Midnight Glow: Scifi Alien enemies to lovers romance

Chapter Four a

Selene woke with a pounding headache. Her face was hot and her lips were cracked and flaking. It took her several long moments to sit up and remember where she was. The beach was empty. Waves were curling up the sand to almost meet her toes. She couldn't tell if the sun was rising or setting on the horizon.

Groggily she sat up and fished through her pack for her water. Luckily the pack had come equipped with a proper water canister, one that would suck moisture from the air to replenish itself. She wouldn't have to worry about dehydration yet. Food was another story. Two meal kits left.

Her stomach churned as she shouldered her pack and crawled through the sand towards the treeline. Her face and hands had burned in the sun. It was difficult to assess the damage without a mirror, but she could feel sharp pain every time she moved. Burns were the least of her worries now. She pulled out her boots from her pack and pulled them on her feet. Her vision swam slightly around the edges. She took a few moments to sip her water silently.

The forest was quiet. Selene peered through the trees. It looked like the picturesque oasis she had seen only holo-graphs of, the types of places she could only dream of visiting. Her home world had been much hotter. Spending a day out in the sun on Mars-V2 would've been a death sentence.

Here she could do more than just survive. Make a plan. She would bring her holo-communicator to the mountain and then she'd set up her camp. She would build herself shelter and find food. And if someone heard her signal, she'd be rescued. Until then she was completely alone.

Selene pulled out her stun gun and attached its clip to her uniform. She slung the pack over her shoulder and began making her way into the jungle. Planning anything more than a few days ahead was too overwhelming. She had never been too familiar with the cloying sensation of fear, but over the past week, she'd come to know it personally.

She tried to treat it like any other mission. The first step in researching was observation. She watched the trees, the ground, the underbrush and the sky. She made note of the tiny bugs she saw crawling across leaves. There were no birds she saw, but she could hear a strange chirping that sounded similar. She found herself grinning, eyes widened with wonder as she made her way deeper into the forest.

It was soon dark. The temperature began to drop slowly. Soon she was shivering, the burns across her face and arm aching with movement. Her body was still sore and tired, but she pressed on. All she needed was a clearing, someplace big enough for her to construct a small shelter out of branches and leaves.

It was a few hours of walking until she found it. Her breath was misting in front of her. A breeze blew threw the trees and brushed through her hair. The wind howled high above. There was a dip in the forest floor, where only grass and large fern bushes grew. It was only a gap two or three trees wide. Selene stopped walking, slowly accessing the area. When she stepped into the clearing, there was a loud shhhhhnnnk noise. Pain burst from her right leg, and suddenly she was flying.

She howled in surprise. When her eyes opened the forest floor greeted her. She was... suspended in the air. She could see tree roots, the wide spiky leaves of the strange fern plants below her. She was upside down. She hissed suddenly at the sensation of pain racing up her leg. It took a great effort to force herself to look up.

She was hanging upside down from her right leg. There was some chain attached to it, although it was impossible to tell in the dark. She could feel the bite of metal against her skin. The sensation was cold and sharp.

This was it. She was truly going to die.

There was a rustling sound nearby. And then sounds- clicking, a familiar chirping sound, and something like voices. Real voices, the noises of people talking. Selene twisted desperately to face them. She howled loudly when the pain raced up her leg again. She forced herself to freeze her movements. Her breaths came in gaps. Tears blurred her vision as she waited for the knife or bullet or whatever weapon would kill her.

Nothing came.

Instead, a large dark figure entered her vision. Legs. The person approaching her was wearing pants. Selene dared not move to get a better look. The pain was getting worse. She could feel something tickling up her leg. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it was blood. She was certain the metal was cutting through her skin now.

The legs stopped in front of her. The voices grew louder.

"P-please," Selene choked. "Don't kill me!" She knew it was stupid. They wouldn't be able to understand her. There was another loud shhhhhnnnnkkk, and suddenly the ground was racing up to meet her face. She landed on the forest floor with a loud crunch. Pain blossomed across her body. She managed to untangle her arms and push off the ground when someone grabbed her bicep and yanked her up to her feet.

She cried out when her injured leg made contact with the ground. She was panting, covered in dirt and sweat. She looked up.

The alien's face was shockingly familiar. The Korceps were the only aliens humans had made contact with. The ones to teach Selene's ancestors about space travel, and the ones who imprisoned them too. This alien looked nothing like a Korcep. It looked.... Almost human. With a strong jaw and full human lips. The nose was a little too flat for a human, and the eyes too snake-like. But he had hair- without knowing anything else about this alien Selene was confident it was a he- his hair was thick and black hair pulled back away from his face. And he looked angry. Wide chested and muscular and terrifying.

Selene looked up at him with wide eyes. Her nostrils flared as she tried not to shout, tried not to gasp for breath or break down into tears.

When the alien spoke she could see razor-sharp teeth within its mouth. She couldn't understand anything it said, but his tone was harsh and guttural. His clothing was primitive- it reminded her of the cotton clothes she'd seen in holo-photos that her ancestors had worn.

When he stepped forward, she noticed the weapon in his hands. Her arms prickled at the sight- it looked almost like a stun ray. The metal he pressed against her throat was colder than the breeze, like ice against her burned skin. She squeezed her eyes closed and waited for the pain again.

It didn't come. When she opened her eyes he was already pulling away, walking deeper into the forest. The arms that held her biceps tightened. She winced, turning to see two more men in dark clothes gripping her. They sneered at her, holding her tightly and forcing her forward. She ground her teeth every time her right foot touched the ground. Of all the terrible, nasty things she had prepared herself for, becoming a prisoner to a group of aliens was not among them.