Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)(8)

“Me either.” Kira sighs and winces, rubbing her shoulder. “But everyone’s hurt. I don’t know how fast we can move, or if it’s even safe to move. For all we know, we could be floating on a sea of ice filled with man-eating ice-sharks.”

“Good God, you’re Suzy Fucking Sunshine, aren’t you?” Liz says, staring at Kira.

“Sorry.” Kira grimaces, pressing a palm to her forehead. “It’s been a hell of a day, and I feel like it’s just going to get worse.”

She looks so morose that I want to hug her. I refuse to be down about this. One guard is dead, we have his gun, and for now we’re away from our captors. “It’ll be fine,” I tell them brightly. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Can we figure out food?” Megan calls from the corner of the slanted storage bay. “We’re pretty hungry.”

“Food is a good start,” I agree, nodding at Liz. “Let’s see what we have if we’re supposed to ride this out and wait for the little green men to return.”

An hour later, though, things are looking grim. We’ve found enough bars for a week, and we have enough water for approximately as long. Beyond that, though, there is nothing.

In addition, other than what belonged to the guard we’d killed—well, I’d killed—there were no weapons and no additional clothes. We went through everything, pounding on walls and trying to find hidden compartments in the shuttle bay, but we didn’t find much. The only discovery was some sort of thick plastic-like sheet material, but it wasn’t warm or flexible enough to be used for much of anything.

“Pretty sure Robinson Crusoe wasn’t nearly as fucked as we are,” Liz jokes.

I haven’t read Robinson Crusoe, but I agree. It’s clear we’re not equipped for survival. We’re not equipped for anything, and it’s getting colder in the hold by the minute, thanks to the snow and cold air that steadily trickles in from the gap in the hull.

“I mean, I don’t understand,” Liz says, handing out a few seaweed bars. “If they want us to sit and wait, don’t you think they should have left us with more supplies?”

“You forget that we’re the extras,” I point out, waving away my bar. Someone else could eat it. My stomach was upset enough as it is. “As long as they’re intact, that’s all that matters, right? And they’re not eating.” I thumb a gesture at the lockers still lining the wall. “They’re still in perfect condition.”

Naturally.

“Should we wake them up now?” The thought of a handful of women floating in stasis a few feet away with no comprehension of what was going on is rather unnerving to me. If I’d crash landed, wouldn’t I want to know?

“God no,” Liz says. “How do we even know that they’re aware of where we are? For all they know, they’re still tucked into bed and little green men don’t exist. How would you like to wake up to find all this and oh, by the way, we’re stranded and don’t have much to eat?”

“Good point.” I gaze around the empty room, tapping my bare foot and thinking.

“So what do we do?” Kira asks, sliding in next to the other girls huddling together for body warmth. She looks exhausted.

Liz glances at me, waiting.

Am I the leader now? Crap. But . . . someone’s got to do it, and I’m tired of no one having ideas. I consider our options for a long moment. “Well, if we’re on a planet with oxygen, I’m guessing there are other things living here. I don’t know a lot about science, but if Earth can support all kinds of life, doesn’t it stand to reason that this planet could, too? We could be really close to a city for all we know.”

“A city full of aliens,” someone mutters.

“True,” I agree. “But we can’t stay here and starve to death. Or freeze. The sun’s shining right now, but we don’t know how long we have until night—”

“Or how long night will last,” Kira adds.

“Maybe you quit helping out,” Liz tells her. “I’m just saying.”

“I think we need to scout around at least,” I suggest. “Find out our bearings, look for food and water, and report back.”

“But most of us are injured,” sniffs one girl. Tiffany. She looks like she is fresh off the farm and utterly terrified. Some of us have taken our captivity with grim determination, and some have completely fallen apart. Tiffany’s in the latter category.

“You should go, Georgie,” Liz chimes in.

“Me?” I sputter.

“You’re kind of our leader.”

God, I hate that I’m not the only one who thought that. I glance up at the snow pouring through the crack overhead. It looks cold, and I’m in shorty pajamas. “How am I the leader? I’m practically the last one to arrive.” Only Dominique was captured after me.

“Yeah, but you’re the one with all the plans. You’re the one who killed the guard, and Kira needs to stay here in case the others return because she’s got the ear thing. And my knee’s all jacked up. I wouldn’t get very far. Besides, you’re the one who’s good with the gun.” Liz flutters her lashes at me.

I snort. “Good at bashing things, you mean.”

“Hey, you did better than the rest of us, Georgie. Seriously.” She mock-punches at the air, pretending to box. “You want me to hum you some ‘Eye of the Tiger’ to get you pumped up?”