Raven Tide

“It’s too early,” I stretched my arms out in bed until my left shoulder popped. The sun was far from rising but once I’m up, I’m up.

Today was going to be busy.

“Gotta get the Wassi deadline finished today,” I spoke out loud to an empty house as I peeled the sheets off my naked skin and swung my feet to the stone tile floor. “And get the prep research started for Miles if there’s time afterward.”

I always start off ambitious like this, then four false starts and a dozen check-in calls from clients later my perfectly organized schedule gets wrecked beyond recovery and I inevitably wind up knocking out from exhaustion by the time the sun sets.

I slipped on some shorts, my sports bra, and a tank top then wandered into the bathroom.

The digital readout of my upcoming calendar lit up across the mirror. My brother’s birthday was coming up.

“Hecte’s gonna expect me there in person,” I rolled my eyes and started brushing my teeth. Probably gonna try and set me up with another one of his jar-head cop co-workers.

I spat into the sink.

“At least he picks the cute ones,” I snickered to myself. “Not much for stimulating conversation but at least it makes it easy to smile and nod at them while they blather on and on about themselves.”

I paused and pondered the shower. “No, Chyani!” I shook my head and pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail then went in search of a fresh pair of socks. “You can treat yourself after the jog.”

Before exiting the bathroom, I made my daily pit stop at the medscanner on the wall and gave the command for a basic diagnostic on my prosthetic right arm.

–Within Margins–popped up on the mirror in green.

There were still a few packets of cherry yogurts in the fridge and one slightly less-green banana sitting on the bottom of my recently acquired bunch.

The sight of the two nutritious items on the metal kitchen countertop made my stomach churn.

“Don’t skip breakfast,” I forced myself to peel the banana. “Remember what happened the last time. You’ll feel awful mid-jog and you’ll have no one else to blame but yourself.”

The banana proved challenging to chew. It was too early to eat but I had to. I’m not naturally a morning person but life had begrudgingly forged me into a very efficient one.

BLINK blink —

The lights flickered and then went out.

“Ugg,” I tapped on the unresponsive virtual hud built into my countertop and verified that the power was out. “Not again.”

I looked out the big wall of windows and across the barren scrub-brush desert toward the mountains. The Ferigan’s house three miles away was still overrun with construction equipment.

Fortunately, after the first month of frequent outages and workflow interruptions, I invested in a top-of-the-line personal generator.

“Guess I’ll be making a stop by the shed before my run,” I sighed and tossed my still-folded clean socks on the empty countertop.

I strolled over to my office with a spoon and mouthful of black cherry yogurt in my mouth to confirm that the backup batteries were maintaining my primary drawing station. “Naptime,” I swiped the holo screen, and safely shut down the entire system.

“Now, where the heck did I leave my shoes?”

Normally, I left them in the entryway but I had to scrub off a bunch of thorny sticker seeds yesterday.

“Garage!” I raised my finger in exclamation.

The house was dark but my cybernetic arm came with a little flashlight integrated into the palm. I made my way down the hall through the living room and out to a weird not-quite office space that I think the previous owners used to make homemade wine.

“Weird,” I stopped. There was sand all over the black tile.

I didn’t go out yesterday, except for my run, and I always use the backdoor.

I swiped off the sand from my bare feet and continued on, all the while wracking my brain over when I’d last taken this route after coming inside.

“Wednesday?” I found my shoes hanging over the utility sink by the wall. “No, I got groceries but I ran the sweeper-bot on Thursday.”

It didn’t make any sense.

“Socks,” I shook my head with a huff and returned to the kitchen.

An odd brief clicking sound emanated from the direction of my office in front of me.

The system’s off...

In an instant, my blood felt cold and an irrational tingle crawled up my prosthetic arm.

On instinct, I flung my shoes behind me and yelped in terror when they bounced back off something rippling in the darkness.

I ran!

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

I slammed the bedroom door and locked it behind me and then screamed when something big struck the metal on the other side.

Heavy footsteps thumped outside in the hallway garnished with angry clicking.

I scrambled for my wrist-link bracelet and tapped the emergency beacon. Even out here in the boonies, an airlift could be here in minutes. If I could last that long...

NETWORK DOWN

The bright red letters floated over my hand.

Fuckity Fuck-fuck!

How the hell is the emergency network down?! I thought they built that thing to be meteor and sun-flare-proof.

My heart was pounding and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the sound of deep rasping breaths on the opposite side of the door.

It growled and clicked.

Like all of the other homes built across this lunar colony, my house was constructed to endure extreme weather and sudden tectonic shifts. Once locked, my bedroom door would be a real bitch to open ...but not impossible.

