Page 10 of Slavic

Ithas to duck down to clear the door, and watching its massive tail push it through the entrance has stolen my voice.It’seasily eight feet tall, as it towers over all of us.Themultiple scales on its body are reflecting the colors around it, making for the perfect camouflage.

Oneof the girls tries to run out of the cell, and it grabs her around the waist, throwing her back into the crowd.Iactually yelp when its mouth opens, snarling down at her, its fangs dripping onto the floor below, sizzling it on contact.Itgrabs astick off the harness around its torso and it doesn’t take long to figure out you do not want it to touch you with that thing.Thesmell of burning flesh and the agonizing cries of the girls in front of me has me placingRowanbehind me as it motions for all of us to walk forward.

Ican tell it’s talking, but allI’mhearing is a series of long hisses.Whenthe girls in the front don’t start moving quickly, he … it grabs them, pushing them out the door to what appears to be others of his kind.

Thescreaming abruptly stops to nothing but sniffling after a few girls get burned with the fire stick.Sherrydoes her best to stay in the shadows andIfigure that’s how she’s managed to remain in here for this long.Butwhen she steps back into the corner, it slides past us, grabbing her roughly before pushing her out the doorway.

Rowanhas her head buried in my hair, where she is standing behind me.Ican feel her tears dripping onto my skin asIpull her flush up against me.Asmuch asIhate to,Ifollow along, not giving those things a reason to notice us.ThemomentIwalk past itIpullRowanover to the other side, away from him.

Atthis point,Rowanhasn’t said a word, simply cries quietly every timeImove her one way or another. ‘God, how did this happen?’Thisis a damn nightmareIcan’t seem to wake from.Wewere in a sealed cave, for heaven’s sake.Howdid something like this get in and were we the only ones taken?

Asmuch asIwant to,Ican’t fall apart.Rowanwas already in a fragile state, so if she flips out on me now,I’mnot sure what the consequences will be.Beingforced forward, we’re all lined up against the wall of a long, dark hallway.Severalof those snake creatures grab a few girls at a time, taking them throughan opening that automatically shuts back the moment they’re through.

Oneof the girls near the front must have noticed she was next because she turns, trying to make her way back through the line.Outof nowhere, one of them grabs her, andIwill say it has its hands full.Shefights and screams like a madwoman, but the moment she scratches it across the face, its mouth opens and long, sharp fangs glisten in the pale light for a split second before he bites her on the shoulder.Theagonizing scream the girl lets out will haunt my dreams forever.Ihave to turn away as tears flow down my face while she weakly continues to fight against the monster holding her, until collapsing completely in its arms.

Weall stand here stunned as it turns away from us, taking her limp form through the opening.Idon’t know if it killed her or what, but the room gets eerily quiet after that, only a few sniffles to be heard now.Rowanis shaking so hardI’mpractically holding her up.Themonster in the front grabs my arm, yanking me toward him, snarling something in my face and it takes everythingIhave not to puke since he smells like rotted meat and blood.

Hetries to separate me fromRowan, butIrefuse to let go of her no matter how hard he pulls against us.Quicklyit gives up, shoving both of us out together at the same time.

Myeyes seethem,but my mind can’t comprehend any of it.NothingI’veever experienced before could have prepared me for this.Withoutconscious thought, my legs move, propelling us backward.Whichis apparently the wrong thing to do because a sharp stab in my side stops me abruptly, a scream of pain escaping my lips asIlunge forward again, ensuringIdo not let go ofRowan.

Gazingaround,Isimply can’t believe that any of this is real.Whatappear to be females, or that’s whatIthink they are anyway, line a look-a-likeMissAmericarunway stage.Andthose damn snakes are pulling them along like they’re escorting them to thePromor something.

Istand here swaying back and forth, spots forming before my eyes asIfeel my mind crumbling under the reality of what is in front of us.Aliens, … we are surrounded byALIENS!

Chapter Seven

RUBY

Rowanstarts coughingas the smells in this room surround us, and my chest tightens in anxiety.Wecan’t afford for her to have an asthma attack now and there’s no telling what kind of triggers there are in this place.Wesure as shit don’t have her meds, and those damn snakes aren’t going to be sympathetic to her medical issues.

Thenoise of so many‘things’overwhelms my mind as we stand here looking around.Thereare creatures that could be in a sci-fi movie back home and others that belong in the realm of nightmares.Thenthere are a few that might even be described as beautiful until you see their faces.Severalof the ‘things’clamoring around the platform just look hungry.

Severalof the girls in front of us are crying, and it takes me a moment to realize what’s happening next.Thesnake guys are grabbing two at a time, no matter the species, and cutting their clothes off and parading them naked down the platform raised in the middle of this huge ass arena.

NowthatI’vegotten a closer look at it, my initial observation is confirmed.It’sa futuristic version of a beauty pageant stage.Oneof those that is shaped like a ‘T’ where the stage extends out into the crowd.Theshouting of the spectators almost drowns out my thoughts asIwatch the females reach the end of the stage.

Mostof the females are made to turn this way and that, like they’re a prized hog at the county fair, and a loud bell chimes for some.Theones the chime rings for are escorted forcibly down another hallway and away from the rest of us.Theirear-piercing screams are so loudIcan hear them over the crowd every time the door is opened.

Aquick glance at the back of the ‘stage’ shows another small huddle of females with a guard lingering next to them.

‘Iwonder why they were separated from the others?’

Anabrupt noise makes me jerk andIfeelRowanpulling away from me.She’strying to step back from me and the frenzied crowd of aliens in front of us.Grabbingonto her asking, “Whatare you doing?Don’tdo anything to make those scaly bastards notice you.”

“Ruby,Ican’t.”

“Idon’t think we’re being given a choice in the matter.I’mnot super happy about this either,Sis, but fuck.Doyou see a magical door that we can slip through somewhere?Isure as shit don’t and have you looked around at all?BecauseIbelieve wholeheartedly that we’re on the other side of the damn rainbow and it isn’t the pretty one, either.Thisone has led us straight to hell.”

“Ruby,I’mnot like you.Mystrength and will to live is long gone.”

“Thehell it is!You’remy sister and you are stronger than you’re giving yourself credit for.Ican’t do this alone,Sis.You’rethe only reasonI’mnot falling apart right now.Ineed youRowan, so please, in the middle of everything else, my mind can’t deal with the thought of losing you too.So, here’s the plan.Nomatter what they do to us, we do everything we can to stay together.Everytime they try to yank us apart, you reach for me, you hear me?Wecan’t let them separate us, or we’ll be lost to each other forever.Ican face this if you’re beside me, but not alone.”

“Iwon’t let go.”

Herwords no longer leave her lips when vicious, rough hands grab both of us.Iwas so focused on gettingRowan’sagreement,Ididn’t realize we were next in line.Thesnake shoves us so hard, that for once,Rowanis the one to catch me and not the other way around.Anothersnake grabs hold of us, trying to rip us apart from one another.Asnarl of frustration leaves its lips when it realizes that every time it manages to separate us, we grab hold of one another again, refusing to let go.

Puttingup more of a fight than any of the other females so far,RowanandIdo everything in our power to stay together, our nails tearing into one another’s skin in a desperate attempt to keep from being split up.Bothof us fighting against our captors with everything we have in us.

---