Page 5 of Bela's Bounty
We exit the ship into a darkness that devours any and all light. I have no idea how the aliens can see where they’re going, because if it weren’t for the leashes they attached to our collars, none of us would know which way to go.
“I don’t like this,” Skylar whines, immediately followed by a snort from somewhere behind me.
“What’s not to like?” I think it’s Shae again, with the sarcasm.
“All of youshut up,” Sasha hisses in the darkness, and silence surrounds us once more.
A door opens in front of us, and we go from pitch black to a kaleidoscope of blinding light in the blink of an eye. We’re all frozen in shock for a moment, until I feel a baton or club between my shoulder blades, shoving me through the doorway, even as my vision struggles to adjust.
The roar of a crowd blankets us as we’re pulled along a narrow walkway. The lights and sounds have my head pounding and my stomach roiling. When my steps falter, I feel an arm come around me, helping keep me upright.
“Come on,chica,” Nita says, urging me along the narrow path we’re on. “Just a little further.”
The flickering lights come from up ahead as someone shouts over a loudspeaker, whipping an enormous crowd into a frenzy.
“What the fuck is this place?” Nita mumbles next to me.
I can only shake my head because hell if I know.
* * *
Bela
Everywhere I look are aliens.
We’re completely surrounded as we’re pulled through an undulating sea of alien bodies. I get the feeling we’re inside some kind of enormous cave. All the voices and lights are amplified by the rock walls, until my head feels like it might burst open at any moment.
The women crowd around me, which doesn’t help my feeling of claustrophobia but keeps me moving, especially when all I want to do is curl into a ball and scream. Or maybe vomit. And then sleep. I feel like I could sleep for years.
Something is definitely wrong with whatever the aliens put in my head. A fine sheen of sweat coats my body, but I’m shaking like I’m cold.
Fever.
Great.
“Hey!” Nita hisses when I lose my balance and weave into her, but then her hands tighten around my arm. “Oh shit.” Her hands are cool when she presses them against my neck and cheek, all the while grumbling a string of Spanish-laced curses.
I blink up at her worried expression and swallow down the bitter taste of bile that suddenly surges up my throat. Just like that, I’m the center of attention.
“Honey, you don’t look so good,” someone—Danielle, I think—says, and I feel another cool hand against my brow. “Shit, she’s burning up.”
“Grab her arms.
“Help keep her up.”
I’m not sure who is saying what, and I don’t really care. All of my focus is on staying upright and moving, while my vision swims, and pain radiates through my head from the flashing lights and my chattering teeth.
The crowd surrounding us suddenly parts, and I balk at the brilliant spotlight we’re suddenly bathed in.
“Oh,fuck!” someone groans.
Oh, god. What now?
I realize I must have said that out loud when Danielle says, “I think—I think we’re at an auction.”
There’s no warning when a rough tug nearly takes me off my feet. My hands grab for the leash connected to the collar I’m wearing, but there is a giant alien attached to the other end, and he’s not waiting for me to catch up to his long stride. I manage to keep my feet under me, but I can’t keep my stomach from heaving. I leave a string of vomit as I’m dragged closer and closer to the stage.
The giant alien pulls me into the middle, and I’m blinded by the spotlights that are trained on me. One hand covers my breasts while the other wipes at my mouth and eyes, where tears stream down my cheeks. As if being sick isn’t bad enough, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of eyes are staring at my nudity. It’s not like I’m anything to look like. Thanks to my mother’s strong Hungarian genes, I’ve got thick thighs, a soft stomach, wide ass, and ample boobs. No matter how much I’ve tried to diet or how hard I worked out, I was destined to always look like a woman in a Renaissance painting. Not exactly fat, but definitely plump.
