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They look very much like what people on earth picture when they think of aliens. Grey skin, sexless narrow bodies with large heads and huge black eyes. There are several of them, but they all look the same so I’m having trouble getting an exact number. Right now, there are probably eight I can see.
They sure are an improvement from the first aliens I’d ever seen. The ones who abducted me from my farm looked like giant praying mantises and when they spoke, their voices sounded like grating metal. Even the translators they imbedded in our brains couldn’t completely drown out the horrifying sounds they made when they spoke.
A chill runs up my spine as I remember waking up caged and disoriented. Tears sting my eyes when I wonder what happened to the others. Especially Skylar, the teenage girl who was in the same cage as me. She should have been safe in her bed with her family, not abducted by monsters. My stomach drops when I think of how those aliens dragged us from the ship and into a cave where, one by one, we were separated and auctioned off.
The first one of us, a woman named Bela, was sick from where they botched her translator implant. She was burning with fever and could hardly walk. It was awful to watch her being dragged across the stage by the announcer. By the time the bidding for her ended she could hardly stand.
At the end of her auction something happened when they were taking her off stage. There was quite a commotion while they pulled me up onto the stage which took a lot of the attention from me. After all the fanfare from Bela’s auction, mine was pretty low key and I suspect whatever was going on off stage had something to do with that. Which is how I ended up with my captors.
From what I’ve been able to piece together from their excited chatter, these creatures pooled their money together for some entertainment. Me. Although, so far none of them have given me much attention. Instead, they are too busy congratulating themselves on purchasing something as exotic as a human female.
Wonderful. It seems I’ve been bought by a group of 8thgrade boys. With any luck, they won’t have any idea what to do with me now they have me. The first day after the auction it took me screaming up a fuss and almost pissing myself to get them to unchain me and take me to their version of a bathroom. Seems they wanted a pet but didn’t think through what having one entailed.
Now, at least once a day (I think), one of them takes me for a bathroom break. I do the best I can with my hands linked together while one of them holds my leash and watches me impatiently. Then I’m given a strange granola bar and a water pouch, that is just enough to keep my thirst from driving me crazy.
This has been going on for… a while. I’ve lost track, honestly. The lights never dim and even if there was a clock, I doubt I could read it. So, I just exist as their pet. Chained up and waiting for them to remember I exist so they can take me for a walk.
It could be worse, I remind myself. I’d much rather them leave me alone and forget about me than molest me.
I’m starting to doze off when the music suddenly cuts off. My body tenses and my mind goes back on high alert, but the aliens still aren’t paying any attention to me as they line up and file out of the cockpit. Leaving me behind.
This is new. There is always a group of them around me, although I’m pretty sure they rotate in shifts.
“Hey!” I shout after them. A rush of panic washes over me. Where are they going? Will they be back? And when? Then what? “Wait! You can’t leave me here.”
Except they can. And they do.
Without an audience to worry about flashing, I unfold and rise to my knees. Wiggling my fingers, I try to get some of the blood to flow back into them. The lattice of pipes I’m chained to keeps me from standing up and the muscles and joints in my body are starting to freeze in my new hunched position.
Balanced on my knees, with my hands still over my head, I lean my forehead against the cool metal of the wall.
How the hell am I gonna get myself out of this mess?
CHAPTERTWO
Brettin
* * *
Iset a thick mug filled with foamingbrytosin front of Vruk, who has his nose buried in his comm, and take the seat across from him.
“Any good bounties?” I ask. Tipping my mug back, the full-bodied ale hits my tongue and I hum from the bitter sweetness of it. There hasn’t been much chatter over the usual channels lately and credits are getting a bit tight, which always makes me antsy.
“Actually,” Vruk blindly reaches for his mug and then slides his comm across the table to me. “Madame Althea has put out a ransom for some stolen girls.”
When I glance down at the comm my eyes widen at the obscene amount of credits offered. As tempting as the credits might be, we won’t touch it. We don’t deal in flesh. Which makes me wonder why Vruk would be considering this offer at all.
Taking the comm back, Vruk taps the face before sliding it back over to me. “Which is why I thought it was interesting Rovos just sent out a sort of counteroffer.”
While he takes another drink my eyes quickly scan the message and I arch an eyebrow before looking up to meet Vruk’s mirrored expression. Rovos, a fellow bounty hunter, is also offering a large sum of credits, but in exchange for information about the missing females. “You’re not seriously considering going after this?”
The message reads like he is looking for pure humans, which are the equivalent of mythical creatures. Something from long ago stories told to kits. The fact that Rovos, of all the males I thought I knew, to be offering up a bounty is laughable.
Vruk shrugs and leans back in his seat.
I snort into my tankard. Despite the fact we’re clones, we couldn’t be more dissimilar. Vruk is soft hearted, whereas I consider myself to be more of a—
“Don’t be an asshole,” Vruk snaps. “Keeping our eyes and ears open won’t hurt anything. And if we happen to hear anything, it’ll be easy credits.”
