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Chapter Two
TORI
My head was throbbing, and who was the idiot who left the light on?Or had I slept through the night and well into the following day?It wouldn’t surprise me, not with the messed-up dreams I had.
My stomach hurt too, and I pressed my hand tenderly against my belly, jolting it away when the pain increased like I was bruised.
Why would my stomach be bruised?
Bull… shit...
Even though my head throbbed as I stood rapidly, I didn’t stop and paced my cube—my prison— slowly picking up speed until I was running around the edges in tight circles, slamming my fists against the clear walls and screaming at the aliens who milled around the outside.But much like the other woman’s screams, they couldn’t hear me, and if they could, I doubt they would have cared anyway.I placed my hands around my throat.The air was thin in here, and I was certain I was choking.My breathing was coming in small, shallow gasps, and if I didn’t get it under control soon, I was going to pass out again.In my peripheral vision, I saw the woman in the cube nearest to mine sink to her knees as I did, her hands pressed against the cube as if she wanted to reach out and help me, but she couldn’t help.She couldn’t save me any more than I could save her or myself or stop the aliens from probing and sticking me in this fucking cage.
Gasping for air, I curled up into a ball, and when the gasps turned into sobs, I let the tears come because, at that moment, I couldn’t think of a single thing I could do other than cry.
***
Okay, enough with this crying bullshit.
Sitting up, I rubbed my face vigorously with my palms and looked over to find the other woman staring at me.She had her legs tucked neatly under her, and when she caught my eye, she lifted her hand in possibly the saddest wave I’d ever seen in my life.She pointed at her stomach and lifted her flimsy T-shirt to reveal bruising around her belly button.I copied, showing her my stomach.I guess we were both assaulted with that damn probe in the same way.After she dropped her T-shirt, she frowned, and I wished we were in the same damn cube so we could talk.
We simply leaned against the corners of our cubes as close as we could get to each other.I don’t think I’ve ever sought the closeness of a stranger before, but now I’d give anything to hug this woman.She looked lost and afraid, and I wondered if my expression was the same, and I just didn’t know it yet.
I wondered what her name was.
With my head against the side of the cube, which was mercifully warmer than the ship outside, I watched my breath fog up.
“That’s it!”I slapped my palm against the side of the cube, and although I knew she couldn’t hear me, I kept doing it for a few seconds until the other woman looked up.I held my finger up at her and then pointed to my mouth.Breathing on the side of the cube, it fogged up, and I quickly spelled outname?
The word faded, and her eyes widened.She repeated my actions.
Erica.
My turn.Tori.Glad I went by Tori for so long now.Victoria would’ve taken too long to write out, and I barely had the energy to maintain my excitement at being able to communicate with Erica.
Her smile was small, barely a lift of her lips, and her eyes sad.
Hi.
Hi.
That was all we said for several hours.
***
The time passed slowly, and two other girls were brought in to join Erica and me.Shortly after, there was a heavy whirring underneath us.It somehow felt like vibrations through our feet despite the floating cubes, which I took to mean the ship was moving.
Great.
Misha, who had come in after me, had dark hair that sat in tight curls around her face, and her expression was determined and fearful at the same time.She looked like a country girl.Don’t ask me how I knew—I just had a feeling.There was something about the way she walked, even when she was being half-dragged by some asshole aliens.Or I could’ve been drawing conclusions from the cowboy hat and horseshoe print on her night clothes.Maybe the girl just liked horses, I didn’t know.Last to come in was Samara, who I found out later was only nineteen and mostly hid her face behind her blonde hair.But even that couldn’t hide the fear clear in her expression.
My anger only increased after each girl was brought in.Who the fuck did these aliens think they were?
The aliens came in twice a day and gave us food but no water.It was only after giving in and trying the jelly-like white substance that we discovered it served as both, quenching our thirst and hunger at the same time.At one point, we tried to escape by grabbing onto the aliens when they went to feed us, but this only resulted in Erica being poisoned.I thanked God she didn’t die, then wondered if it may have been better if she did.
Nothing changed for about a week.We were fed, and the little containers in the corner of our respective cubes that served as toilets emptied even though no one ever came in to do so.Then one day, they didn’t come with our morning food.I exchanged a glance with Erica because this couldn’t be a good thing.While our situation was dire, routine was at least some level of comfort, and the second that changed, it meant something was up.
Then the aliens came for us.
