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Are you looking for more alien stories? I have another series called ALIEN CHAOS. Check out chapter one from the first book, DESTROYED.
You can also get your copy wherever eBooks are sold!
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CHAPTER ONE
Sasha
THE GRAVE IN FRONT of me is no longer fresh. The grass has grown over the place where he is buried. It doesn’t seem like enough time has passed for him to be fully, completely gone, but it has. I can’t remember what he smells like anymore. I can’t remember exactly how his voice sounds. It’s been a year. I’m starting to forget, and my heart hurts when I admit that to myself.
What kind of mother am I? Who forgets the way their little boy’s voice sounds?
It shouldn’t be possible. I watched him grow. I was with him every step of the way. I was there when he spoke my name for the first time and for the last time, and all of the times in between. Now I’m forgetting, but I don’t want to.
I want to remember.
Then again, maybe I don’t.
Sometimes remembering is too hard.
I kneel in front of Zack’s grave, and I place my hands on the space where he is buried. A small, tiny plaque holds his name, along with twenty others. There’s not enough room for full burials anymore. Each person is cremated: their ashes carefully lowered into a gravesite. My little boy doesn’t even get his own plot. It’s not like things used to be, long ago.
Things are different now.
“Time to go,” a voice pulls me from my thoughts. I shake my head, pleading, but I know it’s no use. Caleb hauls me to my feet, and I drop right back down, tears streaming down my face. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with my little boy. I want to be here with him.
Always.
It’s what a good mother would do.
It’s what I should do.
I should stay. I should stay and let the world pass me by. There’s no one to miss me anymore. There’s no one left to remember me when I’m gone. It was me and Zack. Then it was just me. Why should I get up and leave? I could stay with him for just a little while longer.
I could stay with my little boy.
“Sasha,” Caleb says, more gently this time. “We have to go. We’re going to miss the ship.”
“I don’t care about the ship,” I tell him.
“Well, I do,” he says. “And I don’t want to be on this planet when it blows up. Let’s go.”
That’s what it’s come down to.
The planet we live on is in the midst of a war. It’s always been impossible for Cravenloua and Dreagle to get along, but now there’s no reason to stay. Word on the street is that we’re losing the war. I know that if we don’t leave now, we’re going to die.
I don’t want to die.
I know my cousin doesn’t, either.
“I know you miss him,” Caleb says finally.
“More than anything,” I choke out.
“He wouldn’t want you to die, Sasha.”
“No,” I agree, shaking my head. “He wouldn’t.”
“We have to go.”
I stare at my baby boy’s grave for one more minute, wishing above all else that he was coming with me. The time since he left me has been slow and impossible. Each minute, I have to remind myself how to breathe, how to think, how to be.
And now I’m running away again.
This time, it’s permanent.
This time, it’s for good.
This time, I’m going to get a fresh start.
For real.
I don’t care about fresh. I don’t care about starting again. Caleb keeps telling me that I need this, that it will be good for me. The only thing I can focus on right now is taking things one minute at a time. One step at a time. There are days when the pain is so strong, so palpable, that it takes everything I have just to keep breathing. I force myself to eat, to drink, and to move my body. Sometimes I think I should have killed myself when I lost Zack.
Sometimes I think it would have been easier than living without him.
Caleb takes my hand and we run. We move swiftly through the apocalyptic world around us. On the surface, Cravenloua is still looks alive. Not every village has been ravaged by the war. In some places, Martians and dragons have come for the citizens. They’ve offered safety and asylum on their planets. Not here, though. Not in my home.
Although there’s no fighting near our little town, every citizen has felt the impact of the war. We’ve all felt the hunger, noticed the lack of supplies, and seen the dwindling populations as citizens go to fight. There’s a stillness in the air now that I can’t quite explain. There’s something that hangs over us, reminding us that even in places that are not defined as war zones, the world is ending. It is going to die.
We weren’t supposed to know that Cravenloua would be destroyed. The rest of the village doesn’t know. They still think we’re getting help from the other planets in our universe. People walk down the street, and they think sure, we’re at war, but they don’t realize just how bad things have gotten. They still cling to hope. They look past all of the signs because they want to believe that things will get better.
This time, I don’t think they’re going to.
The town we live in is small and isolated: hundreds of miles from the nearest big city, which is why our food and water is delivered by airship. The soldiers who are on Cravenloua have come from many different planets to help us. There are Sapphirans. There are Mirroeans. There are even a couple of Earthborn humans, if rumor serves to be correct.
