The creature stood back when he was done, and Kira took this as a sign that she was allowed to sit up. She did so, wincing a bit; her back was stiff from how long she’d been strapped to the slab, and she rolled her neck, loosening herself up a little. With the light that was now in the cell, she could see herself reflected back at her in the surface of the black metal. Her bright red hair was a mess, and she was glad that her image was at least a little distorted in the metal. She didn’t want to know just how rough she looked, and she ran her hand through her hair a bit in an attempt to tame it.
Kira could feel the eyes of the alien on her as she did so. Despite the creeping red blush of heat that went up her neck, she chose to pretend to ignore it. She swung her legs over the side of the slab with the intention of standing on her own. The creature was at her side in an instant – did he think that she was going to run?
“I just wanted to stand up on my own.” She stepped a little away from him, and he took a step toward her. She tilted her head, silently measuring how much she was allowed to get away with. “Am I not allowed to walk?”
“Do not run,” he repeated.
“I wasn’t. I’m standing. Not running. Where am I going to run to, anyway?”
He seemed pleased by her assertion that she had, truly, nowhere to go at this point.
If she had expected the rest of the ship to be brighter than her cell, Kira would have been woefully disappointed. The hall was lined in the same black metal that her cell had been, and the only source of light came from strange, illuminated orbs that floated in the air of the hall.
She took in as much of the ship as she could, on their journey down the hall, but there was truly very little to see. All of the walls were the same smooth paneling that her cell had been. Every few feet were panels of blinking buttons, and she could only assume that there were rooms on the other side – perhaps more cells. She wondered idly how many women from other worlds had been taken and boarded on this ship, and she decided that she’d rather not think about it, save for the hope that maybe there’d be women like her, that perhaps she wouldn’t be so alone, that maybe she’d be able to learn a little more given her captor certainly wasn’t one to willingly offer up information.
They came to the back of the ship quickly. The creature’s strides practically drug her along; his legs were considerably longer than hers. He placed one of his large hands on a touch-pad along the smooth expanse of the ship. Kira watched, mouth open in awe, as the entire back wall of the ship dematerialized before her eyes. In preparation for the flood of light from the outside, she squinted, though the action was unnecessary.
It was night.
Darkness encompassed the outside, and she opened her eyes fully when she realized this. She could see the faint glow of light from more of those strange lit orbs. She wasn’t given much time to consider this, as the creature started to walk forward, taking her with him.
From what Kira could make out with the light, they were at the edge of a village. Stepping onto the ground from the ship, the terrain was rocky. Further ahead, where there was a higher concentration of those shiny orbs, and Kira could make out large, high-reaching shapes against the blackness of the night.
Her captor didn’t let her have much time to take anything more in. His hand gripped her forearm, and he pulled her along a rocky path, leading towards the dark shapes and the concentration of the shiny orbs giving off light. Her eyes strained to make out much else, but she could hear the sounds coming from the group of strange shapes. She could have sworn it was talking, but it didn’t sound like any words that she had heard in her life.
Kira was led down the path, into the first grouping of the buildings. They were tall, black things, jutting up from the ground like sharp slates of the same kind of metal that the ship was made of. The rocky path gave way to a smoother kind of stone beneath her feet, along these stone walkways tread more creatures like the one who held her then.
They were all male. Kira couldn’t make out a single female in all the silvery-blue-skinned men around her. They were all as tall, some slimmer and some just as thick as her captor, but they were all of the same race, that was certain. They turned interested, shining eyes towards the two of them, and spoke in that strange language that Kira didn’t know – couldn’t even make out perhaps a single, earthen English word. She felt totally exposed, their continuous, open, unashamed gazes making her feel as if she were walking among these people completely nude, devoid of any covering or modesty.
Instinctually, this caused her to press close against her captor, as if he would protect her. She felt as though there was more to their looks than mere curiosity; there was a hunger there that she could not place, and her mind went back to what she had been told she’d been taken for. Was it because there were no women here? Her mind went back to what her captor said, and what she knew of Ka’thon. Certainly she wasn’t meant for… all of them?
As they continued to walk, bypassing the first cluster of those strange jagged buildings and the smooth stone streets, one of the others approached Kira and her captor. He was as large as her captor was, with thick hair on his head. He wore the same dark, conforming clothing that her captor did. Oddly, the newcomer was more intimidating than he was, and she found herself pressing closer to the one who held her arm, once more lulled by the scent around him.
The two exchanged words. More than once the newcomer gestured to her, and Kira could only imagine that they were speaking about her. The newcomer eyed her an awful lot as they spoke; her captor didn’t seem to like that at all. She didn’t, either. The way he leered at her made her feel even more exposed, and the fact that her captor was displeased with this fact made her feel only marginally safer.
Kira noticed, the more they spoke, the more their tones rose and the more people stopped among the buildings to stare, gather around. Kira began to feel herself get lightheaded. So much heady scent was all around her, so many pulsing hormones. It was like alpha against alpha and the more the two argued back and forth, the worse it got, the more she pressed into her captor’s side –
Kira didn’t know that she had fainted, until she opened her eyes. She was no longer in the middle of the cluster of buildings, but rather in one, she assumed.
