Stranded

Inspiration: "we are the dream" by: Sound Remedy (thefatrat remix)

I swear to whatever deity above will listen, that If I wake up from unconsciousness one more time…I'm going to break shit.

I had the worst headache I'd ever felt before. It felt like my head was going to burst from some unknown pressure, and I was woozy like I'd gone on an all-night bender and decided to get downright sloshed. My neck had a kink in it from laying on my stomach for however long I was passed out for. The last thing I remembered from my apartment was having the strangest talk with a man in a suit about some noise complaint. I doubted they'd actually gotten any type of complaint, he was probably from some big wig corporation snooping around about the big fucking alien that decided to make itself my personal Pepe Le Pew. Those secret government types knew everything so much as E.T. related, and now because of Kwei-Bhu'ja I was going to have even less time to figure out how to get out of deep shit than I needed.

It completely blows my mind as to why he would think that stabbing me in the neck with knock out drugs was a good idea. Yes, he's an alien and is going to have different ways of handling bad situations, but last I checked putting someone into a drug induced sleep is not one of them. I wish I'd never even gone to the forest that day. Maybe then I wouldn't be in this mess right now. Remember Grace. Everything happens for a reason. Any situation could be a blessing in disguise.

I started to wiggle my fingers and toes to get the blood pumping again. My arms were still slightly numb, and it made me wonder if I had laid on them and forced them to sleep, or if it was a side effect of using whatever alien technology he possessed on me. I spread my fingers, prepared to push up off my floor when my fingertips dug into something much softer than my hardwood floors. I scrunched my eyebrows and dug my left hand farther into the substance as I rolled onto my right side. I turned my head toward my hand and squinting my eyes, I stared at my open palm waiting for my eyesight to adjust, prepared for something strangely disturbing to be sitting there.

Dirt. I held a handful of dirt mixed with leaves from a tree.

Why was I outside? In a pile of dirt nonetheless? I slowly sat upright, legs tucked under me as I stared at my open palm, then began to take in the fact that I wasn't just sitting in a pile of dirt outside. The whole ground was covered in dirt, and I was surrounded by trees on all sides. Very large, dense trees at that. I swiveled my head slowly from left to right taking in my surroundings. Kwei-Bhu'ja must have carried me far from my apartment after he drugged me, because there were no forests within 45 minutes from my apartment. Nothing with trees like this. In fact; I'd been to a lot of forests in Washington State, and none of them compared to what I was sitting in the middle of.

The trees were thick, and they all looked about as thick as a bridge. They were tall enough that I couldn't see the sky at all, with enormous trunks so I could barely see around one to the next tree behind it. All around me roots were jutting out of the ground, connecting one tree to the other. And I was sweating from the humidity. It was far hotter than I remember it being in spring. My hair was slightly damp, and the curls were starting to moisten and press against my forehead. It must have been at least 90 degrees or higher. It reminded me of the rainforests you see on Discovery Channel, and I was immediately enraged.

This bastard goes and drugs me, then drops me off in another country for shits and giggles!? When I find this jackass, I'm gunna give him a swift kick in the ass. I stood slowly, body protesting as the feeling of pins and needles fluctuated along my limbs. I turned slowly, rubbing life back into my wrists as I contemplated which direction to walk. There was a light rustle in a bush behind me, and the moment I turned the noise stopped. I stared for a moment before forcing my legs in the opposite direction of the noise. First rule of thumb: if you don't know where you are or anything about the forest you're in, don't walk toward random noises. Hopefully this wouldn't be added to the list of regular mantras I was currently constructing.

I wandered aimlessly for what felt like hours. The sun was still beating down on my back, which was strange because I hadn't switched directions since the moment I started walking. I was becoming dehydrated as it felt like the temperatures were rising, and I was now steadily pouring sweat from my body. I licked my dry lips, running my tongue over the small crack that had formed on my bottom lip a few moments previous. I concentrated on the sting I felt, staring blankly ahead. The scenery was as ever changing as the sun and heat. It felt like I had walked past the same tree, followed by the same bush a hundred times. Occasionally the foliage would be broken up by a random plant looking similar to a Venus fly trap, only much larger.