Last night, Caleb and I were in the right place at the right time to overhear some of the Sapphiran soldiers talking about how they shouldn’t have bothered with the food delivery since the planet is going to be destroyed in just a few hours.
“Let them have one last good meal,” the taller soldier said. He was more than seven feet high: probably closer to eight feet. The other man shook his head.
“It’s a waste of resources. This food could be used for other planets. You know, places that are going to be around for a while. Or have you forgotten that the world exists beyond Dreagle and Cravenloua?”
“Don’t be a complete asshole, Red.” the first man said. “We came here to be kind. We came here to show goodness and compassion to people in need. These citizens didn’t ask to be born on a dead planet. They didn’t ask to be from a place that is going to be lost to the wars of Dreagle.”
“You wish you could save them,” the second man said thoughtfully.
“Isn’t that the entire point of us coming here?” The first man furrowed his brow. “We should have worried less about bringing food and more about helping the citizens escape. There are hundreds of other planets. They could have found refuge. They could have continued living. Now it’s too late for any of that.”
The second man reached out and touched his companion’s shoulder. “It’s going to be all right,” he said. “When the sun rises, it will all be over.”
The first man nodded. “What time do we leave?”
“0800,” his friend said. “That will give us enough time to get out of the blast radius.”
“I wish we could save them all.”
“Me too, my friend. Me too.”
My feet hit the ground as I run, keeping up with Caleb’s grueling pace. He was kind enough to bring me to say goodbye to Zack for the last time. Now I try not to replay last night’s conversation over and over again. The soldiers knew the planet would be destroyed. They still brought us food and supplies one last time. The attitude of our city is somber now, though. On some level, I think people realize that the war is going to end soon.
Maybe they just don’t realize it’s not going to end in the way we want it to.
“How much longer?” I manage to get out. My chest feels tight and it’s hard to breathe. I’m out of shape. It’s been months since I ran: maybe longer. “Do we have enough time?”
“We’ll make it,” Caleb says. “Just run.”
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
My feet hit the dirt over and over again as we make our way to the place where the supply ship is docked. Security is very thin in the city. All of the best soldiers were sent to fight long ago. Once we get to the ship, though, everything will be fine. We’ll be able to sneak on – or fight on- and hide away.
Neither one of us knows what we’re going to face once we’re off Cravenloua.
In all honesty, it just doesn’t matter.
We need a place where can find peace, where we can live.
We need a place that holds more for us than just death.
Soon Caleb and I reach the docking station and we stop, peering at the ship from behind a cluster of trees.
“Four soldiers,” I tell him. They aren’t from around here. “Sapphirans.”
They’re easy to spot because they’re huge.
Their skin also has a blue tint to it, which makes them stand out from just about any other type of person.
“Doesn’t look like they’re taking anything too seriously today.”
We watch for a few minutes, but they all seem to be chatting, rather than loading the ship back up. Then again, the people of my world are so hungry that I doubt there are any supplies to load back up. Anytime a supplier comes, the remaining citizens gather around and practically fall over one another for even the smallest scrap of food.
It’s sad.
That’s what we’ve come to, though.
“Looks like they’re just waiting to leave,” I tell him. We wait for a minute, then five, and then ten. Eventually, one of the soldiers receives a message on his communications device and they move around to the other side of the ship. The hatch is open on this side, and when Caleb motions for me to follow him, I do. We book it to the ship and quickly dart up the platform so we can get inside. It’s a narrow ramp, but we make it in record time.
That’s it.
We’re inside.
So, this is what a space ship looks like.
Caleb seems to adapt to the lighting easier than I do. I blink, trying to come to terms with just how bright everything seems. The sun still shines on Cravenloua, but we haven’t had lights or electricity for a long time. Getting used to it again will take some time. Caleb grabs my head and silently leads me down a hallway. I don’t have much time to look around. Everything seems so new compared to home. The walls shine. The floors are solid metal. I find myself longing to explore just a little. I haven’t felt curious in such a long time that the sensation is foreign now, but welcome. There’s not enough time for me to sate that need right now, though. Maybe another time. Maybe I’ll be able to explore in the future.
