Chapter 1

ONE

Lorna

A sharp object prodded me in the back, and I stumbled forward into the woman in front of me. She slowly swung her head, and gave me an understanding look when I mumbled, "Sorry" out of habit.

I glared at the alien behind me, but my anger was directed at his chest, as he stood at about seven feet to my five-five. He was so tall that the tip of his helmet brushed the dirt ceiling of whatever underground hallway I was currently being shuffled through along with dozens of other tired, dirty, and demoralized women. He looked a bit like an armadillo, with a pointed face and a rounded shell back. His arms and legs were short as he was mostly all torso, the front of which was covered in bulky armor.

My life on Earth felt light years ago, because it was. Ever since I'd gone to sleep and woken up on another planet, I'd been through hell and back. Worse than hell. I didn't have a word for it. I'd been traipsed across this dusty hot planet in cages, shipping containers, and probably other forms of transportation that I'd blocked from my memory. I'd been given a drab uniform, denied food and water, and hadn't bathed in what had to be a week. Two weeks? I didn't know.

The shoes I wore were less shoes and more like ballet slippers. They didn't provide much protection, and the bottoms of my feet were sore, blistered, and likely deformed by now.

I had so much to complain about, I wasn't sure where to start. My body ached, my tongue was swollen from dehydration, and I was a few minutes away from passing out.

For a while, all I could hear was the shuffling feet of the women and the clanking of the bulky armor of the aliens surrounding us. They were massive and bipedal, with round chests and beady eyes. Soon, a dull roar gave way to the sound of rushing water, like a waterfall. Murmurs came from the women in front, a few anxious squeaks and squeals but no outright screams of terror. Our procession came to a halt, and then a slow walk, and as I made my way closer to the roaring sound, I saw the reason for the human traffic jam.

Two creatures stood at either side of the widening passageway. Their bulbous bodies jiggled when they flapped their short arms to direct the women. Covered in scales, they peered through eyes that sat on the sides of their heads. They were like round-bodied snakes with flickering tongues.

A day ago—maybe two days?—I'd been fitted with a translator implant around my left ear, and so I could understand that the snakes were telling us to take off our clothes

Immediately I froze. I wasn't wearing much—just a pair of loose pants and a long shirt, but they suddenly felt like the only form of protection I had. Why did we have to get naked? What did this mean? I wanted to refuse, but I'd seen what happened to women who refused commands. And it wasn't pretty. I shuddered at the violent memories.

The woman beside me cried silently as she removed her clothes. I squeezed her biceps just once in a what I hoped was a reassuring gesture. We weren't supposed to touch each other or talk, but I had to do something. I had to feel like a human. She glanced over her shoulder at our guard, then gave me a tentative smile through her tears. I returned it.

I shed my clothes, adding them to the growing pile, and took a deep breath to steel myself for what was to come. I could smell the water, and I could hear the sharp slaps of it as it hit the bodies of the women in front of me. Up ahead, narrow sheets of water sluiced down from five-foot wide slots in the ceiling. Three of them in succession. One to wash off the filth. One to clean with a soapy solution, and another to rinse. I stepped under the first and gasped as the cold water soaked me immediately. The soap smelled a bit like chlorine, and I closed my eyes. The last slot was a shower of fresh water, and I tilted my head back, enjoying the feel of cleanliness for what I imagined could be the last time.

Maybe they'd eat us after this. It seemed like a lot of work to prepare food, but then what did I know about their customs?

Last, we walked beneath powerful jets of air that blew my long brown hair around my shoulders in a mass of frizz. When I saw women up ahead dressing in clean clothes, I exhaled as my knees nearly buckled. Maybe they weren't eating us.

The new clothes were different—the pants were tight like leggings and the shirt was constricting. I had big boobs, and they were smushed into a uniboob. I tugged the material to stretch it out to no avail.

Still, I was grateful for the clothing, and even more grateful for proper shoes—they all looked the same size when lined up together, but when I stepped into them, the fabric let out a little hiss and conformed to my foot. The sole remained solid and protective.

We were hustled down another passageway, and for the first time in a long time, the women were making noise. Talking in hushed tones. Murmurs. The alien guards didn't bother to shush us this time. Something was happening. Something big. We could all feel it skittering over our skin like fire ants.

A shaft of light from up ahead had me shielding my eyes. Awed murmurs came from the women in front of me. A muttered, " What the hell ?" And then we were walking out into a massive underground arena. Stadium seating rose all around us, probably more than a hundred rows, full of aliens who let out a loud cheer as we spread out onto the sandy floor. I felt like Maximus walking into the Coliseum in Gladiator , but I had no idea how to use a sword. Or fight off a lion. Or dodge a mace flying at my head.

