Hiking was a lot harder than I remembered.

I was a lot weaker after my confinement, despite eating as much nutritious and calorie dense nutrient paste as I could stomach at every opportunity I still had a somewhat gaunt frame and sunken cheeks.

Sweat built up on my brow and I instinctually went to wipe it, swatting at my own headgear once again. The chest plates in this suit dug into my shoulders and compressed my torso making a full breath of air near impossible. The suit needed to be rigid and tight fitting to protect me from damage properly, but at the same time it limited many simple movements.

I gasped in another breath of air, I was almost over this hill. Going downhill was preferable to uphill, though it was remarkably harder than I expected as the loose dirt was prone to rolling out from under my feet.

Each breath pushed out a gust of hot air, though it did not fog my visor it did collect directly on my face.

All this was to say, I fucking hated wearing armor. Alien make or no. I was sure this suit was far lighter than it should be and the air filters didn’t actively restrict my breathing but it was still incredibly uncomfortable.

I passed a sitting insectoid and then came to my senses. I had been staring straight down and pushing myself forwards with such focus that I had not noticed the insectoids had stopped moving completely.

“Sit human, we will continue after a short rest.”

Bluestripes waved me down, usually he was somewhat aggressive with his demands and prone to kicking people who didn’t follow orders fast enough but now even he was slumped against a tree and breathing hard.

I hunched down, then thought better and found my own tree to lean against making sure to position myself where my leader could not see me.

I pulled my helmet off and wiped at my face while panting like a dog. I felt at my neckline and pulled a thin tube to my mouth to inhale some water. Food was to be given at designated feeding times, but water was considered a necessity. The entire system was contained within the suit so that I could hydrate while dealing with deadly materials without risking exposure.

Normally you would clip the tube onto the inside of your helmet so you could reach it more easily, but I had been ripping said headware off too often. I was overheating from the layers I wore.

“How much further?” I panted at an insectoid sitting vaguely close to me.

Well, closer than the others whom I was hiding my helmetlessness from.

“We are one miles away from the separation point.” It stated through a translator.

I felt relief, one mile was doable-

“You are seven miles from your destination. You are to walk six more after we stop so that we do not scare the locals.”

My internal water pouch went dry, I felt a moment of panic as I had only filled my mouth a handful of times. It shouldn’t run out that fast. I looked up at the insectoid across from me and realized that it did not seem to be sweating. I risked a peek around the tree and it seemed that none of them did.

Different water requirements?

I put my helmet back on and turned on my coms, “I have run out of water, I require more.”

“Negative, we did not bring replacement nor purification tablets for the stream at the bottom of the hill.”

Seven miles without water was going to suck. I wondered if I should just risk waterborne parasites.

I sighed, after a few minutes I stood and stretched my legs. It was going to be awhile before the insectoids were ready to move again. They sat around for something like an hour after every mile. Did the exertions raise their body temperatures? The lack of sweat would mean they could not move continuously in most climates.

Was that a product of being raised in sterile facilities for so long? They did not need to regulate temperatures on a ship. Though it was clearly incompatible with hiking forested hills on a summer day.

I stood, walking back and forth to keep my limbs active. Two minutes into this break I heard a scream.

The insectoid across from me rolled onto its feet and sprinted off with its rifle, I followed suit chasing after the noise.

My steps were heavy, I snapped a branch underfoot and kicked through a pile of leaves. Once again I felt the weight of fear. I had felt so free in the natural world, there were no vents to avoid and no dark rooms or metal walls to trap me.

But the natural world was also dangerous. I crested a tree and saw the problem immediately.

An insectoid flailed about, as if having a seizure. Bluestriped was here and a dozen other nearby insectoids aimed their rifles as their screaming, panicking kin. Their rifles were useless, their advanced ballistic plates and helmets rendered ineffective by the massive swarm of insects covering their squadmate.

It screamed and swatted but could not remove the hundreds of creatures as their squad stood dumbfounded.

I rushed forwards and screamed into coms, “Bees. Clear the area immediately.”

They were wearing fancy ballistic weaves that would stop their magic explosive rifle rounds. I was wearing a hazard suit meant to keep deadly swarms of objects on the outside and me on the inside.

I lifted the insectoid and threw him over my shoulder, the weight forced my boots down into the dirt and I launched myself down the hill. I felt the ground give away as my sprint turned into a barely controlled skid, the hill was too steep and I couldn’t keep my footing.