We move swiftly but don’t see anyone in the hall. We turn once and then a second time. I don’t know where we’re going. Caleb obviously doesn’t, either, but he’s quick-witted. He was a pilot, once upon a time, and he makes navigating this ship look easy. Somehow, he manages to find a hatch with a ladder leading down.
“Cargo area,” he whispers, and he leads me down the ladder.
I wonder if this vessel is similar to the ship where Caleb worked long ago, but I bite my tongue to keep from asking questions. It’s not the right time. If we screw this up or we’re caught before the ship takes off, then that’s it.
It’s over.
We’re dead.
And even though life often doesn’t seem worth living anymore, I’m not ready to face the thought of death or dying, especially when I’m so close to being able to escape with Caleb. He’s the only one I have left anymore, and I’m not willing to do anything to screw this up. I turn, carefully moving down the ladder before me. Each step seems to take forever. I do my best not to choke or slip. Heights have never been my thing, and while I’m not daring to look down, I imagine it’s a long, long way down into the belly of this ship.
Caleb moves swiftly down the ladder: almost silently. I follow him and try not to behave in a way that is clumsy or that gives away the fact that I’m not used to this. My life on Cravenloua has always been very simple. I’ve lived an ordinary life. I’m not sporty and I’m not exactly in peak physical shape, nor have I ever been. I can run a little. We can all run when we need to. But climbing? This is so much different. My foot slips from the ladder and I grab one of the upper rungs with my hand as I balance myself once again. My stomach lurches as I realize I almost slipped and fell.
“Careful,” Caleb whispers. I try not to hiss at him. I bite back the sharp retort that’s begging to be let loose. Doesn’t he know that I am being careful? Would I really want to slip or fall on purpose? Come on, Caleb. I shake my head, take a deep breath, and keep moving. After a few more minutes of climbing in the silence, I hear Caleb hop off the ladder. It shakes slightly as he climbs off and I breathe a sigh of relief. I’m almost there.
One step at a time, I finally make it to the bottom. The ground feels amazing beneath my feet. It feels like I was suspended in air for the longest time, and I am so, so glad we’re done. Now that I’m standing, I take a quick second to look around. There are low lights along the walkway on the floor. They aren’t enough to see everything that surrounds us, but there is enough light for us to get a general idea of where we need to step and how we can move safely.
There are large shapes on either side of the walkway.
“Storage,” Caleb murmurs. “Come. This way.”
He takes my hand, gripping it in the darkness, and leads me down the little path. I trust Caleb with my life. Even though right now, this seems like it’s going to be impossible, there’s a part of me that is dying to believe this is going to work. We’ve already made it onto the ship. We’ve made it into the cargo hold. We just have to make it to a hiding spot and then we’ll be fine.
We’ll be okay.
Everything will be okay.
Caleb and I reach a small door. He tries it, but the door is locked.
“Are you going to pick it?” I ask him, but he shakes his head.
“Not worth the trouble. That room could be important. I don’t want to risk the chance that someone might come down and use it. No, we need the emptiest room: the one that people never go to. If we can find a space that the crew has essentially forgotten about, we’ll have the best possible shot at staying safe and alive throughout this journey.”
I nod even though he can’t see me, and I keep walking. We try a few more doors. A couple of them are unlocked, but Caleb is unhappy with each room. He mutters a few different things, but suddenly the lights flip on and we hear voices. People are talking loudly and I don’t know where the voices are coming from. All I know is that we don’t have any more time to be picky. Someone is going to turn down this corridor and they’re going to see us.
Then all bets are off.
We’ll be caught before we even leave the planet.
It’s a death sentence.
Without a word, I grab Caleb’s hand, push open the closest door, and pull him inside. He starts to protest but I hush him and get us in the room. I close it quietly behind us and we both just stand there for a long time. The voices continue until they’re directly outside of the door. They’re almost hissing. It’s as if whoever is talking doesn’t want to be overheard, but that just makes me more nervous.
I don’t want to know anyone’s secrets.
I don’t want to be a liability.
If someone finds us and they know we’ve overheard some important information, we’ll definitely be murdered. It probably won’t be quick or painless, either.
“He doesn’t know what he’s gotten us into,” one voice says. A female. It’s a female voice.
“It’s typical,” the other voice says. This one is male.
“Once we’re in the air and we’re stabilized, we’ll have a chance,” the female says.
“If he doesn’t do anything stupid again,” the man says.
“We have to take control when he least expects it.”
