by Alyx X
I tossed him off of me without a thought, then used my position to kick the feet out from under three more guards. I wasn’t sure how many I’d taken down so far, but I was within reach of the ship we intended to steal. I surged to my feet, then planted a boot on the chest of my nearest assailant and sent him flying. I ducked the fist of another, nearly laughing out loud at how easy this all was, but was cut short by a blast of pain through my left thigh.
I fell to one knee, refusing to allow the wound to stop me. Now was not the time to give up. I yelled my fury as I rose, knocking out one final soldier with a punch to the ribs. I’d hit him hard enough that I knew he’d have broken bones, but I didn’t care. I turned on my heel and ran as fast as my new injury would allow to the ship. I smacked my hand on the metal of the lock, quickly being sucked into the code, but trying to check on Evvie at the same time.
My heart sank. Over the heads of the four remaining soldiers approaching me I saw what had held her back. It looked like she had taken down three soldiers with her gun, and was now fighting like hell as two of the men I’d personally injured were dragging her away.
"Run, Jarix! Go!" She shouted, her red hair flying around her. One of them clamped a hand over her mouth, but whipped it back a moment later. She’d bitten him. My little warrior. I pulled my eyes back to the soldiers closing in on me, heart thundering in my chest. What the fuck was I going to do now? I couldn’t leave Evvie. I wouldn’t.
But I needed to do something. I couldn't go after her. Not yet. With a loud growl of frustration, I used my hand on the door to unlock and start the ship, then I bolted inside. Closing the door behind me, I heard the enraged cries of the remaining soldiers. They pounded on the sides, and I thought I even heard one trying to punch in a key code to the lock I’d just rewritten. With my hand on the console, I found their weapons systems and took them all offline, then separated the ship's controls from any network. TerraLink couldn't override what I'd programmed, and I now had the only operational guns on the entire planet—except for any that weren't programmed into their systems.
There were two options before me. One, I could use this ship to fire on the building they’d dragged Evvie into. There was no way they could stop me without shooting me out of the air, and they weren't equipped to do that because I'd disabled all the ships on their network. I’d taken them all offline before we even left the computer in the lab. The only ships still operational were away from Earth. Even the ones out in the field, like the one that had initially tried to capture us, wouldn't work until they got their network working again.
I thought through this first option, but quickly dismissed it when I realized I would have no way of knowing which room they’d taken her to, or if they would even stay in this building. I couldn’t risk accidentally shooting Evvie in the fray, and I couldn’t waste time losing her to the labyrinth of the city.
That left me with option two: go back for her on foot. She was mine and they were not going to take her from me. I’d have to leave the ship, take out the final few soldiers, then search the building until I found her. I gulped, thinking through everything that entailed, but hardening my resolve nonetheless. I had to act quickly.
As I took stock of the situation, quickly forming a plan to get back inside, my sister's face flashed behind my eyes. I hadn't been able to save her, no matter what I tried, but I could save Evvie. I'd been a shitty warrior by letting her get captured, so I'd redeem myself by rescuing her and taking her the hell away from here.
They had no weapons. They had sub-par training. They had no ships.
I was going to kick their asses with a smile on my face.
23
Evvie
"Just kill me!" I screamed. "I'll keep running away. You'll have to kill me anyway!" The Gurg who’d initially grabbed me backhanded me with his slimy fist, effectively shutting me up. It knocked me silly for a few seconds as four soldiers dragged me back into the building. I lifted my head in time to see Jarix run into the ship we'd intended to steal.
Instead of worrying that he was leaving me, as most logical people would, I hoped fervently that he had gotten away. I couldn't stand the thought of him dying with me. At least he'd be free this way.
"Where are you taking me?" I shouted. I wouldn't make this easy on them. They'd have to take me out. I wouldn't become a breeder. The same Gurg reached back and punched my stomach. I groaned and tried to jerk away from him, but the assholes had too firm of a grip on me. I directed my next words to the human soldiers, though my voice came out breathless and weak from the punch.
