Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Margot was filthy.

Filthy, sweaty, and exhausted, not to mention more than a little confused.

It was a dense forest in which she now found herself wandering, alone and frightened, and possibly concussed. It was a forest all right, and it was very clearly not one on Earth.

Her planet didn't have burgundy and purple-leaved trees, so far as she knew, nor did it possess green vines with hints of turquoise wrapping around them. If that wasn't enough, the small, six-legged fawn-like creature that scared her nearly as much as she frightened it when she stumbled upon it was all the verification she needed.

There was no denying it, much as she wished she could. But this was most definitely not home.

Something else rustled in the brush and she froze, listening intently, instinct overriding her racing mind.

Shit!

She was clearly not alone. The little creature bolted in a flash, its sudden movement making Margot's heart nearly erupt from her chest. She jumped back, startled, but managed to keep herself from running screaming into the unknown woods around her. Panic would only make things worse.

She forced herself to slow her breathing, calming her nerves, and the little critter seemed to do the same, eventually peeking its head out of the shrubbery it had darted into. Apparently, it had decided this odd bipedal creature was not a threat. Or, at least, not one that could catch it. That, and it had back up.

The rustling in the bushes as its mama stepped forth to defend her young sent a fresh burst of adrenaline through Margot's body. At least she knew what had been making the noise, and this animal was magnificent. Magnificent, and much, much larger.

Like its offspring, it had six legs and a deer-like build. But this was a fully mature creature, and where the little one was weak and timid, this well-muscled animal was ready to fight to the death to protect its young. And judging by the scars on her flanks, she'd successfully done just that and survived on more than one occasion.

"It's okay, Mama," Margot said softly, her hands up and open as she stepped back slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you, so please, you don't hurt me, okay?"

The animal watched her, alert and tense, but neither charging nor running away.

"I'm just going to go this way and leave you two in peace, all right? You just stay here and look after your little one."

Amazingly, while it never once took its eyes off her, it seemed content to let her go.

Margot gingerly stepped through some prickling brush and over a large fallen tree limb, putting distance between herself and the animal. It may have seemed like it was merely protecting its offspring and would not charge her, but she knew what some animals back home could do in that situation. And not just the carnivores.

Moose, or murder horses as her ex had called them, were herbivores. Giant ones, but they definitely wouldn't eat you. They would , however, trample you to death just for the fun of it if they were having an off day. Or even not an off day. From what she could gather, moose pretty much just liked trampling things, and trampling was very much not something she wanted to experience. Especially not from an animal with six legs.

Fortunately, the creature seemed content with the interloper departing and after she put a little distance between them, Margot was pleased to note she had not been followed.

"Okay, definitely not that way," she decided, heading back roughly in the direction she'd come from before altering course again.

It was shaping up to be a long and shitty walk, indeed.

She had been aimlessly wandering the woods, lost, dazed, deposited on this crazy world by a crashed alien vessel. Others had been aboard with her when they came hurtling toward this place, but when she woke beneath a pile of debris, her head pounding from the impact of the hard landing, they were gone, and where to she had not an inkling.

She had pushed the branches and dirt off herself in confusion when she regained her senses. Apparently, the hull had torn open as it crashed down through the incredibly dense canopy of the hardy trees, dumping shattered limbs and leaves into the compartment itself, much of it piling on top of her unconscious form. Given the situation, she couldn't really blame anyone for leaving her. Hell, they might not have even realized she was still there, covered as she was.

But Margot had managed to escape relatively unscathed. Bruised and scraped, sure, but otherwise intact. It took a few minutes to shift the debris from on top of herself, but she was very motivated and found the strength to manage it.

"Oh, shit," she mumbled as she took her bearings. "What the hell happened?"

There was some blood in the ruined craft, and it wasn't hers. She made her way out of the torn hull and saw there was some outside as well. Whether that person's injuries had occurred from the impact or from something attacking them after they landed, she had no idea. What did matter was that whatever had happened, she'd been left alone. And so she trekked off into the woods, only interrupted in her progress when she stumbled upon her first experience with that very alien wildlife.

