Page 19 of Einar

Iowe her and refuse to fail her.

Suddenly,Ifeel a hand in my hair as one of theNagaswraps his meaty fist in my long tresses.Thepowerful pull arches my body away fromRuby, yetIcontinue my attempt to reach my sister.Itsnarls down into my face only to pause as its eyes scan my visage, seemingly noticing my bruises for the first time.Itgrunts something out in its language to the one holdingRuby, and they start hissing back and forth.

Itdoesn’t take a genius to realize that they’re not happy about the condition my face is in.TheNagaholdingRubylooks out at the crowd that’s gotten noticeably louder during the time we’ve been fighting the sneaky snakes holding us captive.Theone holdingRubygrowls something out and yanks her forward.Terrorfills me at the thought of being separated from the only personIlove, soIlunge toward her, catching theNagaholding me by surprise asImanage to tightly grab hold of one ofRuby’shands.

Theclanging of a loud bell jerks our attention back to the stage and before either of us knows it, theNagason either side of us rip us apart from one another.Long, deadly sharp knives appear in both of their hands as they begin cutting the clothes from our backs.Logically,Iknew this was coming, but nothing can really prepare you for something like this.Rubyis fighting back with everything she’s got, butI’mtoo scared to flail around for fear that one of those pieces of lethal looking metal will slip and cut me deeper than the woundRubyhas on her side.

Secondslater, our clothes are laying in tattered heaps on the ground, showing how skilled our captors are in this onerous task.Astinging sensation around my legs makes me look down andIsee little trickles of blood running down my legs where the giant snake cut me on purpose.Glancingup at it,Ican see the smirk on its face as it glares back at me.

Ruby’shead turns my way, andIinstinctively curl into myself, bending forward while raising my hands up to cover as much of my torso asIcan.Shestill doesn’t know about thejewelry.Outof the corner of my eye,IseeRubycrane her neck to look closer.Iknow she’s trying to see ifI’mhurt any worse, butIcan’t stand the shame of whatIallowed to happen to me to be seen.

Notyet.

Oneof theNagasgrabsRubyand pushes her forward.Herhand streaks out, grabbing onto my forearm as she pulls me on along behind her.Shestumbles a little as we make our way out onto the catwalk.Nowthat we are up here, we cannot see anyone or anything out in the audience.Lightsembedded into the floor of the stage reflect back up at us, highlighting our bodies and obscuring the crowd from us.It’snot like that matters all that much.

Icanfeelthem staring.

Theknowledge rips a whimper from me, which causesRuby’shead to whip around to check on me.Isee her eyes flare in horror as she sees exactly whatI’vebeen hiding from her.Iknow what she’s looking at.Theornate, delicate chain that connects two nipple piercings extends down to my navel piercing and goes even lower to the hood piecing at the top of my vagina.Myeyes remain fixed on the floor in front of us, avoiding her eyes the bestIcan.

Rubygrips my hand, squeezing it in reassurance.She’strying to provide me with what little comfort she can, considering the circumstances in which we currently find ourselves.

Wemay not have much … but at least we have each other… for now.

Thenasty snake holdingRubyjerks her to a stop and tilts her head back.Ican see where its sharp claws are digging into her face.Aflash of movement catches me by surprise.Thereis a little flying orb floating all around us.Itfloats up and downRuby’sbody, pausing occasionally, andIcan see a tiny flash every so often.

It’staking pictures of her!

Iwatch as the flying object takes a photo of the mole on her cheek, which makes her flinch, causing theNagaholding her to grip her face tighter in reaction.Redblood beads in every single spot his claws touch her, and my grip on her hand tightens in solidarity.Refocusingon the robot photographer,Iwatch as it hovers in front of the tattoo on her hip, and the scar on her knee.

Thething circlesRubyseveral times before a red light goes off and it makes several beeping sounds.It’sinspection ofRubydone, the orb floats over to me and takes twice as long to inspect me as it does my sister.Flashafter flash hits me as the sphere takes more and more photos.Itdidn’t take me long to figure out what theUFOwas doing; it’s categorizing our flaws or imperfections.

Noone wants to buy damaged goods after all.

Iknow what my naked body looks like.Onceyou get past the body jewelry and the fresh bruises … my body is liberally covered in scars.Minutespass as theUFOcircles me over and over.

Finally, the light flashes red and it makes the same beeping sound for me as it did forRuby.Withoutwarning, our captors haul us back up the stage and toss us along the back wall with the small group of women left there.Igroan at the impact my fragile body makes on the unforgiving floor.

Hearingmy groan,Rubygrabs me and pulls me as far away from everyone as she possibly can.Myteeth are chattering, andIknowI’mnot far from going into shock.Herhand reaches out and grabs the tiny lock that connects all the chains on my body, inspecting it for weaknesses ifIknow my sister.

It’sso cold in here.RubyandIare huddling together, trying to share body heat the best we can to stay warm.Clingingto one another, we sit there and watch as girl after girl, and alien female after alien female, is forcibly paraded down and back on that awful platform.Idon’t know how long this goes on, but eventually there are only two human women left.

Thegirl that was bitten and the lady that helped us whenRubywoke me up.JustasIthink the nasty snakes are going to haul that poor unconscious woman up on stage, he pivots andthrowsher toward us.Herbody hitting the wall next to me makes me cringe in sympathy.Ifshe wasn’t dead before, she definitely is now.

Anglingmy eyes away from the body lying next to us,Iwatch in horror as the nice lady from earlier is forced down the aisle; theUFOtakes her photos and then she’s forced passed us and through the automatic door.Herblood-curdling screams are the last thing we all hear before the door slowly slides shut.

Multi-toned bells sound throughout the room and within minutes, it becomes deathly quiet.Theoverwhelming sounds from the crowd of buyers have faded and silence has taken its place.TheNagaguarding us hisses out a sneer in our general direction before it leaves.

Peeringout from under my lashes,Irealize that we’ve been left completely alone.

Thisdoesn’t bode well.

ChapterFourteen

ROWAN

It’shard to tell how much time’s passed since the lastNagaleft us.Weall watched as the raised platform of debauchery slowly sank into the floor, leaving a truly massive arena sized space out in front of us.It’sso cold in here thatRubyandIare both shaking, pressed against one another trying desperately to stay warm.

Tickticktickticktick.

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