Living among the Stars (Sky Riders #2)

by Rebecca Lorino Pond

  His response was to reach out and jerk the gag out of her mouth.

  “Geez, thanks,” she said sarcastically.

  “What were you doing on Nimbus 3 all alone anyway,” he asked when he decided to sit on the seat next to her.

  “I told you, I wasn’t alone. My husband…mate was nearby. We got separated by the crowd. He’s probably searching for me now and you guys are going to be in a lot of trouble if he finds me with you two.” Maybe a treat might make her captors think twice about doing anything else stupid with her.

  Her captor let his massive head fall back as he roared out a laugh so thick it didn’t sound human-like. “Do you think I really care about this supposed mate? I am not scared of anything, much less, your invisible man. He should have taken more care with you, if what you say is true. A lone female is a prime target for slavers.” The smile he gave Kelly scared the crap out of her.

  She cringed back into her seat to get as far away as possible from the giant. The man was looking at her as if he was about to gobble her up any second. “Why don’t you just avoid any trouble and set me free. I won’t say a word about you guys or where you are headed. No harm is done, right?”

  “Oh, oh, oh. You sure can make me laugh! I would keep you around if you weren’t worth so much. The price we plan on asking for you will feed us for a year plus fuel up this piece of shit a few times.” He thumped his fist on the roof of the cabin.

  Her heart sank right down to the pit of her belly. “Where…where are you going to sell…sell me?”

  “About a day’s ride from here, is a small traders’ moon where we are planning on stopping. It’s not a well-known trading moon, but a lot of slavers stop there to make purchases or sell goods, and you are a precious commodity we need to get rid of quickly.” He stood back up then arched his back.

  Kelly watched every move the giant Cyclops made. She no longer feared the pair harming her, but rather, what they planned on doing with her. If Kharis didn’t find her buy the time they reached this trading moon, any hope of him finding her could be lost. There was no telling who or what might buy her and where she might end up. For all she knew, she could end up on the opposite side of the universe!

  The giant left her to her own thoughts and returned to his front seat. The hours ticked by as the trio flew through space at an ungodly speed. Kelly dosed now and then only to awaken by laughter coming from the duo driving the ship. The smell of food awoke her next, making her own stomach growl in anticipation. Thankfully, she was given some of food and a collapsible bag of water to wash it all down with.

  Nothing out of the ordinary occurred until they neared a small blue moon. Kelly had no idea how much time had truly elapsed, but her heart sank at the sight of the moon. Kharis had yet to find her nor had she heard anything from Parath since she left Kharis’ ship. Number one was speaking to someone on the moon, asking for clearance to land. Once given permission, the rickety ship quickly descended to the surface and landed with a hard thud.

  Number two was first up out of his seat. He untied her from her seat and allowed her stand up and stretch before he secured her hands behind her back once again. Number one release the airlock on the door then waited for them before he exited in front of them.

  A short length of chain was attached to her bindings and was used to tug her along behind the walking giants. The moon itself didn’t appear to be very busy. A few individual here and there walked passed them in the opposite direction, giving her odd stares and glances. Kelly took in her surrounding as she was lead through the small town. She was looking for any way to escape and hid until she could get in contact with Kharis.

  “Come on. Quit stalling,” Number two gruffly said when he gave her chain a hard tug.

  The momentum set her off balance and caused her to stumble. She would have gone down, but Number one caught her and set her straight.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled to him.

  “Umm,” Number one replied.

  They continued to walk through the town until they came upon a dilapidated building with a small porch on the front. A warped wooden sign bared the name of something, but she was unable to read what it said, even though she could guess what it meant. Inside the building, Number two kept hold of her while Number one approached the counter and rang the bell. A few seconds later, a strange looking creature emerged from behind a curtain. Her eyes widen in surprise as the creature neared Number one then waited for him to state what he wanted.

  Kelly had time to study the strange being. It was like nothing she had seen so far in space and was quite interested to know what it was. The creature’s blue skin glimmered as if small flecks of glitter were sitting on its skin. Four arms, two which were spread on the counter, stayed still as Number one spoke in a low tone. Every now and then, four sets of eyes glance her way as the two continued to chat. The alien’s eyes were a beautiful shade of sky blue and had long, thick lashes surrounding them. If she had to guess, she would say the alien was female, but she couldn’t be positive.

  The discussion ended when Number one walked back to where she stood with Number two. “The owner is having a sake tomorrow before the morning meal. She offered to take possession of our goods, but I refused. I’m not about to let her out of my sight.”

  “I agree. Where can we get a room?”

  Great, just freaking great! Now I get to spend the night in a room with these guys! Kelly listened intently to her captors.

  “There’s a hotel about a block away. Let’s go there and find out if they got a room. We can take turns watching her until tomorrow.” Number one walked towards the door.

