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Suddenly, he stopped and used his forearm to block a flying object from striking him in the side. Had he not halted that moment, I would’ve been in that spot and object would’ve taken me out. When he tossed a condemning glance at me over his shoulder, the alarm in his golden eyes frightened me. He was far more concerned with what was going around us. He looked panicked and pressed for time.

“Keep up,” he hissed. “You’ve seen nothing yet. The worse has yet to begin.”

“Leave me if you want, but I’m going as fast as I can,” I stammered, trying to speak through the dense dust particles and debris churning all around us. At this point, even a pebble from the ground could become a potentially lethal weapon if it hit us with enough blunt force accuracy.

Suddenly, a loud bang shook the ground violently and the sound of metal grinding echoed in the distance.

“Bloody Fuck,” he growled, and then turned abruptly and scooped me up in his big arms. He ran with me, like something was after him.

Things were flying everywhere. Afraid I’d get more dust in my eyes, I buried my face in his chest until stuff stopped hitting my flesh.

The Zunatorian led us down a steep ravine, then up a bumpy hill. At the top was a set of enormous caves perched in a semi-circle around a towering waterfall, pooling at the bottom of a large body of water.

“Get in here,” he shouted, swatting at the dust with his hands.

“Did something crash out there?” I asked.

“Possibly,” he grunted. “Too dangerous to check now.”

I floundered but managed to lunge inside the cave without keeling over. “You know—this would be a lot easier for me if I wasn’t tied up.” I showed him my wrists.

The Zunatorian cut me an icy glare but stared me up and down as if contemplating whether he should let me have free reign of my hands again.

“Fine,” he hissed sharply and aggressively untied the ropes binding my wrists.

I rubbed the raw wounds, but they seared in pain.

It seemed like a million years ago since I left Roult’s cabin, but I was no closer to freedom and I kept getting myself stuck in life-threatening situations.

“You stay put,” he commanded.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, scrutinizing him with a demanding stare of my own.

“Doing what?” He barked back, planting on a ridiculing stare.

“Bringing me in this cave, dragging me along—”

“You killed my uncle,” he interjected.

“Your uncle? Roult is your uncle?” I stared at him, baffled.

“He was,” he corrected, his perfect jawline tightening.

“I didn’t kill him,” I reminded him. “The—”

“Cloaked alien’s did it, right.” He cut me off, grunting dismissively as if he didn’t believe a single word that came out of my mouth.

“Look—I’m sorry about your uncle, but I swear I had nothing to do with it.”

I had to shout to be heard over the roar of the dust storm intensifying outside of the cave walls. The wind hissed and groaned with anger.

Rocks and tree limbs slammed up against the cave, pelting it at a hundred miles an hour or more. I jumped every time something large blundered against the stones protecting us.

The storms could last for hours before they eased up. I didn’t want to be stuck in here with this scornful Zunatorian, but I knew better than to go outside until the storm had died down significantly.

I turned my back away from him because I didn’t want him to see me crying. I tried to do it quietly, but my shoulders still quivered slightly, giving me away. If he noticed, he didn’t let on.

It was then that I realized I might not ever get back to Earth even if I wanted to. My life had been hell there, too. I’d lived in constant fear for my life and I lived in constant fear of rejection too.