Claimed By The Savage Alien Alpha

The blaring red alarm was a physical assault on Cora's senses.

She forced her eyes open. Thick, acrid smoke burned her corneas, and a violent cough tore through her throat like swallowed glass. The escape pod was a mangled tomb of twisted metal and sparking wires.

Panic, cold and sharp, spiked in her chest.

She reached for the safety harness. The metal buckle had warped from the impact, fused shut. Cora gritted her teeth and yanked at the heavy straps. Her muscles screamed in protest. She pulled harder, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. The edges of her fingernails cracked, warm blood seeping into the synthetic fabric, but she didn't stop.

With a sickening snap, the buckle gave way.

Gravity instantly claimed her. Cora tumbled onto the slanted, debris-covered floor. Her knee slammed into a jagged piece of paneling. A sharp gasp punched out of her lungs as white-hot pain shot up her thigh.

She couldn't stay here. The smell of burning fuel was growing thicker, suffocating her.

Cora dragged her battered body toward the half-open hatch. Her bare palms pressed against the scorched metal floor. The heat seared her skin, raising instant blisters, but the primal urge to survive drowned out the agony.

She kicked the jammed hatch with her heavy combat boot. It groaned, then gave way.

Blinding, unnatural purple sunlight flooded the pod. Cora squeezed her eyes shut, throwing an arm over her face.

She scrambled out, her boots sinking into something thick and wet. She stumbled, barely catching her balance. When she opened her eyes, the breath left her lungs completely.

This was not Earth.

Towering, alien trees with trunks as wide as buildings stretched hundreds of feet into a sky dominated by two massive, pale moons. The ground was carpeted in a layer of glowing, gelatinous moss that squelched under her weight.

A low, guttural hiss vibrated through the humid air.

The sound didn't just reach her ears; it rattled the bones in her chest. Cora froze. Her heart hammered against her ribs so violently she thought it might break through.

To her right, the giant fern-like plants parted.

A predator the size of an off-road vehicle slithered into the clearing. It had six dead, black eyes and a jaw dripping with a foul-smelling, acidic bile that hissed as it hit the moss.

It locked onto her.

The beast lunged. The sheer force of its movement sent a wave of putrid air washing over her. Cora threw herself to the left, hitting the damp ground hard.

A razor-sharp claw clipped her shoulder, slicing through the thick material of her hazard suit like paper. Warm blood instantly soaked her sleeve.

Cora scrambled to her feet, ignoring the burning tear in her flesh, and ran. Every frantic stride sent a fresh, blinding wave of agony shooting through her battered knee, the joint threatening to buckle under her weight. Yet, the primal terror of the beast's snapping jaws proved to be a far greater motivator than the