Alien In Flames by January Bell

Author:January Bell [Bell, January]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

LYKO

Piper’s pupils dilate as she stares into my eyes, her breathing faster, the scent of her fear turning to something deeper, something sweeter.

If my kisses soothe her panicked heart, then I would kiss her until her very last breath.

I don’t know how to tell her how I feel about her without overwhelming her. I do know that the knowledge that she only pretended to be shy and sweet and naïve makes me feel… incredible. As though her own deceitfulness absolves me of the guilt I felt tying her to me.

Now, faced with the reality of our own mortality on this gods-forsaken alien planet, I could not ask for a better partner to be stranded with. She is cunning and clever and unafraid to do what she deems necessary.

Piper is a survivor, through and through, and her mettle is clear. She purses her lips, looking around for some kind of solution to our dire predicament.

I want to offer an idea of my own, but I wait, because I have a feeling this human’s solutions will be far more creative and brilliant than anything I could dream up.

How could they not?

Pride bursts through me, a ray of sunlight in the dark of this fetid faux swamp.

“They couldn’t have put us in here without some kind of way to kill it,” she muses, her gaze stuck on a point in the limbs high above us. “Isn’t that the whole point of this thing? To put on a show? ‘Are you not entertained,’ and all that?”

“Not entertained?” I echo, somewhat lost at that comment.

“Yeah, you know. They’re trying to entertain. Whoever’s in charge of this fucked-up shit, they’re putting on a show for the rest of the citizens here. Bread and circuses.” Her gaze goes distant, though she’s still peering up into the limbs. “Bread and circuses,” she repeats.

“I do not follow,” I tell her honestly.

Her focus swings back to me, a cruel smile on her lush pink lips. “There is something wrong with this planet. This society, I mean.”

My gaze slides to the very real reptilian threat that lurks somewhere in the water below us. “I am not sure what revelation you think you’ve made.”

She snorts a laugh, and her grin turns real. “Fair enough. On Earth, there was a society… that did this. A long time ago.” She squints up at the moons, their light turning the blue in her eyes paler. “Well, I suppose you could say modern-day sports are similar—anyway, this ancient civilization, the rulers called it bread and circuses.” She clears her throat, refocusing on me. “Anything to keep the masses distracted from what the rulers were doing. Keep them entertained and fed well enough not to question them, and you have all the elements of a society in decline.”

I nod, although I’m not sure I understand why she thinks this will help us. “Did the fighters in this arena of theirs exploit that?”

Her nose scrunches, an adorably human expression. “I don’t remember. But we could.”

“Once we defeat the threat here,” I say drily.

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