by A. G. Wilde
Piper stood slowly, her hands gripped into fists by her side.
As they all stood, Athena turned to look behind her. The large presence was still there and she half expected to see the devil looking back at her. A gasp caught in her throat as she was met face to face with the long snout of the soldier she’d passed in the corridor.
Jumping back in fright, the soldier bared its jagged teeth at her and snarled.
Song whimpered again as they all huddled beside Piper, who was standing the furthest away from the thing.
An eerie laugh left the beast’s mouth as it surveyed them with its yellow eyes.
“I like my dinner a little scared,” it said, and Song whimpered one more time, her mouth trembling as her wide eyes fixed on the monster’s teeth.
“This is not. Your food. Soldier,” the Isclit said, its mouth appearing out of no visible hole on its body as usual. It sounded like a reprimand and the monster snorted. “Be quiet. Follow orders.”
Athena took note of that.
The Isclits were in charge. Even over monsters like this one that looked like they could rip the Isclit apart in one bite.
“Move the. Humans to the. Viewing platform,” the Isclit said, then the blue lights on its back started pulsing. “Cargo being. Moved to viewing. Platform,” it said.
Diana gripped Song’s shoulders to stop her from trembling.
“Humans. Follow your master,” the gator-guard said as its snake-like tongue danced towards them. That spurred them to move and the monster walked behind them while the Isclit led the way in front, hovering on its light-blue ring at a reasonable pace.
Piper had been the last to move, as she’d stared fearlessly into the eyes of the yellow-eyed beast, but that meant she was at the back of the line. Athena could hear the beast licking its lips and laughing to itself. The sounds alone made shivers run down her spine. Glancing back at Piper, she saw that the woman’s face was trembling with rage, her hands still balled into fists, and she prayed Piper didn’t do anything to get herself killed at that moment.
Dying at the hands of that beast wouldn’t be pleasant. Not that dying was pleasant. But there were so many other ways to go than to be eaten alive.
Her mild distraction caused her not to see how the Isclit opened the door to the glass wall, as they were now moving out of the enclosure and heading into the dim area outside. She hoped to God that one of the other women had taken the time to notice.
The Isclit led them to a raised platform and ordered them not to move as the yellow-eyed monster took its place behind them.
Song was still trembling, with Evren trying to comfort her, while Diana was busy trying to peer into the darkness that faced them.
In the next moment, the entire area was filled with light.
The sudden brightness made Athena have to shade her eyes as she squinted, her eyes adjusting to the glare.
What she saw next made her eyes go wide.
5
In front of them were rows and rows of...aliens.
And not Isclits or devils or stone men or weird gator-guards. It was other weird green things with big dark eyes and puffed up necks. They were all dressed in what looked like white robes crested with gold.
They looked like...toads? It was the closest animal Athena could think of to compare them to, except they were way too big to be toads. They were all of different sizes and all green except that it seemed some of them were varying degrees of green.
“Let the. Auction begin,” the Isclit announced and a loud murmur went through the alien crowd.
Song whimpered, tears running down her face now and Evren glanced at Athena, gripping her hand and squeezing it softly.
They were all they had. On Earth, they’d been complete strangers but now, they were like sisters.
It was them five against what looked like at least a hundred aliens.
And they were about to be auctioned for God knows what.
The green toad-like aliens were pointing at them and emitting loud grunts, some obviously getting excited as they grunted quickly, moving their large bodies in their seats in what looked like excited jumping.
“Let’s get that one,” one of them murmured to another sitting beside it. It outstretched its arm to point at Song and Song shuddered, unable to control the new wave of tears that began running down her cheeks.
Athena’s gaze fell on the outstretched arm and gulped. It was bony and covered with what looked like fluid-filled bubbles. It looked like a pus-filled, diseased, two-fingered arm.
Totally vomit-inducing material.
“No,” the other one said, “she would be too easy for our Ceqtaq to decimate.” It moved its huge dark eyes over their group till its gaze fell on Piper.
“Oh,” the first one cooed, and Athena realized, judging from its smaller body and the fact that its face was a little softer (if you could call it that), it must be the female in the relationship. “But I would love to see the Ceqtaq play with this little...frail toy.” The male made a sound like bubbles popping and Athena assumed it was laughing.
She was sure Song could hear every word they were saying. A glance at Song showed the woman’s entire small frame was shaking uncontrollably.
“No,” the male said. “I like a fight.” He pointed at Piper. “We’ll get this one. It looks...angry.” He emitted a bubbly sound, deeper than its partners, and Athena assumed it was laughing as well.
Piper snarled at them.
Fearless, she was, and Athena felt renewed strength from Piper’s anger. She wasn’t going down without a fight either.
Athena turned back to the crowd of aliens, her gaze resolute, when a spotlight was shone over her. Evren squeezed her hand again.
“Looks like you’re first,” Evren murmured. “Good luck.”
Wait, what?