I could hear the thing pacing back and forth then its big feet stopped and clomped away.

Where’s it going?

My mind raced through a visual layout of my house. Four doors to the outdoors, eighteen accessible windows, six air vents that only a toddler could fit through, and the garage door was sealed tight.

The window walls! I turned to the gorgeous view of my endless desert backyard. They were all enhanced with force barriers to protect the thick glass from elemental and animal damage but my gut told me there was no way they’d hold up against whatever pissed-off monstrosity was waiting for me outside.

I tiptoed into the bathroom and put my ear on the other door that opened further down the hallway.

Will it hear me if I lock it?

I didn’t hear anything.

Slowly, I pushed down the knob and dared to peek outside.

The hallway was empty.

I took a deep breath.

Let the record state... I, Chyani Yazzie, went down fighting.

I shot out the door and bounded down the hall toward the side backdoor.

Suddenly, a long arm scooped me by the waist and threw me over its shoulder, which was really high off the ground!

Its skin was smooth and warm, and had these funny rubbery prickly things rubbing into me.

“Let me go!” I tried to wriggle free.

It growled.

Woah! Were those claws?!

Whatever it was, it was a giant, and despite being wrapped up in its massive muscular arms I couldn’t actually see it. Its entire body was cloaked in a diaphanous marbled film that flickered red on the locations where our bodies touched.

I rammed my prosthetic elbow into its head and did my best to kick it anywhere I could as it walked me out the back door. This was where I wanted to go but not like this!

The invisible creature took me west, away from the house and up a cactus-covered hill. In the distance, I could see the soft glow of the city but it was brighter than normal. The entire capital city was on fire!

Oh shit!

I knew this was bad but not this bad! Was this a full-scale alien invasion?!

There’ve always been rumors of ruthless extraterrestrials abducting and experimenting on people since long before humans expanded across the universe and there have been numerous unfriendly encounters with sentient non-humanoid lifeforms following the burst of colonization but I chose a moon deep inside the safe zone. I’m only a gas giant away from Galactic Headquarters. There were supposed to be patrols and a labyrinth of defensive satellites orbiting every celestial object in this sector.

Even more panic set in as my abductor stomped through the bristled bramble below. Long thin tubey-things rustled against my side so I curled up and bit into them as hard as I could.

The thing roared and flung me forward off its shoulder.

“Put me down!” I thrashed, knowing damn well I was barefoot and wouldn’t get far on the spiky terrain.

Its chest rumbled in irritation as it cradled me and gripped my arms and legs still. Then a clear shape undulated at the top of the hill. A moderately-sized black spacecraft uncloaked.

In an instant, it was like my brain and my body went oh fuck at once. I jolted up and slipped out of his arms, landing painfully on the needled-coated ground.

Screw my feet, I’ll replace them if need be!

I ran as fast as I could down the hill hopping over the bigger boulders and barrel cacti in my path. This wasn’t the cardio I planned for but if it kept me alive I’d mark it off as mission accomplished.

I’ll never whine about early breakfast and missing a hot shower if I manage to live another day beyond this!

A green pulse of light struck the ground in front of me.

Shit! I forgot about alien weapons!

I stopped and tried to go left but another burst of light blocked my escape route. With nowhere else to run I turned to face the creature.

The soft pre-glow of the eastern rising sun was filling the sky with shades of lavender and indigo. In the soft light, the creature’s large feet plodded closer, indenting the dirt with enormous footprints tipped with four clawed toes.

Its silhouette was hazy but I could see all seven feet of it looming over me. It clicked and spread its arms with its giant head twisting sideways as if wordlessly inquiring exactly what I planned to do next.

My feet were bleeding and the sting of the needles was finally starting to infiltrate my brain.

No.

I curled my hands into fists and sharpened my eyes.

Those were warning shots. It’s strength and tech... If it wanted to kill me it could have done so long before I realized it was in my house.

It wanted to take me alive.

I turned and ran again, this time ignoring its warning shots but was brought to a halt by a dense wall of tall bunny ear cacti.

You have to!

I glanced down at my matte gray synthetic hand and then swung it into the flat segmented cacti pads to carve out a path.

All of a sudden, the creature’s body heat and predatorial clicking radiated against the back of my neck.

A sharp prick pinched my shoulder then my vision went blurry and my legs wobbled in slow motion but before I hit the ground I felt my body go limp and light in the air.

.

.

.

This is a companion book to The Hunter’s Song.

It is not necessary to read The Hunter’s Song to enjoy this book.

Also, the events in this book occur after The Hunter’s Song and the soon-to-be-published The Hunter’s Song II: Blood Hunt. This book contains no spoilers for the sequel book.

~A. E. Shelly