by Sara Fields
After a few more days though, I began to feel restless. Axel would leave after a late breakfast and usually return shortly before dinnertime, leaving a window of time for me to explore myself. Neither of us had seen any sign of Saleos since the very first night, so I began to feel safe, despite Axel’s constant warnings to the contrary. I grew bold because of it.
A week passed by and I began to wander about the entrance of the cave. When nothing happened as a result, I began to venture out further and further. I found a few mountain retreats, getaways of the soldiers and scientists who had once lived here. Most of them seemed hardly lived in. Dust layered atop every surface, with not a spec of it disturbed. It was unnerving. In some of them, the view was astounding. The mountains gave way to forests and far off in the distance, I could see a deep blue lake. It was beautiful.
I found nothing of interest in most of them, until I came upon the largest one I’d seen yet. Completely made of glass and tempered into the mountainside, it was a feature many would miss, hidden and unassuming. Had I not noticed the small clearing outlining the house, I would have probably never found it in the first place.
I licked my lips, hiding in the brush just outside of the structure and waited. Nothing moved. I was alone, just as I had expected. Slowly, I moved toward one of the doors. Carefully, I slid the door to the side, noticing it was unlocked as many of the houses in the area were. They must have assumed they were safe, watched by government satellites and cameras, surrounded by soldiers and a heavily guarded perimeter.
The only reason I had gotten into Echelon 67 in the first place was that the entire human guard had been destroyed. There had been no one to stop me. I realized that now.
I ventured into the front sitting room, finding little of interest in any of the drawers or on the entryway tables. Unexpectedly, I did find another portal, similar to those I had found in the small abandoned dome structure in what felt like forever ago.
I wondered where it led. I chewed my lip, staring at the black and purple glittering object. I turned away and went back to searching the rest of the house, feeling its presence everywhere I went. I found an office, an elaborate bathroom, an exquisite luxurious bedroom, and a gorgeous guest bedroom. Simple elegance was what I came to expect as I explored these mountain homes.
The office had very little to offer. There was a computer station, but without any semblance of power here, I had no hope of turning on the holographic screen. The drawers held nothing but empty digital notepads. It was disappointing.
I did find some female clothes hidden in the closet and gratefully discarding the sheet on my body, I pulled on a pair of gray pants and a black t-shirt. I tucked my trusty laser gun into the waistband of my pants, removing it from its odd uncomfortable position in my boot, where I’d been keeping it for the past several days.
When I finished getting dressed, I sighed. Without power, there was very little I could learn from this place. Except, as I returned to the front sitting room, I stared at the portal again. Even though everything else lacked electricity, the portal was still shining, bright and strong against the mountain views. How?
I’d never been afraid of taking chances in my life. You couldn’t be like that if you ever wanted to succeed in science, or journalism. I’d been born a risk taker. And I wasn’t about to start being timid now. It was time to figure out where these portals went. It was now or never.
I had to find evidence of my story, a primary source where no one would be able to dispute my first person view as the ramblings of a psycho. I needed written evidence, medical records, anything that would document Axel’s species to show the public and expose the government for what had been happening right under the public’s noses.
I had to remember that was what I came here to do. I came here to chase a story, not come home with a man, even if Axel had turned into something I hadn’t expected. I had to remember myself and my career and not focus on what his cock could do to me when it pressed deep in between my legs. Such sweet and delicious things, I thought with a shiver.
My body heated, and I had to shake my head, pushing the feelings of arousal far, far away.
I breathed in deep and took a step toward the portal, ignoring the pulse of desire between my legs.
First, I lifted one finger and pushed it into the black light. I held my breath for a long moment, waiting for my finger to shear off, but it never happened. I grew bolder, putting my whole hand into the light and still, nothing happened.
It must be engineered for human travel.
I realized then that there were no human trails down the mountain. No roads, no cars, and everything began to make sense. The portals connected all the seemingly innocuous buildings together. If I was a betting woman, I would have guessed it was alien technology that the human scientists had developed into use here on Earth.
The scientist within me was fascinated. The journalist within me wanted to know more.
I took a daring step forward and then another, and before I knew it, the portal had swallowed me completely. At once, my body felt weightless, as though it was falling through a black hole and then suddenly, my heels slammed into the ground beneath me and my body lurched forward. I took one step and then another as I stumbled and then all at once, I was awash in light. I blinked a few times before my eyes adjusted to the brightness.
I gasped at what I saw next.
My fingers rose to my lips in horror.
Holy shit. It was a museum of horrors.
I had ended up in a massive, football stadium-sized room, lined with white tile floors and white walls. Row upon row of fluid-filled containers bordered the walkways, each one full of greenish fluid. Within each glass prison was a floating body, some more human and some more alien than others.
Aliens that looked just like Axel. Some that looked like Saleos and others still that were completely unrecognizable, a veritable museum of science experiments gone wrong.
Seeing them like this, my stomach roiled, and bile rose to my throat. I stared for a long time, my disbelief rising with each passing second.
