Page 4

Chapter 4

Elsie

I ’m busy spitting out blood and am thus distracted when I stumble over a protruding purple root—one that promptly stings me, causing me to yelp and jump aside. It’s a motion my captors interpret as yet another escape attempt, and they promptly reward me with a harsh blow across my face.

“I wasn’t trying to run. It was the root,” I protest when my ears stop ringing, but they don’t care.

Which isn’t surprising.

After all, I’m here to be a slave.

Sour bile rises in my throat at the thought, mixing with the copper tang of blood coating my tongue. While this particular stumble wasn’t an escape attempt, the previous three times I “tripped” were—and the third attempt resulted in another tooth being lost. One of my ribs may also be cracked. It’s been painful to breathe and talk since they kicked me.

Their leader, the one who spoke to me, hasn’t said much after informing me of my status, but I’m guessing they’re taking me somewhere to be sold. It’s the only logical conclusion, as my captors don’t have much use for me. At least that’s what it seems like because so far, all they’ve done is drag me through the jungle—the wonders of which I’m not even able to properly appreciate due to my head throbbing from their blows and my stomach churning either from the “chicken” I ate earlier or the whole “you slave” business.

What kind of advanced civilization that’s mastered interplanetary travel has freaking slaves?

Not that I’m seeing signs of any advanced civilization around me. So far, it’s been jungle and more jungle, with lots of scary—and ridiculously oversized—bugs. In addition to the giant caterpillar and the spider-ants, on this trek, we’ve encountered several millipedes the length of a small bus, dragonflies with bigger wingspans than eagles, and lots of mosquitoes the size of my fist. I understand neither the hugeness of these insects nor their similarities to the insects on Earth, but all the questions I’ve posed to my lizard captors so far have gone unanswered.

All I know is that I’m on Zerra, I’m a slave, and they’re taking me somewhere.

Not a promising beginning, that’s for sure.

The most puzzling thing about it all is that at least one of the lizard dudes speaks English. How? Where could he have learned it? Do Zerrans—or whatever they’re called—often steal people from Earth to be their slaves? If so, for what purpose? Free labor? Pest control?

They clearly have need for the latter, but a random dying girl is hardly likely to be a giant bug eradication expert.

I’m so lost in my thoughts and in my efforts not to step on any more stinging roots or scary bugs that I only look up from the ground when the wind picks up. That’s when I realize that we’ve exited the densest part of the jungle and are standing on a strip of black sand in front of a large body of water. A river? A lake? I’m not sure, but it’s so wide I can barely see the other bank across from us, and I can’t tell where it ends on either side of us.

The wind picks up further, pelting my skin with grains of black sand, and I squint to protect my eyes. It’s also much brighter out here without the canopy of the super-tall trees, and as I glance at the sky above, I see that it’s blue, like I’m used to on Earth. Which makes sense—I’m breathing the air here, so Zerra must have an Earth-like atmosphere.

Come to think of it, Zerra must also be roughly the size of Earth and possess a similar composition because I’m neither bouncing like an astronaut on the moon, nor do I feel like I weigh five hundred pounds, the way I would on a bigger or denser planet.

In general, this place is suspiciously Earth-like, even with all its unusual flora and fauna.

I have no explanation for that or for anything that’s happened to me thus far, so I don’t even try to speculate. Instead, I sneak a look at my captors.

They’re staring at the water, which is now frothing with waves from the rapidly intensifying wind. Before long, I realize what they’re looking at.

A boat. Or maybe a barge, given the low sides and rectangular shape. Whatever it is, it’s big and it’s swiftly coming toward us, driven by the waves.

On it are more lizard people, at least a few dozen of them. And also… humans?

I almost jump in excitement—that is, until I see their postures.

Hunched over and defeated, these humans look like what they most likely are.

Slaves.

My stomach twists, and I taste bile again.

I can’t believe this is happening. Any of it, but especially this part. How is it possible that I’ve traveled to a different planet, and it’s so fucking barbaric? I mean, you figure out a way to bring aliens to your planet, and instead of using the opportunity to learn about another civilization’s culture and technology, you decide to make them slaves? What kind of logic is that? True, Europeans sort of did the same thing in Africa and the Americas, but we’ve advanced past that. Why haven’t these lizard people?

