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The creature that threatened me with the knife came back to stand over me, but this time he dragged something across the floor with him. When I realized what—who—it was, the remnants of supper spilled out on my tongue. I had my answer.

They had murdered Roult in cold blood and it was his blood that marred my clothing and skin. I gazed down at his lifeless body sprawled out on the floor. I couldn’t see his face. His throat had been cut. His body beaten. He was painted in metallic red. He didn’t deserve this. I hastily scrambled to the door without looking back. My heart was in my throat. The hairs stuck up on the back of my neck. Roult’s glassy eyes looked up at me and his expression looked cold as ice. In that instant, all I could remember was his voice and one question he asked me when we met:“Would you ever go back to the life you had on Earth?” My answer had been no. Of all the things, why had that question come to mind? Probably because I never told him why. I promised him that I’d tell him one day, but for me, the memory of what I’d endured on Earth was too painful. Now, he’d never know. He’d never know that my abduction from Earth was what ultimately saved me—it’s what saved me from myself.

Sorrow crept up my spine as the realization set in that Roult was never coming back. The vision of his inquisitive features flashed before my eyes as his voice echoed through my brain like a pulse. Brought to Zunator and given to Roult so that I could produce him an heir, I never imagined this would be my ultimate fate—his ultimate fate. I thought my life was doomed the moment I crossed the threshold into his home, but something different happened. Everything had gone in my favor until this night…

Roult had never sought to take advantage of me, shattering my belief that all men were bad. Well, Roult wasn’t a human man and neither were these creatures…

I was conflicted. I wanted to die. I wanted to flee. I wanted to give up. I wanted to live.

The creatures probably figured that seeing Roult’s body would make me fear them even more. They were right. But I feared them enough to want to get away.

The creatures continued to converse with each other in their mysterious language, scrambling around the house like rats, looting, raiding, and ransacking what they could get their murderous hands on. I spotted a glimpse of something silver near the bed post. I recognized it as a tool that Roult had used to bend and shape metal pieces into works of art. While making sure the creatures didn’t see me, I inched closer to the tool and grabbed hold of it with my pinky finger. A few awkward moments later, I had the sharp end of the tool gridding against the rope. I sawed at my bindings while the creatures maneuvered clumsily around the podhouse. They seemed distracted, greedily plucking various items from the cabin into their satchels. The more I studied their movements, the more I realized that their cloaks worked well to disguise them. It was almost as if they were invisible while under the cloaks. When one of them turned slightly and then looked upward at a bundle of dried spices hanging from the ceiling, I happened to get a glimpse of the side of its face. His skin was green—the color of algae and his cheekbones were high and well defined. When he snatched the bag of spices down and bowed his head to look at it, the cloak shielded his face, making his identify invisible once more. What magic was this? What race of aliens could do this?

Something in the food prep area distracted all three creatures and I worked like a madman then, cutting through the skin on my finger trying to hack at the ropes faster. As soon as the rope loosened enough for me to slip my wrist out, I did so. I reached down and jerked the knot from the ropes binding my ankles and like a fiend in the night, I tiptoed toward the door and slipped out of sight.

I almost passed out from holding my breath. I didn’t even realize I was holding it all in until I was a good distance away from the podhouse. The land had recently been settled on by the Zunatorians and the nearest podhouse was about a ten minute walk in the opposite direction. On Earth, they would have referred to it was “out in the middle of no-where”. Still, I was determined to reach safety, even if I had to run all the way to the main settlement until my bare feet were raw and bloodied.

But it was pitch black, and the darkness threatened to swallow me into oblivion. I held my arms outstretched in front of me, fumbling around through the thick brush to find a trail or keep my footing on solid ground. I tasted a chemical taste in my mouth and somehow wondered if I hadn’t been drugged. After all, those creatures had knocked me out cold. They could’ve down anything to me while I was unconscious.

As I fled for my life, I quickly lost my bearings, and it was impossible to navigate through the total darkness. I didn’t have the night vision afforded to a Zunatorian on their native planet. I found myself burrowing deeper into the belly of unfamiliar territory. Branches and sharp leaves scrapped against my arms as I tried to claw my way out of what seemed like a forest of never-ended vegetation.

The subtle sound of footsteps pattered a few strides behind me but I never stopped walking and I never looked back. Whatever it was behind me, it sounded like an animal. Like something was tracking me. As it grunted, I felt the ground being pounded with each footstep. These weren’t the footsteps of the light-weight, cloaked creatures I just freed from. This was a different beast entirely. Plus, I had a dark forbearing that I had gone into the forbidden area. It was imperative to put some distance between me and whatever that thing was behind me. I turned around, hoping that I could find my way back to safer territory. I needed to get to the main settlement. The guards were always on patrol there.

I felt like I was running in circles. Maybe I was. Panting hard, I spun around and gasped. My eyes had adjusted to the dark enough for me to frame out the silhouette of a deformed beast. In that instant, I knew what it was. A barb. A mindless beast that only knew one thing—how to kill. Roult had spoken of them before. They were predators roaming around through the forbidden territories and beyond. I suppressed a scream as I came face to face with it’s leathery, loose hanging skin and its wide open lips.

It was foaming at the mouth with nauseating drool slipping from its jaw. Its eyes were red and ravenous. I spun on a heel and ran, bolting as fast as I could away from it. My lungs burned, my thighs ached, but I didn’t stop. If I did—I was going to die.