by Rena Marks
My dad had snuck out, hunted for more squirrels and fish and stored them, only cooking in the dead of night.
Eventually the soldier woke. We learned that the Praydians were as sneaky as we thought. We learned that while we suspected they ate humans, the military actually knew it. They shipped the unfortunate souls. Piehelock was the leader for the entire faction, and he was stationed here in the States. Or what used to be the States. Take him down, and for some reason, the rest of his aliens scatter. Why? Because they were set up that way. Apparently the Praydians didn’t want their own people to take them out, so one leader was sent to conquer an entire planet. The leader was protected with everyone else’s life, because if he fell, the rest would be slaughtered upon returning home.
Within the military, a few made plans to get close to him. But they were betrayed by their own people and shipped off to Kansas where the Praydian headquarters resided after the original bombing. Everyone knew that humans being sent to Kansas meant you became groceries. Except, this one soldier escaped, and he lived to tell us the tale.
After about a week, they finally stopped looking for him, and we were able to leave the mine shaft again. When he grew strong enough, he left us to wander, sharing his information with any other parties of the resistance he came across. Ria and I often wondered what happened to him. I hoped he was still finding resistance members, and still sharing his story.
It was people like him that gave the rest of us hope.
When the army camp came into view, I studied the surroundings. There was a creek that ran through it that came from higher ground just to the left. The location had a ton of trees, and was perfect so spy on them from higher branches. They had guards surrounding the perimeter but were low on personnel, so each worked singly. I tracked shift changes and kept count of how many were on the outside at any given time. Eventually, I moved to watch the comings and goings from underneath a truck parked just off to the side. I prayed it would stay parked a while and no one would come to start it, leaving me exposed on the ground underneath.
Guards worked in two hour increments to secure the perimeter around the wall that protected the makeshift military base. The guards were on the ball at the start of their shift. At the end, however, they weren’t as focused, as if they couldn’t wait to get off work. So that would be the prime time to strike. It was about an hour from that now.
A couple of men in fatigues pulled up in a jeep with five pleasure workers. They giggled, allowed a few slaps on their asses, and were escorted into the gates like royalty. Nice to know women were appreciated.
One of men had gone off in the direction I’d come from, up on the hill where the area overlooked the base. The ravine overlooked the creek down below, emptying into a river a bit further after running through the base. From that area, the gurgling of water could be heard echoing up the walls of the ravine.
I slid out from under the truck. God, I was sweating like a pig. My tan tank top was soaked, the color blending with my skin. My nipples poked through the thin, wet material. Now while everyone was distracted at the front gate, I quickly ran up the hill to where I could block myself by the trees. I intended to find the lone guard.
Stealthily, I made my way to the outskirts where he had gone earlier. He was standing near the edge that overlooked the water below.
I prayed he wouldn’t turn around shooting with me sneaking up on him.
Chapter Four
“Hello?” I called softly when he came into view.
“Who are you? What do you want?” He whirled, gun pointed at me. Funny that the aliens brought some cool laser guns along with them, but the humans who were supposedly on their side only got their own limited technology. Yet the idiots still followed the Praydians.
My hands were up in the air, and I wriggled my wrists teasingly. “I’m safe! I promise. I’m just looking to give you a good time in exchange for a bit of food.” I winked, hoping it looked sexy. I’d never actually practiced the move.
His eyes drifted down, focusing for a second longer on my nipples, and at the slit high on my thigh.
“I’m with the other girls,” I said, hoping that would help.
“Relax,” he said, his voice gruff. “Put your hands down.”
I lowered my arms, taking note at the disappointed look on his face when my boobs were no longer stretched taut.
“Service me now, and I’ll take you back in there to eat at the end of my shift,” he said. His eyes darted back and forth between me and the direction of the base. I knew he had no intention of paying up afterward. But then again, I had no intention of paying up now.
I caressed my breasts, plucking at my nipples with a moan. Like a sex-starved teen, his jaw dropped and a bulge quickly grew in his fatigues. “It would really help if I could see what you have in there,” I said sweetly.
He unbuckled the utilitarian belt at his waist, dropping it gently to the ground. I had to school my features to abort the smile wanting to break over my face. The idiot just laid down his gun.
His fingers moved to his waistband to unsnap his pants, and I struck quickly, pushing him over the ravine and into the fast-moving creek that dropped about thirty feet below. He bellowed all the way down.
Once the splash quieted him, I took a look at what he’d left behind. I would have enjoyed picking his pockets before the drop, but the discarded belt would have to do instead. I quickly went through it, pulling out the gun, his knife, a sharpener, and a handy, folding set of binoculars. Talk about a gold mine.
I quickly tossed the empty belt over the ravine also. If someone found the body, I’d want them to think it came loose naturally, coughing up all the contents in the tumble through the rushing water.
Then, I placed the gun in a spot between the roots of the tree that was growing through the topsoil, and covered it with leaves. I hung the binoculars on a branch, and shoved it up out of the way. The knife embedded in the trunk of the tree quite easily. It was sharp as hell. Only the best for our military.
