Jessica's bare feet slapped against the metallic floor as she stumbled through the dim corridor. The alien vessel hummed with an eerie vibration that buzzed through her bones. Every few steps, she paused, tilting her head to listen. Her heightened senses blessed her with the scents and sounds for her brain.

  "Salina," she whispered, letting her nose guide her. "Kevin."

  The air tasted metallic and sterile, like licking a battery. Beneath it ran a current of something else—the faint whiff of Salina's signature clove cigarettes and patchouli oil. Jessica had once teased her relentlessly about smelling like "goth in a bottle," but now that familiar scent was a lifeline in this nightmare.

  She quickened her pace, following the scent trail like a bloodhound. The corridor branched in multiple directions, each identical to the last—smooth, featureless walls illuminated by strips of pulsing blue light. Jessica hesitated at a junction, her heart hammering against her ribs.

  She sniffed the cool air, eyes closed, until the lavender scent reappeared. With a sigh, she moved to her left, following Salina’s trail.

  The corridor widened into a chamber lined with transparent tanks similar to the one she'd escaped from. Inside each, floating in the same viscous pink liquid, were bodies—human bodies. Jessica's stomach lurched as she scanned the row. Most faces were unfamiliar, but two stopped her cold.

  Kevin and Salina.

  They floated like specimens in formaldehyde, eyes closed, bodies suspended in the glowing fluid. Kevin's glasses were gone, making his face look strangely vulnerable. He wore only his red boxer shorts, and Salina only wore her black bra and panties. Her black-painted fingernails pressed against the inner wall of her tank.

  "Oh god," Jessica breathed, rushing forward.

  As if sensing her presence, Salina's eyes flew open. For a moment, there was only confusion in her gaze, then recognition. She began thrashing, her movements sluggish in the thick liquid. Her mouth moved, forming words Jessica couldn't hear through the barrier.

  Next to her, Kevin's eyes opened too. His expression shifted from disorientation to shock as he spotted Jessica standing in her undergarments, soaking wet and free.

  Jessica pressed her hands against Salina's tank. "I'm going to get you out!"

  She glanced around for something to break the glass but found nothing. Time was ticking—who knew when the aliens might return? Using the same instinct that had freed her from her own prison, Jessica backed up a few steps, took a deep breath, and charged.

  Her shoulder slammed into the tank with a force that should have dislocated it. Pain blossomed across her body, but the glass cracked—spiderweb fissures spreading across its surface. One more hit and it would give.

  Jessica backed up again, ready for another charge, when Salina kicked hard at the weakened spot from within. The tank shattered with a sound like breaking ice, blue liquid gushing onto the floor in a miniature tidal wave. Salina tumbled out with it, gasping and sputtering the liquid out of her mouth.

  "That," she coughed, "was absolutely disgusting."

  Jessica couldn't help but grin despite the situation. Classic Salina—nearly drowning in alien goo and still managing to be sardonic.

  "You okay?" Jessica asked, helping her stand.

  "Peachy," Salina wheezed, wringing pink fluid from her wet body. "Nothing like a swim in extraterrestrial amniotic fluid to brighten your day." Her eyes narrowed as she took in Jessica's appearance. "What the hell happened to you? You look—different."

  "Later," Jessica said, already moving toward Kevin's tank. "Help me with Kevin."

  Together, they repeated the process, Jessica ramming the tank once, twice, before the glass gave way. Kevin spilled out onto the floor, coughing and disoriented.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "My glasses," he sputtered. "Can't see without—"

  "Here," Salina said, plucking them from a shelf near the tank and handing them over. Pink goo smeared the lenses, but Kevin wiped them hastily on his shorts and jammed them onto his face.

  "Jessica?" he squinted up at her. "What's happening? Last thing I remember is that light in the forest, and then—" His voice trailed off as his gaze traveled around the chamber. "Holy crap. We're on an actual alien spacecraft, aren't we?"

  "Give the nerd a prize," Salina muttered, but there was no real bite to her words. Her hands trembled as she pushed her wet hair from her face.

  "We need to hide," Jessica said, helping Kevin to his feet. "Come on."

  She led them to a recessed alcove between two massive support beams, where they huddled together, dripping and shivering. The pink fluid evaporated quickly from their skin, leaving behind a filmy residue that smelled faintly of ozone.

