Chapter 6

"Um, Officer, shouldn't we follow him?" Elle broke Anara out of her discomfort at Dravian leaving as abruptly as he had arrived.

"No, we can't trust anyone," She answered even though her eyes stayed on the trees that had swallowed Dravian a few minutes ago.

"He did save us," Elle countered.

"And you thanked him for it. We're even." Anara was done with the topic. She had more important concerns than confusing but handsome alien men. "Come, can you move?" Anara stepped closer to Elle to try and help her to her feet, to check if her knee can allow her any mobility at all.

"I think so," Elle tried to sound braver than she felt and Anara saw through the act.

"We need water and shelter if we need to survive until we can go home," Anara tried to sound more confident than she felt.

"Where?" Elle asked as Anara helped her up, testing knee movement and helping her limp on the makeshift cane.

Anara didn't answer right away. Instead, she looked around. She was a detective, not some survival expert but that didn't mean she didn't know the basics of way-finding if lost in unfamiliar terrain.

She used the oldest method in any survival book to find directions from Sun with a stick in the ground for fifteen minutes. Then, got a rope from Elle's pack and tied it around her torso to drag behind them as they walked, so that they know they are not going astray while walking.

Elle didn't question Anara's methods, simply because she is inexperienced in survival and more focused on her own physical pain.

They started walking and hours blurred together into sweat, hunger, and aching legs. The girls kept going often on pure stubbornness that quitting was not an option.

But, as day turned to evening, and the cold of the woods started entering their bones along with incoming darkness and everything unknown that it could bring, the girls started to get uneasy.

The strange quietness of the woods that had haunted them all day after Dravian had left, felt nearly suffocating as night crawled around them. Quietly, Elle limped a little closer to Anara while Anara kept one eye on Elle, other on the surroundings as if expecting the beast to return from behind every cluster of trees, her gun instinctively raised, safety off.

Neither said anything but both were worrying more with every step if they were going to make it at all, not home, just till morning. Another thing, not trusting Dravian seemed more and more like a bad decision. Because he was the only other living thing they had met that wasn't trying to kill them. Anara's suspicion of him was still there, but with an internal dilemma wondering if she should've given him benefit of the doubt.

But, everything came to an end when they saw a flickering light between trees.

The girls exchanged a glance as their hearts skipped a beat. Elle hoped it was Dravian's fire. Anara hoped it wasn't a mirage or worse, a test. Neither voiced their hopes. But, the decision was made. They were going in that direction.

The light became bigger as they walked closer.

Their steps faltered as they heard some voices as they got close enough to realise the light was campfire and there were people, speaking English.

Elle opened her mouth to call out for help, instantly revealed. Anara clamped her hand on Elle's mouth with a glare, "Shush, we don't know if they are hostile," She whispered and light of hope left Elle's tired eyes as her shoulders slumped.

Anara stepped closer as quietly as she could. The voices echoed in the eerie silence of the woods. But, she could finally make out people around the fire.

What she saw made real hope flutter in her chest for the first time all day.

Women, teens, men, in makeshift tents around a huge bonfire. Around fifty people, and clearly not all of them were human. Anara noticed at least two aliens with sage green skin and hair as red as fire.

"I would suggest making up your mind soon, your companion can't stand for much longer," A deep, calm, voice sounded from above them and Elle nearly shrieked in shock as Anara pointed the gun at the tall figure who jumped down from the very tree the girls were hiding under to survey the gathering.

The man raised his hands to show he was unarmed and made no move to step close or show hostility. Quite the opposite, he radiated a sense of calm and a natural demeanor that pulled trust, "I am Sergeant Ethan Cole of US Army, offering shelter to all kidnapped ones regardless of gender, age, or planet of origin." He offered a small smile that reached his eyes.

"US Army? Does this mean the government knows where we are? Are we rescued? Is this over?" Elle rambled out of desperate hope. Ethan scratched the back of his head and his shoulders slumped a little, "Unfortunately, I don't think anybody knows we are here. I am one of the kidnappees too,"

"Oh," Elle's spirit was crushed.

Though Anara's brain was in overdrive, her first words surprised both girls, "I am Anara, and this is Ella. We need help," Yes, the all-suspicious and paranoid Anara Deniz was asking help from an utter stranger. But, it wasn't as spontaneous as the decision seemed. Ethan was not Dravian. In his camo pants and vest that had his dogtags dangling on his muscular chest, Ethan exuded reliability through his body language. But, more so from his eyes which Anara had made a profession of reading people from.

"Of course, water, food, and makeshift bandages all available. Come," He said and moved slowly to carry Elle toward the community like it was the most natural thing for him to help injured kids by carrying them to safety and sharing supplies.

"You're just going to share everything?" Anara couldn't entirely shut down her paranoia.

Ethan laughed. Not Dravian's smug smirk. No, it was warm that filled the chest and vibrated in the air, "We all want to go home, don't we? Why gatekeep survival?"

"Thanks," She said before she could retreat to suspicion. Elle noticed but stayed silent.

In no time, they were noticed and Ethan delegated Elle to one of the green skinned ones whom he explained was good with herbs and painkillers.

As Anara stood by the edge of the community, lost in thought, Ethan stepped beside her, "Unbelievable, isn't it?" he spoke, calm despite the situation, eyes on the same fire she was staring at before he came.

"I'm scared," She whispered more to herself than him, but it was his presence that let her admit it at all.

He turned to her and without a word gently, giving her every chance to resist, pulled her for an embrace. She let him, because after the day she had, she needed it. So, she let herself relax against him for the first time since waking in the forest.

Then, the feeling returned.

Eyes.

Watching from where they had come, making the hair on back of her neck stand.