Well, whatever. I’m not going to be like those humans on the barge. I’m going to escape and take my chances in the jungle, giant insects and all. I just need to figure out a distraction, some way to?—

A clawed hand grips my shoulder and propels me forward, toward the water. I stumble in surprise and cringe, anticipating another blow. It doesn’t come. Instead, as the barge docks, the hand on my shoulder forces me to my knees, and I hear my captors rattle off something to the new arrivals.

Probably listing my attributes and price.

Gritting my teeth, I look up at the newcomers. I don’t know if gender isn’t a thing among the lizard people or if all the creatures before me are male, but I see more linebacker builds and scale-covered groin bulges. There are at least a dozen new lizard dudes surrounding me now, and two of them start conversing with my captors in their guttural tongue. The way they’re throwing out short sentences back and forth reminds me of haggling at a flea market—which is probably exactly what’s going on.

Well, fuck them. I’m not going to wait here meekly while they haggle over me.

The hand on my shoulder pulls away as my captor gesticulates to make his point, and I spot an opening in the sea of lizard chests—an opening that leads toward the water. This is my chance. I know how to swim, so I drop to all fours and quickly crawl toward the opening, counting on them being too distracted with their conversation to notice my move.

It works—for about a minute. Just as I’m about to dive into the waves, I’m grabbed again, dragged away from the water, and thrown onto my back. The sand softens the worst of the fall, but my breath is still knocked out of me, and by the time I recover it, another kick to the ribs leaves me wheezing. I roll into a fetal position to protect myself, but a rough, scaly hand drags me upright by the back of my shirt.

Still wheezing, I swing at whoever’s got me. He retaliates with a blow to my face that nearly knocks me out. By the time my stunned brain gets back online, three newcomer lizard dudes are holding me in place while the fourth is shouting something at the leader of the group that brought me. He responds with a growled word accompanied by a dismissive wave, which makes all the others laugh uproariously.

Fuckers. This isn’t funny in the least.

My vision is still blurry from the blow, but as I dazedly turn my head and my gaze falls on the humans on the boat, I think I see pity on their faces.

Cowards. There’s at least a dozen of them. If they joined in the fight, I bet we could?—

A violent tug on the front of my shirt rips it in half, yanking me out of a bloodthirsty fantasy in which I and my fellow humans drown all these monsters before feeding them to the giant caterpillars. I yelp, struggling with all my might, but the clawed hands holding me are far too strong. Also, my captors are definitely male, or at least the one in front of me is, because the scaly skin covering the bulge at his groin splits, revealing a red, angry-looking organ that resembles a giant, screw-shaped snake tongue, with two pointy heads branching off from the middle of the foot-long trunk. Each head is dripping some kind of greenish-yellow liquid. Lizard pre-cum?

I throw up a little in my mouth at the thought—only to freeze in horror as the snake-tongue monstrosity moves toward me while its owner rips at my shorts.

He can’t possibly mean?—

Oh, fuck, he does mean it.

Disregarding the fact that we’re two completely different species, he’s apparently decided to rape me.

I scream bloody murder and kick backward, bucking in my captors’ grasp as hard as I can. My bare heel makes contact with something hard but slimy, and I nearly throw up again as I realize the lizards holding me have got their own groin snake tongues out. The one I kicked screeches something in a higher-pitched voice, and one of his buddies hits me in the face again.

And again.

And again.

By the time they let go of me, I slump to the ground, barely conscious, gagging on my own blood. I’m so dazed I can’t even put up a fight as rough hands yank off the torn remnants of my clothes, leaving me kneeling buck naked in the sand, surrounded by demonic aliens and their nightmarish cocks.

This is it, I realize dimly. This is how I die—not in a comfy hospice with my parents grieving in the corner. Not even in the operating room during some experimental procedure. Oh, no, fate would never be that kind to me.

My death will come at the clawed hands and snake-tongue dicks of inhuman rapists on a distant planet.

Shark mouths parted, they reach for me—and I let out one last, hopeless scream.

And then… they begin to scream.

They scream like they’re being torn apart.

No, not torn apart.

Dissolved.

Stunned, I watch as my lizard captors literally melt down, turning into goo starting from their scaly feet on up until only their terrified faces are left—and then those dissolve as well.

A second later, the goo absorbs into the sand, and it’s like they never existed.

Horrified, I look up, squinting against the bright sunlight and the gritty wind, and in the air, right by the water’s edge, I see a circle of purple lights.

Silhouetted against it is a man.

A human man.

Or… maybe more than human.

The fine hairs on my arms stand on end.