"How can you let him do that to a human?" I tried the species-loyalty aspect. None of them flinched or looked at me at all. They simply threw me on the floor of a small, empty room. I looked around, trying to ignore the fear coiling in my belly. One of the soldiers brought in a simple wooden chair, and I eyed it warily. Because I was focused on that chair and all it entailed, the Gurg hit me again, this time taking me a few steps past silly. I nearly blacked out from the pain.
When I could see again, it was too late to stop them from tying me to the chair. Blood trickled from my nose and dripped onto my fancy new pants. It was like a small kick to my psyche to see them ruined. They'd been the first new pair I'd ever worn. I'd actually felt pretty in the outfit, and had loved the way I caught Jarix admiring me. It was torn and bloody now. Just like everything else in my life.
I prayed Jarix was long gone. He could take the ship like we’d chosen out of the atmosphere rapidly. "Please kill me before I choke to death on your stink," I spat at the Gurg. He ignored me this time. I'd expected another blow, one that I hoped would knock me out.
Instead, the door opened, and someone walked in I'd hoped to never see again. The foreman for the salt mines. He was rarely in camp, but when he was there, we had all worked a little harder, stood a little straighter. He encouraged the guards to keep the workers in line by beating or raping them. Thankfully, most of the guards weren't okay with the raping part. Or maybe I should've been grateful to Clarissa. She kept most of them sated in exchange for favors.
"Hello there, Evvie." The foreman turned his oily gaze to the guards around me. "Thank you, men, for finding my lost little bird here." He smiled at me and my blood ran cold. "Give us a minute?"
They nodded, and the Gurg gave me a nasty look before exiting and closing the door.
Blinking around my pain and fear, I watched the foreman stride lazily toward where I was tied in the middle of the room. "You're going to regret running from me," he said, sizing me up like I was a fine meal. I never knew his name, but as he strode toward me in that predatory way, I realized I didn't need it. If I survived this, I'd kill him. If it was the last thing I did, I'd kill him.
I was about to say as much when he struck the first blow. I was already bleeding and broken, but that didn’t stop him. In fact, he seemed to take a great amount of joy in hurting me. He smiled as he punched me in the gut. His eyes gleamed as he yanked my hair. He chuckled as I grunted around the pain of his foot connecting with my ribs. I wasn’t sure why, but I went numb halfway through the beating. The foreman didn’t say anything, just delighted in hurting my already weak and starving body, smiling wickedly at every reaction. So I stopped giving him any.
When my eyes had swollen nearly shut and I couldn't hold my head up any longer, he stopped backhanding me over and over. "Now," he said. "If you weren't so dirty, I'd teach you a real lesson, but I prefer my women washed." I peered up at him through one eye as he pulled a handkerchief out of his suit jacket and wiped his bloodied hands. He even took the time to polish the ring on his right hand. I was pretty sure that the ring was responsible for most of the blood in my lap. My pants were soaked with it.
"You're going to come home with me," he whispered as he polished.
I shook my head weakly, scoffing at the word ‘home’. "No." It was the only form of defiance I had left in my battered body.
"Oh, you're not returning to the salt mines," he amended. "You're going to be
my personal servant. You'll wear a tracker and a collar, and you'll live with me." Horror and dread mingled in my gut, and if I hadn’t been so exhausted, I might have cried. Instead I sat numbly, waiting for the rest.
He spat on the ring, then moved the handkerchief over it more. "You'll travel with me, and once you're clean, you'll pleasure me when and how I say. I have to make sure my little bird doesn't escape now, don't I?"
A sob worked its way up my chest, but moving my lips was too painful, even to cry. He bent close and put his lips next to my ear. "You'll learn that you have no options. You have no power. You belong to me, and I'll never let you go. You'll be with me until I tire of you and kill you." He chuckled darkly while I just reeled internally from his words. I had only ever seen the foreman from a distance. Heard the stories about his cruelty and penchant for taking women. To see him now, feel the bite of his hand and hear the malice in his threats… I wondered if he was even truly human anymore.
