Betrayed: The Fallen World Series Book 3

by C. R. Jane

  I suddenly regretted all of the dentist visits I had been forced to attend growing up. Maybe if my teeth weren’t so straight and shiny the Khonsu wouldn’t want me.

  The Khonsu must've been pleased with her exhibition, because she was led off the pedestal much more gently then she had been put on it.

  Dread curdled in my stomach as female after female was displayed. Some of them garnered appreciation so loud that my eardrums threatened to burst while others had much quieter receptions. I somehow thought that those prisoners were the luckier ones as they were more likely to have less Khonsu after them once the hunt began.

  Bruda had been standing behind me, but when there were only three females in front of us, she stepped in front of me. I wasn't sure why she was so intent on protecting me, but I was grateful for it. She grabbed my hand behind her back and squeezed it in solidarity. Her strength gave me strength. Whatever happened, I could get through it. I would live through it. If Bruda could do it, so could I.

  Bruda was finally called. She stepped up onto the stone pedestal, her head held high. Shrieks, hisses, and loud cheers from the crowd filled the air. They obviously could tell that there was their enemy, a Vepar, standing in front of them. And they loved that she was their prisoner.

  Bruda clasped her hands behind her back, the only sign of nerves a slight trembling of her hands. She kept her head held high, her brown hair floating in the soft breeze. She really did look like the picture of a warrior princess standing there.

  The crowd grew louder and louder, and I could see the anticipation in the purple clad Khonsu’s eyes as they stared at her. They would be well aware that she couldn’t provide them children, so the glimmer of excitement in their eyes could only mean one thing-that they were excited at the prospect of torturing her. I couldn't think of anything I could do to help her.

  The Khonsu were yelling strange words at Bruda, words that my translator once again couldn't pick up. I could tell by their connotation though they weren't anything good. Still Bruda kept her chin held high, refusing to let them know that they were affecting her.

  Numbers appeared in the air over her head. I still hadn’t figured out quite what they meant, but I saw that the bottom score was a zero. Perhaps that was her fertility score? That would make sense it was a zero and none of the others had been a zero if the Vepar was the only race that the Khonsu couldn't have children with.

  Bruda’s teeth were checked, and then she was finished, and it was my turn.

  I took a deep breath, determined to put on as brave a face as Bruda had just done. I stepped onto the pedestal and the same hissing and cheers filled the air as they had with Bruda. They thought I was another Vepar so of course it made sense for them to act that way. I kept my chin held high, holding onto the sides of my hospital gown. I was well aware of how naked I was underneath it and wished so badly that I had some form of undergarments on. I had never imagined myself in a position like this.

  I could tell when the numbers appeared above my head, because the crowd all of a sudden descended into silence. I took a peek upwards, and was terrified to see that the bottom number, the one that I suspected was a measure of fertility, read one million.

  It was like the crowd took a collective breath, and then all hell broke loose. Khonsu, even the ones not dressed in purple tunics, were trying to clamber off their benches to get onto the field to get to me.

  The two that had been in charge of the exhibition started screaming and yelling to try to gain order, but there was nothing they could do.

  It was pure pandemonium, and I was pretty sure that my worst fears were about to be realized a little bit earlier than I had anticipated.

  Evidently, I was never going to make it to the sacred rock.

  I was going to die out here.

  When an especially fierce looking Khonsu, who was halfway transformed between his beast form and his normal form was just about to touch me with a long clawed hand, a sudden bolt of electricity burst out of the ground, covering the entire field with an electrical shock save the stone pedestal I was standing on. All of the Khonsu who had rushed the field had been struck down with the blast. I watched as they convulsed in agony, some of them still attempting to move towards me despite their obvious pain.

  At this point, all semblance of me remaining calm was gone. I was shaking as I watched them all writhe on the ground. Some of them looked like parts of them had been charred. It was a gruesome sight.

  Looking behind me was even worse. I cried out when I saw what had happened. There had been three captives left in line behind me. They had been roasted to a crisp in the blast and were almost unrecognizable. Obviously whatever electrical waves went out catered towards the Khonsu and was deadly towards other races.

  The beautiful blue alien that I had first caught sight of in the corral was one of the fallen. I only could tell it was her because her headband had been bejeweled, and somehow it had survived the blast and was lying near her body. A deep sense of loathing passed over me. This had happened because of me. Whatever mutation was in my blood that caused the alien male species to absolutely lose their minds, had also caused these females’ deaths. It was bad enough that they had been prisoners to begin with, but there could've been a chance that maybe the Khonsu who caught them would've been a good mate for them. Not a large chance, but still a chance. Or maybe they would've even escaped or been saved by their planets. Now they would never get that chance.

  I was yanked out of my mourning by the Khonsu who must've set off the blast, the one who had been in charge of the ceremony, with the crimson robes. He pulled me away without saying a word.

  A path had been cleared to where the other prisoners had been taken. I could see them huddled in the tunnel we were walking towards, their faces alight with fear. Bruda was at the head of them, her face twisted in horror and relief at the sight of me.

  She rushed toward me. "Are you all right?" she cried.

  I was shaking so much I could barely respond. "I can't believe that happened," I said.

