Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Briar
I wake in the corner of my shared cell. Every muscle screams in protest, and the cold, unyielding floor does little to help with the pain.
I’ve named the men in my cell; Big, Tiny, and Slender. I don’t have enough respect for them to use their given names. They’re all terrible in their own ways. Big because he’s the bully, Tiny because he’s the blind follower of the bully and would be the bully if he were physically bigger, and Slender because he’s just feeling sorry for himself, unable to do anything that doesn’t serve him. More than Big and Tiny, I hate Slender the most. He’s the worst kind of traitor, the kind that refuses to take a side so he can always count himself clean.
At the moment, Big and Tiny are muttering about something. I can guarantee that whatever they’re talking about, it’s utter nonsense.
Slender sits in his usual corner, avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially me. I watch him, wondering if Big has raped him. Even if Big has, what kind of person just gives up? Especially when there are so few of us? Now that I’m here, it could be two against two.
When Big rapes me, and yes, this is a question of when not if. I won’t hold him off forever, he’s just too strong. But when he does, afterward, I’m not going to cower in a corner. I’ll fight harder. Because this is a fight like any other and Big has made it crystal clear, it’s to the death.
But I’ll use everything at my disposal to keep bad things from happening to me. What’s the phrase? ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ So, the more I interact with Big the better chance I have of outsmarting him. God knows I was lucky yesterday. I don’t know if I’ll be so lucky today.
I shift slightly, wincing at the sharp pain in my ribs. My eyes land on Big, his hulking frame turned slightly as he talks with Tiny. My teeth marks are still fresh on his back all red and angry. I smile. Well at least that’s something.
If he tries again, I’ll bite off his ear, I think.
“Hey,” I say. The cell goes quiet, all three men turn toward me. “Yeah, you,” I say looking directly at Slender.
He points to himself, as if surprised I’m addressing him. Always the innocent victim.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“A spaceship.”
“How do you know?”
“Alien abduction,” he says, his tone flat, as if I’m an idiot for even asking. “I was in the forest. Next thing I knew, I was here. Humans don’t have spaceships, and humans sure as hell don’t look like that .” He gestures toward the empty hallway between the cages, where the creature dropped me off. “Don’t you remember how you got here?”
“We’re not on a spaceship,” Big says, interrupting. “This is just rich people fucking with peons. You’re just weak—more susceptible to suggestion,” he says to Slender. “That’s why you think you were abducted by aliens.”
Slender faces the wall again.
Then Big looks up at the ceiling, addressing the invisible audience in his mind. “I’m not buying it! I know the truth, and that’s why you sent me this piece of ass, ” he says, pointing a meaty finger at me, “to distract me. And you made her hard to get, that was clever. But I’ll get her, and I’ll get her good.”
My stomach turns as his filthy gaze lingers but I meet his beady brown eyes head-on.
“They’re watching us,” he continues, his voice dripping with paranoia. “They’re watching us to see what we’re going to do. Probably even betting on how long you can stay away from me.”
“But it makes no sense for billionaires to keep us like this,” I say, trying to get his mind off raping me. “Without food and water, we’ll die.”
“Oh, the Handlers feed us,” Tiny says joining the conversation.
“Handlers?”
“There are three different kinds of fake octopus-aliens,” Big confirms. “The leaders have elaborate skin patterns, the officers are big and scary, and the handlers are smaller and thicker. The handlers feed us. I think the billionaires must have gotten some Hollywood makeup artists to set this up.” Then looking up at the ceiling where he believes there are cameras, he yells, “It’s all very impressive and almost believable.”
“But we’re all starving except for him,” Slender points to Big. “He divvies out the food.”
Big defends himself, “I told you. You suck my cock again and I’ll give you more food. It’s an even trade. There are calories in semen. So I’m actually giving you more food than the others.”
I look at Big disgustedly. “Well aren’t you a prize example of a homo sapien, obsessed with getting an orgasm from anyone at any time, even when there’s only four of us here.”
Big takes a few steps towards me and then slaps me hard across the face.
Before the sting can even begin register I slap him back hard.
He grabs my wrist. “Is that the best you got little lady? Do it again and I’ll fucking kill you.”
My wrist is still covered in the oil from yesterday and I wiggle it free. “I’m already dead if this is all that’s left to me. You three and those silent women across from us, watching everything we do, like we are some gladiatorial show in the Roman Colosseum.”
“It’s those bitches fault that I’m sex obsessed,” Big says surprising me by blaming innocent women he can’t even talk to for his desire to sexually dominate everyone in this cell. “They’re just there… naked. They’re not even trying to cover up.”
Astonished, I turn to look at the blonde women in the cell across from us. Then turn back to Big. “Are we seeing the same thing? They’re just standing there, like us. You do realize, none of us, have any clothing, right?”
