Page 19 of Sold to the Nalgar
Was the ship breaking apart?
She couldn’t see the others: the faceless figures, the squat, ugly aliens. No one was here now. Just her, strapped to a cold wall, with alarms wailing and red light pulsing over everything like a heartbeat of doom.
Oh God.
The thought hit her like a blow:
Is this it?
Am I going to die here? In space? In a box? Strapped to a fucking wall like some…
She bit down on the scream clawing its way up her throat, her eyes wild, lungs burning. Her breath came in shallow gasps. Her pulse roared in her ears like a storm.
This is how it ends? Alone? Imprisoned? A nameless dot in some alien void?
Her mind flashed back to New York. The balcony. A glass of wine. The case files she was supposed to argue in court the next morning. Her parents. Her friends. Herlife.
You bastards.
She wasn’t crying. But something deep inside her cracked anyway. A sharp, scarlet shard of fury.
You took me. You put me here. You brought me into this nightmare.
Another tremor shook the ship. Then…
Nothing.
The vessel went still.
Alarms still screamed. Red lights still strobed. But the shaking had stopped. The tortured sound of metal falling apart had gone quiet.
For one long, shivering breath, the universe held its silence.
Cecilia’s head slumped forward, though she couldn’t tell if it was from relief or fear.
Her chest rose and fell in ragged bursts. The restraints bit into her wrists, her ankles. Her ears rang in the sudden stillness.
She waited.
Because whatever had just happened, this wasn’t the end.
Something was coming.
And whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be unicorns and rainbows.
CHAPTER 10
She hung in the restraints, wrists and ankles aching with the strain. Her skin was raw where the cold metal bound her, a thin line of pain curling along her limbs. Her chest rose and fell in ragged, uneven breaths, every inhale a bitter struggle.
Everything was silent now.
Toosilent.
There was no more shuddering. No alarms screaming in her ears. Just the faint, persistent hum of distant power systems and the dull thumping of blood rushing through her head.
She waited. For what, she didn’t know. For the green one to return. For the faceless beings to come marching back: silent, efficient, unfeeling. But no one did.
She was utterly alone.