When I first saw the plant, I was strangely interested. But the moment I had stepped up to it, it had acted as if drooling, leaning forward ever so slowly and I imagined it wanted to clamp down on me to eat me for supper. Although that would imply that this day would ever end. I had quickly pried myself away from the plant and briskly walked away. I absent-mindedly scratched at the point in my neck where I had been injected. It was right on the juncture between my neck and my shoulder, and it felt like it was getting infected. The skin on the area was raised, and I could feel something underneath the skin; most likely fluid buildup from a bad reaction to whatever the hell Kwei-Bhu'ja had given me. It was just another reminder as to why this day was taking the trophy for official worst day this year.

I stepped around another tree root blocking my path, and walked out into a clearing. It took me a moment to register exactly what I was seeing, but the moment the fog lifted from my brain I was sprinting forward toward the large watering hole in front of me. I dropped to the ground in front of the pool and thrust my hands under the surface. Cupping my hands, I brought the liquid up to my mouth, but stopped short as a thought hit me. If the water wasn't clean it could make me sick, and the last thing I needed was to be walking around in a forest I wasn't familiar with, squatting every 5 seconds.

I redirected and instead poured the water over my head. I began washing off the dirt and sweat that had built up on my body, throat aching for the water I could have drank. It felt amazing to be clean after walking for so long, and my feet were starting to protest. I was sure I had a blister on one foot, and I debated whether I should remove my shoes and socks in fear that I wouldn't be able to get them back on. The desire to rub my feet won out, and I sat back on my butt as I pulled both shoes off, and peeled the soaked socks from my toes. I spread them over the rock in front of me in the direct sunlight to dry quicker, and flared out the laces of my shoes to get more airflow.

I continued washing my body off as I took in the area around me. The clearing was fairly large, about the size of a football field, with the pool of water in the center. I'd seen a lot of formations in my years of hiking, and the way the pool was perfectly situated at the center of a forest kept pulling at my gut. Almost as if it was planned, strategically placed here to be useful. But that was impossible. Who would have the ability to just up and create a water formation in the middle of nowhere. It could have possibly be a crater that was filling up with rain water. I looked up into the sky, swiveling my head slowly. There were no clouds as far as I could see, and I had no idea how the weather worked here. Wherever here was of course.

I leaned forward again to cup more water into my hands, when the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. My elbows locked in place as I went stiff as a board. My gut has never lied to me before, and I started mentally kicking myself. I should have just gotten out of there the moment I felt uneasy. I kept my gaze down, but listened to my surroundings. I could hear footsteps, four of them, and there was a gurgling growl sound. My head whipped up prepared to give Kwei-Bhu'ja a piece of my mind for dropping me in this forest, when my eyes made contact with a pair of sunken sockets, and a set of razor sharp teeth.

My face fell and I could feel the blood draining from my brain as the animal watched me from across the clearing. It had 4 sets of horns framing its face, and even more running down its back. Its skin was a dark green color, and its face reminded me of something from Hellraiser. I couldn't make out a lot of features from so far away, but the teeth on the animal were huge, and it didn't look like anything I'd even heard of walking the earth, and we had some gruesome animals.

I was frozen in place, hoping that if I stayed still enough it wouldn't feel the need to bum rush me. I was in track in high school, but from as much of the build I could see, this animal was likely to catch me in a few minutes. It lifted its head, and I could hear it take in a few purposeful deep breaths. When it lowered its head again, I could hear a deep growl pointed in my direction. My eyes widened to the size of saucers as it began to stalk forward, and I could tell it was taking its time. Either from knowing I would be weak prey, or simply wanting to toy with me I didn't really wanna find out.