  I didn't get a chance to speak with her further. The crimson robed Khonsu dragged me by an arm past the long line of frightened prisoners.

  “Where are you taking me?" I cried.

  "Somewhere safe," he growled. "You'll be in isolation until it's time for the hunt to begin." He looked back at me, his eyes dragging from my head all the way to my toes, making me feel like I was naked and dirty. "It would be to the benefit of our race if I let all of them have you though," he said with a smirk. "You're so fertile, who knows how many Khonsu children you could give us."

  I threw up right then and there. There was nothing but bile since I hadn’t been fed in twenty-four hours, but it was enough to make me not look as palatable.

  “Let's go," he ordered with a disgusted look on his face.

  I was thrown into a concrete cell. Two guards were set up outside of the entrance to my cell. They didn't even look at me, and I wondered what special orders they had been given concerning me. At least it didn't seem like they were going to jump me.

  I was alone and freezing, but a tray full of food that resembled vegetables was pushed into the room eventually along with a faded, threadbare blanket. I guess they figured that it wouldn’t be good for my fertility for me not to eat at all.

  I picked at the food despite the fact that I was starving. It was hard to muster up a willingness to eat when I couldn't get the scene from the field out of my head.

  The night was long. Without Bruda to help me pass it, it felt like it stretched on forever. Like I had actually lived several nights instead of just one.

  I was exhausted when one of the guards finally opened the cell door.

  “Get up," he barked.

  My joints felt frozen with the cold, and I stumbled a bit trying to get up. He led me down a long hallway. When we finally got outside of the arena, I was relieved to see the rest of the female prisoners waiting outside of a small spaceship that I assumed would be transporting us to where the hunt beg
an. It reminded me of the ship we had been taken on during the Vepar trials.

  That had seemed a lot less foreboding then the situation now did, however.

  Looking around, I realized that I didn't see Bruda anywhere. Were their multiple ships? Had some of the female prisoners already been taken? I hadn't counted how many of us there were, but it looked like all the other prisoners were here based on the ones I had remembered. What had happened to her?

  I felt a sense of panic. Once I was released by the guard to mingle with the rest of the prisoners, I turned to the alien closest to me. "Excuse me, have you seen the Vepar that I was with yesterday? The one dressed in a leather outfit with dark brown hair?" I asked her. The alien I spoke to was gorgeous, just like all the others, with shiny orange skin and hair that was a flaming red color. Her eyes matched her hair.

  She scanned the crowd around us. "I haven't seen her. Not since last night. I didn't notice anyone being taken away though, so she must be around here somewhere."

  “So there hasn't been another ship that's left for the mountain?" I asked.

  She shook her head at me sympathetically. "No, as far as I know, with the exception of the ones who died yesterday, the rest of us are still here."

  I nodded despondently. There wasn't anything I could do about Bruda’s disappearance at the moment. I just hoped that she was okay. It was a stupid thing to hope since how any of us could be okay in a situation like this as a prisoner of the Khonsu. But I still sent up a silent prayer that something good had happened to her. She deserved it.

  If I ever got a chance, I would try to find out what happened to her.

  The golden skinned alien had asked me a question, but I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear her until she was almost done speaking.

  She tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. "What planet are you from?" she asked curiously. “You look like you could be a Vepar, but with that performance yesterday, there's no way that you are,” she continued, studying me closely.

  "I'm from Earth," I responded absentmindedly, my thoughts still on Bruda’s whereabouts.

  "I've heard of that place. It is one of the Vepar colonies, isn't it?" she asked innocently. Earth being called a Vepar colony filled me with a hate so strong that I could barely answer.

  "I suppose you could call it that," I said stiffly. "Colony does denote that the planet was taken over. Which is what happened," I continued.

  She nodded uncomfortably. Obviously, I wasn't doing a great job of keeping my emotions in check when it came to that subject.

  "I'm sorry, as you can imagine by my presence here, it's a little bit of a sore subject," I said conciliatorily.

  "My planet was taken over by another as well. You don't have to apologize to me about having anger over such a thing."

  I opened my mouth to respond, but just then a horn sounded, and we were surrounded by a horde of Khonsu guards who began to push us towards the spacecraft. A long plank descended from the opening of the craft and we walked on it into the ship single file. The inside of the ship was set up somewhat like the aircraft I had seen in military movies on Earth. There was a long row of seats on each wall with harnesses attached to each seat. Staying in line, we all took a seat and strapped ourselves in the harnesses under the careful watch of the guards.

  There was still a part of me that expected one of my guys to appear at any moment to save the day. But as everyone filed in, and the doors were closed, it looked less and less like that was going to occur.

  I was truly on my own.

  The ship took off, and I felt my stomach heave at the sudden movement. There were no windows inside the craft, and that didn't help my motion sickness. Obviously the Khonsu hadn't bothered installing the technology or didn’t possess the Vepar technology that allowed you to travel without sickness.

  I couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not that we landed so quickly. On the one hand, I didn't feel like I had to throw up anymore, but on the other hand, this meant that the hunt was about to start.

  I guess there was no sense in delaying the inevitable.

