by Marie Dry
The strange metal house was crammed with the oddest collection of human stuff. On a shelf she found hair clips and any kind of hair ornament imaginable. Even tiaras. “Where would the alien have gotten tiaras?” Her voice sounded loud in the quiet house. She smoothed her hand over the wall of the bedroom, looking for anything that would give her an advantage.
Wait a minute. “Weapons,” she said out loud and waited. Rose shrugged. It was worth a try. Another part of the wall opened when she touched it. To reveal a wooden club. She stared at the crude weapon. If that was the answer to her request for weapons, she was not impressed. Rose smiled and lifted it. It was heavy, but she was so much stronger, she might just get away with it. If she could hit him with the club and run out the door before it closed behind him, maybe she could escape. Her legs threatened to give way beneath her at the thought of taking on that big alien with only a club. What if she really hurt him? It was a crazy plan, but she had to try it.
She found three more rooms stuffed with human things and returned to the living room. She wandered into what had to be the kitchen. What did they cook? Probably the large beasts they hunted for their pelts. Her mind still couldn’t grasp the fact that she was in an alien’s home. She’d failed spectacularly, getting herself kidnapped. The last time she’d failed this big, her family had been destroyed. And if she didn’t try to escape or do something, she would turn into a collaborator.
The door opened and the alien walked in.
He might be large and terrifying, but he sure filled out that uniform. His eyes turned blood red when he saw her in his silver uniform. His gaze travelled over her body, lingered on her breasts, the swell of her hips. She could almost feel it like a physical touch.
He walked in and without thinking, unleashed his claws and blocked the heavy object that came at him. He retracted his claws and pulled back his arm inches from her vulnerable neck. Her eyes, no longer glimmering with tears, flashed fire at him.
“Human, have you lost your sense? I could have hurt you.” He’d slashed through the ceremonial club which he’d kept around for when she was ready to claim him. He’d have to synthesize an exact copy for the other warriors.
Without answering, she screamed, “Keeah,” and came at him again. He had to quickly step back, afraid she’d break her delicate bones on his tough skin and bones. Human bones were extremely fragile compared to a Zyrgin’s.
He jumped back to avoid a rather odd-looking roundhouse kick. “Woman, stop this immediately, you will hurt yourself.” Whoever had trained her had obviously wanted her to lose any fight. She was worse than a pre-change warrior.
With another savage scream, she went for him again, her moves warrior-like. She might be small, but she was at least fast for a human. He had difficulty reading human expressions—their faces were so soft and contorted into strange expressions all the time. The expression his breeder now had on her face was definitely mean. He’d have to teach her fighting skills to match that expression.
Larz had told him of Parnell’s ridiculous training programs and now he saw first hand what his friend talked about. Her eyes tracked him—killer eyes. She might not have the skill, but she did have the instinct.
“Why are you attacking me, my breeder?” He should immobilize her, but he enjoyed playing with her like this. He gently caught her fist, kissed her knuckles, and let her go. He jumped back to avoid another awkward kick that would hurt her foot if it connected.
“Stop calling me that. How would you like it if I just decide to call you something? Like…like Komodo?”
She continued to circle him with that feral look in her eyes. He’d been right about the way she consumed her food. She’d been gaining strength to take him on. She tried another kick, and he moved to the other side of the room, terrified she might get a kick in and break her leg. He searched for something that would turn off this sudden savage mood.
“I am much stronger than a human. If you wait until I sleep, you have more of a chance to harm me.” She’d never be able to get at him before he woke, but the hope of it might get her to calm down and talk to him.
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Are you mocking me?”
“I am merely trying to keep you from harm. Zyrgin bones are like human steel, but better.” Zyrgins had naturally strong bones and skin that was enhanced with genetic treatments. “You can’t break our arms or legs if any of your hits or kicks reach me. If you catch me by surprise and I strike out, I can slice right through you with my claws.” He didn’t tell her the chances of her catching him by surprise were impossible.
She stared at him for a moment longer, and then brought down her fists and stepped back in a move as fluent and graceful as any warrior.
“I am pleased that you have decided to claim me as your warrior,” he told her.
“Say what?” She took several steps back from him, the warrior suddenly gone.
“The club you hit me with is the ceremonial club Earth women hit their men with when they want to belong to them.” With his limited knowledge of the expressions on human female faces, he thought his breeder might be trying not to laugh.
“You are mistaken, I do not want to claim you.”
“Too late, you are mine now.” He looked at his spare uniform, stretching very fetchingly over her curves.
“You are wearing my uniform.”
“Yes, I like it.” She lifted her chin at him. “I’ve decided to keep it.”
He was about to insist she take off, but then he thought about how delicate she was.
“You may keep it for now.” He looked around them. “You have explored our new dwelling. Is there anything else you’d like to have?”
She glanced around her, and again he wished he knew her facial expressions. “This place literally has everything.”
He smiled at her, pleased that she liked their dwelling.
“I am a good warrior. I can provide for you, and our small warriors will have good positions in the empire.”
