Page 6 of Prison Moon

“So you don’t think the locals are going to eat us?”

Sara raised an eyebrow at her. “Define eat.”

Marcy made a face and shuddered. “Never mind.”

She moved away from the stone structure and stared into the jungle. It was still silent. Not hearing any birds or insects buzzing was just—eerie. It was as if nothing wanted to be here. Maybe they shouldn’t be either. “Which way should we go?” she asked, turning back to look at Marcy.

“I don’t know. It all looks the same to me.”

It did to her, too. “All right, then. Eenie-meanie-miny-mo.” She nodded to the right. “Let’s go this way.” They’d taken several dozen steps when Marcy grabbed her arm.

“Shhh. Listen.”

Sara stared at her. Marcy’s eyes were comically wide, her mouth forming a perfect, “O”. She heard what Marcy did a few moments later. The sound of feet against the ground, the steady thump of things running, the creak and crash of limbs breaking and falling. They were coming. “Oh, shit. What do you want to do?”

Marcy looked out into the surrounding jungle, fear shining in her eyes. “I don’t know.” When she turned and looked back at the stone structure, Sara did too. She had no idea what lay beyond that columned doorway but it couldn’t be any worse than what waited for them out here. She hoped.

* * *

The light streaming through the doorway only shined a short distance inside the darkened interior. Five steps in and she was plunged into darkness. Sara felt her way around, one hand on the wall to her right, each step cautious as the stone corridor gushed cold, stale air. She paused and looked behind her. “You still back there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

She nodded, not that Marcy could see her, and turned back to the darkness and continued walking. A few broken pieces of stone litter the floor. The sound they made when her foot connected with them was loud in the stillness, along with her hissed curses. Like the sorry excuse for a dress, the aliens hadn’t bothered giving them decent shoes as most of her foot was exposed.

She took careful steps and when her hand reached the end of the wall, she stopped. “The wall ends here.” Should she continue forward? The light was so faint she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her. Feeling along the stone, she felt the gentle curve that indicated another passageway veering off to the right. “I think there’s another hallway here.” She took a small step, tracing the wall with her hand and paused when Marcy grabbed the back of her dress.

“Lead the way,” she said. “I’m right behind you.”

They turned the corner and Sara stared into total darkness. Three steps in and she stopped. “I can’t see a thing, Marcy. I could lead us straight off into a bottomless pit for all I know.”

“Then we’ll go back.” A gentle tug on her dress and she turned, following Marcy around the corner. “Now what?”

“I don’t know.” They both look back to the sunny entrance. “I think I’d rather stay here in the dark than try to outrun whatever that is out there chasing us. Did you get a look at them?”

“No,” Marcy said. “I was too busy trying to outrun them to worry about what they looked like. If they are even half as ugly as those aliens on the ship, then I don’t want to meet any of them face to face. Let’s go back around the corner. I’d rather not be in plain sight of the entrance in case one of them looks inside. Unlike us, they may be able to see perfectly fine in the dark.”

They move back into the darkness and waited. The noise from outside grew louder as they stood there. Grunts and snarls, like they’d heard when they were told to run, filled the air and the sound of feet hitting the ground, the crash of vegetation being uprooted, and the occasional scream caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end.

The light from the entrance didn’t shine far up the corridor they came through leaving everything in total darkness but once Sara’s eyes adjusted to the low light, she saw a flickering, pale glow. “Do you see that, Marcy?”

“See what?”

She pointed to her left then lowered her arm knowing Marcy couldn’t see it. “Over there to the left. That blue light.”

Marcy was silent for long moments then whispered, “I see it. What do you suppose it is?”

She had no clue. It could be a pool of crisp, clean water, a sanctuary filled with mounds of edible fruits, or the glow of some creature’s eyes. Stooping down she felt for a stone and stood when she had one, then tossed it toward the glow.

The light flickered, then more lit the area until she could see what appeared to be some sort of doorway. She peeked around the corner. Seeing no trace of the things looking for them, she darted across the dark corridor to the other side, stepping into the fissure she saw in the stone wall.

“Sara, where are you going?”

She shushed her and took a cautious step and peeked around the corner, then gasped. “Holy shit, Marcy. Come look at this.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure but you’ll want to see it.”