Page 4 of The Stolen Tribute
I sighed and grabbed my phone. I tapped outZexian Tribute Bridesinto Google, shocked at the number of results I got.
The Zexian Tributes were government-sanctioned unions that happened once per year. Only one woman per year per country was chosen, and it was a very big deal. It was like a beauty pageant on steroids. It had it all: sponsors, a huge venue, world-wide streaming distribution. I’d watched them once or twice, but it all seemed so wasteful.
We had been giving our women to the Zexians for over twenty years, as a show of good faith to their military might. Sounded more like blackmail to me. Who cared if they didn’t have enough females? They were our trading partners, sure, but it looked like we got the short end of it all. I’d bet my antique X-Box that they didn’t share even half their tech with us.
I scrolled through the pages of images of past winners, Zexian warriors, old news, videos; it was all the same crap.Big brutish warrior gets his own personal Earthling sex doll. But, the further I scrolled, the more I had to admit some of them were pretty good looking.
Zexian males looked very similar to human men, except they were about seven feet tall on average and had scaled purple skin. Most of them had golden-colored eyes and black hair. The warrior class was all muscular and well-built, but I guessed they must have others that weren’t all so ripped.
An entire race of super-models and no women, what a shame; I supposed we should count ourselves lucky that we didn’t end up indebted to a race of blob monsters.
I looked away from my phone, feeling heat grow between my legs. I’d heard about Zexian dicks, how they were supposedly huge with ridges. Zexians didn’t do porn, but there were plenty of stories passed around on the internet about their mating rituals.
I laughed away the feeling and turned over. I didn’t have time to even consider myself a candidate to be a Zexian Tribute Bride. First of all, I was pretty average looking. I was a five-foot-seven dirty blond who liked her pasta, and it showed. I wasn’t fat, per se, but I could use to lose a few. My eyes were a dark sort of blue that people often mistook for gray, and I had freckles across my face. I never liked my freckles much either. Secondly, they wanted talented and intelligent people. Sure, I was good at video games,extremely good, but that was just about my only talent. Well, that and making killer chai lattes.
Just as I was beginning to fall asleep, my phone chimed with a text from Sue.
I groaned and read it with one eye.
I did it, I applied!
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. If Sue got in, I’d never see her again. The feeling gnawed at me. I didn’t know how to respond.
No, what were the chances? How many women applied world-wide, only to have like two hundred actually make it. It was impossible. In fact, it was so absurd, I thought up a plan. I’d prove to her that the Zexian Tribute was nothing but an overly sponsored trade show for human flesh. Winners weren’t normal girls; they were women with clout, women with connections.
Without saying anything, I opened a new tab and began writing out my application to be a Zexian Bride. That way, when we both got turned down, we could have a good laugh about it.
