Alien Terrain Read Free

highway, five miles south
of where she’d started, Jane knew she’d pulled it off. The old sedan sped over
ancient asphalt. Fifteen minutes later she was turning in to her new life. A different empty town. A different slice
of nowhere.
    Home.

Chapter
Three
    Jane’s car was just another resurrected beater like the rest
of them, small temptation for whatever thieves were left after the exodus. If
she went to all the trouble of navigating it into the yard behind the house, it
was to keep it out of sight of anyone who might know Rick. Once she’d managed
that, she killed the engine, pulled the brake, and sat.
    She’d done the right thing rescuing that man. It was the
only thing she could do. But now what? What was she going to do all alone here
with a big, slightly broken, alien prostitute?
    She made herself get out and pop the trunk. The man was
curled up on his side, breathing but not conscious. That might be what was best
for him, but it was bad for her. Jane tugged at his deadweight and couldn’t
even budge him. Shit . She’d never
been a weakling, but this man was not only a head taller than she was, he was
heavy, dense with muscle, or maybe alien molecules were just thicker. She
yanked at the back of his torn shirt with one foot braced against the bumper
until she had his torso upright, seated with his back against the place where
the trunk latched shut. From there she somehow managed to hoist him up until
his butt cleared the ledge. At which point Jane let gravity take over.
    They landed in a heap on the dead grass. He seemed to come
back to his senses slightly. Jane scooted out from underneath him, cradling his
head to keep it from connecting too hard with the ground. When she’d worked
herself clear, she stood up, brushing at her jeans and trying to decide the
quickest way to get him in the tiny house.
    She should hurry. As deserted as this little patch of
nowhere was, a woman pulling an unconscious man across the lawn was the kind of
thing that drew attention. She sat back down beside him, leaning close enough
to whisper in his ear.
    “I need you to get up and get into the house yourself. Can
you do that?”
    He didn’t answer her.
    She cast a weary glance at the three steps that led up to the
porch. “I’ll get the door,” she said. “Try to pull yourself together. I’ll be
back.”
    A sudden creep of paranoia made her pause to look around.
Like most of the small towns still standing in the Outlands, everyone left on
this street was a retiree—too old and stubborn to move elsewhere. The farmhands
working in the onion fields had modern trailers and an actual community with
families and kids to keep them where they were. Her cover as another teacher
sent by Opting In would work just fine. If she were alone. But anyone who saw her with a Bod would have too many questions not to ask
around. And that would be disaster for them both.
    The houses on either side of hers were boarded up, but did
that mean there wasn’t anyone inside? It would only take one drugged-out kid,
one drifter picking through abandoned houses, and she and her new friend were
done for. Jane felt watched, hounded, as she made her way to her front door.
    She pulled the screen door back and worked the key into its
hole, pulling on the knob a little so the sticky latch released. The door
pushed open. She clicked the lights on, tossed her purse on the counter, and
turned sharply around.
    Her own cry cracked like gunshot into the thin desert air.
She slapped a hand against her heart and tried to breathe.
    The man was standing right behind her. Tall
and straight despite his wounds. How strong must he be?
    “Come in.” She took his hand and pulled him past her,
kicking at the door. Momentum got them both into her bedroom. She was relieved
at how agreeably he let himself be guided to the bed.
    “You’re all right,” she said, although it wasn’t true. Half
his face was badly swollen and raw skin was visible beneath the tatters in