Even from a distance, I feel his power.

It’s a dark hum in the air, a visceral vibration that warns of danger.

It’s like standing next to a high-voltage wire, only with nothing to shield you from the lethal current inside.

He moves, coming toward me, and my breath stills in my lungs as I make out more details about him.

Tall and regal, he’s wearing a long-sleeved silver tunic over a pair of slim-fitting black pants tucked into black knee-high boots. His dark hair flows in shiny waves below his broad shoulders, and his skin is a golden shade of bronze that seems to glow in the sunlight. And his face… I swallow the blood and saliva pooling in my mouth as he stops in front of me.

I’ve never seen a face so starkly masculine—or so fiercely beautiful.

His features are a study in symmetry, all sharp angles and sloping planes. His high, broad forehead sits atop prominent dark eyebrows that frame thickly lashed eyes of an unusual silver-gray hue. His nose is boldly aquiline, and his high, wide cheekbones are sharply defined, as is his square jaw. Only his mouth, full and sensual, holds a hint of softness… and more than a hint of ruthlessness.

This being holds immense power and isn’t afraid to wield it.

I don’t know how I know that, but I’m convinced of it.

His silver eyes narrow as his gaze travels over me, and I flush, suddenly painfully aware of how pathetic I must look, kneeling in the sand all bloody and grimy. And naked.

Crap, I totally blanked on the fact that I’m naked.

Before I can do more than move my arm to cover my breasts—not that there’s much there to cover—he bends down and unceremoniously scoops me up, lifting me against his chest with insulting ease. I mean, I know all the chemo during my childhood impacted my growth, leaving me smaller than average, but he could’ve still grunted or something to acknowledge that I’m an adult woman, not a child.

Also, the touch of his strong hands on my bare skin makes me warm in all sorts of embarrassing places. Warm and uncomfortably wet.

Ugh. What is wrong with me? What kind of bizarre trauma response is this? A minute ago, I was almost raped, and here I am, fighting the urge to squirm and rub myself against my rescuer like a cat in heat. A rescuer who’s most likely not even human. That sensation of being next to a high-voltage wire is even stronger now that he’s holding me. The hum of his power envelops me, cocooning me in the invisible field of vibrations that feels both like a shield and a cage, same as his embrace.

I don’t understand it, any of it, but it freaks me out even more than my uncontrollable physical reaction to him.

Also, speaking of things that freak me out, he’s carrying me toward the circle of purple lights.

“Are you taking me back to Earth?” I ask, my heart leaping in sudden hope.

Because that would be great. I’d even trade my newly healed—though now pretty battered—body for a chance to spend a few more weeks on Earth and see my parents… whom I badly miss, I realize with a jolt.

In general, I’m suddenly so homesick I could cry.

At my words, the being meets my gaze and says something in a language I’ve never heard, one that makes me think of underground rivers and dark alien forests. His voice is deep, his tone soothing, but there’s an edge to it, like he’s suppressing some strong emotion.

Is he angry at me?

Hoping that’s not the case, I try again. “Earth?” I wave toward the portal we’re quickly approaching. “Please… can you just send me home?”

He ignores my query this time, his attention trained elsewhere. I follow his gaze to the barge on which the humans are now milling about, clearly unsure what to do with the lizard dudes liquified and all.

“Hey!” I yell at them. “Do any of you speak English?”

A blond woman who looks to be in her thirties yells back in a British accent, “Who are you? How do you know one of them ?” Her gaze jumps to my rescuer’s face for a millisecond before she blanches and looks away.

Okay, so he’s one of “them,” not us. Not that I thought otherwise. Despite his humanoid appearance, there’s something distinctly alien about the man holding me in his arms. Something aside from the power radiating from him like the UV rays from the sun. Also, judging by the blond woman’s demeanor, “they” are scary—not a surprise either, given the whole melting of lizard dudes into goo.

“I’m Elsie from Cleveland,” I shout back at her. “And I don’t know any of?—

The deep voice of my rescuer drowns out the rest of my words. This time, his tone is unmistakably sharp as he stops before the portal, facing the barge. All the humans freeze, staring at him, and he repeats whatever he’s just said, his voice even harsher.

The blonde, who seems to be the bravest of the bunch, bobs her head, even as she shrinks back under his glare.

He seems to be satisfied with that.

Glancing down at me, he says something in a softer tone, and before I can blink, he walks into the portal, holding me clasped against his chest like some kind of prize.