I quickly glanced to my boots, wondering if it would be worth it to grab them before running off, when the beast started to charge at me as if reading my mind. Immediately my brain switched into fight or flight mode, and I was taking off to my right like a bullet. The rocks in the clearing bit into my feet, and the heat from the ground burned with each step, but I pushed forward knowing I'd have more traction once I reached the trees again. Unfortunately, that would also mean the animal chasing me would as well.

I broke through the tree-line, and pushed myself faster as I heard the animal gaining ground behind me. My breaths were becoming more labored the harder I pushed myself, and I could feel bile pushing up from my stomach. My limbs protested from over use and I was still working off a dehydrated system. I could feel the animal getting closer, and the sound of his huffing breath grew louder, to the point where I felt like I could feel the heat of it on my back. I didn't dare glance behind me, in fear that it would be long enough to miss step and I would go crashing to the ground to present myself on a silver platter.

I was so concentrated on getting away from the beast behind me, that I almost didn't catch the second one that jumped from behind a tree. I dipped low and narrowly escaped the chomping jaws of the newcomer as I redirected to the right, pushing myself harder, to run faster, to be lighter on my feet. My life depended on it, and I was fully planning on surviving the rest of this god forsaken day, so that I could give Kwei-Bhu'ja a piece of my mind and demand he take me back home.

I wasn't going to be able to outrun these damn animals for much longer, and it astounded me that I was able to live for as long as I had. I felt ready to collapse any minute, and I needed to do some serious thinking on my feet, before I became scooby snacks. Trees and branches whizzed past my face, scratching my arms as I pushed them out of my way. The path I was running along was slowing me down, and one of the beasts ran up on my right forcing me to redirect to the left. I duck under a vine hanging in my way, then leaped over a fallen stump, forcing my legs to move faster.

I looked beside me and noticed that the hounds were no long chasing me; mostly herding me. They began nipping at my heels occasionally when I slowed down, but they stayed close enough to my sides that I could tell they weren't trying to eat me. But if they weren't trying to eat me, what the hell was going on? There was a shrill whistle up ahead, and suddenly the hound things took off ahead of me, zig-zagging around each other as if they were excited. I slowed to a jog as they ran out of site, and a few moments later I broke through a clearing into what looked to be some sort of camp.

The camp was grotesque looking, with piles of bones and guts lying around, and assorted weapons strewn about in an uncaring manner. There was a large bonfire in the center of the camp that was already lit, and the hounds were now laying in front of it with what looked like a giant bone. I tried not to think about what kind of animal the bone came from as the two beasts growled and yipped at each other over the thing. My further inspection of the camp was blocked by a large 6 pack. My eyes roamed up the broad expanse of skin past his chest, then on to the gold mask he wore.

There were bone tusks sticking out of the bottom jaw of the alien in front of me, and his dreads were wrapped in red twine, with gold jewelry accentuating it, and some were situated to fan out and frame the top of his head like a crown. He wore a full leather breast plate, gauntlets, and the same cod piece and roman sandals as Kwei-Bhu'ja. He also wore small teeth and trinkets of bone on a string around his waist. It reminded me of jewelry that women wore to attract attention to specific parts of their bodies. His skin was deep black, with small speckles of white along his arms and stomach, making me think of the stars in the night sky. Interesting.

"You are one sneaky ooman."

The sudden use of English shocked me, and my eyes snapped up to the mask the alien wore. My mouth hung open, and I wasn't able to form any coherent words, so I opted to make a small squeaking noise as I stared at him.

"You're also a very stupid one I see." He turned and walked away, and I stomped my foot in anger.

"Hey, I'm not stupid! I passed high school with good grades thank you. I just wasn't expecting for you to speak English. Yesterday all I heard was a bunch of clicking and growling." I crossed my arms and turned my nose up to the alien, when I noticed he had gone and sat down on one of the rocks next to the hounds. He nudged one roughly away when it leaned itself onto his foot to pull a piece of meat away from the second hound. They snarled and yipped at each other again before settling down, while the alien tapped around on his gauntlet.

