Page 12 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)
L ocked in a room—again. Meg scowled as she paced around the dusty living quarters. She should have known that she wasn’t going to like it when he said that he knew where to put her, but for some reason she had believed that, at some point as they traveled from the ship to the lab, they were starting to become a team. Perhaps it was na?ve, but she hadn’t anticipated being locked away in a room like an annoying pet.
She wasn’t even sure how exactly he had locked it since there was no power to engage the locks and the door had slid open easily enough when they entered. It was only when Kaylar had handed her a handful of food bars and exited without her with a gruff order to “stay here,” that Meg had been alerted to what he intended. Even then, she had watched him leave in bemusement. She still hadn’t believed that he could enforce it—not without power—and so she had followed him with an impatient scowl, determined to follow him right back out again. The alien had given her one last, sharp look as the door was pulled shut between them and a moment later she heard the clanging, rotating sound that preceded the click of a lock sliding firmly into place.
And so there she was… practically a prisoner once again.
She huffed in annoyance as she gave her surroundings another scathing look and reluctantly grimaced. It would help if the room he stuck in her had the grace to look at least a little miserable to suit her mood. Despite all of its dust, it was hardly what she would consider uninviting. Her eyes slid over a bed with a thick mattress, the bedding still down as if to welcome its previous resident. Meg shifted on her feet as she attempted to ignore its seductive call. She absolutely didn’t want to burrow in what had to be the plushest bed she’d ever seen. She wanted to be out there helping Kaylar. Just knowing that there was some sort of strange creature running around the island destroyed whatever restful feelings she might have otherwise gotten from the surprisingly lush environment. It could have been paradise but all she wanted to do was leave as quickly as possible before that thing came after her again.
“He did say this place was safe,” she mumbled aloud as she gave another doubtful gaze around. “There are no windows that anything can come in through. Just me and four solid walls.”
It was a bit claustrophobic not having even a small window, but after years in the Reaper camp where she had little more than a beaten-up canvas tent to provide her shelter, or thin walls of the tiny rooms given to her and the other girls to dwell in within The City, this was the most secure she’d ever felt.
Perhaps she would have even felt grateful for a safe, secure place to rest except that she wasn’t asked. She was put in there like someone might put a delicate doll on a shelf—to be forgotten until it was convenient. Meg certainly didn’t want to be kept in the room with nothing to occupy her time. She wanted to help and be productive so they could get on their way heading to her new life. She was so tired of being viewed as useless for any kind of meaningful work outside of a few hours of simple drudgery and spreading her legs.
And why? Because she asked for a little direction? As the only girl and the youngest in her in her family, perhaps her family did shelter her a bit before death eventually took all of them from her, but she was intelligent and capable if anyone ever gave her a chance to show it. And then, after the Red Reapers came, she’d been too scared to even try to be anything other than what Dale specifically wanted her to be.
She sighed and scrubbed her face with both hands. The only thing that was missing from this scenario was if there had been pitying, knowing looks directed at her from other women witnessing her humiliation. And invariably someone would say, “It’s okay, Meg, we’ve got a handle on this. Why don’t you find something that would put your strengths to better use,” just before Kaylar locked the door just so that she wouldn’t feel slighted.
Her jaw tightened. Patronizing bullshit was what it was, and that was exactly what this felt like even if he didn’t say the words.
They weren’t a team. She was merely someone he was transporting. An inconvenience at best, a liability at worst. One that he had to keep safe.
But being kept safe and locked away wasn’t going to help her survive out there any more than it would have helped her survive on Earth. All it did was make her dependent and she was sick to death of being dependent on someone else to make her feel safe for a price. If she wanted that she could have stayed in The City. There had been more than one man who had offered. In any case, it didn’t make any sense not to start learning things now when she would need to have some basics down when she caught up to Terri so that she wasn’t a burden wherever she ended up. That meant talking sense into Kaylar and making him let her help. Which couldn’t happen when she was stuck in there.
With an annoyed huff, she jiggled the handle again—just to make certain that it was still truly locked—before turning to the bed with her hands on her hips.
“Bastard,” she grumbled.
She drummed the fingers of one hand on her hip as she allowed her gaze to rove around the room, looking for something with some heft that she could beat against the door until the stubborn alien came to investigate. It didn’t take her longer than a few minutes to end her search with a frustrated glower. The room was so utilitarian that, aside from the bed and a chest of drawers, it was practically barren. There was definitely nothing she could use… not even an old lamp that seemed to litter nearly every house in Phoenix to the point of being an obstacle when looking for supplies.
“The one time I could really use a good heavy lamp laying around waiting for me to break my toe on it, there isn’t one in sight. Fucking figures.”
Meg sank onto the bed with a disgusted sigh, unable to help marveling at the luxurious give of the mattress as it seemed to magically mold around her. The unparalleled comfort was seductive and just that easily, she was sliding further onto the bed. How weak to give in so easily. She would put up a better fight once she got some sleep. Although she had slept on the alien’s ship, it had been so long since she had a decent sleep before that that she could still feel the effects of exhaustion seeping through her despite her best intentions. A nap, and then she would figure it out once she was better charged. It was a good plan.