TAKEN: Journey to a New Home

by Dillion, Taylor

  “Stop it! Just stop it!” Sienna demanded as she, Samantha and Rose rushed to intervene.

  “Just get away from her,” Rose demanded as she pushed him back. “What is wrong with you? You can’t treat people that way!”

  “She isn’t a person. She’s a thing,” he growled at Rose. “Now get out of my way.”

  Rose and Sienna stood firm against another attack. Taylor joined them as Samantha knelt to check on the woman. The three women glared at him and stood their ground.

  “Sir, the civilians are interfering,” he called out.

  “This is General Pearson - Move them and wake her, damn it!”

  Natalie and Jasmine who had awakened now came to stand with others.

  “He said to wake her not kick her, you prick,” Rose growled at him.

  “Private, stand down!” this came from across the room. “Ma’am,” he said addressing Sienna, “can you see if you can wake her, please?”

  “Samantha?” Sienna didn’t take her eyes off the soldier.

  “Ashaa, Ashaa,” Samantha gently shook her. “Ashaa, can you hear me?” She gently pushed the woman’s silky hair from her face. “Ashaa?”

  The woman’s eyes slowly opened. Samantha gasped. Her eyes were metallic gold and her pupils were long and pointed on the ends like a cat’s.

  “Are you okay?” Samantha asked. The woman winced as she sat up. “I’m sorry he kicked you in the back before we could get to you. Natalie, can you get a water bottle from the box?”

  Natalie returned with the water and stood glaring at the soldier once more. Samantha opened the bottle and gave it to her.

  “Sir, she’s awake now,” the soldier called out while glaring at the wall of women in his path.

  “Ashaa, see if you can break the lock on the cell,” the General’s voice shouted from the other room.

  Ashaa sipped more water but didn’t stand.

  “Sir, she’s ignoring you,” the soldier relayed, glaring at the women between him and Ashaa.

  “Then make her comply,” the general ordered.

  “Move,” he told the women. When they didn’t, he took a menacing step toward them. He threw an unexpected punch at Sienna and sent her tumbling back over Samantha and Ashaa. Ashaa was on her feet faster than Samantha had ever seen anyone move. Ashaa kicked out one of her long legs and her bare foot connected with the soldier’s jaw. He slammed back into the wall of bars and slid to the floor unconscious. Ashaa turned and came back to where Samantha was helping Sienna into a sitting position.

  “I’m sorry he struck you,” Ashaa said quietly.

  “It isn’t your fault,” Sienna told her.

  “Isn’t it? You were defending me.”

  “I would have defended anyone being treated that way. It was unnecessary and callous,” Sienna assured her.

  Ashaa blinked her gold eyes and smiled. “You do realize that I am not completely human, right?”

  “The eyes and the green nails are kind of a giveaway. But it doesn’t matter I would have even defended orange and fuzzy over there in the corner from that kind of treatment. And he, she or it kind of gives me the willies with all the tentacles,” Sienna replied and smiled at her.

  “Ashaa, could you please try the door?” Major Roberts’ voice interrupted them. Ashaa stood and went to cell door. She closely examined what she could see of the lock. She stepped back and kicked hard. Noise reverberated through the room. The door stood firm.

  “I cannot open the lock as the mechanism is unknown to me and metal is solid,” she reported to the major.

  “Thank you, Ashaa,” the major nodded to her from the other cell.

  She then returned to Sienna and her group. Ashaa eyed Sienna.

  “You’re getting a black eye.”

  “It’ll match the headache I have,” Sienna told her.

  “If you don’t object, I could help,” Ashaa said quietly.

  “Why would I object to help?”

  “They fear me,” she indicated the four women cowering in the corner.

  “Well, I would appreciate any help,” Sienna said quietly.

  Ashaa reached out and placed her hand gently on Sienna’s cheek. Her hand was soft and cool. It gradually began to warm. The heat moved up Sienna’s cheek and the pain and pulsing began to ease. They sat that way for nearly five minutes. When Ashaa moved her hand, Sienna opened her eyes and smiled.

