Veda has always been the rule-breaker, the rebel. The popular one; especially with men. So, I shouldn’t be surprised these aliens are fighting over her. But did they have to take everything I loved in the process?
I think not, but they sure fucking did. I’m still having trouble trying to wrap my head around it all. Still in shock maybe. I’m too fucked up to see or think straight.
But I must admit, there were many times I thought about surrendering her over to them. What kind of sister would that make me though?
I love her to death, but she’s always been a royal pain in my ass since day one. And quite frankly, I was done cleaning up her fucking mess.
Now, my heart twists in a knot, regretting those thoughts. My job was to protect her, and I have failed. I glance back at Carter who is still knocked unconscious. We have failed.
“Warning! This section is being purged. Please proceed to the control center.”
Oh, fuck! I crawl over to Carter and slap him on the face. “Goddamn it, Carter, wake up!”
Before, when I said I’d rather be dead? I lied. I don’t want to die today.
I slap him even harder, eliciting a sting across my palm and up my arm. Still nothing. I grab him by the loose ends of his spacesuit and shake him. “Please, Carter,” I cry.
“Asha?” I hear a strangely familiar voice behind me, and I freeze in place. Carter’s body is still limp. He hasn’t moved. My hand goes to my mouth. I slowly stand up and turn around. No!
I look back to Carter then turn back to the man standing in front of me…the man who looks exactly like Carter. I back pedal away from both, my chest feeling heavy. My throat suddenly dry. I want to scream though it would do me no good. “Wha-what is going on?”
Awake, Carter puts his hands up, slowly taking a step toward me. His eyes go wide when he notices his look-alike on the floor out cold. He gulps. “Asha, I have no idea what’s going on. All I remember is waking up naked inside the utility closet. You’ve got to believe me.”
Shit was already complicated, now, things are just getting fucking weird. He takes another step forward. I take a step back, not entirely trusting the situation I’ve been handed. The only way out of here is through those sliding doors which lead to the control center. But I need a badge and access code to open them.
Fuck! I must figure out something quick before this damaged part of the ship gets purged.
“Warning! This section is being purged. Please proceed to the control center.”
Thank goodness for heat sensors, otherwise we would already be goners.
Carter rubs the length of his face with one hand, still holding the other in the air. “Asha, I know things are a little confusing right now, but we need to get to the control center.”
I eye him skeptically. “How do I know you are the real Carter?” I cross my arms over my chest. I am sick of these alien mind-games. I’m not going anywhere until he answers me.
His face flushes with a scarlet burn. “Fuck, okay. Ask me anything. Quick.”
“Where’s Veda’s birthmark?” I raise an eyebrow. I know they fucked, so he should know this if he’s in fact the real Carter.
He chuckles softly. “Too easy. Above her right hip, in the shape of a heart. Satisfied?”
“Yeah.”
“Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.” He doesn’t hesitate to retrieve his badge and gun from the body of… hell, only God knows who. I rub my forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. What have you gotten us into Veda? My sister has done some dumb shit in her day, but I never thought she would be the one to bring forth the fucking apocalypse and unleash aliens from a different dimension. Where did she learn that language anyway?
Running my hand through my hair, I walk over to Carter. He goes about punching in his code and scans his badge. The screen beeps and turns green. “Access granted.”
We both exhale a sigh of relief as the door slides open pulling impostor Carter over onto his side; he is still knocked out cold. Dragon Breath did a number on you, huh? “What should we do about your doppelganger?”
Carter nudges the body with his foot, face twisted into a scowl, and shrugs. “Let the purge take care of him.” He rushes through the door, and I follow. Soon the doors start to close.
Grrrr! A hand grips my ankle, pulling me the same time the ship shakes. I scream, losing my balance, and fall flat on my face with a smack! Some blood trickles from my nose, and a sharp pain zips through my nasal cavity.
“Asha?” Carter whips around with wide eyes, unsheathing a knife from his holster and expertly plunging the blade into the imposter’s arm.
Whoa!
Real Carter moves as if he’s done this before and impostor Carter let’s out an inhuman roar. He doesn’t let go of my ankle even though the part of the ship we were just in is detaching and falling away from the rest of the ship, allowing the small slit in the door to suck the oxygen right out.
