KYLIE
He seized her arm and dragged her across the room. With considerable relief, they reentered the much cooler corridor.
Kylie wiped her mouth. Her hand was trembling. She looked back toward her motherâs room, but the door was closed fast.
âWhereâs Mama?â she asked.
He didnât answer.
She staggered, suddenly feeling woozy and weak. Her heart was galloping furiously. Her eyes went blurry. Her fingers and toes felt hot; she could feel her blood throbbing in them.
Kylieâs eyes fastened ahead. She needed to keep moving. There was something she needed to get toâsomething that made her ache and yearn and want to tear her hair out.
âHurry up!â she screamed at the alien holding her.
Why was he taking so long?
Now it was her dragging him. She was walking fast. Then she was running. The alien released her, following closely behind. Somehow, she knew where to go. It was like a wall of heatâlike a signal.
Tears were flowing down her cheeks, and she didnât know why. Her ears were thundering with the sound of her heartbeat. She felt different. Her mind and body seemed out of her control.
Up ahead was a door. This was it! Without hesitation, she raced through it as it whooshed open. She stopped, her eyes darting around.
The first thing she saw was a dozen or so strange dome-like structures lining the center of the room. In between those were beds. Then she saw the equipmentâthe technology.
Kylieâs lips parted. She immediately thought of a hospital.
There were people inside. Lots of people: frantic, panicked, busy, noisy. Women were screaming and crying. Men were shouting at each other. There were more of those male aliens, though these ones were wearing what looked like white lab coats.
Several glanced toward her. There were several women too. The same women whoâd been abducted like she had. Everything seemed to be moving fast. They were moving fast. She was moving fast.
Kylie turned her head at a glimpse of gray hairâand saw her mother. She was over at one of the dome-things, peering down into it, her hand braced on top of it, her face creased with concern.
Kylie should go over there. She felt the lurch in her guts to do so, but the lurch in her heart was so much stronger and her feet propelled her over to one of the domes to the left.
She looked into itâand suddenly everything made sense. It wasnât a something but a someone she needed to get to. And he was sick, maybe dying. She could tell. She felt it. She knew it!
âSomebody open it up!â she screamed in a voice that didnât sound like hers.
He was beautiful. He was perfect. He was the man of her dreamsâshe just hadnât known it until then. Which was strange, since she hadnât really fantasized about any man, real or imagined, for many years.
His skin was dark and smooth, his lashes long and black. He had short bristly hair and thick stubble covering a broad jaw. His lips were full but looked dry and cracked. His skin seemed to shine, like he was covered in a thick layer of moisturizer or gel. It was all over his face and neck and chest.
The urge to touch his cheek was so overwhelming she clawed her fingers into the glass of the dome as though she could break her way through.
âOpen it up!â she screamed, but she could hardly be heard amid the noise.
So she started bashing her fists against the glass instead. âOpen it up!â It felt like her heart was burning.
She saw the man inside jerk. His eyelids fluttered. Kylieâs eyes widened when she saw the gel on his face move. It was moving!
âHelp!â she screamed.
Finally, a man with long dark hair and very white skin came rushing over. He didnât speak but merely tapped something on the dome and it opened. Without hesitation, Kylie scrambled inside.
She straddled him, her knees on either side of his waist. He had a sheet over him up to the waist, but the rest of him was bare. He was heavily muscled with a thick neck and strong slender fingers Kylie desperately wanted to slide her own fingers between.
He was very warm, almost hot as she laid her hand upon his chest. She could feel his heart, and it seemed to be racing as fast as her own. He was sweating, a bead running down between his pecs.
The first thing she did was try to pull away the goo that was covering his face. It did nothing, merely pulling away from her fingers and reattaching itself around her touch. Why wasnât he waking up? Why wasnât he doing anything?
She grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him. âWhatâs wrong with you? Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!â
She could hear other women screaming. The men continued to shout, though she hardly registered any of it. Nothing was more important than this man, right here, right now. He was more important than her mother. He was even more important than herself.
âWake up!â
He jerked again. His hands twitched. Without thinking, she leaned in to kiss his mouth, despite the crawling goop on his face. It didnât matter. She needed him. She needed him right now!
He tasted wonderful. He felt better. Her heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to explode from her chest. Gently, she parted his lips with her tongue. With a moan, she rested her elbows on either side of his head and kissed and kissed and kissed.
His body shuddered. Kylie ripped her mouth away with a start when he arched his chest, baring his teeth as he grimaced. Her heart turned coldâit looked like he was in pain. Then the slimy stuff slid straight off from his face and into a writhing, flopping puddle beside his head. It looked a bit like a jellyfish. It was sickening to look atâand terrifyingâbut Kylie didnât move. She ~couldnât~ move. Instead, she covered the manâs face with her hands, as though she could stop it from sticking to him again.
âWake up!â she cried.
The manâs eyes snapped open. They were yellowâlike the rest of him. Which meant he wasnât a man at all. Kylieâs heart did a little flip. For a long, strangely calm moment, they gazed at each other. An uplifting sensation built inside her chest. Looking back into his eyes, she understood what it wasâwonder. It was ~wonder~.
âI feel it too,â she sobbed. âI feel it too!â
He grabbed onto her wrist. Kylie smiled, then laughed, even as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She didnât even notice the jelly-like thing anymore as it flopped and writhed about.
From somewhere behind her, she heard a cry.
âLewâs awake! We need some assistance!â
The manâs yellow eyes snapped away from hers, looking behind her with a start. Then someone was grabbing her shouldersâsomeone with immense strength.
They yanked her right out of the dome, lifting her off her feet as they dragged her away.
âWhat are you doing?!â she thrashed and twisted in their grip.
âLet me go!â
Two men in white coats descended upon the mysterious man as she watched helplessly from across the room.
âWhat are you doing to him?!â she screamed.