Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“We only wish to get to know you better,” he says to me. “We will not harm you.”
He waits a few moments for me to respond, and when I don’t, he gives me a tight smile.
“If you all would escort him to the van,” he tells the males around him. “No weapons.”
I could fight. I could probably kill every male here, but I’m no murderer. Those are last resort actions in almost every situation. Someone crash landing on my planet would too have been met with weapons, so I cannot blame them for this. And while I do not at all think this male has as good intentions as he claims, if I fight against him taking me wherever he intends to, it will only make things worse.
I need only be here when the other Hallans come. My suit will make me aware of it, vibrating against my skin when another of my kind is near.
Or, should that not be the case for whatever reason, I will hear the horns.
The males holster their weapons at their hips and the general watches me with his hands behind his back. They approach me carefully, hands outstretched, although none of them touches me even when they get close enough to. I try to see myself through their eyes, how strange I must appear to them, as they do to me. Now that they’re closer, I find that none of them barely even reaches my chest. Whereas their skins are varying shades of yellow and brown, mine is gray. Their hair is cropped very close to their heads, but my black hair hangs down my back in thin braids. They have small hands and blunt fingers, whereas my hands are large enough to grip their heads, and my fingers end with black claws. I don’t know if they have any markings beneath their clothing, but how then could they identify what families each other belong to without them? My black eyes watch them as they fan out around me, their own eyes, wide and cautious, are white with different colored orbs surrounding a black pupil at the center.
Hazel. Browns. Greens … Blue.
Could it be that—
I cut my thoughts off. This is no time to be thinking of fates and a pair of multicolored eyes that I long to find.
Once the males have formed a semi open circle around and behind me, the general gestures towards the white rectangle waiting beyond the sand of the shore. He, again, smiles, but it still looks just as false. I walk towards the … van, as they called it, the relief of the males around me palpable. The general gets in first, folding his body onto a seat attached to the side of the van, extending his hand to invite me to do the same. I step into the van and it drops down under my weight, creaking as I enter. When I sit on the seat, barely because it’s far too small, the van leans heavily towards my side. I place my bag beside me while two other males get in, sitting beside the general. Another closes the doors from outside.
“Straight to my house,” the general says.
“Yes, sir,” someone in the front of the van, beyond a partition, replies.
The van lurches forward and a ride that I’m sure will be filled with tense stares and silent mouths begins.
TWO
The van turns a corner, the sound under the tires changing from a smooth road to gravel. Curiosity makes me crane my neck to try and see through the small gap in the partition, but all I can see are more vans like this one lining the road we’re on. The van comes to a stop and the general’s eyes drift to me.
If I didn’t know better, I would say there’s a warning in them. For what? To behave? To follow him without question? Not to fight back against something he has waiting for me beyond these doors?
The doors open and their blinding sun shines inside. The two males who rode with us get out first, standing at attention as the general exits the van. The general points towards the ground at his feet, clearly meaning for me to come stand before him. Although, I’m content to act like I cannot understand much of anything here, the arrogant way with which he chooses to instruct me to do things is already starting to annoy me. He thinks I am one of his … I believe he called them soldiers back at the shore.
They behave like paid guards. People meant to do his bidding simply because he utters the words. Little does he know; I could rip his tongue from his mouth before he ever even knew what happened if I didn’t like the words he said.
I stand and tightly grip my bag as I begin walking towards the exit. With my height, even hunching over, my shoulders touch the roof of the van. I jump down, mere inches from the general. I can see that he tries to hold his ground with me so close to him, but it’s only a few seconds before he clears his throat and takes a step back.