The hissing grass was dormant again, the trio snaking their way past the glowing specks of blue. Shawna held her spear again, still stained in the purple-blue blood of the strider. Adlai had her knife again, and the radio. She winced at the thought of the radio; it had been crushed in her journey back to the group. Luckily, she still knew where to go. She thought.

Hissing jolted her thoughts; Averi’s face shining in the dim light. The red-haired girl’s eyes were wide with fear, waiting for that ominous hum. Shawna’s hand tightened around the spear, the knuckles white. She wasn’t confident enough to take on more than one strider, let alone in the dark. Standing in the dark, she waited to hear the crescendo of hissing rise to its almost unbearable height. The hissing slowed down, the grass had expended all its energy. A quiet, sibilant breath escaped her lips as she lightly stepped onto the next safe patch of earth. It was quiet again.

Rocks weren’t very comfortable to lean against. Shawna stared at the hissing grass in the distance, the rays of light illuminating rows upon rows of grayish-green strands of vegetation. The corner of the boulder pushed into her shoulder blade, just painful enough to be annoying. Adlai was laying out the campsite again, Averi lost in thought again. After the apology, Adlai had hardly glanced in her direction. To be honest, she was glad. Despite her words, she still didn’t know how she felt about him. Right now, she almost missed him talking to her. Almost. Averi still had the feather; now sticking out of her hair.

Shawna could guess what happened. She didn’t need to ask, she could see it written all over the girls face; in the way she acted. It reminded her of how she had felt when she lost her grandmother. Like a wave, memories came rushing back. She closed her eyes, letting them wash past her. She would deal with that later. For now, she needed to get wood. She stepped away from the rock, whirling her spear. A ghost of a smile fluttered on her face. Her spear.

It had been tough work sharpening whatever her spear was made out of. Her knife had been dulled and sharpened hundreds of times, shaving off slivers of what probably was bone. After it was sharpened however, it kept its point well. If only a spear could be used to solve the problem of the radio. A sizzle caught her attention, and she turned to see Averi holding the radio at arms length.

Shawna chuckled slightly, and Averi turned towards her, her face flushed. “What! I know how to fix it!”

“And that’s why it’s smoking right now.”

“Well it’s not my fault that it’s broken, now is it?”

“Shut up.”

“I also didn’t try to kill someone-”

Adlai interrupted her mid sentence. “Averi.”

“Fiiine. Anyways, I think I know how to fix this.”

Shawna bit back a sarcastic response while Averi continued. “All I need is another radio, then I can just put everything back together.”

“We’re not just gonna find a radio anywhere here, we’d have to go back to the ship. I’m not going back to the ship, you two can go.”

“Well, Adlai thinks we might find more people, and they might have radios too. I’m trying to fix the actual radio function so that we can talk to people.”

Shawna pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. “Don’t you need another radio for that?”

“Not necessarily, I can fiddle with some of the components-” Averi looked up at Shawna, the younger girl's face matching Shawna’s confused expression. “What? I used to mess around with this sort of stuff. Anyways, I can probably get it working if I get some time and I don’t have to look at your ugly face.”

“I swear to god, I will-”

Adlai clapped suddenly, breaking the tension. “Alright, Shawna, you go and try to find some food. Averi, you try and fix the radio.”

Shawna rolled her eyes but obliged anyway. Arguments were just time wasted. She smoothly turned away and headed towards some heavy growth. The sun was up now, rays of light shining through holes in the cave ceiling. Unfortunately for her, that light didn’t illuminate the vegetation she was walking into. It was tough looking for hoppers now. The small animals had seemed to learn that the bipedal invaders weren’t friends and now made themselves scarce. That didn’t mean they weren’t there though; footprints and droppings gave away their presence. The tracks were still fresh, and Shawna could see a trail of bruised vegetation.

The trail led to a clearing with a shallow pool, only illuminated by the light of bioluminescence. The hoppers were there, drinking water. Shawna smiled. She raised her spear, holding her breath. She locked in on the biggest hopper's chest. Her arm whipped back to throw it and- a reverberating growl filled the cavern. The spear dropped like a rock. No.

It was back. Her breathing turned rapid, her heart beating fit to burst. She crouched to the floor, barely even breathing. Eyes squeezed shut, she wrapped her arms around her legs and waited to live or die. The growl filled the cavern again, except it was… off. Shawna cracked an eye open to see the largest hopper expanding its chest. It deflated like a balloon, gills on its side releasing a reverberating drone. She breathed out, a quiet sob following her first breath. Her eyes closed again, thoughts flying back to where she had been.

She pulled at a stack of corpses, arms coming loose in her hands. The hunter kept trophies. One trophy stared at her, dried lips pulled back to expose rotting teeth. She coughed slightly, saliva spilling out of her mouth. They were long dead, at least a month had passed. Their deaths weren’t something to envy however as the next corpse that tumbled down displayed. Its rib cage was ripped, as if crushed in a grinder. The meat that was still on the bones was tough and dry, and the eyes had dried up, only a plastic looking casing looking back at her. She threw up again.

Another reverberating groan shook her out of her nightmare of a daydream. She slowly sat up, raising her spear. She needed to bring something back. The spear rose again, her hand shaking slightly. Breathing deeply, she steadied her arm, focusing on the biggest of the three hoppers. None of them were paying attention to her, all focus was on the largest hopper and its display. She drew the arm back, and whipped the spear forward. A squeal of alarm was cut off by the impact of the spear, and the hopper fell.

Carrying a dead alien was tough work. The trail of blood painted the ground a bluish-purple, and the occasional twitch resulted in Shawna nearly getting kicked. It was long dead by now, the spear had done its job. Unfortunately, death didn’t stop nerves from firing. As she walked past the crest of the hill, she saw smoke rising. Adlai must’ve had a lot of faith in her. A bittersweet smile crossed her face. She had missed him, but she also had hated him. She didn’t know how to feel now. Sweat rolled down her face as she tried to push down her own complicated thoughts. These weren’t the thoughts to have while carrying a carcass.

Adlai was cooking the hopper now. He’d asked for her help in butchering the alien, but she’d declined. She didn’t trust herself near him now. Averi had grumbled something about being a parasite, and Shawna was once again reminded of how sweet it felt to have punched the girl. That rage faded quickly once the smell of cooking meat filled the air. It wasn’t long until she found herself tearing into a greasy piece of what had once been an alien.

The next day they were off, heading towards the vague directions the GPS had given them before its untimely demise. It was back to cramped caves, although Shawna had the vague sense they were heading downwards. The days began to flow by, small moments being the only thing not being carried away by the stream of forgetfulness. Averi catching her first hopper, Adlai finding what might’ve been an old campfire, and Shawna trying her hand at cooking. As time went on, that angry fire that burned in her began to lose fuel.

She couldn’t forget some things though. Despite the uneasy laughter; the raft of ease floating on the sea of tension, she kept seeing them. She didn’t love them. After they left her, she never would love them. But they were important to her, if only for the sake of proving them wrong. She couldn’t now. When she closed her eyes, they were there. It hurt to remember them, but she couldn’t forget. What was the point now? Without them, why was she here? Who did she need? She desperately, deeply needed something. Anything that would give her a reason to be.

And one day, it hit her.