by Tracy Lauren
I double check his bag, running my hands along the material, looking for hidden compartments or a pocket I didn’t notice the first time around. That’s when I feel a small square object sewn in between two strips of fabric. The size feels right. I look close at the seams and see a roughly sewn patch. I’ve got no knife, no scissors. I’ll have to complain again to Narron about not having a weapon or any tools.
I grab ahold of the fabric and pull at it like I’m trying to pop open a bag of chips. I hear the seam snapping. I stop to look at my progress, a small hole has appeared. I stick my fingers in and try and pull out the data chip, but the hole is still too small. I rip at the seam again and make the leeway I was hoping for. I pull out the data chip and load the contents onto my personal comm.
Thank god, now I can get out of here. I put the data chip back in its pocket and hurry to make my escape. I close the door quietly as I step out into the hall, casting a glance first to my left and then to my right. My heart skips a beat when I see Drykn stepping out of the elevator with three of his friends. They are talking amongst themselves, until Drykn looks up and sees me. We both still for a fraction of a second.
“What in fuck?” he growls, and his buddies all look over at me, still gripping the door to Drykn’s room. Oh shit. Time to run. Unfortunately, the elevator and the stairs are in Drykn’s direction. With no other options I head for the balcony, sprinting as fast as my body will allow.
I feel that old familiar fear, a well swelling up and overflowing inside of me. It presses me forward, carries me faster than I could run otherwise. But the alien men are faster. I hear their pounding feet gaining on me. I don’t give a fuck what Narron says. I sure as shit could use a weapon right now. I see a small decorative table along one of the walls, a vase sits waiting for me atop it. I veer towards it. It’s inches from my fingertips when someone grabs onto my braid and my head jerks backwards.
I’m spun around and thrown into the wall. A hand flies to my shoulder, pinning me. One of Drykn’s guys holds me in place. Slowly, angrily, Drykn approaches. He’s fuming. He doesn’t stop until he’s about an inch from my face and those yellow eyes of his bore into me. They are cold and filled with something ugly, something I’ve never even detected in The Oscillion’s bloody red eyes.
“What the fuck were you doing in my room, whore?”
“I’m hotel staff,” I say quickly. “I was emptying trash cans and checking…checking to see if you were all set on clean towels.”
“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard,” he says, and in one swift motion he grabs my hair roughly and uses it to slam my head into the wall. My vision tunnels and I grab onto the table to stay upright.
“Now, bitch, tell me the truth. What the fuck were you doing in my room?”
I hear the others snickering, enjoying my pain. I grip that little table for dear life with shaking hands and a pounding heart. I start sucking in short and quick bursts of air, but it feels like I can’t breathe. I need…I need…I need to run. Without thinking, I grab the vase and bring it down hard on Drykn’s face. It shatters and he hits the ground. Maybe I hear the others gasp, or maybe it’s just my own frantic breaths. But I’m running again.
“Get her!” someone yells.
I look for my next weapon. I grab a freaking side chair of all things and spin around, shoving it into the legs of my nearest pursuer. It hits his knees with a crack and he flips head first over it and onto the ground. I’ve retreated into that primitive part of my brain that just wants me to run or fight. I have no technique, no fancy skills that Narron tried to impart on me. All I have is a desperate desire to survive. There’s a metal bust on the table next to where the chair had been sitting. I snatch it up and drive it down onto the back of the guy’s head. Someone wraps their arms around me from behind and I’m lifted off of the ground.
That’s when I start screaming. I kick my limbs frantically, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I picture the image of a wild animal in a frenzy trying to escape a snare. My whole body revolts from the arms trying to still me.
“Hold her! Fucking hold her, man!”
Somehow, I’ve spun around and I’m facing the guy now. His hands are around my waist, leaving my arms free. I wail on him. Nails, fists, elbows. I aim for his eyes, his throat, and temples—anything soft I might be able to cause damage to. Without even thinking about it, I lean into him and bury my teeth into his cheek.
“Aghhh!” the man screams out in pain, releasing me and falling back. I fall to the ground and am scrambling to get up when a foot connects with my back. I hit the floor, harder this time, but I roll away instinctually. I am so close to the balcony now.
“You’re going to be so sorry, you crazy fucking bitch,” a voice says from behind me. I try to right myself again, but get that boot to my back. This time when I hit the ground I don’t roll away, instead I roll over and plant my hands down on the floor, then I kick up with all my might. My feet land on the guy’s stomach and he’s thrown back.
Again, I try to run. I’m only about five of six feet from the glass door. But my wrist is grabbed and my body is swung around from the momentum. I’m face to face with Drykn again. Only now his face has deep bloody gouges all over it and it’s flecked with splinters of glass.
“I was going to be nice to you, you stupid cunt. I was going to toss you around a bit and leave you on your ass.” His grip on me is like iron. “Now you’re going to die. But first, I’m going to fuck you until you wish you were dead.”