“If women really cared about each other they would have tried to cover themselves because it’s only making it worse for you. They’re doing this to you on purpose. They know if I see them naked and then you’re here I’m going to have to rape you.”
“Are you trying to cover yourself up for modesty?” I ask Big. Then I turn to Tiny and Slender. “Are any of you trying to cover yourselves? No, of course not, so why should they? Your logic is the most juvenile, man-baby, caveman piece of shit, I’ve heard in a long time.”
“Oh shut the fuck up. You covered your tits and pussy when you entered,” Slender points out, “because you know it’s different for women.”
“Yes, because I was thrown into a cage with three naked men and I was trying to avoid being raped.” I make eye contact with Big. “Because as a rule, until I speak to men, I always assume they’re predators. But those women,” I gesture to the blonde women, “have nothing to fear from you, so they, just like you, are in their natural state. And it amazes me that you three can’t even look at a naked woman and control your sexual desires.”
“I can,” Slender says.
“Oh big fucking applause for the pick-me boy in the corner, who did nothing when I was being attacked,” I retort.
Tiny laughs.
“It’s not my fault,” Big continues to defend himself. “Look at them,” he points to the naked blonde women. “They’re purposely acting like strippers.”
“They are fucking naked!” I say losing my temper and feeling bad for all the strippers who actually are good dancers but those skills are apparently lost on men who think that naked women standing in a cell are the same as strippers on poles. “I feel like we are seeing two different things. I see regular women trying to survive. They aren’t trying to seduce you. That’s all in your mind,” I say and give up talking to my cell mates for a while.
After a long stretch of silence, I ask Big, “Have you seen any people leave this place? I mean besides the ones you said you killed.”
“Yes,” Slender replies. Of course, he replies. “Some of the women in the other cell have been led out with leashes. Sometimes a few return, but we can’t talk to the women, so we don’t know what’s happening and they haven’t tried to tell us what’s going on.”
“Have you tried to ask?”
Slender shakes his head.
“Of course you haven’t.”
“None of us men have ever left this cage alive and returned. That’s all we know,” Slender says ignoring my observation.
My eyes drift across to the women in the other cell again. Some of them are sleeping, others talking, and some are watching us. I make eye contact with a woman and we hold it for some time. I stand and move as close to the forcefield as I can. I hold up my hands questioning and mouth the words, ‘What’s going on here?’
She stands and then she mouths a word to me, but I can’t for the life of me understand. It looks like she’s saying, ‘set.’ Set? Is she trying to tell me to be ready? For what?
She stops mouthing the word as two handler aliens enter and have what I can only assume is food and water. Just like Slender said, Big takes all the food and the water, hoarding it in the corner. My stomach grumbles as I listen to him smack and slurp.
After he’s finished, he gives some to his sidekick, Tiny. When there’s only the smallest amount of food left, he says to Slender and me, “There’s only food left for one of you. So I want you to fight each other for it.”
“I’m not fighting a woman,” Slender says and honestly, I’m shocked he has any decency for a fair fight.
“Only because you’re worried she’d kick your ass,” Tiny says.
“Well, she’s not going to get it by default and neither are you,” Big replies. “I need some entertainment. You fight her or you starve.”
“I don’t want it. You take it,” I say to Slender.
My comment annoys Big.
“Women! She thinks she can trick us into feeling sorry for her,” Big announces. “That’s not going to work on me. I know all the little tricks women use to manipulate men.”
I laugh because it’s so absurd. Even when I’ve been abducted by aliens I still have a man explaining my actions to me. “Why don’t you explain my behavior to me a little more? I’d love to hear your thoughts on women’s orgasms, periods, and childbirth,” I say, my voice dripping with an invitation to fight again.
Next thing I know, I’m flat on my back after being knocked across the face by Big. My ear are ringing. Everything sounds like I’m deep underwater. I’m in so much pain.
Big his hovering over me. His pungent smell making me nauseous. He kneels on my arms, pinning them painfully to the floor and then puts his stinking erect penis in my mouth.
Having nothing to lose now, I bite down as hard as I can and don’t let go. I imagine myself a gator in the bayou. I remember the documentaries I watched about alligators latching on to prey and then taking them down to the dark river bed to drown them.
I am a gator and Big is my prey.
Big is punching my head making my it move, side to side, but it doesn’t matter. I’m resolved not to let go.
Tiny starts beating on my legs, but I’m beyond pain. I only grind my teeth to sink deeper into his organ. My mouth fills with hot coppery blood, his or mine, I don’t know.
I don’t care.