She gave him another look he didn’t understand. “Small warriors, huh?”
Zanr had said it without thinking. Maybe later when she was content, he’d tell her about his status. Before he had small warriors with her, he had to be sure she’d never reject them.”
***
She pointed around her to distract him. “Where did you get all this?” The place was cluttered with figurines and vases and other human paraphernalia.
He stood taller. “I won them for you. I know everything about pleasing a breeder.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes, I know about clothes and jewels and providing a well-stocked dwelling.”
“That you have,” she agreed.
“I have all the episodes of The Space Ranger. Even the two that were never released,” he said.
What was wrong with her? Why did she find the alien charming?
He led her to the couch and seated her. “We will watch an episode as if we are a human male and his female, but we are a superior Zygin warrior and his breeder.” He walked back to the kitchen, and she heard him grunt. He returned with a bright red box in his hand and sat next to her, and handed her a box with odd white stuff in it. Alien food? “What is this?”
“Popcorn.”
She cautiously ate one. She’d heard of it, but never tasted it. Her father wasn’t one for buying candy, and she couldn’t blame her brother for not wanting to spend time with her, after what she’d done.
He pulled her close and grunted, and the familiar tune started. The Space Ranger appeared.
“The Space Ranger has exceptionally ugly hair,” he said.
This alien was obsessed with hair. She shrugged. “I suppose.”
He touched his ridge. “I have a superior ridge.”
She took a sip of her strange drink to hide her smile. “I see.”
“I am a better fighter than him.”
***
He took her hands in his. “Our leader has provided you with the honor of requesting I present y
ou to him.”
“What exactly do you mean when you say ‘present’?”
“I mean exactly that—I will take you to him and present you to him. He normally only welcomes the breeders of the senior leaders. This is a great honor.”
She relaxed slightly. A welcome from the leader of the aliens didn’t sound so bad. And she might see or hear something she could report back when she escaped.
“When will you present me?” And why did her heart twist at the thought of escaping, of leaving him?
“Now, he is waiting for us. You have to dress in human clothes. The dresses I bought for you will be good.”
She had her doubts about that, but it wasn’t as if she had a lot of choice. She dressed and put on the heeled shoes Zanr had produced with great self-satisfaction. If she wasn’t going to escape, she’d give him a crash course in fashion.
When she emerged from the bathroom, he indicated the chair. “I will do your hair.”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “If I see any hair standing upright on my head, I will shave my head.”
He reared back. “I will do a braid close to your head.” He indicated the chair again.
Rose sat down gingerly, half convinced he was going to go crazy on her hair again. But when he stepped back and grunted, and the wall became a mirror, she saw he’d French-plaited her hair. It looked elegant next to the gaudy dress she wore. “I like it.”
“I am pleased, my breeder. We will go to my leader now.” He took her arm gently in his big claw and led her outside.
She blinked and looked up at the endless blue sky. It was like looking at a picture of green mountains and lovely sky with lazy clouds. “I didn’t think any places as beautiful as this still existed on Earth. Where exactly are we?”
“This is our stronghold, our capital city we call Natalie City.”
“Yes, but where exactly are we?”
“You do not need to know this.”
She glared up at him, but he didn’t even glance at her. She looked up at the sky again. Montana sky?
She tripped, and she decided to watch where she was going instead of trying to figure out which state she was in. A freshly painted truck, the old kind that couldn’t hover, sat in full splendor ahead of them.
“What is that?”
“It is our truck. We made it so that it can still be driven.”
She hurried forward and walked around it, and then peered inside. He let her look, suddenly not in a big hurry. “We leave the key in the ignition and the fuel cells charged so that we can drive it when we have free time,” he told her.
She didn’t have a lot of experience driving, but she’d be able to get away. If she could manage to get to it unseen and get a good headstart, she might just be able to escape. Her heart bounced around in her chest, so ebullient, she was afraid he’d notice.
“We have to go,” he said and took her arm again.
They circled a huge rock pointing at the sky, and then the mountain wall behind it slid open to reveal a large, cavernous room. Except it was nothing like a cave. Its walls were covered with the same metal as Zanr’s home. It was rigidly square, as if someone had measured the walls to within an inch of its life. In contrast, the coal stove and wooden kitchen table looked comfortable and homey.
“This way, we will go to Zacar’s office. You have to be very quiet so that we can get there safely.”
She glanced around, imagining dangerous alien creatures. “Are there dangerous animals around?”
“No, small humans.”
“Small humans?” she whispered.
“Yes, Zacar’s small human likes to serve odd fluids in odd little cups,” he whispered back.
Rose almost laughed out loud when he tiptoed past an opening in the wall on their left. Farther down, he stopped in front of a wall and grunted, and it slid open.
Inside, another alien waited. He was large, larger than Zanr, and she had the impression of immense strength. This was one alien she didn’t want to meet alone in a dark alley.
“Welcome, breeder of Zanr. May you serve our empire well by giving it many small humans. Fifty small warriors will be a great contribution to our empire.”