Athena’s heart beat hard in her chest as she gripped Evren’s fingers as if it was the last thing connecting her to Earth.
She wasn’t ready to be auctioned.
She hadn’t had enough time to gather information about the place.
She wasn’t ready.
“Our human. Cargo.” The Isclit with the blue spots spoke, its voice booming in the entire room and Athena took the moment to look around, realizing that with all the things happening, she hadn’t had the chance to look around till that moment.
They had definitely not been outside when they’d been behind the glass walls. Looking at it now, it looked like the glass enclosure rose into the sky, well, what she’d thought was the sky, but on this side, it told her they were definitely still in a building...or ship, wherever they were.
The glass enclosure only presented the illusion that they were not totally enclosed.
“Bidding for. This one. Starts now.” The Isclit’s voice boomed again and Athena wondered how it was managing to get its voice to project so loudly.
But she didn’t have time to think about that because, in the next instant, her body was being lifted into the air as the spotlight hovered over her.
Trying hard to clutch on to Evren’s hand proved futile as she was lifted over the other women’s heads and slowly spun around.
To her horror, she saw little blue cards being lit up as the aliens began bidding. But she couldn’t scream. She couldn’t actually move.
It seemed as if the light had the same effect as the one within the enclosure. She was being spun around, naked for all of them to see, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She could still hear Song’s whimpers but that was soon drowned out as the murmurs of the aliens reached her ears.
Blue card after blue card was raised, each with different markings she couldn’t understand. She assumed those were numbers or amounts of currency as, the more the markings seemed to increase on the cards, the more excited the crowd of aliens became.
A loud bubbly sound echoed through the room and Athena could see that whichever alien was emitting the sound was holding a golden card.
She guessed that was
the alien that won.
She was sold.
Sold to a pus-filled toad.
As she was lowered back to the platform, her eyes met the wide eyes of the other women. Their gazes all communicated the same thing.
They were all scared.
No matter how angry or determined they all were, none of them knew what happened after they left that room and the possibilities were endless.
Her feet barely touched the platform before the yellow-eyed monster who’d been standing guard behind them approached.
He was swift, his arm stretching to close his hand around her neck in one movement.
Athena struggled against him, grabbing onto the arm as it lifted her into the air. Her scream only caused a series of bubble-like sounds to erupt in the room.
They were laughing at this.
They thought it was funny.
The guard snarled at her, sticking out its forked tongue to hover just in front of her face and no matter how she kicked and squirmed, she couldn’t free herself.
His grip was too tight. He was too strong.
The thought that this was the reason he’d been standing there all along crossed her mind.
He was just there to swallow her whole.
This auction wasn’t an auction in the sense that she’d thought. It was just an exotic feeding frenzy—with her being the exotic meal up for tasting.
But as the thoughts crossed her mind, the yellow-eyed beast unhooked a chain from its waist and fastened it around her neck, releasing her immediately so she fell back onto the platform.
The pain from the fall shot up through the arm that she’d landed on and she was vaguely aware that Evren was helping her up.
“Move!” The yellow-eyed monster ordered, yanking on the chain as he pulled her toward the alien holding the golden card.
The chain dug into her neck and she was sure the metal was cutting into her skin.
She was restrained.
It was frickin’ painful and Athena held onto the chain, trying to slip her fingers between the metal and her skin so she could create some space and get some relief.
Was this what the devil, Xul, had been meant to do to her from the start?
Thank God he hadn’t.
The thought of him made her glance around the room but she didn’t see him. It didn’t matter though. He was an alien like the rest of them. What help would he be now?
As they approached the alien with the golden card, Athena wished time would slow.
Not knowing what was about to happen next was terrifying and she already missed the familiarity of having other humans around her.
Walking away from them was like going into the unknown. An unknown that was filled with otherworldly species that were treating her like cattle.
When they reached the alien with the golden card, its huge eyes roved over Athena’s body and she watched in horror as its thick, heavy tongue ran over its lips. Judging from that, it was thinking one of two things.
Either it wanted to eat her...or it wanted to...
Athena shuddered at the thought, pushing it away from her mind. It wouldn’t come to that.
She’d rather die than have this disgusting creature inside her.
Trying to hide the fear behind her eyes, she glared at the alien as the yellow-eyed monster placed the chains in the thing’s hand.
The thing held the chains as it eyed her, still licking its lips.
They were even more hideous up close and this one was huge, it’s puffed up neck hanging over its robe.
“I am your new master,” it said and Athena gritted her teeth. The fact that she could understand what it said thanks to the translator thing didn’t help the fact that it was terrifying-looking. Speaking English didn’t make it less strange. If anything, being able to understand it made everything worse. It was an intelligent being. One that could communicate. And it was its intelligence that scared her.
If she’d been on an alien ship with less intelligent life-forms, her chances of survival would have probably tripled. Now, she wasn’t sure what chances of survival she had.
