KING COBRA AND HIS PRINCESS

 Mark Gonzalez disliked people, but he loved his wife and daughter. Mark's wife, Victoria, died tragically several months ago, so he only had his teenage daughter, Sarah, in his life. 

Mark was a space pilot. As a boy, he dreamed about building a home in space away from people and Earth.  

Mark's dream came true, sort of. He dreamed of space travel, but he dreamed of traveling through space alone. Transporting thousands of vacationers into space on a luxury starship was not Mark's desire.

Mark worked as a space pilot for twenty years. He got promoted to being a captain. He never left his job because he liked his six figure a year salary. 

It was 3:30 in the afternoon. Since Mark was the captain of the ship, his job involved overseeing the work of his pilot crew members. Most of the time, Mark could relax and play chess with his daughter in the ship's lobby. Mark enjoyed spending time with his daughter.

 "I love it when you get angry!" Mark's daughter giggled. Sarah enjoyed beating her father at a chess game so she could watch him fume.

"I hate this game!" Mark groaned at his daughter while kissing the side of her head. The man smirked when he saw how much his daughter enjoyed beating him.

 "You gotta practice if you wanna be good," Sarah spoke to her father like a mother. The teenager laughed when her father fanned his hand at her. "If you keep practicing, you'll beat me." 

Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know." The captain mumbled as he sat back in his seat. While grumbling to himself, he frowned at his daughter and her chessboard. "Chess is boring." Mark protested.

 "Mom liked playing chess," Sarah stated. The teenager scooted closer toward her father after moving her chessboard, which sat between them.

 "You're a beautiful nerd like your mom. You got her dimples and her doll face." Mark put his fingers through his daughter's cinnamon red hair.  

"Mom was the only one who could bring you out of your shell," Sarah said softly, taking hold of her father's hand. Sarah watched her father's eyes sink. She caressed her father's hand hoping to bring comfort to him.

 "She did bring me out of my shell." Mark agreed with his daughter. "She talked me into going to that karaoke party. She knew how I didn't like being around people. I did enjoy being at that party and singing karaoke with you and your mom." Mark gazed at his daughter, in a reminiscent state.  

"We had fun that night!" Sarah smiled. "I couldn't believe you were singing karaoke with me on stage in front of a crowd of people. I still remember the song we did together. It was Ariana Grande and Big Sean's Right There. Mom was in the audience cheering us on." Sarah clutched her father's hand. She stroked her finger across a King cobra tattoo on his arm. 

"I rapped with you on stage because your mom ordered me too," Mark said, looking down and watching his daughter circle her finger around the tattoo on his arm. "I loved singing karaoke with you, but I hated doing it in front of those people. Your mom gave me courage that night. I'm glad I did it. Your singing was beautiful. You sounded just like Ariana. We put a smile on your mom's face at that party. We had no idea that we would see her for the last time." Mark's voice cracked. He whispered to his daughter in order to hide the tremble in his voice. 

"That night, we went to the Caribbean Island. That was mom's favorite seafood restaurant." Sarah giggled hoping her laughter could hide the trembling in her soft voice. "I still remember what she ordered. She had grilled lobster and dumplings with garlic butter sauce."  

Mark nodded. "She said that you were her angel and that I was her king. That's the last thing she said before the accident." Mark paused. He chuckled, telling himself not to shed a tear in front of his daughter. Mark hated feeling lumps in his throat. 

"It wasn't your fault," Sarah told her father, holding his hand against her chest. "The truck was moving too fast when it crashed into the restaurant." Sarah giggled involuntarily, which was something she did to stop her eyes from getting teary. "It wasn't your fault, Daddy." The girl repeated her comforting words, kissing the back of her father's hand. 

Mark sighed. "I saw the truck coming and I grabbed you. I tried to grab your mother. It was like a bomb exploded in the restaurant. I saw your mother's arm pinned under the truck's front tire. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about this in front of you. Every time I talk about your mother's death, it makes you sad." Mark battled his tears while chuckling uncomfortably. The man cleared his throat, sitting up straight in his seat. Mark had the body of a pro wrestler. The father knew that his manly bulk didn't fit with crying in front of his daughter. 

"Talking about Mom's death doesn't make me sad." Sarah dried her eyes while swallowing. "I know that Mom is in heaven and that she's happy. She's looking down on us and smiling." Sarah rewarded her father with her beautiful and encouraging smile.  

"You've always had your mother's strength and beauty." Mark praised his daughter, caressing his finger across a tear that escaped her eye. "If your mom was alive, she'd be so proud of you." Mark added through a whisper. He watched as his daughter shook her head while maintaining her sweet smile.

 "Mom would be proud of you." Sarah declared. She pointed at her father and she kept pointing until her finger rested on his chin. "Your social anxiety is going away. I think mom healed you. You still won't let people touch you, but you don't seem as nervous around people. Your phobia isn't as bad as it was. We went to Eric's birthday party last week and you were calm." Sarah brought her father's progress to light. 

