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She wanted to get away from this place. Away from the camp. Away from the entire planet. She wanted to be back on Earth, hellhole though it may be. Back in Chicago where she fit in and everything made sense and her body didn’t have inappropriate reactions to giant alien warriors because there were no alien warriors to have inappropriate reactions to.
“Hey Serenity. Mind if I join you?”
The unexpected greeting startled her so badly that she nearly dropped her bowl of soup. A nice big glob of it spilled over the rim and splattered her thigh.
“Wow, somebody’s a bit edgy today.”
It was a young man in his mid twenties with a shock of dark hair and a cowlick that made him look even younger than he really was. He was dressed in a primitive loincloth, just like every other guy in the camp, but with his skinny, boyish frame and pale skin he looked awkward and goofy, like a college freshman dressed up for a costume party. He was standing over Serenity with a too-big grin on his face.
Serenity smiled back a little less enthusiastically and smudged the spilled soup off her leg.
“Hi Patrick,” she said. “I’m just…I didn’t sleep well last night is all.”
“Too many snorers in your tent?” he asked cheerily.
“Yeah,” Serenity muttered. “Something like that…”
Patrick had been on this planet longer than she had. Nearly a full year. He had been saved from a different slaughterhouse than the one where Serenity was rescued. He had befriended Serenity shortly after she had arrived in camp.
Actually, “befriended” probably wasn’t the right word. Patrick was clearly infatuated.
Serenity sometimes worried that she might be leading the poor guy on. But at the same time, she didn’t want to refuse his friendship. Due to her former occupation as a cop, she didn’t have many friends in camp, and Patrick was one of the few guys who actually seemed…safe. Serenity didn’t know what he had been convicted of, but she assumed his crimes must have been of the white-collar variety. He certainly wasn’t a hardened criminal.
“Anyway, do you mind if I join you?” Patrick repeated.
For half a second, Serenity considered telling the young man that she would prefer to be alone. But she sensed that he had something important to tell her.
“Sure.”
Patrick’s grin widened, and he plopped himself down on the boulder next to Serenity, sitting just a little too close for comfort. The guy was not good at respecting personal boundaries. Serenity was already starting to regret saying yes, but it was too late. Patrick was launching into a conversation.
“So, what do you think?” he asked.
Serenity shook her head. Vagueness was yet another annoying habit Patrick possessed.
“What do I think aboutwhat, Patrick?”
“The murders.”
Serenity’s eyes widened in surprise. Her muscles tensed, and a chilly feeling rippled up her spine.
“Murders?” she half-whispered.
“You haven’t heard?”
Serenity shook her head silently. Her throat suddenly felt very dry. She reached for her cup of water, but there were only a few drops left.
“Apparently it happened last night,” Patrick said. “The bodies were found this morning. Three of them. Three dead bodies laid out pretty as you please in the middle of the men’s section of the camp.”
The men’s and women’s sleeping tents were located in separate parts of the canyon. This morning when Serenity had stepped out of her tent, she had noticed a commotion in the men’s section, but she had been too wrapped up in her own concerns to pay it any mind.
“Three men?” she stammered. “Who were they?”
Patrick shrugged. He was clearly trying to play it cool.
“Not sure. I’ve seen them around before, but I couldn’t tell you their names. One guy had a little soul patch. Another had these big scruffy sideburns. And the third guy, the skinny one, he had a total pedo mustache. Super creepy.”
“God,” Serenity choked. “Who…who do they think did it?”
