The Exiles

They awakened on an untamed , wild planet with no way home..but are they alone here ?

CHAPTER. ONE

By the time the skyline began to lighten, heralding in a new day , Rayne Frost had been awake a while and now she took another pull from the blunt she'd taken a couple of deep hits from as she blinked any remaining sleep from her eyes .

From where she was leaning against the hood of her X-Terra she had a pretty good view of the other vehicles that were scattered about the large overgrown field like some giant childs hastily discarded Matchbox collection so she knew that some of the others were begining to stir restlessly.

How many of those people were holding out hope that they'd find a way home today ? That they'd be able to start their vehicles or make a call on the silent cell phones they still clutched?

Honestly she was starting to care less about returning to Melbourne , after all , what did she have to go back to anyway ?

Two days ago her entire world had been destroyed when she learned that her long time boyfriend had been cheating on her for the past two years with her sister , of all people , and that he was the father of Celeste's unborn crotch goblin .

To make matters worse he'd announced this while they'd been at her mother's for their bi-
monthly lunch date so her entire family had witnessed her total humiliation .

She felt the rush of hot tears threatening to overflow from her eyes and she angrily swiped at her eyes ,telling herself that she'd wasted enough tears on Kyle .

Although a bit blurry now her gaze focused on the people climbing from closed up vehicles.

The wanna be star , a man who had been on the latest survival TV show , and his group of fan girls , trouped from the large black Hummer he'd rented for his stay in Florida .

The mid life crisis man with his paunchy build , two teenaged children and a pregnant trophy girlfriend stepping from a rather beat up looking Camaro .

The various teens and tweens who were already trying to not get caught checking each other out while the younger children were trying to evade the grasping hands of their hysterical mothers , who just wanted things to go back to the norm .

The men , who believed that if they kept looking they'd find a way back to their lives again..families , homes and jobs that had been left behind .

The dozen or so dogs that were greeting each other and happily racing off to relieve themselves with not a care in the world about who saw them doing so .

" Good morning Sunshine . " The laughter laced voice reach her ears at the same time that fingers plucked the blunt from her fingers and she bit back a sharp yelp of surprise , her head whipping around so she could take in the blonde now standing beside her .

"Jesus H Christ on a cracker Lauren , don't sneak up on me like that ! " She finally forced the words past her convulsing throat .

" Whatever girl , maybe you should stop moonin' over Dex and you'd see someone walking over to you . " Came the sassy retort , accompanied by a tinkling laugh when she got flipped off .

Rayne refused to tell the pretty woman once again that Dex Ollins so wasn't her type .

" We have a lot to do today..I mean , maybe we're not the only people who ended up here..wherever HERE is . " Rayne continued as if the other young woman hadn't spoken , absently waving one hand around airily to indicate her surroundings .

Near the tops of the forest trees in the distance the sky has blazed with color..brilliant pinks and oranges,lilacs and reds all seemed to swirl together , forming a backdrop to the pair of suns emerging from behind the sprawling woodland .

It was almost too much to look at full on and she hastily shaded her eyes with one hand while taking the blunt back again .

" You ever going to spill about what you were running from before we ended up here ? " Lauren questioned now , glancing through the rear window of the X - Terra at the jumbled confusion of items tossed into the SUV.

" Maybe one day I'll tell you , Let's just see how long it takes to get home...if we do . " She responded with a trembling smile . " For now let's just go join our team and get this shit started . "

She retrieved both totes from the hood of her vehicle before uttering a shrill whistle that had every dog in their group looking her way .

Moving as fast as she could one dog split from the pack of canines and hurried toward her..a large Ridgeback whose swollen middle swayed with each step she took , Maggie was more than most people could handle but the former street dog was damn near her souls dog .

With Maggie trailing along behind them she and Lauren moved deeper into the maze of people and silent vehicles , returning muted greetings by various people she was certain she'd met but she couldn't put names to faces as early as it was .

The foursome gathered in front of the battered looking Ford truck were the other people chosen to make up their team , along with a leggy , goofy Golden doodle that belonged to one of the men .

" Okay , So now that they're here can we finally get this crapola over with ? " The third female of their party demanded with a dramatic eye roll .

" Suck it up buttercup , You're just pissed that your buddy got picked to be in surfer boys group." One of the men scolded , his smile not lessening the sting of the words .

The man's name came to her slowly...Ben something or another..and the female was Gretchen what's her puss .

Raynes lips twisted into a tiny smile when she told herself that at least her mind was waking up.

Together they moved as a tight group toward the distant woodlands , her gaze searching for the scraps of bright material tied to tree branches to mark the path they'd taken the previous day .

