by Melody Adams
Contents
Title
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Alien Breed Series
TOXIC
Alien Breed Series Book 2.5
Melody Adams
Science Fiction Romance
Toxic
Alien Breed Series Book 2.5
Melody Adams
German Edition 2014
English Edition 2018
copyright © 2014-2018 by Melody Adams
[email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelodyAdamsUK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelodysRomance
© Cover Art by CMA Cover Designs
contact: [email protected]
Prologue
Somewhere in Texas, USA
February 24, 2033 / 07:29 p.m. local time
I was staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about anything. Easier said than done with a long, deep wound on my thigh that hurt so much that it was impossible to block out the pain. It seemed like an eternity ago when they had put me back into my cell. I had no idea what they were up to with their tests this time. What good did it do them to cut my damn thigh open and then leave me lying here? Normally they would always give me some drug to study the effects of, but this time they had given me nothing. I was trying to sleep. It was the only thing I could do here in the cell. Apart from the bed on which I was lying and my bathroom, there was nothing in here. Not even a window. If I could only block out the damn pain, I would finally be able to sleep.
Suddenly the alarm sounded and I sat up with a jolt. What was that? What happened? A fire? I could hear excited shouting, hasty steps, someone approaching my cell. I wanted to get up to look through the small window in the heavy metal door, but my injured leg wouldn't support me. With an outcry of pain, I fell back into the bed.
"Damn it!"
Someone was at the door. I could hear someone pounding the code into the keypad, then the metal door opened and one of the doctors came into my cell with four guards.
"This one wouldn't make the transport. Take him out before the fucking soldiers reach this hallway. He knows too much!"
"Sure thing, Doc", said one of the four guards with a grin. "We'll take care of him!"
"Best to break his neck. I know you like a little action, but there's no time for that. I have to make sure that I make it to my transport. When you are finished, run to exit U4a. There's a van waiting for you!"
The doctor was scared. I could smell it. Someone seemed to have invaded this place and the doctor and his people were obviously fleeing the building. The only question was, who was it? Who were those soldiers the Doc was talking about? Were they like me? Were they my people?
"Break his neck, my ass!" a condescending voice ripped me from my thoughts.
"Yeah! We only need a few minutes to beat the pig to death!" another said.
I looked up. The four guys were approaching me. I wasn't going to die without a fight, but I knew I had no chance against four thugs with my injured leg. For sure, if I had been fit, but I was far from it.
I was able to feel and identify the first blows and kicks precisely. I knew exactly who hit me where. I also knew that I could land one or two good hits. But then one of them kicked my leg and a raging pain made me cry out. The more blows and kicks I received, the less I perceived them as individual attacks. Soon it was just one big lump of pain on every inch of my body. At some point everything turned to black around me.
Chapter 1
Odessa, Texas, USA
February 28, 2033 / 9:38 a.m. local time
Pain! All I noticed was pain! I found myself in deep darkness. Was I dead? Then why was I still hurting? I had just found myself in nothingness, then suddenly there was pain and darkness. What had happened? A new experiment? Had I been locked up somewhere in complete darkness? I felt something touch my forehead. I wanted to avoid the touch, but my body did not seem to want to obey me. Was I paralyzed? The touch was strangely soft. None of the doctors or nurses had ever touched me like that. Maybe I was dead after all and an angel was there with me? Maybe angels did exist for people like me. Had the woman with the red hair lied? I hadn't seen her for a long time, that woman with the red hair. She had been the one who took care of me when I was a child. She wasn't quite as bad as the others. Even though she had never treated me gently. She was the one who told me about God and Jesus. Of evil. The devil. And of the angels. But she said that my people were the descendants of the devil. That's why we were kept prisoner. Because we were dangerous and evil. And the angels looked at us with contempt.
"... no change. The ... too large ..." I heard a man say.
"The ... I don’t ...", replied a gentle female voice. "Give him ... Give him ... time ... nurse. Please, Daddy!"
"Very well. If ... absolutely ... Later again", replied the one the woman had called Daddy.
She sounded young. Maybe even younger than me. I realized that I liked her voice. Who was she? And who was this Daddy? Were they with them? I wanted to ask her, but I had no control over my voice.
I felt her presence. Was she the one who had touched me before? If only I could see her. By now I realized that I was not in a dark room, rather I seemed to be in a state between sleeping and waking. The pain suggested numerous injuries.
So the woman may be one of the nurses. But I did not remember hearing her voice before. Besides, nobody had ever been nice to me. Especially not worried about me. But I had heard concern in her voice. She was probably one of my kind after all. Maybe the rumors were true and there was more of us out there somewhere and they had come to free us.
Little by little, I started remembering things. The alarm! The doctor who said there were soldiers. Whatever people they might be. Were the woman and this Daddy among the soldiers? I wanted to find out. I had to find my way out of this darkness somehow. I needed to wake up! It suddenly seemed the most important thing to me. To wake up and see the face of my angel.
