River shook with fear as she moved toward the spaceship keeping an eye on the woods where the creatures had disappeared. She didn’t know if there were any more in the spaceship or not but she knew she needed to get to her friends and get them out. Pulling her duffle bag straps over her shoulders, she slowly climbed up the ramp casting quick glances all around her. Moving up the ramp she saw a narrow corridor leading to a larger opening. Moving swiftly through the corridor she glanced around the interior of the spaceship. In front of her was another corridor that looked like it led to the front of the space ship. On each side of her there were a series of seats with what appeared to be storage compartments above and below them. Chained to two of the seats were Jo and Star, both of them were unconscious. River moved towards them with a silent cry. She put her hands on their cheeks and gave a sigh of relief when she felt their warm breath against her palms.
“Jo, Star, wake up. Please, wake up.” River called out softly. She looked at their wrists and noticed they were both chained to a metal bar between the seats. She gripped their wrists to look for where the key went in to see if she could pick it. All three of them were good at picking locks. Marcus the Magnificent, the most famous magician in the world, had shown all three girls how to pick locks before they had learned how to ride a bike. She twisted the cuff on Jo’s wrist around and around but didn’t see where a key would fit into it. Jo gave a slight groan as River moved the cuff.
“Jo, wake up. It’s me, River. Please wake up.” River softly said again.
“River?” Jo whispered. Jo’s eyes suddenly flew open in horror. “River, you have to run. Run, River. Don’t let them get you.” Her eyes flew back and forth as she struggled to free herself.
“I can’t leave you and Star. We have to get out of here.” River whispered back.
“There isn’t time.” Jo said as her eyes filled with tears. She looked at Star who was still unconscious. “Oh Star.”
“Come on. You have to help me figure out how to get these off you before they come back.” River whispered frantically. She pulled the knife from her boot and tried to pry at the metal.
“Where are we?” Jo asked weakly.
“It looks like some kind of spaceship.” River replied softly. “The creatures that had you and Star carried you here. I don’t know what they are. What happened?” River asked. She was trying to keep Jo occupied while she worked on the cuff. There had to be some way to get it off them. If she had more time she knew she could figure it out. There was always a way.
“I don’t know. We were waiting up for you. I heard a noise and thought you might need some help but when I opened the door to the cabin it was to those creatures. I screamed and tried to close the door but it just ripped it right off the hinges. Star ran for the bedroom but one of them caught her and she fainted. I don’t remember much after that. They put something across my mouth and everything went dark.” Jo whispered hoarsely. She began shivering uncontrollably.
“They’re coming back! I can hear them. Run, River, run.” Jo began crying softly now.
“Never. I won’t leave you.” River said sliding her knife back into her boot.
Looking around, she dropped down to pull open one of the compartments under the seats. It was filled with boxes of some type. Moving to another she hurriedly opened and closed them until she found one in the corner that was empty. Removing her duffle bag she slid down feet first into the compartment pulling her duffle bag in front of her then reached over and closed the compartment. Jo stared at River before nodding. River would not abandon them, ever. Closing her eyes, Jo let the darkness of unconsciousness take her away from the fearful creatures boarding the spaceship.
Chapter 2
River looked out the front of the spaceship she had stowed away on for what seemed like the millionth time. It turned out the spaceship the creatures used on Earth was just a shuttle to a much, much larger ship. Once they docked with the larger ship the creatures carried Jo and Star out. River remained in hiding until she felt sure all the creatures had left the shuttle. Now, she moved about the empty shuttle trying to get familiar with what she had gotten herself into and waiting for the shuttle area to clear out a little.
Peeking out the front view panel, River watched as about ten of the creatures moved containers about. She watched as the one creature who she suspected was the leader of the shuttle crew who had taken Jo and Star argued with another one who was almost twice as big as it was. The bigger creature hissed loudly and pointed at Jo and Star’s unconscious bodies wrapped tightly in the blankets. The smaller creature hissed something back then flinched with the other one roared. The other two creatures took a step back and looked like they would have preferred to have been anywhere but there. Finally the huge creature hissed something at the two holding River’s friends and they followed him. The other creature just hissed and left the shuttle bay by another exit.