1
Nothing was going right today. Ruby felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Great. Not only was her favorite deli closed, on a Monday no less, but that also meant that the burger joint was her only option on this street for a quick lunch. After hitting thirty last year she had vowed to eat healthier and the last time she checked a grease bomb at noon mixed with a stressful job she hated wasn’t a good combination for the pulmonary system. But she was out of options and out of minutes. The pile of work sitting on her desk was calling and she had to be back in her chair in fifteen minutes or else her time would get docked and she would lose precious money she couldn’t survive without. Her phone vibrated again in quick succession. Now she was being summoned back early by her boss. Wonderful, just wonderful.
Normally, Ruby was a patient person. People huffing and puffing like their business was so much more important than others were her absolute pet peeve. Unfortunately, she understood them all too well today. The line was still outside the door, and her feet shuffled a few inches forward every couple of minutes. At this rate she would be having dinner instead of lunch. She let out a frustrated sigh.
“You’ll be through the door in no time, Miss,” a man’s voice said from behind her.
She looked back with a guilty smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just worried about getting back to work on time. My boss is a real stickler. He hates tardiness.”
The man wore a wide brim hat low on his head, and she couldn’t really even see his face. But she could definitely tell he had some kind of mustache. He chuckled underneath the rim, and his smile sent an odd chill down her spine. “Still, Miss, it’s always good to be patient. You’re standing here wishing your very life away.”
Ruby raised an eyebrow at him and opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. She faced the front and realized she was finally to the doorway. The smell of grease and fries hit her. She could hear the bustle of activity inside, and couldn’t wait to get away from this guy behind her. With only a few words he’d given her the creeps.
The line moved forward, and finally she was going to cross the threshold into the store. What did that guy know anyway? If there was ever anyone who knew just how precious life was, and how quickly it could change, it was Ruby. Especially after what happened to her parents.
“Don’t worry, Miss,” the stranger’s voice broke through her thoughts. “You’re first in line now.”
She felt a shove on her back, and tripped across the metal step into the restaurant. Oddly it seemed to have knocked the air from her lungs and she leaned against the brick wall to steady herself.
“Hey! Watch it, pal!” Ruby whirled around to give this guy a piece of her mind, but he wasn’t there. In fact, she was staring at a dirty, grimy wall. Boy this place had really gone down hill since her last visit. It also smelled disgusting. Like someone had vomited all over the floor and the stench was filling up the entire room.
A quick glance around her made one thing abundantly clear. She was not in a restaurant. She was in a small room with a bunch of women who looked like they could kill her with a flick of their wrist. And that smell of vomit? Yeah, there was a girl doing just that on the floor next to her.
The woman nearest to her cast a disgusted glance. “Earth is here. Finally. Better go get your weapon, Precious.”
“Where am I? What’s going on? How did I get in here?” Ruby asked, but the woman just rolled her eyes and walked away. It was then that Ruby noticed the glistening gun in the other woman’s hand. A definitely alien kind of gun.
Oh no… this wasn’t happening. She couldn’t have been. It was impossible, what with the treaty and all.
“Yeah,” another woman’s voice broke into her thoughts. She was tall and muscular, with tattoos peppering her arm in all sorts of symbols and shapes. “You’ve been abducted. Kiss your life goodbye, Earth. You’re the last to arrive, so you’re stuck with this.” She handed her a dagger and Ruby took the weapon. Her hand sagged under the weight of it.
The woman started to walk away, but Ruby put a hand on her back. “This is a mistake! I’m from Earth! I can’t possibly be abducted! It’s against the Da’Nesh Treaty.”
When the woman turned around her eyes were a blazing green that made Ruby shiver and drop her hand. “Your mistake is daring to touch me, Human.” She said the word as if the taste of saying it disgraced her. “The only reason I am not killing you is because you will be dead in a few minutes anyway.”
Ruby’s head was spinning. Abducted? It was impossible. The treaty had been signed years ago. The aliens had come to Earth, like everyone knew they eventually would, but they didn’t blow up national landmarks or decimate cities. They were cordial and willing to share their technology. Their practices were different from those of Earth, but a treaty was signed. Everything was peaceful between the Da’Nesh and humans.
Or maybe that’s what they wanted you to think, Ruby thought grimly. She didn’t know what to think anymore. She surveyed the room again. The faces of these women were all different, but they all had one thing in common: something in their DNA. At least, that is what the stories spoke about anyway.
Ruby jumped when she felt a hand on the hem of her pants. It was the young girl who had gotten sick. She had to be around eighteen and her eyes were so full of fear Ruby desperately wished she could say something to soothe her.
“Is it true? Are we all going to die?” The girl asked, tears streaming down her face.
Ruby felt a lump in her throat. She wanted to tell the girl no, that they would be all right. But that would be a lie. Because, if the Pre-Treaty stories were true, no one in this room would make it out alive. This was how the Da’Nesh executed criminals they couldn’t catch. It was half sport and half death sentence. Can’t find the man you want dead? Well, just kill his soul mate and it’s a two-for-one special!
The green-eyed woman walked over to them, her chin raising in the air just a notch. She was carrying a sword. Less deadly than a gun, more effective than a dagger. “We will all die this day, young one. But do not worry,” Her eyes narrowed into slits and she glared at Ruby. “Earth always goes first. Earth always dies first.”
Ruby felt a sinking feeling in her heart, and she fought back silly tears that would do nothing but embarrass her. With a snap of a finger she’d been taken across the universe to die at the hands of liars.
So, the legends were true. She would be expected to take this measly dagger into an arena, surrounded by Da’Nesh royalty watching the show, and fight a beast to the death.
All for a man she didn’t know. And who, by all mathematical and logical probability, was not her soul match at all. A fact that also made her want to break down in sobs just like the girl on the floor. It seemed as if fate wanted to remind her over and over again about the same thing.
No matter what she did, or how hard she tried, she would always be alone.