I reached out a hand and seized part of a bush to stay upright, my weight and the force of the fall pulled off the branches I managed to grab onto even as it slowed my descent. The ground was too loose and wet, the hill was too steep, and there wasn’t enough vegetation to arrest my fall. I felt myself hit the ground and did my best to not fall onto the insectoid I was carrying.

The air was knocked from my lungs, even as I grabbed the person I dropped I struggled to breathe. I took five steps forwards and dropped him at the edge of the body of water before falling onto my ass.

The alien continued flailing for a moment before the insects retreated. I sat, sinking inches into the mud as the alien lay under the shallow water for a moment.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

We breathed through our masks as the last of the angry insects buzzed at my orange uniform and flew away.

“I am appreciate.” The alien said after a long pause.

“No problem,” I responded through the huffs of air.

“Why were those flying cartridge shells so angry?” They asked.

I had to consider how to respond to it in a way they could understand. “Bees produce a highly nutritious and antibacterial nectar and guard it to the death from other animals. Did you get stung too badly?”

The insectoid began moving under the water, “They did not pierce my skin easily, but there was a concentrated effort where the skin is thinner.”

“Like where?”

“Armpits, groin, ankles. Covered in sores.”

“That’s not good.”

The insectoid continued to lay in the water, breathing and speaking through an emergency space oxygen supply and communicator.

“It does not feel good. I hate trees and bees.”

I grunted, “Those stings are poisonous. Keep talking over coms so we can make sure you aren’t going into shock.”

“I really do not like bees.”

“Yeah, I guess- Oh there’s Blue.”

Bluestripes walked down the hill, slowly crawling down onto rocks and taking a longer winding path down the same hill I just sprinted down. They took four minutes to do what felt like seconds to me.

Granted they didn’t fall directly onto their face and almost pass out climbing down.

“Subject is alive?”

“Yep.”

“The bees have retreated?”

I shrugged, “I can’t tell if any more are clinging to me.”

“Squadmate, can you walk?”

The insectoid started rising from the water, I winced and pulled a dead bee off of him.

Out of him? It was only still on him because the stinger was stuck to his flesh. I walked around the alien and made sure there weren’t still insects clinging to him.

Bluestripes nodded. “We will take some of the bees back as samples. As of now I believe that this area is too hazardous for our current equipment. We will be staying near the water in case of more bee ambushes.”

I swallowed, “I uh, still need to-”

“Yes. You will advance to the human civilization and bring back a book of every dangerous creature in the forest. If we are ambushed again we will contact you on the threat so that you may direct us through it.”

I nodded. This was acceptable. “I can go, keep an eye on the injured one. Those stings are filled with poison so if he starts getting worse he might need immediate extraction.”

“Yes. We have a few first aid officers here. Take this, I am tired of carrying it.”

He handed me a handful of silver slabs, each one almost the size of a deck of cards. I turned to leave, it was time that I advanced and met my first humans since being abducted. I stared at the shrubs and trees on the opposite river bank.

Then I thought better and turned to my current superior. “I need supplies to make it on my own, bandages, a weapon in case something attacks me uh… water.”

The leader looked me up and down for a moment before reaching to his side and unclipped a pouch before handing it back to me. I held the eight inch blade in my hands for a moment before looking back at him. “I will call a first aid officer to give you a wound clot spray.”

“This is not a weapon. An animal would tear me apart. It would not be very intimidating to humans who probably have longer, better knives.”

“You can’t have a rifle.”

“Why not?” I felt my voice raise into a whine.

“You are not authorized for conventional weaponry. You are deemed a risk of accidental misfire or self harm.”

“I know how to use a weapon, humans have rifles too you know.”

Bluestripes once again stared at me, analyzing me. I could feel his gaze through his mask.

“If you are trained with firearms then tell me what the five basic weapon handling rules are.”

I felt my mind go blank, how was I supposed to know what alien rules there were to gun use?

“Uh… Don’t point them at people?”

“And?”

“Do what your boss says? Don’t rebel?”

Bluestripes laughed, “You will not receive a rifle. I cannot accommodate your risk to others.”

I sighed, it's not like I could force the issue. I clipped the knife onto my belt and accepted a small bottle of spray that would seal wounds. Then I turned once more and faced the river. It was easily a hundred feet across.

I could walk through the river, my suit could withstand vacuums and one of the tests to ensure it was airtight had literally been to walk through an indoor pool.

But part of me stepped back unconsciously. I could not see the bottom of this body of water and I did not know what was in there. If you went down too far it would undoubtedly become dark as the light was blocked by sediments and everything else in there.

