by Fall, Carly
With the final slam of the door, he listened to her retreating footsteps. “No, thank you, Sophia,” he whispered.
Closing his eyes, he thought about their conversation. He most certainly hadn’t won her over, but it was a step in the right direction.
Chapter 34
Sophia returned to the shed about an hour later, her head still spinning with questions for Blake. Micah had said he would arrive later in the day, and she wanted to get as much information out of Blake as she could.
Blake looked so ill; his body trembled and sweat glistened on his skin. He cracked his eyelids and gave her a small smile.
She sat on the stool beside the bed, once again taken back by the color of his eyes. It was so strange to see such unique eye coloring, as she only saw either dark or glowing eyes. It was as if the brownish-yellow had flecks of green shining emeralds, and it fascinated her.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
He grinned. “I’ve been better.”
She nodded. “Does it help when your hands are freed from the wall?”
“Yeah, it does.”
Sophia picked up the knife, then reached over him and unclasped the handcuffs from the hook. Blake cringed as he brought his hands to rest on his stomach. After a moment, he said, “Tell me about your life on SR44.”
Sophia sat back in her stool, surprised he would ask such a question. She thought he would try to convince her to let him go, but instead, he wanted to know about her past.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” he said. “I was just trying to make conversation and get to know you a little better.”
“Why?” she asked. Perhaps he was trying to gain her trust, wait until her defenses were down, and then try to escape or hurt her.
“Why not? It’s not like I’m in any condition to go anywhere, Sophia. If you’re going to sit in here, I figured I’d get to know you a little bit.”
He was right—he didn’t look like he was in any shape to do much of anything.
“I was borne into a royal family,” Sophia said. “I never wanted for anything. I was happy and patiently waiting for my father to choose a mate for me. I looked forward to my future when . . . when everything happened. I lost my family, my home . . . everything. I watched the Colonists kill my mother and father, and I was rescued by security before they could kill me as well.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. As she met his gaze, she could see that he truly was.
“Thank you,” she said, looking at her hands. “It was awful.”
A beat of silence passed, and Blake said, “Things sure have changed for you.”
She smiled at the understatement. She’d had servants, security, and plush surroundings, and now she sat on a stool in a wooden shed that smelled of body odor and vomit.
“You know, things don’t have to be this way,” Blake said, his tone low. “You don’t have to live like this.”
Sophia shrugged. “My life isn’t that bad. I have Megan, and I do enjoy tending to the garden with her.”
Blake nodded. “Look, it’s none of my business, but do you ever seen anyone besides the Platoon?”
“No. We can’t leave the safety of our home.”
“And that’s what Micah told you.”
“Yes.”
He looked away from her, but she could tell he wanted to say something else. “What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“No, what do you have to say to me?”
Blake’s brow furrowed, as if he were in deep thought. Then he said, “You’re not doing yourself, and especially Megan, any favors by staying here. Micah has lied to you about your whole existence on this planet.”
Sophia nodded. “Well, it’s difficult for me to gauge, Blake, as I can either believe him, or I can believe you. He’s taken care of me, while you have done nothing but throw up on my floor, urinate on my wall, and talked of people who are supposed to be dead and some utopia that I can’t even imagine.”
He stared at her as she thought of her astral travels. There wasn’t any violence in the streets and in the apartment buildings she’d visited. Everyone seemed content, and they certainly weren’t afraid. Perhaps Blake was right. Perhaps Micah had lied to her, and that made her angry. If he had lied, she should have seen through his fabrications and stories.
She stood up. “I will need to hook your handcuffs back to the wall.”
He lifted his hands above him, and Sophia slipped them over the hook. “I’ll check back in on you later.”
As she stepped out of the shed, he said, “Sophia, I’m really sorry if I overstepped my boundaries and upset you. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m just trying to make you see that it doesn’t have to be like this for you.”
She nodded, more confused than upset. What was the truth?
Without another word, she shut the door and headed back to the house.
Chapter 35
Sophia sat at the kitchen table staring out the window at the shed. What if Blake’s words were true? What if he had rescued Micah and Annis? What if Micah was holding him for money, treating him no better than a dog? And what did he need the money for? What if the Saviors were fighting the Colonists, and they never stopped? What if her fellow SR44ian females were happily mated? What if Micah had lied to her all these years?
“You look sad, Mama,” Megan commented, coming into the kitchen. She pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out the freshly squeezed orange juice.
Sophia stood and retrieved a glass for her. “No, honey, I just have a lot on my mind.”
As Megan gulped down the juice, Sophia studied her. If everything Blake said was true, a better life was out there somewhere for Megan and possibly for herself. Yet, she didn’t have the foggiest idea on how to go find it.
What if Blake had lied and Micah was the truthful one? What if the streets really did run red with blood? What if she just hadn’t seen it during her astral travels? She couldn’t put Megan in that type of danger. Gathering her resolve, she vowed to question Micah when he came over tonight. She could talk to Micah about the world outside these walls without giving away that she’d been in the shed chatting with Blake.
