ONE
Beks, she thought to herself, you’ve really stepped in it this time.
That was the only coherent thought she had as she stared at the grimy, slick walls of her cage. She didn’t know how long she’d been there exactly. Perhaps a couple days, perhaps a couple weeks. Time was nothing when one was in a perpetual state of shock. She’d been numb for a while, but now Beks was beginning to return to her old self.
Well, as close to her old self as possible, considering she’d been captured by fucking aliens. Aliens that ran a human trafficking scheme, a scheme she was apparently very involved in.
There were other women in the small room with her, each in individual cages the size of large dog crates. Most were quiet. Some were sobbing. Even less whispered to each other through the steel bars. They had to be quiet. If they weren’t, the aliens—with their scaled, rustling skin, and long, lizard-like tails—would make sure to silence them all.
“When do you think the next fight is scheduled for?” one voice asked. The woman sounded calm, matter-of-fact. Even though Beks couldn’t see much in the dark room, she knew it was the blonde speaking.
The fights. Beks remembered them. How could she forget, even if she’d wished they’d been some horrible nightmare? They were hosted by the aliens that had captured them. Beks had already attended one. She remembered being shuffled and chained to the others, paraded in a single line into a blazing hot arena that was packed to the gills with other species of aliens. One after another, all kinds of species were pitted against each other, fighting to the death, much to the morbid delight of the crowds. And afterwards? The victor could take his choice of the women.
Only five fights had been held the day Beks had been in the arena. And luckily, she hadn’t been one of the one’s picked. She felt bad for her relief because she couldn’t even imagine what had happened to the others.
Another voice responded to the blonde’s question, although this woman’s tone seemed more brittle. “Every three days. I’ve been tracking it.”
“Has anyone ever escaped?”
The question had been her own. Beks was so surprised by her own voice, a husky shell of what it usually was, but then her chin lifted in the dark, owning her question.
There was a pause and then the blonde said, “No. Some have tried though.”
Beks didn’t have a chance to reply because the door to their windowless room opened and the overhead lights blared on. Hisses of surprise sounded from the women, Beks included, and she shielded her eyes against the sudden assault. It shamed her how she scuttled back towards the darkened, sullied corner of her cage, like an animal.
Anger grew in her belly. It felt good.
The voices of their captors made her flesh crawl. Their language didn’t sound like words to her, more like rasps and guttural grunts, but she’d heard at least one of them speak a mottled version of English.
Into each cage, an alien threw in scraps of food and it landed with a nauseating splat on the dirtied floor. Beks knew that it tasted rancid and bitter from experience, but if they didn’t eat it, they would starve.
Which might be the better option, she thought, narrowing her eyes on her captor, feeling restlessness rise in her chest, which should have warned her about what she would do next.
It had taken so little time for Beks to become a stranger to herself. She’d always prided herself on being fearless, on not being crippled or paralyzed by rejection or nerves or the gut-churning fright of the unknown. And now? She was cowering in a corner, completely naked, dirty, and smelling like her own shit. And she was doing nothing about it. She’d let them defeat her.
When she felt a thread of indignation, so familiar to her old self, she grasped onto it with desperation, holding onto it in fear that it would flee. And that was what possessed her to do what she did next.
Scrambling to the slop that had just landed in her cage, she picked it up, ignoring the slimy feel of it. She wrenched her arm back and threw it at the passing alien with all that was left of her strength. It landed with a satisfying, disgusting sound, right on the alien’s chest, and then slid to the floor with a plop.
Better to die as herself than as a product of what these aliens had made. A rush of smug pride made her dizzy.
There was complete silence before her cage was unlatched, the door flung open so hard that it bashed into the wall, denting it. The alien grabbed her roughly, rasping at her in his crawling language, and hit her across the face so hard that she saw stars. Her vision blurred. Pain blinded her for a brief moment, but she didn’t need to see to feel the alien slam her into the ground onto her hands and knees.
Panic made her cry out when she felt the alien wrench her thighs open, his hands leaving her body for a brief moment, no doubt pushing aside the armor-like clothing he wore.
A loud bang rattled the entire room. The alien standing guard at the entrance shifted, saying something in his native tongue to the alien that hovered behind her with disgusting intent. His gruff reply made her shiver in repulsion and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to struggle away from him, but he held her down with ease, still trying to free his cock. She kicked her legs and screamed, clawing the floor to try to escape his grasp, but he was too strong.