“Fat chance,” the male says. “He’s never alone. It’s not like we’re going to get a shot at him anytime soon. Anna would never allow it.”
“Well, she’s not going to get much choice, either. Max has run this ship for far too long. It’s time for someone else to take over.”
“Who the hell does he think he is? He turns down project after project that would bring us cash, fame. I don’t know about you, but I’m long past ready to do something for myself. I’m ready to find a nice, quiet little space to retire. Getting some decent gigs could do that for us.”
“No more charity missions.”
“We just need to find the perfect time.”
The voices pause for a minute, and then the woman says, “Before we get too close to Chaos.”
“When we’re within a day or two’s flight of the planet,” the man agrees. “He’ll be busy organizing our re-entry. He won’t have time to pay attention to us.”
“That’s it, then,” the woman says. I hear a hint of satisfaction in her voice. “Go find Red. Fill him in. He knows, right?”
“Of course.”
“And he’s on board with everything? He’s not still loyal to Max?”
“He and Max go way back, but he’s tired of being treated like he doesn’t matter. We all know Max favors Anna. She can’t do any wrong. Everyone else is fair game as far as he’s concerned.”
“Then our work here is done.”
The two people are in agreement and my stomach turns as I listen to their voices. Are they talking about some sort of mutiny? Is that what we’re walking into? I don’t want to be a part of that. I don’t want that to happen on my last chance. This is my time to survive. This is my opportunity to live.
I don’t turn to look at Caleb because I don’t want to see his face right now. He heard everything that I did. He heard them plotting.
This means two very dangerous things.
First, it means that the entire future of the ship we’re hiding on is in danger. When a mutiny happens, it never goes exactly as planned. In fact, it usually goes a lot worse than planned. Someone always gets hurt who didn’t expect to get hurt. Sometimes someone dies. In some cases, the people who take over don’t realize just how much work is involved and they screw everything up.
Second, it means that we’ve just overheard some very terrible plans. If someone finds out we’re down here, they’re going to realize what we overheard. They’re going to realize that Caleb and I could potentially sell them out and they’re going to take care of the problem.
I don’t want that to happen.
There are footsteps then and the voices fade away as they continue down the hall. The door of the room we’re in is completely sealed off, so I can’t even see slivers of light from beneath the door. I want to imagine that when the people reach the end of the hall, they shut off the lights and the storage space is once again cast into darkness, but it’s impossible to tell.
Caleb and I stand in the silence for a long time.
“What do we do?” I finally whisper.
“Nothing,” he says.
“What do you mean? You heard them, didn’t you? They’re going to try to take over the ship.”
“That’s not really any of our concern,” Caleb says.
“But if they succeed, the entire flight could be in danger.”
“Look,” Caleb says. His voice is soft, but his words are firm. “We’re going to survive, Sasha. We’re going to find a new place to start our lives again. We’re going to move on. Most importantly, we are not going to get involved. This is a ride for us. It’s a means to an end. Nothing more.”
I can hear the finality in his words and I know that he’s not about to change his mind, so I just nod, even though he can’t see me.
“Okay,” I whisper.
But it’s not okay.
Nothing is ever okay.
Once upon a time, the world was simple.
Things were black and white.
Now everything around me is a hazy shade of grey that I can’t seem to move past, but I suppose I don’t have a choice. I guess that Caleb is right, but I don’t want him to be. It’s not that I want to be a hero. It’s just that I don’t want anyone to get hurt. The reality is that if I go and warn the ship’s captain, not only will he not believe me, but he’ll boot me off the ship. He doesn’t know me and has no reason to trust me. If I try to say anything, they’ll shoot me before I can say two words.
I know that Caleb is right, but it still feels wrong.
Finally, after an eternity, we start moving around in the darkness.
“Let’s find some lights,” I whisper.
It’s been so long since I was in a place with lights that I’m not really sure where to look or what to feel for. I move carefully, trying not to fall. The last thing I need is a twisted ankle. Trying to survive in this place is going to be hard enough. I don’t need to try doing it while injured. I run my hands along the metal walls, but I don’t feel any buttons or switches. Finally, Caleb makes a grunting sound and we’re suddenly cast into brightness.
It takes everything in me to keep from crying out. The lights hurt my eyes, so I close them for just a moment and take a few deep breaths. I need to toughen up. I need to be stronger.
