“Who?”
Morzinga spoke next, and in a far firmer tone. “The Raxxians. They’ve visited other compartments for playthings but have pretty much left us alone, but if you go raising a fuss, they’ll take note. And we donotwant them taking note. You understand?”
“I—yes, I guess so. But you said other compartments?”
“It’s a Raxxian livestock transport ship. There are dozens of them spaced out in all directions. Each compartment is its own independent living space housing who knows how many people. We don’t know how they decide who is separated into which group, but we do know inthiscompartment we’ve had it good so far. Others haven’t been so lucky.”
“But surely you want to escape.”
Morzinga shrugged. “Believe me, if we could, we would. But there is no escape. We’re just a motley ship full of abductees. No one of importance so far as any of us can tell. And we’re far from home, out in the depths of space, girl. There’s nowhere to run, even if we could get out of our cell.”
“She’s right,” Urallia agreed. “No one escapes the Raxxians.”
Olivia looked at the odd ball of something that was apparently edible and took a bite, her mind racing.
Not bad, she mused, her mind latching onto the new flavor, focusing on it until her panic subsided. It wasn’t exactly home cooking, but it would do. She was very unsure and hadn’t the slightest inkling of a plan, but Olivia was never one to give up easily. No matter her unease, she had to put on a confident face. It wasn’t the first time she’d played that role. Not by a long shot. Olivia took a deep breath, then another.
“No one escapes, you say?” she replied. “We’ll see about that.”
CHAPTER THREE
Pain.
Pain and seriously aching muscles. That was her existence now.
And then there was a throbbing headache, the misery radiating out from the back of her head.
Olivia’s first senses to return after her very impromptu departure from Raxxian captivity were physical in nature, and they were not pleasant.
She groaned as she took a quick accounting of the myriad pains in her bruised body.What the hell happened?
She tried to sit up, finding her body reluctant to oblige, but seemingly intact and functional enough to eventually do her bidding. At least, mostly. Something was pinning her legs and hips down. Forcing her eyes open, she worked hard to shake off the daze in the dark compartment. There was the faintest hint of illumination flickering from one lone panel in the buckled wall, but it wasn’t nearly enough to properly take in the scene.
Olivia changed positions, reaching down to shift the load pressing uncomfortably on her legs. “Oh, man. I feel like I was hit by a train. How did?—”
She stopped cold, her hands slick with still-warm liquid. She’d felt something else. A body. A broken and battered corpse resting on top of her.
“Fuck!” she blurted in shock, pushing hard and scrambling back from the deceased woman’s inert form, holding back the scream building in her chest with all her might.
Olivia pressed her back against the bulkhead, forcing herself to stay motionless and silent despite every cell in her body telling her to run, far and fast. Somehow, she managed to overcome the instinct and just sit still, listening intently. Her eyes began adjusting to the lack of light. It wasn’t as absolute a darkness as she’d first thought. Aside from the faintly flickering panel, there was another source of light. Of light, and of air.
The metal of their compartment had buckled in many places, and the sturdy metal had even torn open at some point in their landing. Looking up at the alien night sky through the opening, she could see stars.
At least the sparkly lights aren’t a concussion, she grimly mused as she willed her breathing to slow and her ears to focus. Logic kicked in, her senses sharpening rather than spinning out of control. She didn’t think there would be any Raxxians storming in to recapture them so soon after their ship was blown apart, but one could never be too cautious. But somehow they were on solid ground, separated from the main ship, and that meant they were free. At least, those who had survived.
She looked at the blood on her hands. It was hard to tell for sure in the dim light, but she was pretty sure it was blue. This was Morzinga’s blood. Her blue-skinned friend was dead. They’d only been confined together a month or so, from what she could tell given the absence of clocks or calendars, but as survivors of Raxxian abduction, the five women in her compartment had all bonded over their shared trauma.
And now there was one less.
Urallia had perished in the crash as well, she was sure of it. Olivia had seen the woman’s body violently tossed about the compartment as they fell from space. There was no way she’d survived it. Not with her delicate build. As for Garggoxx, she was the sturdiest of the aliens, but last she’d seen her, she was sliding across the deck, unconscious. And in that state, there was no way she’d managed to grab onto something for the truly turbulent part of their descent.
That left Harper. Though she’d been shaken loose as well, at least it had happened much later in the crash. Olivia had blacked out shortly after, but there was still a chance her human friend was still alive.
The faint sound of a pained groan hit her ears like a gong in the silence of the ruined vessel.
“Owww,” a familiar voice uttered faintly.
Olivia felt her spirits soar. “Harper! Hold still. I’m coming!”
