by Rebecca Pond
When asked what they wanted to drink, Zane had ordered beverages for them. When she delivered the glasses of ice water, he didn’t understand why she was looking so frustrated. She returned to the kitchen and soon after made a quick exit out of the front door. Zane was nearest to the window, and he watched the female make her way down the street, never taking his eyes off of her. When she was almost at the corner Brylon watched which direction she went and looked expectantly at Zeb.
“Let’s go.” Zeb moved out of the seat, and they all quickly and silently exited the diner. “Which way did she go?” He questioned Zane and Brylon.
“She’s headed that way, toward the place that we were a little while ago. Her living quarters must be around that boarded up building as you suspected.” They followed her at a distance, so that she would not suspect they were behind her. When she turned right at the abandoned building and entered the alleyway, Brylon slowly peeked around the corner. He caught sight of her from the back as she unlocked, and then entered the third lighted door on left.
“She went into a doorway. This will not be very hard now.” Brylon anxiously turned his attention back to his commander. “How long should we wait?”
“Let’s give her a bit of time to relax. Maybe, when we do get into her quarters, we can take her while she is sleeping. But, no matter what happens. She will be taken tonight.”
Two hours later they were running in the pouring rain, with the Earth female thrown over Brylon’s shoulder. The storm was causing interruptions in their transmissions from the surface to the mother ship and Zeb was growing rather impatient with trying to find a spot where they could safely be brought up to the ship. He had relayed several times that they were in position, but never got a reply. Glancing over to the female he let out a low growl of frustration. A few seconds after that, he was relieved to feel the pull of the electronportation.
All four figures appeared in the transportation room of the Theron mother ship soaked to the skin. Water ran down their faces and dripped off their clothes. Brylon moved first, to set the female down, but he never let go of her arms. She just stood there petrified in front of Brylon, her body very still as she looked around to take in her surroundings. Slowly her eyes returned to Brylon. She stared at the massive chest that was right in front of her face, and then let her eyes travel upwards to the face that was looking down upon her.
“Where did you take me?” She asked him and Brylon could feel her body start to tremble. Her arms were still tightly held in his grip, and he made it obvious that he wasn’t going to let her go. He was afraid that if he were to let her go, she would try to run away, but there wasn’t anywhere for her to go. He spoke to her in his language, and knew that she would not understand him until she had her translation disks implanted into her ears. He didn’t want her to know just yet that he could speak a few words of her language.
One of the men walked up to where she was standing and looked down at her. “You are on board the mother ship of the Therons,” she heard in English, “My name is Zane. I am the ship’s physician. What is your name?”
The man that had spoken to her in her own language had eyes that she noticed, were teal in color and clearly not human. She looked at each one of the men in the room. She recognized at once that they all had these strange eyes with metallic gold streaks in them. Then, she focused her attention to the man that was speaking to her.
“How can I understand you, and not them?” She looked curiously at him.
She saw him smile at her and say, “I learned your language before we came down to your planet. I have the capability of learning new languages very easily. So, please, tell me your name.”
Her lips started to move, but at first the words did not want to come out. Her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating from being in this crazy situation. She was beyond terrified and couldn’t get her mouth to form the words so that she could tell them her name.
“Umm…E…E…Emma, my, my name is Emma.” She said softly.
“Well Emma, you are on board the mother ship of the Therons. After I examine you, you will be escorted to a holding area. You will wait there until someone comes to retrieve you.”
“I don’t understand. What’s going to happen to me?” She was already terrified, but now she was afraid that she was going to die. She had seen many sci-fi movies that ended that way, and read many books that didn’t make her outlook on this situation any more positive.
They brought her to the clinic, and Zane performed the exam and asked a few questions. Once he was finished he smiled to her and said, “Everything will be explained to you in a little while, Emma. But for now, please, follow this warrior to the holding area.” Without another word Zane turned around and walked out of the room. He left her standing in front of the man with copper colored eyes. During the whole time she was being examined, this man never let go of her arms.
She glanced back up at him with uncertainty. He finally released one of her arms then turned her in the direction of the door. His grip on her arm was really tight and the point of being uncomfortable. He guided her out of the door and down a long hallway in silence. She knew that she would not be able to understand anything he had to say to her anyway. She had not heard him utter anything but that odd language since they arrived on the ship. They walked like this until they came to a door that was being guarded by two more of the incredibly large men. The door slid open when one of the guards pressed his hand against a red glowing pad that was on the wall. He gently pushed her arm to lead her into the room that reminded her somewhat of a hospital waiting room. He said something to her in his odd language, and then finally released her arm. He left her standing in the room alone, and she watched him turn around and head back out the door which eventually slid closed after him.
She rubbed where he had his tight grip against her upper arm, and then began to tremble uncontrollably. She was wet, cold, and scared out of her wits. Never in all of her life had she been as scared as she was at this moment. Not even when her foster father had attacked her. What should she do? She looked around the room and spied a sofa on one of the walls. Slowly she made her way over to it and sat down. Tears started to well up in her eyes and fell one by one over the edges. She had no idea what was going to happen to her.
