Please, Just Save Me

“Go! Go! Go!” Aeron screamed. “Come on, get out of here!”

“I’m going!” he called over his shoulder, waiting for hardly a second longer.

A roar of fury tore through the caves, and the sound devoured them. Streams of light poured down the ceiling as more of the aliens woke from their slumber. Screeches similar to a bat flooded the stone walls.

“Don’t wait, Mali, just run!” she shouted. “Faster!”

He heard her voice closer to him. She was catching up. Good. He didn’t want to leave her behind.

“Faster!”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” he yelled back. She was right beside him.

“Not fast en—”

The sound of her cries chased him into consciousness. Malachi pushed himself up, gasping as he shoved away the tangle of blankets. His heart pounded against his ribs and his throat burned as if he had actually been shouting.

Malachi wiped tears from his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He looked down at where Aeron should be, but the other half of the bed was empty and cold. The pillow had been fluffed, but no head had come to rest there for many days.

He peeled away the thin blankets and slid off the stiff mattress. A shiver ran through his spine as the cold air settled on his skin. He picked a jacket off the floor, looking at the sleeve, where Aeron’s name was blurred by tears.

Malachi bunched the cool fabric together before pressing his face into it. He couldn’t smell her perfume anymore, no matter how deep of a breath he took.

“You said we’d make it together,” he whispered, strained by sorrow. “You told… told me… we’d live…”

The bunker was silent now. Corpses had long since rotted away in the crash site above. The flames had been extinguished so many years ago… but Aeron’s death was recent.

Four weeks ago, the food supply ran out.

Three weeks ago, they went deeper into the caves. They needed food… that was where most of the foreign creatures resided.

Be wary of the predators… you are not top of the food chain there, warned so many teachers and scientists.

Aeron had lifted her head and flashed a dangerous grin. Predators should be wary of us.

Malachi laughed each time, bumped his shoulder against hers. He would kiss her on the cheek, then do whatever task was needed. She would follow, ready to help him. They were excited to reach the new planet, excited to see what life had been found.

Only nine of them survived the crash.

Four of them died of injuries and infection within the first week… two had been in the first day.

One discovered they were allergic to the pollen of this planet when the season changed. They suffocated to death as their throat swelled shut.

Another found a fruit that hadn’t been logged before. He took a bite of it… and it flooded his mouth with larvae. He died alone, seizing on his bedroom floor.

Just two months ago, the last killed herself. She had breathed in something in a cave… a gas of some sort. She listed every property of the bitter-tasting gas, before the words spiraled into madness and she returned to the bunker.

After that, it was just him and Aeron, rationing their food and water, doing what they were meant to do. They logged every detail, and waited for another ship to land on this foreign planet.

None ever came.

The food ran out bit by bit.

The water purifier slowly stopped working.

That was when they turned to hunting. Aeron felt at home with a bow and arrow, but Malachi never did like weapons. He just did what he had to in order to survive.

One day, Aeron got curious, and he followed.

They stumbled upon a nesting ground. She lifted one of the eggs, and he wondered if she even dared to breathe in those moments.

Maybe it was a stray breath that gave her away because the mother had detected them.

“Aeron!”

Shrill screeches echoed through the cave. Thousands of small, bat-like creatures swarmed the space between them.

He heard her scream again, and he dropped to his knees.

The aliens bumped into each other, blind and panicking, as they tried to escape the beast that woke them. He could see the creature through the crowd of leathery wings, and hear its low growl beneath the shrieks.

Its body was pure white, catching in the dim light that poured through the cave entrance. Thick scales were covered in a heavy mucus. It opened a large mouth, lined with hundreds of pointed teeth. It had the body of a lizard, and teeth that dripped with venom. Aeron stared into its black eyes.

She was in awe. She looked death in the eye and she was in awe.

Malachi could only stare. Just stare. He saw his wife looking death in the eye, saw her staring in awe, and that was all he could do, too.

Until that beast, that strange creature, snapped down.

Aeron didn’t scream or fight. Her body was crushed so easily between its jaws. He watched her skull explode between its teeth. Chunks of bone and blood splattered the gray stone, and she went limp in its mouth before it began to eat.

Malachi stumbled back, then pushed fully to his feet. He ran. Just ran. He left her behind to be consumed by the beast. There was nothing else he could’ve done.

He returned to the bunker, and staggered into their room. Her jacket was on the floor— she refused to bring it with her, complaining about getting it stained.

Malachi’s vision swam and he doubled over. He vomited right beside the jacket, barely managing to kick it out of the way in time. Bile quickly covered the smooth, white floor.

White.

Like the scales.

Malachi never learned what that creature had been. There was no record of it before, and no trace it had ever existed after that evening aside from the dried blood of Aeron.

The next day, he started to return to the nesting ground, but stopped at a fork in the cave system. He couldn’t remember which path it had been down… and part of him didn’t want to. He sat down on the wet stone, then buried his face in his knees. He cried for the first time there. His wails echoed down both tunnels, and for a moment, lost in his grief, he begged the sound would alert the creature.

His death never came though.

The tunnels remained silent except for his cries.

Now, Malachi stood in the middle of this room, clutching Aeron’s jacket in sweaty palms. It was all he had left of her, and even that was fading.

He didn’t feel hunger anymore. He didn’t feel much of anything. 

Malachi glanced at the knife on his bedside table. He wondered, If I was stabbed, would I feel that?

He contemplated, watching the silver blade. Without a sound, Malachi turned and walked out of the room. He passed through silent halls. No fridge hummed, no lights gleamed. Everything had been broken or shut off, and there was no one left that cared to fix it.

Malachi stopped outside, and turned his face to the sky. The sun of this planet was just beginning to rise. A soft breath rolled off his tongue, and he stretched out his arms,

Then he screamed.

He screamed in pain and in fear, in sorrow and in anger. He screamed just to scream. He screamed to release the hundreds of emotions that flooded his brain, and he screamed some more. He screamed until his throat was raw, then he screamed again. His voice cracked and the foreign star scorched his skin, but he didn’t stop.

Malachi never did form words. He didn’t call for anyone, god nor mortal, dead nor alive. He just screamed like an animal, wild and dying.

When his legs felt weak, he dropped to his knees. He wailed as he clutched his hands around his aching head. Tears streamed down his face, burning lines through his cheeks. The star just rose above him, unbothered by the display. Other stars started to flicker and fade, and the moons had long since sank below the horizon.

Malachi tangled his hands in his hair before he started to rip the black strands out.

“Come take me!” he shouted. “Come take me! Kill me! Let me see her one more time!”

He begged for death, as that was the only place he would get to see Aeron again. Death was the only place he wished to see now… this planet had given him everything but that.

Malachi opened his eyes, gagging with every breath that entered his lungs.

“Save me… please, just save me.”