Nexus? What the hell was a Nexus? I wracked my brain, trying to remember anything I’d ever seen or heard that had anything to do with a Nexus. Came up blank. “I’m sorry. I don’t know you. I don’t want to talk to you or anyone else. I just want to eat my breakfast in peace.”
Sometimes the only way out of a situation was to talk your way out. Each of the three was bigger than a football linebacker. Fighting my way out of here was not an option. I glanced to the older woman behind the counter. “You call the cops?”
She nodded, the move nearly imperceptible, but enough to make me relax a fraction. If I could keep them talking a few more minutes, the police would be here.
The monster in the back lifted one arm and pointed it toward the woman. A flash of light appeared and the woman toppled over. Coffee pot still in her hand, the glass shattered on tile as she hit the floor, dead. An older man wearing a grease-stained apron appeared from the kitchen.
“What the hell is going on out?—”
A second flash ended his life before he finished the sentence.
Shit!
As one, the three turned their heads back to face me. Their leader held up his hand. In it, I saw a small button object about the size of a slice of cucumber. He stepped forward, holding the shiny, black object out like he wanted to touch me with it, or put it on me.
What was that? A tracker? Poison? An alien taser?
Shit! Shit! Shit! I backed away slowly, palms out. My mind raced. Somehow, I knew if they got that thing on me, I was toast. Run for it? Go with them? To where? Somewhere they could kill me?
That was the wrong move. Never, ever let yourself be taken to a secondary location. Ever. That was basic knowledge, Paranoia 101.
If they wanted me dead, they could just laser-flashy me like the other two people they just murdered in front of me.
While I was recording video on my cell phone.
Oh, god. I shoved my phone in my back pocket and hoped they wouldn’t know what I’d been doing.
“Larkspur Linton. Come with us.” He took another step forward. I backed away. The three moved like they were all connected. Their leader’s eyes flashed black, then silver, back to black. The skin on his face was a warm bronze, like he spent most of his life in the Bahamas on a beach. But it wasn’t only the eyes that made him look—not human. His nose was a bit too angular, his cheek bones too pronounced. His chin too prominent and pointed. He was too damn big. “Are you an alien?”
“We are Hive. You will come with us.”
Hive? The Hive? The ones the Interstellar Coalition of Planets was supposedly fighting in outer space? The enemy that made the Coalition Fleet demand body counts, ‘volunteers’, in the form of fighters and brides from Earth in exchange for Coalition ‘protection’?
I never believed the hype, thought their existence was a joke. A lie. A way to control humanity and force us to sacrifice women as breeders and soldiers to fight and die in a far-off war that meant nothing to Earth. The Bachelor Beast television show was the icing on the cake, smoking hot aliens sent to show us how caring and protective they were? Bullshit.
“I don’t believe you.”
“We are Hive. Come now.” Why did only one of them talk?
How fast could I unlock the back door in the kitchen? There had to be one. Was there a deadbolt? A window in the bathroom? Could I break a window and climb out before one of these things caught me?
I risked a glance back over my shoulder. Nothing that way but more tables, a wall of windows, and the restrooms. Nothing in front of me but three monsters trying to kidnap me.
If I could lock myself in the bathroom, could I crawl through the ceiling like people did in the movies? Was I strong enough to pull myself up? Maybe there would be something to climb on, like the sink. I could use the sink. I didn’t remember there being a window in there. Maybe I was wrong? How many times had I eaten here and actually used the restroom?
Gah! Should have paid attention.
Should have brought my gun.
Fat lot of good wishful thinking was going to do now.
If they wanted me dead, I’d already be dead. Bottom line. I had to try to escape.
“Larkspur Li—” The cyborg stopped mid-word. The three stiffened and turned on their heels to face the door like synchronized swimmers or something. Creepy. What grabbed their attention?
Who cares?
Taking my chance, I bolted for the restroom. Expecting a hand to land on my shoulder at any moment, I slammed into the door, slipped inside and pushed it closed behind me.