  We unhooked the harnesses and again left the ship single file. Stepping out, I could see that we had landed at the base of the Khonsu’s sacred mountain. The mountain was covered with an assortment of trees. The trees all had different colored leaves, kind of like how fall had looked back home. Things were different here than where the Vepar lived, however. The colors weren’t nearly as vibrant. It actually reminded me a lot more of Earth in general than the Vepar side had.

  When I was younger, my parents took me on a trip to Utah during my school’s fall break and we had hiked Mount Timpanogas. This mountain reminded me of that, and a sudden bout of homesickness hit me.

  Looking around to distract myself from the feeling, I realized I didn't see any of the purple tunic clad Khonsu anywhere in sight. Where were they? Were they hiding in the mountains, intent on pouncing on us as we tried to run for our lives?

  My question was answered when a more decadent ship that was obviously superior to the ones that they had put us in (it had windows at least) landed a little ways away from ours.

  The Khonsu filed out of the ship eagerly, looking immediately to where their prey was standing. Most of their eyes were centered on me, and I had the feeling that this was going to be the hardest experience of my life.

  We were led to the edge of the forest at that point. The Khonsu didn't seem to have any intentions of giving us instructions. Looking around at my fellow prisoners, they all looked terrified, but also resigned. They must've grown up with stories of the hunt as well.

  The Khonsu warriors stayed close to the ship. Evidently, we were going to be given a head start...how kind of them.

  Just then a loud blast went off. The females in front of me started to run into the woods.

  It was starting.

  I took off after them, and then took a hard left after a few minutes. If I was going to have to go through this, at least I could take some of the pressure off of the rest of the prisoners since I knew most of the Khonsu would be after me.

  The woods were like a whole other world. Large trees blocked the sun, making it cool and dim. Dead leaves crunched under my bare feet. I was lucky that my feet had toughened up during the trials or I would be limping right now.

  There were strange noises all around me, and occasionally I got a glimpse of the end of a tail or the feathers on a wing as whatever creatures I was disturbing as I ran through the woods tried to hide.

  Another blast sounded. I could tell it was for the Khonsu warriors because despite the fact that I'd probably made it at least a mile away from where we had first started, the ground shook a bit as the warriors entered the forest.

  It only took a few minutes for me to hear the screams start as the Khonsu found some of the prisoners.

  A burst of adrenaline sent me pushing forward. There had to be a way out of this, there just had to be.

  I was so caught up on running as fast as I could, that I didn't even hear the first Khonsu when he reached me. I wasn't aware that he was there until a thin, silver colored rope was suddenly wrapped around my neck, choking me.

  Stupidly, I still tried to lurch forward, desperate to get away. This only served to choke me even further. Maybe I would die before the rape happened, I thought to myself as the world started to fade to black.

  Suddenly the rope was cut behind me, and I fell to the ground, heaving huge gulps of air. The sound of flesh hitting bone had me turning around to see the scene behind me.

  Two purple clad Khonsu were wrestling on the ground. I gasped at the scene, shocked as one of them pulled out a razor-sharp knife the color of black obsidian. He raised the knife high above the Khonsu he had forced to the ground, a Khonsu who had the remnants of a broken rope in his hand, and he slashed the knife down. I watched in horror as the other warrior's flesh was split open, his blood seeping into the ground below him.

  Only at that point did I get the wits about me to
begin to run again. As much as I didn't want to be caught by the first one, this other Khonsu seemed like he would be even worse judging by the delighted look on his face as he had stabbed his fellow warrior.

  Just as that Khonsu was about to get up from the ground, another Khonsu warrior tackled him to the ground. This time I didn't stop to watch what happened.

  I just ran.

  A fierce grunt came from behind me, and then the gurgle of blood as one of them killed the other.

  I continued to run.

  I was almost captured at least five more times. Each time I thought that it was the end until another Khonsu warrior would erupt from the woods to stop my current assailant and try to claim me.

  There was a trail of Khonsu corpses littered behind me on the path that I was traveling.

  I was exhausted, but still I kept running.

  Chapter 5

  Excitement roared through the crowd of Khonsu behind me, while terror choked me. I panted for air, legs and arms pumping as I ran up the mountain. Sharp twigs and rocks tore at my skin and embedded themselves in my feet. I was sure I was leaving a trail of blood behind me making it easy for them to track me.

  A shadow fell over me. I glanced back swiftly, and a whimper spilled from my lips. A Khonsu, in his purple tunic, rushed up after me so fast, my knees wobbled with fear. He might as well have been as big as a bear! Huge arms, a broad chest, and he carried such savageness in his eyes. Determination on his face screamed he was ready to take me, and nothing would stand in his way.

  I burst onward with sheer adrenaline.

  Another woman screamed somewhere on the mountain, while a man howled like a monster, probably claiming her.

  I searched the land for a weapon, for anything to beat them back. A branch or rock? Both would work.

  The beast pounded the ground with rapid steps, his breaths on my neck, coming for me… to claim me. To rape me. This wasn’t okay, and I hated everything about these aliens. From the tests to being hunted down, I was put through hell and back only to still be in mortal danger. I wasn’t okay with any of this at all.