“Airlock breach.” The ship rattles, an array of alarms going off.
“Carter!”
“Hang on, Asha. I got you.”
I feel the stretch in my muscles as the Carters play tug-of-war with my limbs. I just hope the real one wins.
Real Carter cranks harder and the door finally snaps shut over the imposter’s arm with a crunch! I look down to find what’s left of his arm is still attached to my ankle. “Ah! Gross! Get it off!” Blood leaks from the other end.
“Hold still.” Carter peels the fingers away from my ankle, freeing me then helping me to my feet.
I bend over, hands on my knees, breathing as if I had just run a marathon. This is crazy! I shake my head. “What the hell was that back there?”
“An alien in disguise, apparently.” His large hand meets the small of my back. “I was afraid I was going to lose you just now.”
My eyes meet his worried gaze. “Carter. Since when does an astronaut carry around a gun and knife like you have there?” I straighten my spine with my hand on my hip. I give him a suspicious glance. I may have been a fashion designer in my past life, but I know some shit.
“Well…” He heaves a sigh, raking a hand through his hair. “Truth is… I was recently promoted to join a special task force to eradicate aliens from the galaxy.”
“Like Space Force?” I twist my face at him.
A laugh builds deep within his chest. “Oh, no but similar concept.”
I roll my eyes. “So, you mean to tell me you’ve been aware of aliens for a while now and didn’t bother to mention it to us?” I blink at him in disbelief, my fists balled up at my sides.
“It was classified information, Asha. Trust me, I wanted to tell you. I did. And then—”
“And then they fucking ambushed us and blew up Earth. Yeah, I saw that! I lost my entire family because of your “classified” lack thereof information!”
“I know. I’m so sorry. We had no idea that was—”
I wave my hands in the air. “Oh, how could anyone foresee my sister opening the portal that would inevitably bring forth our doom?”
He shakes his head slightly, resting his head in his palm. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
Silence lingers between us, the weight of what happened filling the void.
“Well, we should find Veda. Talk to her. Maybe then we will have a better understanding of all this.”
He has an extra bounce in his step as he walks away, and I feel dread whirl within me having to ruin his joy of seeing my sister. I know how much he adores her. Hell, he might even love her. He’d have to in order to put up with her crap. Poor bastard. “Carter?” I sag my shoulders, frowning.
He pivots on a dime. “What’s the matter, Ash?”
“Veda…she’s…” My words get caught in my throat. Panic fills my chest, tears threatening my eyes. The image of her and that asshole practically disappearing into thin air moves to the frontal lobe of my brain. “Oh, Carter. She’s gone. That dragon— that monster took her.”
His face pales, fists clenching tightly
at his sides. His chest heaves up and down. He closes his eyes, shaking his head. “No!” he bellows.
“I’m so sorry, Carter,” I sob.
He goes completely apeshit and rips the flat-screen TV from the wall and hurls it across the corridor. It hits the ground with a crash, sending sparks flying up into the air. “No!” he screams again.
Watching his rampage sets something off inside me. A fire ignites in my soul. I decide I am not going to accept defeat while my sister, my only family left, is still out there. Alone. Afraid. Just as angry. She said she would die for me.
Well, I will die trying to save her.
Thankfully, I don’t have to do it alone. I know shit but I have no knowledge in the alien department. I am certain Carter would be willing to help me out with that. “Carter?”
He immediately snaps his head back to me, chest still heaving rapidly.
I narrow my eyes, mirroring his rage. “Let’s go kill us a dragon alien and get our girl back.”
“Oh, best believe I’m gonna fucking fry his dragon-looking ass.” Hell, hath no fury like a woman and lover scorned.
Veda
Blinking, I clear my vision only to be met by a flashing beam of light. The throbbing inside my skull has settled to an annoying ache around my temple. I roll my head to the side and notice my wrists and feet are bound to a metal chair. “What the…?” I test them, pulling with all my might. My whole body fails me, and my arms fall limp at my sides. I force out a gush of air from my lungs. Quite the predicament you’ve managed to get yourself into, Veda. I roll my eyes, catching a glimpse of something that steals my breath.
