(48 hours ago. Earth time)
(Location: Earth)
Maya sat at the dining table of her home, tapping her finger continuously against the wood. Frustration was written all over her face, and the only question on her mind was, "Where the hell is Erin?"
Erin hadn't returned home from school, and Maya was already freaking out. At first, she thought it was Erin's annual spiraling, something that usually happened when her parents visited. She believed this might be one of those episodes, but as soon as the clock struck 10 p.m., her worry turned into certainty. Something was wrong.
Maya Thorne was Erin's aunt. She had taken on the responsibility of raising her niece after Erin's parents dropped her off for no specific reason. Ever since then, Maya had cared for her, making sure Erin got everything she needed.
She fumbled in frustration as her eyes darted back to the wall clock. It was twenty-two minutes past ten, and yet Erin still wasn't home. Maya had already called the school two hours ago and learned that Erin had gotten detention along with two others, but none of them were still at the school. They were assumed to have ditched detention.
After hours of waiting, exhaustion finally got the best of her, and Maya retired for the night. By morning, the news had broken everywhere: the mysterious disappearance of Raven High students.
Maya rushed to the school desperate for answers about her sixteen-year-old niece's vanishing. By the time she arrived, the grounds were already swarming with reporters and police officers. The school ground felt like a murder scene but there were no bodies.
Pushing her way through the crowd, Maya managed to slip inside. Determined, she headed straight for the principal's office. She wasn't the only one looking for answers, three other adults were waiting as well.
Soon enough, the principal appeared and invited them in. Just outside his office, a massive 12-inch TV hung on the wall. The broadcast displayed the faces of three missing students, Erin, Liam, and Jayden. The news anchor droned on beneath the headline:
"Three Students Mysteriously Vanished at Raven High."
But two things were missing from that headline: the freak storm that rocked the school last night, and Eira Monroe.
---
(Location: The Rift)
The sun crept over the horizon, casting a golden glow across the purple dust of the desert planet. Radiation from the sun gave the dust a shimmer.
Erin had eventually fallen asleep, fear and exhaustion had dragged her under after hours of worry. The others had also passed out, apparently, fighting alien worms was far more draining than wandering aimlessly across a barren world.
Eira was the first to wake. She checked the others, then quietly pulled out the sharp metal object she had "found" during the fight. The worms' grotesque bodies were still littered the sand around them. Eira quickly stashed the weapon away as Jayden awoke. Soon, Erin and Liam followed.
None of them spoke. They couldn't, not yet. They were still processing.
Then one of the worms twitched. Instantly, all four of them tensed immediately as the scrambled into a defensive stance.
But it didn't attack. It just twitched again.
Slowly, Erin began to approach.
"What are you doing?!" Jayden whispersd agressively. "You're gonna get bit and trust me, I don't recommend it." He warned, remembering his own ordeal last night. His voice was edged with pain as his own bite wound was still throbbing.
Erin, stubborn as ever, plainly ignored him. Step by step, she crouched beside the creature. Up close, she could see its tiny eyes flickering weakly, it was dying.
Rather than see the monster that had tried to eat her last night, Erin saw a helpless animal in pain. Her eyes softened with pity. She grabbed a nearby stick and, with one swift strike, she put it out of its misery.
---
The group lay back on the dusty ground, letting the sun's heat prickle against their skin. After the freezing night, the warmth from the sun was comforting. They'd had to snuff out the fire earlier with the fear that it would draw another attack.
Erin's mind replayed the night before. She had stared death in the face, and it had shaken her to her core. All of them had. Survival was no longer just a thought, it was the only goal.
"We need rules," Erin finally broke the silence.
The others turned to her.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Jayden asked sitting upright.
"We need to set ground rules if we want to survive here. Last night...we could have been killed—"
"But we weren't, were we?" Liam cut in sharply.
Erin clenched her fists, imagining the multiple ways she could restructure his cheek bones. But she exhaled slowly, forcing herself to loosen up.
"Let her speak, Liam," Jayden interjected.
"I haven't forgotten how she shoved me around like trash last night!" Liam snapped.
"And I haven't forgotten the way you talked to Jayden!" Erin fired back, standing. Liam rose too, he was squaring off.
Before it escalated further, Jayden stepped between them. "Alright, let's all calm down."
Erin backed off before she continued speaking. "From now on, we need to do things systematically."
Erin stepped back, blinking quickly as a tear threatened to escape. She couldn't let them see weakness. Not now. "We should take turns keeping watch at night. Everyone."
"I don't take orders from you." Liam again.
"Oh you will..."
"Yeah we can talk about that part out later," Jayden replied. "But no one's asking the obvious question: what are we gonna eat? We can't survive without food or water."
"Well, I can't promise water," Erin said, her gaze drifting across the battlefield. "But food…"
Liam followed her eyes, realizing exactly what she was suggesting. His expression changed immediately from jerky to disgust.
"Hell no. I'm not eating alien worms. That's disgusting. Why would you even—"
"Well, genius, got a better idea? Maybe you could use that Einstein brain of yours to 3d print food for us...oh wait, you can't..." Erin snapped, mocking him with exaggerated hand gestures. Her sleeve shifted slightly, revealing the glowing mark on her arm, except this time it was green. Jayden's eyes narrowed, he was the only one who seemed to notice these changes in the glow. Something about Erin was… different.
Before anyone could argue further, a deep rumble rolled across the desert. Dust billowed upward in the distance, like a building had just collapsed. When it finally settled, a towering structure simply loomed on the horizon. Erin's eyes widened.
"Is that…? That looks like a..." Erin whispered.
"A human settlement."