Page 2 of Warrior Rescued

Elena froze. “There’s no one to come help us?!”

“The protocol says…” Sidi paused and looked at her.

Although she didn’t know the Miran Sona then, it was patently clear he was in as much shock as she was and wasn’t thinking straight.

Elena blinked and focused on the deep furrow in the canyon below where the wreckage had slid into the chasm, grateful she’d had sense enough to stop Sidi. Then again, maybe it would’ve been better off if they both died that day.

“Stop bitching and get moving,” she muttered to herself.

There’d been no time to be pissed at her abductor, sad at the loss of life, or angry about the loss of the life she once had. There still wasn’t, not if she wanted to survive. There was so much to do, and when the volcanic winter arrived, she wouldn’t be able to make the trek here.

Elena pulled in a deep breath, but her sigh was interrupted. She sputtered as she tugged the makeshift mask out of her mouth, grimacing at the taste of charcoal on her tongue.

“This fucking place really is Hell!” Even breathing was a chore on this godforsaken planet. She snarled in frustration as she re-tied her mask.

The tide would be coming soon, filling up the canyon floor, and unless she wanted to drown in the tunnels or get swept into the chasm, she needed to get her ass in gear. Elena huffed in irritation then continued jogging down the steep rocky path. It hadn’t always been this easy to traverse, but over time her ample ass was replaced by muscle and the path worn by use. Proud of what she’d accomplished, she leapt from one rock to the next as she reached the canyon floor, finishing with a little dance.

Her victory was short-lived when she noticed the tracks around the wreckage of the Miran Sona midsection. There wasn’t an abundance of creatures on Hell, and none had tracks like this.

It’s them.

She froze and looked around for the reptiles. Why were they nosing around the midsection of the crash? There wasn’t anything worth salvaging but the twisted glass-like metal. Anger filled her when she noticed the scaly assholes had disturbed the grave rocks covering the dead. They’d even messed with the severely damaged pods. What were they looking for now? The vile bastards had always stuck to their side of the canyon.

Not always.Her mind drifted to the day the scaly green fuckers landed.

She and Sidi saw the fleet of small ships descending and for the first time in months they’d both felt a glimmer of hope. That hope was nearly dashed when several of the vessels went down, defeated by the turbulent atmosphere, but others thankfully made it. They nearly died hiking foolishly fast across the flats with its boiling geysers, desperate to reach the landing party in time. It had been a relief to find the newcomers still scouting the canyon floor closest to the chasm. Sidi had looked the happiest he’d ever been. This place was hard on them both, but the Miran Sona were a fragile race and Hell had been pure torture for the pale, lanky alien. She was certain he’d break a leg the way he rushed down the canyon wall to greet the landing party.

Her first glimpse of the reptiles had been as shocking as when she first laid eyes on Sidi. Unlike the Miran Sona, she wasn’t used to other races and hung back. The strange people had tails and green scaly skin, like overgrown iguanas. Maybe it was the same instinct that made humans avoid snakes but she had a bad feeling.

Her chin quivered, recalling what happened next. The assholes hadn’t even bothered to wait and see what Sidi wanted. They fired on him, killing him instantly, leaving her utterly alone in this wasteland. Without Sidi, she never would’ve learned to use what little they’d managed to salvage, and more than that, he’d become a friend despite having stolen her from home.

Elena shook off the shitty memory and looked around. Whatever brought the bastards here, they weren’t here anymore.

“Stick to the far side of the chasm, or better yet, leave,” she growled.

But that was doubtful. The scaly fuckers were up to something. The last time she scaled the far canyon rim, she’d seen the wall they’d built to hide whatever they were doing.

A spike of anxiety struck and she started sprinting toward the tunnels. Her gaze darted every which way as she ran, looking for signs the bastards had been here, too. She prayed the tides that rushed through the canyon would keep the reptiles from exploring the tunnels, but they’d come back to the wreckage so they were obviously persistent.

Elena sighed in relief when she reached the tunnel entrance and didn’t see any of their tracks. Her hand trailed along the rocky wall as she picked her way deeper into the old lava tube. A smile split her face when the first blue neon light came into view. It drew her in like a moth to a flame and she moved toward it, feeling more relieved as another and another appeared. The dim glow helped her locate the alien lamp, though she could’ve probably found it from memory by now. She flicked on the lamp and it cast a comforting glow through the tunnel.

“How is everyone?” she asked, though none of them could reply.

She smiled fondly at the stasis pods lining the rocky walls for as far as she could see. This is what kept her going.

“Hello, Marcus,” she spoke to the hibernating man, roughly in his forties, whose real name was probably something like Tyrese or Jackson. He reminded her of a guy she’d known in high school, so that’s what she called him.

“Your power cell levels look good.” She checked the sensor and then hit the button to engage the levitation field beneath his stasis pod. “It doesn’t look like the tide is affecting your pod.”

At first, she’d been hesitant to leave everyone in these tunnels. It seemed impossible the pods could withstand being under water, but as they consolidated everyone in one place, Sidi reminded her the canyon had flooded a dozen times already. Once the reptiles arrived, she hated the notion of leaving everyone so close to the vile bastards and their growing fortress, yet even with the levitation field, there was no way she’d be able to bring them all to her cavern on the mountainside. There were just too many pods and it had been a monumental effort collecting them in the first place.

I hope to God there’s no one in the chasm with those scaly bastards nosing around.Her stasis pod had been so close to the drop, that it was merely luck she wasn’t down there. Elena made the sign of the cross.

For a time, she’d entertained the selfish dream that some of her family might be down there, since they certainly weren’t among the people she and Sidi rescued or buried. Her father, mother, several aunts, uncles and cousins had been at the lakeside reunion that fateful day she was abducted. For her to be the only one taken seemed ridiculous. But now she prayed they weren’t here. Only a real bitch would wish this fate on someone.

That was also why she’d never awoken her fellow humans, no matter how much she longed to once Sidi was gone. Sidi had assured her everyone could survive roughly a decade like this, as they prayed and waited for rescue. It would be plain cruel to wake them up to a life of struggle, eating bugs and ferns to survive. It was doubtful the ecosystem surrounding her mountainside cavern could even support this many people. No, that wasn’t a life she’d wish on anyone, not when there was an alternative, at least for now.

“Sweet dreams, Marcus.” She smiled and moved on, selecting another pod at random to do her weekly inspection.

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