Chapter 5

Kleena

Kleena rubbed her hands together. She wasn’t cold but longed to do something. Anything was better than sitting around waiting for a miracle.

Or the end.

It had been two days since she got kidnapped and thrown into a musty warehouse, but it felt like she’d been there for months.

She knew exactly how many rows of bricks were below the high windows that promised escape but were just out of reach. Of course, this number varied, depending on how many times she started over counting.

She’d come to understand the various grunts her kidnappers used to communicate. Short ones meant it was time to change guard shifts, and longer ones meant it was time to feed the women.

Not that the gruel given to them could be called food. Kleena refused to eat, afraid that the so-called food may contain drugs to keep the women docile.

Suddenly, the warehouse burst into life. Agitated guards were running around barking orders at each other as women cried fearfully.

“What the hell’s going on now?” she asked no one in particular.

A younger girl to her right shuffled closer. “They’re panicking. Something about the warehouse being compromised.” She sniffed and looked around wearily.

“Compromised? As in someone infiltrated it?” Kleena was instantly interested, but the girl was unable to give her more information.

She was about to ask the other women if they knew more when the door to their room was slammed open.

Guards started grabbing women, forcing them out of the warehouse in a hurry.

“Come on! Get out! We don’t have time to waddle around! Out! ”

Kleena steeled herself. She had come to know just how brutal these creatures could get when they were in a hurry.

Still, when one grabbed her upper arm, the pain and discomfort made her inhale sharply. She bit back the insult that threatened to jump out of her mouth, knowing now was not the time.

Once she was herded out of the warehouse, she and the rows of other women were forced to hurry toward a spaceship waiting in the distance.

Kleena stared at the metallic ship with its many blinking white lights. The closer she got, the more it dawned on her just how big it was. She couldn’t help but wonder how her kidnappers got away with having such a mode of transport near the capital city.

As she stepped onto the spaceship, the cold metal walls and the sterile smell made her head spin. Fear coiled in her stomach. This was the furthest she’d been into the unknown in her life, and she was about to be forced even further.

The engines hummed to life and she could feel the power coursing through the spaceship with lights flickering.

Her kidnappers instructed her and the other women to keep walking in rows until they were guided into their new cells.

She listened with half an ear, thinking about the distance growing between her and the life she once knew. At one time, she had hope for a good future, had dreams of a family and a happy life. Although those hopes and dreams were crushed by her former friend and lover, she still had aspirations for herself.

Perhaps she could have found a small cabin in the woods and lived there on her own, rediscovering who she was. Or she could have pursued new hobbies, filling her days with creative explorations and discoveries.

Now, all she could see for herself was misery and a joyless life of servitude.

Kleena watched what was happening around her while she walked. Women were being examined and thrown into specific cells. From her perspective, it seemed like they were being sorted by hair color.

“How original.” She rolled her eyes, an act that would have earned her a beating had any of the guards noticed. She looked up at the guard sorting the women when she reached him, hoping to make him uncomfortable with her hate-filled glare.

He barely noticed her and indicated to his colleague that she would go to the cells to their right.

She avoided the second guard’s touch by ducking out of reach and walking to the cell on her own. Every time one of them touched her, she felt like a little piece of her died.

He snarled but let her be.

Despite her apparent meek obedience, Kleena was fervently glancing around, searching for any kind of escape.

She couldn’t see any.

Corralled into a cramped cell, she heard the door locking behind her with a haunting finality while women around her cried softly, clutching each other while their hopes of getting away dashed.

Kleena’s eyes burned. She felt like crying too but refused to show that kind of emotion, lest her kidnappers see it and take joy in her pain.

A guard’s menacing voice filtered through the cell, silencing all the women instantly.

“Cheer up, human females!” He cackled before speaking again. “You’ll live amazing lives once you’ve been bought. Only the wealthy and powerful can buy slaves, so you’ll live lives of opulence as prizes for the highest bidders!”

His gleeful laughter echoed in the room. “Most of you will end up as pretty little breeders, spending the majority of your time on your backs, so enjoy your idle time while you have it.”

His words of fake encouragement fell flat because the sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.

“Shut up!” Kleena snarled, surprising a few of the women around her as well as herself. “I will not be some asshole’s breeding machine!”

A fire deep within her soul burned with more ferocity. Embers became flames, and she refused to bow down to a life designed by her captors.

The guard who found their situation so amusing opened the door and rushed over to her while another stood sentinel outside the door. It slammed shut with a bone-chilling loud thud.

He stalked over to Kleena, who defiantly stared him down. “You won’t dictate what happens to me!”

A sharp slap echoed through the cell, a stinging punctuation that silenced her momentarily.

For a beat, she simply stared at him, too shocked to properly react.

He sneered, looking down at her. “You may have been an unintended addition to the merchandise, but you’ll still be profitable. I’m sure your buyer will enjoy breaking you.” His words dripped with contempt.

He grabbed her by her hair, lifting her a few inches off her feet. She yelped in pain, despite her best attempt not to show emotion. He laughed, his face mere inches from hers. Kleena shut her eyes tightly, refusing to look at him while his breath made her shudder in disgust.

When he saw her reaction to his closeness, he threw her to the ground and gave her a swift kick in the ribs.

She grabbed her side, coughing and moaning in pain.

“You’re nothing but merchandise. Don’t forget that, filthy human.” His eyes fell on the snake tattoo on her back, visible through the torn clothes she wore. “Prepare yourself. Your new master will cover that with his own branding.”

He laughed loudly at his own joke, and Kleena saw her one and only opportunity. Seizing the unguarded moment, she lunged for the cell door. Her desire to be free and pure determination fueled her attempt to pry it open, and by some miracle, she succeeded.

The door opened just enough for her to squeeze out of it, and she hurriedly forced her body through, grimacing with pain and discomfort. She broke out of the cell and ran a few steps before she was captured by the other guards.

They grabbed her by her arms, lifted her off the ground, and simply walked back to the cell with her hanging between them.

Her brave attempt at escape was met with defeat.

Kleena screamed with frustration. This couldn’t be how her life ended. She couldn’t become a slave or a baby machine for some monstrous alien out there.

She just couldn’t .

Her head hung, and she felt defeated. The security protocols were impenetrable. She likely wasn’t the first woman to try and break free. They were prepared for this kind of behavior.

The guards unceremoniously threw her back into the cell, snickering as they closed the door once more.

The reality of her captivity finally set in, and Kleena’s heart sank even further. She retreated to the back of the cell, her mind racing as she tried to think of another way out.

Then the sound of more engines turning on reverberated through the cell, and she felt the spaceship take off.

It was too late for her now.