"Who the hell are you anyway? Where's Kwei-Bhu'ja, and what state am I in? I'm not in Washington anymore obviously."

There was a quick chittering behind me, and when I turned there was another alien standing there. He was still much Larger than me, but from where his chest sat in my line of sight I could tell he was shorter than the black one. This one was dark green in color, and he had Yellow splotches of color across his body. His mask was silver, and the crest of his mask was flat and fanned out upward. He wore a leather shoulder piece on each shoulder, a leather piece that covered his heart, and a thick waist belt that came to a point at his sternum. He also had the same cod piece as the other alien, but his shoes were full on leather boots. His dreads were black, but looked as if the end of them had been dipped in the same color green as his skin. It gave the dreads a unique ombre effect.

"That would be Kuj'hade. A sain'ja of few words, but he is known to speak his mind. I am Thwei-Sain'ja, and you must be the ooman my companion brought from that backwater planet. You're much smaller than I thought you would be. I always imagined oomans would be larger. Why else would you be such desirable prey?"

Thwei-Sain'ja leaned toward me and began tilting his head to eye me. I could see my reflection in his mask the closer he leaned, and I took a step back as the word prey sounded in my head. I had forgotten Kwei-Bhu'ja confirming that he was on Earth to hunt humans, and the skull he had given me the day before.

"What backwater planet? And why was I in the middle of the jungle and not here?" I said, crossing my arms.

"Kwei-Bhu'ja brought you here from your N'-ithya, to our reserve planet. We've come to prepare for our next hunt, and to clear out anything the fallen sain'ja left behind. There were very few animals left on this planet. You had a small chance of running into anything. We wanted to know what you are capable of." He stated matter of fact-ly, before crossing his arms as well.

"So, let me make sure I comprehend what you're saying. You, and your two best friends, decided to come to my planet and hunt for whatever it is you hunt for. And then while you were there, you just so happened to take interest in me and bring me here, to a fucking game reserve? On a different planet!?"

By this point I was seething, trying to control my emotions, and wondering where I could get my hands on something breakable.

"Kwei-Bhu'ja found great interest in you, not us. Trust me little ooman, you are no kainde amedha."

"Well if you weren't trying to hunt me, then why sick your dogs on me? Why not just come and get me?" I said, throwing my arms toward the animals currently sleeping. Thwei-Sain'ja tilted his head again and made a small trilling noise before turning to walk away.

"It is much easier for you to come to us, than for us to go to you. Next time don't wander so far, and you wont have to run as much." With that he walked into the forest, and I was left standing to stare around the camp area again. Kuj'hade was still tapping against his wrist, and from the way he held himself, he didn't seem like one who enjoyed being disturbed. There was a log on the opposite side of the fire, so I began walking to go sit down. As I passed between the hounds and Kuj'hade, one of the dogs nipped at my foot when I stepped too close to it, causing me to flinch away. Immediately Kuj'hade pushed me away, and I was forced to run unbalanced toward the log to avoid falling onto the hounds, instead falling on my hands and knees a few feet away.

I stood up and began wiping my hands on my pants as I heard him snort at me, then faced him with one hand on my hip. "Thank you so much for doing that. I just really love it when I get pushed around, in fact i wished for it the moment i woke up in this damn forest."

He looked up at me then very seriously replied, "You are welcome. But your approval is unnecessary. It will occur regardless." He looked back down at his gauntlet and continued with whatever he was working on. My hand dropped from my hip with a deadpan look to my face, and I moved to go sit down. Of course he wouldn't recognize sarcasm.

I stared into the fire for a good while, just thinking about what the hell I was going to do. I was no longer home, no longer on earth and no longer in Washington. I wanted to give Kwei-Bhu'ja a piece of my mind and tell him to take me home, but he had yet to show up. I had worked up the courage to ask Kuj'hade where he was, and he told me he was out taking care of the leftover game. I was glad the worst thing I had run into were his dogs while I was out there. From the scars on the alien's bodies, I was sure they weren't just talking about lions, tigers and bears. Although I wouldn't wanna get caught in a fight with any of those either. At least the hounds weren't really trying to eat me.

