6 Rosalynn

An attendant leads all of us below the lunch hall, where we gather in a field outside. It’s disorienting to look up at the sky and see a hint of stars beyond the seal screen of the ecodome. The view feels all wrong.

The Milky Way is a glittering slash across the sky. Earth sits like a blue and green ball of glass in the ink.

I used to live there. I loved and hated it. I will miss it, but I am ready to move on.

I think I’ll mostly miss Aryssa.

I lean up against the railing as the announcer introduces the race, its history, and things I can’t quite understand over the exited chatter of the women around me. The cluster of bodies makes for a fusion of scents I can’t sort or define.

A thunderous drone fills the ecodome. Women cheer around me. I peer up at what has their attention and see a monstrous transport labeled Coalescence entering the lunar field.

The first male jumps from an ungodly height as our railings blink green. I climb over the pole and run with the other women out into the grassy area. My heart surges into a rapid pace that thumps through me, filling me with more energy than I’ve had in a long time. I could run to the trees or climb the ropes course structure, maybe head toward the mountain or the garden or the maze. But the field is enough of an obstacle of other women.

More males jump free, until they are a waterfall of soldiers, dignitaries, businessmen, and royalty. They all have the muscle and the monetary means to give us a good life. We have the ability to give them what they want and need in all other aspects of life.

At least I hope.

The males become blurs as they race through our stampede. A Jorbiun inhales me as he races by, then glances at me like he might return.

A tickle curls through my belly at his interest. When I look back in the direction I’m running, a male Retterwan has tackled a woman and draws in her scent.

I’m going to be too slow to avoid them at this speed. I dive over them. My hands hit first, then I tuck and roll, the way the self defense teacher taught us in college. Basic health might have been a course I was bitter about paying for, but the self defense unit has come in handy more than once. I get up and keep running.

Many males chase the faster women. The pink-banded women are picked off the fastest. I begin to wonder if I’m not a challenge, and I should've sacrificed something else for more food.

A few soldiers walk back to the transport with their chosen women in their arms. The women curl up against them, smile and laugh when their males sling them over their shoulders, and carry them away.

I want to know that feeling, but the longer we run and the fewer males and females remain the more my hope dwindles.

Maybe I didn’t get enough perfume out of my skin. I knew I should’ve sat in the sauna at the Abr shuttle prep facility!

I try to stay in the open, in the meadow, be easy pickings. But as I scan for males who might run toward me, I trip on a root.

My knees plant in the dirt. Fabric tears, pain lances through my legs. I tumble forward and catch myself with my palms. Still I get a face-full of grass and clover.

“Oof.” My body pounds from the hit. But my pride takes it the worst. I don’t want to be pathetic, I want to be needed, desired. I struggle to push myself back up. My body just isn’t ready. I’m not a rough and tumble type.

Bees buzz through the blossoms. And for a moment, I’m in awe that there are any up here. But I suppose they’re just as critical for the plants in the ecodome as they are on any planet.

I roll onto my back and sit up to find my race uniform has torn open at both knees. But what upsets me most is no one else is running. Everyone is headed back to the ship.

Dread grips me.

No— I can’t be last! A monochrome had to win. They almost always do!

Agony at being the last makes my lips tremble. Tears burn in my eyes.

“Are you okay?” The voice startles me. It’s deep and robust but a touch breathless.

I look up at the brute force gold-skinned prince who extends a hand to me. His muscle ripples as he cants in my direction.

I’m not alone?

He helps me up, and as I get a feel of his skin in my hand I notice the hexagonal cells. They are gold everywhere except right under his armor where they are black. His nostrils flare and his deep gold irises widen as he draws me just a little closer.

The male wears shoulder armor and a cloak with a crest of a kingdom I’ve never heard of. He’s magnificent. There’s power in every movement, in his posture, the way he studies me.

I’m a mess. A hot mess. My pussy slicks with need. I want him. Now. Forever. Take me with you, please!

Blood drops down one of my knees but I don’t care. I would endure anything to see every day the desire that’s in his eyes as I look up at him now..

“Come on. What are you waiting for? Let’s party!” The feminine voice startles me. Only when she kicks playfully do I realize he already has a woman over his shoulder.

Reality hits me like a cold gut punch.

His gold eyes fall to the grass with disappointment, and the muscles in his jaw flex like he’s irritated. “I’m sorry.”

I stand in the field, alone, as he turns and carries the woman he’s already picked back to the ship.

It doesn’t compute. I can’t be the last one. I’m not fast. I’m smart or they wouldn’t have given me green arm bands. I’m not ugly—am I?

A million questions run through my mind as I survey the fields, looking for literally anyone to tell me the one thing I didn’t want to happen has.

I won.

But my dream has shattered into a million pieces.