Chapter 136: The end of... Life and Death.Standing between his grove of apple trees and his rows of orange trees, Ike stopped and inhaled the blossoms in the wind. The bright star of the Dagerstanteen planet had him closing his eyes and sighing in delight. He'd never been outside this much, and he was addicted to the warm fresh air. He grinned. There were a few things he was addicted to now, one of which was the three humans laughing, chatting, and strolling toward him.Ike opened his eyes and smiled at the three men walking between his carrots."Ike," Chasm called. "We are here to learn.""Thank you for agreeing to take care of my plants while I travel with JP." Ike nodded."Caveman." Sloan approached him using the nickname he'd given Ike after they met. Sloan held up his hand, and Ike slapped Sloan's palm before his new friend jogged over to where the row of raspberry bushes was growing. "This is badass."Ike glanced at Chasm and raised an eyebrow."It means good," Chasm translated.
Chapter 1: Every day is the same.Place: City, Anywhere United States of America.The thrift store smelled of sweaty bodies, dust, and mothballs. The sunny weather had brought people out of their houses now that the snow had started to melt. Murry thought that the store was busier than usual for a Wednesday. He wrinkled his nose as he finished emptying his cart of books onto the empty shelves.When he was done with the final chore of the workday, he headed back to the stockroom. Passing the checkout stations and weaving silently through the shoppers, he noted the clock. His shift was over five minutes ago. Most of the time, the supervisor would yell at employees who stayed even one minute past their assigned shifts. But that never happened to Murry. Everyone liked to use the words special needs, or they said he had a handicap. Whatever the term they used didn't matter to him anymore. No one spoke as he put his cart away and then walked out of the little room where he could sign out of
Chapter 2: Caught.The muffled conversation brought him out of his sleep. Murry rubbed his eyes and sat up while lifting his head. His eyes scanned the strange room, but he was met with metal bars directly in front of him.Murry was in a cage. That wasn't good."I got one. Our leader said it was difficult, but he's getting old."Murry's eyes shot to the voice. A hair-covered creature was speaking to three others. Frozen with fear, the only thing Murry could do was let his eyes take in his surroundings. He wasn't in the house anymore. That was for sure.The cage Murry had been placed in was against one metal wall. The long room around him had rows of metal crates down both sides with an aisle in the center. The room smelled of metal and a stench he didn't recognize. He sniffed. Blood? But maybe the blood was dried and old. His eyes flipped to the floor. Near many of the pens, he noted colored patches of different dried liquid.Gulping down his panic, he scanned his enclosure and then hi
Chapter 3: Death would be better.Murry wasn't sure how long he was on the table with the strange aliens coming in and out of the exit. Finally, after what felt like years, the hairy creatures were back to leaning over him. Tears welled up at the corners of his eyes to then slide into his hairline. One stupid decision, and he was going to be dissected. Curiosity killed the cat. That's what his mom always said. Yes. He might be the dead cat soon."Welcome to our spaceship." The fat one returned to Murry's side and trailed a nail down Murry's chest. "This is your new home until you die, Earthling. Our language band will help you understand what we want." Saliva dripped onto Murry's chest from the enormous teeth. "We will only give directions once.""If you do not need us, Derbergurs," one of the creatures opened the door. "We will leave you with your human toy." Two of the monsters walked out of Murry's line of sight. The door closed with a final thud. As he shivered on the table, he tr
Chapter 4: Saved... or maybe not.Murry woke up to more terrible agony than he'd ever felt in his life. His eyes rolled to one side. A hairy creature was eating the layers of skin off the top of his forearm without the armband. His eyes widened at the horrible image. A long green tongue was licking and sucking his mangled flesh. Blood poured out of Murry as razor-sharp teeth scraped and sliced. Murry would never be able to get that image out of his head for the rest of his life.His body shifted on the glass table as the recruit alien bit at his calf. Fresh tears flowed out of his eyes. He had to die soon. The fat one moved closer, and his wide green tongue ran over Murry's cheek, lapping up the tears. The fat one's breath smelled like rotting garbage. The stench made Murry gag. He almost threw up and tried to keep down his stomach contents. A body couldn't take much more of this, right? He prayed he would pass out again.Gagging a second time, Murry wondered if he threw up in his mout
Chapter 5: The new alien."I am Keltrixtionlenz. Royal of the Dagerstanteens." The alien who had freed Murry scanned him as Murry struggled to get to his feet. Even though he spoke, the alien's mouth never opened or moved. He only smiled with his pretty pink lips. "Greetings." After a second, the new alien snatched a piece of fabric that dangled from his weapon's holster around his thigh. He wrapped the silk around Murry's arm. He then spoke again with that same deep husky tone."Stay here." Rising from his crouch, the blue creature spun back to the cages. When the hairy recruit peeked his head over the cage, both Murry and blue-tentacle-man saw the movement.Murry had no intention of going anywhere. His whole body hurt, even his hair. He nodded and then frowned at the introduction. He would never remember that long, hard-to-pronounce name, and he had no idea if he was supposed to be impressed by the alien being a royal. What Murry focused on right now was adjusting his body to accomm
Chapter 6: Kel is easier to say.For the second time, Murry awoke to more pain than he'd ever felt in his life. Was that even possible? His skin blazed, and he wondered if he was being cooked alive. He told himself not to open his eyes. He couldn't face more torture. His curiosity poked him. Was he still with Keltrix?When he finally looked around, Murry discovered he was back on a table. His heart began to pound as the icy claws of fear gripped him. No more. Since nothing was in his mouth, he began to beg. Even if no one would understand him, he didn't care. He couldn't stand to get ripped apart again. "Please," he whimpered. "Please, no more, please. I can't…""Calm, Human." Beautiful blue eye met his. This close, Murry noted the alien's thick black eyelashes and the way they fluttered. Keltrix leaned over him, and a soft, smooth tentacle stroked up his uninjured arm. There was nothing on the appendage caressing him, no indentations or spikes. The tentacles had no suction cups like
Chapter 7: One kiss.In an alien lab somewhere in space, Murry accepted his death. The only thing was, he didn't want to die alone.Slowly, Keltrix slipped one tentacle into his palm. Murry closed his fingers, gripping the soft skin and the more rigid muscles underneath. He held on with all the energy he had left inside of him. The heat grew, and he felt drunk or high. Since he lived with his mom and then in the group home, Murry had never done drugs. Even though he never did them, he figured this was what being high or drunk must be like for regular people. "What if the human drinks from me?" Kel's voice was husky, and he lifted his worried gaze to JP. "Would that be enough of our genetic composition inside of Murry's human body to use our medicines? It would help him live until we reach the main ship. Then you have the supplies to fix his human parts, yes?""Drinking from you would buy time, but you know the act is outlawed. Octnavin will be cross. Even if you are the favored siblin