The Tradrych Strain- The Complete Series

by Marissa Farrar

  Rhetarz.

  “You changed your hair,” he growled in my ear. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

  I struggled again, wishing that he hadn’t. I wanted to tell him to get the fuck off me, but his hand was still clamped to my mouth. Had the others noticed I’d gone yet? They’d come back for me the moment they did, and then Rhett was going to pay for this.

  He sniffed up the side of my neck, the cold tip of his nose running across the sensitive skin of my throat. Nausea coiled inside me, and I swallowed down bile. I hated the feel of his hands on me, of the scent of his skin against my face, the pressure of his body on mine. I hated that he still had the power to overwhelm me. Even though my mind screamed at me to fight, my body shut down, and I froze. All those feelings of when I’d first been taken, and realizing who was responsible, flooded back over me. The cold horror of it. The disbelief. It hit me again fresh, as though I was right back in the moment and the past few weeks had never happened.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Diarus

  I DIDN’T LIKE BEING back in this place, but at least this time I was here as a Trad’s equal and not a slave. Even though there had been certain people within the facility who had known the truth, the treatment I’d received from those who hadn’t had made me fantasize about their deaths every day. It had taken all of my strength not to turn on them when they’d ordered me to mop a floor or serve them food, and when they’d dared to strike me because I hadn’t done the job up to their expectations, I’d forced myself to clench my teeth and fists and fight against every instinct I’d had to retaliate.

  Now I was able to make them see me for the soldier I truly was, and I was looking forward to that.

  I glanced back over my shoulder, wanting to share my moment of pride and achievement with the one person who mattered the most in the world to me, but I stopped short.

  “Tara?”

  She’d been behind us only a moment earlier, but now the corridor was empty.

  “Hey, wait!” I shouted to the others, raising my voice even further to be heard above the sirens which continued to wail overhead. “Tara’s gone.”

  “Did she go back to the nursery?” Miko asked, frowning.

  Nursery? Could it really be referred to in that sense? A nursery should be a kind and caring place. That had been a prison.

  “I don’t know.”

  “We have to keep moving,” the Trad who’d opened the door urged us.

  Nad pushed back toward me. “We’re not going anywhere without Tara.”

  I exchanged a glance with Miko, who jerked his chin down in a determined nod. I knew they all felt the same way as me. We worked as a foursome. There was no leaving anyone behind—and especially not her.

  The one who’d opened the door rolled his eyes in exasperation but didn’t do anything to try to stop us.

  We picked up our pace, moving at a run back down the way we’d come. A number of doors and corridors led off the one we negotiated now. Where was she? We all knew the layout of this place as well as anyone else working here, and there weren’t that many places to hide. And why would she hide from us anyway?

  A slow coil of tension tightened in my gut.

  “She wouldn’t have gone back down to the nursery without telling us, would she?” Miko asked.

  “Only if she’d felt like we’d have stopped her,” I replied.

  Nad shook his head. “She would have done whatever she wanted, even if we had tried to stop her. You know Tara by now. Since when has us saying no ever made a difference.”

  “So, she’s hurt or in trouble.”

  I thinned my lips. “We have to find her.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Rhett continued to drag me down the corridor, away from the others.

  I suddenly remembered the laser. How the hell had I forgotten it?

  What did I have it set on? To stun or kill? I couldn’t remember, my thoughts a blurred mass of panic. If it was set to kill and I used it on Rhett while his body was pressed to mine, there was a chance I’d electrocute myself at the same time. If it was set on stun, that was a risk worth taking, but if it was high enough to kill, I may end up stopping my heart.

  Rhett hauled me into one of the adjoining rooms and kicked the door shut. I had no idea what the room was used for—it appeared to be some kind of office, though it was empty of any personnel now. Not that it mattered. With the front of his body jammed to my back, I could feel the hard jab of his erection against my spine. No, no, no. I couldn’t go through this again. It was like being back with Borys.

  His hand covered my breast and squeezed hard. “I preferred these when you were pregnant with my child. I liked to see you all swollen and ripe.”

  The child. The child he’d left down beneath ground in a cage. The son of a bitch.

  Anger surged through me anew.

  I knew trying to make Rhett think I wanted him and using that as a way of escaping wasn’t going to work here. He didn’t want me to want him, not really. He wanted to force himself on me, to hear me shrieking and see my tears.

  I stopped trying to claw his hands off me and reached for my pockets instead. The laser was small—a rectangular box barely half the size of my hand. I should never have put it in my pocket, and should have kept it in my hand, live and ready to use. I’d relied too much on feeling as though the others would protect me. They’d been armed and ready to kill, while I’d still shied away from the prospect, unable to even look at the dead bodies. I’d been horrified by the idea that we’d killed the Trads who’d been working at the other facilities when we’d set off the devices, too, but I suddenly understood what Aleksy and the others had been saying when they’d said we were at war. War meant being forced to do the worst possible thing, even if it went against everything you believed in.

