Citrine (Deliverance #3)

5. Eli

5

Eli

My eyes snap open as I wake up from a nightmare of blood, my mother screaming, gray blobs, and pain.

Except the pain is still here, throbbing through me and stealing my breath. I take several gasping breaths.

"Where the hell am I?" I breathe out, scanning the surroundings. This looks like an even worse nightmare.

The sun's harsh glare stings my eyes, and I squint in pain until they adjust to the sharp light. Trees stretch in a line on one side, while on the other, jagged rocks jut out like shark's teeth.

The sky, a pastel purple instead of blue, shocks me.

My throat burns as if I have swallowed acid. My head throbs with a relentless, concert-like pounding. I gasp, the air scorching my lungs, and force myself to sit up, wincing as pieces of glass dig into my skin.

I grasp a shard of glass in my thigh and yank it out, the sting barely registering as my eyes widen in shock.

Struggling, I push myself off the gritty, brown sand, my legs trembling beneath me. My head feels numb, disconnected from my surroundings, until a glass fragment catches the light, and I see my reflection.

Long, yellow hair flows over my chest. I tear my gaze away from the reflection to confirm it is there, then back to meet my reflection's eyes. They're no longer the light brown I remember; instead, they gleam back at me in a bright shade of yellow, a little darker than the unnerving hue of my new hair.

"What the hell?" The words come out as a whisper.

It's like looking at someone else's body, yet every sensation confirms it's mine.

"Why am I naked?" The question slices through the fog of confusion clouding my mind.

My entire body throbs with a dull ache. Even my nipples are sore, and my legs protest with every movement. There are deep scores across my legs and arms, throbbing in an insistent rhythm.

The trees don't look right, a too-bright sort of green with foliage of an odd texture. The sun doesn't even feel right on my skin, even the sand isn't the right color. I feel vertigo starting and my limbs are shaking.

It's all becoming too much, and I have to imagine my cape of sunshine wrapping around me so I can push through. Keep doing what needs to be done.

I grimace as I struggle to stay standing, feeling the sharp sting of the scrapes on my skin.

Leaving the ground only makes it all worse, since I'm now dizzy, but it does give me a better view. There is some sort of silver contraption, pretty much just the right size to hold a human, mangled on the rocks.

My mind races for a moment.

I'm beat the hell up and woke up right next to something that looks like King Kong picked it up and smashed it in a fit of rage.

I glance up at the sky.

Or it fell. A really long way.

" Dios ," I mutter, not liking the few options left to quick deduction. Or the alien feeling of my new, yellow hair.

I move painfully over to the silver vehicle, noting the soft red padding inside, then see a touch screen. A tap brings up alien letters my mind seems to think I can read, but a moment later they disappear, and I'm left wondering if I just hallucinated.

A quick touch to my head reveals a bump, so it is quite possible.

No, I'm not. There is a lever that my mind says is marked as an emergency exit, but the letters are in the same alien language.

I try tapping on the screen again, hoping to glean some helpful information, but it's dead now. Or it never worked to begin with. A groan of frustration mixed with pain vibrates up from my stomach, which only makes my head hurt worse.

I strain to recall how I ended up here, but the memories slip through my fingers like sand. All I can grasp onto is the image of the officer's taunting face, a memory I push away with a pang of anguish.

I was supposed to be in jail, but somehow, I was kidnapped?

"I need clothes," I mutter, my breath forming a thin fog in the chilly air.

Almost instantly, a black material expands from the thin belt around my waist, wrapping around me. The sudden change startles me, and I yelp, stumbling as the fabric adjusts to my body.

"? Madre mía !"

I reach out a trembling hand, expecting another hallucination, but I feel a smooth, vaguely latex-like material under my hand.

Driven by curiosity, I command my clothing to dissolve and it leaves me exposed once more to the strange reality I find myself in. A yellow triangle marks the juncture of my thighs, a symbol of the inexplicable changes that have overtaken me.

Surveying my altered form, I can't help but notice the differences that extend beyond my canary yellow hair.

My breasts have swelled beyond my already generous C cup, which is just great. More back problems in my future. My hips have further widened from their already curvy shape, but it's the strange tightness in my belly that disturbs me the most.

