by Sonia Nova
But at least, if she was killed now… The death would no doubt be quick, and likely better than what was to come.
The guard pulled back slightly, although he didn’t ease the hand on her throat. A punch hit her on the side of her face like a brick, seemingly coming out of nowhere. It sent a sharp pain across her skull and her mind blacked out for a moment.
It took her a second to realize what had happened, but as her eyes focused again, she understood that the guard holding her must have slapped her with his free hand. She heard gasps from the women around her. One woman nearby started to cry.
A prickling pain spread across her face, and she could feel a drop of something wet on her cheek. The wetness fell down to her lips, and she realized in shock that it was her own blood.
Her ears rung; the slap had been so hard that she was worried her eardrums had ruptured. She could hardly concentrate on what was going on around her. But suddenly, a loud, guttural shout penetrated her hazy mind.
“Gxraqui!” the Krezlian guard leading the group snapped, and Naomi shifted her eyes in his direction – just her eyes, because although the guard had loosened his grip slightly and she had even managed to pull a few breaths after the slap, she still couldn’t move.
The guard at the front of the group had stopped – in fact, the whole group had stopped – and was now staring at them in the corridor. He looked at the guard holding her by the throat with a stormy expression, his slitted yellow eyes fierce, and although Naomi had no idea what he had just said, it was clear that he was not happy with her guard’s behavior.
The guard holding her finally let her go and took a step back. Naomi fell on the floor with a thud, coughing and gasping for air. And although the guard’s eyes were still trained on her and his tail swished behind him in aggression, he stayed back.
Naomi felt a satisfied grin spread on her face as she looked up at the man.
Yeah, that’s right, she leered at him. Stay the fuck away.
The guard bared his teeth at her, clearly none too pleased about the outcome of this situation, but finally turned away. He yanked at her chains once more to get her moving – this time slightly more gently, but the tug still managed to jerk her forward, and nearly made her trip on her feet just as she was getting up.
Naomi glared at him, giving his receding back her meanest stare as he started walking away from her. And, as if the guard had sensed it, he turned slowly to look behind him, a cruel smile on his face, knowing exactly what he had done.
Bastard.
The Alliance would get them sooo bad for this one.
If they were still alive at that point.
Naomi’s heart fell to her stomach at the thought. Although just a moment ago, she’d thought it would be better to die now and be done with it, she now realized she didn’t want to die like this. She couldn’t die. Couldn’t abandon her fellow humans now.
Calm and rational, she reminded herself, taking a deep breath as the group started moving again. Now was not the time for anger and rebellion. That could come later. For now, she would have to remain strong. Figure out a way for them to get out of here. It wasn’t yet over, and she wasn’t about to just give up.
The Krezlian guards slowly escorted them deeper into the spaceship until they came to a thick metallic door that opened up to a dark corridor with doors on both sides. The guard leading the group said something in their ear-screeching language, and one of the doors in the corridor opened.
Naomi realized with dread that the room before them was a cell – one equipped with a solid metal door that would keep even an elephant out – or rather, in. Panic rose within her at the sight.
Before she had time to resist, the guards swiftly removed her cuffs, and the large one who had been choking her a moment ago stepped forward. He grimaced as he grabbed hold of her, as if disgusted to be touching her again, and threw her roughly inside the cell, along with the rest of the women.
The door banged shut behind them before Naomi could even crawl up from the floor to protest, and suddenly, they were left in complete darkness.
Although Naomi had seen that the room was fairly big – obviously meant for more than one prisoner, and now held the dozen of them – there were no windows, no furniture. In fact, she didn’t think she had seen anything at all in the room before they had been thrown in and the lights had gone out.
Naomi looked around in the darkness. Slowly, her eyes started to adjust to the new light – or rather, the lack of it – and she could tell she had been right. All around her in the cell sat a group of women, but that was all there was.
Tammy and a few of the women sat with grim, serious expressions, but many of the girls were whimpering and sobbing quietly, hiding their faces. Naomi felt a pang of pity in her chest.
“What’s going to happen to us?” A quiet female voice spoke on the other side of the cell. Her voice wavered, as if she too was close to crying, but was trying her best to hold back the tears.
Naomi turned toward the woman, and although she could hardly see in the darkness, she recognized her as Iris, one of the women she’d talked to just days before. Her eyes were wide and clearly seeking out hers – knowing that she was the Ambassador and thus, must be the one with all the answers.
As if.
Suddenly, Naomi felt all eyes on her, and a sharp feeling of emptiness settled in the bottom of her stomach. It was the same feeling she got whenever she was expected to do something she wasn’t sure she could handle. Obviously, it was her duty to ensure the safety of the women here, and it was only natural they were looking up to her for information and assurances.
But unfortunately, this was an assurance she couldn’t give. She wasn’t even sure the Alliance had yet realized they were gone.
Naomi looked at the girl sadly and shook her head in an answer. She had no clue what would happen to them now.
