Alien Brute's Captive - Aya Morningstar
Catherine
November 11, 2022. Earth.
Thad wobbles out of the tent with a shit-eating grin on his face. He gives me a thumbs up.
Great. He’s high again.
The desert sun has already set, and the fire in front of us is quickly becoming the only source of light save for the stars overhead.
“Hey, Cat, baby,” he says, wrapping his arms around me.
“Really, Thad? You said you weren’t going to.”
He lets out a childish scoff and pulls away from me.
“Fun police,” one of his friends shouts, imitating a siren sound.
Everyone laughs, except for me.
Why am I with him again? Oh, because he’s a “rock star?”
The “living one day at a time” thing was exhilarating at first, but over the past few months it’s become more and more pathetic to me. Draining.
“Come on, Cat,” he says. “We’ve got some for you. Maybe you’d be less of a buzzkill if you just had some fun, too?”
I don’t even want to know what he’s on. I know it’s not weed.
He’s walking around shirtless. His skin is absolutely baked, red from camping in the desert and never wearing sunscreen or doing a single thing to protect himself or his health. He looks like a perfectly cooked lobster.
“I’m good,” I say, crossing my arms.
He rolls his eyes at me, and then someone calls him over to the tent.
I’m not “good.” I haven’t been for a while. Or ever, really.
I always pick the wrong kind of guy. Before Thad it was a tech bro...named Chad. He was more interested in his Bitcoin mining rig than he was in having sex with me. So, I thought a guy like Thad--sort of the polar opposite of Chad--would be the right direction to go in.
“If you’re just going to sit there,” he shouts at me from the tent, “can you get some beers out of the truck and put them in the cooler?”
I need to find a normal guy. One who still likes to have fun, but not too much fun. One who has a normal job, normal hobbies, nothing too exciting or too out there. Just normal.
“Fine!” I shout back. “I’ll do it! Since you’re all so busy.”
Someone snickers. “We’re too fucking high to do it!”
I do it just because they’ll never stop whining if I don’t. It also puts me slightly further away from Thad for the minute or so it takes to walk to the truck. We’re going back home tomorrow, and I decide I’ll break up with Thad as soon as we get back. I’ve had enough of this. I’d break up with him now, but then I’d be stranded here with him or stuck without a ride home. No, it can wait a day
I make it three steps toward the truck when out of nowhere a piercing sharp pain stings my leg.
I wince and yelp as the snake slithers away from me. I don’t really see it clearly. I only see the s-shaped movement for a brief moment before it’s lost in shadow.
“Shit!” one of Thad’s friends shouts. “A snake!”
Thad points toward what must be the snake, but I still can’t see it from where I’m standing. Thad jumps into the tent. He zips it tight behind him.
Just as I look down at my leg and start calculating the chances that the snake could be venomous, the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt pulses through my calf and thigh. I double over in pain.
“Thad!” I shout. “It bit me!”
The pain shoots further up my leg and my stomach cramps up.
“Thad!” I shout again.
It takes several more anguishing shouts before the tent flap opens again. Just his head pokes out.
“You okay, babe?” he asks, looking around nervously.
“No. It bit me. Get me to a hospital.”
“What color was the snake?” another guy asks.
“Red,” someone says.
“No, dude. It was black.”
“Red and black, send it back. Blue and yellow, it’s a friendly fellow…”
“That’s not how it goes, dude.”
“It was green,” someone else says.
“Thad!” I shout. “Please. It was definitely venomous. It hurts bad.”
It’s like they are moving in slow motion. Not just because I’m in pain and time seems to be moving slower, it’s because they are all slow and useless. Finally, only after they cannot see the snake anywhere, do they manage to come toward me.
“Dude,” Thad says. “My arms are all rubbery and shit from the stuff I took. Bryce, can you pick her up?”
“You can’t catch venom, dude. It’s not contagious.”
“Oh,” Thad says, grinning. “I guess I can lift her then.”
He picks me up and carries me to the truck.