Captive (6 page)
When she finished her story, Duncan rubbed a bushy eyebrow, ambled to the sideboard and poured a shot of amber liquid. Scotch, probably. “Well, lassie. That’s quite an interesting tale.”
She slumped. What had possessed her to spill her guts to strangers? She knew better than to trust anyone especially with the crazy story she just told. He must think her a lunatic talking about baby-selling cults and aliens. What if he called the insane asylum?
Her eyes darted to the glass wall. A small black cylinder laying on its side was wedged within the glass a little higher than doorknob height. The base of the cylindar was about the size of a silver dollar. What were the chances it was a button for opening a door? She could make a run for it. Duncan would be too old to catch her, and Tess definitely wasn’t athletic looking.
“However, ye haven’t been told the truth. This isn’t a cult.”
If the button didn’t open a door, she could always smash the glass and escape. She inched her way to the edge of the couch.
“It’s a human breeding program.”
Her eyes darted back to Duncan.
“On the planet Hyborea.”
Her butt froze to the cushion. “What?”
Duncan turned to her with a great smile and, stretching his arms wide, said, “Welcome to HuBReC!”
Addy couldn’t do anything but stare. Did he believe her about the creatures? Or was he making fun of her?
“I know it’s a big shock.” Tess took Addy’s hand and patted it. “But you take all the time you need to come to terms with it. You should rest. We’ll explain more later.”
“No.” Addy jerked her hand away. “You’ll explain now.”
Tess gave her father a questioning look. He nodded and downed his drink. “HuBReC,” she said, “is an acronym for Human Breeding and Research Center.”
“You mean they breed human’s for f-foo—” She couldn’t say the word.
Tess laughed. “They don’t eat us, silly. We’re their pets.”
Looking back and forth between Tess and Duncan, she didn’t want to believe them. But hadn’t she already seen proof with her own eyes? Heck, an alien had cradled her in its arms, for Pete’s sake. How could she argue with that? She touched her choker, remembering Max’s words.
It’s how they keep us in line.
She glanced at the wall again, legs itching to run. She bolted to the button, slapped it, and was instantly rewarded with white fog. A quick leap through it, and she was outside sprinting toward the tree line. Duncan and Tess called her back, but their voices soon faded as she raced into the woods.
When a glance behind her proved no one gave chase, she stopped and listened in order to get some sort of bearing on her surroundings. Birds chirped overhead. Rushing water splashed in the distance.
Bending over to catch her breath, she noticed her new footwear resembled moccasins. Almost weightless, they formed perfectly to her foot, bending with it when she flexed and twisted her ankle, cushioning her like a sock but with a thin, hard, rubberlike sole that didn’t allow her to feel rocks.
“Addy. Addy.” Duncan’s and Tess’s voices grew louder.
Little hairs on her neck prickled. Her heart pounded from more than the exertion of the sprint. She’d never told them her name. Nor had she told Max.
She took off toward the sound of the waterfall, easily hurdling downed logs in her path in her high-tech shoes. A clearing peaked through the trees up ahead, so she slowed her pace, making her way to the edge of the woods. Laughter, splashing, and the slapping waterfall filled the air. She ducked behind the trees.
A woman standing in the pool with her back toward her reached out to catch a naked little boy as he jumped. Squeals of delight followed his splash, and the woman set him on the grassy edge to do it again.
How could they seem so happy and carefree? They were captives on an alien planet.
“That’s a bathing pool,” Duncan said when he caught up to her. His breaths were labored. “The Hyboreans built it. The water is recycled, filtered, and completely separate from our drinking water.”
That explained how water seemingly coming from nowhere cascaded over a fifteen-foot tall rock pile into a pool with no stream or visible outlet for overflow.
The woman stepped out of the pool naked and very pregnant. Addy’s stomach lurched, remembering her purpose on this planet. Another urge to run away twitched her leg muscles. But where could she go? Not back the way she came. Not ahead to the bathing pool. Not toward Duncan.
She turned right, darted around trees, shoved branches out of her way, tried keeping an even pace. Who knew how long she’d have to run before getting out of this nightmare. She hurdled brush, smacking full force into a solid dead end before landing on her back, gasping for breath. Pain stung her hands, chest, cheeks, and back.