“But the Alliance will come,” she said, looking at each and every one of the women in the eyes. She tried to fill her voice with as much strength and confidence as she could. After all, she had to be an example for the women, the strong leader who refused to falter even in a difficult situation.
Naomi grimaced inwardly at the thought. She sure had showed them a strong leader when she had snapped at the guard and nearly been choked to death mere minutes ago. They were probably even more afraid of the Krezlians now, thanks to her. Her only hope was that the women had taken it as courage, not as weakness.
But either way, right now, she had to give them hope. Even if she didn’t have much of her own.
“Mareb betrayed his whole planet by giving us up to the Krezlians,” she continued, her voice echoing in the cell. “He did all this behind the King’s back, and when the Alliance finds out what has occurred, they won’t let this pass. We are citizens of the Alliance, and the Alliance protects its own. They will come for us.”
And they would. Naomi knew that much.
She just hoped they would still be alive by the time the Alliance did come…
CHAPTER 15
AREZ
Arez watched in silence around the corner as the Krezlian guards dragged the group of human females into a dark corridor. He shuddered as he saw the large metal door they passed through; he recognized it from his past.
A long time ago, something that felt almost like a lifetime, he had been on a Krezlian ship like this, being transported from one hellhole to another for training. And he knew from experience that the metallic door before him led to a corridor with only one entrance and rows of small, thick-walled, impenetrable cells inside.
Shit. Getting the females out of there would be a difficult task.
There were more than a dozen females and four Krezlian guards. Obviously, the lizard bastards didn’t seem to think there really was too much of a reason to guard the females. But still… There was no way even Arez could take out four armed Krezlians without weapons, definitely not with so many females around to protect.
But if he waited until the females were
locked up, would he ever be able to get them out? Would he ever be able to save Naomi?
The sound of a keycard beeping in the distance distracted him from his thoughts. His heart raced in his chest and he strained to gather his thoughts to come up with a plan.
Think, Arez, think…
It was now or never. He would have to act. And do what?
A cell door opened, and Arez’s palms started to sweat.
He didn’t have time to plan. The only thing he could do was rush to the group of females, try to take out the Krezlian guards, and grab Naomi. It wasn’t even a plan. It was stupidity.
But he could hardly let them have her either. As he thought of the red-haired female in the hands of the Krezlians – the things they would do to her – his blood turned cold and he felt anger he’d never even known before. They would not have her. He would never allow it.
He heard the clinking of handcuffs, and his body moved of its own volition. He snuck to the entrance of the cellblock, ready to barge into the corridor and–
His heart stopped in his chest as he heard it.
Footsteps. In the wrong direction. Behind him. Fuck.
He paused completely, frozen in place. He wasn’t even sure he was breathing anymore. All he could do was listen carefully to the pair of heavy steps that were slowly approaching him from behind.
He heard the women grunting and whimpering as they were thrust into the cell – clearly none too gently. He heard a voice that sounded like Naomi’s and grimaced. How he could tell it was her, he didn’t even fucking know.
But right now, he was trapped.
His heart thumped in his chest like a rabid beast. There were still a few turns the two Krezlians could take. They weren’t necessarily coming to his corridor. He could still rush into the cellblock and try to save the women. Save Naomi. But he knew that if the bastards did come this way… It was one against six; him against six guns. And no matter how well he’d been trained to fight, that was a battle he couldn’t win.
He listened anxiously to the approaching footsteps.
Don’t come here. Don’t come here.
He prayed the men would take another turn somewhere and not choose his corridor. But the footsteps kept approaching, and the two men they belonged to took a final turn – straight into his corridor.
Shit.
“Alarm!” The Krezlian male – obviously a guard on patrol – yelled immediately as he noticed him.
Arez didn’t stand around to wait to see what else he would do. He quickly ran straight toward the guards who had appeared, taking his bets with the two patrollers rather than the four guards taking the women to the cells.
If he could just get a gun…
The two guards pointed their weapons at him, and Arez dipped down to the floor, just as the other guard shot toward him. He slid along the corridor, trying to get closer to the guards – and their weapons – while avoiding the shots as they tried to maim him.
He was just about to rush the guard to his left and grab his weapon when he felt the blast of a plasma shot on his leg. His eyes widened even as his body convulsed from the pain of the blast. He looked at the two patrolling guards before him. Their weapons were pointed at him, but the angle of the shot was wrong.
The back of his leg burned more than the front, and he realized that one of the four guards in the other corridor must have jumped in when the patrolling guard had shouted out, and shot him in his calf.
Arez gritted his teeth, trying to keep the pain at bay, but the burning sensation wouldn’t stop. Before long, he found himself falling to the floor.
The Krezlians surrounded him. He had been right – there were now four guards around him, and through the ringing in his ears, he could hear two more rushing closer. Fuck. Everything seemed to be swimming around him, the pain making his mind hazy and his eyesight even worse, but he forced himself to look up at the Krezlians.
All four of them were currently pointing their guns at him, slowly approaching. The pain in his leg started to recede and, for a moment, he considered trying to take them all out. He wasn’t sure he could, but he sure as hell would give it his best.
