Savage Seed by Ivy Sparks

1

Leslie

Planet Xersie’sunforgiving deserts spanned such great distances that even from my vantage point on the transport shuttle, all I could see below were golden dunes. How any race could survive here, I didn’t know, yet supposedly barbaric tribes were scattered throughout the lands.

Lucky for me and my team, the tribes avoided our mines. They also steered clear of the star port humans and other species had established near the northern region. It wouldn’t be long before we landed there, and I could breathe easily again.

I reached up and rubbed my eyes, swallowing a sigh. The day had been brutal, more so than usual after one of our drilling machines malfunctioned. We didn’t have any spares, so every time one needed repair, it stalled our progress. And we were already operating on razor-thin margins.

No need to worry about that right now, though. I had to leave work at work, or else I’d become as stressed as my father. I turned my focus to the miners and technicians huddled together in groups throughout the shuttle cabin. They seemed happy enough in each other’s company, but something about them caused a knot to form in the pit of my stomach. Though they respected me well enough, they had always kept me at arm’s length. It probably didn’t help that I was the mine owner’s daughter. That seemed to make me off limits, even for friendships. There was Ava, my closest and only friend, and my supervisor, but she was often too preoccupied with her own problems.

So here I sat, alone.

The shuttle tilted suddenly, and I braced myself in my chair. A few of the employees and shuttle crew fell against one another, their arms touching and lips curving into relieved smiles when the shuttle chugged along as normal.

I spotted Ava, sitting across the aisle and staring blankly out the window. She had seemed distracted in the mines. Madison, her little sister, was sick. Very sick. I wondered if she had gotten more bad news in that regard.

Though I had thought it’d be better to give her some room, I decided that tactic wasn’t working, so I unbuckled myself and approached her.

“Ava?” I began gently.

She jerked upon hearing me, then put a hand to her chest and laughed. “Oh! Sorry. I must have been daydreaming again.”

“Is everything okay with Madison?” I asked, sitting down in the chair next to her.

“Actually? Yes. She’s starting to see some improvements.” Ava smiled, though I sensed something was still off. And that was when she admitted, “It’s just the bills… They keep growing and growing, and I’m just not making enough.”

“Shit,” I said.

Ava gasped playfully. “Did you just cuss? You never cuss!”

I laughed. “I guess it’s all wearing on me. I wish I could help, but my father and the mine are already stretched so thin.”

“Don’t you worry about me. I’ll figure something out.”

That was when the shuttle bucked again, but this time more violently than before.

Ava and I both looked down at my unbuckled seat belt. “You, uh, gonna buckle up or what?” Ava asked.

I laughed again, though this time with much less humor. “Eh. A seat belt won’t make much of a difference if we go hurtling into the desert sands.”

“Good Lord, Leslie,” Ava said. “That’s not what I want to hear right now.”

“Maybe we just hit a sand bird,” I joked, forcing a smile and playfully punching Ava in the arm. She and I shared a running gag that there was a sand variety of just about every Earth animal here.

“Yeah, maybe.” Ava got that faraway look in her eyes again, then unbuckled herself to stand, her focus turning to one of our technicians in the front of the shuttle. “I need to talk to Gregory about something. Would you excuse me?”

I nodded and watched her head off. I wondered if she and Gregory had anything romantic developing between them. He was nice enough, and I wasn’t sure what other business she’d have with him.

If only I could just easily chat up a guy like that. Instead, all I had in my life was the mine and my father. And for my father, all he had was the mine and me. Remembering that, I buckled my seat belt and closed my eyes, focusing on him. He had sacrificed so much for me. Regardless of whatever things that I thought might have been missing from my life, I was grateful I still had him.

Just as I opened my eyes again, I glimpsed something large and bright hurtling toward our shuttle. Other than a quick inhalation, I had no time to react. It happened that fast.

The object collided into the side of the shuttle and ripped the hull in half. The deafening screech of tearing metal assaulted my ears as the world suddenly spun around me.

