by Lucee Joie
Eventually, I can see a resolution forming and Ece finally leaves. Banging the bars, I feel useless, so much more so than I ever have in the past. Even as a member of the breeding program, I felt like I had a worth. Now, I was likely to rot in this cell if I didn’t find a way to escape.
Chapter Seventeen: Beth
I have barely slept a wink since speaking to the women the night before. Their excitement has been buzzing around our cells all night, as palpable as if their will is an actual entity trapped here with us all. I am surprised at my excitement, at my desire to rebel against my confines, even without the presence of Horgeer.
We have a vague plan. However, we need to know just how long it was until the next auction because what we really need is time.
A guard arrives and slips a plate of what looks like grey glue under the bars and I am tempted to ignore it. It certainly doesn’t look appetizing. However, my stomach is a traitor and actually growls in anticipation. Honestly, it tastes as bad as it looks. But it warms my belly and the gnawing pain is now gone.
After breakfast, Ece arrives at my cell. He unlocks the door and I am dragged out by a guard that has accompanied him.
A rising fear starts to envelop me and I hope that he isn’t taking me away to do what I think he might do with me. I struggle against the guard who has me, my feet digging into the ground as I try to wriggle my arms free. There is no way I can break away but still, I try.
Eventually, Ece picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. I slap at his back and pull his long hair, still to no avail.
“I can take it from here,” he says and the guard falls back.
Ece carries me along a long corridor and I settle down somewhat in my attempt to escape, but only because I am trying to memorize where we are going.
The corridor ends and another begins. This one has doors at regular intervals. He stops at one and we enter.
Closing the door, Ece leans back against it and observes me. I glare back at him, ready to duck out of his clutches should he advance on me.
I want to ask him about Horgeer, about whether he lives still or has died a horrible death. Yet, I cannot ask. It is not because I don’t want to speak to Ece, the man who is now my enemy, but because I am too scared of his answer. I know the likelihood of Horgeer’s survival and I am not ready for that sort of grief right now, not if there is still a chance of escape from this ghastly place.
“You are safe here,” Ece finally whispers. It is not what I expect him to say and it shatters my thoughts, breaking into them with a harshness I am not yet ready for. I don’t believe a word he says. The only time I have been safe on this ship is in the arms of Horgeer, the very man that Ece has betrayed. “I know you don’t believe me but I mean you no harm.”
I shake my head at him and push myself further into the wall behind me. “Just stay away from me,” I whisper, not sure if it is loud enough for him to hear me.
“The auction is tomorrow but I am still working on keeping you back here and not sending you out with the rest of the women. I don’t know what to do about Horgeer. Did you and he have any plans on how you were going to escape?”
I don’t say a word, thinking it is a trap to get me to spill my guts about any plans Horgeer and I might have.
“I suppose you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. I need to take you back now but I thought you should know what is going on. If there is anything you want to say to me, now is the time to do it. Otherwise, you may end up on the auction ship tomorrow.”
Still, I am silent and Ece has no choice but to return me to my cell.
“Apparently, the auction is tomorrow,” I say as soon as it is dark. Some of the girls moan in horror while others start to cry softly.
“Surely you’re not going to trust Ece?” Shirley says bitterly when I explain how I know this important detail.
“I don’t know. He seemed very interested in finding out what plans Horgeer and I might have had regarding our escape. I really don’t know that we can trust him.”
“Even so, if he is right about the auction then we had better find out a way to escape now or, at least, be prepared.”
There is silence for a while after that as we all ponder our fates. Honestly, I couldn’t see a way out of this mess. Not unless Ece was telling the truth and could be trusted–or if Horgeer was still alive and were to escape and somehow rescue us all. Although, that didn’t seem likely at this point either.
The night rolls on and still there is no plan of attack. How could there be, anyway? We were mere human women against the Ochek guards. And, after seeing those wicked claws that Horgeer whipped out in defense against the other guards, I am convinced we are not a fair match.
I don’t know how long I have been lying here, waiting for fate to intervene when I hear a faint noise. A first I think it might be one of the women in their cells, but this sounded more like the scuff of a hard boot and not the gentle rustle of clothing.
I sit up straighter, looking around me, trying to pinpoint its location, wondering if maybe I have merely been hearing things. Yet, because I had dismissed the sounds that led to mine and Horgeer’s ultimate capture, I am hesitant to dismiss my gut instinct on this one.
Everyone else around me appears to be asleep, exhausted after the sleepless night before. Deep breathing is the only noise that can be heard. I strain my ears, hoping to hear the sound once more.
“I am here to get you out,” a quiet voice whispers close to my ear. “Don’t say a word.”
I freeze at the sound of the voice and wait until I hear the quiet click of my cell door popping open.
Even knowing it is Ece who is freeing me, I don’t question it, I merely jump up and run from my cell towards the glow of the nearest exit.
“Hey, slow down,” Ece says once we are clear of the holding bay.
I don’t listen to him.