"Just because we went to our neighbor's child's birthday party last week doesn't mean I'm healed." Mark coughed up a laugh. "I only went because I was with you and you wanted me to go." 

 Sarah gave her father an intense stare. "You're getting better. You went to that birthday party and those children loved you, including Eric." Sarah stood by what she believed in and she believed her father's anxiety was fading away. "Our neighbor, Rachel, invited you to her baby's birthday party and you made her baby happy. You even bought him a gift."  

Mark tried to indulge in his daughter's positivity. "I bought him a baseball. How many three-year-olds play with baseballs?" Mark smiled incredulously. "I think Eric liked your gift better than mine. You got him a Captain America action figure. I think an action figure is better than a baseball for a three-year-old." Mark grumbled while lowering his gaze. He was forced to look back up at his daughter when her finger lifted his chin.

 "Eric liked your gift." Sarah reassured her father, raising her eyebrows at him. "Stop being so hard on yourself. Mom healed you and you're getting better. I think you're moving on from your past." Sarah kept her positivity while caressing her father's face. 

Mark squirmed a little. and his uncomfortable smile faded. "When your stepfather beats you half to death in a public place, that's hard to move on from, baby girl. My stepfather beat me in public and nobody stopped him. Nobody said, hey you shouldn't be punching on your kid like that. People stood there and watched while my stepfather beat the hell out of me. I heard people laughing." Mark's nostrils flared and his lip quivered. The captain wanted to forget about his abusive stepfather.

 "Didn't grandma stop him from hitting you. Isn't that what you told me?" Sarah recalled. The girl thought her father's abuse story had a happier ending.

"Your grandmother intervened, but my stepfather already broke my nose." Mark paused, licking his lips. "I know my mother is your grandmother, but I hated her for marrying my stepfather. She knew he was abusing me and she stayed married to him. I never forgave her." Mark growled softly through his words. There was an intense silence between Mark and his daughter. 

Sarah wanted a smile to return to her father's ruggedly handsome face. She thought of something funny to say to take his mind off his abusive stepfather. "You wanna play another chess game? I'll let you kick my ass this time." Sarah smoothly changed the subject, managing to reintroduce a smile to her father's face.  

Mark grinned as he gazed at his daughter. "Nah, I'll kick your ass later." The father chuckled, bringing his daughter's hand to his lips. He thought it was very slick how his daughter directed the conversation away from his painful childhood. His wife would do the same thing. Every time Mark would bring up a negative subject matter, his wife would either encourage him or change the subject with something funny. Mark wanted to kiss his daughter on her forehead. He noticed that his daughter was wearing her mom's earrings. Mark wanted to caress Sarah's face, but the starship's warning sirens interrupted his intentions. 

 The hairs on the back of Sarah's neck arose when she heard the ship's sirens. She knew something bad had manifested inside the ship.  

Mark jumped up from his seat when he heard people screaming. The screams were coming from the ship's passenger level.

 "What's happening?" Sarah asked her father, jumping up with him. The child felt her heart slam against her chest when she heard the screams. Sarah held on to her father's hand and his bulky arm. The teenager looked around when she heard footsteps coming toward her and her father. The footsteps were coming from Chief Commander Lewis, who was a pilot crew member.

 "Captain Gonzalez, we got a problem!" The young man spoke to Mark while out of breath. He reached out to touch Mark's shoulder, but hesitated after remembering that his boss didn't like to be touched by anyone, except his daughter. 

"What the hell happened?" Mark barked at the young pilot.

Commander Lewis placed his hands on his hips. "We got a distress signal from a distant star. We found an abandoned ship. It was a four passenger transporter. A woman's voice came through our receiver. She said she was in trouble and that she'd been trapped in the transporter for three days without food or water. We connected the tunnel and we sent a few crew members to the transporter to investigate. Something attacked them. It killed four of our men. We tried to disconnect the tunnel, but whatever killed our guys boarded the starship. We tried to quarantine the lower level, but it broke into the ship's main hull." Commander Lewis lost his breath again after giving his report to his boss. 

"What the hell did you boys bring on the ship?" Mark roared at Commander Lewis.

Commander Lewis shrunk. "We thought we were rescuing a lady in distress." The young commander tried to explain his mistake. 

"You didn't rescue no lady in distress! Whatever boarded the ship, isn't human!" Mark looked down at the floor while tugging on his necktie. 

"Daddy, what are we gonna do?" Sarah's soft voice entered the conversation. The teenager clutched her father's arm and her ears trembled from the sirens. 

"I'm gonna handle this, but I want you to stay here with Commander Lewis," Mark told his daughter. He kissed Sarah on her forehead while pulling his handgun out of its holster and preparing for war.

