6. Alana

Alarms begin screaming throughout the shuttle. And though I don't know what they mean at first, it becomes glaringly obvious soon enough.

We're going to crash.

I creep quietly out of my room, hoping to find some clue as to what is going on. Crew members shout instructions to one another and run about, trying to save the shuttle. I try to find Karvex, though I'm not sure why. He'd probably be angry with me for interrupting him or leaving my hold. But right now, I have no idea what to do, and if anyone does, it's him.

To my surprise, I find him rather quickly. He spots me and pushes his way towards me. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say he was looking for me.

"Alana," he says, his voice firm. "You need to get strapped down somewhere right now. The shuttle will be breaching the atmosphere in a few minutes, and it's going to get really rocky from there."

He doesn't wait for me to respond before dragging me towards a chair.

"Isn't there anything we can do to keep from crashing?" I ask as he straps me down tightly into the chair.

His face becomes grim as he shakes his head. "No, the controls aren't responding properly. This shuttle is going down."

A sudden jolt hits the hull, like something's slammed into us. Karvex growls. "We've breached the atmosphere. Hang on, I'm going to do everything I can to try and land this thing."

And then he's taking off towards the bridge.

"Wait!" I reach out a hand, unsure of why I called out to him.

Idiot, he's going to try and put the shuttle down as smoothly as he can. You don't need him here, a voice in the back of my head reminds me.

You shouldn't want him here at all!another voice chimes in. He's the reason you're on this doomed ship in the first place.

The voice in my head makes a very good point, and yet I can't help the pang of worry for him. Especially as the shuttle begins to shake more violently.

I grip the straps with all my might until my knuckles turn white. My teeth rattle, and I try not to bite off my own tongue.

It feels as though we're simultaneously dropping and being slammed into the ground all at once.

There are panicked cries all around me.

"Everyone strap down!"

"We're going down!"

"One of the engines just exploded!"

"Hang on!"

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to drown out the voices. I try to drown out my own panic that threatens to consume me.

More than ever, I wish that I would just fall unconscious. Then I'd either wake up and this would be done with, or I'd be dead. And I guess that would still mean this would all be over.

I brace myself for the moment we make contact with the ground, and even then, I'm not prepared.

The jolt is even more violent than when we hit the atmosphere. Instead of meeting the ground and skidding to a halt, it hits the ground and bounces before crashing down to the ground again.

Then, right before my eyes, the shuttle rips in two. One half where Karvex is. And the other with me. As if on instinct, I reach out to him, pleading with him to come save me. Protect me. I swear, I see the red glint of his eyes watching me in desperate apology.

My half goes flying away from the other one. It hits the ground hard, rolls, and tumbles.

It jerks me so violently in my seat that my head slams into the back of the metal chair. Mercifully, it's what finally knocks me out.

I wake up feeling like I'm being crushed. Groaning, I force my eyes open and take in my surroundings.

The half of the shuttle I'm on is completely wrecked. Wires spark, and whole sections of the shuttle are torn clean off.

It's frankly amazing I'm alive at all.

As I take in my surroundings, I realize that I'm on my back. Shakily, I lift a hand to my chest to try and unstrap myself. I wince at the pain that shoots through me, and I have to shut my eyes to keep my head from swimming.

I finally get the strap off, but when I try to sit up, my whole body screams at me. My ribs feel like they want to cave in on my lungs. My back hurts like it's been beaten to a pulp. And my right arm has a shooting pain going down it.

All I want is to lie there and fall unconscious again. But I can't do that. This whole thing is collapsing in on itself, and it'll crush me if I don't get out soon.

"Come on. Get. Up," I tell myself.

Taking in a few deep breaths, I grit my teeth and do just that. It's excruciating, and I nearly collapse several times just trying to stand. But still, I manage.

Swaying on my feet for a moment, I try to take in my surroundings from this angle. There are crew members scattered everywhere. Though I can see their forms, I've somehow managed to be launched a fair distance away from any of them.

I could go check on them. I could see if they're still alive or if they need help. But another, louder part of me knows this is my chance to try to run for it.

Even as I make up my mind to ignore the others, my stomach churns a little with guilt. I tell myself they don't deserve my pity. These are my captors. And unlike Karvex, they never treated me well.

Karvex.

My breath hitches in my throat at the thought of him. Of our half of the shuttle careening away from his.

Is his half as bad as ours? Is he even still alive?

Or even worse, is he alive and pinned under something? Or is he bleeding out slowly with no one to help him?

The thought sends an extreme wave of panic through me. But why? This man is no friend of mine. More than that, he's the reason I was taken in the first place. His death should bring me nothing but joy.

With that in mind, I try to focus fully on my own escape. After all, I'm on an entirely new planet now.

I can run away.

One human slave girl isn't worth enough to anyone to chase after. I could try and make a new life for myself. Find work and start over. I can go in the opposite way from where the shuttle crashed and never have to think about Karvex and his wretched crew again.

I begin walking out of the shuttle, grateful more than ever that I still have my shoes. By the time I make it out, I'm breathing hard, which makes my ribs feel even worse. But I'm out.

Now out of the shuttle, I see that we haven't crashed on a planet at all, but an asteroid. No matter. Planet, moon, asteroid. It doesn't matter because I am alive and free.

So why do I feel like something is missing? Like I should be worried about something?

Karvex immediately comes to mind. I shake the thought away.

"No, I don't care what happens to him," I mumble, trying to convince myself.

I begin shuffling away from the broken shuttle. Away from where I know the other half with Karvex in it has landed.

It doesn't matter what happened to him. Just because he was kind to you a few times doesn't mean he"s worth saving. Just keep going.

And yet, the further I walk away, the more I know I have to turn around. Like an invisible thread is connected between us. Like it's trying to pull me back to him.

I grit my teeth.

"This is ridiculous," I hiss. "Why am I so conflicted about this? Just keep going!"

I order my body to once again move, but I only get a few paces before I find myself looking back.

Why? Why do I want to go find him so much? Why do I care?

Because he had cared about me.

The answer is so sudden and abrupt that it nearly tips me over. Without him strapping me down as he did, I would be dead right now.

But there's something more that tugs at the back of my mind. Something that, when I try to grasp it, seems to slip more out of reach.

There's something between Karvex and me that I can't explain. And I know that if I leave him and never find out, it'll drive me mad.

Slowly, I turn the rest of my body to look where the other half of the shuttle should have crashed. There's an obvious trail from where our half rolled and skidded along.

My mind and my heart scream at me, both pulling me in different directions. My mind tells me that I'll never have a better chance to run and be free. But my heart wants, no, needs to know Karvex is safe and alive.

I feel like screaming in frustration. Karvex is the bad guy. I shouldn't go back for him. If he's in trouble, surely his own men will help him. Why me?

But even then, I already know I've made up my mind.