Back on Earth, I'd been a preschool teacher. I was a proud plus-sized girlie. I worked out regularly, but I couldn't fight genetics. My body stored fat like it was gearing up for Scandinavian winters. I preferred arts and crafts over Cross Fit. And while I had no idea what my purpose was in the arena, yet I got the very unsettling feeling that there was going to be a sporting event, and I was about to be a very unwilling player.

My vision blurred, and my stomach dropped into my toes. Every hair on my body stood on end as my scalp pricked with the need to flee. All I could think was that I was prey. The aliens in the stands were a mishmash of colors and shapes, moving together almost like a sea so that individuals were barely distinguishable. Some threw objects into the arena, and a wet, mushy object splatted near me. The stink hit my nose, and I gagged before sidling away from the offensive thing.

A large door the size of a two-story house opened behind a platform in the center of the seats on one side of the arena. The crowd hushed as shadows emerged from the door to step onto the platform. Some of the women screamed, and one fainted. She was quickly carried out by an armored alien to somewhere unknown. I could do nothing but stare at the new creatures that looked straight out of a horror movie. They had to stand at least nine feet tall and walked on four taloned feet. Long necks covered in sparse feathers on wrinkly skin stretched from the front of their bodies, topped with skull heads like that of a horse. Horns curled dangerously from their skulls, and long whip-like tentacles waved in the air around their bodies. Red eyes glowed like hot coals.

I didn't want to look, but I couldn't turn away. They were both real and not real. Like an imaginary creature a little kid drew and brought to life.

And then one opened its mouth, and my day got a whole lot worse.

"Humans. We desire to retain the strongest of you. You will perform tests, and the best will be chosen."

Chosen ? Chosen for what ? Did I want to be chosen? Maybe if I wasn't chosen, I'd just be some regular old servant. Or I could just be killed. But I also had no idea what I'd be chosen to do, and that could be the worse of two evils. How did I know? I would have loved to raise my hand to ask a question. I would have settled for five minutes to think. But I didn't have five minutes. One by one, doors slammed open all around the ground floor of the arena, each echoing through the arena like a gunshot. All in all, ten doors opened, and when the last jolted with one final crack, the crowd fell silent.

I slid toward the center of the arena with the other women, forming a huddle with our backs to the center, facing the doors like a threatened herd of elephants. A series of whistles filled the air, and I screamed when swords plunged into the sand all around us, point down. I stared at the one in front of me as my heart pounded in my ears. Sweat slid down the back of my neck. The hair at my temples was soaked. I reeked of fear.

The woman near me, a tall blonde with muscles and a square jaw, grabbed the nearest sword and brandished it in front of her, blue eyes fixed firmly on the doors.

And then I heard an eerie sound—a series of clicks that began in the darkness of the opened doors and quickly spread around the arena until we were closed in by what felt like a horde of cicadas. And with the incessant clicking came the roaring of the crowd. Cheers. Hollers. Jeers.

The clicks increased to a constant buzz, and then the first of the buzzers entered the arena in a rush. Massive insects the size of cats flew through the air with the rapid beat of their wasp-like wings. Beetles the size of corgis scuttled along the ground, converging on us like ants finding a spilled ice cream cone on a sidewalk.

At the last minute, I shot my arm out and grabbed a sword just as a flying insect descended toward my face with an open jaw full of teeth. I screeched like a banshee and attempted to swing my sword, but that damn thing had to weight twenty-five pounds. The weight of it caught me off guard, and I reared back as the insect snapped its jaws inches from my nose. A warrior yell came from next to me, and a sword cut through the air with a vicious whip in front of my face. The insect's body flopped to the ground in two cleaved sections. Blood spilled onto the sand as its wings crumpled. Something wet was on my face. I stared at the blonde next to me, who stood with a sword dripping in insect guts. Green gunk hung from her chin. " Swing the damn sword !" she screamed at me. But the words sounded far away, underwater. " Defend yourself !" Her words held a hint of desperation as she turned and slammed her sword point into the body of a beetle. " Please ," she cried, tears mixing with carnage from her slayings. " Stay alive ."

Everything was hazy. My muscles weren't working right. I couldn't inhale enough air to breathe. Was I having a panic attack? Was I in shock? I swung my sword in the air once. Twice. A third time. I might have hit something as I stumbled forward. I tripped over a beetle who whirled around with an excited buzzing and stabbed my ankle with some sort of weird, spiked foot. I screamed as pain shot up my leg, but I managed to take off the beetle's head with my sword. Or maybe that was its ass. I had no idea. All I knew was that it stopped moving.

Chest heaving, I stumbled to my feet and whirled around. The arena was chaos. The crowd was in a frenzy. Women were bleeding. Screaming. Crying. Beetle and insect parts littered the ground. The blonde warrior was still slashing at the invaders, one eye on me the entire time. I tried to signal that I was okay. That I could handle this.

But then something slammed into the back of my head. Hard. A warmth spread over my body. Something trickled down the side of my neck. The warrior princess yelled something as she ran toward me, but I hit the sand face first a second before everything went black.