It was not big – at least twice as large as the ship, but no more, and the walls were just as black. There was a considerable amount of light though, from those strange glowing orbs hanging from nothing in the air, and the scent of cooking permeated the air in a sweet beckon that had her sitting up on something soft, and plush – a bed! Thank god for that, that it wasn’t another cold, unforgiving slab. It was one thing that wasn’t cloaked in complete darkness, and as she got her bearings, she allowed herself to stroke her fingers along the strange, almost-silken material of the red cloth that adorned where she had been laid.
She looked around, curious, even in her situation. The bed was in the center of the area she was in. A single, red-wooded chest rested at the end of it, and a large mirror was across from it. All along the wall, hung a number of weapons. Sharp and wicked blades, and blasters the likes of which she’d never seen, but they made her curious to their uses and firepower nonetheless.
The wall behind all of these contraptions was smooth, like in the ship, and there was a large rectangular opening there that she could see led out into a hallway. She imagined that it functioned much like the paneling of her captor’s ship, and noted the hand-sized panel to the side of it, indicating that she was right.
Kira saw hide nor tail of her captor, however, and wondered where he must be – and if she should get up and look for him or remain in place. She had no idea why she had passed out during his argument with the other – nor had she any explanation for the strange way that his scent affected her so. It had been all that raging testosterone-fueled arguing that had made her all lightheaded. But that was so strange…
She shook her head. It had to be some weird alien thing. They were obviously the more… instinctual sort of creatures. Sh
e was also quite sure that she knew the reason that the two of them had been arguing over her in the first place.
A sound from the hall has her looking up, and she was surprised to see her captor – at least surprised to see that he was carrying a tray with something warm and steaming for her. Food? Kira eyed him with a wary caution that he seemed to pick up. He frowned at the untrusting furrow at her brow.
“You are awake.”
“I am.” He stared at her a moment before setting the tray down beside her. She didn’t look at it, rather kept her eyes cast up at the man. He wore nothing on his chest anymore, and it would be a lie to say that she did not stare at him.
“Eat,” he said after a moment. His tone spoke little for wiggle room by way of refusing. Reluctantly, she looked down to her tray. There was a single bowl with a reddish-brown liquid and a plate with a slab of strange, stripped meat. It didn’t smell unpleasant, but it didn’t look like anything that she had ever seen before, either. She glanced back up at him, and saw him watching her intently. Given he had not given her utensils to eat with – something that struck her as odd, he had an interstellar ship but no forks? – she took the bowl first, tilting it to her lips.
She was pleasantly surprised to find that the broth wasn’t bad. Nice and warm, it had a strange spice that tingled against her tongue. It was a reminder that she had been feeling particularly starved since the trip. She hadn’t eaten anything since the morning she was beamed away from Earth, and who knew how long ago that had been by now? She drank the soup down hungrily, ignoring for the moment that she was being watched. Even as a few of the juices dribbled down her chin, she didn’t stop drinking down the liquid until it was gone.
“That was… good…” she said. Her tone mimicked her surprise; she was almost disappointed that there was no more for her to have. She licked her lips, tongue darting out to catch a dribble on her mouth.
And then the alien leaned forward, licking at her lips as well.
That strange electric warmth bloomed upon her skin when they touched. Her surprise caused her to freeze, caught off guard at his gesture. The lick was proceeded by a kiss, quickly pressed to her lips as the alien took her face in her hands. It wasn’t the action that was so odd to her – it was the fact that she did not stop him once he started.
He tasted savory, when he slipped his tongue between her lips. It made her want to taste him more, and she pressed herself close against him without thinking, without caring. That muscle-relaxing, obedience-inducing scent was all around her once more, beckoning her, encompassing her. She let out a sigh that turned to a sweet moan as their kiss deepened, and she could not control the heat that rushed hot through her body, like an intense wave that threatened to burn her through her very core –
Kira pulled away suddenly. What was she doing?! She had resolved to survive, but that didn’t mean playing into the ‘purpose’ that she had been given, no matter her curiosities on the matter. And yet here she was… allowing him to kiss her as if it were something that she actually wanted.
But… it had felt like she’d wanted it.
She made a point of scooting away from the alien man before he could react. His expression was a mixture of confusion and agitation, brows furrowed as if he were trying to process that she had stopped him. She prepared herself for anger, for a backlash.
Instead, the agitation slid from his face, and he stood. He took the tray off the bed, and left her alone once more.
~*~
Kira was running
She had taken the chance when she had gotten it. The man had left her alone – perhaps to go off to brood, maybe to think of how to punish her, something. Her mind ran wild with the possibilities, and as her mind ran, it came to the conclusion that that’s what she should do, as well. She had taken one of the blasters hanging on the creature’s wall, not knowing exactly how it worked, nor how powerful it would be. It hadn’t mattered when she’d aimed it at him, nor when she’d pulled the trigger as he turned around from putting away her unfinished dinner. Whether she’d killed him or stunned him, she didn’t know. She saw him go down after a blast of green, catching the surprised, if not angry look on his face as he went down twitching.
