Author's Note: I can't wait to show the other OC's perspective soon.
AIR
Adira wasn't exactly sure how time worked yet. The rain had let up slightly, tapering off to a gloomy drizzle. She watched droplets accumulate on the cracked viewport, growing larger and larger until they started crawling down, consuming smaller specks of water as they raced each other to the bottom.
She'd slept. Who knows how long that had been. There was no way to accurately measure. Well, there probably was but she'd never really been into survival strategies. On freighters and transports, physical survival manuals were standard in case electronics got fried. There would be an entire book — lightweight, fire-resistant, and waterproof — dedicated to exo-planet survival. Adira had skimmed through a manual once. All she could remember was that without a good filtration mask, pre-packaged rations, and a water filter, a person usually wouldn't last more than a week or two before some strange germ or an allergic reaction ended them. There was a famous news story though, where a guy had crashed and survived on the other side of an inhabited planet and lasted three Earth months by himself. He died two days before rescuers found him.
Adira sighed as the droplet she'd been rooting for lost its race. If she had nanotechnology, her odds of making it would be higher. But only rich people could afford those. They liked world-hopping for pleasure and business, so they usually had them.
She smirked as she recalled Gezzer telling her how injecting nanites into the body was like inviting demonic possession and was a mark of the Beast. The man had been an idiot about most things but he'd been a genius when it came to engines.
Her smile faded. She'd been on the Archduchess in the middle of space. Had her kidnapper killed everyone else? Were there other aliens who had raided her ship? Adira hadn't noticed any humans in the cage room where she'd been kept.
Guilt squeezed her throat at the possibility that some of her crewmates might have been in another part of the ship and she hadn't tried to save them. You were being chased by a monster-dog. Whatever happened to them, it's not your fault, she told herself. And yet a small voice inside her said it was.
Adira twisted to look over at the only other… person... who had managed to get out alive with her. The lean, muscular alien lay on his side, face toward the wall. Deep wounds crisscrossed his back, thighs, and arms. The fresh cuts and lashes were layered over a horrifying patchwork of scabs and scars. If she felt like trash, she couldn't imagine how he was doing, assuming he was, in fact, a "he." The only item of clothing the alien wore was a loincloth and what looked like plated, mesh underwear. Anatomically, it was anyone's guess what was under there. Adira hoped she never had to find out.
A dull ache in her right upper arm made her grit her teeth. She angled it forward to inspect the injection site, tsking with worry. It was like her veins had been stained black around the spot where the needle had gone in. It would have made for a cool tattoo if it didn't constantly remind her that an alien had possibly poisoned her with an unknown substance. Adira released her arm, shuddering as she recalled the agony she'd endured after the shot.
Anxiety tightened her chest and she rose, booted feet quietly pacing a few steps here and there. She needed to distract herself. The image of Pooh tapping his head mumbling think think think came to mind. The archaic cartoon had been her sister's favorite.
"Okay," she whispered. "What can we do?"
Pee? Her bladder asked. An urgent weight settled into her abdomen.
No, definitely not. She wasn't urinating in the cockpit and she was too nervous to open the door yet. The atmosphere could be poisonous and she wanted to live at least a little while longer.
"We're on an alien planet… okay. So, that means…" She paused. It needed a name.
Adira slid down the wall opposite the control panel, bound arms tucked between her chest and bent knees. She was the first human here, so she should name the place.
Maroon? No. It wasn't that clever and the plant life was too purple-y.
Lavender? Nah, too relaxed. This place would probably try to kill her as soon as she stepped out the door.
Adira? A solid choice, but too self-serving. Way too many egomaniacs had named planets after themselves only for them to do something horrible. The worlds were often renamed after their deaths.
The minutes drifted by. She thought of her favorite sci-fi mystery authors and their characters but none of them felt quite right. Maybe she would have a better feel for the place if she set foot outside. Again, the thought set her on edge. Eventually, no matter how much she procrastinated, she'd have to leave the confines of the cockpit.
Besides physical necessity, one looming factor weighed on her mind and urged her to get out: the presence of the dead alien in the corner of the room. She positioned herself as far as she could without getting too close to other alien asleep nearby. She estimated the space to be about nine by nine meters. Splotches of dried gore stained the cratered floor, walls, and ceiling of the pod. She'd found pieces of bone lodged into her chair. During the crash, the headless corpse had become lodged into the far left corner of the control panel. Adira had done her best to ignore it, reminding herself constantly that it was dead and couldn't hurt her anymore.
The other alien shifted, garnering her attention. He slowly propped himself up, huffing and clicking with exertion until, after several laborious moments, he was on his feet. Swaying, he barely glanced at her before limping over toward the door.
Adira's stomach clenched. "Hey? Hey, what are you doing?"
If he heard her, he didn't acknowledge it. With a quick tap and swipe, the heavy door shuddered open.
The woman scrambled upright, blood hammering in her veins. The alien stepped out, mist pooling about his feet as the cool air of the pod met the warm air of the forest. He'd just walked out like it was no big deal. How did he know it was safe?