She didn’t sit there for long when the door to the room slid open, and one of men who had been posted at the door walked in. He looked around the room searching for her. When he found where she was sitting, he walked over to her. He was carrying what looked like a blanket. He stretched out his arm with the blanket draped neatly over it, and waited until she took it from him. She wrapped it around herself as she watched the man retreat from the room. She was alone again.
She wiped her face with the edge of the blanket then pulled it as tightly as she could around her. The blanket was actually quite warm and it felt as if it generated heat. Maybe, it was some kind of an electric blanket. However, for the moment she didn’t give a damn because it was slowly warming her body up. The trembling from being cold and wet was starting to subside, and her eyes were becoming heavy. She wasn’t asleep for very long when she had been awaken by the intruders and then abducted. She wasn’t used to staying awake for such a long stretches of time and there was no point in her fighting the pull that sleep had on her. She twisted on the sofa so that she could lie down on the cushions more comfortably. The tears that she had been trying so hard to control were now pouring down her face. She sobbed and then shifted so that she was facing the back of the sofa. A few more sobs escaped her lips before she finally gave into exhaustion and fell fast asleep.
Brylon returned to the electronportation room after he escorted the first Earth female to the holding room. He thought about her the entire way back and decided without seeing any other Earth females that she was the one he was going to win at the auction. He had felt some kind of instant pull towards her when he first saw her in the eating establishment but when he finally touched her in her living quarters he knew th
at she was going to be his. He wanted her to be his mate and the mother of his children. She was something that he wanted to explore, and he wanted to discover what secrets she was hiding.
Zeb and Zane were waiting for his return to the electronportation room. They were going to go back down to the planet with a bigger group of warriors this time with the hopes of finding several of the females that they were scouting for.
“We are going to divide into two groups so that we can scout out some of the other females a bit more quickly. I will lead team one, and Zane will lead team two. If at any time you find you are unsure of the female’s identity, contact either Zane or me. Do not, in any way, take it upon yourself to take any random female. Any warrior found doing so will be punished severely. Do I make myself clear?” Zeb looked around the room at the warriors that had assembled for the scouting mission.
Nods and shouts of “Yes commander” came from around the room. No one was willing to take the risk of not following orders, because they had all waited for so long to find a compatible planet. If they did disobey the commander, the opportunity for acquiring a female would be revoked.
“Good, let’s get moving. I would like to have enough females on board soon so that the first auction can be held in two days’ time.” The first team led by Zeb moved over to the electronportation pad and waited to be beamed down to the planet. Ceran was manning the controls and successfully beamed the first team down. He motioned for the second team to position themselves on the pad now. A few seconds later, the entire room was empty with the exception of Ceran who now had the fun task of waiting until one of the groups called for him to beam up a female. He didn’t mind. This task brought about something that was worth waiting for.
Chapter 3
Emma woke up much later to the sound of other voices in the room, female voices to be exact. She sat up on the sofa, rubbed her eyes, and looked around the room in amazement. When she went to sleep, she had the only person in this room. Now, the room contained at least a dozen or so more women. How the hell did she slept through all this? There had to be people coming and going, the hiss of the door closing and opening, not to mention the noisy chatter coming from the small pockets of women in the room.
One woman was sitting by herself at a table that was placed in the middle of the room. She had her head in her hands, and was rubbing the top of her scalp with her fingertips, as if she had a headache. She must have heard Emma move behind her because she turned around and looked at right at her. Emma watched as the woman gave her a smile then got up and moved over to the sofa to sit beside her.
“You have been sleeping for the longest time. I was a little worried that maybe you might have been mistreated and drugged or knocked out. I’m Laura Mason.”
Emma smiled weakly back at the woman next to her, “I’m Emma Caron. How long have I been sleeping?”
“I don’t know how long you were sleeping before I came in, but you were already asleep when I got here. From what I learned when I talked with the other girls in the room, you were the first one brought here. I have been here for several hours and no one has been brought in since I arrived. So far, there are a total of fourteen of us in this room. Did they tell you anything before they brought you in here?” Emma saw that Laura was twisting a silver ring that she wore on her right ring finger as she talked.
Emma shook her head then replied, “The only thing they said to me was that I would find out later what was happening to me. Where are you from?”
“I’m from California. I just started my residency in emergency medicine with San Francisco General Hospital. I just happened to be out jogging when this man running next to me grabbed my arm. I didn’t have much time to think about what was going on. All of a sudden, I felt this tingling sensation throughout my body. The next thing I know, I am here.” Emma could hear Laura’s voice start to waver as she spoke. “Where were you?”
