Page 4 of Balarr
A strange, unexpected warmth blossomed in her chest.
That was her Vaxxlian mate’s name.Balarr.
According to the email, she should anticipate his arrival within days.Since the message had been sent two days ago, that meant Balarr might arrive at Zalora Biotech at any moment—searching for her.
Tears burned in her eyes.She prayed he would come soon.Maybe, just maybe, this long nightmare was about to end.
Five organs.She placed a hand on her bandaged abdomen.
Would Balarr care that she’d been an unwilling participant in an organ-harvesting enterprise?Would he worry that she wasn’t strong enough to bear his children?
Did the Vaxxlians possess medical technology advanced enough to keep her alive?Eventually, the lab-grown replacement organs inside her would begin to fail.
She really hoped Balarr would understand her situation and agree to help.She hoped he was as kind and affectionate as the commercials promised.
Before her imprisonment at Zalora Biotech, she’d seen dozens of commercials on TV and on the Internet advertising the interstellar bride program.Most of the commercials featured testimonials from human women who were mated to Vaxxlian warriors, and the women always claimed they were happy and in love with their new alien mates.
Even before Luna had come to Zalora Biotech hoping to sell her blood plasma, she’d given serious thought to signing up for the VAMOB program.She only wished she’d done it the first time the idea had entered her mind.She could’ve been spared years of fear and agony at Zalora Biotech.She might already be on New Vaxx, living on a beautiful planet in a safe community alongside her alien mate.
She quickly logged out of her email account and closed the laptop, then carefully placed it back on the bedside table.Her pulse pounded in her ears, and she couldn’t settle her nerves.
Was this really happening?
Was a Vaxxlian warrior truly about to come to Earth—for her?
In some of the VAMOB commercials, the human women had gushed about how their Vaxxlian warrior had swooped in and rescued them from a war-torn city.Would Balarr have to fight his way inside Zalora Biotech?How would he even find her?
Doubts began to creep in.What if he walked into the lobby and asked for her by name?The receptionist would likely feign ignorance.But would Balarr give up that easily?Or would he push further?Would he fight the security guards?
Her stomach dropped at the next thought.
Would he kill anyone while trying to reach her?
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.She liked to tell herself everyone at Zalora Biotech was a monster, but the truth was much more complicated than that.
The entire country was in the throes of a severe economic collapse.Unrest had broken out in most major cities and even smaller towns.Some places resembled warzones, and food and supplies had become scarce.
Jobs were scarce too—a fact Luna knew all too well.Before trying to sell her blood plasma, she’d lost her position as a barista when the coffee shop was forced to close.She’d spent weeks trying to find another job, but no one was hiring.
Logically, she realized some of Zalora Biotech’s employees probably only worked there because they were desperate to stay afloat in a world that was quickly going to hell.Some of them probably had families and children to feed.
But organ harvesting… she shuddered.
She still had trouble believing a place like this existed, or that it was a secret government-funded program.
She thought of the tall doctor with long white hair who sometimes visited her.A couple of times, she’d pleaded with him to help her—pleaded for release—only for him to snap at her toshut the fuck up.He was one of the monsters.
Many of the other workers at Zalora Biotech, however, looked at her with compassion as they went about their duties.None of them ever apologized to her, but they still often had a gentle manner, and there were times she could’ve sworn she glimpsed regret in their eyes.They were still doing something terrible, but at least their conscience was weighing on them.
Maybe one day a whistle-blower would emerge and all the unwilling patients being held at Zalora Biotech would be freed.She could only hope.
But she also resolved that if Balarr managed to rescue her, she would do whatever she could to help the other patients.
Perhaps she could contact more senators, as well as news organizations around the world.If the public found out a government-funded organ-harvesting facility existed in Colorado—and that patients were being kept there and operated on against their will—she had no doubt it would cause even more riots in the streets.It would also cause the current administration’s power to falter, and given how corrupt the president was, maybe it would be for the best.
The nurse eventually rushed back into her room and grabbed the forgotten laptop.She turned to leave, then paused and glanced over her shoulder at Luna, who was still sitting quietly in bed.
Luna swallowed hard and prayed the nurse had no idea she’d just used her laptop.Her stomach plunged to the floor.Yes, there was a camera in the corner of her room.But since no one had noticed her using a different nurse’s laptop last week, she assumed the security guards weren’t always watching.
