Page 10 of Abalim

The other three joined them in a single line to look out the entrance.

A shuffling noise, like a herd of cattle clomping close, became clear.

A sense of dread made Lisa catch her breath. That can’t be good. She glanced at the prone red robot. Whatever was coming didn’t sound metallic at all.

An unmistakable rancid odor wafted to her before anything or anyone showed up. It was a weird mix of wet cardboard and cooking oil gone bad. She wrinkled her nose until she caught sight of what was making that scrambling ruckus.

Damn. Look at that. More aliens. At first she was jealous she hadn’t dreamed up these creatures for one of her books. Here was a group of pudgy, bulky aliens that were a cross between a dingo and a beaver in pants — no shirts. Standing on two hind legs with six arms and a flat tail of coarse hair and scales. Pink-and-blue tongues hung from the sides of their snouts as four beady black eyes blinked in unison. Their thick, fuzzy fur ranged in colors from burned gold to midnight blue.

It took a moment before why they showed up sank in.

Each one was armed with various weapons. Guns, knives, and even some weird kind of round metal contraptions hitched to a belt that clanked with each movement. Handcuffs?

Gibbering between them, two of the aliens grabbed the red robot under its stiff arms and pulled it away from the entrance. Without a second glance, they dropped it on the floor as one of them aimed a black box in their direction.

Before Lisa had a chance to gasp and back up, it clicked a button and the force field evaporated.

With its snout curled in a snarl, the creature pushed another button on the black box.

Agony stabbed through her. The leather collar around her neck sparked with sizzling heat, sending tendrils of pain throughout her body. She flopped on the floor like a fish pulled from a lake. Spasming and squirming, she clutched the blacknuteshsnare in a vain attempt to pull it off.

The torture only lasted a few seconds, but it wasn’t until she could take a lungful of air that told her the pain stopped. Lisa swore lingering waves of agony squirmed through her, inside and out. Too weak to struggle, she didn’t have a chance to stop one of the little aliens from tugging her hands in front of her. It jerked two of the round metal things from its belt and clapped them on. Her wrists swiftly locked together, as if drawn by a powerful magnet. He then slapped a putty-looking thing over her mouth. It expanded until a flat surface prevented her from talking—or breathing through her mouth, for that matter. Thank God it was far enough away from her nose to give her room so she didn’t suffocate.

It was tempting to not move, but the creep who handcuffed her yanked her to her feet. She wobbled to get her bearings, dizzy. When the alien spouted some gibberish at her, she scowled and went with him as he tugged her with one of his middle arms.

His lower hand grabbed the waist of her pants while the upper hand held some type of gun. He led her to the end of the corridor that had an elevator.

She and her cell friends were smashed together in the cramped car with a bunch of the smelly aliens. She tried to make herself as small as possible before glancing at the other women. All wore the same gags she had and their hands were held together in the cuffs.

Morgan’s eyes were narrowed as she glared at everyone.

Izzy’s were filled with tears, her fear palpable.

Even with her hands stuck together, Toni was trying to pick at the gag over her mouth. Her thunderous expression looked lethal.

Althea stood stoically, staring straight ahead.

The trip lasted forever and yet was over before Lisa had a chance to moan at the pain when the alien elbowed her in the ribs. Her headache pounded.

When the doors to the lift opened, the short aliens squealed and hissed, pushing Lisa and the others out into the main lobby.

Her eyes widened at the destruction all around.

A variety of aliens were scurrying around, grabbing what they could or destroying furniture and fixtures evidently for the sheer joy of it.

Various androids, robots, and mechanical AIs littered in sporadic places, frozen when their power was ripped away.

The little alien kidnapper pushed her to the open exit, where the massive rusted metal doors listed sideways on the hinges.

The last thing she saw before being shoved out of the building was the neon-green sexbot she’d named Kermit sitting on the floor with her legs splayed and her head broken to the side, resting on her shoulders. Her tongue hung out and her eyes were blank, like a TV screen turned off.

Scrambling outside, Lisa squinted and turned her head to avoid looking at the dim sunshine. After living in the dusky lightning of the prison cell for who knows how long, anything brighter made her eyes water. Didn’t help her stupid headache either. The other problem was she couldn’t see where they were going. She tried to rub her eyes, but the alien had a hard grip on her arms and she couldn’t move them. The only thing to do was rub the side of her face against her shoulder.

After blinking to help the situation, she wished she hadn’t bothered. Racing through a dilapidated town… village… that looked like it’d been deserted for decades, made her heart sink. No help there. Added to that was the overwhelming smell of nasty. She thought the little aliens smelled bad, butholy crap, their scent was like comparing a field of spring wildflowers to an open, neglected septic tank. With one more jerk on her arm, the little guy led her to a back alley.

There at the end was an octagon-shaped contraption.

She stumbled when the wheezing alien shoved her. She would’ve fallen if the snare around her neck hadn’t tightened and lifted her off the ground. Choking, she grabbed the collar with both hands and tried to catch her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the panels on the coarse metal structure, streaked with unknown stains and pockmarked with potholes and scratches, open.

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