“What?Youtold her about my hot flashes?”
She’d been having them for several months now—the miserable symptoms of perimenopause that she couldn’t do anything about since theVisskoushad no human medicine to give her to regulate her hormones.Shewould have gone back to theMotherShipfor treatment, but by that time the outbreak was in full swing with theRottingDiseasesweeping over the entire planet.TheInfectedhad overrun the airfields and spaceports, so there was no way to get out.
Unfortunately, it turned out that being unable to regulate your body temperature was considered a sign of poor breeding onVisslickPrime.Thefirst time she’d woken up besideSskarthcovered in sweat, he’d hissed in disgust as though she’d peed the bed.
After that, he no longer slept in the same bed with her—or even the same bedroom.NotthatCassieminded—by that time she had fallen completely out of love with herVisskoushusband—if she’d ever really been in love in the first place.Also, sleeping beside him was like sleeping beside a scaly lump of living ice.TheVisskouswere naturally cold-blooded, which meant cuddling with one was extremely unpleasant—a factCassiehad learned onlyaftershe’d gottenJoinedtoSskarthand moved to his home planet.
And apparently, the feeling was mutual.Sskarthalways complained about how hot she was—how her body temperature was abnormally high.Nowthat she was having hot flashes, he hated being near her at all.Healso said she “smelled” which was rich, considering that he and the other lizard-likeVisskousalways stunk unpleasantly like the reptile house at the zoo toCassie.
She wondered now why she had stuck it out for so long—why she had stayed stubbornly onVisslickPrimewhen she ought to have dissolved her union withSskarthand called theMotherShipfor a transport home ages ago.Maybeshe didn’t want to admit defeat—or to give up on another marriage.Herex,Mitch, had made her feel horrible when she divorced him, claiming she was evil and cruel for “deserting him and the kids,” even though all the kids were away at college by the time she finally left.
NowCassiewished she’d been a little less stubborn.Shewas stuck on an alien planet, light years from home during a zombie outbreak and her husband was about to put her outside the safety of the city walls to be eaten by theInfectedall because she was going through perimenopause.
It seemed equal parts surreal and unfair, but it was going to be her fate if she couldn’t convinceSskarthto keep her safe.
“You understand, darling,” he said now, giving her that charming little, “I’mso sorry’ half-smile that had won her heart five years ago.“Theresources here have been collected by my peopleformy people—they don’t want to waste them on an off-worlder.Especiallya defective one who can’t lay eggs.”
“You knewIcouldn’t lay eggs for you when you married me!”Cassieexclaimed angrily.“Itold youIwas past that part of my life—and thatIwas biologically incapable of actuallylayingan egg—and you said you didn’t mind.”
“AndIdidn’t…but nowIdo.Becauseonce theInfectedall die off, we’ll have to repopulate the planet.HowcanIdo that unlessIhave a young, fertile mate who can lay me a large clutch of eggs?”Sskarthput his arm around the femaleVisskouswho had been glaring atCassieand pulled her close.“Amate likeSskilla, here.”
Suddenly, it all made sense.Herdog of a lizard-man husband had been cheating on her with this little hussy with the purple fringe!
Cassie felt a hot flash of anger…followed by a cold wash of despair.Therewas no way he was going to speak up for her now—no way he would try to save her.Notwhen he already had another mate lined up who was hot to bear him lots of young—or “lay him a large clutch of eggs,” as he put it.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go.”Oneof the guards stepped forward and took her by the arm.
“He’s right, unfortunately.”Sskarthmade a sad face, as though he’d just found out the entertainment vid he wanted to watch was going to be delayed or the gortha steak he’d ordered had been overcooked.“There’sjust no place for a washed up, has-been human who’s losing her fertility in theNewWorldOrderthat’s coming,” he said.
“But…but you promised—you swore during ourJoiningceremony—”Cassiebegan desperately.
“All vows taken in happier times must be declared null and void during this time of trauma,I’mafraid,”Sskarthcut in smoothly.“Youunderstand, darling—extenuating circumstances and all that.”
“But—”Cassiebegan again, but she was already being dragged away by the guard who had grabbed her arm.
“Hey, let me go!”Shefought and twisted, trying to get free.Ifonly she could escape her captors, she could run and hide somewhere.They’dalready started rationing food in theCrystalCity, but she was sure she could find enough to eat to survive until she could contact theKindredsomehow.
However, it wasn’t to be.Asecond guard joined the first, grabbing her other arm and the two of them marched her to the gates of the city.
TheCrystalCityhad a triple-locking gate with three different sections to ensure that noInfectedcould enter.Evenif they had managed to get past the three locking sections, they would have been stopped by the slippery, crystal wall that surrounded the entire city complex.Itwas a hundred feet tall, rising to the sky in glittering splendor—the best defense anyone could wish for against the brainless, ravenousInfected, who couldn’t figure out how to turn a doorknob, let alone scale a steep crystal monolith.
Which was whyIthoughtI’dbe safe!Cassiethought desperately as they airlocks whooshed open one by one and the guards dragged her through the three, interlocking gates.Evenwhen the sickness overran the entire planet,Iwas sureI’dbe safe inCrystalCity!
How wrong she had been.Sheshouldn’t have been fearing the zombie hordes but her own cheating bastard of a lizard-man husband all along.Sskarthhadn’t been a bit reluctant to part with her—on the contrary, she’d gotten the definite feeling that he was happy to get rid of her so neatly so he could be with his lizard mistress.
And then they reached the last airlock and all other thoughts were wiped from her mind as the guards waited until the gate was barely open and thrust her through it.
The minute she was on the other side, they shut the gate again.Itclosed with ahissof air being re-pressurized andCassierealized something horrible.
She was on her own and no one was coming to save her.
2
CASSIE
Panic took over, buzzing in her brain like a trapped insect.
“Sskarth, don’t do this!Letme back in—please, somebody,let me back in!”she wailed, pounding on the gates.
