“Volunteer 4711, this male is important to some bad people. You stay here. You help. Do not let him die. You understand? You should not have saved him. Better for everyone if he were dead. But now bad situation for all of us.”

He speaks so sternly to me; if I wasn’t convinced before that my own mortality rested with this male’s survival, I definitely believe it now. “I understand. He no die,” I say. “Where I food for him?” I ask, knowing this grammar is wrong, but hoping the male farmer will understand my meaning.

He takes me into the kitchen. “For him,” he points to my bedroom. “No food for Volunteer 4711 until he is recovered and gone. We do not have enough food for all and cannot ask Doctor. No doctor. Understand?” To make his point clear to me, as my face must have shown my disbelief, the male farmer touches the center of my chest roughly. “No food for Volunteer 4711, understand?”

“I understand.”

The male farmer grunts and leaves me in the pantry. I leave, closing the door behind me, and almost as if my stomach could hear the decree by the farmer, it screams out with hunger pains. I pass through the dining room, where the dishes are being laid out for breakfast. I notice that many place settings are missing. I ask the passing female Silver farmers why, even though I know why, I want to hear it again to make sure I’m not being singled out.

“You volunteers must sacrifice. We do not have food for all. Heal the males, and then you eat. Do not ask the doctor. He will ask us to repay him in bad ways. Understand 4711? We must show we did everything to save these males.”

“I understand,” I say in a way that the female knows really means, ‘Fuck off,’ but to her credit, she ignores my tone.

Back in my room, my patient is still unconscious, but he’s coughing less. I check his head, and it seems to have stopped bleeding, which is progress. I know very little about head injuries. I just know that if these aliens are anything like humans, he’ll need water to survive. Food can come later. I repeat this for myself as well. Even though I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been in my life from the farm work and the lack of food, I know I can still survive for a long time without food. Definitely long enough to heal him and eat again.

I glance at the sleeping male again. “I hope you recover quickly.” Having nothing better to do, I get back into bed and lay next to him. After a few hours, I fall asleep from boredom and try to forget about the hunger, telling myself it’ll be more manageable after today.

CHAPTER 3

COMMANDER

I wake up to an unusual smell. My head is throbbing. I open my eyes and stare up at an unfamiliar ceiling with cracks. There are yellow stains everywhere as well. I try to remember where I am or how I got here. Then, I hear someone breathing. Painfully, I turn my head and see an alien. That’s the unfamiliar but pleasant smell of sweet fruit and purple flowers.