Alien X

Chapter 7

I stared at the girl. She wasn’t an alien. She was like me.  Relief flowed through me, but also alarm. She was defiantly not friendly. She stopped a few feet in front of me and looked as if she was studding me, so I took the opportunity to do the same.

She had an oval face with dark brown eyes and full lips. Her high cheekbones made her look more like a model, but it was the same as Arson’s beauty. She was all natural. I was suddenly self-conscious about my appearance. My mud caked pants felt hard and stiff against my skin which itched like crazy. My hair was probably all tangled like string.

The girl seemed to snap out of her daze, and her eyes turned towards Zachery. They imminently hardened at him, her face turning to stone.

“Why did you protect it?” she asked, never taking her eyes off Zachery. She pressed the sharp stick to the side of the ball, almost pointing at him. I didn’t like the way she regarded Zachery as an ‘it’.

“Zachery. And why did you send those things on us?” I tried to change subjects. I didn’t even know why I jumped in front of him. Her eyes flickered towards me.

“Thought you were one of those.” She nodded her head towards Zachery. I could tell she really hated the aliens. Even more than me. Zachery had the nerve to shut his mouth, but I could hear the list of words he would yell to her if she didn’t have the beasts growling at him.

“Well I’m not.” I snapped. It was very easy for the girl to get on my nerves.

“Well.” She said, taking a step back. The beasts growled at Zachery again, but with one word they retreated and started to play what looked like tag through the trees. “We got off on the wrong foot I believe. I can take you back, get cleaned up and maybe something to eat.” She started to back up into the trees.

“How do I get him down then?” I asked, pointing at Zachery. I wasn’t going to leave him hanging here in the middle of no were.

“Why? Just leave it there.” Her face turned up in disgust.

“I’m not going to leave him here. Now how do I get him down?” I was starting to get really angry. I didn’t understand why she hatted the alien race so much, and I wasn’t going to find out, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave him here.

“Cut the rope.” She stated. “Kiri, funem.” One of the beasts, the smaller one, stopped fighting and padded over to the remains of my ball prison which was tattered pieces of vines on the ground. The beast picked up the vines in its mouth and walked towards the forest. I turned to the ball Zachery was in and imminently saw a thicker patch of vines right at the top where the multiple vines connected to a singular thicker vine which hung from a tree.

“Zachery, pull at the vines right at the top.” I commanded. Zachery jolted, almost surprised one was talking to him. He looked up and started to pull at the vines at the top of the ball. The thicker vine snapped and he was sent crashing to the ground.

“Lu Kee, custodire eum.” The girl said, and the bigger beast walked over to Zachery who was brushing himself off.

“This way.” The girl said as she retreated into the shadows. The beast growled at Zachery before pointing its massive head in the direction of the girl. We took the hint and followed her through the dense trees.

The humidity was making things harder. The human girl was a few paces in front of us, and seemed to be unfazed by the heat or the slope the ground was taking. She seemed to know exactly where to go, ever step she took and every turn. I realised she must have lived in the forest for quite a while. Sweat poured down my face and I rolled my hair up into a coil behind my head when it got to be too annoying. I could see Zachery’s sweat as it rolled down the side of his face, but other than that, he made no sound or any complaints. I on the other hand, was panting and tripping over every vine or root that was on the ground. Cursing mentally at the forest, I tried to take in the serenity of the place.

Green plants, the perfect amount of sunlight shining in through the leaves from the trees and most importantly, the sound of nothing. It was so different to the streets of Zudora, with cars passing blowing out black smoke into the air. That seemed to be the only pollution that was noticeable. No one littered or fought one another in public, but the real damage was what the machines did.

I tried not to make eye contact with Zachery, even though I could sense he had questions about earlier. Why was I defending him? He was one of them. An alien. Shouldn’t I feel even the slightest taste of hatred for them? But I didn’t. That was the problem. I could see their side of the argument. If they didn’t invade and our world was going to blow up, we would have tried to find another way to survive. Instead of stumbling through awkward silences, I tried to make a conversation with the girl.

“So, what’s you’re name?” I asked her as I tripped over a root that had grown along the surface of the ground.

“Shani. And yours?” she asked me without looking at me.

“Arina.”

“Nice name.”

“Thanks. So, how long have you been out here for?” I asked.

“Ever since I could remember. My father lived out here and raised me when I was little. What about you?”

“I’ve always lived in Zudora. My parents raised me until they died when I was eleven. Ever since then I have been on my own.”

“Tough love.” I looked at Shani. I guess I wasn’t expecting any pity, but this wasn’t it.

“I guess so.” I shrugged. “I knew how to cook back then, had some cash to live off of and the school was within a walking distance, so I managed.” I do remember waking up one day and they were gone. I thought they had just gone out for a walk, but when they didn’t show up after school, and the next day after that I guess I came to the fact that they were gone. No amount of crying would have brought them back.

“When you were eleven?” Shani sounded amazed. I didn’t know why. The girl grew up in a forest, with her father, being a human. My life would have been dull compared to hers.

“Yeah. Eleven. When I had run out of cash I knew I had to find a way to get a job. Not many places would hire an eleven year old, so I did a few chores for people. Mowing the lawn, cleaning rooms. You know. House hold chores. I managed to get enough money to buy the cheap food for me to live off of for a year or so. No one questioned me as I told them I wanted to help out the community. When I was thirteen, Sebastian hired me to clean his house. I guess he was surprised with my work as he hired me to become a waitress at his restraint.” I realised I was rambling on and I shut my lips and blushed.

Shani chuckled and held aside a branch for me, but letting go when Zachery came up. The branch got him in the face and as he went around the branch I noticed a small cut on his cheek that wasn’t there a second ago. I wonder why Shani hated them so much.

“Were close. I’ll need to put a blind on it.” Shani said as she reached behind her and pulled out a thin piece of cloth from the back of her pants. Stepping forwards she held it out to Zachery who looked at it in confusion.

“What do I do?” he asked her, choosing his words carefully.

“Put it against your eyes.” Shani almost spat the words at him, and he obeyed. She tied a knot and I knew Zachery couldn’t see. The material was black and pulled tightly over his eyes.

“Come on.” Shani said as she continued on forwards. I noticed she left Zachery blinded in a ring of roots and twigs. Sighing, I reached out for Zachery’s hand. It felt rough against mine. His fingers were longer too as I pulled him forwards, helping him over the roots.

“Good, that’s good. Left leg up. Higher, forwards and you're good.” I continued to tell him what to do until I heard the faintest of sounds. The sounds of talking. Speeding up, the sound grew and we walked up next to Shani who was holding a piece of rope.

“Where here.” She smiled and looked up. I followed her movement and gasped in amazement, a smile finding its way to my lips.

“It’s beautiful.” I breathed.

“Its home.”