“Don’t call me hon.”
“Whatever you say, babe,” he replied with an annoying wink. “Let me tell you, you’re going to want to watch yourself around them. Don’t get their attention. They’re big sons of bitches too. Taller than any man, and meaner to boot.”
“Worse than you?”
“Ha, you’ve got some fire in you,” he said with an amused chuckle. “Okay, play it your way. We’ll see how long that lasts once you meet our hosts.”
“Victor, enough.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, then strode off and took a seat against the wall.
Darla shook her head, looking around her surroundings once more. “Okay, so this is actually real. I’ve been kidnapped by aliens.”
“We like to say abducted,” Maureen noted. “Kidnapping makes it sound like they want a ransom, and that’s not what the Raxxians are about. Now, come sit with me and tell me your story.”
“My story?”
“I like to get to know everyone who winds up here.”
Darla was about to protest but the reality of the situation slammed into her like a freight train. She was stuck on a spaceship. Abducted. And she had no idea what would happen next.
“Uh, okay,” she said.
“Great. Come on, let’s get you a little something to eat. You’re going to be hungry once after the last bits of grogginess wear off.”
Maureen proceeded to show her the ropes, just as she’d done for all of the others now residing in this compartment. It pained her when she looked around at their faces. Hope long gone after they had seen what the Raxxians could do to any one of them without warning.
After her prior success for the Raxxians, Maureen had been charged with helping tend those injured during their abductions as well as others aboard in the many other livestock compartments. Save one pregnant human and suddenly she was the defacto nurse for all manner of captives, it seemed.
She helped those she could, figuring out alien physiology on the fly when necessary, but those who were too damaged invariably wound up slaughtered for food. She was glad the others didn’t have to see that part of their little ecosystem.
It was soul crushing work, but it did allow her one perk. She got to see Bodok on occasion, though only in passing. Nevertheless, it was a bright spot in her otherwise dark days.
She had settled into a routine of sorts and was making the best of her situation. The Raxxians seemed to have put her on the no-eat list, but she had to wonder, when would something give?
It was an answer she would get far sooner than she expected.
CHAPTERFIVE
The captives had only been asleep a few hours when the ship abruptly shook.Violently.
They were traveling at interstellar speeds by means of some propulsion system they didn’t have the slightest understanding of, but one thing was clear. Impact, even if their ship was shielded somehow, was a bad thing.
And judging by the size of this one, somethingverybad had just happened.
Everyone was on their feet in a flash. Several were holding their heads, the impact having tossed them violently into the wall or ceiling of their bunk. Others were okay, but disoriented from the abrupt wake-up.
The newcomer rubbed her head as she scurried over to Maureen.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Hell if I know. You okay?”
Darla checked her fingers for blood. There wasn’t any. “Yeah, I’ll be all right. You?”
“I’m fine. But whatever that was, it wasn’t normal.”
“Gee, ya think?” Shalia said as she hurried past them to the toilet hole and emptied her stomach with a violent retch. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and rushed to the wall, grabbing on hard just as another jolt shook the ship.
