Kate
The silvery mask in my hand drops to the floor and I run.
Immediately tall shadows fall over me and loud, thudding footsteps are closing in. I don’t look back. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be bait to get someone killed. There’s no damn way I’m staying on board this metal box either. I’m not going to make this easy for them.
The metal-plated armor molds to the muscles in my body—tightening them—strengthening them. With half their armor on, I could probably run around this ship for hours without tiring.
I’m dashing in and out of long steel corridors, throwing myself through the hissing hydraulic doors seconds before they close.
I’m living in a sick, twisted sci-fi movie.
I chance a quick glance over my shoulder and the long expanse of the hallway is empty, the only movement is a few blinking lights that run low along the walls. “That’s right, alien bitches!” I laugh out loud, spinning around as I slow to a jog.
A bright flash of steel, and Pious steps out in front of me, slamming a metal hand into the chest plate of my armor. I don’t feel the pain, but I do stumble back in surprise.
A furious scream erupts from me, frustration and anger coil and lump in my chest. I hadn’t even seen him coming and now his iron fingers are once again a bind around my throat.
“Quiet,” he says, almost growling the word out. The hand around my neck tightens, taking away any choice I had of staying quiet or not, and his other hand slaps a small bar between my wrists that instantly welds them together. “Now, walk.”
I take a step and stagger over. Pious slams me against the wall by the throat to keep me standing. He slowly lowers his silvery face closer to mine—the smooth metal clings to his skin revealing hard angular features and full smiling lips. “Your ankles are shackled, as are your hands.”
I try to speak, but all I can do is choke out a gasp. I bring my hands up to his, involuntarily trying to pry his hands away so I could take in a deep breath, but the bar between them stops me. It clinks against his armor, and yet I keep trying. Dark black spots start dancing in front of my eyes again, over and over, I clank the metal binds against his armor, trying to keep myself alive.
I can feel my face heating, and the alien armor that covers my body starts vibrating and shifting over my skin as if trying to help me.
Pious stills. Such a strange sudden stillness that my eyes dart up into his. I can’t really tell what he’s seeing behind that armor, but whatever it is loosens his hand, letting me inhale deeply.
“Walk. Small steps,” he says low.
Within two of my shuffles, Pious pulls me forward and my feet slide out from underneath me. He drags me through the ship until we hit a familiar passage and we’re back into my cell. He continues to drag me across the tiny room and lifts me, and the suit of armor I’m wearing into a narrow recess in the wall. Once inside, a small plate in the shoulder of my armor slides open and a robotic arm darts out and plugs itself into the wall.
The entire suit immediately hums and heats.
“What is this?” I stammer, desperately trying to move. I can’t. The only control I have over my body is the ability to talk and blink. “Why can’t I move?” I’m immediately rasping out breaths, shaking my head in panic, it’s all I can move. Pain stabs through my chest and lungs, and tears burn the corners of my eyes.
“My nerve endings are overridden and yet you still seem to grate on them,” he rumbles, stepping back toward the door.
“Whoa…wait. You can’t just leave me here like this. What if I need to use the bathroom?”Holy crap, how long have I been up here without having to use the bathroom?“Where are your bathrooms? And I’m hungry.”That’s it, I’ve completely lost what was left of my sanity.
“We have no need for them. Our armor takes care of all our needs. Right now, you’re feeding and calibrating.”
“What are you creatures?” I ask, stunned.
“Oh, but here I thought you and Rune were close friends,” he chuckles. “Did he not tell you of us?”
I roll my eyes. “When did you ever see us be close friends? What the hell—”
“Girl, he raised an army, albeit a small and pathetic one, and attacked his own people.For you.” That’s a lie. Rune was ambushed by Pious’s men! The stupid small army was my father’s attempt at being…something he might remember as heroic.
“For me? What? Are you kidding me right now?” I could barely contain my panic and anger. I feel it real and alive, crawling thick in my veins just under my skin, and the armor tremors violently with the intensity of it. “You know the only reason Rune did what he did was because your people attacked him, ripped off his faceplate, and left him there to die!”
“Bold words, from a little…girl. One that says she knows nothing.”
“And seriously, why the hell did you take me? There is nothing that is going to get Rune to come after me.” I don’t know much about what’s going on, but Rune’s last words to me are the only thing I have left to hope for. I’m up in space for fuck’s sake, there’s no way I would know how to get back to Earth myself.
“You don’t understand the power our faceplates hold.”
“You can see people’s emotional, mental, and physical states. You can sense when—”