All she knew, was that she was running. She could not stay there with him. Her curiosity be dammed, it frightened her, the way that he made her feel after so little time.
She could hear footsteps behind her. She knew that it was a few of the alien men of the village. They had spotted her when she had thrown herself out of the home of the one who had captured her. One had tried to grab her, speaking to her in the language that she did not know. With sheer will she had wretched herself from the man, ending up with his nails leaving scratches in her forearm. She’s cut away from him, running in the direction that the alien had brought her in, away from the strange village with its barbarous men, and into the thick forest that lay beyond.
They chased her, and were never far behind her. She could hear their shouts and the crunch of the ground beneath their heavy-beating feet. She was a fast runner, had done track all through high school and college, but even this was a challenge. They were large, but they were fast – and they were right on her tail.
She made the mistake of looking back behind her as she ran. She wanted to see if perhaps she was making them lose ground behind her. It was a brief glimmer of triumph that she felt, seeing the distance between herself and her pursuers was getting wider and wider –
Kira cried out suddenly, a sharp pain shooting through her ankle, radiating up her leg. She fell to the ground, hitting it hard. Sharp points from rocks dug into her skin, and tears pricked in her eyes. She’d twisted her ankle – or broken it, all she knew was that it hurt – and she cradled it between her hands, rubbing her fingers over it in a futile attempt to soothe away the pain and perhaps get up and continue her run. Unfortunately for her, the aliens were on her before she even got a chance.
There were about ten or so, and she eyed them from the ground where she’d fallen. They closed in around her quickly, all grabbing at her at once, yanking her from the ground. She let out a yelp when pressure was forced on her ankle, but the men who had hold of her didn’t seem to notice.
She thought that they would take her back to the village, but that wasn’t the case. She was yanked, back and forth between them as they growled and snapped at each other in their foreign language. It didn’t take long for her to realize why: she hadn’t seen another woman in the village yet, and hadn’t her captor exchanged words with one of them before? Her eyes darted around, and settled on the one that she recognized as that one; he had the strongest hold on her and was the one that ended up yanking her away from the others, holding her close to him as she did.
They were fighting over her.
There was little more that she could manage after that realization, before she was drug back by the alien. Tears fell down her face at the pain in her ankle, and she drew in a shaky breath when the alien shoved her against the tree. She stood shakily, realizing for the first time that trying to run was probably the stupidest thing that she could have done. She should have stayed, she never should have shot her captor, and now where was he? Laying in his home as the one from earlier pressed himself against her and ripped her top open, exposing her.
His hands were rough against her body, and she tried to shove him away despite how much stronger than her he was.
“Stop!” she yelled at him, her throat hoarse from how loud she’d yelled. He merely clamped one of his large hands over her mouth as she struggled, silencing her. She looked up at him with her tear-streaked face, kicking and punching him wherever she could reach him, though it did nothing to deter him.
Her heart beat in her chest. High ringing tingled loudly in her ears. The others did nothing to stop him – they seemed to be encourage him, in fact. She didn’t stop her struggle, though. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.
And yet, her thoughts wondered to her captor, who she had left lying motionless in the mi
ddle of his own home.
Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, or maybe it was the bond that he claimed they shared. She didn’t know. She didn’t really care, either. As the other’s hand went to her pants, his intentions clear, another person came barreling through the forest, and grabbed her attacker by the neck.
She slid down the tree and watched with wide eyes as her captor took her attacker’s head in his hands. It was with a brutal, brutish ease that he squeezed, snarling angrily as he squashed the other’s head between his hands. Though it was horrifying, the sickening crack of skull and squelch as strange blue-black blood oozed out of the other’s head, she couldn’t bring herself to look away. Her attacker didn’t even have time nor opportunity to fight or get away, and her captor tossed his body to the ground where it twitched before finally laying still.
All was silent as her captor breathed hard and rough. Blood dripped off his fingertips and onto the ground below. The others eyed him warily, their eyes darting back and forth between her and him. She didn’t know how he had gotten to her, or how he had recovered from her shooting him – he didn’t seem to have any serious injuries, but perhaps his species healed quickly?
She pondered that when he spoke, but it wasn’t to her, it was to the others. Though she couldn’t understand what he said, the intention was clear; go away. They all did, looking at her reluctantly, as though they’d missed out on something, and one by one they headed back towards the village, leaving her and her captor alone.
~*~
The next few days were solitary, though Kira learned a lot.
After her attack, her captor brought her back to his home. He had nursed her, first taking care of her injured ankle, and then cleaning up the scrapes and cuts that she had sustained when she had run away. The whole time, she expected backlash; he had crushed another man’s skull for touching what he clearly saw as ‘his,’ so what would he do to her for shooting him and running?
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