Alina
Apart from the cell where the badly injured boy had been found, there were five others. But the investigators could not tell whether they had all been experimented on.
"I won't give up on you", I said to the boy before me.
He seemed to be my age, which was unusual. So far, all Alien Breed that had been liberated had been between twenty-eight and forty-one years old. There were only a few women in their early twenties.
I turned away from the bed and walked over to the sink to pour myself a glass of water. As I reached for the glass, I heard a soft moaning behind me. I froze and my heart began to race. That was the first time he had ever made a sound.
"Oh. My. God!" I gasped and turned around.
I slowly walked up to the bed where the Alien Breed was lying. I sat down on the chair again and bent over him.
"Hi!" I said a little out of breath. "Can you hear me?"
I could see the muscles in his face twitching slightly. That seemed like a good sign to me. He was obviously responding to my voice, maybe even to what I had said. Hesitantly I reached out one hand and stroked his cheek. His eyelids fluttered and I pulled my hand away in shock.
"Stay!"
My heart was jumping excitedly. He was talking. Apparently, he was afraid that I would leave.
"I am here", I said and grabbed his hand. "Everything is fine. You ... you are safe!"
It was a shock to see him open his eyes. Never before had I seen eyes like these. They were unusual, but beautiful. They were green around the long pupil, but they beca
me more and more yellow on the outside. The outer edge of his iris was green. He stared at me and at that moment there was only him and me. It was magical and I knew instantly that I had fallen in love. I had never believed in love at first sight. Until now. "A-angel?" he whispered hoarsely. "A ... an angel?"
I shook my head with a smile.
"No, I am not an angel ...", I said and reached for my blonde curls, which probably made him think I was an angel with my free hand. "... and you are not dead!"
He examined me extensively and my heart beat faster.
"I’m Alina. My dad brought you here after your liberation. He's a doctor."
"Doctor!" growled the Alien Breed and tried to stand up despite his obviously severe pain. His whole face was a mask distorted by pain.
I put a comforting hand on his chest.
"None of the people who did this to you", I reassured him. "We want to help you. Please calm down! You shouldn't exert yourself!"
Searching for my eyes, he paused and I nodded.
"Everything is all right. You are safe here!"
His features relaxed and he sank back onto the bed.
"Al-Ali...?"
"Alina!" I repeated.
"A-li-na!"
I nodded and smiled. His lips briefly distorted into an almost smile.
"Alina", he repeated, slowly raising one hand to reach for my blonde curls.
His gaze slipped to the thick strand he was holding in his hand. I held my breath as he examined the texture of my hair with his thumb. Butterflies started to flutter in my stomach.
"Soft."
I smiled. I wondered if this boy had ever seen a girl in the hell his life had been. He seemed almost fascinated by me. His gaze caught mine again and the butterflies were now somersaulting. There was clearly some chemistry between us in the air that we both felt. The Alien Breed raised his other hand to his head and stopped. He was obviously confused about his dark stubble.
"We had to shave your head", I explained. "Because of your head injuries. It will grow back, don't worry."
I was watching his reaction. Inspecting, his hands slid over his skull, feeling the long scar on the left and the two smaller ones on top of his head.
"You were extremely lucky", I said. "They beat you up so badly, they probably thought you were dead. Well, you weren't far from it when they brought you here."
The door opened and Dad entered the room. He looked at us and the emotions reflected on his face changed from astonishment to slight annoyance when he saw my hair in the Alien Breed's hand.
"I see, our patient is awake", he said in his best doctor's voice, which did not reveal how much he disliked that a boy was holding my hair in his hand.
Dad generally didn't like boys getting too close to me. To him I was still his little girl. The fact that he had left me alone with the Alien Breed at all was only due to the fact that he had ruled out the possibility that his patient could wake up so quickly.
"Yes, just now", I confirmed, trying to sound as uninvolved as possible. "I was just telling him that we had to shave his hair. He seemed a little confused about that."
"He did? Well. It'll grow back again, young man", Dad said and stepped up to the bed to examine the Alien Breed.
I moved back a little and observed. The Alien Breed put up with everything, but when I looked at him I saw that he didn't appreciate the interruption at all. He kept looking at me and I gave him a little smile.
The next three days were hell. Dad had banned me from the Alien Breeds hospital room. Four guards were with him around the clock. Now that the Alien Breed was recovering, Dad thought it was too dangerous for me to have contact with the boy. On the third day, I couldn't stand it any longer and went to Dad's office to ask him a question. Once I arrived at the door, I took a deep breath and knocked. My heart was racing excited as I waited for an answer from inside.
"Yes!" Dad's voice finally sounded.
I opened the door and entered the room. Dad was sitting at his desk looking up at me. A smile appeared on his face.
