The Monster Inside Me

The Monster Inside Me M. L. Smith This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by M. L. Smith All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected]. First paperback edition June 2023 Book design by Cauldron Press Designs Editing by Fair Crack of The Whip Editing ISBN: 979-8-218-15546-9 Contents 1. Prologue 2. Chapter 1 3. Chapter 2 4. Chapter 3 5. Chapter 4 6. Chapter 5 7. Chapter 6 8. Chapter 7 9. Chapter 8 10. Chapter 9 11. Chapter 10 12. Chapter 11 13. Chapter 12 14. Chapter 13 15. Chapter 14 16. Chapter 15 17. Chapter 16 18. Chapter 17 19. Chapter 18 20. Chapter 19 21. Chapter 20 22. Chapter 21 23. Epilogue 24. Acknowledgements Prologue “S hit, shit, shit!” Cordelia’s breaths came out in terrified gasps as she sprinted headlong through the Aragnokan forest. She glanced behind her again, her heart pounding, afraid she would find her captor chasing after her in the darkness. She’d only just escaped the hole in the ground he’d kept her trapped in for weeks, finally managing to sneak out while he’d been resting. Hopefully he was still sleeping in his house, but she wasn’t going to slow down to find out. If he was out here hunting her then she was determined to be as far away from him as possible. Not that she would have an easy time seeing him out here, even if he was hot on her tail. His skin was a light gray, and among almost pitch-black surroundings, he blended in seamlessly. The only light was the strange orange glow coming from the plants and trees. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the world around her, thanks to the neon orange hues and the bright stars shining high in the night sky. There was even a planet that resembled Saturn sitting among the scattering of stars, the giant ring breathtaking to behold despite the fact that she was running for her life. Oh so slowly, she was beginning to discern more nuanced details like rocks, non-glowing bushes, and other fine details. Hopefully she’d notice any alien animals or people nearby, though she hadn’t spotted any yet. She was surrounded by trees and vegetation only; bushes taller than her spread out in thick sections around her. There was a snap of a branch to her right, and Cordelia shrieked, jumping high into the air like a damned cartoon character and crashing to her knees as she landed. She struggled back to her feet, facing where the branch had snapped. Pausing in her race for freedom was stupid, she knew. She’d already wasted precious seconds, but her legs were killing her, practically begging that she just take a moment to breathe, to give her body a brief respite. She’d been running for what felt like forever, with almost no water or food in her system, and it was taking a heavy toll on her. When she’d first been abducted from Earth and brought to Aragnok, she was informed she had been injected with some kind of vitamin that would keep her hydrated and nourished for weeks. That time had come and gone while she’d been living in that damned hole, and now her body was starved and exhausted. But a bit of hunger was nothing compared to the abject terror spreading through her body as she listened for another sound to indicate she wasn’t alone, panic gripping her tightly, refusing to let go. It honestly felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest, it beat so loudly against her sternum. She just wanted to go home, to pretend her alien abduction had never happened. But that wasn’t possible. Cordelia was never going to find a way home. Her whole body began shaking, a fine trickle of sweat sliding down her spine as she sucked in a trembling breath, warily listening for any other sound beyond her sharp breaths. Her gaze was glued to the right, eyes as wide as saucers as she waited for some crazed beast to jump from the bushes and attack her. Was it her captor? Had he found her so easily? She hoped not. That alien was such an evil dickhead! He’d been keeping her trapped in his home, taunting her mercilessly, spitting on her. He’d spewed all kinds of twisted shit while he waited to turn her in to the Aragnokan government. Something about earning ‘points’ in some disturbing competition called The Harvest Games, which he bragged about incessantly in broken English. She honestly didn’t even understand how she’d managed to escape considering how closely he’d been monitoring her, but he’d been a dumbass and left the latch to her makeshift prison door unlocked before falling asle– Cordelia’s thoughts fled in an instant when she heard another branch snap, this time so much closer to her. She didn’t wait to see what was lurking through the thicket of bushes. She pivoted to the left and forced her tired body back into a run, traveling into the thicker brush. Her feet were on fire and bleeding from being on them for so long without shoes, her muscles burned with every second she traveled, and she smelled disgusting. Weeks without a bath will do that to a person. It was still hard to believe all of this was real; that she’d been kidnapped from her bed on Earth, just plucked right out of the comfort of her own home while she’d been sleeping, and deposited onto this fiery hellscape called Aragnok. She’d barely lasted a full day before getting snatched up by her captor and thrown into an unsettling little