  Number two followed close behind his partner and when he realized she hadn’t moved, he gave the chain an extra hard yank causing her to stumble forward.

  “Damn! You don’t have to pull so hard!” she yelled.

  “Just shut up and come on.”

  Reluctantly, she followed behind. She wanted to avoid being dragged through the street, so she did her best to keep up with the long-legged men. It wasn’t far down the street when they veered into a two-storied building. It reminded her of a hotel found out in the old west when the United States was still a young country. The entire moon actually reminded her of the old west. As far as she could tell, the small moon was lagging behind in technology.

  They entered the dimly light hotel and walked up to the desk. Another female, this time a relatively ordinary looking one, sat behind the wooden counter as she greeted them.

  “Hello. Need a room?”

  “Yes,” Number two said.

  “For the three of you or do you need two rooms?” The woman looked around the two guys to get a look at her.

  “No, just the one. She’s to be sold in the morning.” Number one nodded in her direction.

  “Oh, ok. Sure thing.” The female worked quickly to check them in and hand over the room key.

  After finding their room and locking door behind them, Kelly sat on the edge of the bed. It felt horrible to be in a helpless situation and unable to find a way out. She felt like crying but didn’t want to give her kidnappers the satisfaction on seeing her cry. She had to keep it together if she had any hope of getting out of this alive.

  “I’m going to find us something to eat. Make sure you watch her,” Number two instructed Number one.

  “Not a problem. Get us something to drink too. It’s been way too long since I had any juju juice.”

  “I’ll what I can do. Let her get cleaned up too. The better she looks, the better the price we’ll get.” Number Two left the door then.

  “You heard the man. Go get cleaned up,” Number one said as he pointed in the direction of open bathroom door.

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think that will be a bit hard with my hands tied behind my back?”

  “Oh…didn’t think about that.” He walked over to her and released the binds.

  She instantly felt the tingling in her arms stop as her circulation resumed its standard course. “Thanks,�
� she said dryly.

  “Wash your clothes out while you are in there then wrap yourself in this.” He handed her the thin blanket that had been on the bed a moment ago.

  “I don’t think so, buddy. I am not about to get naked and sit around in a blanket while you two freaks gawk at me!”

  Number one obviously didn’t like what she said because he was up in her face in an instant and pushing her into the bathroom. “Get in there and get cleaned.” He poked her in the chest with each word he spit out.

  “Ok, ok. No need to get testy!” She stepped into the bathroom then slammed the door in the big goon’s face. “Asshole!” she mumbled under her breath. Hanging on the wall over the sink was a cracked mirror that reflected back a double image of herself. She moved closer to get a better look at herself and found that she look horrible. Dirt was smudge across her face and she had the beginnings of purple bags underneath her eyes. She had to admit even she wouldn’t buy herself in this condition.

  A short time later, after she finally figured out how to turn the shower on, she emerged from the bathroom clean and wrapped in the blanket given to her to wear. Her not so friendly captor was laying on the bed, stretch out as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Feel better,” he asked.

  She parked her clean body in the only chair in the room. “Yeah, thanks.” She wanted it to show sarcastic, but she figured she had better keep a civil tongue. She didn’t want to piss these guys off and end being sold to whore house or something.

  “There’s some food on the table. Help yourself.” He took a bite of his food that was on the plate balanced on his stomach.

  “Not hungry,” she said after took a quick glance at the food sitting on the table. Nothing looked appetizing to her and truthfully, made her stomach turn.

  “Your loss,” he said matter-of-factly.

  The evening progressed much, in the same way, as on the ship. She sat in the chair, bored to tears, and the big guy stayed on the bed, stuffing his mouth with as much food as he could get in it. Number two returned again well after dark and took up his turn as her guard.

  Kelly came to the conclusion, she like being with Number one better. At least he didn’t stare at her continuously like this guy did. It gave her creeps so watch this guy watch her as if she were a piece a meet ready to be devoured.

  “Why do you keep staring at me,” she had had enough of his looks and wanted to know.

  “Because I can,” Number two stated.

  “Well, I would like you to stop. It’s distracting.”

  Number two looked at her for a second then burst out into laughter. “I got to say you earthlings sure can make me laugh. The last one we had, I was reluctant to sell because he kept us laughing the entire time we had him.”

  “You…you had another human? Like me?” This struck her as unusual. When had her kidnappers come across another human and what happened to him?

  “Sure. We find one every now and then. Humans are worth a lot of credits. How do you think I was able to afford this place?” He spread his thick arms out as he gestured to the dump they were staying in.

  Kelly snorted then said, “Yeah real classy place.”

  Number two glared at her but didn’t say another word. The rest of the evening they spent in silence as she stared out the window. She figured out an escape plan if only she could distract the idiot long enough for her to slip out the window.

