Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER
ONE
(If you are interested in content warnings or need a character refresher and your book starts here, please scroll back!)
BACK THEN
RUTHIE
The worst thing about the drugs the aliens give me is when they wear off.
Not only do they leave me with a terrible headache, but I'm also completely aware of the situation I'm in. That I've somehow been kidnapped by aliens and I'm being dragged, filthy and tired, through a space port behind some nasty-looking bug guy and his goons.
I'd much rather remain in the foggy haze brought on by the drugs. They make me placid and obedient, but they also make everything seem like it's just a dream. Like all of this weird, terrifying madness is happening to someone else.
They're starting to wear off right now, much to my chagrin. I love those drugs. Right now, everything around me is still hazy like I'm in a dream, but the headache is coming on. Once the fog in my vision clears, I'll have a throbbing migraine and a desperate yearning to go under once more. No one seems inclined to give me another dose, though. They just lead/drag me through the docking bay at the space station. Normally I'd probably try to examine this to make note of my surroundings, but the drug haze makes me not care very much at all.
Without the drugs, I'd probably be hysterical.
The bug guy, Bist, stops in front of a ramp and signals for his guards to do the same. They jerk on my chains, tugging me to a halt, and I stumble forward, nearly crashing into the floating chaise that the bug guy sits atop. Bist turns to look at me and signals with one of his many arms.
A guard grabs my face and tilts it up to Bist so he can look at me. He studies me carefully, then shudders. "Revolting thing."
Me? Revolting? He's the one that looks like an overgrown pillbug.
But I'm released and allowed to step back a little as we wait. And wait. Eventually another party meets us on the docks, and I'm dragged forward again, this time so some blue alien can stare at my face. Unlike Bist, he doesn't say I'm gross-looking. His expression is unsettled, his eyes wide. He's accompanied by guards with red skin—another type of alien, I assume—and I huddle down and try to make myself seem small and unassuming while Bist and the blue alien argue in low, hushed voices.
My head throbs.
Wincing, I close my eyes, trying to fight off the worst of the pain, when I'm suddenly jerked forward by the cuffs on my wrists. I yelp, and then, to my surprise, I'm freed.
"Take her, Kazex," the blue alien says, running a hand through his short hair. "Don't let her run. We're going back to the ship right away. Ruth has to know."
"Of course, Lord Straik."
A surprisingly gentle arm goes around my waist, and then I'm being supported against a larger body that smells pleasant and doesn't treat me like I'm a sack of grain to be thrown around. He guides my arm over his shoulders and holds me close. "I've got you," he says in a comforting voice. "You're safe."
"Ruthie," I murmur as we fall in line behind the blue alien. "He called me Ruth. I'm not Ruth. I'm Ruthie." A name is a small matter in the scheme of things, but it's all I've got.
"Ruthie," the man holding me up murmurs. "I'll remember."
The fog in my brain continues to punish me, making my steps stagger even as knives press into my skull. I fight back a whimper of distress as we head up a ramp, because I don't know these strangers. I don't know if they're going to be kind or cruel. I've met with both kinds of aliens, and until you know what you're getting into, it's best to be quiet and unobtrusive.
I don't have cuffs on, though. It occurs to me that I should run away, but my feet are heavy and my brain feels like mush. Mush with knives in it. I squint when the light grows brighter and footsteps clang up the metal ramp.
Then we stop. Ahead of us, the cloaked blue alien dressed in all black pauses at the entrance to a spaceship, talking to someone. They hiss and whisper at each other, and then they're turning to look at me. The guy in black steps aside...
And then I see me.
I blink harder, confused. I've been fogged thanks to the drugs, but they've never made me hallucinate. I widen my eyes and lift a hand, trying to see if she's a mirror image, if she'll replicate my movements.
Instead, she takes a step backward, and the look on her face is pure panic.
"Ruth, sweetheart," the blue alien says to the mirror image. He cups her face. "It's going to be all right."