Afterward, I waltzed right up to the front gate. The guard manning it narrowed his eyes, but watched my sultry walk with an appreciative eye. Before I reached him, four soldiers came from inside the base, talking quickly.
“Cavanaugh’s not responding. We’re heading out to search. Keep sharp in case of foul play.”
The gatekeeper nodded, and the four soldiers left without a glance in my direction.
Apparently, I wasn’t all that.
“Hi,” I said brightly. “I’m with the girls brought in about an hour ago. They need an extra…hand.” I whispered the last word.
“The barracks are down on the right,” he said, motioning with his head.
Ahh, but where are the detention facilities? Since I couldn’t ask, I turned left as soon as he turned back to face the outer perimeter again. I slid behind the building, in the space between it and the wall. I walked alongside the edge, counting footsteps to note how long the building was. It was huge, nearly the length of the entire base. When I reached the end, I could hear raised voices around the corner.
“He hasn’t checked in, and no one can get him on the radio. Troop C-300 went to his last station to see if they can find him. We’re not changing shifts until we hear something.”
“What was that?” A different voice spoke, and then they all paused.
My heart pounded, stressed that I was unable to see what was going on. But I heard a slight static and realized he was listening into a radio.
“His body just washed up in the river. Go,” a voice commanded.
I heard footsteps scuffling, and I peeked my head out. Four men were jogging out in a straight path, and the one still at the doorway had his back to me as he watched them leave. I held my breath, took a quick peek inside, and slid into the open doorway right behind him. He was so distracted, he never noticed.
The inside hallway was darkened, the faint glow of amber lights lit along the floor. The first room had a window on the door, and I peeked through it.
It was an office. No one was inside. I imagine the four who left probably sat there. Softly, I pulled the knob open, stepped in, and closed the door with a small click. Quickly, I riffled through the drawers, and found what I was looking for.
A map, showing which prisoners were housed in which cells. I’d found the blue print of the detention facility.
I scanned the penciled-in names.
Ria Abeyta, cell 421.
Gerry Brooks, cell 512.
I slipped the logsheet back in the drawer and chanted the cell numbers as I looked around for keys. From out in the hall, voices rumbled.
Panic hit my midsection, and I gulped, nearly choking. There was nowhere to hide. The desks were open-style. I’d be seen squatting underneath. There were no closets. Not even a damn plant.
Suddenly, the door opened and I stared with wide eyes at the two men who entered.
They looked confused but not concerned. That should have been my first clue. The looks changed, as they leered at me, taking in my short skirt and tan tank.
“How did you get in here?”
Before I could respond, the other one spoke at nearly the same time. “I thought we were supposed to come get you? Well, you’re here now.” He looked at his buddy. “I’ll take her.”
“Alright,” he agreed and sat down at the desk I’d just vacated.
I smiled, trying not to look as baffled as I felt. I followed the soldier back out into the hallway where we walked to the center of the building. I studied the door numbers. Even numbers on one side, odd on the other. I forced myself to remain expressionless when we passed 421 and 512. Once we reached the center of the hallway, the area grew bigger, like a small waiting area. There was a table, and a trap door…in the floor.
“Your choice,” the soldier said. “You can have a little something to relax you and spur things along, or you can go at it straight up. I realize a working girl is used to screwing anything that walks, but this one isn’t pretty.”
This one?
“Can I have a little more information, please?”
His eyes darted quickly around the room, but as expected, we were alone. “I’m not sure exactly what he is. I mean, what type he is. All I know is: for some odd reason, when a woman fucks ‘em, they lose strength. Some real Samson and Delilah shit. Drugs have no effect on him, and since we’re transporting him tomorrow, we need him too weak to attack.”
My heart pounded. I was supposed to fuck an alien? It might have been better to have allowed them to catch me in the office.
“This’ll help take the edge off.” From a beaker on the table, he poured a small amount of liquid into a shot glass.
I’d never drank alcohol before, but if I was going to do this, hopefully it would help. I downed it one swallow, feeling the fiery burn all the way down my throat and to my belly.
The soldier smiled. “You can’t believe how much that’ll help,” he said cryptically. “I’ll come get you in the morning. We’re taking him then, and you’ll be paid and free to go.”
I began to feel woozy. I shook my head to clear it, slowly aware that the alcohol was still burning, but this time, it went clear past my stomach. It was reaching all the way down to the triangle between my legs. I licked my lips. They felt swollen. My nipples hardened into tight pebbles and poked through the material of my top.
The soldier lifted the trap door and motioned for me to enter. I climbed down the rope ladder, and he followed. In a corner of the basement cell, there was a cage. Inside it was a man sitting on the floor with wrist cuffs attached by chains to the wall. The guard unlocked the door, staring down at my breasts as he pocketed the key. “What a waste,” he murmured.
“Are you sure we can’t just say I did and I do you instead?” I whispered, sidling close to him. I rubbed my nipples across his chest and fought against moaning. That part was real. Whatever the fiery liquid was, it acted like an instant aphrodisiac. Wet heat licked at my core, and in my drunken state, I felt wanton.