  “Wow, I don’t even have a headache now,” she grinned touched her own cheek. “Thanks!”

  Ashaa smiled back at her. “You’re welcome.”

  “Why do they keep calling you ‘The Ashaa’ instead of just Ashaa?” Rose questioned.

  “It stands for Alien Species Hybrid specimen aa,” she replied, “or Ashaa for short.”

  “So does that mean you were the first?” Jasmine wanted to know.

  “No, they started with the single letter A and worked their way through the alphabet several times such as A little a, A little b then B little a, B little b,” Ashaa explained. “I am the specimen labeled with two little a’s.”

  “That’s a lot of specimens,” Jasmine said softly with horror in her voice.

  “What happened to the rest?” Blanca asked.

  “Most died as a result of the tests.”

  “What kind of tests?” Blanca asked apparently oblivious to the horror of the revelation.

  “The kind to discover what would kill us.” Ashaa answered in quiet matter of fact voice.

  ***

  Sienna woke hours later to the screaming. She looked around to check all of her group now including Ashaa were present. They were also all awake. The screaming cut off shortly after all of the humans and most of the other creatures were awake. The screaming had sounded like a male human.

  “Major, is everyone in your room accounted for?” Colonel Derrins voice rang out.

  “Yes, Sir,” he responded after a quick survey of the cells in the room.

  There was more talking from outside their room that Sienna could not hear what was being said only that voices were conversing.

  “One of Lt. Walker’s group was taken. A lab worker,” the colonel’s voice informed them.

  “Why was he screaming, sir?” the major called back.

  “We don’t know. We just don’t know.”

  A few hours later the little green aliens brought around shallow pans they pushed through the slot in the bottom of the door. The pan contained chunks of a substance that looked gray and brick like. No one moved.

  “Food you think?” Natalie raised an eyebrow.

  Scurrying sounds caused them to turn and see the furry orange tentacled creature move out of the corner for the first time. It peered into the pan and chose two chunks of the grey stuff and scurried back to the corner. The creature began to chew on one of the blocks.

  “Food,” Sienna agreed laughing softly. She walked to the pan and picked it up. She carried it to the four women who had chosen to sit away from Ashaa. They each chose a piece. She then walked to Private Jennings where he sat sulking not far from the women. He was sporting one very black eye and serious looking bruise on his jaw and cheek from Ashaa’s foot. He glared at her and took two pieces. She simply smiled and walked away from him. She smiled knowing he was still trying to figure out how SHE didn’t have a black eye or bruises. She’d never tell him and she noticed the other women were also trying not to have anything to do with him so they evidently hadn’t told either. Back at her group everyone chose a piece and Taylor and Jasmine passed out the water bottles they had refilled from the tap in wall while Sienna had passed the pan around.

  “Ugh,” Natalie commented. “It tastes like really dry overcooked oatmeal.”

  Sienna wrinkled her nose but bit into the chunk anyway. She was hungry.

  “I miss the suPonicks,” Rose lamented. “At least the food was pretty good.”

  “I second that,” Samantha said as she chewed on her chunk. Everyone decided to eat a second and Samantha asked the other group of women if th
ey wanted a second piece as there seemed to be plenty. One of the women came over and extracted four more pieces eyeing Ashaa warily as she did. She went back to her group quickly.

  “Why are they afraid of you?” Blanca rudely blurted out.

  Ashaa smiled, “They have seen things done to me that would have killed a human easily and didn’t affect me or simply injured me in a way that I recovered from. It makes them afraid I guess.”

  “Like what?”

  “Blanca!” Sienna chastised.

  “It’s alright, Sienna,” Ashaa replied. “I once was subjected to 100,000 volts of electricity and it didn’t even make me flinch. It takes something like a beheading or bleeding to death to kill one of the hybrids like myself.” The women gaped at her.

  “How many of you were at the base when we were taken?” asked Jasmine.

  “Only one. Dr. Westing was only allowed to grow one of us at time from the frozen embryos,” Ashaa replied.

  “Where did they get the Alien part of you?” Rose wanted to know.

  “Roswell, stupid,” Blanca taunted.

