By the time I dragged myself from my bed, bleary eyed and sore from my cleaning spree after Tovis left.I had more questions than answers, and a bone deep fear of asking them.I needed to talk to other women, other humans.I needed that sense of normalcy like I needed oxygen and yet I was fighting the urge to bar the door and ignore the knocking beckoning me nearer.
If I opened that door, I’d be faced with another dose of how much things had changed.It scared me so much I was shaking as I undid the deadbolt and turned the knob.
I realized my mistake immediately.
Lost in my thoughts, I’d heard knocking, when in reality, someone had been trying to break down the door.Several someones.Blue, alien someones with tentacles on their heads and wide, eerily dark eyes.
I gaped at the aliens, and they gaped back at me.They recovered first, the one holding the big rock he'd been using on the door tossed it aside and reached for a short baton hanging from his belt.
“A human!”someone yelled and I slammed the door shut.My hands shook as I fumbled for the deadbolt and the door shoved inward as the aliens threw themselves against it.Voices barked orders as I pushed all my weight forward and slapped at the deadbolt.
Distantly, I noted that I understood them, my translator must work on more than one language, or they spoke the same language as Tovis.A panicked sob choked me as I slowly lost ground, the door inching open as the aliens overwhelmed me.
A booted foot shoved into the gap and I abandoned the deadbolt and ran.My socked feet slid over the freshly mopped floors as I sprinted out of the supply room and into the main spa area.
I needed a weapon, a hiding place, something.There was nothing.Footsteps pounded after me, and I screamed, bolting toward the waiting area.The empty, freshly cleaned space mocked me.
“Stop, human!”
“Do not resist and we will not hurt you!”
I grabbed a nearby chair and whirled to face my pursuers, holding the chair up like a shield.My eyes darted over them, frantically noting their strange, almost shimmery light blue skin, the writhing head of fleshy tentacles, the menacingly crackling batons in their hands.
There were at least ten sytos, maybe more, their faces and grey uniforms so identical they looked like an impenetrable wall.Behind me, the desks and chairs I’d used to barricade the front door blocked my only chance at escape and I could feel panicked tears streaming down my face as I swallowed hard.
“Stay back,” I ordered shakily.The nearest syto pointed his baton at me.
“You can’t fight us all, human.Come quietly, for your own sake.”
He was right, I couldn’t fight them all.But I also couldn’t ‘come quietly’, even if it was the wiser choice, I was so terrified, I literally couldn’t surrender.I felt like an animal with its leg caught in a trap, cornered, out gunned and absolutely willing to bite a bitch.
An alien near the back of the group grabbed something from his belt, and I spotted bulky looking handcuffs.This was it, six months of hiding and pretending nothing had changed and I was about to be captured andcuffedby aliens.
The cruel absurdity of it burned in my chest and with a scream, I chucked the chair at the middle of the group, whirling to grab another before the first chair made contact.There was a crash and a shout of pain, and suddenly booted steps rushed toward me.
I swung the second chair just as they reached me, cracking the legs into one syto’s head as a crackling baton made contact with my shoulder.Pain froze me in place for several long seconds, my breath freezing in my lungs as my muscles seized.
As soon as they pulled the baton from my skin, I dropped to the ground and a dozen blue hands latched onto me.I thrashed and screamed, kicked and bit, but within seconds my hands were cuffed in front of me and a second shock had me shivering and gasping in the fetal position.
Through slitted eyes, I watched as one alien swiped a stream of blood off his face.I felt a flicker of satisfaction that I’d injured at least one of them.Not that it mattered, I was cuffed, exhausted, my whole body ached and I was pretty sure I’d peed myself when they’d shocked me the second time.
“Rijish, grab the human, the rest of you search the building, grab any supplies you can find.”The syto I assumed was the leader looked identical to the others, except for a dark band around the neck of his grey uniform.He finished giving orders and huffed out a breath, looking down at me consideringly.
“If we’re lucky, the Kwin will be happy with our gift and we’ll get a decent ration tonight.”
Gift, I was a gift to someone.Probably not a nice someone, if they were okay with their gifted people being electrocuted and kidnapped.
One of the sytos bent over and hauled me to my feet, my knees were so weak I crumpled immediately and he barely caught me before I hit the floor.He hefted me over his shoulder with a grunt, and my head spun as all the blood rushed to my face.
I bit my lip when my stomach lurched and let out a pitiful whimper.
The syto holding me sighed and gave me a strangely comforting pat to the hip.
“Don’t despair, female,” he said quietly, his voice resigned.“You’re the first human we’ve captured, that makes you an appealing prize.The Kwin will feed you well at least.”
“Please let me go,” I whispered, clenching my eyes shut as he turned on his heel and made the world spin sickeningly.
“I can’t do that, we’re all at the mercy of the Kwin now.”