“You need to stop. I can take you to Horgeer.”
That got me to slow down. Although, I wonder if it was some sort of a trap. But, why would he free me if it wasn’t? I come to a standstill and turn to look at Ece. The alien is more wide set than Horgeer and his dark eyes and square jaw gave him more of a dangerous edge. He is the bad boy equivalent of Horgeer in a way, which is saying something considering Horgeer is pretty much bad boy through and through in my eyes.
“Horgeer is still alive?”
“I know you don’t want to trust me,” Ece said. “I don’t blame you after what I did. I’m sorry for that, truly, and I am trying to fix it all. Please, just let me take you to Horgeer.”
My heart flutters, ready to bloom into life once more at the prospect of a world that still contains him. However, I fight against that urge, knowing that this man is likely lying to me. Instead, I force myself to think of my fellow captives.
“What about the other women?” I finally ask.
“I have a small vessel, I can fit you and Horgeer on it, that’s all.”
“I won’t go, then,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest and standing tall, still not believing that Horgeer might still live. “I won’t leave without the others.”
The words chop through me even as I say them. The thought of choosing these women over Horgeer hurts. I want to just ignore my subconscious and find out if my lover is really alive.
If he is, we could escape and be happy together. However, I know that if I leave the women behind it would always haunt me, especially if I do discover that he is alive. My happiness would corrode over time and I would never be okay with leaving them.
“Then you might as well go back to your cell now.”
My heart sinks. Was this my one chance to escape? Could I be doing the wrong thing? Maybe Horgeer would know a way out of this mess, one that involved taking the women with us.
“Is there any way we can have the women in the holding bay armed?” I ask. Wondering if a mutiny could be organized in such a short amount of time. “Maybe they could attack the guards once they are on the auction vessel and take o
ver the ship themselves in order to escape?”
I was thinking on my feet and knew that there were glaring holes in the plan but it was better than nothing, better than what awaited them at the auction tomorrow.
Ece was silent and I watched him closely.
“Maybe that is a possibility,” he said quietly, as though still in thought. “Horgeer had clearance for the weapons room but his permission was revoked once he escaped. However, I might be able to bluff the guards into thinking that I have taken over his clearance. This might actually work but we’ll also need to work out a way to disable the women’s shockers around their necks.”
Ece smiled at me and it only took a second for me to smile back. It was half a plan and we still had to work out what to do about those shockers but, it was better than nothing.
All I had to do was trust this man.
Chapter Eighteen: Horgeer
The door swings open and I don’t even look to see who it is, assuming it is a guard taking me to my hearing, taking me to my death.
“Well, hello stranger,” a familiar voice says and I spin around.
Beth looks rough. Her hair is a mess and a bruise is forming on her brow. There is still dried blood next to her mouth. Her shirt looks like she has tried to tie the whole thing closed and I am angry that no one has given her a new one, that she has been treated so disrespectfully.
But then she is in my arms quicker than I can cross the small cell and I can’t believe that I am embracing her again. Surely, this is a dream.
“We don’t have time, Horgeer,” Ece says and it is the first time that I notice he is also present. “We need to get you out of here before anyone notices.”
I ignore his words. Instead, I put Beth down gently and stride across the room and punch Ece in the face. The feel of his skin against my own as the two collide is more satisfying than I imagined. Ece grunts with the contact but holds firm.
“I guess I deserved that,” he finally says as his gaze meets mine. “But, seriously, we need to get out of here.”
This time I pay attention, my satisfaction now curbed.
I grab Beth’s hand and move out of my holding cell. We pass quietly by the other cells. Most of the other prisoners are asleep but I notice the watchful eyes of one cellmate as we pass by. I hope desperately that he doesn’t start yelling for the guards.
We move slowly through the holding bay and the moments seem painfully long as I continue to glance back at the single awake prisoner. The door is ahead and I watch as it grows with our approach. There hasn’t been a guard through here for a while now and I worry that one will finally appear to thwart us.
“We need to get to the weapons room,” Ece says as soon as we are clear from the holding bay.
“Can’t we just head straight for the loading dock?” I am not entirely sure I can trust Ece but Beth is here and she seems to have confidence in him so that counts for more than I realize at the moment.
“We need to free the other women prisoners,” Beth says. “They go to auction tomorrow and I won’t have that.”
I am shocked at her determination. Beth has always come across as plucky but I would have bet my own life on the fact she would escape first and ask questions later. Or maybe that’s what I would have done in her place.
I look to Ece and he just shrugs his reply.
“Guards!” I hear from the holding bay and Ece has heard it too because we both take off at a sprint. I grab Beth and throw her over my shoulder. We need to run faster than her legs will ever be able to carry her.
I knew I should have never trusted that prisoner.
We are a fair distance from the holding bay and even further from the weapons room. However, if guards are also coming from the women’s holding bay, then we will run right into them.
We don’t have a choice at the moment, though. We need to get to the weapons room and there is no other way around to it from this side of the ship.