A spark of defiance alights within me. “I bet you say that to all the girls,” I tell him. He smiles at me. A sickening sneer. He pulls his arm back and swings at my face. This isn’t a hit like Narron gives me, this is a full-on punch with all of Drykn’s might exacted into it. His fist connects with my face, and for a moment everything is in slow motion. It seems like I’m flying, just flying backwards looking at the hate and evil etched into Drykn’s bloodied face. I can see the man whose legs got tangled in the chair, lying still in a heap on the ground. The guy I bit is cowering against a wall, blood pouring from between his fingers. The last guy, the one I kicked in the stomach, just stands back, waiting his turn. And I’m still flying…flying until my back strikes the glass, then I’m swimming in a sea of glinting stars.
I’ve gone through the glass and it rains down around me. I can’t help but think what a beautiful sound it is. When the back of my head hits the ground I barely maintain consciousness. I hear Drykn’s heavy footfalls crunching over the glass. He’s coming for me. I try to roll over so I can crawl away, but he flips me over and straddles me. I swing my fists ineffectually at his chest. He winds up again and there’s a deafening crack when his fist connects with my face.
“Talk to me, bitch. You were trying to search me downstairs, don’t try to deny it or I’ll cut out your fucking tongue. Now I see you coming from my room. Who do you work for?” he says with one hand gripping the neck of my shirt. My head tries to roll back onto the ground. It feels so heavy.
“I don’t work for anyone, I was just trying to steal your shit. Your cred reader, anything with value,” I slur, my mouth full of blood.
“Every lie is another cock that’s going to be inside you. I’ve got a lot of friends here, cunt, I can call them all up here if you want.”
“I’m not lying, it’s not a lie!” I beg, clutching and clawing at his wrists. He hits me again. And again. Blood spills from my mouth. Everything’s spinning. Then, I am suddenly aware of tugging at the waist of my pants. He’s going to rape me.
My hands weakly skate across the hard ground, blanketed in glass. My fingers find a shard big enough to hold. I grab it. Gripping it tight, I swing it at Drykn.
A scream pierces the night. Drykn’s weight comes off of me and I claw at the ground, dragging myself away from his reach. Another shard of glass big enough to be a weapon lies nearby and I grab it for good measure. I struggle to get to my feet. All of Quar seems to spin as I do.
Drykn’s last man standing co
mes running out. He goes first to Drykn’s side. They’re blocking the door.
I hurry to the edge of the balcony and look over the edge. The massive red banner advertising the rally whips in the wind next to me.
“Get her, get her, you idiot!” I look back to see the glass piece sticking straight out of Drykn’s eye. His friend gets up and bolts for me. I look back over the edge. There’s nothing below me to jump down to. Just 12 stories of air, before the hard desert floor. Still…I jump.
I jump and hear a gasp from the man pursuing me. I wonder what surprised him so much, the fact that I jumped or the fact that I didn’t fall to my death. I clutch at the heavy banner, but it’s thick and I can’t quite wrap my hands around the material to get a good grip. I stab at it with my shard of glass. It cuts into my flesh, but it cuts into the fabric as well. It slices the banner like wrapping paper and I start sliding down fast. I panic at the speed, discarding my glass piece and gripping the tear for dear life.
“Oh God, oh God…” I whisper to myself. The night air feels crisp across my face. My hair, mostly torn free of my braid, whips wildly with the wind. It’s okay, I think to myself. All I have to do now is climb down.
Something whizzes past me and I startle. My grip becomes precarious and I hear another whiz. This time, whatever it is hits the banner, causing a piece high above me to burst into flames. I look up to see the grizzly Drykn gazing down at me from the balcony. He holds a gun in his hand and is aiming right for me. While I may have fucked up his depth perception, this is still like shooting fish in a barrel.
I begin climbing desperately down the banner. My injured hand protesting the whole way. A shot flies close enough to my head that I feel the heat from it. I climb faster, my heart pounding, my hands slipping. My grip on the fabric fails. I slide, futilely trying to recover my hand hold. But the slide turns into a fall and I barely manage to slow my momentum on my downward plunge. The scene around me spins out of control. I think of Dax. Then everything goes black.
Chapter 38
Narron
It’s been hours. Stupid human. She’s gotten herself into trouble, no doubt. Perhaps this will finally prove to The Oscillion that she is not fit for such things. Another female maybe, but not this one. Not this princess. It isn’t for lack of trying, but her body simply is not cut out for such work.
I decide I should not wait any longer and head for the hotel. Inside the lobby I scan the bar. No princesses there.
I approach the bartender. “Have you seen a fragile female? Curvy yet strong? Hair the color of warm ceata?”
“I saw something like that,” the bartender informs me. “She went upstairs about an hour ago.”