Four white moons circle around a vibrant, terrestrial planet with rings of glitter-looking debris floating around it. As we cruise over the rings, my eyes narrow to get a better look. Oh, my…my mouth falls open. Are those diamonds?
Abruptly, the starship tilts downward, a swirling cyan sky with dull purple lines in the clouds comes into view. Volcanic mountain peaks pierce them menacingly. I’m rendered speechless taking in the horrifying beauty of the planet before me. I mean, I shouldn’t expect anything less from the savage aliens. Back on Earth they took everything and gave nothing. Being chained to this metal chair this entire time seems like a typical move of theirs, but at least I have this stellar view from the expansive window. If I squint hard enough, I think I can see the red sun in the distance beyond the clouds and peaks. My gosh, it must be three times bigger than our sun!
The floor vibrates underneath me, shaking me from my trance, and my heart begins to pound against my sternum. I don’t need to turn around to know it’s him.
My ruthless captor.
The others refer to him as King Eleazar.
“Welcome home, human.” The bass in his voice rumbles within my chest, and I shudder, squeezing my eyes closed.
“You destroyed my home,” I groan. Although I can appreciate all its mystifying beauty thus far, I have no intention of staying here. Somehow, someway, I’m getting back to Asha and Carter.
Carter. Maybe it is the extreme circumstances I’ve endured, but I never thought I would miss him. Before the world ended, I never gave him a second thought. Now, all I can think about is his tender touch, his full and welcoming lips on mine. With my eyes still shut, I reminisce about how good it felt kissing him, Carter holding me ever so tightly up against the wall. I crave to have that warmth around me again. All I feel in my soul is cold and emptiness. But after what I’ve done, after what happened to my niece and nephew, my brother-in-law, I decide I deserve to feel this void. I deserve to be held captive. I deserve whatever looming fate waits for me.
Eleazar’s voice breaks me from my tumble into despair. “This is your new home. Whether you like it or not.” Promptly, he stomps away, his purple robe smothering the floor embedded with those diamond-shaped jewels I had seen earlier. He growls orders to nearby soldiers who are about a foot shorter than him, but still massive compared to me.
“Prepare the starship for landing.”
“Right away, Sire,” they say in unison and scurry to their designated positions. A jolt pulls on my abdominal wall as the starship lands on the ground.
A female alien soldier unexpectedly appears above me. Looking at her golden star pinned to her sleeveless purple bodysuit, I can assume she is of higher rank. She bears a dragon tattoo on her left bicep. She is petite compared to her male counterparts but her yellow skin looks smoother and has very few, but larger scales. Her almond-shaped eyes find mine, and I gasp. She slowly tilts her head back and forth inches away from my face. That is when I notice that alluring speck in her eyes. I only know of one other alien who has that same speck…Eleazar. She smirks slightly, giving me a quick glimpse of her sharp teeth. “He will throw you away like the rest of them once he’s done with you. Our king is never satisfied.”
“Wha-what is he going to do to me?”
Her smirk grows even more deadly. “Oh, you will find out soon enough. Now, put this on.” She tosses a black spacesuit and helmet in my direction. I catch them. Suddenly, I realize at some point she must’ve cut my restraints without me noticing, and I gulp. I’m going to have to watch my back around her.
“Chop chop. We haven’t got all day, human.”
“Yes, sorry.” Mumbling “bitch” to myself, I do as I’m told and slip on the black spacesuit and matching helmet and quickly fall in step behind her. Geez, she’s even taller than me. I’m not used to being the short one, that’s usually Asha’s job—she can hold her own in a fight, however, and I have the battle scars to prove it.
As the platform lowers, I stumble off it, my legs feeling heavy as if I am a baby just learning how to walk or some shit. It is fucking annoying not having control over my own damn limbs. Which is rather inconvenient considering I must walk across a bridge with no railing and fire shooting up from both sides.
The female alien snorts, rolling her eyes. “Pathetic human. Keep up.”