The scent of wet earth, damp wood, and a foreign fragrance that she had no reference for washed over her and settled around her shoulders. Adira took a step toward the door, then another, taking several measured breaths through her mouth. Okay, this was fine. She was going to be fine.
As she stepped out of the cockpit, she ogled the luscious scenery. Grey-barked trees with angular protrusions that looked like flattened cubes stacked on top of one another disappeared under a canopy of violet and mauve. Creatures chittered and sang in the misty drizzle. The forest floor was littered with plum-colored ferns and small boulders covered in amethyst moss. It was like someone had gotten bored with the color green and put a filter over everything. She looked up at the sky, wincing at its brightness despite the haze. The floral pigment probably meant the sun leaned blue. This was a young world then. Maybe that's why it hadn't been found yet—
Adira choked on her next breath. Her lungs began to burn. She fell to her knees, eyes watering as she wheezed and gasped. Fear lanced through her and the woman tried to crawl back into the pod. If she could just… shut the door… Adira collapsed, the walls of her throat swelling shut. A heaviness crushed her lungs, heat boiling in her stomach.
Heavy footsteps approached, a shadow falling over her. Adira clutched at her throat, wrists still bound. Help. She tried to speak but the word wouldn't come, just a strangled noise. The alien stared down at her, head cocked.
Her vision shimmered. Drool spilled out of the corner of her mouth, face straining. Adira screamed internally as the alien stared down at her, ambivalent to her suffering. Had he wanted her to die? Had he known this would happen?!
Just as darkness began to creep into the edges of her vision, her lungs and throat opened up. Adira gasped, drawing in several heaving breaths. She coughed and sputtered, tears leaking from her eyes.
The alien rumbled and crouched next to her, looking her over with sudden interest. She wanted to punch him and tell him to frack off but all she could do was lay there, curled up in the fetal position, sucking in breath after breath of fresh air.
One of his claws traced her skin, right over the place where she'd been injected. Adira stiffened, watching helplessly as he ran a finger over one of the long, black veins. He met her gaze, then tapped her scar. She glanced between him and her shoulder, thoughts churning. Instead of poison, had the injection been some kind of panacea? Why would her captor have wanted her healthy? Well, he was dead, so she'd probably never know.
The alien began to rise but Adira reached toward him. "Wait," she croaked, her throat still tight. He paused. Tired, deep-set orange eyes stared down at her, one handset on a thickly muscled thigh. His four mandibles, which still freaked her out by a lot, were drawn together in what appeared to her a neutral expression. At least, she hoped so. If he was looking at her like she was dinner and planned on eating her later, there wasn't much she could do about it.
Adira curled her hands into fists, shoving her bound forearms toward him. Get these damn things off me.
The alien rumbled, a hand running over the smooth metal shackles clamped around her arms. With a warbling huff, he rose and pulled her upright. Adira yelped as he dragged her along, stopping at a pile of large rocks. He pushed her to her knees, positioning her arms over one of the larger stones.
Adira watched nervously as he searched among the ferns. "Uh, what are you doing?"
The alien picked up a rock nearly as big as her head. Her shoulders tensed as he crouched and tapped the shackles with the rock. She nodded, wincing as he grabbed both of the upper parts of her forearms with one hand to hold her steady while he raised the one with the rock, preparing to strike.
Please don't break my hands. Pleasedon'tbreakmyhands! Adira squeezed her eyes shut.
The first blow rattled her bones and shook her shoulders. The second cracked metal. He kept going, blow after blow tearing into the cuffs and interior electronics. He made her roll over and lay on her back, then proceeded to hack at the cuffs from the other side. Finally, they shattered.
Adira groaned as the metal fell away from her arms. Fizzy tingles ran over her numb skin as she sat up. She twisted and pulled her shoulders back, sighing in pleasure as her spine popped. Having her full range of motion back felt so good.
The alien stood, swaying slightly, the rock dropping from its clawed fingers with a soft thud. He pushed deeper into the bushes, then paused, one hand pressed against a tree. He hunched over, fiddling with something. Adira stood, stretching her shoulders. What's he doing—
The splash of liquid against earth made her flush and she quickly spun around. With quick, stiff steps, Adira walked away, humming loudly inside her head to try and distract herself. A weight, urgent and heavy, swelled inside her abdomen. Right. She needed to relieve herself, too. Adira squeezed her legs together, waddling through the ferns to find her own discreet spot.
She tossed her orange jumpsuit, thick socks, and black boots aside, propping up against a tree in a squatting position. The process of emptying herself took forever so she had time to think. Technically, she owed Punching-Bag now. They'd been even up to this point. She'd freed him and he'd shot Goth-Boy in the head; he'd managed to land the pod and she'd doused the fire.
So how could she repay him? They had a shelter, and heat didn't seem to be a problem at the moment. The next priority then was life-sustaining H2O.
Her stomach gurgled in pain as she dressed. Adira sighed. Water was great and all, but what she was really craving at that moment was a fully-loaded burger.