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“The fated bond,” the alien says, his body brightening again as he says it.

I choke on my next inhale, unsure if I heard this alien man correctly because he did not just say we’re both still learning about a fated bond. There’s absolutely no way.

Nope. I’m about to tell him as much when the energy ripples again, and his fingers squeeze mine tighter.

“There isn’t much time.” His head snaps to the doorway, and then he’s standing from the bed, removing his touch from me. “You have no reason to trust me, but I ask that you do. Please, know everything I do from this moment until my last, I do to keep you safe. No matter where you go or what happens to you, I will find you.”

“That’s a lot.” I shake my head and look around the room. It’s a makeshift medical room or probably a nursing station for sports injuries that weren’t too serious. “That’s a lot to throw at someone who just woke up from being almost crushed to death during the apocalypse.”

The alien’s energy seems to move faster through his body, and I feel my lips tugging up slightly. I’m almost positive this is his annoyed look, or at least I think it is. I’m sure he wants to saysomething, but then I realize the most logical explanation for what’s happening here.

“I’m hallucinating, aren’t I?” I plop my hands down on the bed by my side like I’ve got it all figured out. “Oh fuck me!”

I can’t stop the laugh from bubbling up and letting it escape. The sound seems to make the alien hallucination I’m seeing brighten, and he stays that way longer than the other times.

“I’ve hallucinated some alien man that makes me feel safe, and if that isn’t the saddest thing about this whole situation.”

The sound of footsteps outside the room quiets my words and dims my humor. The same can be said for the glow of my imaginary alien friend. His attention snaps to the door when mine does, but then he walks back next to the bed and kneels beside it so his glowing energy head is close to mine.

“I’m glad I make my fated feel safe. Now, trust me, okay?”

His fingers reach up and stroke my face, and I feel nothing but a soft pressure as he cups my cheek. There’s no warmth, no coolness, just the presence of him, and then it’s gone. He walks to a wall across from my bed and leans against it, waiting for whoever is outside the door to come inside.

The doorknob turns, and I focus my attention to see if more energy aliens are going to come walking through. I frown when a human man walks into the room. There’s something off about him, and not just because all of the men died not that long ago. There’s something unnatural about him. It has my brain saying run.

I don’t run, though. I turn my attention back toward the only thing that’s made me feel safe since the world started turning to shit.

My glowing white hallucinated alien isn’t leaning against the wall anymore. No, now it’s a human man. Again, he’s a strange human man, but he doesn’t creep me out like the other one does.

Underneath the weird human disguise that he’s wearing is my white, glowing alien. It doesn’t matter that now he’s some generic-looking white guy with cropped blonde hair and dark brown eyes. It doesn’t matter that I can’t seem to stop myself from letting my eyes roam all over his body to take in exactly what his human skin looks like. None of that matters because underneath, I know who he is. Underneath the weird disguise, the doctor’s coat, and the— wait?

“How’s the patient?” the new alien asks as he walks toward my alien. My teeth grind together to keep myself from asking questions because I’m almost positive that now isn’t the time for questions.

“She woke right before you arrived. I was about to come get you when I heard you down the hall,” my alien says. His eyes never leave mine, even as he speaks to the other alien. “Her vitals are normal, and there’s no permanent damage that I can see. It was smart of you to set up crowd control points to stop this from happening to more of the females.”

The word female leaves a weird taste in my mouth, and a frown forms on my lips as I try to let it sink in. The doctor seems to notice this and tilts his head to the side in question but doesn’t voice one.

Maybe it’s a normal way to address women where he’s from, even if I think the whole thing is gross. I can break him of that habit. I mean, I’m his fated, right? I should be able to ask him not to call me a female ever again.

“Some of us were curious when we saw how quick you were to offer her aid,” the other alien says as he looks over to me.

My frown is still on my face after hearing myself called a female, which is a perfectly good way of describing an animal. Wait, am I an animal to these aliens? Like, obviously humans are mammals or whatever. I remember some stuff from high schoolbiology. Does this alien guy think he’s fated to an animal? Is that bestiality?

I shake my head, forgetting about the two aliens staring at me. The new one looks confused, but my alien is staring at me with amusement flickering in his eyes. I can see the white of his true form flashing underneath his irises, and it does something in my belly to make butterflies erupt.

“It’s nothing that interesting,” my alien says with a noncommittal shrug.

He turns his attention away from me for the first time since I’ve been awake. As soon as his eyes aren’t on me, I want them back. I tick my jaw back and forth, eyes narrowing on him.

I can’t decide if I hate him for making me like him so much in such a short amount of time or hate him because I’ve never been a woman who falls so fast for a stranger. In fact, this is the first time I can remember feeling this safe around anyone who wasn’t my mom. I don’t like that he gets that trust without earning it.

“Not that interesting?” the new alien asks.

“No, I saw a female who looked like a good candidate for Unit A12 and didn’t want to lose one to something so reckless. If repopulation is the will of the Creator, it should be handled with the utmost urgency.”

“Hmm.” The other alien mulls over his words for a moment and then gives my alien a stiff nod. “Very well, see that she’s placed in the correct unit. I believe we already have other candidates there as well.”

“Wonderful,” the doctor says with an expression that makes me think it’s anything but.