“They went that way!”
The voice is faint but with my hearing it is clear enough. That prisoner is now on my shit list since the guards know where to go to follow us. We have to outrun them at this point. There is no other choice. It would have been nice to have some distance between us and the guards before the realization sunk in that we’d escaped. However, the luck of the universe appears to not be on our side tonight.
Our feet seem too loud as they slap along the floor in our mad panic. The weapons room is close by but we need to slow down. If we come on it in such a rush, the guards there will know that something is up.
“We need to stop running,” I say as I pull Beth down from my shoulders. Ece halts not long after I do and turns towards me. “What’s the plan?”
“There isn’t really one,” Ece admits. “I was hoping to bluff my way into the weapons room.”
I blink at him, one long slow action as I clench my jaw. So, the plan was that there was no plan, it seemed. “Are you sure you can do that?”
“Potentially,” Ece replied. “Since everyone thinks I am still against you. But we need to find somewhere for the pair of you to hide. My quarters are nearby, Let’s get you guys hidden away there first.”
Ece quickly leads the way to his room.
“Is your room close by?” Beth asks as we jog down the corridor.
“It is next to Ece’s,” I answer. “However, the central hub will know I’m there as soon as I open the door.”
Ece swipes door and we bounce through before the door has fully slid open. I nod at Ece as he turns to leave. The lights click on as the sensors detect us. As Beth scans the room, I pull open one of Ece’s draws and take out a T-shirt. I throw it at Beth and she quickly whips off her damaged shirt and I only get the briefest glance of her naked form.
“Does your room look like this?”
I nod at her. “So, why the sudden need to rescue everyone on this ship?”
“I didn’t realize there were so many women on board,” she says as she sits down on Ece’s bed. “I should have known, I guess. After all, I was taken against my will, it makes sense that others would be too. I just didn’t really think about it, or what happens to us if we aren’t good breeders.”
Sitting down next to Beth, I take her hand. Our bodies are close and the heat she generates warms me. Her intoxicating scent swirls around me and in the middle of all this chaos, all I want to do is push her back onto Ece’s bed and make love to her. Her eyes meet mine and I can tell she is thinking the same thing.
“How long will it take for Ece to get to the weapons room?”
“Not long enough for what you’re thinking. Even less if he is unsuccessful.”
Beth pouts at me before replying. “Well, I guess we had better make a success of this escape because I don’t think I can go another day without your touch.”
My insides clench as I think about the possibility of freedom, of being with the woman I love. Sure, I want to save my own race, to see them successfully brought back from the brink of extinction but Beth’s love is more important than my own survival at the moment, or of the survival of generations yet to be born.
“Why do you want to free them?” I ask once more, tentatively stepping around the real question I want to ask of how far is she willing to go to rescue them before we can just leave them all behind.
“I can’t see them go to auction, I just can’t,” she replies and I can see the anguish on her face.
“What do we need to guns for? Are we planning to bust them out, just the three of us?”
“No, Ece has a ship but there is not enough room for everyone. The weapons are for them so that they can orchestrate their own escape. Hopefully, we can all meet up at some point after that.”
I am instantly relieved. Getting weapons to the women will be tricky enough but it is infinitely less dangerous than trying to liberate all of them ourselves.
“You funny, strange alien,” I say to her as I reach up to brush her cheek.
“Me, the alien?” she scoffs and I la
ugh at her.
“Yes, you, the alien, or you are to me.” I frown at my words. “Or, you were. At some point you stopped being a human and started just being my mate.”
“Your mate?”
“Yes, the person who I partner with, the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“We need to go, now!” Ece is in the room and beckoning us out before I even realize he has arrived. Shit must have not gone down well. I assume we are weaponless and wonder if Beth will give up on her plan to rescue the women without the required firepower.
Chapter Nineteen: Beth
I would whoop with glee if I had the chance when I see the bag of weapons but we don’t have time for that. I have no idea how Ece managed to nab the weapons or why it went so wrong but I don’t have time to question that as we barrel down the long corridor.
My chest hurts as I suck air into my lungs, my legs too as I try desperately to keep up with the men in front of me. Horgeer must realize at some point as he suddenly reaches behind and grabs at me. I am thankful as he flips me up over his shoulder in one swift move.
We are running at full speed now and I glance up to see a group of guards following far behind.
“Guards!” I yell. “How do the guns work?”
“Have you used a weapon before?” Horgeer asks.
“I sure have. Do I just point and shoot? Or is there some trick that I need to know about?”
Ece pulls a weapon from the bag on his shoulder and throws me one in reply to my question. The gun is sleek and silver in color. I point it down the hall and press the trigger. A laser blast startles me and my aim is well off. The second shot is better and by the third go I have the knack for the weapon.
One guard goes down quickly and the others start firing back. It gets confusing as laser blasts zig-zag across the long hall and I try to shoot for people and not the dark scorch marks left by the guns.
