Page 16 of Taming Chaos

Nobody was coming for her now.

This was it.

The Ephrenians didn’t react. They so were still and silent they could have been statues, not even shifting or twitching. Did they even breathe? Seph wanted to wring their necks. She blinked furiously, refusing to let the tears fall.

You’ve only got yourself to blame for this, honey.

She should have played it differently with the team; should have schmoozed, acted nice and deferent, and pretended to be as anti-alien as the rest of them.

Maybe that would have inspired a little more loyalty in them, but she just couldn’t do fake. Seph had a reputation for bluntness. Subtlety had never been her strong point, and it had gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion.

And when her stupid rotten temper took hold…

Damn it.

It was little wonder she couldn’t get a job at any academic institution on Earth. The bastards had blacklisted her.

Not a team player. Likelihood of interpersonal conflict: HIGH. That’s what her MQ report had said.

Fucking bitch. That’s what her academic colleagues had called her behind her back before she’d been thrown off the Board of Xenostudies at the prestigious Cayenne U.

That’s when Nonhuman Affairs had stepped in and recruited her as an analyst. Thrown a lifeline, naive old Seph had worked hard to be recognized, to be valued, to stand out.

But now her mission team had let her go, as if she meant nothing to them.

With colleagues like these, who needed enemies?

Seph let out a deep, shuddering sigh. Why do I always screw everything up? Once again, she was all alone. Dark thoughts swirled at the back of her mind. She was under no illusions as to what sort of fate might await her.

Comfort slave? Labor grunt? Experimental test subject?

Bound.

Alone.

Helpless.

Uncertainty stretched before her like a gaping black chasm, and she silently contemplated the drastic measures she might take to avoid a terrible fate.

Her mind went to very dark places.

And then…

Skkkt. Skkkt. Skkkt.

What the hell is that noise?

Her eyes snapped open as a strange sound filtered through the walls. The Ephrenian guards leapt to their feet.

Disturbance. Disturbance. That was all Seph could understand of their rapid speech.

One of them pulled out his gun and rushed toward the door. The other remained by her side. The chamber’s door slid open, and foul smelling air flooded the room. Suddenly, Seph couldn’t breathe. An acrid smell surrounded her. It reminded her faintly of rotten eggs—sulfur.

She coughed and choked. Panic set in. I can’t breathe! She began to hyperventilate. It felt as if a tight band had been wrapped around her chest, and it was squeezing tighter, tighter, tighter…

I’m going to die!

Then the doors closed, and the air returned to normal. Suddenly, she could breathe again. The irrational fear melted away, leaving her drained and breathless.

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