissa cocked her head. “My friends?”
“The other women with you,” Chris replied. “They’ll be at the village, too, I guess.”
“They aren’t at the village,” Marissa replied. “They all live with different factions.”
Chris blinked. “Factions?”
Marissa waved her hand at the aliens surrounding the crash site. “These aren’t all the Angondrans. They belong to the Lycaon faction, but there are four other factions, the Felsite, the Aqinas, the Avitras, and the Ursidreans. They live in different parts of the planet.”
Chris closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t understand this right now.”
Marissa sighed and took her by the elbow. “No, you can’t. Come on. Let’s get going. We have a long way to go before dark.”