It’s that time again! Friday Flash Fiction! I’m so excited to report my Turkey day was a great one. Friends, family, and phone calls. Whatta day. This little piece is from a wip tentatively titled The Last Shift. Green Caspian has crashed her ship on a remote planet. It was supposed to be a quick sweep and grab for biological samples. But things went wrong and she crashed. Now one of the inhabitants is interested in the new arrival. As always this is © Dawn Montgomery and is…unedited.

Aiden stalked the shuttle, careful to keep his position concealed. The last invaders had been hostile. He still remembered the way they’d tortured his people. Rage simmered under the surface. Never again. That was a helluva crash landing.

The ship looked flyable until you saw the thrusters. He whistled quietly. They’d self destructed. Impressive. He left the shadows of the tall grass and made his way to the hull. Humid air enveloped him like a comfortable suit. Aiden noticed how much easier it was to bear it now that he’d had a few months to adapt to the environment.

Rich scents of overturned soil and plants filled his nostrils. Nothing fazed the plant life here. In a few weeks the plants would overrun the ship’s hull.

He inspected the ship. The heat on the hull should have dissipated if the engineers had done their job right. He placed his palms a few feet from ship. No heat. With regret he caressed the plates, wishing for the thousandth time he’d be able to leave this rock they’d made into his homey prison.

He scanned the horizon. At first glance it looked beautiful. Mountains in the distance, water trickling in streams, a gorgeous field like this one. He grunted. Hell came with the night. The sweet heat of the daytime felt like Heaven.

No movement. He’d made his way here when he’d seen the ship attempts to leave. Aiden had hoped to be able to board and get off this rock. There was no one here for him to stay for. With careful probings, he searched for the emergency release catch for the door. It was usually hidden behind a clip.

“There you are.” His fingertips caught on the release clip’s ridge. Within a few moments he had the door open.

He paused at the entrance. Blue light reflected off the metal of the ship’s interior. The room reeked of ozone and other gases.

“Permission to come aboard.” His voice echoed in the empty chamber. It wasn’t a large vessel. Perhaps a scouter. No answer from the computer, but his gut told him to keep moving. He climbed in the hatch and moved through the corridor with confidence borne of a lifetime in space. Nothing outside this planet could kill him, but it was always nice to be polite.

His time sense told him he had only a few short hours before the second sun’s set. He needed to get to underground and fast. This POS would cook him alive. Acclimated, yes, able to withstand the heat of hell, no. Right now, he needed to raid the ship before everything was lost.

A quick perusal of the compartments showed self-sufficiency. A greenhouse for air recycling. He picked through the plants quickly. Nothing would survive so there was no point in keeping them. Aidan tossed the cabin and the facilities. He took the first aid kit and a neatly folded shoulder bag. He started throwing things in that the others had lost in their own crash. Some of the little luxuries like a hairbrush.

He grinned. What wonderfully delightful experiences would he receive for providing this treasure?

Aiden looked toward the control room and would have left had he not heard a slight moan. He threw the bag over his shoulder and considered. He had very little time to get underground and if a crewmember was injured. With a sigh he moved toward the smell of burnt metal.

Part of a doorframe had blown apart. Scorch marks lined the walls and an emergency light flickered. He climbed over rubble. The bag shifted and he slung it over his chest, pushing the weight against the small of his back. A light groan drew his attention to the shattered doorway.

To the right something that looked to be a maintenance room of some type had blown its door open. He squat on the ground and moved the pieces of ship off of what appeared to be a corpse. The smell of burnt skin and hair filled his nostrils. Aiden jerked away from the body, dropping the piece he held.

A dry scream came from the burned body. Aiden felt his stomach roll in both horror and awe. A survivor. He shoved the pieces of rubble off the body and stared. Parts of the slim form had been protected by a ship’s suit. The hands, part of the chest and the face however, had not been. A soft wheeze accompanied the rise and fall of the chest.

The body was alive. Without a second thought he threw the survivor over his shoulder, careful to grip by the forearms and not the burned flesh. If he moved fast enough he might be able to save it. Her. Him. He ran. The navigation through the corridor was a bit tricky with the body. The weight over his shoulder barely registered, but he did notice soft curves against his body. It was probably a woman.

The door was wide enough. He carefully maneuvered the body out of the ship and cursed the waning light. The sun was setting. Shit.

He could feel the pulsating heat of the crust coming through the soles of his feet. With a grunt and quick apology to the woman, he ran.

Her initial struggles made him wince. He knew she had to be in incredible pain, but when her dry screaming stopped, he felt intense relief. The tiny bit of guilt he squashed. It’s better to pass out from pain than to be slowly boiled to death in your own skin suit.

Before long the strain wore him down, sweat ran down his back and forehead in rivulets. His eyes burned and the need to shift weighed on him. His hoofed feet would be better equipped for the heated ground, but he couldn’t ensure the woman’s ability to hold on. The neck of an equine is a broad one.

The death shrieks of the carrion birds let him know the nesting grounds were close. They rarely traveled far from their perches. That gave him an approximate location. He had maybe three more klicks to go. Not far. His muscles complained.

He put everything he had in the race, pushing himself to his body’s limit. Lactic acid built up in his already screaming muscles. With gritted teeth he shoved harder. His back muscles cramped. He knew if he adjusted his hold on the woman, he’d hurt her further and his back might just give out under the strain. With a groan he tried to push through the pain.

The cave system came into view and he tried not to cry for his happiness. With night approaching the ground had heated up to the point of blistering his feet. He didn’t have much left.

With the heavy air, his shallow breaths barely gave him enough oxygen. If he tried to inhale deeper, however, the humidity would ensure a coughing fit and they’d both die. Pulling from everything he had he put another burst of speed, the second sun dipped below the horizon and he heard the sizzle across the surface. He screamed his agony and reached the blessed entrance of the cave. With his last remaining strength he carried her down, the soothing green glow of the walls in the cavern filling his heart with peace.

Weariness weighed on his soul. With scraping fingernails he pulled moss off the cave wall and followed the cave to the sweet pool of miracle healing water. The miracle of it still escaped him since it also changed you in the process.

He dropped to his knees and dropped the moss in the water. With all the care his weary body could muster, he laid her gently on the bank of the pool, dropping the bag beside her.

The soft crystal floor radiated enough heat to have them both panting. Luckily it would dissipate throughout the night. He pulled up the moss and squeezed the water over her mouth, careful to hold the back of her neck and lift when she coughed. The trickle looked delicious.

Sweat covered every part of his body. His energy had lowered to a dangerous level and if he didn’t shift soon, he could die. Aiden had watched his old shipmate resist. The malformed half shift thing that remained of Bram still gave him nightmares. Aiden shivered and shoved those horrifying images out of his mind.

Hands shaking from exhaustion he carefully placed the moss on her face and hands, ensuring full coverage. She’d be able to breathe without a problem and the moss could heal her. Almost immediately her breathing eased and he sighed in relief. He could move away now.

With a weary sigh he stumbled toward the mouth of the cave whimpering at the pain in his feet and felt the intense heat drag on his limbs. Sighing with relief, he drew the heat within and let it change him. His body became mist and even after all these turns it still amazed him that he could maintain thought without a solid form. The chill from his sudden temperature drop forced the change faster than he would’ve liked. His limbs formed brutal and harsh, the hooves creating sparks at their landing. His flanks shifted and solidified, aching in every tendon. With a neigh of exhaustion he hung his massive head and fell asleep, guarding his charge even in sleep.