Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

  “You okay?” Robert asked. “You sure you don’t need a few more minutes?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, standing.

  The room was set up like a cockpit, a chair on each side of the glass doors that led into the enclosure beyond. Like the metal doors they had passed through, the passageway leading into the giant aquarium had two sets of doors separated by an anteroom. Aubrey looked through both doors, and what she saw made her exhale sharply.

  Breath, she told herself, forcing air in and out of her chest.

  There was no longer a dragon behind the far door. Instead, there was a man, a very well-built, very sweaty, very naked man. She saw his well-toned calves. She stared at his muscular thighs. She traced the v of his abdomen with her eyes. She licked her dry lips before abruptly turning toward Robert.

  “Is that—” she stuttered. “What—is—What is that?”

  “Right now,” Robert answered, “it appears to be a man.”

  “But—it—was—”

  “It was a dragon, yes. It shifts from dragon to man. It is also an alien.”

  “How did you…”

  “It came in a few nights ago. The military shot it down over New Mexico. There were others with him, but they got away.”

  Aubrey looked back at the dragon man. She watched as beads of sweat dripped down his chest, around the muscles of his abdomen, dipping into the v that lead to his—Aubrey looked back toward Robert.

  “So, exactly what kind of specimens are we supposed to collect from this ‘sample’?” she asked.

  “The usual, you know, hair, skin, saliva, sweat…”

  “Oh,” she whispered, looking back into the container. The man had placed his forearms on the glass just over his head. His biceps tightened. His shoulders muscles hardened. She licked her lips again.

  “Can he can speak our language? Can he understand, at least?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Robert said. “Both. Doesn’t talk much though.”

  Robert had walked to the corner of the control room to retrieve a clipboard and a large black duffel bag, both of which he carried toward the door. After scanning his card, he stepped into the anteroom gesturing for Aubrey to follow.

  “I haven’t had a problem collecting specimens from him while he’s in human form. He doesn’t shift into dragon form often, though, so I haven’t been able to get any dragon specimens.”

  Aubrey nodded, acknowledging that she had heard Robert, but she had a more pressing question to ask. “Uh, does he have a name? It’s a bit weird, you know. He looks like a man and all.”

  Robert shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t asked him.”

  Robert handed Aubrey the black bag as the blue lights dimmed. He motioned for the sample to move aside as the inner door slid open. The sample sneered at Robert, but moved aside, sitting in a cushioned chair a few hundred feet away. Robert and Aubrey followed him.

  “First, the blood,” Robert said marking something on the clipboard.

  Aubrey opened the bag, withdrawing a rubber band. She tied the band around the specimen’s bicep, watching the veins in his inner elbow bulge.

  “Just keep it there,” she told him.

  “He knows the process,” Robert said.

  Aubrey didn’t answer. Somehow it made her feel better to lead the man through the process as if preparing him for it might help in some way. She withdrew a syringe and collection tube from the bag on the floor beside her. She attached the components and took the cap off the needle.

  “This’ll only pinch a little,” she said, looking into the man’s eyes, expecting see a bored look. He had been through this. He was a tough guy. But what she saw in his amber and green eyes was not boredom. What she saw was fear. His jaw was clenched. His nostrils dilated. He stared straight back at her. He looked determined. He looked courageous. He looked strong. But the soul behind his eyes was terrified. She could sense it.

  She paused. She couldn’t do it. She held the needle in midair.

  “It’s okay,” the man said. “You have to. I understand.”

  She didn’t move. Her brain told her she had to do this. She needed this job. If she were fired, she would never be able to work as a biologist again. Her father would make sure of that. But her heart screamed too. It told her not to do this, to drop the needle, to tell the world about the torture taking place in this cell. She wanted to quell this man’s fears.

  “Do it,” he commanded softly between clenched teeth.

  She obeyed, moving the needle to his arm, placing its tip on his vein. She pushed, glancing up into his eyes as she did so. His jaw remained set, his muscles remained stone-still, but she saw the screams of his soul in his eyes. Her own eyes watered. She looked back to his arm, removing the rubber band. When the syringe was full, she extracted the needle and handed it to Robert who took the needle and sample and put it back into the bag before taking out a saliva swab kit.

  Chapter Four

  “You are attracted to me, yes?” the dragon man asked her the next day as she stroked the inside of his cheek with a swab. Aubrey’s hand jerked, the swab poking into his mouth.

  “Ow,” he said, putting his hand to the outside of cheek. His eyes sparkled with humor, though.

  Aubrey blushed as she looked down, clipping the end of the swab into a collection cup.

  “You are attracted to me,” he said. “Why does that embarrass you?”

  “What is your name?” she asked, changing the subject. She took another swab out of the black bag and began rubbing it up and down a one-inch section of his bicep.

  “Zarek, but my question—”

  “That’s a nice name. Zarek, I like that,” she cut him off. She was alone in a giant room with Zarek, and yes, she was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be?

  “Yes, but you haven’t answered—” he started again, his bicep muscle clenching as he leaned forward. Aubrey stopped swabbing.

