Mara’s eyes flashed open, and in a second, her heart was pounding, drowning out all else. She gasped for air, feeling as if the weight of the world was crushing down on her chest. As her eyes adjusted to the bright lights, she instinctually scooted backward until her back hit a wall. A chill that seemed to go from the core of her soul radiated out, causing goose bumps to erupt on her arms. Slowly, painfully slowly, the room came into focus.
It was about the size of closet with metal walls. The door had one window, with bars on it.
She curled herself further over her body, realizing for the first time she was naked. Where am I? How did I get here?
Racking her brain, she realized something that made her freeze. She had no idea.
Her long, brown hair fell over her back and shoulders in a tangled curtain. It was her only protection from the chill that hung in the air, like a doctor’s office. Hours or perhaps long minutes seemed to stretch out as she searched her memories for something, anything, that could tell her how she’d ended up there.
At last memories drifted back. She was a buyer for an exclusion retail shop in California. It wasn’t the kind of job that fulfilled her soul, but it gave her security. Something she needed more desperately than air after all the uncertainty in her life.
She nibbled her bottom lip, thinking of her small condo in the city. Of her sporty convertible that she drove through the streets like a bat out of hell, flirting to get herself out of ticket after ticket. How did that woman, with a façade that even the most intuitive person couldn’t see through, end up here? But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t remember.
It doesn’t matter. What matters is getting out.
Her eyes narrowed. She might be naked, and she might be in some kind of prison cell, but she’d be damned if she sat around doing nothing.
Rising on muscles that screamed in protest, she moved to the door and searched for a handle, a release, anything. But the surface of the door was smooth. Squeezing her hands into fists, she gritted her teeth. Hell with it.
“Hello!” she screamed, pounding on the door. “Hello!”
Pressing her face between the bars, she struggled to see anything beyond the hallway. But her view was limited. “Anyone there?”
She sensed more than saw that someone was approaching. Taking a step back, the door slowly slid open.
A creature waited on the other side. Her heart caught in her throat. It was blue, thin, with skin that glistened like a frog. Two tiny legs that seemed to have sprouted from a long tail dragged behind it. The creature tilted its oversized head, with its bulbus eyes and a clicking sound emanated from it.
The sound seemed to awaken her. She screamed and scooted back until she hit the wall. Clenching her hands and tensing her legs, she prepared for the fight of her life. She didn’t know what the hell the thing in front of her was, but it was about to learn a little about her.
It pulled something from its strange shimmering pants/skirt. Something metal. Something that looked like a weapon. As it slithered into her tiny prison cell, it held the item out in front of it.
She screamed and kicked out, striking one of its legs, which immediately collapsed under it. Then, to her horror, the creature tumbled down. Right on top of her.
Thrashing and screaming, she struggled beneath it, but the weight of the creature was terrible. Suffocating. She felt it’s strange, thin fingers grasp her ear, and then a mind-numbing pain shot through her lobe.
The clicking sound began again, but slowly changed, as if she’d drunk one too many scotches. “Stuupid animal.”
“Who yooou calllin’ stupid?” Her words slurred. She tried to shake her head, to clear the fuzziness from it.
It climbed off of her. She wanted to stand and fight again, but her body wouldn’t obey.
“Yooou fetch gooood price. Human animal.”
“Pricce?” she gurgled at it.
A shrill sound screeched from its throat. “Many males like humans. Big breasts. Tight hoooles. Wet moooouths.”
The second Mara understood what it was saying rage and terror rushed over her. “If you—if you think for one freaking minute—I’m going to let you—“
“Yoooou doooon’t need to let us. Yooou’re now the slave of the Kliculas.”
As it turned and sealed the door behind it, she continued to scream profanities after it until her throat hurt. Then, her head dropped to the cold metal.
What the hell do I do now?