Clone Earth : MELVIN

Nothing. The creature collapsed into a convulsing heap, and the tiny girl pulled herself away forcefully, ripping its claws from her body before collapsing to the ground.

Ari beelined for the girl slumped on the ground, skidding to her knees; Ari urgently felt for a pulse, breathing, any life-signs.

There were none. Unsure if she’d checked correctly Ari tried again. Her hands trembled as she pressed her fingers into the girls neck, nothing. She dropped down, put her ear close to the girls mouth, and looked across the girls chest. It was still. Not breathing. The huge hole in her stomach continued to gush blood, she was dead.

Running bloodied fingers through her hair, Ari searched the street for anyone who might know what to do next. All she could see was a mangled body slumped against a broken building. The unique buildings she’d seen moments ago were covered in debris and streaked with blood. Not one living person in sight.

A shuttle sped across the gray sky, leaving silence in its wake. Ari watched its course until it was little more than an indistinguishable speck in the sky. Wherever these creatures had come from, she was certain that shuttle was how they had arrived. Had they gotten what they came for? Or maybe there had just been too many of them killed--

She fought down the feeling of nausea. Her streak of bad luck was laughing in her face right now. First she gets caught, next she gets stranded in space, she finally makes progress and breaks Farris’ ship, and now she’s on a planet, for the first time, and is attacked by strange creatures that not even the locals seemed to recognize. Not to mention, the two people she meets and feels comfortable around probably got themselves killed. Speaking of playing hero, she had failed miserably in her own attempt and due to her inability to act, this girl - this complete stranger - had died.

Ari blinked. She could have sworn she saw a tremor run through the girl’s body. Dead bodies settle, she tried to assure herself. She’d read it somewhere before. There can be muscle movement, twitching, but dead is dead. And she is dead.

The small legs shuddered, much more than a settling body should. Cautiously Ari reached out and touched one of the bloody legs, it was still and cold. Had she just imagined - No. It tensed again. Ari pulled her hand away as the body suddenly threw itself into a wave of violent tremors.

A shout stuck in Ari’s throat, stopped by fear and hesitation. That same hesitation kept her from running; a tiny part wanted to see what would happen next.

The girl’s limbs continued to shake. If Ari wasn’t certain she was dead—though that certainty was crumbling fast — she’d think she was simply shivering from the cold. The shivering increased until the girl’s entire body seized, violently and repeatedly contracting itself into a ball. Ari reached out, for what purpose she couldn’t possibly imagine, then yanked her hand back. Maroon eyes had snapped open, unfocused and dull, but wide with pain.

The girl’s mouth hung open but drew no breath. Wrapping an arm around her middle, she rolled her seizing body to its side. Ari checked the street again, but her attention returned to the girl as she drew in a rattling gasp. It was choked back as she gagged, heaving blood from what must be left of her mauled stomach. She continued to throw up until the blood was replaced by another liquid. A few more heaves and she was able to take long, deep breaths.

She wiped tears and blood from her face, rolling onto her back with a wince. It took her a few seconds to realize she wasn’t alone. Still struggling for breath, still tense with pain, she managed a dark glare and swore spectacularly.

“I’m going to take you to get you some help,” Ari stammered.

“Don’t…” She broke off, but Ari was too focused on avoiding the puddle of sick to register why until she felt a cold tickle at her throat.

The girl was still trembling, but managed to keep a firm grip on her blade, now hovering dangerously close to Ari’s carotid artery. “Leave me be,” she insisted. “I don’t need help.”

Ari stopped. “You have holes in your stomach and ribs, not to mention the fact that you were dead minutes ago.”

“Then how about--” her face crumpled up in pain and she struggled to finish her sentence, “--you go get someone. Just don’t touch me.”

“Okay.” Ari put her hands up in submission, hoping she would put the weapon down. “I’ll go get help. Just hold on. I’ll be right back.” She waited until the girl dropped her sword and head back to the ground, clutching her stomach as she gasped for air.

Ari ran. She had no idea where she was going, she just knew she needed to find someone who was still alive and could help; there was no way that girl could be in decent shape, and Ari wasn’t about to let her die if she could help it.

Especially since she had already been dead.

“Ari!”

She slid to a stop, boots leaving tracks in the snowdrift. She couldn’t see anyone, but someone had called her name. Changing direction, she cut through an alley, weaving around buildings in the direction of the call. The buildings ended and she found herself standing on an empty strip of snow separating the town from the forest.

“Ariana Kana!” She turned to see two people running towards her. Relief flooded Lutz and Robie’s faces, though both still had weapons clenched in their hands.

“Where were you?” Lutz demanded. “I ordered you to get everyone out and run to safety.”

“You said get them out and get them to run to safety. You failed to specify me, running to safety.”

Robie laughed despite Lutz’s stern frown. “I’m glad you’re walking, but you’re covered in blood,” he said, slipping a long, pointed knife into a holder on the back of his belt.

Ari nodded pushing aside Robie’s gesture to help brace her if she decided to collapse. “It’s not mine. There’s a girl who needs medical attention.” She turned on her heels and ran back into town without another word, not even bothering to check if they were following. Right now, the important thing was to get back to that girl. She knew it wouldn’t take long for wounds like that to bleed out, even if the girl had been able to pull herself back from the brink of death.

She frowned at the memory.

It didn’t take too long to get back to the café street, and Ari anxiously rounded the corner with the boys close at her heels. All three froze as they entered the street.

Robie and Lutz stared at the beasts’ corpses. Ari stared at nothing.

The girl’s body was gone.