“Hang on, Sasha,” Caleb says. Suddenly, I can feel the lights dim. I’m not sure what he did, but it seems to be helping. I open my eyes again and this time, things are still slightly dark, but they’re light enough to see at least a little. We’re in a small room with what looks like dusty cargo crates. They’re metal, but they each have a thin layer of dust on them.
This is good.
It means this room isn’t used very often.
If at all.
There’s a panel on one of the walls.
“Is that how you control the lights?” I ask Caleb.
“Yes, It’s similar to how things were designed on my own ship,” he says. He rarely talks about the past, but right now, I’m glad that Caleb knows what he does about flying and that he was able to get us some light.
“Do we need to sit in the darkness?” I ask.
“They won’t be back,” he shakes his head. “We can leave them on for a little while.”
“How can you be sure?” I ask. I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet. I don’t want to try to believe that everything is going to be okay, at least not until I’m really certain that they are. It’s a long way to whatever our destination is. Neither Caleb nor I know where this ship is headed. It could be someplace beautiful, like Mirroean or Sapphira, but it could be someplace terrible, like Dreagle.
I want to imagine that we’re going someplace fantastic. I want to pretend that we’re going somewhere we can start new lives and where everything can be okay, but that would be stupid. It would be wishful thinking on my part and that never helped anyone, did it?
“They were busy,” he says. “They sneaked down here to talk and then they left.”
“They didn’t stay long. They barely said anything at all.”
They said far too much.
They talked about things I don’t want to know about: things I don’t want to worry about.
He shrugs. “Sometimes a few minutes is all you need,” he explains.
“So this is it,” I say, looking around the room. There’s not a lot of space. There are metal boxes. That’s it. “Not much room, really.”
“It’s not much to look at,” Caleb agrees. “But I think it’s a safe place. For now.”
“Until we get wherever we’re going.”
“Yeah,” he says. “Come on.” Together we push a few of the boxes out from the walls. Now there are some spaces behind them where we can sit, hidden from any wandering eyes. Even if someone walks into the room, unless they come all the way in, they won’t be able to see us. We have a sanctuary, at least for now.
Now is all we can really ask for.
Without another word, I take one side of the room and Caleb takes the other. We each have a little hideaway now. I pull my blanket out of my bag. It’s thin and tiny, but it’s all I have. I made it for Zack once upon a time. It stopped smelling like him long ago, but I still see him when I look at it. I lie down on the floor and place the thin blanket on top of me. It offers little warmth, but it’s better than nothing. My backpack doubles as a pillow in a pinch. I close my eyes.
“Ready?” Caleb asks. I know he means he’s going to shut the lights off. We won’t be leaving them on anymore than we have to. Why draw unnecessary attention to ourselves unless we have to? It’s bad enough that we’re on the ship. We don’t need anyone monitoring this deck and noticing strange power surges or unusual electrical activity from us using the lights.
It’s always better to be discreet.
It’s better to not be noticed.
“Ready,” I agree.
He turns the lights off. I hear him move carefully to his own little makeshift bed. He sits down almost completely silently. Then everything is still. We remain in silence for what feels like hours. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s only a few minutes. I don’t know. Eventually, the room starts to vibrate slightly, and a deep, low humming begins. My entire body tenses and I’m instantly on alert for the potential threat.
“It’s okay,” Caleb’s voice whispers. “It’s just the engines starting.”
“Are you sure?”
Caleb flew a lot of different ships when he was a pilot. From what I’ve gathered, he can fly just about anything, but his memories of those adventures are his own. I don’t ask him about those days. There are things about Caleb that I’m not privy to. There are things I don’t need to know. That’s one of them. I don’t need to know where he was or where he went in those years he was gone. I was busy on the planet raising my family. I was busy loving my little boy. Caleb and I grew up together but when he could, he left our home. He only came back last year.
He was too late to save Zack.
Now he reassures me that this is going to be fine.
No matter what secrets Caleb might hold close to his heart, I know he’s not going to lead me astray. He never has before. I know that no matter what he says, Caleb speaks the truth. If he doesn’t want to be honest, Caleb just doesn’t speak.
“Positive. Close your eyes, Sasha. Just breathe.”
I do as he says.
I close my eyes and focus on breathing in and out, in and out.
Silently, in my heart, I whisper goodbye to my old life.
I say goodbye to my planet.
I say goodbye to my hopes.
I say goodbye to my little boy.
One.
Last.
Time.
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