  “Sit still,” she said as she placed her hand on his chest, pushing him back, feeling his warm, soft skin, his firm, hard muscles, under her palm. She quickly withdrew her hand and picked up another collection jar.

  When she had taken all the samples except a blood sample, she reached for the rubber band. His jaw tightened.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she wrapped the band around his bicep.

  “I know,” he answered, looking into her eyes.

  Aubrey took the needle out and attached the collection tube. Zarek didn’t flinch, though Aubrey detected the change in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she repeated. Her own soul felt sick at having to perform this test. “Why does it hurt so much?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Well, you’re big, and obviously strong, and it’s just a small needle prick, but each time I can see the pain in your eyes, in the way you clench your jaw—”

  “It is very painful. It doesn’t hurt when your blood leaves your body?” he asked.

  “Not really.” She held the needle up.

  “My blood is part of me. It runs through all of me.”

  “Mine too.”

  “When you take my blood, you take a part of me.” Zarek held his hand up. “It’s like if you take my hand or my foot or my eye, but worse. My blood is a part of my whole body. My whole body hurts when you take any of my blood.”

  Aubrey stared his hand, his foot, his eyes. Then, she stared at the needle. How could she do this to him? But what if she didn’t? She’d lose more than her career. She’d lose any access she had to this magnificent creature. She’d lose any chance at—at what? She looked into Zarek’s eyes again. Yes, she was attracted to him, incredibly attracted. Somehow the confession that she’d been causing him excruciating pain with every blood draw, as horrifying as it was, attracted her to him on a deeper level. She couldn’t do it to him anymore. She had to leave. No, she had to stay. She couldn’t get fired. She had to perform this test.

  “I understand,” Zarek whispered.

  “Understand what?” she as
ked.

  “Take the blood,” he said as he raised his free hand and guided the needle to his vein.

  She pushed the needle through his skin. She didn’t look up at his eyes this time, but somehow, she could feel the screams of his soul in her own body. They were a tingle at first then an electric current. She closed her eyes as the pain grew.

  “It’s full,” he said hoarsely, pointing to the collection tube. She opened her eyes and extracted the needle, letting out her breath as she did so.

  “How did you—Why could I feel that?” Aubrey asked, her breathing still quick and shallow.

  “What is a career?” he asked.

  “It’s like a job, but—”

  “Who is your father?”

  “Raymond Moss, the president of the company that runs this lab, but how did you—?”

  “What is your name?”

  “Dr. Moss,” she answered with a sigh.

  “No, what is the rest of your name?”

  “Aubrey,” she answered, giving up on her own question.

  “Aubrey,” Zarek said, looking at her through eyes still heavy with pain. “Aubrey, everyone on this planet will be sorry when my people arrive.”

  He reached up and brushed her jawline with his thumb. “It’s too bad, really. I’m growing fond of you. Still…”

  “Still what, Zarek?” Aubrey stood, grabbing the handle of the now closed bag. She took a step back. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m sure your people told you my crew escaped?”

  “Yes.” Aubrey took another step back.

  “They will return soon. It’ll take them what you call two weeks at the most. If your people do not allow me to escape peacefully, your world will be destroyed along with everyone in it.”

  Zarek stood. His amber eyes darkened. He walked to the far corner of the enclosure, a corner bathed in light-grey shadows. The shadows danced across his face, accentuated his sharp cheekbones and jawline. Aubrey swallowed.

  “Come closer, Aubrey,” he said deeply.

  Aubrey shook her head and took a few more backward steps toward the door.

  “I won’t hurt you, Aubrey,” he said. “I just need to rest for a bit. You felt it. You know how that test hurts, how it weakens me. I just need to rest, but I want to tell you about everything. I want to tell you about my home, my people, my…please?”

  Aubrey knew she shouldn’t do it. She knew she should run. She knew…but she felt drawn to the corner, to the shadows, to Zarek. Aubrey set the bag down and walked to the corner of the room where Zarek was now sitting cross-legged. His chest moved in and out. His eyes were closed.

  “I find breathing to be quite useful when dealing with fear or pain,” he said. “You might try it sometime.”

  Aubrey smiled at his jest despite herself. They both smiled, but only for a moment. Zarek’s face quickly sank. His eyes illustrated his immense burden once more.

  “Sit,” he said, patting the ground in front of him.

  She sat facing him.

  “Five years ago,” he began, looking into her eyes, communicating the emotions of his words through the soul that rested behind them. She felt as if she, too were feeling his emotions, as if she had been there, as if she were a part of him then and now. “Five years ago, my planet was attacked by water-breathing dragons.”

  As he spoke, she saw his people, the Plarizakians, as they rushed to their ships. She saw the Nefarianics as they spewed water on the deserts of his planets. She saw his father, mother, and brother die. She was snapped back to reality when Zarek brushed a finger under her eyes, wiping the tears from her burning cheeks.

  “That is why we have come here,” he whispered. “The spot where we tried to land was just like our home planet. It was abandoned. There were no houses, no roads. We hoped we could live a quiet existence there. We meant to cause no harm to anyone. We just wanted a home. We just wanted peace, but now…”

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered before covering her face. Her shoulders rose and fell as she sobbed. She was sorry, but she didn’t know what she could do.