But then… He couldn't get the females out anyway.
He could take them out of their cell, be on the run, and then what?
They were still on a Krezlian ship. Even if he managed to kill all the guards and save the females, he’d only be rescuing them for the moment. Because if the whole ship wasn’t already looking for him, they certainly would come after so many females.
Arez still couldn’t understand why the Krezlians were holding the group of females in the first place. It just wasn’t computing in his head, not even after he’d had some time to think about it. But either way, he wasn’t about to let them have Naomi. Something inside him just wouldn’t let her go. Like she was… his.
Suddenly, he remembered again what the Krezlian bastard had said during his short interrogation, and the thought confused him. She was Alliance. An Ambassador. She was nothing to him. But clearly, the Krezlians thought she was someone to him.
Maybe he could use that against them…
A plan slowly started to form in his mind. He stared at the Krezlians before him, eye-to-eye. And instead of getting up to fight like he had originally planned, Arez lifted his arms above his head and announced:
“I surrender.”
CHAPTER 16
NAOMI
Naomi didn’t know how long they had sat in the darkness of the cell before, suddenly, the door clicked open and swooshed aside. Blinding light was let into the room and it once more took a moment for her eyes to adjust – this time to the intense brightness.
When they did, however, she was surprised beyond words at the sight before her. Five men stood by the entrance – four ugly Krezlian guards and one hulking, gray-skinned alien with horns, who basically filled the entire doorframe on his own.
Arez.
Naomi’s eyes widened as she recognized the soldier. His dark gaze met hers for a moment, before he quickly shied his eyes away. For some silly reason, Naomi’s heart leaped in her chest with hope at the sight of him – silly, because he was currently cuffed and held back by two of the Krezlians while the other two pointed guns at their little group in the cell.
Arez stared at the women, refusing to meet Naomi’s gaze again, and it was clear this wasn’t going to be a joyous reunion.
Shit… She’d still been holding on to the hope that he may have gotten away. Her heart immediately sank as she realized he obviously hadn’t been that lucky, and her whole being filled with guilt.
This was because of her.
Naomi’s brows furrowed as she stared at the men before her. Were they throwing Arez into the cell as well? It didn’t seem like it, or they’d have done it already. Besides, it wasn’t like this was the only cell. She could understand putting the humans together, but why him too?
She studied the Krezlians carefully. Arez was still looking around the cell, as if searching for something, and one of the Krezlians holding him growled something in his ear, in that guttural language of theirs. Naomi couldn’t understand it, but Arez seemed to.
Her eyes widened at the realization. It had never struck her before today that, although the Ezak-X were so unlike the Krezlians, the Krezlian language had to be the Ezak-X’s native language. They had been created – and raised, although very loosely – by the Krezlians. So of course Arez could understand them; he probably even spoke their language.
As if to confirm her thoughts, Arez muttered something back to the guard, his syllables chopped and… all wrong. He hardly sounded like the same man Naomi had talked to before, and the sound of his voice speaking that horrid language sent a shiver along her spine.
His eyes continued to wander around the cell, moving from person to person, until they once again landed on her. Their gazes locked, and Naomi’s breath caught in her throat at the stormy expression on his face.
His eyes were intent, and he was scowling at her aga
in, like he had when they’d first met. His gaze looked oddly determined and none too happy. Naomi’s heart started to pound in her chest. What was going on? Please don’t tell her they were going to get betrayed by yet another person this day. Arez was on their side, right? …Right?
Naomi closed her eyes, hoping she had somehow interpreted the situation wrong. That Arez wasn’t there to pick one of them to be tortured or something like that. Naomi knew well what the Krezlians did to their prisoners. She had heard it all from Alyssa, who had suffered in their hands the month before, and she didn’t wish that fate upon even her worst enemy.
Arez spoke again then, his voice a harsh command that forced Naomi to open her eyes. She looked up at him again, directly into his eyes, pleading him, hoping he would see the desperation in them.
Please, not her people…
She wasn’t sure whether he saw her expression, because the next thing she knew, he nodded toward her, and one of the Krezlian guards pointing a gun into the cell stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm, starting to drag her outside.
“Wait… What are you doing?” Naomi asked, struggling against the guard although she knew it was no use. “Please, no!”
“Quiet, female!” the Krezlian grunted to her as he pulled her out of the cell and into the corridor.
Naomi had one final glance at the women in the cell – all of whom looked equally horrified at what was happening – before the door swooshed closed behind her, separating her from the rest of her people.
Her eyes sought out Arez, who was still looking at her, an odd expression on his face that she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Arez?” she breathed, panic threatening to rise inside her as the guards started to lead the two of them back toward the main entrance of the corridor.
“It’s okay,” Arez said quietly as they walked, allowing the guards to lead them without any resistance. A sense of dread grew inside Naomi despite his words – it was okay? For whom was this okay? She was being separated from her people for god only knew what reason!
