We peered out from the edge of the forest toward the open yard. Long grass and blue weeds smothered the land. Six similar warehouse structures surrounded the area, each facing each other in a semi-circle. Why else would they have these out in the middle of nowhere, but to hide something…to hide the females they kidnapped. My gut clenched at the idea that maybe my mom was in this settlement.
A place run by Khonsu, alien creatures who infiltrated the Vepar’s homeland and kidnapped their females for breeding. Add to that, the Khonsu used a type of glamor technology to conceal their real appearance to look like my Vepars. So detecting them wasn’t always easy.
With a flick of Derrial’s hand, we ran from the woods to behind a stone building the size of a large shed…perfect for keeping prisoners.
Another hand signal, and Derrial pivoted around the opposite side of the building. Thane and I inched forward on this side.
The silence grew heavier, and I was certain the next planet over could hear how hard my heart hammered.
Thane twisted his head to look at me and whispered, “Let me check the front, then when I give the signal, you join us.”
Before I could even nod, he darted forward and slipped around the corner. Crap, he hadn’t even told me what his signal was, so I rushed forward and stuck my head around the building to watch.
He and Derrial both fiddled with a lock to the door into the place.
I looked around the area, surveying the location, when my sights fell on someone sitting on a bench in front of the next building near us. He wore gray clothes, which easily blended him in with his surroundings. He had to be a Khonsu.
The Khonsu shot me a venomous glance, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air for our scents. He looked normal…like one of the Vepar. Short gray hair, tiny horns over his temples with a burley build. Khonsu were primal and wild and I could see the wildness in this creature’s eyes. He didn’t say anything, but slowly rose to his feet.
Shit! Panic launched to the back of my throat. “Thane, Derrial,” I whispered loudly, but they didn’t hear me.
I ran to them just as the Konshu darted across the field toward the black warehouse across the field.
“Fuck, he’s spotted us,” I blurted, pointing.
Both men snapped around and saw where I showed them.
Thane’s face blanched and he leapt into a run, moving faster than I’d ever seen anyone move, closing in on the alien in seconds.
The Khonsu yelled out just as Thane lunged into him, bringing him to the ground with a thud.
They rolled on the ground, fighting, the thump of dull punches from Thane, who straddled the alien. In seconds, he leapt up and snatched the creature’s legs before dragging him our way. I couldn’t take my gaze off the Khonsu who no longer resembled a Vepar, but took his own form - pale skin and hair, and dead eyes black as the night. I remembered well the fact that these monsters had a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. I wanted nowhere near it.
My skin rippled with fear, but I refused to panic. I wasn’t the one trapped by these things and prepared for breeding. And just the thought had me scolding myself that I’d have such a thought. I kept fidgeting with my hair, unable to stand still. I struggled to keep it all together as fear coiled in my chest, and all I could think was that an army of Khonsu was about to come racing out of the sheds any second now. We had no car to escape, and who knew how long before Corran arrived.
I didn’t want to panic. I’d been through so much since arriving in this universe, but it wasn’t just me anymore… there was a little innocent baby inside me that I had to care for. Maybe I’d made a mistake by coming out here with them.
Thane dragged the Khonsu into the bushes in the woods.
As if sensing my unease, Derrial slid an arm around my waist and drew me against him. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed myself to the warmth of his body.
“We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Thane heaved for breath. “Okay, new plan. We need to check what’s inside each of these sheds damn fast.” He raised his hand with what looked like a laser pointer.
“Is that a key?” I asked.
He leaned closer and kissed me on the lips. “You bet it’s a key, pet. We stick together and do this quickly.”
I pulled free from Derrial and shuffled to face the building to our back. “Let’s start here,” I said.
Derrial pointed the pencil-shaped object at the padlock surface, emitting an orange beam of light. In two seconds, the lock clicked open.
I bounced on my toes, eager to get inside. Thane took the lead and opened the door. He peered inside and sighed loudly. He glanced back and shook his head. But I needed to know what he saw, and as he moved out of the way, I stuck my head inside to a huge enormous empty room. Broken crates and a few blankets lay in a heap to indicate there were living beings here at some point.
“Babe,” Derrial murmured, and took my hand. “We need to go.”
I nodded and followed him to the next shed, which was exactly what the Khonsu had been guarding, so my hopes sky rocketed we’d find something.
Thane opened the door hastily, and shut it quickly behind him.
Dread collided into me, and I exchanged worried glances with him. “He’s found something, hasn’t he?” I whispered.
Derrial nodded and leaned closer. “If he doesn’t come out in a minute, I’m in there. Otherwise, he’s scoping for guards and danger and he’ll be right out.”
I kept glancing over my shoulder, staring at the other buildings. Our saving grace was that they didn’t have windows, so unless more Khonsu emerged from the building, they wouldn’t see us.
My head was spinning. Derrial was deadly quiet, not breathing heavy or sweating like me. The breeze picked up, bringing with it the scent of forest and animals. The utterly agonizing silence sat on my chest, and to be honest, when we spoke about coming out here, I’d assumed we’d find a small camp and women huddled somewhere near in a cage. Delusional hope on my end.
“Has it been a minute?” I trembled, my gaze flipping between the door and the rest of the field.
When the door to the shed opened, I flinched backward and bumped into Derrial who caught me in his arms.
Thane stuck his head out. “All safe. You gotta come in here.”
He opened the door, and we both hurried inside as Thane closed us in.
It took my mind a moment to work out what I was looking at. On the three walls in front of me were metal cages stacked on top of each other, four cages tall. Each was easily six-foot high and wide, except there were people inside them.
Something in my gut twisted at the sight. Only females filled the cages…maybe half a dozen in total.
