Chapter 4

Paige

H e keeps running. I can’t tell if it’s only been twenty minutes or an hour. He doesn’t seem to get tired and his arms around me haven’t loosened.

But I stopped thinking about him a while ago.

All I can do is take in the gorgeous landscape around us.

The further we run, the stranger this place is.

Once we got out of the marshes, the stagnant puddles of water dissipated and the horizon changed. Trees—or rather, trunks—thicker than anything I have ever seen on Earth stretch high into the air. On each side, the trunk grows out with a flat top where smaller trees grow. Little nodules of bright light nestle in the branches that twist and braid into the massive trunk all the way up to where it touches the clouds. Moss covers almost everything and even under the soft gray light of the sky, everything is vibrant.

It almost hurts to look.

I arch to see where he’s taking me and realize he’s running straight to the side of a tall cliff that stretches on both sides nearly as far as the eye can see. A mountain.

Is that where we’re going?

Where is he taking me?

The ship is gone. The girls are safe—at least for now—but where does that leave me?

My training kicks in.

Being a wilderness guide comes with a lot of helpful knowledge about what happens if you get lost. Stay where you are. If you have to move, look for a river and follow it downstream. Change your voicemail greeting to your last location and what time you got lost.

The basics.

But as a woman, I also know that if you’re ever kidnapped, you almost never want to get to the second location. That’s where the true danger lies.

On those long hikes, when I trained to get my wilderness guide license and explored countless national parks, I spent too much time listening to true crime podcasts for that little tidbit not to sink in.

I need to fight. I need to get away from this alien before he gets me to whatever hovel he’s taking me to. To eat me, to torture me. I shiver in his arms as I shove the thoughts out of my head.

As if he felt me tremble, he slows a bit and lowers his gaze.

This is my chance.

I rear back and launch my fist forward into the front of his throat. My fingers smash into his corded neck and my alien kidnapper drops me instantly, choking and coughing for air. My bare feet hit the damp ground with a thud and I scramble to get away, my heart pounding.

Do I run back to the ship?

No, I can’t go back there and put the other women in danger.

The alien is still coughing, doubled over trying to catch his breath when I take off. I sprint toward one of the massive trees, my heels pounding across the soft, slightly mushy ground. There’s nowhere to go. I’m lost. I’m disoriented. My head is pounding and as I turn around to look behind me, my alien is sprinting after me with a speed and grace that steals the breath from my lungs.

I can’t run from him. Especially not without my boots.

I can only hope to delay my fate.

I keep sprinting, pumping harder and harder. My muscles are screaming to stop as his footfalls grow nearer. I’m struggling to breathe as I get closer to a tree. If I can just get there…

If I can just make it…

A strong arm wraps around my waist and yanks.

I scream as I’m torn off my feet but my legs tangle with his and suddenly we’re sideways. I squeeze my eyes shut and prepare for impact, but it doesn’t come. All I feel are his arms around me, protecting me as we hit the ground.

A deep, guttural grunt sounds from his chest and my stomach flutters in response.

I open my eyes and he’s there, looking me over with his head cocked. His amber eyes are wide with curiosity, his full lips parted as he speaks to me in a language I can’t understand.

It’s too aggressive. Too rough for my ears. But something in the look in his eyes makes me wish I could understand him.

He hovers over me, the patterns on his chest shining brighter than I’ve ever seen them. His scent hits me again as he breathes me in, leathery and delicious.

Wait. What the fuck?

With all my strength, I shove at his chest but he doesn’t move a damn inch.

Then, his expression changes. His brows pinch on a frown as he pulls me up and lifts me again, this time with one arm under my back and the other holding my legs like a baby. Like he can’t trust me.

I scoff.

How embarrassing. He’s literally the one who kidnapped me!

He maintains a firm hold on my body as he takes off running again, heading straight for the mountain. When we get close enough, I realize he’s taking me toward a slit in the cliff wall, a crack just wide enough for his broad shoulders.

We duck inside and things are completely dark. I blink over and over again to try and acclimate, but it’s no use. I’m blind down here. Soft noises fill around us—voices maybe?

We walk further and finally, little nodules of luminescence like the ones on the massive trees flicker to life. The bright green balls of light are like chunky little energy sources stuck within the very rock of the walls around us. Soon, the entire walkway is lit up in soft lighting—as if I turned on a floor lamp. Or a calming LED light.

My heart aches.

I had said goodbye to my apartment in Chicago, dropped off my keys at the front desk with the excitement of a new life in the terraform community. Life on Earth wasn’t full of life for me and I was looking for a change, but as we walk further into the caverns, I realize I wasn’t expecting a change quite like this one.

At least when I boarded the ship to Mars, I was choosing my future. I was in control. I knew that the Mars colony would offer similar luxuries and quality of life.

This alien isn’t giving me a choice.

And this place is…

Tears brim my eyes as the walkway widens and he slides through this place with ease. It opens up as the cavern ceiling lifts. Little skylights appear allowing misty beams of light to trickle down and cast shadows across the dirt floor. I choke back the emotions threatening to swallow me whole as we arrive at an archway with a leather tapestry hanging down like a makeshift door. He slides the leather aside and enters, setting me down in what appears to be a private room.

Is this… his room?

Does that mean there are other aliens down here too?

I wrap my arms around myself, a chill settling in my bones.

My alien kidnapper steps further inside, outstretching a long arm and pointing from wall to wall. I follow his movements and then he points to his chest.

The luminescent pattern across his dark gray skin flares bright.

He points to me.

I suck in a deep breath.

He’s trying to tell me something.

This room is his. But now it’s also… mine?