“Heeeeellllpp!” I screech as I’m pulled out of the bar and through the space station. “Help me! Someone.Anyone, please!”
Aliens stop and stare as I’m dragged through the station, but no one steps in to help me.
“No one cares, little human,” the green asshole on my right snickers. His words fall like lead in the pit of my stomach, and tears prick the backs of my eyes.
No. No, I refuse to believe that. I can’t! Someone has to help me. Or Rovos will hear me; he’ll save me.
Keep telling yourself that. Remember how he couldn’t get out of the door fast enough to get away from you?
The aliens pull me into an empty hallway with an airlock at the far end. Cold dread washes over me when I realize that must lead to Volethos’ ship. I cannotget on that ship.
“No! NO!” I scream. “Help!”
If they get me on that ship, I know it’ll be over. They’ll sell me to a madame, and I’ll end up a space hooker.
The hot wash of tears run down my cheeks when we reach the end of the hallway. “Please, please don’t do this. I haven’t done anything to anybody. Please!”
The aliens ignore me.
When one of them lets go of me to punch in a code for the airlock, I realize his mistake. My free hand goes to my side, where my fingers slip inside the hidden pocket and wrap around the hilt of the knife.
“Please, let me go,” I beg the alien still gripping my arm. Then before he can answer—or not—I swing the knife up and the blade slides into his belly.
His eyes find mine, and they are wide with surprise. Gritting my teeth, I do what Rovos showed me over and over. My fingers clench around the hilt as I jerk the blade up, ripping the blade through his abdomen and into his chest before dragging the serrated edge down and out, staggering back as blood, guts, and the smell of shit exits his belly along with the blade.
For a moment we both stand in shock, looking down at what I’ve done. The alien’s mouth opens and closes like a fish as he strives to hold his shredded guts inside his stomach. With a loud groan, he falls against the wall and slides to the floor.
My hand goes to my mouth, and I gag when I realize it’s coated in blood and other things.
“You fuckingbitch!” the other alien howls.
I turn just in time to see him lunge for me. My hands come up reflexively, and he impales himself on the knife. The force of the impact jars my wrist, and I lose my grip, but not before his knees buckle, and he curls around the knife sticking out of his chest. I’m pretty sure he’s dead before he hits the floor.
Oh shit! Oh shit! I can’t believe I just did that! My fingers are numb, and everything is shaking. I can’t even kill spiders, but I just stabbed and killed two aliens!
I take a step back, then another.
“Get it together, Anna,” I mutter through clenched teeth. Any minute someone could come around the corner and see what I’ve done. After taking one more step back, I turn on my heel and flee.
My feet shuffle to a stop at the end of the hallway. Peeking around the corner, I—shit!I can see Volethos heading this way. A cruel expression is etched into his face, and his long stride is quickly eating up the distance between us.
Pushing myself from the wall, I bolt in the opposite direction.
“Stop!” I hear him shout after me, and I push myself to run faster because like hell am I going to stop.
Apparently Vesens are accomplished runners, and being several inches taller helps, I’m sure. So it’s not long before I hear the pounding of his footsteps gaining on me.
“Stop, you littlebitch!”he snarls at my back.
Gritting my teeth, I push myself even faster. Darting in and out of crowds. Taking hairpin turns that lead to God-knows-where, so I can put as many obstacles and as much distance between us as I can.
The farther I run, the louder the hum of voices becomes, peppered with the occasional shout ofStop!orSecurity!orShe went that way!
My lungs are burning, and my legs are getting tired. I won’t be able to keep this pace up for much longer, so I need to keep running. I need to hide. I need to find Rovos.
No.Fuck Rovos. He left. In fact, he’s probably halfway across the galaxy by now.
Taking another corner, I run headlong into a group of aliens wearing nun-like habits.
