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GWEN
“Bathroom break!” Grace was back. She’d disappeared for a while through a shimmering gateway that opened for her to pass through, but then quickly reclosed before anyone could attempt to follow. “And don’t try anything stupid. You’re a million light years away from home and there’s literally nowhere to go.”
Everyone lined up, shuffling out as if they’d done this a thousand times already. Maybe they had... How long had some of them been here? Long enough for their families to report them missing? Long enough to wonder if they were dead somewhere?
I opened my samples suitcase and tossed in my red bottoms. Strange alien planet or not, I wasn’t losing those shoes. They’d cost a mint, and they symbolized my hard damn work. After I survived this and my life returned to normal, I was going to want them. If I died? Well, an alien could pry them from my cold dead fingers.
Standing up, bouncing in the boots to get the feel of them, I had to admit they were like walking on a cloud. Probably a lot better footwear option for fighting for your life.
“Last call for the bathroom! You snooze, you lose!” Banana Blonde Grace yelled again.
I doubted she’d let me roll my samples case with me to the bathroom, so I reluctantly left it behind as I joined the long line of women streaming out of the gateway. Grace didn’t lead us very far, taking a right and left turn and stopping only two hundred feet or so away from the enclosure.
“Ten at a time, and no funny business. Get in, get out. The egg shape on the wall will cleanse your hands. Just touch your palms to it.”
I drifted to the very back of the line, looking around to see if there were people besides Grace watching us. I didn’t see any other figures lurking around, alien or human, but there were strange orbs mounted to the ceiling. They seemed to blink like silvery eyes, and I had a sneaking suspicion that they were security cameras. Still though… If I just ducked around the wall, I’d be out of sight. There had to be a way out of here, though if I found one now, I’d have to leave my samples case and beloved shoes behind.
You can buy new shoes, idiot. Red bottoms aren’t worth dying over.
That last thought was debatable.
I backed up slowly, pausing every few feet and trying not to continually glance at the security orbs. Soon, I was stepping sideways around the wall. This hall led back to the holding cell, but I remembered a four-way intersection before the second turn. Maybe there was something that way. I couldn’t avoid the all-seeing eyes, but I could act like I knew what I was doing.
So I moved purposefully, as if I owned the joint, and I took a left at the intersection instead of going straight. The further I walked down this new hallway, the brighter the lights became, turning cheery and golden instead of dim and silver.
Hearing voices nearby, I took another turn quickly.
This corridor widened, the ceiling growing higher and the dank stone walls bleeding into something more like marble. Slate hued floors knitted into gold. My surroundings were becoming more palatial with every step I took.
More voices.
Another quick turn, trying to continue undiscovered.
Rapid footsteps were running. They grew louder. But this time there was no new hallway to save me.
Frantically, I searched for a hiding place.
The only available savior was an oversized set of pale doors ornately carved. Birds sat upon delicate branches with plump clouds floating in the background. If I’d had more time, I would have stared at those doors for hours, ingesting every detail.
But the running steps were so loud now.
Around the corner.
Ready to catch me.
I pushed open the doors, swinging them just wide enough to allow me entry, and then I closed them in a rush, pressing my back to them before sliding down to the floor and tucking my knees against my chest. I closed my eyes tightly, trying not to hyperventilate.
What would they do to me if they caught me? Grace had said not to try anything… yet here I was, completely lost in a freaking alien palace. Would they kill me before the battle or tournament or whatever it was even started?
Tears began to fall from my eyes, soaking into the black and blue skin-tight suit.
I probably would have sat there crying forever, drowning in my own tears, if something terrifyingly sharp had not pressed into my side.
“Move a muscle and it will be the end of your pitiful life.” The voice was female, harsh, threatening. My heart raced in my chest as my tongue tried to nosedive down my throat to choke me.
I opened my eyes, trying to scramble backward, but the door was a barrier. There was nowhere to run.
The woman was six feet tall, gorgeously dark with brown hair cropped close to her scalp in almost military fashion. Most of her body was exposed as if I’d startled her in the midst of changing. High cheekbones framed a sharp nose. It was her eyes, though, dark green and piercing, that sliced through me.
