Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)(31)

He points at the girl, his eyes pale as if with shock. “Georgie?”

“No, I’m Georgie,” I say then point at her. “That’s Dominique.” Then I try to teach him the word “human” by spreading my five fingers. I can’t stop sniffling. What is she doing here? Did they send her after me? Another sob catches my throat. “Vektal, we have to go up the mountain. Please.”

“Mountain. Human?” he asks, voice low.

“Yes,” I say, feeling frantic. While I’ve been fucking around with an alien and eating and wearing warm furs, the others are starving and cold. I point up the mountain. “Please. Please let’s go up the mountain. More humans.”

He nods and lets a stream of syllables fly. I don’t understand them, but when I gesture that I want on his back again, he hauls me against him and begins a quick pace up the snowy hills and past the cliff we spent the night at.

This time, we’re going up the mountain. I want to sob with relief. Instead, I keep thinking of Dominique’s frozen face. Poor Dominique. What happened? Why did they send her out with no clothing? It’s a death sentence. Were they so desperate they had no choice?

“Hurry, please,” I tell him. He doesn’t understand the word, but maybe he hears the urgency in my voice. His pace picks up.

It takes at least two hours of Vektal’s steady, measured pacing before I get a glimpse of the black hull of the ship. It’s almost entirely covered by snow at this point, and I suck in a breath at the sight of it. That can’t be warm, no matter the insulation. Up this high, there aren’t many trees and there’s no wildlife. The air feels thinner, and I wonder if the aliens deliberately stranded us at the most inhospitable site so we wouldn’t run away.

Fuck that. We are getting out of here today, and I am taking my girls with me.

I just pray they are still alive.

Vektal points at the black oblong vessel that had broken off from the ship. “Sa?”

“Yes,” I tell him. “Sa!”

It takes a bit longer for us to get up to the discarded portion of the ship. The slope is rocky and steep, and going up proves to be a bit of a challenge that I hadn’t had while going down. We get to the edge, and I see a snowy drft is high enough on one side that it can act as a ramp. It must have snowed a lot here. Ugh.

I drop off Vektal’s back and nudge ahead, taking the lead. The breeze is picking up, so I swaddle the furs closer about my face and climb up the ramp. The hole is covered by the tarp, so I tug it up.

A snowball immediately hits me in the face.

I sputter, wincing and staggering backward. It’s nailed me right on the nose, and my face throbs, my eyes stinging.

“Back the fuck off!” A voice yells. Another snowball lobs in my direction, and I duck it.

Vektal gives a furious cry, pulling me behind him, rage lighting his eyes. As I watch, he pulls two bladed, carved short swords from his vest.

“Wait,” I yell. “Guys, it’s me! Georgie!”

Silence.

“Georgie?” A voice cries. It sounds like Liz. “You’re alive?”

“I am,” I yell back. “Fuck off with the snowballs!”

“What’s with the lion, Georgie?” someone else yells up. “Call it off!”

“It’s not a lion. It’s a native, and it’s my friend. His name is Vektal.” I pat Vektal’s arm, trying to soothe him since he still looks as if he wants to crawl inside and murder everyone. “It’s okay, big guy. Really.” I’m so relieved at finding the others alive that I could blubber big, ugly tears of joy.

I try to move forward, only to have Vektal block me again. I give him an exasperated look. “Really. It’s fine. These are my people. Humans.”

“Humans,” he repeats and points at his fingers.

“That’s right.”

Grudgingly, he moves aside, and I push the tarp away and duck, just in case another snowball comes flying my way. When nothing does, I peek in.

Five ragged girls stare up at me, faces dirty. Liz, Kira, Megan, Tiffany, and Josie are all still alive, though they look like hell. Their eyes are hollow, their hair is lank, and they shiver as they stare up at me.

I think they’re all beautiful. I’m so happy to see them that I burst into tears. “Hi,” I sob out.

“Georgie?” Vektal asks. His hands go to my back, his touch possessive.

I turn and pat him, trying not to blubber and failing miserably. “Help me down?”

My wrist is still crap, but Vektal is strong. He helps lower me into the hold just enough that I can grab onto some of the wreckage. I climb down awkwardly, falling forward when I get close to the floor. Then the five girls are grabbing me, hauling me against them in big, smelly hugs.

“You guys smell awful,” I say between sobs and hug each one. Liz is grinning wide, but Josie seems listless, her delicate figure practically skeletal. Tiffany’s blubbering as much as I am, and both Megan and Kira are quiet. “Here,” I say, stripping the furs off my body. “Please. Take these. You guys have to be freezing.”

They grab the furs with greedy hands, and I don’t even mind. I strip them off, happy to hear their moans of pleasure as they get their first warm clothing in days.

“We thought you were dead,” Tiffany says. “You never came back.”