by Sara Fields
Alaina was thrilled to see me. I sat down with her and told her what I found and that we could inform the rest of our unit about what happened.
“I’m glad to see you back and to hear that you took care of our little problem. Things went pretty smoothly here. The caves feel much safer since we can hide the light from our fires. Plus, the woods down this way seem more plentiful with game,” she told me, and I smiled.
“It’s great to hear that. I feel a lot better now that those Vakarrans are gone. They were getting a little too close to us for comfort,” I replied as I looked around the cave. The rock was dark and moist with little rivulets of water, which made it much colder. I shivered and raised my eyes, searching for my younger sisters, Danika and Kaela. They weren’t that far off, sleeping together under a woolen blanket.
Their innocence peeked through in that moment and I smiled softly, incredibly thankful that I had been able to grant them such a life so far. I turned back to Alaina and sighed.
My stomach decided to turn that sweet and angelic moment into a supreme joke by growling so noisily that Alaina laughed out loud.
Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a piece of venison jerky and handed it to me.
“I guess you’re hungry then?” she questioned with a smirk.
“Smart ass,” I countered, but I couldn’t help but grin in return. I grabbed the jerky and took a big bite.
“It’s late. You should probably get some rest if you intend to hike back tomorrow morning and check the camera feeds,” my sister added.
I nodded in agreement.
“Are there any free bedrolls?” I asked.
“There’s one over there I set up for you. It’s kind of private and you shouldn’t disturb anyone when you wake in the morning,” Alaina replied as she pointed to a dark area behind a big boulder.
“Thanks, Laina,” I replied. “I’ll go get some sleep.”
“Be careful tomorrow, Kira,” she warned.
“I always am,” I replied with a grin. “No Vakarran is going to catch me!”
The musical sound of her ensuing laugh made me smile as I walked off. Remembering the jerky in my hand, I took another big bite and made my way over to the area Alaina had pointed to. Just like she said, she had rolled out a sleeping bag on a gym mat. It even looked like she fluffed my pillow.
She was a good sister, definitely a keeper. I’d never say it out loud, but she was probably my favorite.
I sat down on the mat and took off my boots, placing them at the side of my bedroll. Shrugging off my leather jacket, I snuggled under the covers, too tired to get changed in any sort of pajamas. I finished the last of the meat, before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up before the sun rose and I found a steaming mug of coffee waiting for me. Even though I didn’t see her, I know Alaina had prepared it for me. I wished it had some sort of creamer, but we hadn’t come by fresh milk or dairy in a long time. I got dressed and made up the bedroll, before grabbing the hot caffeinated beverage.
Drinking it black, I sat beside the still crackling fire and gradually woke myself up.
When I saw the first tendrils of light dancing on the dirt outside the mouth of the cave, I sighed and knew I had to get moving. It was time to start my day.
Drinking the rest of the coffee, I placed the empty mug down beside the fire with a few other dishes that had started to gather there. Looking around, I smiled softly at seeing all the bodies sleeping around me. I was so proud of our group and I’d do anything to keep them safe.
Venturing out into the day, I hiked back to my command center without any delays. The forest was pretty quiet and peaceful in the early morning sun, punctuated by sounds of birds cawing and singing to each other. Along the way, I filled a flask in a nearby stream with water and capped it tightly.
When I arrived at my cave, I grinned and made my way inside. Sitting down in the chair, I turned on several of the computer screens and searched the recorded footage for any indications of alien intruders. I found nothing but false catches of animals triggering the feeds or the wind moving a branch or leaves falling to the forest floor. A whole bunch of nothing. That’s what I liked to see though. It meant we were safe.
I turned on all the cameras then to look at the live feeds and didn’t see anything either, at least for the first half hour or so. I picked up the book I had been reading and settled back, when one of my alarms started to ping. With a stray yawn, I looked back up from the text on the pages to the screen and jolted with alarm.
There was a young woman wandering through the woods, heading straight in the direction of a cluster of bear traps I had set dead ahead. She looked young, probably somewhere in her late teens or early twenties and incredibly scared. She was alone too. I wondered how she’d survived on her own for so long on her own. Blonde, blue-eyed, and slender, she rushed ahead, not knowing that she was taking such a dangerous path.
Fuck.
She was going to get caught in my trap. It would take too long for me to power it down. She didn’t have that much time. She was moving too fast.
I had to get her out of there. She wasn’t that far off. I had to make it to her before she got hurt. Maybe she had escaped from one of the Vakarran camps? I didn’t recognize her, that much I was sure of.
With a flurry, I hurried outside my cave in a rush. Once I got onto the dirt path, I took off at a dead run in the direction of the woman in the woods. It took me less than three minutes to reach her and when we locked eyes, she stilled. Her eyes widened with fear and almost looked a little sad to see me. What the hell?
I slowed and moved forward much more deliberately, seeing that she reacted much like a frightened feral dog. There was something in her gaze that made me suspicious, but I ignored that feeling in hopes I could bring her back to our group.
Stepping forward, I reached for her and I heard something click underneath my foot.
I froze.
The woman shook her head, her eyes sad, and she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry” then.
Shit.
