AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “You are safe.”
“Fuck you.”
I draw a phrase from the depths of human history, the only possible response in this situation. She deserves discipline, and she will get it, but for now, while she is in transit, she can stay in her pod.
“Alrighty then.”
3
Jen
Wind blows past me and my ridiculous fucking tutu as I huddle in the back of the crate to stay out of the elements as much as is possible, cursing Arkan and his interference in my life. Thanks to his punishment, sitting down is almost impossible, so I find myself crouched and braced in a very undignified position as we wind our way through the idyllic old city, and to my very great excitement, into the countryside.
I smell wild air, scented with unfamiliar flowers. I see trees and fields passing on either side of a very bumpy and poorly maintained dirt road. I have to brace myself over a divot or two in particular, before he slows down, realizing that his precious cargo is being rattled about in the back like a rock in a tin can.
He’ll regret this. He’ll regret everything.
He turns off what barely passes for a road, down a long and winding driveway. It is bordered by verdant trees and rutted with the passage of many vehicles. The world smells different here. There is earth, dirt, plant detritus, animal things. It is an alien smell, but it is also one that hits somewhere deep in my core because this is the smell from which we all came. I was born in the city. I’ve never touched grass before, but seeing the bright bloom of it fills me with hope of a kind that feels alien to me.
I should be mad as hell. Iammad as hell. But I’m something else too, now. I’m curious, and my lungs are full of the kind of air that plants just got done excreting and it feels like there’s this buzzing, blooming existence happening all around me and in me, and maybe I’m a part of it.
Never thought I’d feel at home on an alien world, not even a little bit. The truck jolts again and I just narrowly stop my head from hitting the top of the crate as we come to a halt at what has to be Arkan’s house. The vehicle is parked away from the house, so my view is mostly of the path along which we just came.
Arkan gets out and walks around to the crate to check on me.
“Fuck off,” I say, assuring him that all is well with me.
He exhales slightly impatiently and walks over to the gate we just came through, shutting it firmly. From what I can see, there is quite a tall fence around the entirety of the property made of a rock and cement situation. Almost looks like some of the old Earth buildings. Kind of charming. Am I starting to not hate every second of this experience? I hope not. I don’t want to become tame. I’ve seen too many tame humans, and they make me sick with the way they follow their owners around.
I remember the first time I met another owned human. It was two days ago. My owner wanted to show off his new purchase at a fancy alien gathering of some kind. A birthday party, maybe. I don’t know exactly because nobody told me.
All of a sudden I was in a big room with more aliens than I’d ever imagined. My new owner didn’t have a leash or a collar on me. He seemed to think I’d just stay with him, like some kind of sentient Roomba.
Two days ago….
I wander away from my alien owner, looking for a way out of this party and off this planet. My plan has not changed since I was captured. I intend to get back home. I’m not a fucking commodity. I’m a person, and I own myself.
The crowd of formally dressed aliens parts for a brief moment, and my heart skips a beat when I see another human. There is a young woman around my age with flowing blonde hair that looks like it has been brushed a thousand times, slightly wispy around her head and shoulders. She is wearing a golden gown, a smaller version of the one her alien mistress is wearing. A collar encircles her throat, and a light golden leash connects her to the wrist of her alien owner.
She looks up at her owner as I approach, and the alien woman unclips her leash. There does not seem to be any animosity between them. I have to assume the other human is playing for time, pretending to play along with the alien agenda before making good her escape.
“Hello,” she says in a soft whisper voice that is barely audible. “My name is Melinda. What’s yours?”
She extends her hand to me, almost as if to go for a handshake, but flopping her wrist more like I’m supposed to kiss her freakin’ hand. I ignore the motion and step closer to her.
“How the fuck do we get out of here, Melinda?”
She gives me a strange look, as if my question is uncouth and very strange. She takes a step back, putting distance between us, and glancing back at her alien mistress as if for comfort.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
Her accent makes me think she’s from the other side of the Atlantic, but that’s no excuse to be unaware of the horrors being visited upon us as a whole. We’re captives, people being traded for the entertainment of aliens.
“I mean, how do we get out of here?”
She gives a little shrug, as if the matter holds no interest to her.
I watch, stunned, as the female alien walks by, pets Melinda on the head, and drops a treat from between pale, scaled fingers. Melinda catches what looks like a boiled sweet and performs an actual fucking curtsey.