Everything was just so strange. So different.
The voice of the Isclit who was running the auction boomed again. “Next up, is this specimen.”
Athena glanced back towards the women to see Piper being lifted into the air in the beam of light.
“Wait!” The alien beside her pronounced, rising slowly on legs Athena could not see as they were hidden underneath its long robes. “I need a guard to transport me to my ship,” it continued. “Me and my newly acquired pet.” It licked its lips again as its eyes fell on Athena and she visibly cringed under its gaze.
The Isclit paused, its eyes turning to look over at their location.
“We do not. Provide guards,” the Isclit said.
“Are you denying the request of a High Tasqal?” Any murmurs in the room were now hushed, the only sound Athena could hear was Song’s soft whimpers.
Another Isclit hovered over toward them, its purple fluorescent spots glowing in the light and Athena wondered if it was the same Isclit she had seen when she’d just woken up.
“We always. Respect the wishes. Of the High Tasqals,” the Isclit with the purple spots said, it’s mouth appearing from nowhere.
She would never get used to that.
“We will send. A guard to. Your quarters, sire.” The Isclit bowed its eyes and Athena frowned as she watched it do so. It didn’t have a head, so she supposed that was its way of showing respect?
The High Tasqal grunted and yanked on her chain, causing Athena to inhale sharply as she was suddenly jerked forward.
“Come,” it said and licked its lips again as it began to leave the room.
Turning her gaze to the women she’d left on the platform, Piper was still suspended motionless in the air while the others had their wide eyes on her.
Neither said anything but it was in all their gazes.
They wished her luck.
6
The High Tasqal moved slowly out of the room and Athena kept her gaze on the other women till they turned a corner and she could no longer see them anymore.
Turning to look at the back of the High Tasqal as it walked in front of her, Athena weighed her options.
It was just the two of them.
If she managed to get break free, maybe she could somehow get away. It didn’t look armed but the fact that she wasn’t being escorted by a guard worried her.
Was the High Tasqal more dangerous than it looked?
From what she could see, she could probably outrun it.
Probably.
Bile rose in her throat as her gaze fell to its bubble-filled arm. It was beyond disgusting.
“Where are you taking me?” She ventured. Maybe it would talk to her.
“Silence,’ the thing said.
Well, speaking was off the table. She wasn’t going to give it any reason to harm her. The chain around her neck was enough pain at the moment and if this thing was anything like the Isclits, it could have a remote hiding somewhere within its body ready to make her writhe in pain.
Maybe that was why there were no guards escorting them.
Judging from its robes and the fact it had called itself a “High” Tasqal, she figured it must be in the upper echelons of its society. That made the fact that there was no escort even more curious.
A High Tasqal.
Athena's eyes bore into the thing’s back as it pulled her along.
What the hell did a “Low” Tasqal look like, because this thing looked like it belonged in the sewers, away from society.
The High Tasqal paused in front of a wall and a door materialized in front of them, opening to a room that was dimly lit in a purple hue. The thing’s broad frame had been blocking her but as far as she could see, it had done nothing to open the door.
With a grunt, it pulled her into the room and Athena’s eyes adjusted to the purple light.
For some reason, she’d been expect
ing another room like the cell she’d been in but this room was completely different.
In the center, was what looked like a mini waterfall that cascaded into a pool. Except whatever was running down the rocks wasn’t water. It was a thick purple fluid.
There was something else too. An odor of some kind. She wasn’t quite sure what the smell was. Athena tried to ignore it by focusing across the room, where there was a large slab....only it wasn’t a hard flat rock. She could see, even without touching it, that it was made of some sort of billowy material. Judging from the size of it she assumed it could only be one thing.
A bed.
Directly across from it was another slab. The only thing was that this one looked as if it had someone chained to it.
Another human. Another woman she hadn’t seen before.
The woman raised her head as they entered the room and their eyes met. There was no denying what was there.
Pure terror.
She was trembling so hard, the chains were clanging against the slab, and Athena noticed something else.
There were what looked like small bubble-filled sores appearing all over the woman’s body. Sores that looked quite similar to the ones on the High Tasqal.
With a grunt, the High Tasqal pulled Athena across the room before it suddenly stopped walking and turned to face her. She could hear the bubbles in its throat as it laughed to itself.
“My human,” it murmured, its wide mouth hardly moving. “Your species is frail but highly fertile. You will do well to be my slave.”
Taking a few steps away from it, Athena found her back was against a wall. The High Tasqal advanced slowly, the laughter still bubbling in its throat.
“My pet,” it murmured.
Stretching out its bubble-filled hand, it unhooked the chain from her neck and Athena rubbed the area, watching the High Tasqal warily, her gaze darting from it to the woman who was still trembling on the slab.
She’d thought she’d be alone with it but it seemed the woman was one of the others who had been auctioned before Athena arrived.
The High Tasqal reached out again and grabbed her before she could duck out of the way.