CHAPTER 1
Penny remembers the time she got truly drunk for the first time.
Not like her usual drinking and dancing. No, this one time senior year in high school she got invited to a college party. It was the most excited Penny could remember being. She dragged her best female friend at the time along with her for support. Penny had more to drink that night than she had before in her young life. Four beers in and her head really started to spin. Probably didn't help that she hardly had a bite to eat beforehand—too many overly-excited nerves. Her friend had been the one to call her brother who brought her home. He didn't tell their dad, but she got the brotherly-lecture of a lifetime, rivaling that of even her dad when he was at his most angered.
Anyway, the reason that night comes to mind is because her head is reliving the same swirling, sense-deadening sensations that come with too much alcohol.
She has enough of her mind to realize she's on the floor. With a groan, she struggles to her elbows. Her eyes remain closed, of course. With the red she sees from behind her eyelids, she can tell the room will be bright. Of course she's none too keen on facing such pain for her brain once she does open them.
The small movement of raising herself onto her elbows makes her nauseous. Bad sign. She must really have outdone herself if she's this hungover.
"Bluargh." The noncommittal noise of disapproval of her current circumstances spoke more than actual words could convey about how she feels in this particular moment.
It's after this noise she realizes the floor is rather hard. The smooth metal beneath her clinks lightly when her fingernails fall against it. But not the rustic metal. It smells sterile. Like a hospital.
Oh crap on a cracker. She isn't passed out in an emergency room somewhere, is she?
Reluctantly, Penny opens her eyes. Much like she anticipated, the light is a killer on her retinas. She pinches the bridge of her nose then blinks several times to get them to finally adjust. It's hard to tell when they do because it turns out the room is a sterile white.
Great, just great, Penny thinks. She's actually in a hospital. Though it's kind of weird she's not in one of those beds or on a reclining seat thingy.
Then she hears clicking. It's not, like, a mechanical clicking or anything. It's natural, and it reminds of her cicadas from back home in Nebraska. And something is sliding or shuffling or moving in some way, but it certainly isn't walking. Those aren't steps she hears.
Penny fully sits up now, the odds sounds being motivation enough for her to finally shift. She glances around the room again. Her eyes are now fully adjusted but her better vision doesn't offer much explanation. It's a stark-white room with metals circles on the floor. Two technically. She's sitting on one of them. The other is placed a few feet away. No one is on that one.
The clicking noise comes again and Penny's aching head snaps in the direction of the far wall. A flash of pain snaps behind her eyes, but she forces herself to watch the doorway because there's something there.
It's not human. It doesn't even look remotely human. It doesn't look like a robot either. Or a standee. Or—Or anything. What the hell is that?!
It moves again. More clicking.
Penny feels her heart stop before making an effort to beat right out of her chest.
Because when faced with an alien, Penny's heart knows exactly what to do: create the fight-or-flight response.
Her brain, however, is not as quick. It doesn't fight or flee.
It opens Penny's mouth and has her scream.