Another loud bang came and this one made the ground beneath Beks shake. The alien behind her shouted at the one by the door and Beks turned her head to see him leave his post. A moment later, a bright, blinding flash of light illuminated the entire room and a pained scream echoed around the endless corridor just outside the door.
The guard suddenly reappeared, but he wasn’t alone. For a second, Beks couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The alien had a hand sunk into his chest. And that hand belonged to a hulking, massive male, with curling black horns and scaled skin that shifted with the light.
The new alien tossed his prey aside and the lizard-like alien slumped over, dead, with a giant hole in his chest, dark blood streaming from the cavity. The horned alien turned and stepped into the room, shouting something over his shoulder into the dark hallway in a strange, lilting language.
Beks had no time to react to the intruder because the moment he saw her frozen captor kneeling behind her, he roared in fury and rushed the both of them. Beks had just enough time to cover her head, thinking he would kill her, but instead she heard a hissing sound, a grappling of flesh on flesh, and a sickening snap. She heard the rest of the women gasp or cry out in fear and then there was silence.
Slowly, she lowered her arms so she could peek into the room, her breaths coming out in fast pants, heart thundering in her chest.
The horned alien was looming above her, chest heaving, skin splattered with green blood. His massive body blocked out the light from above, but she could clearly make out his vivid blue eyes and the deep scar that ran down his cheek. And perhaps Beks was just imagining it, but there was an expression of disbelief on his face, coupled with a strange intensity that made her skin prickle with awareness. Awareness of what…she didn’t know.
Perhaps he’s never seen a human before, she thought, dazed.
The alien crouched down next to her, the action quick and smooth, and she curled into a ball, trying to shield her nakedness, her vulnerability. But she never turned her eyes away. She didn’t want him to see her fear, especially when she spotted the two aliens he’d just killed with his bare hands. The one that had attempted to rape her lay in a lifeless slump on the floor, his neck bent at an odd angle.
Just then, the room filled with aliens that looked just like the one next to her, huge, hulking beasts with golden bands around their biceps and long, dark hair that ran down their backs. The women cowered away as the aliens attempted to open the cages, finally just ripping the hinges straight off, the barred gates clattering to the floor.
“Female,” the scarred alien rasped. Beks’ eyes flickered to him in surprise. His English was accented, but clear. “You do not need to fear me.”
When he reached out towards her, Beks scrambled back, her exposed breasts bobbing. She huddled with her back against her cage and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to shield her nudity from this strange alien.
His expression didn’t change. There was a calm patience about him, so unlike the brutal and violent episode she’d just been witness to. Once again, her eyes dropped to the lizard alien. This scarred alien could kill her with even more ease.
He followed her gaze, just as one of his men called out in his language.
“Tev,” the scarred one called back, his eyes returning to hers and holding. “Brixav ra.”
Beks watched in alarm as the aliens that had just filed into the room began taking the women out, one-by-one. Some followed in a daze, some had to be slung over their huge shoulders, trying to fight. Beks was surprised that there were only six women that had been crammed in the small room with her. She thought there would be many more.
“We must leave, female,” the scarred alien said and her attention returned to him. “Now.”
“How do you know English?” she asked, numbly, trying to get her brain working.
“Language implant. We all have one,” was his simple reply. He looked towards the door once more, realizing they were the last occupants in the room. “Female…”
Beks didn’t know what the hell was going on and the best she could manage, given her shock, was, “I just want to go home.”
The alien’s jaw set and he reached for her again. Beks cried out in surprise when he easily nabbed her and swung her in his arms until she was cradled against his chest like a baby. She was torn between wanting to claw at him to escape or holding onto his neck so she wouldn’t fall.
His body was warm and hard. Strong. His strength was undeniable. She felt it in the muscled cords of his arms as they flexed around her and the vibration from his long strides hitting the steel, cold floor. Whether it was exhaustion or a strange pull she felt to his quiet, consuming strength, Beks finally gave up and relaxed into his arms. If he could hold her this tenderly, at least she would be treated better than her captors had treated her, she figured. Not a whole lot could be worse than a cage. Not to Beks, at least.
“You will be safe with me. I will protect you,” the scarred alien rasped down to her. “I promise you this.”