What did she crash into, a tree trunk?
When she finally got her wind back and was on her feet again, she reached into the brush. The vegetation appeared three-dimensional as it waved in the breeze, but her hand moved through it like a ghost.
“A hologram,” she whispered in awe. It had camouflaged a long wall that continuing in both directions as far as she could see and climbed upward until it touched the clouds.
She turned left and jogged alongside it for quite some time hoping to find a way around, but another holographic camouflaged wall crushed her hopes. She was stuck in a corner. What was this place? Chills crept down her back.
Turning left again, she walked alongside the barricade until the woods converged with a large meadow where several bare-chested men fought with wooden swords.
An enormous, blondish man knocked the sword from his opponent, cocked his weapon back, and let it fly full force. He shouted when he stopped inches from his enemy’s neck.
Five others, who had been watching, applauded the winner. The loser retrieved his weapon and fell to the grass exhausted. Just beyond this group, two preteen boys shot arrows into a target hanging on the mysterious never-ending wall.
Addy didn’t need to turn around when the twig cracked behind her. She knew it was Duncan. She recognized the panting. “What are they doing?”
“I’ll explain if ye promise to stop running. I’m getting too old for this, aye?”
“Aye,” she repeated. Poor Duncan had red blotches all over his face. This must have been more exercise than he’d done in a long time.
He leaned against the hologram wall for support, “These men are practicing for the survival race.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
“It’s a grueling competition that challenges strength, skill, knowledge, and survival instincts. It’s the Hyboreans’ favorite sport and the reason ye’re here.”
“Me?” The word came out high-pitched. “I’m supposed to compete in this survival challenge?”
“No, lass. With your athletic ability, ye’ll breed champions.”
She was about to turn and run again when his hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “No matter where ye go, you canna leave. This wall reaches all the way round on four sides.”
“You mean we’re trapped inside a giant square?”
“Och, no. Ye got it all wrong, lass. It’s a rectangle.” He let go of her arm and with a proud smile that illuminated his eyes said, “Lassie,
this
is our Yard.”
Yard, ha.
Pen
was more apropos.
A
fter returning him to the slums, the race master, Yafuk, unleashed Max and shoved him inside his cage. He’d almost forgotten how cramped it was in here. Less than half the size of HuBReC’s breeding box, it required him to sleep diagonally in order to stretch out.
He’d plenty of space at HuBReC. Though he hadn’t slept much there. He’d been too busy seducing the woman...and failing miserably. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d wanted him. He’d seen it in her eyes. He’d felt her body respond to his.
And God knows he’d wanted her, too. She was beautiful, and she smelled so damn good. Her feminine scent was a glorious reprieve from the farting and unwashed body odor coming from the gladiators living in this dank three-hundred-square-foot pigsty.
The fourteen other men in the neighboring cages were their usual rowdy and unruly selves, awaiting a midday meal that might or might not come.
No one had acknowledged his return. Why would they, when he’d beaten them all on the training field or in the survival races. Yafuk’s gladiators were mediocre at best.
If they weren’t all half-starved, they’d have the energy to train harder. His stomach rumbled in agreement. They’d better get fed today. He needed major calories for tomorrow’s Survival Race Championship.
Yafuk appeared without their slop. A leashed gladiator followed on his heels. The door to Max’s cage sublimated, and the young gladiator stumbled through the gaseous vapor as if he'd been pushed inside. He couldn’t have been more than twenty.
What the hell? He was this Yard’s alpha. Didn’t that entitle him to his own cage? There was barely enough room for one person in here—now he had to share it with this pup?
In his relaxed ready-to-attack stance, he stared hard at the kid who was posturing like he was full of piss and vinegar. Max was in no mood to whip his scrawny ass, but a dominance hierarchy must be established.
“Stand down, son.” That would be his only warning.
The kid was assessing him, weighing the possibilities against the consequences. Noise from the other seven cages faded, which meant fourteen pairs of eyes were watching them.
Come on, kid. Don’t make me have to pummel you.
