Page 20 of Crash Landing
I jerked myself out of his grip and grimaced at his cocky eyes. A glimpse of my old self flashed before me and I shoved him as hard as I could in the chest. He wasn’t expecting it because he stumbled backward. He laughed at my sad attempt to fend for myself and shook his head.
“Now, now. You’re just adding wood to the fire. You bruise me, and that goes in my report.”
“Are you serious? You’re disgusting! All this over plants? That’s pathetic.” I started walking again until I remembered a little detail about our masks that had slipped my mind until that moment. I pivoted once more to face him. “Besides, these masks record twelve hours at a time. Everything you just said is on both our feeds.”
Bad, bad, bad. He wasn’t going to like me reminding him of that.
I suddenly felt the need to get back to camp as quickly as possible, but that time his hand caught my arm, jerking me abruptly to face him. I slammed into his front where he held both my shoulders in a tight grip. Fear washed through me like ice water and I stared up at him, wide-eyed.
“Oh, stop. You think I’d touch you like that without a simulator? You’re probably full of filthy alien contaminants from your time on Sylos.”
I wasn’t. Four doctors made sure of it. Still, I didn’t like being called filthy and I didn’t like the way he was holding me.
“But as for those recordings, you and I need to fix that before you go anywhere.”
“Let go of me.” I writhed in his grip, but he wasn’t easing up. “Let go of me!”
When he finally did, my foot caught a root and I flew backward, hitting my head on the ground hard enough to make white spots appear in my vision. Looking up at the trees, I was sure of it now. The woods were getting darker. The day was getting later and I was alone with a man who was trying to ruin my life.
“Get up. We need to erase the last hour of feed and get back to camp, Ms. Worthington,” he sighed like the whole ordeal was a bore now.
I rolled to all fours, ignoring his outstretched hand. Slowly, I lurched to my feet, feeling a very prominent wetness on the back of my head. Reaching back, I felt a stinging bump on my skull. With my glove, I couldn’t actually feel more than that, but when I looked at my hand, red streaks covered my fingers and my mask’s readings suddenly went wild with physical reports.
Physical trauma reading. Seek medical.
“Shit,” Mr. Hemburg hissed. “Reset your mask’s records so we can head back and get you looked at.”
I pulled away from him before he could grab me again and started heading the way I thought would lead me to camp.
“Leave me alone.”
“Ms. Worthington. Don’t be foolish. The sooner I reset your mask, the sooner we can get you help.”
I started walking faster, every warning bell in my brain going off like a siren.
“Ms. Worthington.”
I kept walking. And then he stopped using his voice and I heard his footsteps walk briskly up behind me. I tensed justbefore his hands were on my arm. I tried to duck out of his grip only to see his fingers close over the front of my mask.
“What are you—”
Before I knew it, my mask was yanked off my face and when I spun, he was quickly trying to reset the data readings. He’d pass it off as a malfunction, most likely. But more importantly, I was without a mask and breathing Phesah’s air. I reached for the breather in a panic only for him to pull away from me.
“Give it to me!”
I grabbed for it again and when he didn’t relinquish it, I resorted to wrestling it out of his hands. He shoved me again, but when he did, I used the momentum to rip the mask away. I made a run for it, not bothering to put it back on when I heard his footsteps chasing close behind.
As I ran, I noticed the air around me. It was fresh, thick, and humid, but breathable. For the moment, at least. Until some alien pathogen found its way into my airways and I started hacking up my lungs. But I couldn’t worry about that yet. Mr. Hemburg was on my heels. I was small, but he wasn’t the fittest guy in the world judging by his speed. I could make it. Maybe.
But then his arms were around me and his weight dragged me to the ground. We both went rolling across the uneven soil, through unidentified plants and across jagged stones. I reared back and elbowed him in the ribs, trying to stand, but in the near darkness, I was directionless. I hesitated to get my bearings and he grabbed at me again, yanking the mask from my hands and pushing me with his other arm.
I tripped backward and felt my back foot sink down behind me. There was a hill and I was plummeting down it. I screamed as I rolled across the steep incline for what felt like forever and then the ground finally evened out… for about half a second before it was gone completely.
I’d just fallen off a cliff. I was rendered silent by the shock of it all as I fell down into the darkness, but by some miracle, I hit water instead of stone. I sank instantly beneath the surface. The cool liquid engulfed my face and flooded my nose, turning me in all directions. It was a river, deep and flowing rapidly. And I was stuck in it.
I managed to claw my way to the surface for only a moment before I was dragged down again. When I came back up, I searched frantically for something to grab hold of, but I could hardly see the shore let alone something to use as leverage. I tried to call for help, but the moment I opened my mouth, it filled with water. I was thrashing and searching but to no avail. Then my ankle hit a rough stone. Then my knee hit something and I did my best to lift myself onto my back.
When in white water, you were supposed to lay on your back. I remembered that from some survival documentary I watched as a teenager and I was glad it stuck with me because, in my panic, I managed to do it. I rolled onto my back and I shut my eyes tight, letting the river sweep me away. All the while, I wanted to cry. I wanted to fall apart over all the mistakes I’d made and all the shit it had brought me.