"Now what?" she wondered as she looked around. It had been a few hours since she'd hiked out, and she was decidedly not wanting to go back to the wreck.

She couldn't really see the sun through the dense canopy above, not that it would have really made much of a difference in her situation. She was lost no matter what. Even if she'd had a compass or GPS unit, it wouldn't matter. She wasn't on Earth, and she didn't have a clue what to do.

"I guess I keep walking," she finally decided, picking a direction and forcing her legs to move.

She covered a fair amount of distance, given the situation. Swampy areas were skirted, the clear streams feeding into them crossed as needed. As for the big, rocky outcroppings dotted with dirt-crusted crystals embedded in them, obstructions that seemed to have almost popped up randomly, forced up through the ground tens of thousands of years prior in some tumultuous volcanic upheaval, she climbed them if they were small enough, or just went the long way around if they were too big or too steep.

Despite the situation, Margot somehow wasn't panicking. It was strange, she realized, but somehow, she felt startlingly at ease. She was out in nature, and the air was fresh and crisp. And, given this was an alien world, it was not only refreshing, but it was also not toxic to her human lungs.

All things considered, she was feeling pretty okay. Not great. Her head was still pounding from the crash, after all, and the exercise forcing more blood flow was really not helping any. But she was alive. And she was free. Compared to her prior situation, she was out of the frying pan but had somehow managed to avoid landing in the fire.

She walked on and on, taking in the sights, when she stumbled on a loose patch of ground, pulling herself up short as she nearly tumbled into a pit covered with thin branches and leaves.

"What the hell?" she wondered as she crouched down and carefully looked closer.

It wasn't naturally occurring. Someone had made this. A trap. Primitive and not built with futuristic alien tech at all. Not what she would have expected of an alien world, especially after the whole spaceship abduction thing. But whatever the case, someone was out there. Aliens who could think and plan. Aliens who used tools.

The brush rustled, her ears only picking it up after so long with only the ambient sounds of the forest around her that she'd unconsciously become sensitized to it. She sat perfectly still and watched as another of the same type of animal she saw earlier emerged and cautiously sniffed around, moving closer. She was downwind, she realized, and it hadn't picked up her scent. She also had the revelation that since she was crouched down to look at the trap, she'd inadvertently avoided its gaze. Animals had a weird way of noticing eyes on them even if the owner of them was otherwise camouflaged.

She watched as it sniffed around, searching for something to eat. This one was leaner than the others. An adolescent by the look of it, off grazing on its own. Margot took the opportunity to really get a good look at its morphology. It was fascinating. Utterly alien, yet beautiful as it moved with grace through the foliage.

The animal's head jerked up suddenly, nostrils flaring wide, eyes bright and alert. The normal background sounds of an active forest abruptly went silent, as if every last animal was suddenly on high-alert. Margot felt her stomach knot instinctively at the abrupt absence of sound.

A moment later, a deep, bellowing roar echoed out through the forest. The sound of an apex predator, there was no mistaking it. The motionless animal turned immediately and bolted in a flash, disappearing into the woods in an instant.

Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I need to hide!

Margot's eyes darted all around. She was exposed here. An easy target. And if the horrifying beast she'd heard was nearby, there was no way she could afford to bolt off through the unfamiliar woods. For all she knew, she might run right into its clutches.

She scanned everywhere, but only one place seemed to have even a slight hope of sufficing. There was a small rocky area nearby. It wasn't proper cover, but it could at least provide a little protection from being seen. It would have to do.

She made her choice and hurried to it as quietly and quickly as she could. Fortune was on her side, she realized when she arrived. Some animal had previously made a small den there, but it was clearly long abandoned. The space, however, remained more or less cleared of excess materials. It would be tight, but given the alternative, she would most definitely make it work.

Margot pushed up against the rocks as she slid into the space and pulled the leftover nesting materials over herself, hoping the faded scent of native wildlife would mask her own.

Of course, she had no idea what was out there, nor did she know if it hunted by sight, smell, or sound, but whatever the case, she lay absolutely still, wondering if that was what had happened to the others. Wondering if she would survive and finding herself almost missing the relative safety of her alien captors' ship.

Almost.