  “Actually, no, the craft crashed on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific near Guam in 1973,” Ashaa supplied.

  Rose grinned at Blanca and stuck her tongue out at her.

  “Were there any survivors?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes, one survived only a few days but the other lived several years after the military rescued them from the island. He was killed trying to escape,” Ashaa said softly. “His name was Usholt. His DNA was used to create me.”

  “So he was your father,” Rose said sadly.

  “I suppose you could call him that but I didn’t know him. He had been dead long before I was created.”

  “How old are you?” Rose queried.

  “I am twenty one years of age. They pretty much know what will kill us so now they want to determine what we’re capable of as we age which is why they haven’t killed me.” Ashaa’s statement was matter of fact without emotion.

  “Doesn’t that make you mad?”

  “What would be the point of getting angry, Jasmine. It would not change my circumstance and probably would have gotten me put down.

  Sudden screams interrupted the discussion. They were animal sounds of pain and agony that brought out goose bumps on the humans and had the large reptile like creatures snarling and throwing themselves at the bars of the cage. They roared furiously. The noise was deafening and terrifying. Despite their size and fierce appearance, the bearcats as Rose had dubbed them cowered in the corner. The blue aliens in the cage with the other group of humans seemed to be sobbing. The sounds stopped as quickly as they had started. Only the angry roar of the reptile creatures and the clanging of the animals testing the cage sounded now. Gradually, even these sounds waned. Sadness and fear settled over the room with only a few sounds from the animals but even they were mostly quiet.

  Chapter 4

  Long hours had passed when several of their current captors returned with food again. The tiny beings were only about four feet tall; grass green with slim bodies that held heads which seemed too big for their bodies and big black eyes. But despite their stature there was something sinister about them. Perhaps it was the huge unblinking black eyes. Sienna wasn’t sure they even had eyelids. The two waited patiently at the door holding the pan. Sienna realized they wanted the first pan back. She stood and returned the pan to the slot. One of the small beings pulled out the empty and the second slid the new pan into the slot. The pan was filled with the same gray bricks as the first time. One of the two grinned at her and she instinctively moved back. His mouth was full of sharp needle-like teeth. The two moved the cart on to the next cell. Sienna pulled the pan out of the slot and started toward the others.

  First she offered the contents to the creature still hiding in the corner. The creature was only about three feet tall and looked like a furry octopus except it had more than eight tentacles. This close to it Sienna could see that the orange fur had swirls of darker orange running through it and it had light green eyes. She smiled at it without showing her teeth. Mindful of the teeth she had just viewed herself. The creature stared at her balefully for a moment and then reached into the pan for two pieces of the food. She then went to the four women who still seemed intent on avoiding Ashaa although she had done nothing to indicate she was a threat to them.

  Private Jennings glared at her as she approached him.

  “Why did you give that thing first choice?” he sneered at her.

  “Just be glad I didn’t leave you for last,” she retorted.

  He snatched three pieces and glared again. Sienna chose to ignore him. Jasmine and Natalie filled the water bottles from the tap again. Taylor watched the orange creature turn its own upside down and stare at the empty bottle with a forlorn expression. She stood and approached the small creature.

  “Would you like me to get you more water?” she spoke to it with a soft gentle tone not wanting to frighten it. She crouched to its level holding out her hand. The creature watched her for a moment then gave her the bottle. She went to the tap, filled then returned the bottle. It watched her for a moment and then retrieved the bottle from her allowing the tentacle to brush her palm. It was soft and warm and tickled her palm. As she went to move away, the tentacle touched her hand again. She looked the creature and heard a soft whisper, “zanksss.”

  “You’re welcome,” she told it and returned to her group.

  “It spoke to you?” Rose eyed the creature.

  “Yes.”

  “Cool,” Rose said and turned to her meal.

  “Why did you help it?” Blanca grouched. “It’s creepy.”

  “So are you, but we don’t hold it against you,” Rose told her with a grin.

  Blanca shot her the bird.