“Florida and I was actually sleeping in my bed when a noise woke me up. I was home several hours after working a double shift at the diner, and when I wake up and see these strange guys in my apartment. I saw them at the diner earlier that night and they behaved odd. At first, I thought they were there to rape, murder, or rob me. Instead, one of them puts me over his shoulder, and runs off with me into the freaking pouring rain. Just like you, next thing I know, I am here and have no idea of what is happening.” Emma pulled the blanket from her body to find that her clothes were mostly dried. At least she wasn’t freezing cold anymore. Realizing that this wasn’t a bad dream, the tears were threatening to start falling again.
Without any warning to any of the women in the room, Emma jumped up and shouted, “I want out of here! Let me out!” She felt Laura start to pull her into her arms. Everyone in the room seemed to be startled with Emma’s emotional outburst, but who could she blame the poor woman. Emma could feel the gentle rocking motion as Laura had her in her arms, gently stroking her hair to calm her down.
“Emma, everything is going to be okay. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.” Despite Laura’s efforts to try to calm Emma down, it wasn’t working. Emma’s tears were coming down in a steady stream now. “Emma, look at me.” She gave Laura a blank stare. “Emma, look at me now.” Laura tugged on her hands and finally got her attention, bringing her out of the trance she was in. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. I really don’t think that these men mean us any harm. Think about it Emma. Why would they take the time to gather us all up then hurt us? Something odd is definitely going on here, but I am pretty sure that it won’t involve anything painful. If it was to be painful, don’t you think they would have hurt us already?” Emma stared at her through red and tearing eyes, but Laura had finally gotten her full attention.
“Do you really believe that?” Emma whispered.
“Yes, I do. Just look around the room Emma. There are only women in here, no men. So, that leads me to believe that these alien men don’t mean us any harm. Okay? Emma, okay?” Laura seemed to be waiting from her and when she did not give one, she heard Laura say, “Would you like to listen to my mp3 player? I got a lot of music on it of all different types. I am sure you can find something on there to listen too.” Emma watched as Laura reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small white mp3 player with headphones, and put it into Emma’s hands.
At that moment, Emma snapped out of whatever daze she had fallen into. Looking at the player then up at her new friend she said in a small voice, “Thank you”. She went to sit back in her spot on the sofa and put the earphones in her ears. She searched through the music and finally found one of her favorite songs, I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. Closing her eyes she leaned her head back on the cushions and listened to the music.
The next couple of hours crawled by. Two women had been brought into the holding room. The last one to arrive looked like she had some sort of injury because she was carried in. She couldn’t leave Emma. Right now, Emma remained under Laura’s watchful eyes on the sofa alternating between listening to the music and dozing. Laura knew that if Emma were to lose control again she would scare the other women, and everyone would panic. It was hard enough to calm the rest of the room after Emma’s last outburst. It looked like she was completely out of any form of energy as Emma had drifted off to sleep again and was sound asleep. Laura watched as one of the large men entered without a woman. She had to wake Emma up now. She put her hand on Emma’s shoulder and started to shake her. When Emma opened one eye she said, “Emma, Emma, wake up! Emma! Emma, damn it, wake up! Someone is here to tell us what is going on.” That got Emma’s attention because she was up on her feet in an instant.
Emma held Laura’s hands while the warrior, Aten, had informed them of everything that was going to happen to the women in the room. After he left, they returned to sit on the sofa in total shock. They were each being put up for auction! How could this be? What was going to happen to them after they were sold? Emma had so many questions running through her head and wasn’t paying much attention when two warriors w
alked up to where she and Laura were sitting holding each other’s hands.
“Earth female, please come with us.” The warriors stepped to either side of her and waited for her to rise. She moved closer to Laura and held on to her hands even tighter. “I don’t want to go with them,” she said softly to anyone who would listen to her.
“Can’t you take someone else first? This woman is clearly terrified.” Laura stood to speak up for her.
“Earth female, you must come with us now.” The warrior said as they each bent down to grab one of Emma’s arms. They pulled her to standing, and her knees were shaking so badly she was scared she would fall flat on her face when she stood up.
She looked at Laura holding on to her hands desperately. In her last attempt to free herself from the warriors’ grasp, Emma screamed out “Let me go! I don’t want to go with you! Leave me alone! Why can’t you leave me alone?”
Emma could see that the warriors were trying to pry her hands from Laura’s. She fought and kicked at the warriors that tried to drag her away. It didn’t matter what she did, she knew that she was going to go with them whether she liked it or not. It seemed that Laura eventually realized that she had to let Emma go as well. Emma could see how Laura tried in vain to help calm her down, and must have realized that her interference was just causing Emma more grief. As Laura’s grip loosened, the warriors picked Emma up, one grabbing her feet and the other grabbing under her arms. They left the room right after with Emma screaming out for help.
They zigzagged through the corridors with her fighting and clenching her teeth, kicking and screaming, until they came to an open archway that led down a narrow walkway. The warriors continued hold her tightly along their path until they came to a brightly lit room that was filled to overflowing with the alien men.