The phone vibrated in her pocket. “Hello?”
No one answered, but she could hear the conversation on the other end. She recognized Micah’s voice, as well as Jael’s. It sounded as if they were in a car, perhaps on their way over. Apparently, Micah had accidently dialed.
She was about to hang up when she heard Megan’s name. Glancing over at her daughter, she listened closer.
“Once we deliver Blake over to the government tonight, we’ll get the reward.”
“I don’t understand why we just didn’t put him in the basement,” Jael commented. “I hate driving out here.”
“Because we live in a neighborhood. At Sophia’s house, there’s nowhere to run. She’s literally in the middle of nowhere. Even if he escaped in his condition, there’s no one to help him. There’s nowhere for him to go. I told Sophia to stay out of the shed, and she always does what I say.”
“You’re trusting Sophia a lot,” Jael said.
“Like I said, Sophia has no one but us. There’s nowhere for her to go. She has to trust us.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“I finally got in touch with the right people at the FBI who are interested in Blake’s hide. We’ll deliver him tonight. With our bounty, Daniel will get the computer software he needs to locate the Saviors, and we can go in and decimate them once and for all,” Micah said.
“With that complete, we can focus on building our race,” Jael said.
“Yes. Hopefully you’ll impregnate that cold fish this mating cycle,” Micah commented.
Jael laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s fucked good and hard.”
Micah joined in with the laughter. “Human girls reach the age where they can have children around age fourteen or fifteen. We only have nine or so years until Megan will be
old enough.”
“Maybe we should start her younger. Get her used to the process,” Jael said.
Sophia gasped and stared at the phone, then at her daughter. She pushed the off button having heard enough. Rage raced through her, as well as a good dose of fear. She would do anything to save Megan. Anything.
Jael would not lay a hand on her daughter, and she would happily die to make sure it never happened.
Glancing out at the shed, her mind raced, and she came up with a plan requiring she act quickly. Looking at Megan, she realized saving her daughter right now meant trusting a male she’d seen in her spirit form and one who told her stories that contradicted everything she had ever known.
“Stay here,” she ordered Megan, and she ran out to the shed.
She pushed open the door and walked over to Blake. She leaned down and roughly grabbed the sides of his face. “Are your words fabrication or truth?” she hissed. “Tell me right now!”
“What do you mean?” Blake asked, his eyes wide in surprise. “Is what the truth?”
“Everything you’ve told me!” she screamed. “That there is a world where blood does not run in the streets, where the Saviors are honorable males with mates and children! All of it!”
“Truth,” Blake whispered. “It’s all true, Sophia.”
Sophia nodded and paced the shed, her sheer panic causing her body to tremble and tears to burn her eyes.
“What’s going on, Sophia?”
Sophia knew she had a choice to make, and she needed to make it quick. She unhooked the handcuffs from the wall and helped Blake sit up. Kneeling before him, she gazed up at him. Uncertain if her plan was the best thing for Megan, what she did know was getting her far away from this place would save her from Jael.
“I-I need you to take Megan and me away from here,” Sophia said, her voice trembling. “I need you to take us to the Saviors, where she will be safe.”
Blake stared at her. “Sophia, I—”
“Please, Blake. Jael wants to hurt her. He wants to—”
“What does he want to do to me, Mama?” Megan asked from the doorway.
Sophia hung her head, the tears finally falling. “We need to go with Blake, Megan.”
She walked over to her daughter and kneeled down at eye level. “You know that phone call I received in the kitchen?”
Megan nodded.
“It was Micah, but he didn’t mean to call me. It was an accident, but I could still hear his conversation with Jael. They . . . they said terrible things, things that have made me decide it is best to get you away from here.”
“If you think so, Mama,” Megan said, nodding her head, her eyes wide.
“Sophia,” Blake said, standing on wobbly legs. “We need to talk about this.”
“Go pack a backpack, nothing more, Megan,” Sophia said. She watched her daughter run for the house and then turned to Blake.
She stepped up to him, placing her hands on the sides of his face again. “Please, please promise me that you tell the truth. You seem like an honorable male, and I want to trust you. Please, Blake. Help me. Help Megan.”
His raised his hand, his thumb stroking the side of her cheek and tracing her jaw. It was a touch of affection. His face softened, as if she were special, as if she mattered to him.
“I’ll do whatever I can,” he whispered.
“Thank you,” she said between sobs.
Chapter 36
So, Sophia was counting on him for her great escape.
Consider the fact he had trouble walking over to the wall to take a piss, he didn’t see how this was going to go down. He certainly couldn’t walk out the gate and survive in the desert for any length of time to make it to the Saviors. Hell, he probably make it a mile and drop dead. He didn’t even have a pair of shoes.
Besides, he had no idea where they were. Sophia had said they were in Arizona, but in which part? He would do the best he could for her and Megan.