  The window to their room overlooked the main street of the town. She had noticed shortly after sitting down in a chair near the window that the lock on the window wasn’t engaged. All she had to do was push the window up and jump out onto the roof that covered the porch. It would easy enough for her to ease herself over the edge of the roof then drop down onto the street below. It wasn’t as if she’d never jumped a fence or had to climb over something as she pursued a criminal back on Earth. The hardest part was getting away from her two goons.

  Hours later, Number one still hadn’t returned. Good thing was, Number two was growing tired, at least that’s what it looked like from where she sat. She had gotten up a couple of times to use the bathroom in order to scope out any other escape routes, but she determined the window was her best chance. Sad thing was, everytime she moved an inch Number two was watching her. Perhaps she should pretend to fall asleep then maybe he might do the same thing.

  It was her best chance to convince the man watching her, so she feigned a big yawn and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. She got up one last time to check on her clothing which was drip drying in the bathroom. The items were still pretty wet, but she did slip on her bra and panties. She would have to leave the rest behind because if Number two went into the bathroom anytime soon and find her clothing missing, he would know she was up to something.

  When she came out of the bathroom, Number two was just about asleep. He was struggling to keep his eyes open as he watched her return to her chair and sit. Her heart hammered in her chest as she waited patiently for him to fall asleep. She drew her feet up under her bottom and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She propped her head up with her hand and closed her eyes. Her eyes blinked nice and slow in an attempt to pretend she was falling asleep. An hour had passed before she heard the low snoring sound coming from the man on the bed. She prayed that Number one didn’t decide to pick that moment to return to the room.

  As quickly as she could, she eased out of the chair and over to the window. Glancing over her shoulder, she assured herself her captor was still sleeping soundly. She held her breath then and pulled up on the window that was the only obstacle in her way of escaping. At first, the window wouldn’t budge. Was it permanently sealed shut? Maybe it had been a long time since it was last opened and was just stuck. This time when she pulled up on the frame, she used all of her strength. It popped open with a loud which just about stopped her heart! She cringed as she waited for an attack to come from behind her. But, nothing happened. Another quick glance over her shoulder revealed that Number two was still soundly asleep and hadn’t even moved a muscle.

  She took a deep, steadying breath and raised the glass the rest of the way up. Dropping the blanket, she lifted one leg at a time up over the ledge and out onto the roof. She reached back through the open window to retrieve the blanket. She wasn’t about to make a spectacle of herself by running through the town nearly naked.

  Just as she was about to ease the window back down, the door to their room swung open and in walk Number one. That was her cue to high tail it across the roof. As she neared the edge, she heard shouting voices coming from the open window as a light was flick on.

  “You stupid fucking idiot, she’s escaping!” Number one screamed when he leaned out the window and saw her.

  Without any further hesitation, she used her arms to lower her body as far to the ground as she could reach then let herself down. The force of the drop caused her knees to buckle and her rear end to hit the dirt.

  “Crap,” she uttered as she scrambled to get to her feet. Clutching the blanket in her hand, she took off running. She needed to find someplace to hide! She darted down a dark street and continued to run as fast as she could. At least being in the police force had helped her to keep in shape. Otherwise, she might not have made it this far.

  Off in the distance she could hear shouts as her pursuers raced to find her. She smiled to herself when she thought about how dumb they really were. After she had taken her shower, neither one of her kidnappers had bothered to tie her back up. MISTAKE! They were so sure of themselves that they had overlooked an important detail in making sure she wouldn’t escape. It was like watching of those old TV shows where the criminals do stupid things! No worry to her though, it all worked out to her advantage.

  She had weaved her way up and down several streets before she dared to slow down. When she did, all was quiet. No shouting voices or pounding feet could be heard travelling on the cold night air. She sucked in deep gulps of air as she tried to slow her erratic beating hea
rt. She had gotten away! Now all she had to do was find a hiding spot for a few hours to make sure her guys didn’t find her and drag her back to the hotel. There was no telling what they might do to her if they got their hands on her again.

  The street she was standing on was so dark, it was hard for her to see where she was going. She used a light at the end of the road as a guide, workinging her way down to it. When she reached it, it was attached to the one place she had wanted to avoid, the market. Dread washed over her when she realized she had run to the one place where she was to be sold in a few hours. But as she stood there thinking, the market would be the one spot her captors probably wouldn’t bother to look for her. Hiding near the market might actually be a good idea!

  She crept closer to the building she had been in earlier that day to search for a place to hide. She licked out when she came across a small opening that lead underneath the porch. With one last look around, she dropped to her knees and crawled into the tight opening. She had to wiggle her hips a bit in order to slip through the crack, but she was skinny enough to pull it off.