It wasn't like she'd have any use for the fitted sheet that the strips of cloth had once been out here..she refused to sacrifice the matching flat one though .

They were about an hour and a half into their trek through the shadowed forest when she spotted what looked to be a large cluster of mushrooms at the base of one of the sprawling trees and she called out an order that brought Maggie back to her and she knelt down to get a closer look at the fungi once the dog flopped down on the lichen and leaf covered forest floor beside her .

All around her was noise..the cries of what she hoped were birds coming from overhead , somewhere in the canopy of intertwined tree branches and leafs , the skittering of small feet in hidden underbrush , the drone of tiny bugs and the odd thrumping of an unseen animal ...it was like music to her ears .

Rocking forward Rayne reach out with one finger , preparing to poke at the fleshy looking greige colored fungi .

" Are you sure you want to do that ? What if you touch it and it poisons you ? " Lauren demanded , drawing her gaze from her task .

" I'm offering myself up to kiss her awake . " The man called Greg retorted playfully , waggling his eyebrows comically .

" Not if I get to her first dude . " The man who had introduced himself as Trevor countered with a bold wink .

" Seriously people ? " Rayne drawled , shaking her head mockingly before turning her attention back to the fungi in question . " Holy hell.."

The mushroom cluster had sprouted four feet , a spiked tail and a broad reptilian head that were all perfectly camouflaged to blend in with the tree bark and even as she watched it opened its mouth and snapped it's serrated gums too close to the tip of her finger for her liking .

The momentum of her jerking her hand back had her toppling over to land on her back on the ground which seemed to signal Maggie's urge to get her share of forced smooches in and she bounded over to rub her face over Raynes , planting wet , sloppy canine kisses wherever her tongue could reach .

" Come on now Mags , That's enough ! " She got out the words between burbles of laughter as she twisted and turned to avoid the lapping tongue and she was gently pushing at the dogs chest to get her to back off .

She wasn't sure which one of her team finally convinced the dog to get off of her because she was too busy looking up into the shadowed depths of the dark emerald canopy overhead , feeling the stare of something safely hidden by that thick foliage

Surely she'd imagined that face she'd seen so briefly .

That was what she told herself as she lay there for the few seconds before Bens large hand was thrust into her line of view , an offer to help her to her feet .

Surely if a big cat were skulking through the branches that tangled together up there they'd have heard it before now , right ?

Placing her hand in the larger one Rayne took a deep breath and heaved herself to her feet when Ben tugged on her hand .

Once she was upright again she glanced toward the spot where she'd seen that lean feline face peeking out of the leafs at her and her team but it had disappeared from sight .

" You okay ? " Lauren questioned , placing a hand on her arm to get her attention .

" Yeah , I think so..did you see a damned big cat up there ? " She responded , pointing at the spot that she'd seen the cat .

" Of course not , Damn girl , Did you hit your head when you went ass over tea kettle ? " Lauren returned calmly , blinking mascara coated lashes that drew attention to her arctic grey eyes .

" No , I didn't hit my freaking head...Oh , never mind , It's nothing important . " Rayne murmured , raking a hand through her wind tossed bronze tinged chestnut hair before she tied a strip of bright yellow material around a branch , making a generic bow with it to mark it as a spot in which something had been discovered . " Lead
on ."



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Jachai raced through the highway of tangled branches far above the ground of the shadow filled forest where guards carefully followed , surrounding the females they had been escorting to the capital city for the start of the mating season .

He'd made that journey only once before yet some of the males who were acting guardians had done so for many moon season cycles , so how did they become so irrevocably lost ?

The sounds of bird calls going silent as he and his two best males made themselves known were nothing new to him but some of the brightly colored birds flitting from branch to branch or taking flight to escape him were unknown to him .

Perhaps it was the sudden silent birds and insects that allowed him to hear what he believed to be voices drifting on a warm breeze and he slid to a halt , raising one hand to signal for Neaus and Kinos to come to a stop as well .

Cocking his head Jachai listened , finally catching the sound of twigs being broken and the shuffling of unsure footsteps coming from somewhere to his left .

" Shift , brothers ." He ordered , his voice lowered so only the other men could hear him .

Jachai stepped from his soft breeches and took a deep breath as he envisioned his shift.

It no longer embarrassed him being nude in front of others just as the shift itself no longer took minutes to complete , nor did it hurt to shift as it had when he'd found the ability had taken effect .

With a final shake , stretch and mighty yawn, where Jachai had stood there was an immense dark chocolate feline with smokey rosettes on its fur , pointed ears flicked back and forth , trying to zero in on the sounds of footfall and whiskers trembled alertly while smokey grey green eyes searched the forest floor .