Page 30 of Fathom

LEIJA

I was on a train.

At least that was what I was calling it. It was a large public transport system with multiple cars filled with a variety of aliens, running on a single elevated rail above the buildings, dipping back down at some stops. I could see the city down below, passing by as I stared up at the names of the stops that were written on the inside of the transport. One of them matched the underlined word on the map, and it was the next stop.

I was extremely glad about that, because at the far end of the car I was in was a group of five hyena aliens, and they were all staring at me and whispering to each other. There were a few other aliens in the car, but when the hyenas started staring at me, several of them shifted closer to me, surrounding me, but it didn't stop the staring. I stared out the window, pretending they didn't exist. It was the middle of the day, I was going to get off atthe next stop, and it would be okay. I would go to the spaceport and look around until I found someone who recognized me as human or spoke my language, and I would get information on where I was and how to get home.

Whether or not I found anyone, when I was done, I would follow the map in reverse and go back to the apartment to talk things over with Eun.

I wasn't going to just jump on the first spaceship that told me they could take me home. Eun had helped me so much. Whatever his reason for snatching the map away from me, he had earned the right to a basic conversation about what I was going to do next. Even if I found the perfect ride with a bunch of spacefaring humans, I still owed him a heartfelt thank you.

The train car slowed, and my stop was announced.

When the doors opened, I stood up and walked out onto the mostly platform. My heart fell as I noticed out of the corner of my eye the group of hyenas getting out of the car as well. I knew I should walk confidently, to find a public spot with lots of people where I could lose them or avoid them, but I didn't know the area at all. I could end up running down a dead end. I looked down at my rough map, knowing it made me look like I didn't know where I was or where I was going.

I took too long to make my decision.

When I looked up, the hyenas had me surrounded.

They were standing shoulder to shoulder, forming a tight circle around me so I couldn't see anyone else.

"Excuse me," I said. "You're in my way."

One of the hyenas barked something out, and they all laughed.

I had a moment to realize that they looked familiar, and then two of them grabbed my arms, eight sets of hands pinching me.

"Let me go!" I shouted, yanking against their grip.

Another one put a hand over my mouth, cutting off my next shriek. They lifted me up, keeping a tight circle around me as they hauled me back towards the train car. I screamed, the sound muffled. I kicked, my feet landing on shins and thighs. I struggled, but my efforts were in vain. They carried me like I wasn't even fighting, keeping me hidden by their bodies as their chuckles covered up my smothered shrieks.

We were on the train, huddled near the back of the car as they kept me trapped in between them. Several stops went by. I didn't give up. I would pause, wait for one of them to relax, then begin to fight again. I couldn't let them take me to a secondary location; I couldn't give up. Yet they were bigger than me, stronger than me, and they already had me pinned. I couldn't even see where we were going as they hauled me off the train.

Why was no one doing anything? Why was no one helping me?

Regret rushed through me.

I should have waited for Eun.

I shouldn't have just run off, filled with a furious, unsatiated energy, determined to do something for myself in spite of him. Why didn't I listen to that part of my mind that wondered if he had a good reason for taking the map? Of course, he had a good reason. He knew this world; he grew up here. I was the alien here, not him. He had watched over me, making sure I had everything I needed, but he never let me go anywhere by myself. He was always with me. Of course, that had chafed, finding myself alone here. It was a red flag through and through, having a guy taking care of me but also hovering over me as I might vanish at any moment.

Yet here I was, being carried off, and he wouldn't know what had happened to me.

He wouldlook for me at the spaceport, if he looked for me at all.

He'd only known me for a week, and I was a burden to him.

He might even be relieved that I was gone.

I was carried through a doorway, and the view of the sky was cut off as we entered a building, the metal door shutting behind us with an ominous thud. The hands holding me released me, and I was pushed hard. I stumbled forward to the sound of cackling laughter. I managed to stay upright as I looked around the room, looking for a way out or a weapon. I was at a second location. It was a different place from where I first woke up, but it had a similar shape to a warehouse interior. Instead of being filled with mechanical parts, it was filled with boxes, all stacked neatly against the walls and covered in layers of dust. There weren't any tools or anything I could grab. Just towers of boxes. The only exits that I could see were back behind the hyenas that spread out, licking lips as they watched me with fixed gazes, waiting for me to do something.

I knew I was going to die.

There was a moment I could have escaped this if I had been fast enough, if I hadn't ignored the threat of the hyenas following me, thinking that they wouldn't do anything because there were people around. My freedom was back at the first location. Here, in this building devoid of anything I could use to fight, it was me against five aliens who had more arms, more teeth, more claws, more size, more strength. I wasn't a fighter.

And I was going to die, alone, on an alien planet where no one would ever know what happened to me.

I could feel the weight of despair curling in the corners of my eyes, weighing down on my heart, pressing me down, and asking me to collapse down to my knees, to beg for my life or cry and ask them not to hurt me. It was a survival instinct, a reactionto terror, to try to play on the pity of monsters who would simply enjoy it. If they had any kindness in them, they wouldn't have taken me in the first place.