In the ensuing seconds, my entire world fell apart. A loud crack sounded as a branch flung forward and up and a giant rope spider web sprang up from the ground beneath me. The rope lifted upward and threw my balance off so that I fell forward on my hands and knees with a startled cry. The woman sobbed openly in front of me as her hands flew to her face.
The rope web lifted me off the forest floor and into the air, closing around me and trapping me in less than the span of a second. I was left hanging in the rope, swinging back and forth in the air like a trapped pig.
Fucking fuck. What the hell was this?
A cold chill passed over me. This wasn’t one of my traps, I knew that for a fact. The rope was webbed too tightly, although not tight enough where I couldn’t see through it. The holes were only wide enough to stick a few fingers through, rather than a whole hand or my foot. Looking up and down, I saw no weakness in the design of the contraption and nowhere I could try to work my way out.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I reached down into my pants pocket for my switch blade and moaned out loud at finding it empty. Dumbass.
So stupid. I’d loaned my knife to Alaina the other day and never gotten it back. I didn’t even think to grab the laser gun from the spot I had it hidden by the cave door when I had left.
Beginning to quietly panic, I tried to move around and survey the surrounding area.
Someone chuckled in the not too far off distance.
I stilled, the sound decidedly male. I opened my eyes wide, searching the shrubbery surrounding us for the source of the sound.
The woman, still standing motionless in the clearing, dove to her knees and dropped her eyes to the ground. It seemed like an automatic reaction to me, as she trembled and waited for whoever had laughed nearby to arrive.
The only words that came to mind were broken and obedient. Like a trained Vakarran slave.
Fuck.
&nbs
p; At once, four massive bodies appeared out of nowhere, almost like a chameleon appearing once it dropped its camouflaged nature. Their skin glimmered, changing from the mottled greens of the surrounding plants to the purple color I knew all so well. Huh, I hadn’t known they could do that. I grew increasingly nervous at the realization. What more didn’t I know?
For the first time, I began to feel afraid.
The moment I saw that distinctive violet skin, the color of a freshly plucked plum and those coppery eyes, fierce and cruel staring up at me, I cringed with both a healthy fear and growing fury. One had emerged first, followed by three others, all of them with their gaze fixed on me. Just great. Just fucking great.
The smug grins on their faces as they stared back at me sickened my stomach, like they’d captured some great and terrible prize with me. I ground my teeth together, trying to figure out my next move. Think, Kira. Think.
They were tall, definitely over seven feet and entirely muscle. The distinctive ram-shaped horns spiraled out from the sides of their heads, like a thick pair of bike handles. Their copper irises, rimmed with black, darkened as they gazed at me. Their skin almost seemed to morph from purple to a darker merlot-colored shade then. I shivered.
The tops of their heads had various shades of dark purple to black hair, all slightly different between each of them. They wore black military gear, which hugged the muscles of their chest tightly enough that I had no trouble envisioning what they would look like naked. Their thighs and biceps seemed thick like tree trunks, incredibly strong and powerful. Perfect for holding me down while they fucked me.
Where the hell had that thought come from?
The leader, or who I guessed was the leader, walked forward and placed his hand on top of the blonde girl’s head. She didn’t even flinch.
I wondered how long they had had her, how long it had taken to break her. I wondered if they’d taken her against their will. What the hell was I thinking, of course they had. That’s just what they did.
With their stares burning into me, I shivered as I imagined what they would do to me. I’ve heard stories, of how the Vakarrans bred women, whipped them, and trained them to submit without question. I trembled at the thought.
I’d escaped from the aliens before, but for some reason, this group of four seemed different, more intelligent and much less arrogant than the others. They appraised me with a sort of wariness that hinted at some weird manner of respect that was rather unexpected. It left me feeling a bit unsure.
In all my life, I’d only been captured twice. The first time, I wasn’t watching where I was going and didn’t check out an abandoned grocery store close enough to see if anyone was there. At the time, I had enough forethought to have my weapons on me and a pair of Vakarrans had ambushed me. They had me in their grasp for a few hours, but I had been able to hide a knife in my boot, which I used to slice their throats in order to escape. The second time, I had badly sprained my ankle after falling down an embankment and had tried to signal my sisters but ended up exposing myself to the Vakarrans instead. They’d held me for a couple of days, enough to learn my name and to assess my vitals, as well as load my data into their network. I killed them though.
I’d been on their radar ever since. I had never hinted, not even once, at the existence of my sisters of my band of refugee humans, but I never would. I’d never betray them and would take that secret to the death.
My mouth felt dry like cotton as I stared at the Vakarrans standing in front of me. For the first time in a long while, I was really scared. The one at the front met my eyes directly and my body heated, reacting viscerally to his assessment.
“Kira Stryke. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance,” he said, his voice low, gravelly, his tone that of a leader that was used to being obeyed.
I lifted my chin in defiance and glared back at him.
“I can’t say the same for you, assholes,” I retorted, spitting in his direction.
“Ahhhh, just like your file suggests, always the feisty rebel,” he replied, my insult just sliding past him. My spitting aim sucked too, only flying a few inches ahead of me, nowhere near the self-confident aliens watching me. Even as I glared daggers in their direction, nothing I was doing seemed to intimidate them in the slightest.
