Chapter 6

It is sometime before Sarah wakes up. It is the sound of waves lapping against the shore that enter her consciousness first. She feels grittiness all along her body and face. When she finally does open her eyes, it is dark. It isn’t darkness she sees but rather that it is still night. The moon is still casting its light, reveling that she is lying on the beach.

Sarah starts to move and quickly she finds that her body is resistant. She is waterlogged and achy all over. It feels like she was tossed into a washer machine and then spun on high. The memories come rushing in suddenly. They slam into the front of her mind and she relives it all over again.

“I like the way you think babe,” Cash says just before he steps toward Sarah.

Sarah instinctively throws her hands up in a vain attempt to keep Cash off of her. Of course it does nothing. He quickly bats her hands away as if she were a small child. He lifts her into the air, tossing her over his shoulder and walks over to the edge of the cliff.

Sarah screams and kicks, fighting with every bit of strength that she has left. All of it is useless. She is too weak to fight. Even if she was at full strength, Sarah isn’t sure it would do any good. Cash is too strong and too determined to get his way.

As Cash steps to the edge Sarah has no way of seeing over it as she is tossed ungracefully over his shoulder, but that doesn’t stop the feeling she has of sensing it. Somewhere deep inside her she knows she has just seconds before she is going over. Dread and rage fill inside her, at the same time so does sorrow. There is nothing she can do to prevent this from happening. She is helpless, alone and scared.

Suddenly, there is a flash of light. The whole sky turns from dark to light and for just the briefest moment of time hope wells up in Sarah. Someone is here to save her. Someone is here to put an end to Cash’s detestable ways.

“Well, well,” he says, shattering any hopes she has, sending the pieces to the bottom of the cliff where she is going to follow. “It looks like a shooting star for you to wish on. Maybe you can wish to live through the fall you’re about to take.”

“Oh stop torturing her Cash and through her the fuck over already,” Kara says from a few steps away.

Sarah feels him shift and she manages to grab one last look at his girlfriend before she is sent off his shoulder and over the side. She doesn’t make a face nor does she try to grab onto any part of Cash that she can to delay the inevitable. No, instead she just lets it happen. However this plays out will be her fate. She did what Cash suggested. She wished upon that star to save her, to redeem her in any way possible. Her fate is in the hands of whatever forces, cosmic or otherwise, now.

Sarah slowly crawls forward away from the surf and wet sand into dryer sand. It sticks to her like glitter does in glue. The idea of the sand getting into her crevices and most private areas make her cringe, but being naked in the sand there is nothing she can do about it. Soon, she finds that the more she moves, the less the ache there is.

Eventually, she is sitting up in the sand, looking around. She has no idea where she is. It is dark save for the moonlight. There aren’t any sounds except for the crashing waves on the shore. Even when she looks around trying to locate the cliff she was thrown from, it isn’t in sight. Sarah begins to shiver, not from any kind of cold but fear. The abuse she just went through is still fresh in her mind and will probably be there for a while. But now she is more alone than before. She thought going through what she did was the worst kind of alone, but this alone is definitely worse.

Then suddenly she feels warmth. It surrounds and penetrates her. It soothes her. For some reason Sarah suddenly doesn’t feel so alone, so lost. It’s like a blanket of love has covered her and for the second time she feels like she has been accepted.

She once again looks around, this time seeking out the wonderful source of tenderness. This time around her eyes fall upon a scorched line in the beach. It travels up through the sand and into the line of trees. Through the faint light of the moon she can see where the sand has turned to glass and the trees have been burned.

The feeling of warmth and comfort radiates even more, drawing her closer. She doesn’t even realize that she is on her feet, walking toward the center until she is nearly right on it. Tentatively, Sarah steps toward it, sticking her hand out at it.

“What are you?” she asks. She doesn’t know why she asks—it’s as if there is some compulsion to do so.

The mass of purplish-black goo answers promptly. ‘I am of a race called the Synth.’

“Did you come down from the sky?” she continues to ask as she presses her hand further forward.

The Synth reacts and begins to ripple with excitement. ‘I crashed here. I hoped to find an acceptable host.’

“A host for what?”

The purplish-black goo bulges and begins to stretch out tentatively toward the outstretched hand. ‘To live. To survive. To bring you what you desire the most.’

“I just want to go home,” Sarah says weakly. Tears begin to well up in her eyes even though she doesn’t think she can cry any more than she already has.

The Synth suddenly retreats back into a pool. The abrupt retraction from the alien confuses Sarah for a moment. And then, just as quickly, it flies forward to encapsulate her hand. Sarah is pulled forward, nearly losing her balance. Then she is falling backward as she is pushed off guard.

She lands on the soft sand and watches as the purplish-black goo quickly traverses up her arm, across her shoulder and over to her breast. Her breasts mold to the grip of the goo, spilling between the cracks of the liquid as it squeezes her tenderly. The attention to her chest hardens her nipples, making them stick out.

It spreads out to the other breast, tracing along it to her nipple there. She moans enthusiastically in response. Her little nubs roll around beneath the goo, being pulled gingerly before being released and pulled again. Her eyes close, her mouth drops open.

Sarah begins to forget the horror of the night. Her thoughts are consumed by this alien creature. She begins to understand his needs and how his can feed into hers. She also learns his name and upon that revelation she speaks it.

“Gehx...”

It is the only word she can find to speak. She is having trouble in focusing on anything but the alien. She succumbs to the waves of tingling ecstasy while Gehx spreads up along her neck, manipulating it like someone would their mouth. The creature seems to know exactly what she thinks, wants, needs.