I took a heavy swallow then and urged myself forward. I walked down the aisle, trying to keep my science mind at the forefront of my thoughts. Small metal plaques denoted the mutational spectrum of each specimen, noting the faults and pluses of each being preserved in formaldehyde for the rest of their days, encased forever for the future scientific study of every single one of their cells. I found remains of aliens of all ages, from childhood to full adulthood. It was appalling, and my stomach roiled at the sight of the humanlike bodies floating in thick liquid, eyes closed as if they were only sleeping. Only I knew they weren’t.
I knew each one of them had been killed, some in a more grisly manner than others.
Each one noted cause of death. Some detailed some advanced kind of weapon I didn’t have the training to understand. Their bodies were the most mangled. Others said that growth had ceased at a certain age or had aged far too quickly. Some had gone feral. Many of them had been put down through needle-tip lethal injection, oddly enough, in the same spot on the backs of their necks. I didn’t look too closely after that, as my stomach was recoiling against it. I shook my head, it wasn’t important now. I looked away, trying to see where the strange museum of horrors led.
What sounded like a step scraped against the tile close by and I stilled.
Slowly, I moved out of the aisle, hiding between the shadows and searching in the darkness for someone else, anyone else that may have survived. Was I not the only one left?
For a long time, everything was silent.
I waited, my eyes lifting to search the skylights overhead, noticing that the sun was still high up in the sky. For a good fifteen minutes I waited and searched the room around me and found nothing. I was alone after all. Maybe my brain was just playing tricks on me.
Finally, I could wait no longer, and I left my hiding place and continued my exploration of the room.
At the end of the hall of horrors w
as a room that consisted of a variety of communication devices, and to my surprise, electricity still powered many of them on. I didn’t know if the source was solar or wind power, or power from the city, but I was happy to see green, blue, and red lights glittering all around me.
One of the speakers was humming nearby. I reached for it, turning the volume toggle and a male voice sounded loud and clear.
“Come in, Echelon 67. Come in. Any and all civilians and personnel to abandon the territory within forty-eight hours. Incoming bomb strike to arrive at zero twelve hundred hours in order to eliminate Subject #725 and all other threats. Please abandon your homes and workplaces immediately. Retreat to underground bunkers as soon as possible,” the voice said.
It repeated the same message. Over and over.
They couldn’t mean that. Could they?
Horror chilled me to the bone. Should Axel and I stay in the mountains and not find shelter very soon, we were as good as dead. Saleos was good as dead too.
I looked around me and quickly turned down the toggle once again.
I hurried out of the radio room and back into the room with all the alien specimens. The shadows were growing longer, and I knew I had to return back to Axel as soon as possible as the day was growing late. I knew I had to tell him what I found. He’d be angry I had wandered around against his explicit instructions but now, I was happy that I did. If we wanted to survive, we’d have to find shelter as soon as possible.
As I hurried down the aisle, preserved bodies on either side of me, another shoe scraped against the floor.
I slowed. That was definitely real and not a figment of my imagination this time. I was sure of it.
My eyes tore across the room, searching for the source of the sound, and still, I found nothing. There was no one here with me, I told myself. It was probably my own nerves, playing tricks on me.
I made my way back to the end of the room, seeing the portal glittering in the distance. I rushed toward it, knowing I had to get back to Axel as soon as possible.
Sudden, someone grabbed my hair roughly, cackling with pleasure and I screamed at the intense pain in the back of my head. I tried to jerk away, but the man’s hold was strong, sure, powerful, and entirely cruel. My scalp burned hotly, and tears sprang to my eyes instantly.
“So, my brother has let you wonder free then, huh,” the voice said and my skin crawled, my body going tight with fear. My lungs felt like steel and my breath caught in my throat.
It was Saleos. There was no doubt in my mind.
“Let go of me!” I yelled.
He just laughed instead and dragged me down the aisle of the room by my hair. I kicked and scratched at the floor, finding zero grip on the tile beneath my hands. I punched at him and used my fingernails and teeth to tear at his ankle, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t find a purchase against any of it. His strength was so much greater than mine. He was a lion and I was the lamb being led to slaughter.
If I couldn’t get away, I was as good as dead. I knew that now, more than ever.
I screamed, hoping to god any soul alive would hear me. But, no one else came to answer. We were completely and utterly alone, and I grieved for it. Axel wouldn’t know I was here. He couldn’t. I hadn’t told him I had left the cave. I never had and now I was regretting it.
He took me into another hallway and then another, all the way dragging me by my hair. My scalp screamed in pain, and I struggled against his hold, but I was no match for him. We had descended down a ramp and I realized we were in some underground location, completely hidden away from any prying eyes from above, not that there were any.
He threw me into the room and slammed the door behind him.
He stared at me, a salacious, evil, excited grin for what was to come.