I gritted my teeth. Instead, I studied the guns on their waist and spotted a dagger on the left side of all their belts. With a slight grin, I began to formulate a plan. I’d figure out some way to steal that soon. They weren’t going to keep me hostage, not if I could help it.
“You have no fucking clue,” I replied.
He smiled in my direction and my insides squirmed with nervousness.
“Oh, I think I do,” he responded, and turned to look down at the woman by his side. “Clair, why don’t you tell Kira here about the law about human females, and what can happen to those that ignore Vakarran decree here on Earth.”
“Yes, Master,” she replied, lifting her head a little. “Human females are required to report to the training camp and aren’t allowed to live on their own. When a rebel is captured, she’s punished in front of the entire population as an example to the others,” Clair said, her voice hardly audible.
I swallowed heavily, my stomach tightening at her words.
The blonde trembled, pressing her thighs together anxiously. It almost seemed like she was uncomfortable sitting there in the jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt she wore, as she scratched and pulled at the fabric on her arms. I narrowed my eyes as she fidgeted, suspicious of her every move.
“You see, Kira, you’ve become somewhat of a symbol in our camp, a sort of mythical creature that has evaded capture for years now. Rumor has it, you even have hidden away a group of humans, but I’ve found no evidence to confirm that yet.”
I was very careful not to react to his words, keeping my features schooled with non-concern. Instead, I let him continue unabated.
“Because you’ve taken it a step further and killed a handful of my kind in your attempts to remain free and not submit when you should have, we’re going to make an example of you. My commander is very unhappy with what you’ve done. He wants to see you whipped and punished for your insolence, but myself and my officers here have a different idea of how to accomplish that,” he warned, and I saw the other three aliens grin darkly behind him.
For some strange reason, I felt my nipples peak underneath my shirt. My chest rose and fell with anger at his confidence and the fact that he assumed it was his right to own me.
“We’re going to let you down carefully, but Jax, Aedan, and Coltan here are going to come and restrain you. Try to fight, and I’ll hurt Clair here,” the leader explained, and I gritted my teeth in anger.
Fucking asshole. Clair didn’t move a muscle or protest in any way. My heart broke for her. She just sat there, on her knees on the ground and just submitted to them.
One of the four men moved to the side and switched a lever. My rope cage fell on the ground and I landed on my ass, hard. All at once, aliens surrounded me and gripped my upper limbs and my legs, their grip tight and strong. Even though I still tried to fight them, they quickly overpowered me. I glanced in the leader’s direction and saw him petting Clair. Even as I fought, he never even indicated even remotely that he’d hurt her.
Even more odd, Clair’s face stayed serene, almost like she was delighted with his attention. I even saw her press into his touch a little, like she enjoyed it or something. It was crazy. I could never enjoy being made to submit like that, no matter what.
Leather cuffs clasped around my ankles and wrists after they twisted my limbs together in front of me. I tried to squirm out of it, but my bonds held tight.
Like a stuck pig, they fucking hogtied me. They attached my cuffs to a long steel pole and carried me, two of them in front of me and two behind me. The leather rubbed against my skin and with each step they took, the jostling shifted me in my restraints. They walked through the forest until it began to thin out and tossed me in the trunk of
an all-terrain vehicle. I glared back at them when they closed the door behind me, but I was silently grateful for the few windows in the back door.
I saw Clair climb into the backseat behind them, all the while keeping her eyes down and her shoulders slightly hunched. She’d definitely been taken by them and trained as to their ways. I should hate her for the dirty trick she used to capture me, but I couldn’t bring myself to. The rumors of what the Vakarrans did to their captives were at the forefront of my mind. She’d probably suffered, I couldn’t even guess.
With a heavy swallow, I turned back and glanced at their horned heads, and caught the eyes of one of them, the leader.
“I never got your name,” I retorted, feeling the need to display my displeasure at being handled like an animal. Almost as if he could read my thoughts, he smirked in my direction.
“I’m Commander Zaavyr. I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Kira Stryke. I look forward to the day when you beg to fall to your knees for me,” he answered, and I scoffed at his words.
Arrogant prick.
I fucking hated the Vakarrans. I’d show them they couldn’t conquer me that easily. They would rue the day that they captured me. I curled my body up tight in a ball and looked out the window into the great blue sky above, imagining the ways I could kill each and every one of them.
I’d get away, eventually.
Once they started the engine, I felt the vehicle rise off the forest floor and fly off into the distance, toward the female training camp and my doom. The tree tops flew by beneath us as the car rumbled quietly. All too quickly, the scenery turned from heavy forest to places that looked much more inhabited. Tall steel buildings began to rise up from the dust and trees, leftover marks from a once great city long ago. Now, it just looked like a sad, forgotten, and ignored place, yet I knew there were survivors there, somewhere.
We flew over the crumbling city, previously known as Atlanta, and approached a large area of white tents set up in a wide circle. At the center, there was a tent large enough to hold a three-ring circus, with plenty of room for an audience and I shivered at what that meant.
