Page 3 of Commander's Slave
With empty time on her hands, she had nothing to do but ruminate over her past mistakes and mourn the happy ending she would never know.
The Kall aliens wanted to see her punished for running away and breaking her betrothal to one of their most powerful warriors—a former Kall commander named Merokk who’d recently been awarded an ambassadorship on Earth. Since she’d broken the treaty and caused an uproar that required a massive cover-up to prevent more blood from spilling, false charges had been brought against her to ensure she would receive the punishment she deserved.
Part of this cover-up had involved the American government providing Ambassador Merokk with a substitute bride, a woman who apparently held an uncanny resemblance to Betsy herself.
She recalled her recent conversations with Layla, who was her closest friend, as well as a former White House aide and an expert in Kall culture. According to Layla, the imposter woman, whose name was Fiona, wasn’t miserable at all in her marriage to Merokk. Quite the opposite, in fact. Layla claimed Merokk had forgiven Fiona for pretending to be Betsy during the first few months of their marriage, and the couple was now happy and in love.
If only Betsy hadn’t been such a coward and run away, then she might be the one happily married.
At least she’d still be on Earth.
The only place she’d see Earth again would be in her dreams.
Chapter 2
The dayof the auction had arrived.
The midday sun beat down on Betsy’s arms and breasts. Dizzy and drenched in sweat, she licked her dry lips and pressed a manacled hand to her empty stomach, too hungry and hot to care anymore about her nakedness.
Heavy iron bands dug into her wrists. Her head dropped and she swayed, but she was jostled into wakefulness as the line of condemned slaves ahead of her moved forward, all of them naked with their wrists bound. Most were human, though she spotted a few Kall, as well as a Rafrussian male and two Ghorranni women.
Tracking devices had been implanted in all the prisoners as they exited theMerrina, vanquishing her dreams of escape. She was the last in line and had stood in the sweltering heat for hours in the middle of the alien town. Her ears rang with the shouts of the crowd, the huge Kall men waving bags filled with rattling coins.
For a race so technologically advanced, they were quite primitive and savage in custom. Even on the battlefield, they preferred primitive methods. They used their technology to disable most human weapons, from guns to ground weapons to air defense, and then swooped down in their ships only to jump out with swords drawn and axes swinging.
She recalled a video she’d seen on the Internet from the first few minutes of their invasion, with American soldiers attempting to shoot at an advancing army of Kall only to discover their artillery wouldn’t fire. The Kall then hacked them to pieces with their crude yet deadly weapons. It wasn’t long before world leaders, including her father, began discussing a surrender.
She’d spent the duration of the war hiding in a bunker beneath the White House, with her father and dozens of other important government officials and aides. By the time world leaders had agreed to surrender in unison to the Kall, much of the United States had been reduced to ruins. While the Kall preferred hand to hand combat when it came to fighting human soldiers, they still liked to devastate the cities they invaded, usually bombing the cities after killing most of the human soldiers.
Horrorstruck, she’d observed Kall fighting methods on the many screens that had played nonstop in the bunker. She’d spent months terrified of what would happen once mankind surrendered to the Kall. She’d known, ever since that first deadly battle, that there was no way humans could prevail over the powerful aliens.
And when she’d eventually learned the treaty her own father had signed included a clause stipulating that female Earth leadersanddaughters of Earth leaders must marry Kall warriors, she’d been heartbroken and shocked, and very, very frightened. She couldn’t imagine becoming the wife of one of the terrifying aliens.
So she had run away.
She had waited until her Secret Service detail was distracted and she’d taken off on foot, leaving DC with nothing but the clothes on her back and a small backpack filled with water and food. No money. No phone. No real plan, except to disappear in one of the many refugee camps.
Eventually, she’d hitchhiked all the way to a camp in Vermont, catching rides with unsuspecting truckers who’d been tasked with delivering supplies throughout the country during the first phase of reconstruction.
Coldness gripped her as she thought about her foolishness and that long, frigid winter in Vermont.
Frostbite and hunger and fear.
She hadn’t been picky about where the truckers were driving, as long as they were driving away from DC. Unfortunately, her hasty travels had taken her much farther north than was sensible during the winter.
Someone nearby coughed loudly, drawing her attention back to the present. The line of prospective slaves moved again, and she stepped forward, staring at the back of the human man in front of her. About a dozen people remained ahead of her, waiting to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
She dared a glance at the crowd and shuddered when a large Kall male with long black hair made a crude face at her, wagging his tongue in what could only be considered a sexual advance. Her eyes widened when he held up a money bag and pointed at her.
Ice filled her veins as she stared at the awful man.
She shook her head, trying to recover from her shock, trying not to feel disgust as his gaze moved over her naked flesh. She shot him a hateful look before returning her attention to the line.Please don’t lethimbuy me. Oh, God, please.
A woman with long brown hair tangled in knots stepped up on the auction block, and the auctioneer danced and hollered on the podium as the bidding commenced. Two distinctive voices rose from the crowd, two Kall men caught in a bidding war that lasted several minutes.
Betsy shut her eyes as another wave of nausea swept over her, and she held her breath and prayed she didn’t become ill. She would need her strength.
The next four auctions passed quickly, all men. Her stomach lurched when the man in front of her wobbled up to the block, his hands shaking as he climbed the stone steps. Sweat trickled down his bony, bent back. The auctioneer pointed to the sickly man as foreign words tumbled from his mouth, until finally the crowd offered a handful of bids. The auction lasted less than a minute.
