Page 45 of Ruby
“He kept you as prey without even touching you, didn’t he? Stupid savage not even making use of a whore.”
“The savage here is you. Modifying the bodies of others without consent,”
“Others? You think you are equal to us? For such a race that is barely able to speak and walk, you must consider yourselves intelligent.”
He suddenly moves forward and a strangled scream leaves my throat, barely piercing the air. A disgusting sound ripples from his throat, resembling a laugh. This creature… is just playing with me.
“Your mouth and your cunt are all you have. You have no power or wisdom. We might as well make the best of crashing here. I like to savor the hunt. So, run, human.”
My fists clench so tightly, I almost draw blood. Not only does he want me to abandon Szhe’ka, he wants me to behave like prey. Prey worth hunting. That’s all I am to this creature.
“I’m not leaving.”
“I’m not asking,” he gurgles, raising the gun to Szhe’ka’s head and I move to get in the way. Szhe’ka’s eyes flutter open in this moment and he struggles to look at me. I hold on to him, taking my stance.
“I’m not going to run away,” I tell him, even as my heart hammers and my mind urges me to flee. “If you want to shoot him, you will have to shoot me.”
The alien eyes me up and down, a glint that I definitely recognize in his eyes.
“There are other ways to subdue you and this bird without killing you. You will come with me or I will kill him.”
My whole body runs cold, a single shiver climbing my spine. I can tell what he wants. He’s going to take it whether I prefer itor not. He’s going to break me to take me back. I cannot let that happen.
There’s a moment of silence that passes by us. He definitely has the advantage over me and I can tell he’s waiting for Szhe’ka to die before he takes his chance to reach for me. I’ll be right back on that ship.
Then it hits me.
I don’t know why I didn’t recognize him earlier, but he was the same one on the ship screaming at Ree that he would leave me to die while she was trying to comfort me. Seeing the disgusting alien makes the memory of waking up in that pod flash by, this time more accurately.
Ree was only trying to keep me alive, with these disgusting things yelling at her on one end and my disheveled, disorienting screams on the other. Slapping me and throwing me in the chamber was only to save my life.
She risked her life and freedom. She sent Szhe’ka to make sure I lived. I owe her. I think back to the other women I saw.
We probably all owe her.
“How many?” I ask, surprising myself. “How many have you captured and enslaved?”
“Choosing to talk instead of following orders? How very human.”
“I may be valuable but I’m not irreplaceable. You had other humans.”
“You’ll make us a lot of money. Your whole race is ripe for the taking.”
My race? These bastards are aiming for the whole planet. We don’t have the technology to compete. Who knows how long they’ve been abducting people without us being able to definitely prove its aliens. Even in the event I escape, there’s a chance there’ll be nothing to return to.
“If it were that easy, you would’ve invaded us ages ago. You either don’t have the resources and so, you resort to picking us up one by one, or there’s something else stopping you.”
He makes a wet sound that turns my stomach. “Humans are not hard to hunt, and they make fun prey when you catch them. Do you think there is someone who can save you?”
Of course I’m hoping for someone to save me. But I know there isn’t. Szhe’ka is all I have.
I want to spit in his face but I’m pretty sure that won’t help anything; it would probably just make him angrier and who knows what that would push this hateful thing to do?
Szhe’ka feels my movement because he tweets incoherently in response, and I can’t do anything but pat him without looking.
“He put up a fight, but your little game is over. He knows he’s going to die. There is no need to deceive him. You could have justcome with me in silence but you just had to be a human,” he spits out threateningly, spraying spittle all around his ugly jowls.
Szhe’ka’s head starts to roll away from the tree he’s resting against, and I know that he is losing consciousness. I sink deeper into myself in angry tears and do my best to push back against him to keep him upright, barely managing to keep his huge bulk pressed against the tree.