I couldn’t see, couldn’t think, could hardly breathe as I felt myself free-fall to the desert sands. One moment, the wind rushed past me and I clutched the arm rests for dear life. The next, I hit the ground, tumbling several times end over end.

Once the tumbling finally stopped, I took a moment to breathe. I looked down at my legs, my arms, my body. I was still somehow in one piece. The soft sand beneath me had cushioned the blow.

The rest of the shuttle wasn’t so lucky.

Pieces of metal fell like paper in the wind, although the heavier chunks hit the ground at the same time as I had. I must have been alone; no one else was sitting in the back of the shuttle, and Ava had moved to the front earlier.

Alone. Like usual. Maybe this was my fate. My destiny. To be alone and die alone.

A piercing wail filled the air, and I flinched. Adrenaline coursed through my veins enough to get me to release my death-grip on the chair, but not enough to help me unbuckle my seat belt. My hands shook as I tried to grasp the buckle, but I couldn’t hold it steady enough to undo it. With a frustrated cry, I forced my fingers around a knife I kept strapped to my thigh and popped the thin leather holding it in place. Cutting my seat belt, I finally fell free and landed on my knees in the sand.

The wailing had stopped, replaced by short, frantic breaths and shallow sobs. I turned my head and found another person—a stewardess by the looks of her outfit—lying on the ground with her hands over her leg.

I rushed toward her, grimacing when I saw her injured leg. I’d seen enough injuries in the mine to know that there was no saving it. Even worse, her shin bone had punctured her skin, and she was bleeding profusely. Possibly a torn artery. Without the proper first aid supplies, there wasn’t much I could do.

But I had to try. I removed my belt from its loops and tied it above her knee. The woman didn’t even flinch at how tightly I pulled. “I’m going to find something for a splint,” I told her, turning before she could look at my face. I didn’t want her to see the truth in my eyes.

I shifted across the sand and dug around the shuttle debris, looking for something, anything, that I could use to brace the stewardess’s break. I found nothing, and my desperation turned into a panic.

We were in the middle of God knows where, far away from the rest of the crashed shuttle. No food, no water, no communication device. I cursed myself for not taking my dad up on buying me my own portable radio. “We don’t need the extra expense,” I had told him. “Save that money for the mine.”

A lot of good the mine was doing me now.

I beat my fists against my thighs, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. I needed to think. I needed to think rationally.

Okay, Leslie. What would a smart woman do right now?

I knew it was only a matter of time before we were rescued. That much was a given, assuming the front of the shuttle managed a safe crash landing. The crew would realize I was missing—well, Ava would for sure—and they’d come looking for me. But what if they were in as bad of shape as we were? What if no one else survived?

Biting my lip, I tried to get the image of Ava calmly chatting with me earlier out of my head. Surely that wouldn’t be the last time I saw her.

Would it?

And then there was my father, who was safe at the office, not yet aware of what happened. I was all he had left, and if I died… A shiver ran down my spine despite the sunlight warming my skin. I’d seen my father broken once before, and I’d be damned if I ever let that happen again.

So there was only one thing I could do: survive long enough to get rescued. But with only a knife for protection, what chance did I stand in this barbaric desert? I surveyed the perimeter to look for a trail or marker to let me know where I was, but all I saw was sand and sunlight. No, walking on foot would be a suicide mission. I wasn’t even sure which direction was north.

I shook my head, trying to ignore all the things that weren’t working in my favor. I was still in one piece, and somehow didn’t break any limbs. That was a good start. And the knife was better than nothing. I could do this. I could survive.

As I walked back toward the stewardess, I heard a subtle shifting of the sands, but there was no wind that could be moving it. It wasn’t until two creatures burst through the desert surface that I realized what I was looking at.

These hideous creatures were no doubt sand beasts—one of the many fabled terrors of Xersie. Their bug-like armor glinted in the sunlight, and their praying mantis-like claws were sharp as razors. As I stared, one of them lifted its claws to its mandibles and licked it, no doubt imagining what I tasted like.

I shakily gripped my little knife, my heart pounding as the first beast lunged straight for me.