Zanr saluted and grunted at his leader, but Rose barely took notice of them.
Fifty babies? Oh no, she was escaping this place the first chance she got. And if she didn’t get a chance, she’d make one. Fifty children? The rest of the ceremony went by in a daze.
Zanr took her back to their dwelling. “I have to go on duty.”
She sat down on the couch on shaky legs. “All right.” She’d have to rest so that she could get strong. Because she will escape. Not only because she needed to warn the others that the aliens had nested in these mountains, but also because she now knew why Zanr called her breeder all the time. He meant it literally. The rat. They were on opposite sides, but still she felt betrayed.
Were Parnell and the others the aliens had captured still alive? Zanr had been very interested in the labs in the building. How much did he know? Did the aliens infiltrate the building? Was that how they captured her colleagues and the Director? All her muscles tensed until they ached. How would she find Parnell and the others? What if they endured torture while she sat on this couch in this well-stocked alien house?
She’d always thought she’d prove herself to Parnell and that he would give her a big case. Which would lead to a big promotion. Then her father would be proud of her and forgive her for her mother’s death. She’d be welcome in his home for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d be captured by aliens and that she might have to save Mr. Parnell and the others from him. If only she knew what had happened to them. Zanr had given her a TC, but it only allowed her limited access. She knew very little of what was happening in the world. She’d been so focused on proving herself, that almost a year had passed between being in that hole or recovering from being in there.
If anyone had asked her before, she’d have guessed being captured by aliens would be awful. Guilt consumed her. While her colleagues might be captured or worse, she was living in luxury, with an alien who offered to buy her whatever she desired. She’d mentioned movie nights and he’d shown her an episode of The Space Ranger. She thought of the way Zanr had awkwardly eaten the popcorn with his sharp teeth and pointed out all the faults of The Space Ranger while bragging about having all the episodes.
There had to be something wrong with her because how many people got kidnapped twice? And once by aliens!
She had to escape, before she got an even worse case of Stockholm Syndrome.
Chapter Seven
Two days later, much stronger and desperate to escape, Rose went through the dwelling in search of a weapon. She moaned out loud. She was even speaking like him now, calling this place their dwelling.
He held her in his arms all night, and that was seductive comfort after years of being alone. And he slept naked and his body was dangerously sexy. She had to get away because, more and more, she forgot he was the enemy.
Only the thought of the fifty little warriors that leader alien had threatened her with, kept her head in the right place. Not that Zanr would let her forget. He’d talk about how they should maybe have more than fifty. She shuddered. No matter how sexy the alien was, and there had to be something seriously wrong with her to find him attractive, she was not birthing fifty babies. Hence the search for a weapon.
She found another closet, but she sighed. Empty. He’d given her a bag of cookies last night. She’d casually mentioned the cookies she liked to buy from the old woman in a shop in Washington, and the next thing she knew, he handed her a bag of it. Who did that?
She opened the walls in the third empty room and found closets with shelves. No, she had to escape before he seduced her with her favorite coffee. Something shone near the back of one of the shelves. “Yes.” She lifted the laser pistol. It was human-made, so she’d have no trouble using it. It was fully charged, as well.
It had a stun setting; she wouldn’t have to kill anyone. She glared down at her dress. She would’ve liked to wear the silver uniform again, but it had disappeared, and the alien wasn’t talking. She went and crouched next to the spot where she’d seen a door form when he left. She moved the laser pistol from one hand to the other. What if the stun setting worked like a kill setting on the aliens?
She gripped the pistol until her knuckles ached and had to force herself to relax. Her duty was clear: escape and return to HQ and report. She settled back against the wall; she’d try and rest while she waited for Zanr, no, the alien to return.
She’d almost fallen asleep when the door slid open without a sound. She didn’t give herself any time to think or worry; she simply pointed and shot him, and watched him fall with a loud moan and sickening thud. He had such fast reflexes, she didn’t expect it to work and she stared at him, disbelieving, for precious seconds. He crumpled to the floor with a hoarse groan.
The only reason Rose got through the door was that his legs, lying in the doorway, prevented the doors from closing. She should run, but she crouched down next to him, her heartbeat loud and panicky. She held her hand in front of his nose. Warm air. He was alive! She clambered over his body. “Bloody big alien,” she muttered, relieved that she hadn’t killed him. She stroked a finger over the ridge on his head. When he brought her gifts, when he waited for her reaction, he’d stroke a claw over it. Then she shook her head, got up, and forced herself to take a step back. It was now or never. She ran and didn’t stop to see if anyone noticed her. If she was going to escape, it was going to take a lot of dumb luck. She couldn’t second-guess herself now or hesitate.
Rose was panting even before she ran a few paces, but she clutched the laser pistol and kept going. She couldn’t suppress a scream when an alien appeared in front of her. He did an odd grab and miss, and she fumbled with the pistol, but managed to shoot him. With her fumbling, she prayed she didn’t accidentally kill him with the wrong setting.