It feels artificial, as if it doesn't belong to me. I liked the womanly swell of it before, which was hard earned after years of rough living.

"What exactly happened?" I mumble to myself, my fingers pressing into my throbbing temples. " Dios , don't tell me I'm the only one here."

I ignore the tinge of guilt that comes with hoping someone else is sharing this screwed up situation.

But still. I can't go that long without talking to people. The compulsion to speak as a way to center my racing mind and anxieties is already growing.

Taking over clear thought and reasoning.

I pull my arms close and imagine they are coated in sunshine so I can think it all through. My body is different, the environment is all wrong. I don't recognize any of the plants or bugs I've seen so far, and it's a hobby of mine to memorize them.

"Toto, we're not in Arizona anymore."

I can't quite say it yet, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm even on Earth anymore.

My movements are cautious, each step deliberate as I walk through the uneven terrain. Suddenly, something catches my eye.

The sun's rays reflect off a glint beyond the jagged rocks, and I realize it's a lake.

Trees tower overhead, their gnarled branches reaching out like skeletal fingers against the ominous rocky formations. Sharp brown rocks protrude from the ground, their surfaces mottled with patches of green, purple, and yellow lichen.

I swallow hard, the dryness in my throat becoming unbearable. "I'll have to find water."

No way is that lake water safe to drink.

As I press forward, the long shadows cast by the trees and rocks stretch across the dusty planet. With the failing sunlight, an eerie chill hangs in the air, causing me to shiver.

I cast a wary glance around me, my heart hammering in my chest. The dense purple and green foliage behind the rocks obscures my view, heightening my sense of claustrophobia.

Every nerve in my body is on edge. Yet, despite the unease, there's no sign of any presence other than my own. Alone in this strange wilderness, it seems.

Even as I think it, I can't ignore the sense that something lurks just beyond my line of sight. The rustle of leaves and the faint whisper of wind through the trees only serve to amplify my unease.

Memories of childhood adventures flicker through my mind. I remember getting lost in the woods as a child, only to be rescued by my padre within minutes. A faint smile tugs at the corners of my lips as I reminisce about the warmth of those moments spent with him.

But the smile fades as quickly as it came, replaced by a surge of longing and sorrow. If only he hadn't left the world. I wonder how different my life would be.

Tears prick at my eyes, threatening to spill over, but I quickly shake my head, banishing the unwelcome emotions.

"This is not the time, Eli," I murmur to myself, steeling my resolve.

With a deep breath, I close my eyes and center myself, preparing to face whatever lies ahead. When I open them again, I take in my surroundings one last time.

Behind me, the forest looms like a dark, foreboding presence.

To my right and left, the trees are lighter in color, reaching up to thirty or forty feet in height. Ahead of me, the landscape shifts abruptly to a jumble of rocks, each one a different shade of brown, illuminated by the kaleidoscopic patterns created by the sun's reflection on scattered shards from the silver vehicle.

" Hijo de puta ."

I've hardly ever been able to use the few Spanish phrases I learned from listening to my padre since I didn't know which contexts are socially acceptable. Doesn't seem like it matters right now. It sure felt like an excellent time to use one of his favorites.

"Yep. Son of a bitch."

I move along the rocks, careful to not fall against their sharp edges, nervous that they block my view. A sudden gust of wind whips through the air, enveloping me in a cloud of dust.

Blind and disoriented, I struggle to regain my bearings.

When the dust settles, I find myself face to face with a creature perched atop a rock, its gaze locking with mine.

It has six green tentacles. Its torso is sleeker than a human's, with two arm-like structures extending from its shoulders.

It has one finger and a thumb on each hand, with a webbed structure in between. Fin-like structures rise from where an elbow would be, but it doesn't look like it has bones.

Its body is like that of a streamlined human male, but with shark-like skin that looks smooth and shiny. Its face is broader than a human's, with a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth like a dolphin's.

It doesn't have much in the way of lips surrounding that row of jagged teeth.

Its eyes are black, cold, and predatory, reminding me of a shark's gaze. There's no hair on its head, just smooth skin stretched tight over its skull.

" Los cojones! What the fu—"

Fear grips me, paralyzing my limbs. One of the tentacles flick toward me.

I flinch, losing my balance and turning my ankle on a rock. The world spins, and the ground rushes up to meet me.