If this kid thought he’d be victorious against a veteran alpha gladiator, then he was dumber than he looked. But then again, Max had been just as stupid at that age. He’d been eager to fight the Hyboreans. And he’d lost every time he tried to stop the sons of bitches from stripping him of his family.
And his life.
And his humanity.
His jaw clenched. His fists curled.
The young gladiator’s eyes widened. He backed away and lowered his head, conceding Max’s dominant status. There would be no fight today. Too bad. Now that his blood was pumping, he was itching to hit someone.
It was chilling how fast his inner beast emerged without warning.
Just like in the breeding box, the one safe place he’d sworn to act human. But his restraint had been fleeting. His need to touch his broodmare’s soft curves and tasted her lips had been too great. He couldn’t control his urges.
And because he couldn’t control his rage, the Hyboreans had shocked him, snatched him out and—
No. He would not think about their abuse.
A quick jump and grab of the rings hanging from the cage’s overhead frame, and he was pulling his body weight up. Chin-ups would help clear his thoughts.
He had to forget the breeding box and his spirited broodmare. Forget her scent and her curves and her kiss. Forget her fire and vitality that made him forget—if only for a brief moment—that he was an animal.
In the center of the kennel, Yafuk slapped food bowls on the floor equidistant from the four cages on his wall and the four cages opposite him.
Eight bowls for sixteen ravenous warriors.
The smell of fresh meat and seal blubber set his mouth salivating. This would be his last meal before the Championship. He had to get as much of that fat and protein as he could get his hands on.
As the race master exited the room, the gladiators gripped their cage bars, yelling and cursing. Some were poised at the ready waiting for their doors to sublimate. Some were already beating on their cellmates. “Open our cages,” someone hollered.
Yafuk wouldn’t, of course. Not until every warrior was primed for another battle for scraps.
He let go of the rings and dropped to the floor.
While the fire woman had warmed him briefly, it was now time to resume the bitter life of a beast.
A
ddy sat with her back against the camouflaged wall, elbows resting on drawn-up knees, and head in her hands. “I’ve got a zillion questions, Duncan. I don’t know where to start.”
“Aye, I understand.” He plopped himself next to her and patiently waited.
“First, how did you know my name?”
Duncan coughed and cleared his throat. “Ye dinna remember me asking ye?”
“No.”
“Och, well that’s because ye were still drowsy after Ferly Mor brought ye in.”
“Who?”
“That’s the name of wee Hyborean. Me da named him. Fitting, no?” After seeing her confused expression he asked, “Ye mean ye’ve never heard the legend of Am Fear Liath Mòr?” He pronounced the Celtic words as “Am Fer Lee More.”
She shook her head.
“Am Fear Liath Mor, or the Great Gray Man, is the name of a creature which haunts the summit of Ben MacDhui. That’s a mountain in Scotland, Earth,” he explained. “Ye see, Am Fear Liath Mòr has been described as a large, fearsome-looking humanoid creature covered in fur.”
“A Sasquatch?”
“Aye, in part. But it’s more than that. There is something verra queer about the top of Ben MacDhui. A malign presence there causes great fear in those who climb her. Many hikers are overcome with utter panic and flee down in terror. In their haste to escape the sinister feelings, some have even fallen to their death.”
“I don’t get it. Is the legend a Bigfoot or a ghost?”
“Neither.”
“Duncan, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I believe Am Fear Liath Mòr to be a Hyborean.”
“Let me get this straight. You think aliens are roaming the Scottish Highlands scaring the mountain climbers?” She couldn’t help snickering.
“Well I dinna think it’s just for fun, aye? They are looking for strong, capable warriors for their survival races.”
Addy snapped her attention back to the men demonstrating their combat skills. Half of them didn’t wear shirts, all of them wore tight-fitting pants that hugged their muscles, and not one looked puny or out of shape. Each man was indeed a strong, capable warrior. How did they end up here? Were they hiking along one day and snatched by a Hyborean? By Duncan’s Ferly Mor?
“A mountain is filled with many dangers. Not every soul brave enough to climb up is lucky enough to manage a safe return. Men can vanish.”