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CHAPTER2
AMARA
I had to keep psyching myself up to keep morale up. I couldn’t afford to lose hope and cave in to what my kidnappers wanted.
I pictured the same instructors’ voices guiding me to control my breathing, slow my heartbeat, center my mind as I did before dangerous missions. I still had fight in me. My training would endure far worse trials than this march.
My stomach grumbled. I couldn’t believe that I actually missed the bland beige slop they’d fed us at the slavers’ complex.
It was full dark before our captors called another halt. Around us, the forest drew in on itself, broad leaves and twining vines pulling close to their trunks, like people hugging themselves for warmth.
I fought to steady my trembling chin as Kali and Cielo pleaded for me to save them. Forcing hollow resolve into my voice, I clung to the same mantras drilled into me years ago—“You can do this. Just one more step…” Empty assurances now, perhaps, but we all desperately needed the comfort.
I knelt beside them as their glazed eyes flickered open. “Just rest easy,” I murmured, though I feared they would not rise again if forced to walk farther tonight. Still, I managed an encouraging smile. “We’ll be on the move again soon.”
I stood to assess our miserable group, now just twenty-four left of the original thirty captured. Boran had already made sure we knew that the “order” was for twelve healthy, fertile female Earthlings. The rest of us would be culled, no doubt left as fodder for this carnivorous jungle. A bullet would almost be a mercy. My fists clenched involuntarily.
None of these women signed up for this nightmare. We weren’t soldiers on a battlefield; we were civilians caught in a horrific reality. As I watched the women gather protectively around our wounded, I locked eyes with the slaver leaders. In that moment, a resolve hardened within me. I knew I had to turn the tables somehow.
Seeing these women clinging together against unspeakable brutality, I felt the mantle of leadership settling on my weary shoulders once more. As in my past life, I must be the shepherd to guide them out of this valley of death. My military training and grit would shield them long enough for a route to freedom to appear. Glancing at Rannix and Selex’s cruel alien faces, I hardened my jaw. The reckoning was coming for them and their sadistic ilk.
I mentally cataloged the guards’ wicked pain sticks again instead—staffs of crystal that unleashed agonizing energy waves to shred human nerves. The cries still echoed in my mind when they showed the effects that first day, dropping women to writhe, vomiting on the ground. My fists clenched at the memories. Emotions could come later, I reminded myself. For now, cold precision was key. Analyze terrain. Await their mistakes. Survive at any cost.
“If we don’t get to rest soon, the Grim Reaper is going to charge us overtime,” I warned Zahira with grim humor as we distanced ourselves from the group.
“What are you going to do?” Her eyes flickered with worry, but she kept her voice low and steady.
“Advocate for us,” I replied. “I was debate team captain. I know how to talk people into things.”
“Well, I hope it works, because I need more than a couple of two-hour naps and some doggie chews and water to keep me going.” Zahira was limping. I could see it now that she walked beside me. Just as she nearly stumbled, I caught her arm, steadying her. The visible pain and exhaustion on Zahira’s face underscored the dire need for rest.
“I’ll make it work,” I said, lifting my chin firmly. “I’ll get us a proper rest no matter what it takes.” My resolve hardened, fueled by my debate skills. I had talked my way out of tougher spots; I could do it again—for Zahira, for all of us.
As I approached the guards, Boran looked up. His orange eyes narrowed.
His two bosses glanced over as well, confusion creasing their foreheads. None of the captives had tried to talk to them for days,so what am I doing?But I kept walking anyway.
I noticed the guards’ slumped shoulders and the beasts’ weary stance. They were just as exhausted, a fact I could use in my argument.
Instead, I put my hands on my hips and looked up at him, seeing his eyebrows rise in surprise at my direct eye contact. “We need rest,” I demanded. It was the first time I had raised my voice to normal levels in days. My voice sounded alien to my own ears after days of defeated whispering, like the determined survivor in me reawakening.
“Your dogs. Half of them are limping too.” I looked back at him.
He looked down at the saw-toothed beast flopped at his feet and frowned.
I pushed on. “And don’t tell me you and your men don’t need proper sleep.”
I pointed out a hound with a limp leg and a guard massaging his temple, signs of weariness too obvious to ignore.
I felt my sliver of hope grow a little.
Selex looked at Rannix, who hopped down from his mount. He walked over to within a few feet of me and sniffed. “We only need half your number,” he reminded me.
“You’ll be lucky if you keep a quarter of us alive at this rate.”
His eyes were almost colorless. Their pupils contracted at my words. I bit back a retort about their carelessness, killing captives needlessly.
As smoothly as I could, I stared at him, wondering if a hard punch to the throat would collapse his larynx like it would a human. I was almost close enough to manage it.