Instead I turned and began to follow the river downstream, passing only a single glance back at the insectoids and their rifles before rounding a hill and ending up out of sight. I eyed the trees, taking in the greenery that I had missed so much.

I ripped my helmet off of my head once more and walked amid nature, taking in the smell of grass and moving water alongside the sound of birds and trees waving in the wind.

Back on earth I had rather disliked the outdoors, the constant wetness that covered everything alongside the biting insects made for an unpleasant combination. I mused that old saying, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Even the flies and small mosquitos were a nice change of pace from the monotone grey hallways and buzzing fluorescent lighting.

Everything, I was learning, had a sound. If I closed my eyes I could tell that there were rivers and trees and bugs. A stark contrast to the silent groaning ship. The sound of the river was a constant rushing torrent, the trees sounded like an ocean, the birds were silent…

The birds were no longer making noise. I ducked and shifted behind a nearby tree.

Why had the birds gone silent? I knew what that meant, but what would be nearby that made the birds quiet down?

A predator? A bear or a tiger?

No, these would not be things that preyed on small birds. Reasonably they would be scared of hawks or other small predatory animals. Nothing that could harm me.

I breathed to calm myself down, this was a normal thing to run into and the area lacked the sense of wrongness that I had learned to associate with demons. This was clearly animals and not anything else. I boldly stepped out from behind my tree to continue on my way.

I turned and saw a face staring at me, I paused in alarm.

It looked young, a man of no more than sixteen and yet he towered above me. Tall and thin, he possessed clear muscle definition and little in the way of clothes. As I stood frozen he looked me up and down, before turning and walking into the forest. His footsteps did not disturb the plantlife and his movements made no noise despite everything he walked upon.

His ears. I couldn’t move, I stared at the sides of his head as he vanished behind a tree.

Then I found the will to move and tore through the shrubs and tree branches, desperately attempting to follow the man I had just seen. Emotion filled my throat and desperation to meet another person filled my being. I gashed my face open against a branch as I dove through the foliage with no sense of self.

I began screaming incomprehensibly for him, searching for any signs of the man. I continued running in the same direction even as my path began taking my uphill and away from the river.

Vegetation wrapped around my legs as I stumbled over exposed roots. Forests being giant masses of plant and animal life meant that every square foot usually had something living in it that I had to avoid tripping over.

As I crested the hill I spun, calling out while looking for the person I had seen. Stumbling into a sudden clearing, hearing the sound of gravel under my feet as I panted from the sudden burst of movement.

Gravel.

I slowed my panic and checked the ground beneath my boot. A long path of gravel cut in two directions. A road, which meant that I was close to somewhere people traveled to.

My heart somehow accelerated beyond what it had been. I was so close.

It was true that this was gravel, and not something as serious as asphalt or even stone. But I could see how vehicles had repeatedly driven up and down this path leaving dirt tracks where it had pushed the gravel out of the way.

It was a worn, well used road and that was more exciting than anything I had seen in weeks. I began to muse about what I should say. I had planned this out and knew what I needed to do but hadn’t had a change to actually go through a conversation.

Hello, my name is John and I’m with this group of aliens- but not the ones who are going to be invading this world and enslaving you- Yes that’s right trust me but don’t trust the others also tell me where the fancy resources are so I can make my boss happy.

I shook my head as I walked.

Hello my name is John. Do you happen to have a hospital here, because I totally got stung by a bunch of bees earlier. Trust me long enough to direct me to a place with doctors and medical equipment for hands. Also why do bees and pine trees exist on your planet and my planet simultaneously, can we have some bees because ours are going extinct? Oh right, but back to the matter at hand. Here is an alien claw that you can biologically test. It has different DNA than us or something to prove aliens are real.

Outside of the comedy, some of that was correct. I should visit a- actually maybe I should pretend like I can’t tell what animal the claw came from and visit some kind of animal research facility or a veterinary office. They should know more about nonhumans than doctors do.

I could ask them to identify what animal this came from, then act surprised when they say it doesn’t seem to share common ancestors with us or something. Or at that point would I come out and say that I was with a group of alien rebels?

I heard footsteps, once again I had zoned out and neglected my surroundings.

My heart leapt into my throat, a lead weight dropped in my stomach. I felt tears in my eyes as I struggled to find the words to tell the first human I had met since those days in the cells.

I felt my words die on my tongue.

They were a bright blue, almost fluorescent. So brightly colored that it almost hurt my eyes.

“God damn it.” I whispered to myself before I decided to radio this in.

This thing clearly wasn’t human, it didn’t even have a mouth.