  Rhett hadn’t cared about the hundreds of thousands of people who’d been killed when the asteroids had rained down on Earth and destroyed our cities. He hadn’t cared about those lives. All he’d cared about was that we’d been left vulnerable and unaware, and easy to take advantage of, and that was exactly what he and all his fellow Trads had done.

  Just like he didn’t care about the baby he’d left in a cage below us.

  I closed my fingers around the small laser in my pocket.

  Rhetarz hadn’t noticed. He was too busy groping me—his hand leaving my breast to travel down the front of my body. I squirmed as he pushed it between my thighs, his fingers rubbing me. I felt nothing but anger and revulsion.

  “You love it, don’t you,” he crooned, his breath hot against my ear. “Little slut. How many of us have you fucked now, huh? I bet you’ve been passed around like the whore you are, spreading your legs for any male who came along.”

  My thumb caught the release on the laser, readying it to charge.

  “You’ve never had cock like mine though. I remember how you groaned when you came. You loved me pounding your pussy hard, and now I’m going to do it all over again. And I want to hear you scream when you come. You’ll come hard, even while I’m holding you down and you’re trying to tell yourself that you don’t want my thick, hard dick inside you.”

  I no longer cared that the laser might kill me, too. I wanted him dead, no matter the consequences.

  His hand slipped beneath the waistband of my pants, and I lifted the hand holding the laser and aimed blindly behind me for his neck, and hit the trigger.

  The result was instantaneous.

  Electricity flooded through his body, and where we were connected—his hand on my mouth, the other hand heading down between my thighs—felt like I’d been punched. The shot threw me away from him, me flying forward, him falling back. Every muscle in my body went rigid, and I imagined this was what rigor mortis would feel like if you were conscious long enough to experience it. My heart stopped. For a horrifying moment, I didn’t think it would start again, but then it gave a long, slow thump and continued to beat.

  The electricity released its hold on my muscl
es, and I slumped back, simply grateful to no longer have Rhett’s hands on me and still be alive.

  The door burst open, and the others piled into the room. They looked between me and Rhett, and I could see them piecing together in their minds what had happened.

  Miko was first at my side. “Velos! Are you all right, T? That fucking asshole.”

  Diarus joined him, both men helping me up. “We saw you were gone and came back for you. We should have noticed sooner.”

  “I’m okay,” I told them both, wanting to reassure them. “Feel like I’ve been punched in the mouth, but otherwise okay.”

  My lips felt bee-stung, as though I’d had filler done.

  Diarus touched my face, studying me carefully.

  “I’m all right,” I promised him, and he leaned in and kissed my forehead.

  I was still feeling shaky, but my anger toward Rhett hadn’t alleviated. I took a couple of staggered steps to where he was lying on the floor. He was only semi-conscious, a low groan emanating from his lips.

  Cold fury and hatred filled me. “You’re never going to hurt anyone again.”

  I set the laser to kill, aimed and pulled the trigger. The bolt of electricity hit him in the chest. He shuddered and fell still for the last time.

  We were at war, and I’d just taken my first casualty.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  I was happy to leave the room, and Rhett’s body, and run with the others back the way we’d come. We reached the stairwell and took the stairs, the long-legged Trads able to leap up them two at a time, while Diarus and I hurried along behind.

  We reached the doorway leading onto the first floor and paused to check the coast was clear.

  Nad jerked his head. “This way.”

  We jogged down the corridor, staying alert for trouble. My one aim was to get to the birthing ring so I could free the other women. It was important that I be the one to do it. The facility was filled with noise now, not only the wail of the alarms, signaling that the building was under attack, but with yells and shouts, and crashes and bangs from all around us, and the captive women would be terrified. If Aleksy or any of the other rebel Trads showed up to free them, they may refuse to go.

  A group of Trads appeared up ahead. I sucked in a breath, certain they were going to be workers at the facility, or even Borys’s guards, but then I spotted a flash of white hair and broad shoulders.

  I was inordinately pleased to see him. “Aleksy. You got inside!”

  Aleksy turned to us. “Yes, but the fight isn’t over yet. There are still more guards we have to deal with.”

  I checked for my friend. “Where’s Zoe?”

  “She’s safe. She’s with Trovik and Zuniq.”

  “I need to go to the birthing ring and free the other women.”

  He nodded. “Go. We’ll cover you!”

  I looked left and right. While the others had spent plenty of time in the facility, I’d only ever been exposed to a small section of it. I didn’t know which way to go.

  “It’s down that way,” Diarus told me, pointing in the direction of one of the corridors. He must have sensed my hesitation. “But you shouldn’t go alone.”

  “Diarus is right,” Miko said. “We don’t want you to go by yourself.”

  I tightened my fingers around my laser gun. “I think it’ll be better that way. The women are more likely to trust me. I know you won’t be far behind.”

  “Wait!” It was the Trad who’d opened the door for us. “You’ll need this.” He placed a small silver device in my palm.

  “What is it?”

  “It releases the metal bonds that hold the women to the pods.”

  I remembered that metal. Strange liquid, malleable texture, that hardened as soon as we made any quick movements.

  Two groups of Trads came running at us from both directions. One group appeared to be workers at the facility, and the other were Boyrs’s guards.