  "Okay," Kevin said, adjusting his glasses. "Someone please explain what's going on, because I'm freaking out here."

  Jessica took a deep breath. How could she explain what she herself barely understood? "We were abducted. By aliens. That light in the forest? It must be some kind of tractor beam. We're on their ship now."

  "No kidding," Salina said, rolling her eyes. "The tanks of goo really gave it away."

  Kevin ignored her, focusing on Jessica with scientific intensity. "How did you get out? And what happened to you? You look—"

  "Wolfy," Salina supplied. "You look wolfy, Jessica. And stronger. Did they do something to you?"

  Jessica touched her face self-consciously. She could feel the subtle changes—the sharper angles of her features, the coarseness of her hair. "I don’t know… Their fluid must have changed me somehow. But I still feel the same.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Kevin responded, "Maybe it is just a side effect because you are a werewolf. I don’t feel a thing either.”

  “Me either,” Saina added.

  Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Or maybe they are trying to turn me into something… Something worse.”

  Salina shrugged. “At least they didn’t anal probed you.”

  Before Jessica opened her mouth, a distant metallic clang echoed through the corridor. All three froze, holding their breath.

  "We need to get out of here," Jessica whispered.

  "No argument from me," Salina said. "But how? It's not like this place has clearly marked exits."

  Kevin's brow furrowed in concentration. "If this follows any kind of logical spaceship design—"

  "Because aliens are totally logical," Salina interjected.

  "—then we need to find either the command center or the shuttle bay," Kevin continued, ignoring her. "Both would have a way off this ship."

  Jessica nodded. "Okay. But first, we need to figure out what these aliens are up to. Why take us? Why change my—" she gestured at herself, "—appearance?"

  "Recon mission," Kevin said, slipping easily into the role of strategist. "We find out what we can, then make our escape."

  "Great plan, Captain Kirk," Salina said. "Got any phasers in your pocket?"

  Jessica fought back a smile. Even in the midst of a living nightmare, her friends were still her friends—Kevin with his logical planning, Salina with her sarcastic defense mechanism. For just a moment, it felt like old times, the three of them huddled together planning some midnight adventure.

  Except this time, the stakes were life and death.

  "I think I can hear them moving around," Jessica said, her enhanced senses picking up faint shuffling sounds. "They don't sound human."

  "Shock of the century," Salina murmured.

  Kevin peered cautiously around the edge of their hiding spot. "So what's the plan? We can't just wander around hoping to stumble on an exit."

  Jessica considered their options. The alien ship was a maze, and they had no idea of its layout. But they did have one advantage—her new abilities.

  "I can track scents," she reminded. "Fresh air, for instance. If there's a way out, I might be able to smell it."

  "What about the aliens?" Salina asked. "Can you smell them too?"

  Jessica nodded grimly. "They smell... wrong. Like rubber left in the sun too long, mixed with something sweet but rotten."

  "Charming," Salina said. "Let's definitely avoid Eau de Alien."

  Kevin rubbed his temples, leaving smears of pink residue. “Are you sure you are okay?”

  "Yes," Jessica replied, flexing her fingers. The nails were thicker, almost claw-like. "You can trust me.”

  "I only want to be sure you're safe from turning into an alien monster," Kevin anxiously said. "There has to be a reason they put us into those tanks.”

  "Maybe they were running experiments," Salina said darkly. "Trying to create some kind of hybrid."

  The word sent a chill down Jessica's spine. Hybrid. That's exactly what she was, between human and wolf. But was it the aliens' goal to merge her into one forever?

  "Whatever's happening," she said firmly, "we can figure it out after we get off this ship. Right now, we need to move." She sniffed the air, sorting through the unfamiliar scents. "This way. I smell something different—less sterile."

  She led them out of their hiding spot and down the corridor, moving as quietly as possible. The ship's interior was a labyrinth of identical passages, broken occasionally by chambers filled with strange equipment or more tanks. They ducked into shadowy recesses whenever the hum of the ship changed, signaling movement nearby.

  "Do you think they are connected to that slime monster in February?" Kevin whispered as they crept along. "The one that trapped us at school?”

  Jessica frowned. "I don't know. I don't smell any slime here."

  "One hideous alien invasion at a time, please," Salina muttered.