Page 3 of Balarr
A nurse, long since gone from the facility, once informed Luna that she possessed rare compatibility traits—genetic markers and immunity factors—that made her an ideal candidate for repeated organ donations.Her body recovered faster than most, and her natural organs were far less likely to be rejected by the wealthy recipients who bought them from Zalora Biotech.
Five surgeries.She’d survived five so far.
At some point, she would run out of the organs she’d been born with.How long would she last with nothing but lab-grown replacements keeping her alive?She doubted Zalora Biotech would offer long-term care once she was finallybarren—the cold, clinical term they used to describe a patient who’d been stripped of every natural organ they were born with.
The door creaked open and a nurse entered the room.The woman looked frazzled as she scurried inside and placed a laptop on the bedside table.She hummed a dissonant tune under her breath as she withdrew an infrared thermometer from her pocket.
Luna remained quiet and motionless as the nurse took her vitals, but her eyes kept darting back to the laptop.Her heart raced—prompting the nurse to cluck her tongue in mild annoyance—as she wondered if maybe she would get a chance to use the laptop today.
Sometimes the nurses got distracted and left their laptops or phones behind in Luna’s room.She’d never managed to get any of the phones to work, since they were password protected with the emergency call feature disabled.But last week, she’d managed to sneak onto a nurse’s laptop—just long enough to fill out an application for Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides.
Her stomach flipped at the memory of that drastic act.She wondered if her application had been processed yet, or if she’d already been matched to a Vaxxlian warrior.
Unless… unless the Intergalactic Dating Agency, which ran the VAMOB program, had rejected her application based on her current address—Zalora Biotech’s main research facility in Colorado.The Vaxxlian warriors needed human females for companionship and procreation.If the IDA or VAMOB didn’t think she was healthy enough, they might have already denied her application.Her heart sank at the thought.
In the two years she’d been here, Luna had tried to escape countless times.She’d fought nurses and orderlies, stolen keycards, and even once tried to walk out wearing a doctor’s white coat… only to be caught every time.After each failed attempt, she’d been kept in a near-sedated state for at least a week.
Eventually, she’d decided that if she was going to escape, she would probably need help from the outside.Like the help of a Vaxxlian warrior.
In addition to her desire to survive, her longing for a normal life outside the cold, sterile walls of this facility had prompted her to fill out the VAMOB application.
Two years.She’d been stuck here for two long years.
“How are you feeling today?”the nurse asked.
Luna barely lifted her eyes, nor did she bother answering.She was exhausted and sore, and she had no idea which organ they’d removed this time.She was too afraid to ask.
“Not very talkative today, are we?”the nurse said with a chuckle.
Another surge of anger flared in Luna’s chest.
The people who worked for Zalora Biotech were monsters.They were liars too.They’d lured her here with false promises when she was desperate to earn some quick money so she could pay her rent.No matter how much she begged, they wouldn’t let her go.
The door of her room was always kept locked.The windows were barred.She was a prisoner.
And she had no idea if they really intended to release her—or compensate her—once she wasbarren.
Raised voices floated in from the hallway.The nurse had left the door slightly ajar.Luna held her breath as she listened to what sounded like an argument unfolding.She couldn’t tell whether the nurses or doctors were arguing with each other, or if a patient was involved.
A sudden crash echoed through the corridor, followed by a scream.Someone shouted, “Get him!”and then footsteps thundered past the door.
The nurse taking Luna’s vitals cursed under her breath and rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind her and locking it with a sharpclick.
Luna immediately reached for the laptop, exhaling a shaky sigh of relief when she successfully guessed the nurse’s password—Password123.Her hands trembled as she opened the email account she’d used to apply for the VAMOB program.Please, she thought.Let there be a response.
Even with the door closed, the crashes and screams in the hallway grew louder.Luna silently thanked whoever was causing the chaos, though guilt tugged at her when she considered the likelihood that a patient was involved.Whoever they were, if they were trying to escape, they wouldn’t make it.And for their troubles, they would spend the next week heavily sedated.
The shouting eventually faded into the background as Luna focused on the dozens of emails in her inbox.In addition to applying for the VAMOB program, she’d also sent a few desperate emails to old friends she’d hoped might help her—as well as a few senators—but none of them had replied.How strange.Perhaps the messages had never reached them.
She continued scrolling, sifting through junk mail, until she saw a familiar blue icon.
The subject line read:
Congratulations!You’ve been matched to a Vaxxlian warrior!
Luna gasped and her hands trembled harder.She clicked open the email.She was so excited—nervous, relieved, and hopeful all at once—that she had to force herself to slow down and actually read the words.
Balarr.