"Alina! What's on your mind, my dear?"
I closed the door behind me and sat down in the armchair in front of Dad's desk.
"I was wondering why I can't visit the Alien Breed anymore. I never thought you were prejudiced. I thought you liked the Alien Breed!"
Dad sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I have nothing against the Alien Breed, Alina! I was involved in the first liberation campaign and since then I have been involved in many other campaigns. But I know these poor bastards better than you do. You saw his condition when he arrived here. Rest assured that anything you imagine about their conditions in captivity only rudimentarily touches on the truth. They have experienced unimaginable cruelty at the hands of humans. All Alien Breed take a long time to learn to find their way in freedom and they can be extremely unpredictable. I don't trust the boy, Lina. Not because I don't like him, but because I've seen enough cases where rescued Alien Breed attacked their keepers. I should never have allowed you to make contact. I didn't think he'd wake up that fast."
"But he didn't hurt me, Dad!" I disagreed. "He was very calm. Only ... curious. I don't think he's ever even seen a girl before."
"Lina, child. Don't get attached to the boy. He will soon leave where he can live in peace with the other Alien Breed. On Eden. It’s better for him. They are his people. Not only would he be exposed to constant hostility here, but you would also be condemned if you became friends with someone like him. Maybe you should go back to Mum a bit early. My work is not good for you, child."
"No!" I protested. "I'm not going home sooner! And besides, Mum is not even there. She went to Miami with Jesse."
Dad sighed.
"Well then. I will allow you to visit the boy every day for an hour. But only in the presence of security!"
I wasn't happy with his decision, but it was better than nothing and so I stopped myself from making a snide comment. But one hour was not enough for me. I wanted to use this time to get to know the boy better before they flew him to Eden.
"One hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon," I said firmly.
Dad was silent for a while, then he nodded.
"Very well! You can visit him today at five. I will inform the guards. And now I have to get back to work!"
I got up from the chair.
"Thank you, Daddy!"
"Yes, yes! It's all right!" Dad grumbled, but the look he gave me was loving.
***
Bored, I was staring out the window. My bed had been turned around so that I could see better. A few men had brought me a device they called a television. It was meant to make me forget about my boredom, but it puzzled me to watch all these movies. I had been told that everything had been performed to entertain people, but I had seen people hurt or killed in these films. I had seen it! With my own eyes! How could they claim that it was all just an act? No! This television was not for me. I preferred to stare out of the window. Even if I noticed after three days that hardly anything was happening out there. All I could see were a few trees that shielded the view from everything that was behind them. From time to time I saw little creatures appear in the trees. Humans called them birds. They were funny little guys and I was happy every time they showed up.
There was nothing to see at the moment. Only the leaves moving in the wind. But then I saw something moving in one of the trees. My attention was drawn to a small grey furry thing running along one of the branches.
"What is that?" I asked.
Drake, one of my guards, stepped up to the window and stared in the direction I was pointing. After a while he seemed to have spotted what I had been seeing and smiled.
"That’s a squirrel. Cute little guys, aren't they? They are very fond of nuts. I once managed to lure one with peanuts until it ate them out of my hand."
"The only animals I have seen in ... I have seen before were the dogs of the guards", I said. "Nasty beasts with sharp teeth."
"No
t all dogs bite, boy", Drake said. "I have a Golden Retriever at home who is very sweet. He has to be, because of the baby. I wouldn't leave a dog alone with my wife and the baby if it was vicious. These dogs, being used by guards, are specially trained to bite on command."
"You have a young?" I asked interestedly.
"A young?" Drake asked, surprised, then laughed. "Oh! You mean my baby! Yes, I have a young! His name is Tim."
"I have no name", I said and stared out the window again.
"You can pick one", Drake said. "I heard that your people on Eden have given themselves all sorts of crazy names. They call themselves after things they like or that describe them. I met a guy who called himself Midnight."
"I wouldn't know what to call myself", I replied shrugging my shoulders.
"You like the music I have on my iPod, don't you? The band that sings it is called Toxic. How about that? Toxic somehow suits you, I think, and it sounds good."
I turned to him and looked at him for a moment.
"Toxic", I said quietly. It really didn't sound too bad and since I didn't have a better idea, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Yeah, why not? Toxic! My name is Toxic!"
Drake smiled.
"Wonderful! Pleased to meet you - Toxic!"
He held his hand towards me and I shook it. It felt good to have a name.
Alina
As I stood in front of the Alien Breed boy's room at five o'clock, I was so excited that my hand was shaking as I reached for the door handle. Just before I reached the handle, I paused. Maybe I'd better knock? After a short hesitation, I knocked three times and almost instantly the door was opened by one of the security guards. He let me enter and I looked a little embarrassed at the boy sitting on his bed and giving me a bright smile.