My body hadnotresponded well to the alien superbug. I’d vomited up a bunch of little robot sludge and then slept for days.
When I woke up, my stomach cramped badly enough I thought I might die. Hunger gnawed at me. Patty had saved my ration bars like the absolute doll she was. Or was it ration paste? Ration oatmeal? Gross stuff that started as a soft bar and then turned to oatmeal when you bit into it. It tasted like dog food smelled. Whatever. It was food, and I ate all there was and drank the water in a bucket the sharks gave us that she’d also saved for me. I refused to think about the fact that this was also the bucket we shit in. They’d come to get it every two days and bring it back full of water. Very accommodating, these aliens.
I sighed, leaning against the bars next to Patty, stretched my legs out and closed my eyes. I just needed to rest some more, then I’d bust out. For sure. In five minutes.
Patty snickered and I opened one eye to glare at her. The running lights on the aisle floor were on now so she would see the full power of the stink eye I was directing her way.
“Your legs are huge. I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to you before. You really are a giant.” Patty pointed at her leg beside mine.
She was right, but rude! She was a petite woman. Maybe five feet tall and about a hundred pounds. Made me wonder why I had been taken at all. All the other girls were normal sizes or petite. I stood six foot six inches and two hundred and thirty pounds of muscle. Mybicepswere probably bigger than Patty’s thighs.
Maybe some alien creep liked his women strong?
I’d tear his face off and eat it.
I grinned and flicked Patty’s leg.
“Quiet, little person, or I might decide to eat you for the extra protein.”
Patty snorted out a laugh and leaned against me. Her head rested against my arm, her long brown hair tickling my skin. The brown hair was the only thing we had in common. Patty was a pretty woman, with a round face that made her seem sweeter and younger than she actually was, with pouting lips in the shape of a perfect cupid’s bow. She had those big blue eyes that made you want to trust her. You’d never see the knife coming, too busy being charmed by her sweet, innocent face. She was only a few years younger than me at twenty-five.
I had a hard face, with high, sharp cheekbones that could take a punch without bruising, and a slash of a mouth with a stubborn chin. My brown eyes were filled with malice on a good day. I charmed no one. They usually turned and ran in the opposite direction.
“I’m glad you’re here with me, Jack. Not that I’m happy you got taken, but I feel better having a friend with me.”
I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“While I wish I could get off this fun house ride and go home, I’m glad I can be here with you too, Pat. I got your back,” I said. I’d looked out for her back home. I would especially look out for her here.
She squeezed my hand back and closed her eyes. I leaned my head back against the bars and did the same. I still felt like trash from the pill.
“Why do you think we’re naked?”
Patty, asking the important questions.
“I mean, they abduct us in clothing and then take the extra time to undress us without doing anything else? Why?” She continued.
I shrugged, “I don’t know. A wild guess?” I held up my free hand, made a fist and started ticking off with each raised finger. “Either we’re being sold for our parts and it makes things faster if we’re already naked. Or we are being sold on an auction block and they want to better view the merchandise,” I opened my eyes and paused, taking a breath before giving her the most likely answer, “or it could just be because it makes us feel small. It makes you feel vulnerable and afraid. If I was a skinny shark asshole, I’d want to make extra sure my captives didn’t try anything. Don’t want to damage the goods by disciplining them all the time. Killing one or two is fine if it keeps the others in line, but yeah, naked and afraid helps prevent that. ‘'
It was just too damn bad for them that my kind were naked often. I didn’t pay nudity any mind. I was furious for the other women, though. We ladies had to stick together, regardless of the species.
Patty lifted her head from my arm and looked up at me. “Pretty smart for a drunk and disorderly giant, aren’t you?”
I chuckled, and she shot me a grin before putting her head back against my arm. She still had my hand in a tight grip—for all her outer calm, her fear still lingered in the air around us. It mixed with mine, tangy and sour. I was big and strong and a monster but aliens were a pretty big deal. We were, who knows where, in the universe, and my plan wasn’t really a plan. It was wild hope and savagery. The fear had settled into the back of my mind like a tumor, just waiting to grow and take over. I didn’t react well to fear. Usually something got torn to pieces.
“You know, this cargo hold is pretty small even for a human plane. You think this is just one room in a larger area? Like maybe there are more of us?” Sam said from her cage. Her voice was still shaky, but she’d uncurled herself and was sitting up again.
“Who knows? Let me break out of here and I’ll find out for you,” I said. I was half joking but testing the waters, too.
“You got an actual plan, Amazon?” Callie asked, scorn dripping from her voice.
With the lights on, there had been a few jokes about the giantess in the cage. I didn’t mind. Let them laugh a little.
“I might. I’d need your help, though.”
My back was to her, but her gaze burned into my skin.
“You thinking I can fly this thing?” It wasn’t really a question, more like she’d read my mind and thought I was an idiot.