It is quite clear his sister or whoever is not a fan of me. I am still undecided about her, though. “Okay.” I try my damn hardest to fall in cadence with the aliens, but their one step equals six of mine and soon they are way ahead of me, so I run to catch up.
A roar from up above stops me dead in my tracks. The sky darkens overhead, and I regret the moment I look up. I’m knocked down by a gust of wind. No, no, no! I hug the ground, the fear consuming my body like a tidal wave. More flashbacks of things I want to forget. “Please, leave me alone,” I cry.
The sound of beating wings has me clutching my limbs, and I curl into the fetal position. “Please, don’t hurt my family, please.” My tears turn into rivers, wetting my cheeks. My breathing picks up and tremors erupt all over my body. I just want to wake up from this never-ending nightmare.
I feel sharp claws graze along my backside, and I freeze in place. Death has finally come for me in the shape of a dragon. At least the nightmare will be over soon.
I’m lifted off the ground. Just make it quick!
Heat invades me, strong arms envelop my trembling body. “If you don’t get it together, human. You won’t survive a day here.” A terrifyingly familiar growl fogs up my helmet.
Eleazar? The fog soon clears away to a pair of vibrant eyes scorching with flames. They narrow in on me like lasers. He forces out a grunt, setting me down onto my feet, thereafter, he is slapping me on the ass.
“Ouch,” I yelp, rubbing the sting away with my palm. I guess I shouldn’t complain. He could have left me to be that dragon’s food.
Eleazar eyes me expectantly, the veins in his neck visible. “Move along, now.”
“I’m going. I’m going.” I swallow the lump in my throat, nodding slightly, and move onwards to the tunnel carved into the base of the mountains.
Walking closer, my eyes scale up, taking in the view. Being this close to the mountain has me feeling smaller than an ant. I get the impression everything around here is fit for the size of a giant alien king.
Inside the tunnel is murky and wate
r sloshes underneath my space boots. The only visible light is reflected off those beautiful diamonds ingrained into the rock. My hands graze along them, wishing I didn’t have this damn suit on so I could touch them, hold them within my hand. The fairytales are true, dragons are collectors of the most precious treasures.
We round a corner to an enormous set of sparkling doors. His soldiers line up along the entrance making way for Eleazar to pass by. He raises his long arms into the air and speaks in another language, triggering another vision.
I feel like I am running out of air as I lean against the cave walls, my vision tunneling. I grasp at my chest. I see…
Me.
In front of the portal.
Speaking the same language. What. The. Fuck?
I don’t understand. The more I remember, the more all of this confuses me. Will I ever figure out the truth?
“Sire?” I hear through my daze. “The human.”
His growl rumbles the cave, snapping me out of my reverie. He is glaring at me. They are all glaring at me.
Shit! I really gotta stop doing that. I put my hand up. “Sorry, I promise I will get it together, Eleazar.”
He shakes his head and continues his chant. The doors slowly open and reveal a vaulted futuristic foyer with a golden throne placed at the end of the hallway. Eleazar bee lines straight for it while I am ushered off in another direction. “Processing is this way.” The female alien yanks off my helmet and leads me down a corridor with titanium doors at the end.
“What does processing consist of, exactly?”
“You ask too many questions,” she snarls.
I sigh. “Fair enough.” Figures. I didn’t think I would get much info out of her, but it was worth a try. The door slides open and she tosses me in. I hit the ground with a thud. The door begins to close before I’m able to get my bearings.
“Have fun.” She smirks with a wave.
I peel myself from the ground. “Wait. Don’t leave me here, please.” But it is too late. I am locked in a small space with bright white walls and no windows. A prison cell. The longer I stand here, the more the walls seems to be closing in on me. I fall to my knees, resting my head in my hands. More tears stream down my eyes. I try to think happy thoughts. The ones that fill my vision are when Asha and I took the kids to Disneyland for the first time. We rode the teacups, went on Space Mountain, and ate ice cream until our hearts were content. All I can see is their innocent smiles. I am not a kid-person, but I would give anything to see those sweet, goofy smiles again, feel their tiny little arms wrapped around my neck, saying, “Auntie, auntie, please one more ride.”
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