“What did you hear?” Blake asked, feeling the need to sit down again.
Sophia crossed her arms over her chest. “A human female body can become pregnant around fourteen years of age, correct?”
Blake nodded.
“Jael thinks it would be a fine idea to get Megan’s body used to the mating ritual.”
Blake’s stomach turned. “Fucking bastard,” he muttered, running his hand through his hair.
“I need to get her out of here, Blake.”
He agreed, but how they were going to do that, he didn’t know. If he were stronger then maybe he could do something. “I don’t suppose you have a car here, do you?”
Sophia shook her head.
“And how do you propose we do this, Sophia?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just know it needs to be done.”
Blake looked around the shed. While they were at it, they should try to move a mountain or bring down the moon. What was this woman thinking? He agreed Megan needed to get out of here, but there needed time to plan, time for him to get stronger.
“Micah will arrive in a car,” she said. “We can take that.”
“How’s that going to work? Do we just politely ask for the keys?”
Sophia gave him a sad smile. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Me neither.”
They stared at each other a moment, and Blake could practically see the wheels turning in her pretty, little head.
“Sophia, I don’t even have a pair of shoes or a shirt,” Blake said.
“I know, but Micah keeps some clothes here. They’ll be too large for you, but it’s something.”
She bustled about the shed, gathering her cleaning supplies and towels, erasing any sign that she’d helped him in any way.
“Follow me,” she ordered, walking out of the shed.
As Blake trailed her into the house, the haze he’d been in for the past few weeks seemed to dissipate, and he found himself thinking clearly. They needed a plan for escape. If he could orchestrate an elaborate strategy to rescue two aliens out of a government facility, this should be a piece of cake.
Anyway, that was what he told himself.
They entered the house and he followed Sophia to her room. He cringed as he glanced at the large bed, imagining Micah rutting on her in his efforts to make babies. God, the guy was such a bastard.
She rifled through her closet and pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of sneakers that looked at least three sizes too big.
“I’m not going to be able to get the shirt on unless we can get rid of the cuffs,” Blake said, holding up his hands.
“I didn’t think of that,” Sophia murmured. “I don’t have a key. Perhaps we could try to cut them with something?”
“What do you have?”
Sophia shrugged. “Gardening sheers?”
Blake sighed. This wasn’t going well. “Just help me with the shoes, okay?” he said as he sat on the bed.
As Sophia slipped on the socks and shoes, Blake couldn’t help but admire her. She’d become pretty complacent in her life with all the lies she’d been told, but when it came to her daughter, she was willing to trust a complete stranger for her and Megan’s safety. Pretty, intelligent, and brave—a lethal combination for any woman. Both Megan and Sophia deserved a better life than what they had, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that happened.
“So, how do you think we should do this?” he asked.
Sophia shrugged and stood. “I don’t know, Blake. We can’t overpower them. You’re so weak, and Megan and I don’t know the first thing about combat. I guess we’ll have to outsmart them.”
Blake smiled up at her, his respect for her growing by the minute.
He was about to tell her how much he admired her, but then they heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway.
Chapter 37
Micah usually ran late, and leave it today of all days for him to be early. Damn him.
Megan raced into the bedroom. “Mama, they
’re here!” she whispered as she held Sophia’s leg.
Sophia looked frantically at Blake. They didn’t have a plan put together yet, and they were now going by the seats of their pants. Sophia had to think quickly.
Blake was so weak. One blow from Micah or Jael would render him immobile, and they’d be no further along in getting Megan out of here. An idea came to her, and bile rose in her throat as it formed.
Her main concern was Megan.
“Blake, take Megan and go out the back. Listen carefully. When you can no longer hear Jael and Micah, please just run. Get her out of here.”
“Mama, what about you?”
“Yeah, what about you?” Blake asked.
There was a loud knock on the front door. “I’ll distract them as long as possible.”
She bent down and held Megan. “You go with Blake. He’ll take you to safety where there are more SR44ians and other children.”
“But, Mama—”
Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. Sophia wanted to scream and cry and destroy things, but she knew what she had to do: she had to let her little girl go. She would not allow Jael to lay one hand on the child. “No. No more words, little one,” she said, her voice shaking. “Right now you need to be brave. Do what Blake says.”
“Sophia, I don’t like this,” Blake murmured.
Another loud knock came from the front door.
“Take care of my daughter, Blake. You were once an honorable male, and I can see that you still are, even if you doubt it.”
“Sophia—”
“If I don’t answer the door soon, he will use his key. Now please, go out the back.”
“Then take this,” Blake said, pulling the phone from his sweatpants pocket. It was disabled right now, but if he got to the Saviors, they could turn on the GPS and find Sophia.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“It’s a way for us to find you. Be careful though, I don’t know how much battery is left. Turn it on in two days. Hopefully that will give me enough time to get to the Saviors. They’ll reactive it, and I’ll try to reach you on it, okay?”