King of the Hive

Chapter 6: Journey's End...

“We’ve arrived!” Alistair informed them over the intercom. Jake dropped his jam sandwich on the table and leapt out of his seat. “Entering atmosphere in thirty seconds!”

“Where are you going?” Advena inquired, easily keeping up with Jake’s pace, even though he was sprinting.

“The airlock. I’m not staying on this ship for a second longer than I have to,” Jake told her. He pressed a few buttons, opening the inner door of the airlock. He jumped inside, Advena practically stepping on his heels.

“This is a little cramped,” she complained. The ship shuddered slightly as it broke through the atmosphere, but the turbulence stopped seconds before there was a slight bump, then stillness.

“Haha!” Jake yelled. He sailed through the air, then landed on the ground with a thump that sounded slightly painful. Advena stepped gracefully down from the ship, relishing the feeling of fresh grass tickling her feet. Jake lay on his back on the soft and springy grass with an enormous smile that seemed bigger than his face. He took a deep breath of fresh air. “Freedom!” he yelled, then started laughing again.

“Hm, I think you’ve spent so long cooped up in that ship that you’ve gone insane,” Advena observed.

“Yup,” Jake quipped. “And you have to live with it for the rest of your life!” She pounced on him playfully, pinning his arms and leg to the ground. She lay on top of him, resting her cheek on his.

“You’re right; it is nice out here. Maybe I should sleep like this...” she stifled a yawn, then settled back down on Jake’s body.

“As long as you’re within groping distance I’m cool with it.” Advena blushed, which made Jake burst out laughing because whenever she did that her face turned slightly green, albeit a very dark shade of green.

“Hmph, would serve you right if your parents walked in on us while you were doing it.”

“Oh yeah,” Jake remembered. “My parents, that was the whole reason we came here. I swear, if they don’t have something nice to say, I will destroy their ship and abandon them here so they can never bother me again!” Garry stepped outside, surprisingly with a melancholy Jeica and a concerned-looking Mozart behind him.

“C’mon Jake, we’ve got a little trek to complete before we get to where our parents are,” he ushered. Advena slid off of him, allowing him to stand up.

“We’ll pick this up where we left off when we go ca –” Jake started, but was cut off when Advena mashed her lips into his.

“Shhhh! That’s our little secret, okay? We won’t tell them until we leave.” Advena pulled away, then let her tail hang loose around his shoulders as they began walking. Wow, she’s really serious about this. She really did not enjoy this journey. Jake grinned to himself and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Jake couldn’t help but notice that Jeica and Mozart’s hands were entwined as they walked. Jake opened his mouth to make a remark about this, but received a slap on the butt courtesy of Advena’s tail. “Leave them be,” she chided him, there was an edge of seriousness to her casual tone however. Jake just smirked at her.

“How come we never hold hands anymore?” Instead of answering, Advena gripped his hand in hers and shuffled her body so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, in much the same manner as a teenage girl would if they were talking to a guy who had just asked them if they wanted to dance at a school ball. They stopped in an empty field. All they could see was a stretch of flat land. No ship, no parents. Garry scratched his head.