 "I want to come with you!" Sarah demanded. The girl didn't want to lose her father too. When she saw her father remove his semiautomatic pistol from his waistband, she broke into a sweat. "Maybe you should stay with me and let the crew handle it. If I can't come with you, then stay with me," Sarah pleaded while looking up at her father. The fourteen-year-old slowly wrapped her arm around her father's waist, hoping that her tight embrace would stop him. 

"I'm the captain of the ship, Sweetheart. I have to go." Mark felt his heart sinking down to his stomach as he gazed down at the pain in his daughter's eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be back. I want you to stay with Commander Lewis." Mark kissed his daughter one last time before removing her arm from around his waist. The father didn't want to let go of his daughter's hand, but he had to.  

Mark was still holding his daughter's hand in his mind. The captain was down in the ship's hull and he was shooting at something. It was a dark humanoid figure. Mark suffered an injury to his arm after he stopped the unknown figure from eating the baby of a woman passenger. The captain was standing in the hallway and he stood face to face with the creature.

 Panicked passengers would come out of their rooms to see what was happening, and Mark would tell the passengers to get back in their rooms and lock the door. Mark wasn't done saving a female passenger who was lying on the hallway floor holding her baby daughter. The dark creature towered over the young woman and her two-year-old daughter. 

The creature's head kissed the hallway's ceiling. Its legs and arms resembled outstretched tree branches with thorns emerging from its skin. It had the breasts of a woman, a pointy skull-shaped head and four dark slanted eyes. Its body was massive, yet skeletal, like an anorexic gorilla.

 "It's me you want, not her!" Mark roared at the strange creature. The captain ripped off his necktie, preparing for a fight. He tried to distract the creature from harming the woman and her baby by yelling at it. He almost choked on his heart when he saw the monster digging its claws into the woman and her baby. 

"No!!! Don't touch my baby!!!" The young woman screamed up at the monster after it dug its claws into her daughter's little pink-striped dress. The mother kept screaming up at the creature while clutching her baby. She gulped when she felt the monster digging its claws into her leg after tearing through her blouse and her skirt. The young woman's watery eyes focused on Mark. She wanted to call out to him, but her vocal cords locked up from feeling the monster's claws lightly slicing into her leg.  

"I'm gonna save you, Honey! Just stay calm!" Mark shouted to the young woman. He could see the anguish on her small face which was covered by her sweat and her honey blonde hair. After seeing the mother's full lips, her high cheekbones and her delicate eyes, Mark could tell that the young mother was Asian. He could also see how the young woman's little daughter shared her beauty. Mark saw the creature digging its claws into the mother's leg and thigh. "Hey, come and get me!" Mark slapped his hand on his chest while raging at the creature. The captain wanted to shoot at the monster again, but he feared that his bullet would strike the young woman and her baby. 

The creature turned and glared at Mark after it heard his booming voice. It squawked at the captain before barreling down the narrow hallway toward him. Mark witnessed it kill three of his men. He knew what it would do to him once it reached him. The captain lost his breath when the monster leaped down the hallway toward him with lethal speed. Mark pulled the trigger but his gun jammed at the wrong time. It was over for the captain. He could feel sweat soaking through his white, short sleeve, pilot shirt. The bulging muscles in his arms tightened, and when he swallowed, the dryness pinched his throat.

  Within seconds, Mark was on his back with the creature on top of him. The monster's warm and sticky saliva dripped down on Mark's bearded face. He saw himself getting crushed to death by the monster's mass. The captain's bald head suffered a bloody gash from the monster smacking him into a wall before knocking him down. Mark rattled the monster's teeth, but his large fists did minor damage. Mark knew he was about to die when the creature aimed its sharp and dirty claws at his throat. The captain thought about his deceased wife and how he would see her again, but then he thought of his daughter. Mark had to be there for his daughter. He couldn't die. He had to fight, but he didn't know how.  

Mark gasped while closing his eyes. The captain expected to feel elongated claws dig into his throat, but a loud boom forced the captain to reopen his eyes. The monster's weight collapsed beside Mark. The man crawled away from the dead beast. He saw where the shotgun round put a big gaping hole in the monster's skull. He looked down the hallway to see a slender and pretty young girl in a red dress holding a shotgun. It took Mark a second to realize that his daughter was holding a shotgun she took from one of his dead crew members. 

Mark stood and he could see tears in his daughter's eyes. The captain stepped over the monster's body. Mark almost made it to his daughter, but the woman passenger grabbed him and hugged him. Mark wrapped his arms around the woman and her baby. He watched as his daughter approached him after dropping the shotgun. Mark and Sarah were thanked by the woman passenger.  

The woman's baby patted her pint-sized hand on Mark's beard, forcing him to smile. Mark kissed the baby's hand. He embraced the woman and her baby while holding his daughter's hand. The captain noticed that he was allowing the woman to touch him. Mark couldn't believe how hugging the woman didn't make him feel uncomfortable. He finally saw what his daughter saw in him. As he held his daughter's hand, Mark no longer felt bitter about his past.