I began thinking about the events that brought me to my current situation again. It was strange to think that just last night I was asking yes or no questions to a giant alien, after he'd decided to stalk me and give me his version of a present. I still didn't know what he wanted from me, or why exactly he'd felt the need to take me from my planet. Suddenly a thought popped into my head.

"Hey Kuj'hade?" He didn't look away from his arm, but had hesitated in his tapping for a moment signaling that he was listening. "Why can I suddenly understand you guys? Yesterday all I could hear were clicks and growls from Kwei-Bhu'ja. He didn't show any ability to speak English."

"That is because your n'yaka-de placed a chip inside your neck so that we may speak freely. It is too bothersome to learn to speak the ooman language for the sole purpose of communicating with you. And I do not believe you are capable of mastering the Yautja language quickly, or easily."

I brushed off his to-the-point attitude and thanked my lucky stars. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but it really will be more useful to be able to understand languages immediately, instead of having to learn them. I rubbed the raised bump on my neck now that I knew what it was. There were so many things I wanted to get pissed about from this day, but I just didn't have the energy in me anymore. I licked my lips, noticing they had cracked even more than they previously were, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bowl of water was placed next to me.

I picked it up and took large gulps, before setting the empty bowl back next to me. Thwei-Sain'ja had returned, and refilled the bowl of water before taking a seat next to me. I picked the bowl up, and held it as I casually sipped from it. I crossed my feet and stared into the fire, as I listened to both aliens tapping away at their wrist gauntlets. They were worse than teenagers on their phones. I turned toward Thwei-Sain'ja and studied the side of his mask for a moment.

"Why is it that some of the words you say aren't translated after you speak them?" He turned to me and thought for a moment before speaking.

"Some words do not have an ooman translation. The chip can only convert words that have ooman meaning."

"oh ok. Well who is n'yaka-de? Kuj'hade said it was mine."

"Kwei-Bhu'ja is n'yaka-de. He is your n'yaka-de. He will watch over you and keep you safe so long as you obey him." I placed the bowl in my lap and turned my full body to face Thwei-Sain'ja as the color drained from my face.

"So, you're saying I'm his slave now!?" He stayed silent and tilted his head before making a chirping noise at me.

"M-di. Not slave." He turned toward Kuj'hade, gesturing between him and the hounds. "Kuj'hade is their n'yaka-de. Kwei-Bhu'ja is your n'yaka-de.

The bowl of water came crashing to the ground as I stood up. My fists were balled so tight that my nails dug into my palms, and I could distinctly register that I was screaming. I was beyond livid, and the moment I saw Kwei-Bhu'ja my fist was going straight into his nose.

"I'm his fucking PET!?"

Alright guys, sorry it's so late up and coming! And sorry that this chapter doesn't include Grace's not so little stalker. I just needed to get the introductions between her and the boys out of the way. The conversation bits were not coming out the way that I wanted, so if you think anything can do with some improvements let me know. I'm a nice person, I won't bite I promise!

This one is also pretty long, so hope you enjoyed it.

Tenfangirl: I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and hopefully this chapter gives you some insight into what the heck Kwei-Bhu'ja is thinking. I tried to imagine what it would be like to meet an alien, so I wanted her to be the exact opposite of me and not have her heart beat out of her chest the moment an 8 foot tall Yautja materializes in front of her.

Thank you to my guest reviewer, and the anonymous reviewer as well. Lovin the support guys.

Kainde Amedha: Hard meat

Kuj'hade: Destroyer

Kwei-Bhu'ja: Sly-ghost

M-di: No

N'-ithya: Earth

N'yaka-de: Master

Ooman: Human

Sain'ja: Warrior

Thwei-Sain'ja: Blood-warrior