The blow to my stomach was unexpected, as I'd closed the slit in my eye and didn't see it coming. I grunted and leaned forward as far as I could while the pain radiated through my body. "I look forward to it." He turned and opened the door. "Get the information you need from her. Don't kill her." He stood to the side while the guards came back in. I didn't know what else they could do to me, but I also knew I wouldn’t say shit. I’d been broken for a long time, and adding more pain to that wouldn’t make me reveal Jarix’s plans. I’d never put him in danger.
"How can we get past the alien's technological ability?" the Gurg asked as he strode toward me. "We know where he is, and his planet is offering a reward for him."
I closed my eyes and let my head loll backward as if I was unconscious. The Gurg just laughed and touched something burning hot to my hand. I screamed through my swollen lips and looked down to see that he had a small, handheld torch. Who the fuck uses a torch to torture someone?
"You thought you had hope at camp, didn't you?" the foreman asked with a cruel laugh. I hadn’t noticed he was still here, actually. "You planned this escape for quite a while, and you almost got away with it too. Aren't you just the cleverest little bitch out there?" He sneered. I chose to remain silent. Someone stomped on my foot, but my throat hurt so much that I didn't have it in me to cry out. "And your aged friend. What was her name?"
Alice. But I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing me say it. I pictured her face and Jarix's as blistering heat scorched my arm. The pain radiated up and spread across my torso as the nerves reacted to the abuse. A low moan filled the air and, though I knew it came from me, I was shocked at how broken my voice sounded. It was almost over, though. There was no way I would survive much longer. This would all be over, and I could finally be at peace. An image of my fantasies on Haltrean with Jarix flashed through my mind, but I shoved it aside. No use in crying over the impossible.
"If you tell us how to capture him, we can return him to his people," the foreman said. "But if we wait too long and they withdraw their reward for his return, I'm going to make this beating look like a walk in the clouds." He went quiet. Nobody hit me. I chanced cracking one eye open. The warden had moved closer. "I'm not a fan of men sexually," he said. "But this Gurg here is. And I'm going to give your precious alien to him to do with as he pleases if I don't get my reward money for him."
I nearly laughed. The first real emotion I’d shown in twenty minutes. The idea of anyone trying to take Jarix by force was so hilarious to me that a gurgle escaped my throat anyway. The foreman stepped back as I cracked an eye open.
“Think that’s funny? I’m not joking, little slave. We are very capable of handling your alien friend.” Maybe it was because I was losing my mind, or maybe the laughter was providing me with some small glimmer of hope, but I absolutely lost it at his words. I let my head fall back, giggles and snorts working their way out of my damaged mouth in a crazed, last-ditch attempt to show how little I thought of these men and their priorities.
It was all so ridiculous to me. That I, a human being, should be sold to far away aliens, sent back, forced to slave in a mine until I was nearly dead, then tortured for information. How could life be this cruel, this depraved? As I laughed, I got a glimpse of the Gurgs and men eyeing each other in discomfort. They didn’t’ know how to deal with a badly damaged, insane person. That made me laugh harder.
Until someone grabbed my little finger, bending it back until it snapped. I screamed, actually screamed that time. It was a new kind of pain, neither fire nor blunt force. This pain was sharp. Demanding. Evil.
I screamed and screamed, unsure what else to do.
The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the foreman’s wicked smile as he drank in my pain.
24
Jarix
Evvie's screams faded into the building as I raced through my plan in a panic. The thought of leaving without the tiny woman by my side was repugnant. We would leave together, today, or we would die here today. There was no other solution. No other life for us.