  “Enough! You two be nice and eat,” Sienna chastised them. Rose had the grace to look remorseful and mutter, “Sorry.” Blanca didn’t comment but started eating.

  Again unending hours of nothing weighed on Sienna. This cell was even smaller and there was no way to even pace. The relative quiet was broken by what sounded like a human voice yelling. It was too far away to make out words but the distress in it was clear. Sienna thought it was male as it began to scream in pain. After a few horrifying moments it finally cut off.

  “Major, check in,” the voice of Colonel Derrins commanded.

  “Everyone in my room is counted. They fed us and left,” he responded.

  Sobbing could be heard in various levels and distances.

  “What the hell are they doing?” the major asked to no one in particular.

  After a few moments of conversation outside the room, the colonel’s voice sounded again.

  “Another from the Lt.’s group,” he said. “Private Nielson.”

  Silence reigned again for hours broken by only the animal noises.

  “I have to pee again,” Samantha complained. Sienna smiled who knew she’d ever wish for something as simple as bathroom. All the women stood and went to the waste receptacle. It was sort of a box with hole it that you sat on and did your thing and then a laser moved over you and cleaned you. No paper but no door either. The women formed a wall around Samantha with their backs to her and glared at Private Jennings who was leering as though he could see through them to Samantha. Each woman took a turn and replaced the next woman in the wall afterwards.

  “Would you like a turn while we’re up?” Sienna asked the other group of women.

  They looked Ashaa for a moment and then at the private. They stood as one and came over and joined the wall of women and took a turn. After everyone took a turn they went to tap in the wall and washed their hands out of habit since the waste receptacle was hands free.

  “Thanks. This is Holly and Tabitha. I’m Wendy,” one of the younger women began introducing them. “That’s Dr. Beatrice Martin,” she said indicated the older woman who was walking away without a word. Dr. Martin turned to glare at her.

  “They always told us
the Ashaa was extremely dangerous and not to interact with her,” Holly said watching Ashaa who simply smiled.

  “Somehow I think she’s the least of our worries right now,” Sienna responded.

  The women sat together now except for the doctor who continued to glare at them.

  “What did you do at the base?” Rose braved the question.

  “The three of us are vet techs. We feed and care for the animals there in the lab,” Holly replied. “Dr. Martin is the veterinarian.”

  “What kind of animals?” Natalie wanted to know.

  Suddenly, Dr. Martin was standing over them. “You’re not allowed to answer their questions or tell them anything,” she ground out. “You signed a confidentiality agreement. You could wind up in prison.”

  “Doc, look around,” Wendy smiled and raised her eyebrows at the older woman.

  The older women stalked off as they all snickered and Ashaa laughed out loud.

  “Ashaa, could you have gotten out of the other cage?” everyone turned to stare at Wendy aghast that she would ask such a thing. “What? You can’t tell me some of you haven’t wondered considering how much worse off we seem to be.”

  “Unfortunately, no, I could not breach the invisible walls. I was the first to recover and tried several times. When you pressed against the wall with a flat hand with just mild pressure it held but nothing more; however, attempting to damage or penetrate it, it took that personally and let loose with an electrical charge that knocked me back about six feet. The second attempt I was thrown about ten feet as the charge nearly doubled. The third attempt launched me back into the wall hard enough to leave some hefty bruises down my back and left burns on my hands and feet. I chose not to try a fourth time,” Ashaa explained.

  “Thank you for telling me,” Wendy said softly. “It was probably rude to ask but I just couldn’t stand not knowing.”

  To relieve the boredom, Holly started a game of worst date. They eventually decided Natalie was the winner after she told them during her one and only semester at college her date from the college’s student match app had picked her up in a stolen car, gotten into a police chase, had a high-speed accident that nearly killed them both and gotten her arrested until she could prove she just met him, all in the first hour of a first date and that didn’t even count the aftermath with her parents. They talked about favorite foods, movies, books and places. No one mentioned families it just hurt too much to go there. Then they napped for a while as there was nothing else to do. After they woke, Tabitha started teaching them some yoga to deal with the stiffness caused by the cramped conditions. She had been a part time instructor while in school she told them.