  “I know,” he said, putting his fingers under her chin, pulling her face up so her eyes met his. “I know you are.”

  “I don’t know what I can do,” she said.

  “Nothing,” he answered. “There’s nothing you can do. I understand. There’s nothing either of us can do except what we’re already doing.”

  “I have to get back to work,” she said, rising and brushing off the seat of her pants. She wiped the remaining moisture from her face.

  “Don’t forget to breathe,” he said as she walked away.

  Chapter Five

  “You’ll do fine,” Robert patted Aubrey on the shoulder as they headed for the conference room.

  “We still haven’t got the dragon specimens,” she reminded him. She stuck her trembling hands into her pockets. They were about to enter the weekly briefing conference. They would have to face their failure. They would have to face her father.

  All the chairs around the table were full except Robert’s. This time Robert didn’t offer his seat to her. She sat in the chair by the wall.

  “What about the new sample?” her father asked from the head of the table. Aubrey looked up.

  “We, uh, still haven’t—” Robert started.

  “You mean to tell me,” her father’s face reddened, “that I have the top two biologists in the country, in the whole damn country, and neither one of them can get a sample?!”

  Her father rose, circled the table, towered over Robert.

  “We—it—” Robert shrank into his chair. Raymond Moss leaned down toward him, placing one beefy hand on the table, the other on the back of Robert’s chair.

  “Why don’t I have the damned samples?!” her father yelled, his face almost purple.

  “It’s her. She’s—” Robert stuttered. Raymond turned on his daughter, eyes narrowing. She stared back, horrified, humiliated. She had though Robert was her friend. Now, he was turning his back on her.

  “What about her?” he asked, glaring at Aubrey.

  “The samples she’s giving me,” Robert said more confidently, shuffling through a file, “are completely inadequate. She’s wasted a week’s worth of testing. See, the blood sample here is too small. This one must have sat too long before she put it in the refrigerator. She been in there every day this week, and she hasn’t been able to get any dragon samples at all.”

  “I knew you’d blow it,” Aubrey’s father spat, his face inches from hers. She tried to breath, tried to still her trembling hands, tried to hold back the tears that burned her eyes. “You have one more chance. If you can’t do this, I will fire you. I will make sure you never work as a biologist again. Now, go!”

  Aubrey bolted out the door and ran to the locker room. Once inside, she leaned over the sink. She breathed in. She breathed out. She closed her eyes.

  Don’t blow it, her father’s voice echoed in her mind. Then, another man’s words came to her mind. There’s nothing either of us can do except what we’re already doing.

  With that thought, Aubrey splashed cold water on her face before drying it on a paper towel. Then, she stood straight and walked out the door, heading for the labs.

  Aubrey was still working at ten o’clock that night. She had tested all the animals scheduled for testing on the day shift as well as the night shift. She had told Jeff, the guy who usually fed the animals on the night shift, to go home. She’d finish up for him. She had already fed most of them. Now, she stood beside a metal work table reading off the numbers for Bob’s food tray.

  “Two, four, one,” she whispered to herself, squinting at the sheet. She rubbed her eyes. She was absolutely exhausted and her vision was beginning to blur. “Two, four, is that a one or seven? One. Definitely one. Yup.”

  She nodded and walked to the cart lined with metal drawers. She pulled out drawer number 241. It was Bob’s food—a mixing bowl full of red Jello. Aubrey walked to Bob’s tank. She set the
bowl down on the floor and used both hands to push the buttons on the tank’s handgrip. The glass slid down just far enough to allow her to insert the bowl and dump its contents into the tank’s water. Bob jiggled as the Jello floated down. When the food finally touched Bob, he absorbed it into his gelatinous body. Aubrey raised the glass again, listening for the click that meant the pane was closed. She returned the bowl back to its drawer and moved on to the next creature.

  “Two, six, zero,” Aubrey said out loud to herself, tapping a pen on the clipboard. She walked to drawer number 260 and opened it. It was the electric blue gorilla’s meal. So far, the only meal they had found for him was electric-fried rabbits. Aubrey cringed as she lifted the tray of crispy bunny flesh and fur.

  She set the tray down on the floor before reaching to open the creature’s aquarium. This one opened from the bottom, its buttons an arm span apart. She pushed and lifted, hurrying before the creature could charge itself. She grabbed the tray, slid it under the glass, and slammed the pane shut. She didn’t hear the click, though. The animal inside was charging, pulses of current running through its hair. The air in the enclosure brightened. Aubrey reached to check the latch. She pulled up on the pane. The glass slid up an inch. The air grew brighter and brighter. She kept her eyes lowered, tried to slam the handgrip down. There was something in the way, though. The creature had jammed the food tray toward her, blocking her from closing the door. Without the soundproof glass between her and the creature, Aubrey heard the thunderous explosion as the creature released its electric charge.

  But, Aubrey also heard another explosion, this one from behind her, coming from the circular hole in the floor, from Zarek’s enclosure. She heard glass shatter. She felt claws dig into her back. She felt herself being lifted into the air. A bolt of electricity reached her, even up there, and as she drifted into unconsciousness, she felt the heat of fire on her face.