Page 2 of Taken By the Convicts
She sent a smile toward the prisoner, a man with light hair and hazel eyes. He sat on the exam table, watching her and listening. Perhaps someone had tried to kill him but missed his carotid artery. The thought disturbed her. Despite the anger in his face and the way his knuckles turned white as he gripped the side of the exam table, there was something in his eyes that pulled at her, that made her keep glancing at him.
“I don’t know yet. He was just brought in.” She hated those chains around his wrists, the ones the guards insisted were mandatory.
“Then treat him and get him back to work.”
“Yes, Manager.”
“Doc!” Yost yelled from the receiving bay. “Got a bleeder!”
“I’ve got to go, Manager.”
“Lose one more patient, Archer, and I’ll deny your access to the med-center. See how long you survive out there with those animals.”
Melina shuddered, but she couldn’t fall apart. Nothing good ever came from panicking. “A unit. . . give me a unit.” A unit was the only way to survive out there. If she had to sleep with three or four men to gain their protection, then so be it. At least she’d be alive. She wasn’t safe anywhere on Veenith, not even inside the med-center with the likes of Collins roaming about. There really was no difference between the med-techs assigned to help her and the patients the guards chained to the beds and exam tables. They were all Level 5s.
“No,” Thorne said.
“You gave Hannah a unit.”
“I lost four miners when I assigned a unit to that woman.”
As soon as Thorne had assigned Hannah to a unit here on Veenith, the men in that unit had fought over her and ended up killing one another. Hannah had escaped and made her way to the med-center, where Melina had hidden her. Losing those miners had pissed off Thorne because it meant fewer men to mine the serilium, less chance he’d make his quota. That was how The Company ultimately motivated people with their quota.
The entire operation on Veenith centered around extracting serilium from the miners. Want to eat? Hand over a bucket of serilium. Want non-essential items in your housing? Cough up more serilium. The prisoners likewise used the ore for private deals. Want to buy a woman? Pay up, she’s yours. Except Veenith didn’t have women. Now that Hannah was gone, the prisoners on Veenith only hadonewoman. Melina.
She hadn’t left the safety of the med-center since she arrived on Veenith. The med-center was a sprawling one-level building, not exactly a fortress, though it did have some security. The med-center had been the only thing keeping her safe, relatively safe considering she still had Collins here. She couldn’t hide here forever. What if the power went out, or the heat from the underground thermal springs stopped warming the building? A whole host of things could go wrong.
Now, Thorne was threatening to kick her out, to throw her to the hundreds of violent prisoners, like tossing meat into a pit of hungry kuvaks. . . all to teach her a lesson.
“Women don’t belong on Veenith,” Thorne continued ranting. “They cause trouble. But you were the only doctor in the system who was also a Level 5. I had no choice, just like you have no choice. You’re not getting a unit. You’ll live, eat, sleep, and work in the med-center until I say otherwise. Now get this place in working order.”
She hadn’t felt the sun on her face in three weeks. And with Collins and the other two med-techs here, she wasn’t safe. She needed allies, men who could protect her from the other prisoners. A unit, no different from the ones the men formed for their own protection.
“Which ones are the leaders out there?” she asked.
“You have a real problem with authority, Archer. I just denied your request. Do your work and accept that this is your life now.”
“I’m trapped in here.” She debated telling him she was claustrophobic, unable to stay confined in a structure for too long, and that it had already been three weeks, a record for her. He’d use that knowledge against her.
Collins stood outside the clear isolation door, running his tongue over his upper lip. Thorne had his back to him.
Melina gritted her teeth. “Please, just give me a unit that can protect me!”
“There are no formal units on Veenith and no registry with The Company. You want a unit, go find one yourself. But that means going out there. The prisoners out there will tear you apart before you find men willing to protect you.”
“Which men are the strongest?” she pushed. She needed a unit, even if she had to do as he sarcastically suggested and find one herself.
Dark eyes narrowed. “Prove I can trust you, Archer, and then I’ll help you. Cross me, and you’ll regret the day you landed here.”
As if she didn’t already. . .
Thorne headed for the doors.
She glanced at the hazel-eyed man on the exam table. His eyes had been following her the entire time, but not in a creepy way. If anything, she felt safe near him.
“Not all prisoners need to be chained. Instead of chains, can I have a guard with me when I treat patients?” Her office had a lock, making it her sanctuary. But out here, where she treated patients, she was vulnerable not only to the patients but Collins too.
“The guards posted in the med-center are here to protect the equipment, not you.”
