Выбрать главу

Surviving Skarr

ICE PLANET CLONES

BOOK TWO

RUBY DIXON

Copyright © 2023 by Ruby Dixon

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Photo: VJ Dunraven Productions

Cover Design: Kati Wilde

Editing: Aquila Editing

Proofreading: Fortunate Books

Created with Vellum

Contents

Surviving Skarr

What Has Gone Before?

Content Warning

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Epilogue

Author’s Note

People of Not-Hoth

Want More?

Surviving Skarr

Overnight, my life has changed to one of sheer survival.

I wake up on a strange alien world covered in ice. I have no memories of myself, not even my name.

And I've resonated to the biggest braggart on the planet. Skarr is a chest-beating alpha male gladiator with lizard genetics and an intense case of self-love. He tells everyone within hearing distance how amazing he is. Bleh.

I want nothing to do with him, but according to the khui, we're soulmates. This means we're bound to have babies and live our lives out together...forever...

Not if I have anything to say about it.

To survive, I'm going to have to figure out who I am, what I am...and what to do about the man who won't shut up about how incredible and perfect I am.

It has to be an act... doesn't it?

What Has Gone Before?

(As of Flor's Fiasco)

The fruit cave has been raided, its precious contents stolen. No one from Icehome Beach has any idea what has happened. Who could have taken it all and why?  A party heads to the fruit caves to investigate, among them R'jaal of the Tall Horn Clan (from the Islands) and Tia, a human woman who was abandoned with Lauren and the others.

Meanwhile, Daisy, O'jek, Flor and I'rec decide to go to the Elders Cave (aka the ship of the ancestors) to read the strange writing Penny claims to have seen upon the walls. Daisy can read alien languages and is curious if the message there holds the secret to who is stealing the fruit.

As the first party arrives at the fruit caves, the second party splits up, with Daisy and O'jek heading on for the ship. Alone, Flor and I'rec discover a scatter of stasis pods in a snow-filled valley. The pods are filled with clones, strangers with no memories of how they arrived on the planet or why. There are multiple human women, a lone human man, several 'splices' (clones made from the mutated genetic material of several races) and a few empty pods...

This is where our story picks up.

Content Warning

In an effort to be transparent with readers, I’m including a list of things that readers might find upsetting or triggering in the story. Not all triggers hit everyone the same, so if I’ve missed something, please feel free to reach out and let me know so I can update the list. Note that while my story might sound like it has heavy topics, all of it is dealt with in a lighter tone as I do not take myself (or my characters) too seriously.

SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW

Amnesia

Kidnapping/Abduction

Pregnancy and the discussion of whether or not to have the baby

Animal Injury (the animal gets a HEA)

Character Injury (broken bones, no long lasting trauma)

Death and Dismemberment (off screen references)

Feelings of isolation

Parental loss (vague not specific)

Loss of identity

Cringe situations (look, some of us just have a hard time reading that sort of thing, and I get it!)

SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE SPOILERS DONE

Chapter One

THE STRANGER

I wake up to brutal cold leaking into my room.

Gasping, I sit up in bed—and hit my head on what feels like a lid. With a whimper, I rub a hand over my face and I’m startled to feel a breeze. My eyes are unfocused and I need to get out of bed and find my contacts. But when I go to swing my legs over the side of the bed, I realize I’m…not in bed at all.

It’s some sort of coffin. Or pod. Something with sides. A warm box surrounded by ice cold. I squint at my surroundings, terrified.

Am I dead? Did I just wake up in a morgue?

A breeze caresses my hair and sends a chill down my spine. I ditch the “morgue” theory and head right to “graveyard.” A graveyard in…winter? I squint, trying to make out my surroundings but it’s near impossible without glasses or contacts. My vision has always been horrendous and I’m trying not to be too terrified of the fact that I don’t know where I am or why I’m not wearing warm clothes. The strange box-thing I’m in is dark, but the rest of the world looks pale. Pale white and gray.

I lick my lips, not sure if I should call out. Surely there’s been a mistake somewhere.

“You awake?” a woman calls out.

Oh, thank goodness. Someone else is here.

I raise a hand into the air timidly, trying to make out a person in the endless white. When she comes up on my other side, I have to fight back a shriek of fright at being startled, but she clasps my hand and her skin is warm.

“I’m Flor, and you need to know that you’re safe, okay?”

What can I say to that? I manage a nod. It’s clear she knows what’s going on and I don’t, so I’m content to let her lead.

“Come on,” she says. “Let’s get you out of that pod.” She gives my hand a firm tug and pats the side of the pod. It sounds like metal, and when I climb out of it, it’s so cold that my skin sticks ever so slightly to the side, which is a horrible feeling.

Even worse? When my feet touch the ground, it’s icy. I let out a whimper of distress, then bite my lip to keep silent. My feet are bare, and glancing down, it looks like I’m stepping on some sort of yellow-brown spongy grass that ends near my pod and extends outward.