Storms in the darkness

The Galileo, the 12th escape capsule of the Luxor, began to beep. From somewhere in the twisted wreckage the sound echoed out in an automated warning. Tara knew she had to get away from the craft.

Walking across the jungle ground was almost impossible in her 5” inches and yet she knew she had to try. Surely they were better than the risk of putting her foot down on something sharp or poisonous?

Tara wobbled towards the edge of the clearing and away from the spaceship as it bleeped its final countdown alarm. Holding up one arm to shield her face she pushed at the low branches of the strangely purple-green trees to the west side of the crash site and pushed into the dense jungle.

The first rip on her impractical and skin tight bodysuit was almost immediate. A tree branch buckled against her stomach and slit the white material across her stomach. Tara smirked. She had paid a fortune for this bodysuit – it was all the fashion back on the planet she had left. None of that seemed important now. She would gladly trade all the fashion in the world to be back home safely with her family.

Progress through the jungle was tough and slow. The heeled shoes made things even harder but the worst of it was the sensation that she was being watched. Tara was certain she had seen sinister yellow eyes peer at her from a thick bush before quickly vanishing. Perhaps it was the heat getting to her; heat and fear.

When the night came it came quickly. The rays of baking hot sun which penetrated the thick green canopy of the jungle ceiling vanished. The temperature plummeted. At least the body suit had been good for keeping cool. Now it was utterly useless. Tara was angry with herself. She hadn’t always been a **** to fashion. She couldn’t have saved the Luxor but she could have worn something else.

The teen sobbed silently to herself. As it started to rain she took cover in the shallow hollow of a damaged tree trunk. Sitting down, placing her all-but-naked backside on the rough and cold earth, she wrapped her arms around her knees and waited.

The tropical storm was intense. Rain bucketed down with such ferocity that plants buckled and were pushed over. Tara was soaked. Her hair was matted to her head. Her body suit was torn and now almost entirely transparent. She was covered in mud, grime and tears.

“Please,” Tara thought to herself, “Please... someone, anyone! I don’t want to be alone in this evil jungle anymore!“