Page 17 of Einar

“Lookat meRowan.Ineed you to breathe, sis.That’sright. …No, don’t look around, just keep your eyes on me.Wedon’t have your meds, soIneed you to concentrate on making your lungs expand.Takea few deep breaths in and then out.Nowdo it with me.Watchmy chest and mimic it just like we did when we were kids.”

Focusingon slowing my breathing,Istart a simple breathing exercise.Inhalefor four seconds.Holdit for four seconds.Exhalefor four seconds.

Wash.Rinse.Repeat.

Justabout the timeI’vegotten my airways opened back up a little, the women around us start waking up.Mostof them are crying, or in some cases wailing, realizing they’re waking up somewhere they didn’t go to sleep in.I’mnot excited about being … wherever the fuck it is that we are but thankGodI’mnot by myself.Iknow that makes me a terrible person, butI’mgladRubyis with me.There’sno wayIwould survive without her here to keep me calm.

Ablood-curdling scream pierces the surrounding air, jerking our attention in the screamer’s direction.Womenare darting all around the room, shrieking, crying and running away from something.Throughall this commotion,RubyandIkeep a death grip on one another, so we aren’t separated in the melee.

Thesound of a thud next to me causes me to glance over, only to see a woman lying there with her eyes closed.Squinting,Ilook closer and see her chest moving.

She’sjust passed out.

AwomanIdon’t know grabsRubyby the arm and pulls us toward the back of the room.Herwords are so low, they’re almost inaudible over the chaos all around us. “Comewith me, they always grab the ones closest to the cage door.”

They?WhoareTHEY?

PeeringaroundRuby, whatIsee makes me freeze andIsuck in a breath to let loose a scream of my own … because it wasn’t a nightmare after all.Rubymust have felt me tense up because her hand slaps across my mouth beforeIcan release any sound at all.

“Don’tmake a sound.”

Herwords are just as low as the other woman’s, andInod sharply, letting her knowIunderstand.

“Ruby?”

“Yeah, sis?”

“Areyou seeing whatIam?”

“Ithink so.”

“Thereis no such thing!”

Mywhimpered words are lost in the din of screaming women.Thecolossal creature is … leering at us.Seeminglyenjoying the havoc its appearance is wreaking on the room full of women.Itsface is creased in a facsimile of a smile and the hisses coming out of it almost seem like … laughter.

Thatsick fuck.It’senjoying this.JustlikeRobertenjoyed hurting me.

Thiscreature relishes inflicting terror on those smaller and weaker than it.Terrorfills me asIrealizeI’vegone from the frying pan and landed in the fire.Iescaped one monster, only to be taken by something far worse.

Duckingits head and torso, theNagaenters the room virtually silently, his serpent tail allowing him to move with stealth.Observingit from across the room,Iremember the flashesIsaw when they grabbed us.Theseare definitely not the nagas of human folk lore or any sci-fi romance book on earth.Thetorso and head do not resemble a man in any shape, form, or fashion.Itsface is flat without any protruding features such as a nose and the eyes are set back into the skull with eyebrow ridges protruding out from the face.Thisthing is basically a semi-upright snake with arms.Nothingsexy about this bastard at all.

Jeez.Thisthing has to be pushing eight to nine feet tall and dwarfs every single woman here.Ican see the light playing off its scales, reflecting the same colors of the room around it, making it difficult to keep track of.Thisspecies can camouflage itself as well, creating a predator to be reckoned with.

Onewoman tries to dart past the bulk of its body and out of the cell, only to be violently stopped with a massive hand around her waist.She’sthenthrownback into the cell.IhearRubywhimper when a hood like a king cobra snaps out around this thing’s head and neck, as it snarls down at her, gigantic fangs dripping liquid that can be nothing else but venom on to the floor.

Thefact that the floor is sizzling with each drop is horrifying.

Reachingup, it snatches a stick looking thing off a harness across its chest and jabs it at several women, including the failed escapee.Thestench of burned skin and the screams of agony from the women in front of us makesRubypush me behind her.

Noteto self.

Donot let the stick thingie touch you.

I’mnot sure what’s happening sinceRubyshoved me behind her and won’t let me look, butIdo notice when the screaming abruptly stops.Theonly thingIcan hear now are a few muffled whimpers here and there.Thelady that grabbedRubyis trying to tuck herself into the shadows, but the naga grabs her before shoving her violently toward the front of the cage and out the door.

Buryingmy face inRuby’shair,Itry to ignore what’s happening around me as tears leak from my eyes and roll down my face, wetting the skin on her neck as they fall.Shepulls me tighter against her and we start moving.Idon’t know where we’re going andIdon’t care.Aslong asIhave my sister,IknowI’llbe okay … well, mostly okay.

Well, okayfor me.

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