  I hesitated, not knowing what to do. Should I stay and fight?

  I threw a desperate look to Miko, Nad, and Diarus. I knew they wanted to come with me, but they also needed to stay here and fight. If too many of them joined me, there wouldn’t be enough to hold back the other Trads, and then they’d have the power to stop me freeing the women.

  “Just go,” Miko shouted. “We’ll meet you down there.”

  I gave a cry of frustration, not wanting to leave them, but knowing I had to, and then turned and ran. Behind me, shots were fired, punches and kicks thrown. This was the rebels against the guards and anyone inside the building who were willing to fight to keep the facility going.

  As I ran, I realized I recognized this part of the facility. It was the corridor which led onto the birthing ring, the same one I’d been dragged down when I’d been taken to the hole, and the same one I’d watched numerous women vanish from when they’d been taken to give birth. I caught my breath at being back here. A place I’d hoped never to see again.

  I entered the birthing ring, my feet skidding on the smooth floor until I came to a halt.

  Each of the individual pods housed a pregnant woman. They were all awake, frightened and pale at the fighting and the blaring alarms. They all seemed shocked to see me. I scanned their faces for those I’d known from before. Would any still be here?

  “Tara!”

  I spun toward the familiar voice, my gaze landing on the young woman who’d arrived just before I’d been rescued. “Oh my God! Avery!”

  Her mouth dropped at the sight of me. “You look so different. Your hair...”

  “I had to change it. Don’t worry about that now.”

  I knew I should have been impartial and started with the women in the pods closest to me, but I couldn’t help but want to release my friend first.

  “What’s happening out there?” she asked as I placed the small device I’d been given against her bonds. The liquid metal unraveled from around her wrist and slithered away like a living thing.

  I moved to her other wrist. “We’re breaking you out of here.”

  She looked around. “Just me?”

  “No, all of you.”

  “It’s strange seeing you without a bump,” she said, staring at me.

  “It’s strange seeing you still with one!” I freed her other wrist. “The baby doesn’t want to move anywhere, huh?”

  “Nope. Seems perfectly comfortable where it is.”

  No longer attached to the pod, Avery climbed down from the bed.

  Cries of me next, me next, met my ears. All the women were desperate to be released, and my heart broke for them. I would do my best to free every woman here.

  Movement came at the doorway, and I spun around, reaching for the laser, certain I would have to use it against the guards, but instead, it was Zoe who ran into the birthing ring.

  “Zoe!”

  “I can help,” she said, breathing hard. “It’ll be faster with two of us.”

  I was pleased Aleksy and the others had listened to me when I’d said that it was better for us humans to release the captive women. The women we were freeing didn’t trust any Trads, and they’d be likely to fight back, thinking they were simply being taken to live out another nightmare.

  “Who are you?” Avery asked, staring at the new arrival.

  “Avery, this is Zoe.” Now probably wasn’t the time for introductions, but I felt it was important they at least know each other’s names. We were all in this together.

  “You were in my old pod,” Zoe said to Avery.

  “I was?”

  Zoe nodded.

  “Let’s catch up later,” I told them both. “We have work to do.”

  Zoe nodded. “Got it. How can I help?”

  “You need a special key to unlock the bonds.”

  “What, one of these, you mean?” She flashed me a grin and held up an identical device.

  “That’s the one.”

  Zoe hurried to the nearest pod. “It’s okay,” she told the frightened woman, who was a redhead in h
er early twenties. “The good guys are here. We’re going to take care of you now.”

  The woman regarded Zoe with light-green eyes, her freckles standing out against her pale skin. “Did people come from Earth to save us?”

  Zoe shook her head and gave the other woman a smile. “They’re Trads, but they’re on our side, I promise.”

  The redhead didn’t have much choice but to trust us.

  “What’s your name?” Zoe asked.

  “Ellie.”

  “Hi, Ellie, I’m Zoe. That’s Tara. We were both right where you are not so long ago. People helped us, too. We’re going to be all right. All of us.”

  Ellie blinked back tears, gave a tight smile, and nodded. “Thank you.”

  Zoe left the redhead to move on to the next woman, and I gave Avery’s hand a squeeze and then went to the girl in the pod beside her.

  A bellowing shout came from the doorway. “Stop right where you are!”

  I spun around to find Kaja, the female Trad we’d known as the matron, blocking our only exit.

  “Step away from the women!” she demanded.

  “I don’t take commands from you anymore, Kaja.” I spat the final word as an insult and went back to releasing the bonds.

  We’d released five of the other women by now, plus Zoe and I made seven. There was only one matron, and even though she was big and fearsome in appearance, we still outnumbered her.

  I released another of the women and then glanced over to Zoe and Avery, and back to the pod I’d just emptied of its inhabitant. I jerked my chin in a nod, and the others nodded back at me in response, showing they understood.

  Moving as one, we each turned to the matron. Several of the women spread out, circling her and blocking the only way out.

  Kaja took a step back; wariness reached her eyes. “Wait...what...” she stuttered. “What are you doing?”

  “See how you like being a prisoner.”