The Alien Queen's Escape

Malena Milly

I feel my heart poun..... in panic as I see the ET´s heading towards me. 'This is it,' I think. 'I'm finished.'

I drop the Breeder with a light thump and look around, trying to as...ess my best escape route. The ET´s are heading towards me in a nearby group, so I may be able to sneak away to the side and run into the forest.

Looking at the ET´s again, none of them seem particularly fast, and they're clearly not strong ET1s and ET2, so it's possible he can take them on. Of course, I've spent a lot of time in that dungeon with barely any food and no physical exercise, so I may not be in my best shape right now.

I'm about to make my final decision to fight or flee when a voice enters my head.

'My team is closing in on you,' Kane says in the mental link. 'They are telling me that they have you in sight.'

'Well, you could have told me that before I had a heart attack!' say. At least she hadn't run away like an idiot. It takes a minute before I calm down enough to be able to breathe again.

'I'm a little busy here,' he says. 'A thank you would be nice.'

I roll my eyes. 'Thank you,' I say dryly. I knew his people couldn't communicate directly with me, since they weren't in my pack and they weren't ET1s, but still, he could have told me sooner.

I don't even know, I don't care what Kane said next because his ET´s had arrived. A couple of them change into human form to take the Breeder for me, thankfully. They were big guys, and I'd usually check them out a bit once they'd changed into their birthday suits, just to see if they were someone I'd secretly like to have a little fun with. But right now, I don't even care about naked men, even if they are potentially attractive.

“We need to move quickly,” I say almost in a whisper. The boy closest to me, currently holding the Breeder's feet, nods, directing me to the left while most of Kane's ET´s stay behind. Once we've turned the corner and are running into the forest, I hear a lot of commotion back there that sounds like several of them are having their heads ripped off by the castle guards.

As long as I'm not the one who dies, who the hell cares?

I hear a series of desperate howls from behind as I transform and begin running at full speed through the forest. The two boys carrying the Breeder won't be able to follow me, but that's their problem. I won't stick around to be recaptured and dragged back to that dungeon.

There is nothing but freedom in front of me once I pas... the castle wall, and nothing will stop me from heading towards it at full speed.

Elliot

Reece and I are searching the area near the shed, and we're at a loss as to where Eli has been taken. He's still unresponsive on the mental link, and I'm struggling to hold out hope that he's just unconscious somewhere. It's quite possible that the kidnappers have drugged him and are keeping him that way so we can't communicate with him.

I really, really hope that's the case. I can't even form the words for the alternative.

Cora is sitting in a chair we dragged from what's left of the shed. She can't help us find anything, and I want to keep her in sight so I can prevent her from warning whoever worked with her to kidnap Eli about our location.

I still don't trust her. Something about her story just doesn't add up. Or maybe it's the way she tells it; It's not the best lieKamila.

Although, until now, he has gotten away with many things. I can't believe she told Eli that he was from my pack. I can't blame him for believing him, but he really should have checked with me first. I wonder how long he's been in Eli's pack plotting all this. He may have been there since before he knew him, which would make sense. He didn't think to ask because she had integrated by the time we met at the castle.

Reece looks at me and shakes his head. 'All I see is the mess they made dragging him here,' she says in the mental link. 'Nothing seems to take away.'

'Same here,' I reply. 'I'm thinking whoever brought him here is smarter than whoever brought him here.'

'I'm afraid of that too,' he says. 'Logically, they should go north, since south only leads back in the direction of the castle.'

I look north and see nothing but a forest. I'm not as familiar with this area as I am with the rest of Gene's pack lands, so I'm not sure how deep this forest might be.

'Let's try that road for a while,' I say.

He nods and I approach Cora, saying, "Come on," and she immediately stands up. Clearly, our ET1 influence is still quite strong.

The forest is not far away, so we stay in human form for the moment. I'm in no hurry to go into an unknown forest without knowing who is there, so we are cautious. As we get closer, I can see that there is actually a dirt road that wasn't visible from far away due to its angle, and it's clear from some recent footprints that someone has traveled this way not long ago.

'And these must be our kidnappers,' I say to Reece in the mental link. We keep our conversation to ourselves so we can talk freely without worrying about Cora.

'The prints look fresh,' he says, agreeing with my as...essment. 'Let's keep going for a bit and see where we end up.'

The path is a little rough, and we spend about an hour following it, keeping our senses alert in case someone comes toward us from the forest around us. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, so we continue forward until we reach a clearing.

At that point, there are multiple footprints.

'They changed vehicles,' says Reece.

'I think so,' I said, bending down to examine the print. 'It's definitely a larger vehicle, maybe even a military one.'

'And it goes that way,' he says, pointing towards a second path that leads back into the deep forest.

Without another word, Reece, Cora and I headed in that direction. But when we reach the road and begin to enter the forest, the smell in the air changes.

'Someone's here,' Reece says just as I come to the same conclusion.

Whoever it is, it seems to have appeared out of nowhere, and now I'm pretty sure we're already surrounded. Reece and I transform and take a strong stance to show that we are both ET1s, and if these ET´s are anything less than that, they better back off.

It doesn't seem to help, because just then a stunted black ET runs out from the left, and shortly afterwards about twelve follow, all coming from different directions.

It's an ambush.

I don't see what Cora does, but I as...ume she transforms too; She would be torn to pieces by a dozen ET´s when she is in human form.

The black ET, who seems to be in charge even though he doesn't smell or move like an ET1, circles around me, his eyes wild with hate.

I give him a warning growl, which he ignores, then I lunge at him, pushing him all the way back into the forest. I'm not ready to kill yet, as I'm not sure who these ET´s are or what they are doing here.

As he growls and regains his balance, a gray ET attacks me from the side, and I easily dodge its attack.

'We don't want to hurt anyone,' I say, using the mental link as ET1 to talk to all the ET´s.

But it has no effect, and by then the black ET is up and running towards me. He makes one final leap toward me with teeth bared, and I have no choice but to sink my own fangs deep into the flesh of his neck.

Now I can see that the rest of the ET´s are scared, but two that look like twins with black fur are charging towards me together. Reece pushes one away and the other swerves before hitting me. But as I prepared for that blow, a third ET came at me from behind and slammed his full weight into my hip.

He groaned in pain and twisted, ending it with a bite to his carotid artery. Reece moves closer to take a stance beside me, and the rest of the ET´s retreat, turning when they're some distance away and running back into the woods.

The pain in my hip radiates down my leg, and I sit gently on the other side. 'That packed a good punch,' I say.

'Where's Cora?' Reece asks.

I look around and see nothing. She had gotten away from it, but I needed time to heal my hip before going after her.

'Do you think it was a distraction on purpose?' he asks.

'If it was, two deaths are a high price to pay for an escape,' I say.

'Are you going to be okay to travel?' he asks.

'Give me a few moments, and I'll be fine,' I say. 'She's already healing a little.'

He nods, but then we both hear another voice echoing in our minds.

'ET1 Tristan, ET1 Reece, are you there?' comes ET2 Adam's voice. He is far away, so his voice is weak, but we can hear him.

'Come back quickly!' he says. 'They've taken Kamila!'