For a moment, he looked tempted, snaking an arm around me to pull me even closer. Then he shook his head. “No. And make sure you fuck him a few times. We want him nice and wore out by the morning.”
The chains clanged as the creature moved. He snarled, deep and terrifying as it echoed in the dank smelling room. What the hell had I gotten into?
“His name’s Miack, if you want to scream it out while you’re faking it…though I guess you won’t need to fake it after all, will you?” The soldier snickered.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I sighed, stepped back from him and saluted. I turned and walked into the cage, hearing the door click behind me. His footsteps thumped heavily as he left. Light shone in the room as the trap door lifted and closed, and then I was alone with an alien.
I’d never seen an alien up close before.
The creature sat on the ground, his wrists shackled to the chains in the wall. He was huge, easily over six feet. There wasn’t a lot of light. His eyes seemed to be a bright, glowing green. Then he blinked, and I stared at his face, bemused with what I saw. His eyes changed to yellow. Slowly, he blinked again, and they were red. Not only did they change color, but the pupils changed shape also. Magic eyes. In my drunken state, they didn’t seem scary.
The rest of him did.
He growled at me, and the sound emanated from somewhere deep inside him. Anger rolled off him in waves. He was definitely one of the dark’s scary creatures.
I sat down opposite him, swaying slightly, so I shook my head to clear it. Surely I was seeing things with his flipping eye color.
He had some sort of spiky things that went up his arms from the wrists, in a straight row, but feathered back toward his body. The same thick spikes started at his hairline, moving down the back of his head, but I couldn’t see where they ended. I’d have assumed they went down his spine—but then how would he sit? Were they soft, or stiff? I’d imagine stiff, as some sort of defense mechanism.
As far as buff went, I could see why this creature inspired fear. There wasn’t an ounce of soft flesh on him. He was all muscled hardness, like a polished bodybuilder. Lowering my eyes, I quickly glanced at the strange, alien material of his charcoal gray pants. They were molded to muscular thighs, the sight of which had me licking my lips.
The boozy shot wasn’t a bad thing.
Next, I noticed his skin. It was beautiful—a light green covered by an iridescent gold. They were in even squares, about four inches wide, almost like plates. The plates would be too big for my body, but this creature was massive, even sitting down. His biceps were easily the size of my skull.
His hair grew alongside the spikes that centered on his head, so it was an original Mohawk type of hairstyle. I wondered how they cut their hair with those spikes embedded.
He’d stopped his snarling and was staring at me, too. He seemed to be breathing deeply. Was he smelling me? If so, he didn’t seem to mind too much as he wasn’t quite as aggressive as he was when the soldier was present.
I ignored the rising tide in my body. It felt as though liquid fire was sloshing around inside of me. It swooshed from my nipples to my groin, and I felt achingly empty inside. A little warmer now, my temperature seemed to have risen but not unbearably so.
Now that I had gotten over the initial shock of seeing my first alien, he wasn’t too alarming. He was dangerous, for sure. But he was also chained. That gave a girl a sense of power.
His arms were safely cuffed, attached to chains in the wall. At the opposite end of the cage were more cuffs for his feet, though they weren’t in use.
I breathed through my nose. An overwhelming urge washed over me. I needed to explore every inch of those hard muscles, trace the odd patches of skin, pull off the pants of the strange uniform to see what was underneath them.
I shivered. With a man that size, he ought to be well-endowed.
Chapter Five
“Well, this is just awkward, isn’t it?” I breathed. My body tingled, alight with awareness. My cent
er throbbed, nipples still pebbled against the soft, worn cotton of my tank. The friction of the material rubbing against them felt exquisite.
“That drink may have been more than alcohol,” I said. “I’ve never felt so…odd. You and I are supposed to get it on. It weakens you, they said. Wouldn’t it be funny if they got it wrong?” I laughed. “But I’m actually here to rescue a couple of people. Voila!” From the pocket of my thin, cotton skirt, I produced the key to the cage I’d collected earlier when I sidled up to the guard.
Something akin to admiration shone in the alien’s eyes. What did he think, I was just a drunken whore? Well, of course, he thought that. That’s what I was pretending to be.
Again, I shook my head. I had been talking to myself like I was two separate beings. Good Lord, I was beyond wasted.
“So in a couple of minutes, when they think we’re good and getting it on, I’m going to sneak out and grab my peeps. So don’t worry about it. You and I can just pretend we did it.” I tossed the key to the edge of the gate, where I could unlock it later.
“You’ll be nice and strong when they come for you. If I were you, I’d pretend otherwise though.”
Finally, the strange creature responded. It was unlike any language I’d ever heard, a guttural sounding series of clicks that had a pattern to them.
I stared at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t know what I’m saying either, do you?”
Just then a whopping heat jerked through my body, arching my back as it took my breath. “Holy shit,” I breathed. “What the hell was that?”
But I knew what it was. It was whatever I’d drunk. The drug had worked its way through my body, and every cell tingled with sensation. I felt completely separated from the real world. The wanton urges were growing in intensity.
“This could be a problem,” I said.
He responded in another series of his clicks and strange words, his strange eyes glittering in the dark.