I shook. His skin glowed a dark cherry red, his eyes an even deeper red. His irises reminded me of the fires in the pits of hell, far different from the sultry flames of Axel’s eyes. A feral demon, ready to tear me apart limb from limb, after he fucked me raw and used me as he saw fit. I shivered, suddenly thankful for the clothing I had gathered, but still I felt naked before him. He stalked forward, his eyes devouring the sight of my calves all the way up to the veins in my throat.
I knew without a doubt, he was going to fuck me. He’d probably kill me as he did so.
“Pretty little thing like you, wandering along all by yourself, without the protection of my most annoying brother. I find myself feeling rather lucky tonight,” he chuckled.
My heart beat in my throat.
My skin tingled and my blood chilled, icy with fear.
He sauntered toward me, overly confident. I shrank away, but it didn’t matter. He pushed me up against the wall, surrounding me with his massive frame.
I cried out with fear, unable to breathe and shaking with alarm.
“Get the fuck away from me. I’ll kill you,” I warned, trying to stay strong and he simply laughed at me.
“You’re here before me, ripe for the taking and you’re threatening me? When I could spear you with my cock in a matter of seconds? Tear you in two and make you scream my name? Over and over as I take you for my own, right before I rip your insides open and watch you bleed?” he laughed, his tone cruel and demeaning. I trembled with terror.
His fingers laced around my left foot and I recoiled with horror. I tried to kick him off, but he held on to me tightly. I wanted to throw up. I remembered the moment his cock had threatened to take me, how Axel had arrived at the opportune moment to rescue me.
Though Saleos was the same creature as Axel, he was entirely different. Even when Axel had lost complete control, he still hadn’t hurt me. Hadn’t maimed me in any way but I had no doubt Saleos would. I knew if I let him anywhere near me, I wouldn’t see the morning sunrise ever again. He’d kill me. I was sure of it.
I could see it in his eyes. There was a certain manner of unhinged sociopath hidden within their depths. A promise of unforeseen cruelty if I let him get anywhere near me. A promise of uncertain death at the hands of a serial killer.
I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live. I wanted the world to know my story.
“Wait,” I started.
He paused, dragging an impatient breath between his teeth, the sound whistling around us. I stilled, trying not to catch his attention any further. His eyes darkened dangerously, and I knew, at that moment, his hormone levels were rising by the second and that soon, no matter what I said, he would be entirely uncontainable. A monster controlled only by his instincts and I tried to quell my fear as much as I could.
The darkness was calling out to him and I could do little to stop it, but I could at least hope to delay its effects. He moved toward me once again.
“Saleos, please wait!”
“What do you want, you stupid human? Say your piece and spread those legs. I can smell your tempting cunt from here,” he answered.
“I know what they did to you,” I began.
He paused but said nothing. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“I know they took everything from you. Forced you to live in a prison cell, every day of your life. Cuffed you to a metal gurney, stole your blood, your seed, and other pieces of your body for experiments, tested horrific weapons on you, hurt you solely for the advancement of science. They didn’t care about you, but I do. I care, and I want to help you,” I said, trying to keep any semblance of hope from my tone.
He didn’t respond.
“I have a link to the outside world. I offer you the opportunity for revenge, far bigger then you could ever dream of, if you just allow me to live. I’ll help you find those who hurt you, the ones you could never find if you didn’t have my help,” I offered.
His eyes glittered with the possibility but then his nose sniffed the air. His eyes darkened further. I pressed my thighs together, trying to hide my scent as best as possible and his eyes lightened, just a hair. He stared at me with keen interest, so I decided to go on.
“Imagine all the humans
you could kill. All those involved with using you for their gain, all those who want to exploit your kind for everything you’re worth. Those who want to clone a million versions of your brother instead of you,” I continued, and he looked like he was going to take the bait for a good long second.
Then he met my eyes, and they darkened considerably once more. I feared my efforts hadn’t taken any effect until he let go of my foot and sat down, nearby in a wooden chair.
“What do you know of these things? A simple human woman as yourself?” he asked, holding back for the time being and for that, I was grateful. It was obvious Saleos was extremely intelligent and was a man who would pause once a more interesting proposition came about, no matter the temptation before him.
“I was a scientist once,” I began. The moment I uttered those words, he stilled, anger surfacing over his features.
“Did you torture beings such as myself? Keep them locked in a cage and experiment on them with horrendous ideas?” he asked, his voice trembling with palpable fury.
“No, I’ve never done such things,” I answered.
His hold on the chair visibly relaxed and so did my heart.
“There’s billions of people out there. Thousands who knew of your confinement. Should you seek them out among the billions of humans out there, you will have your revenge. And I have the skills to help you find them,” I offered.
“I imagine your skills do not come without a price,” he observed.
“I ask that you leave me untouched. That you allow me to live and I will give you want you want. You let me survive and I will give you all that you desire,” I breathed, my heart hammering in my chest. My scalp burned hotly from his touch, the pain still simmering deep within my skin and I tried to contain my fear. I prayed that he’d think it through and take my offer, that he’d allow me to survive this night despite his beastly instincts to mount me.