Derrial and Thane rushed forward and started to release them from their imprisonment, starting with those higher up. Together they helped each other climb the top, then used the laser key to open the doors.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t breath as I selfishly scanned the faces for my mother. It had been so long since I had seen her, and she looked like me everyone said, so I searched the cages. The room was dimly lit with the only shards of light slicing the dark through holes and cracks in the ceiling and walls. The first woman I found appeared about my age. Blond hair and wild blue eyes, and human. She lacked horns or a tail or those stunning colorful eyes Vepar were known for.
She pressed herself to the metal bars. “Please let us out before they return. Please.” Her voice trembled, her face stained with dirt and dried blood. “The things they do to us if we don’t behave. I don’t want to die.” She lashed out a hand through the bar and snatched my wrist. Her grip was weak. She looked thin and so exhausted. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She stared at me blankly, like she’s seen so many horrible things, she was completely stunned.
“We’re going to get you out, I promise.”
Her fingers uncurled from my wrist, and she withdrew back into her cage, sitting in a corner, rocking herself.
The ache in my chest as seeing her agony carved me in half. Why hadn’t the Vepar council demolished these camps if they suspected they existed? Or were they too busy lining their pockets and creating a new virus strain to care about fixing the existing problems?
Quickly, I moved to the next cage, which sat one higher, and a woman with golden curls and short white horns stared down at me with desperation in her eyes.
What surprised me was how quiet everyone was, and I suspected they knew noise meant the chance of them not being rescued. Whispers drew my attention to Thane, who hopped down, carrying a young girl who wore a tattered yellow dress. She had to be fifteen, maybe sixteen.
I wanted to murder these Khonsu, rip out their spines for destroying these people’s lives. The more cages I searched, the more my hope dissolved at finding my mom.
The next cage I stepped in front of left me breathless. I dropped to my knees and watched a young mother with black horns and red eyes cradling a tiny baby in her arms. They were both fragile and my eyes pricked with tears. I wanted to scream at the cruelty, but it was heartbreak that climbed up and over my body, icing every cell in my body.
“You’re going to be free,” I promised, and she lifted her gaze to meet mine. The fabric from around the baby’s head slid down to reveal a tiny bundle with tiny pointy horns running in a line across the top of his brow. It did so all around his face, and that was when I noticed a long white tail flicking over the mom’s lap.
The woman didn’t say anything, her expression stoic like she’d forgotten how to feel, then quickly covered her sleeping baby.
“He’s beautiful,” I said, my breath hiccuping. “What’s his name?”
“Jihl. She’s a girl.”
“I’m so sorry, I-I…”
“It’s hard to tell at this age. Who are you?” she asked bluntly, her eyes squinting my way, studying me as if trying to see right through me.
“I’m Ella, and I’m looking for my mom who was taken from Earth. I’m hoping she was brought here and I can find her.”
The woman studied me for a long pause. “They used to bring and take females from the other buildings, but then they consolidated everyone who remained in here. I’ve been in this cage for three weeks, and seen enough death to last me a lifetime.”
“You’ve been stuck in here for three weeks?” My heart bled, and trying to keep my head straight seemed impossible when I just wanted to burst out crying for these prisoners, for this woman and her child, for my mother going through this.
“I’ve been hoping my husband will come and find me, but he hasn’t.” Her voice trembled.
“He’s been trying, I’m sure of that. Not many know the Khonsu keep female camps on this moon though.”
I turned around and waved down Thane while wiping the escaping tears. The heavy burden of this place clung to me like boulders, weighing me down. I’d never be able to unsee this.
I wiped away the unstoppable tears as an ugly pain clogged in my throat.
When Thane looked at me, his face paled. “Are you alright?”
I shook my head, dying on the inside at seeing the suffering.
He kissed my brow and held me tight for a few moments. His breaths were on my ear. “Trick is to focus on the act of rescuing and nothing else.”
I shook my head, except it was too late… I was thinking about everything but the rescue. I was thinking about how a child ended up in here, about how I’d feel if it was me in that cage with my newborn.
“Remember how much I love you.” He then broke away and hurried to release the woman and her child. I quickly turned and helped her out as she clasped onto her baby, ready to fight to the end if anyone touched her.
My baby was still unborn, but I already felt that same protectiveness of him or her. I’d give my life to protect my baby. And that meant destroying every last one of these camps.
“Is your name Ella?” the woman asked with the softest voice, drawing my attention. I snuck in a quick wipe of my eyes and smiled at her, trying to put on a brave face.
“I thought you looked familiar. I may have seen your mom in one of the other buildings.” She rocked her baby in her arms, staring at the child as she hummed a soft song.
Her words cut through me, and suddenly the room tilted. My heart pounded in my chest. I was too afraid to ask the question. Each inhale grew shorter, and my insides were a chaotic mess of panic and sorrow. All these years later, and it felt like I’d just lost Mom. Like I stood over her empty grave long after everyone left. It was the only way to give myself closure without going crazy.
“So she’s still alive?” I gasped, more to myself. “What building is she in?”
When the woman glanced up at me, grief swept over her expression. Then she gave me a heartbreaking shake of her head. “There was an explosion in that building, and no one survived. I’m so sorry, Ella.” Her eyes glistened at delivering the news.
Suddenly, my whole world shattered like glass.
My soul darkened.
I no longer felt my body… it wavered and my legs fell out from under me. I hit the floor, falling to my knees. Tears welled in my eyes and drenched my cheeks as I choked on my breaths. I clenched my fists to my chest, fingernails digging into flesh, breaking skin. Nothing took away the pain. Nothing ever would.
Long ago, I grieved the loss of my mom, said my farewells. But since finding my dad, I grasped onto the hope that my mother was still alive too, that somehow, I’d find both my parents and be a happy reunited family again.
Except now, my heart was splintering into thousands of shards.
“She can’t be dead.” The whispered words escaped past my lips.