She pulled some of those leaves over to her now and stared at them, wondering how she could fashion them into shoe covers for her flats.
“I think it’s time we talk about what comes next,” Alex murmured, interrupting her thoughts. She peered at Lily over the crackling flames. “We’ve been hiding out here for a week now, and there’s been no sign of anyone coming after us.”
They’d avoided having this talk until now, and Lily understood why. She’d avoided thinking about it herself. After they’d traveled far enough into the forest to feel safe, and the adrenaline exacerbating her flight instincts had dwindled, she’d too wondered…Now what?
“You want to leave.” Lily took another gulp of water, stalling. “Where would we go? And how do we know we wouldn’t end up locked in a cell again?”
“Maybe we can find a small city on the outskirts of town that has non-psychopathic aliens.”
Lily chuckled weakly and raised her head to study Alex. She’d been slim a week ago when they’d left. Now, the hollows under her high cheekbones looked more severe than she remembered.
Alex wasn’t lying when she’d said she had no wilderness experience, but the girl was tough. Lily had tried to teach her as much as she could about surviving on her own, in case they got separated. After all, death in a place like this was only a small cut and infection away. Alex complained but never lost focus, not even when the sinister little bugs that nipped at her bare ankles drew blood, or each night while they listened to the sounds of unseen animals shuffling nearby.
“It’s not like I want to spend the rest of my life like this. But at least out here, I’m in charge of my life.” She crossed her arms, resting her elbows on her knees and settling her chin on her forearms. “I agree with you, but…”
Emotion expanded Lily’s chest like a balloon waiting to pop.
Alex crossed over to her and sat down, tilting her head and resting it on Lily’s shoulder. “I’m scared too.”
They sat together like that for a long time, not speaking until finally Lily whispered, “We’ll leave tomorrow.”
***
The next morning, she and Alex groggily gathered their belongings. Lily had lain awake the whole night thinking about the days ahead and what they might find. Judging from the dark circles under her eyes, Alex had done the same.
They set off as the sun started shining light between the dense leaves and had been walking for a few hours when Lily heard the telltale signs of rushing water. She knew from watching the small minnows in the stream that, although odd-looking, fish did exist on this planet. She listened to the loud rush of water and deduced the river must be large enough to hold fully grown fish. She just had to weave a fish basket, and with any luck, they’d finally have some real protein.
“We need to keep heading downhill,” Lily called, hefting a bag Alex had weaved that contained their foraged supplies. “If you want to find a town, following the water is probably our best bet.”
They continued walking downhill and talking. Although she’d met Alex a week ago, she felt a strong kinship with the woman that she’d felt with only a few others in her life. They talked about Earth and the foods they wished they had at the moment. Both kept the conversation light and filled with humor to distract from the fear that at any moment they might come across a wandering alien.
They started discussing what a wild alien might look like, and Alex listed off fictional aliens from movies she’d seen. Lily hadn’t seen any of the movies she was describing, and a pestering voice in the back of her mind taunted that she’d likely never get the chance to see any of them now.
“I can’t believe you never saw Alien! I have to be in the right mood to watch sci-fi, but honestly, if it has Sigourney Weaver…I’m in,” Alex called over her shoulder.
A small twinge of annoyance shot through Lily again. Alex, as it turned out, was a movie buff; more than that, she’d been a movie reviewer back on Earth. Lily, on the other hand, hadn’t started watching movies until well into her teens. Unsurprising, considering TVs—and electricity, for that matter—weren’t commonly available in the middle of the jungle. “No, Alex. I haven’t seen Alien or The Shawshank Redemption or Titanic or any of the millions of movies you’ve mentioned so far,” she called back sarcastically.
“Alright. Alright. If we never make it back to Earth, just know I’ll be starring in and directing live-action remakes of all of them so you can truly experience them,” Alex vowed with a crooked grin.
Lily chuckled and slid down a slippery area of the hill before stopping herself. “I’m looking forward to your performances.”
Gradually the “slope” turned into a muddy, rocky descent that required all of their focus to navigate. Lily’s muscles burned, and she could feel the skin on her heels peeling and oozing as her one-size-too-small flats rubbed against the area over and over again. But they’d been on sale and out of my size, she mocked, annoyed with herself for being impulsive enough to have thought they’d be fine once broken in.
The next time they stopped, she’d need to fashion a pad or wrap to protect her heel. Until then, she’d have to ignore the annoying sting and focus on the distant sound of rushing water. The trees had thinned and the cloud-filtered sunlight illuminated their path, but the wet, mossy rock was still slippery and treacherous. One wrong foot placement, and you’d go tumbling down.
Although fit, Alex was obviously not used to traversing this type of terrain. Lily winced in sympathy when her poor friend’s leg slipped and scraped against rock yet again.
“I think we should stop and take a break,” she called down to Alex, who had paused while gripping a rock face in an awkward position.
“But the river sounds so close! No, I’m—” Alex lost her footing and slid the rest of the way down the rock to a patch of mud below. Blood trickled from an abrasion on her cheek.
Drops of water began to fall from the sky, and Lily had to stifle a laugh. From this position, Alex looked so pitiful sitting sprawled in muck and glaring at the sky through squinted eyes.
“Just stay there,” Lily called through her grin. She made her way down the rock face.
When she finally reached the bottom, Alex was back on her feet and glaring. “How did you do that so easily? You aren’t even wearing real shoes, and you’re carrying the bag!”
Lily gave a quick shrug and grinned.
Alex attempted to wipe the dirt off her faded blue shirt but only succeeded in smearing the mud and coating her hands. She held her palms up toward the drizzling rain. The small droplets bounced off the thick clay. “Fucking alien mud,” she cursed under her breath.
They continued forward, their soles growing heavy from the accumulating sticky mud clinging to their heels.
“It sounds like the river must be just up ahead,” Alex said, following a patch of relatively dry ground around a large rock face.
Lily followed behind but stopped to inspect a path of trampled vegetation. This could be a game trail. Hope and anxiety made her pulse quicken. A game trail meant animals that could be trapped and eaten, but it also meant alien fauna. Lily scanned the damp ground, looking for tracks. She’d come across a few tracks over the past week but hadn’t had any luck catching anything.