Page 14 of Sold to the Alien Smugglers

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“Wake up. C’mon,wake up!”

The whispered hiss rouses me.

My head is pounding like a sledgehammer. It’s fucking killing me. I blink, my eyes barely adjusting to the gloom.

Where the fuck am I?

Chains rattle. I look up, and see my hands suspended high above my head. Glancing down, I see my feet are sloshing in water, right up past the ankles.

In panic, I yank at whatever’s restraining my wrists – but I get nowhere. My wrists are bound high above me, leaving me dangling like a side of beef in a butcher’s shop.

I look around, panic swelling inside my chest.What is this place?

The wall behind me is slick and slimy with moss and mold. A drip of liquid splashes down against my nose and I jerk my head back in surprise – a move I instantly regret, because my aching head screams in protest and the world around me spins dizzily.

I struggle to hang onto consciousness, kicking out with my feet and splashing in the warm water. Somehow, I keep it together – hanging limply by my arms as my vision coalesces.

Okay, so I’m shackled to these wet, slimy walls.

I gasp for oxygen – and humid, fetid air fills my lungs. It’s swampy and foul.

I flinch, and hear the sound of rattling chains above me. I can barely see in the gloom, but I canfeelthe metal cuffs around my wrists, dangling me from a hook.

I turn my head to the right, trying to get my bearings – but I move too quickly, and stars fill my vision once again.

With my head pounding, I barely hang onto consciousness – forcing myself to stay awake by taking deep breaths of this foul-tasting air.

My vision begins to clear again. I keep the movements of my head slow and deliberate.

In the murky darkness of the room, I can finally see – and my first sight of Tessa, hanging from her wrists right alongside me. She’s staring at me with horror.

“I-I’m okay,” I stammer, half-closing my eyes. It’s only then I realize the reason her light brown eyes are wide with horror might have more to do with our circumstances than whether or not I’d been injured.

I look around – barely. The room is filled with mist; hanging in the fetid air like a cloud.

Shit.

I know what that means.

Toads.

We’re on a fuckingToadmothership!

I’ve seen them before, when Ling and I would liberate slaves from the slimy fingers of those wretched creatures. Toad motherships are fearsome vessels – and just the kind of ship you’d find on the borders of Untamed Space. Motherships frequent the neutral space stations in this sector, constantly searching for slaves. Unlike within the Aurelian Empire, there’s full acceptance of slavery in the loosely-organized Toad Confederacy, and many of the disgusting creatures take advantage.

After all – it’s the only way they’ll ever get a human female. Aurelians have women flocking to their harems because they offer them luxury, protection, and an overpowered libido attached to creatures that might as well be the very epitome of masculine perfection.

Toads, on the other hand, are physically repulsive, cruel and greedy. No human woman would every willingly endure their slimy touch – but thanks to slavery, an unknown number of thousands are forced to.

I fall limp, hanging despondently from the chains. A buzzing fills the room, and I lift my eyes to watch a big, fat mosquito – the size of an apple, no less – flying toward me.

I grimace, and shake the disgusting bug off me the moment it sets down. I can’t even imagine the itching and pain that would result of letting a creature like that suck your blood.

But the moment the mosquito flies off, my ears attune to the sound of more buzzing in the distance – plus splashes, grunts, and the chirp of some kind of cicada-like insect.

We’re on a Toad mothership – in the depths of space – but these fetid living quarters are more like the reptile house in a zoo. The ankle-deep water and moss-covered walls are crawling with bugs, insects, and Gods-know-what else.

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