I ping my cred reader to his tip kiosk and nod my gratitude. I head over to the hotel’s restaurant and peek inside. I see three of Drykn’s men, but no Drykn. I decide to scan the dance hall before I head up to his room. I only make it a pace or two away from the restaurant door when a female’s scream rips though the entire first floor of the hotel. It came from the restaurant. I spin on my heels and push into the room.
There is a female standing there. She has everyone’s attention, but her gaze if looking out the windows. Horror mars her features. Her arm is lifted, frozen and pointing out. Her mouth works to find words, but she only screams once more.
“By the goddess!” someone yells, “There’s a female out there, she just fell from the roof!”
The room is filled with collective gasps and screams. Chairs are slid out from their spots at dining tables and everyone crowds the rear doors. I push my way through the morbid throngs of people who just want to get a look at the poor dead girl. The crowd parts for me, as it usually does.
When I see her I’m sure she’s dead. She looks broken and wet. Her face is discolored with bruises and stained with blood. One of her arms is bent at an unnatural angle. But then she struggles to draw in a breath and her eyes shoot open.
“Get back!” I bellow to the crowd. A crowd who would like to watch this human die, no doubt.
I rush to her side and look up to see the banner torn and pocked with laser blasts. I think for a moment I see two heads peering over the side of a railing more than halfway up the building.
“Ask him for me,” she mutters, her words slurred.
“What?” I cannot conceal my shock, if only for the fact that she is conscious after a fall such as this.
“Ask him if he’ll let me see Dax now?” Her hand has a gaping wound, showing me traces of muscle beneath parted flesh. Shakily she tries to pass her personal comm unit to me. I look at it with disgust, but shove it into my pocket just the same.
I take in the extent of her damage, trying to decide how I will move her. I must get her to The Oscillion’s fortress now. For the first time I notice her pants, the waistband has been torn open. Her eyes close and her body goes limp. I wrap my arms around her, lifting her up. She feels lifeless in my arms…and I feel sick.
***
Dax
Something feels wrong. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. I abandon my work at my chains and stretch toward the door, trying to catch a glimpse outside the window. All is silent out there. In here there is a pounding though. Slow, steady, and unending. War drums.
I crouch at my chain’s anchor again and continue working the metal, trying to shake this sudden feeling of unease. Something inside me knows what it is, though I hate to admit it. V is in trouble. She needs me. I must go to her.
Chapter 39
V
It’s dark here, but somehow, I know I’m not alone.
“She retrieved all the data?”
“One of Drykn’s men is dead. She bludgeoned him to death.” It’s Narron talking. I hear The Oscillion laugh. No one else does.
“Did the others seek medical?”
“No, but from what I hear, Drykn lost an eye and one of his men had part of his face torn off.”
“Torn off?”
“She bit him.”
“With those blunt little things she calls teeth?” More laughter.
“Was she raped?”
“The medical exam determined she was not.” Well, that’s a small relief, I think to myself.
“How would you like me to proceed, sir?” a new voice chimes in. A doctor perhaps.
“Surely we are done with this little experiment,” Narron bids. “We should heal her and let her go. She is not cut out for this life.”
“Clearly, she has just proved the contrary, my friend. Besides, I have bigger plans for her now.”
“She cannot be useful to you anymore. She is infamous here on Quar now, everyone will recognize her and know she works for you. It will ruin you at the rally.”
“Well then, make her unrecognizable.”
“Sir?” It’s the doctor again.
“Doctor, if you please. Patch any injuries then equip her with a Trans Alloy Skeletal Enhancement.”
“You can’t possibly be serious?” It sounds like Narron is protesting.
“Sir, are you entirely sure? The cost would be—”
“Do as I say and do not ever question me,” The Oscillion replies, seemingly addressing both men.
“Narron, we’ll have to come up with a disguise for our goddess. Do you think she’d pass as an Aritine?”
Narron sighs. “Not without tattoos…and prosthetics.”
“Line up an artist.”
I groan. Please no. Please don’t make me get tattoos! And what did he mean by prosthetics?
“Is she conscious?” The Oscillion asks suddenly. “Can she hear me?”
I feel his breath on my ear. “You did very well, sweet V. I wish to reward you for all your hard work.”
I want to ask for Dax. I want to beg to be able to see him. But all I can manage is a breathy whisper. “Dax?” I plead.
“Sedate her, I want her ready before the first flag.”
“Dax,” I groan again.
“I’ll tell you what. You’ve been such a good girl, I’ll let you
speak to him before your next mission.” I feel The Oscillion leave my side. “Now sedate her, Doctor. Believe me, no one wants to feel a TASE going in.”
I reach out blindly and grip a hand. It feels bumpy and rough…scarred. Narron’s hand. I try to grip it, but struggle to make my body to do as it’s told. Maybe Narron notices this, because his larger hand encapsulates mine.
“Hold on, small sister. This is going to hurt.”
A sharp pain registers in my neck and I feel something warm rush over my body. I fall back into a place of dreams.
Chapter 40
V