Watching my sister die had given me overwhelming feelings of helplessness. I never wanted to feel like that again. Then again, I'd felt those emotions again, to an extent, in the desert with Evvie. I didn't have to be helpless here, today. I'd planned everything perfectly. All I had to do was act. I was taking too long. I had to do something and do it now. Flipping up the camera, I turned on the guns and pointed them toward the line of guards blocking my way to the building.
After dragging Evvie away, they’d brought out reinforcements. The four I’d left standing after the initial battle were now backed up by another wave of battle-ready TerraLink soldiers. I gazed at them as the ship turned. I'd tried, my entire time on this dying planet, not to kill anyone. I hadn't wanted to give them a reason to search for us or try to chase us.
That was over. I whispered a silent beg for forgiveness from my human who appreciated not killing people. As I opened fire on the men that wanted my blood and Evvie's, time slowed. The thick, orange, glowing lasers that shot from the sophisticated cannons on the ship cut into the soldiers, burning away their flesh wherever they hit. This ship was far more advanced than the humans' vessels. This had come from a planet that supplied the food for this one, which worked in my favor.
The ship had auto-targeting, I noticed. I pressed a few buttons and watched as the guns destroyed every sign of life out on the roof. I grimaced at the blood and gore that sprayed into the air like a fine layer of dust, but was still too hardened to care. Once that was done, I loaded up from the weapons cache on the ship, pleased to find a suit of body armor. The pitiful human guns wouldn't stand a chance against this protection. I quickly shoved it on my body, thankfully many of the pieces actually fit my larger-than-average frame. It would have to work.
After double-checking the camera that it detected no life on the roof, I disabled the guns and opened the doors. The ship was now programmed to me only. It would never work again for anyone else. If I died, they'd have to rebuild or replace the ship's entire computer system to get it operational again. I allowed myself to feel smug about how effective I’d been. My tech ability may have been the reason I’d been tossed onto that prison ship in the first place, but now it was my saving grace.
As soon as I was sure the ship's door was closed behind me, I took off running for the building entrance, my leg wound forgotten. I knew my fast-healing would take care of it eventually, but for now I needed to get to my human. Trusting the body armor, I burst through the door and braced myself for the bullets and lasers sure to follow. And follow they did. I held firm and raised my guns once I'd scanned the room and knew Evvie wasn't in it.
With a mighty battle roar, I began my assault. They couldn't get near me to fight me hand to hand, and their weapons were useless against the armor. I was mostly covered, and I kept my head ducked behind my weapons. The human guards never stood a chance. They were not warriors. They did not understand the glory and honor of the battle.
Being a guard was a job for them. Not a c
alling. Not their life's work. They died easily, softly. Weakly. When the first room quieted because I'd killed everyone in it, I went into stealth mode. I had no idea where they'd taken her, but I knew how to find out. I just had to get to a computer.
The top floor of the building seemed to be deserted. I didn't know if I'd killed them all, or if they were just taking a moment to re-equip themselves, but there was no time to lose. I reached up and touched one of the cameras. Before I turned them all off, I scanned them for signs of Evvie.
None appeared. They had her in a room without cameras, apparently. Great. I'd hoped to simplify things by finding her on the camera system. At least now they couldn't track me with them. I kept moving, checking room after room until I found the first computer in a fancy and empty office. After a quick glance to make sure I was alone, I rushed around the desk to turn on the computer. And found a man huddled beneath it. He whimpered when I rounded the desk and spotted him. "Who are you?" I asked.
"Nobody," he said. "I clean the office."
I noted his expensive suit and healthy demeanor. "You're lying."
He shook his head. "No, I clean often."
Reaching down, I wrapped my hands around his shirtfront and pulled him to his feet. "You're lying," I said through my teeth.
The man's eyes flicked wildly around the room. "What do you want? Water? Money? I've got it all."
"I want my human," I whispered with my face nearly touching his as I held him upright.
"She's in the interrogation room. Go out of this office, make a right, two lefts, and it's the next door on the right." He wiggled, trying to get away from me. It was sort of sad, actually. The fool didn't even know basic self-defense.