I thrash my head back and forth in rhythm with his shrieks. I’m taking him down to the pit of hell with me. His hot blood is oozing down the sides of my mouth, tickling my throat.
I am the gator.
Suddenly, I’m hit with lightning sharp pain. Again and again, the electricity runs through my body.
My jaw is forced open and his organ is pried off my teeth. Then I’m shocked again and I close my eyes. Maybe for the last time.
When I wake, I’m alone. I can see my former cell mates in the cell next to mine and now the blonde women are diagonal. I stand as close to the men’s cell as possible, to see if I managed to bite off Big’s penis.
I can’t see anything from this angle, but when he sees me and we make eye contact he starts yelling like a madman. Thankfully, there’s a forcefield separating us. He looks furious as he moves to the edge of the cell and begins banging against the orange forcefield that just ripples in more static orange waves. My eyes immediately go to between his legs. I can’t tell if my teeth marks are still there, but what’s left of his penis is maybe a half an inch at best and hardly peeks out over his unruly dark pubic hair.
“Fuck around and find out,” I say loudly, even though he can’t hear me.
The women in the cell diagonal to mine catch my eye and I turn my attention to them. They’re all smiling and giving me a thumbs up. I fake humbleness and take a bow like an actor at the end of a play. This makes Big even more enraged and he starts shouting at the women too.
I watch wondering what leads people to become so detached from society they’d hurt others, even in situations like this, when we clearly have a common enemy. It makes no sense.
But I have to reflect on my own behavior too. I was only here a day, two at the most, and I went from being a normal person to a full-on savage.
I didn’t start it , I think, trying to reconcile my actions as I watch Big still shouting at the other women, But I did fucking finish it.
The days blend together silently. There’s nothing to hold on to, no distractions, except the occasional clatter of food being delivered breaking the monotony. Every eight hours, like clockwork.
I wonder if anyone on Earth is looking for me.
People go missing all the time. And it’s very easy to make it look like someone decided to go somewhere else or even disappear off the grid. A few fake texts or social media posts, and in a matter of minutes, the world moves on. Goldfish memories.
I think about my own life. I have no one who would demand answers if I didn’t show up for work except my boss, but I’m replaceable and despite being the model employee, I’ve never been close with him or anyone else. I have acquaintances who might make one phone call to the police, but then never follow up.
I own my own apartment. The bills are paid automatically. I don’t have a doorman. I’m not a member of any clubs. There’s no one.
I have no family to speak of. My mother died when I was four. Her death is one of my earliest memories. I still remember asking her, while visiting her in the hospital, her body connected to wires and machines, “Are you going up to the sky now, Mommy?”
“Yes, baby girl,” she had said, her voice breaking. “I’m going up to the sky now. Be a good girl for Daddy. We both love you.”
“Your mommy is going to become a star, Briar,” my dad added.
My father became a star himself not long after, leaving me alone with only a sky full of distant, untouchable lights as my only parental guidance from the age of eight. Even now, when I look up at the night sky, I imagine my parents are watching me. I know it’s childish, but it’s a reassuring habit. It’s ironic then, if I’ve been abducted by aliens and am in a spaceship among those same stars that always comforted me.
After my father died, I bounced between foster homes. Some girls turn rebellious or self-destructive. Me? I built walls. I learned to rely only on myself, to focus on success and money. And the world rewarded me for it. The mayor even gave me an award a few years ago— a foster child turned commodities trader, the poster girl for success. The irony still burns. I didn’t do anything to inspire others. I did it because that’s how I coped with the card I was dealt with in life.
My ex. boyfriend’s voice echoes in my mind, as sharp and cutting as ever. “You treat me like I’m going to turn my back on you at the drop of a hat. I can’t live like this anymore, Briar.”
It still stings. He wasn’t the first to feel that way, but he was the only one to say it out loud. No other boyfriend lasted long enough to put it into words, but the signs were always there. I’m not easy to love. I don’t know how to trust others.
My eyes drift to the men in the cage next to mine. Maybe this is all some twisted experiment. A study orchestrated by psychologists who wanted to see what would happen if they threw people like us—loners, overachievers, outliers—into this hell. Or maybe it’s just a game, some dystopian reality show for a higher species.
Whatever it is, I didn’t sign up for this.
The same woman from before catches my eye from the female cage across from me. She’s mouthing something again.
I squint, trying to make sense of the word, but it’s impossible.
She moves closer to the edge of her cage, her gestures growing more exaggerated as she repeats the word. Her urgency is contagious, but it only makes me feel more frustrated.
I shake my head, mouthing back, “I don’t understand.”
She presses on, joined by another woman who begins miming motions—pointing to herself, gesturing outward, then pretending to hold something close.
“Bet?” I mutter under my breath. “What bet? What does that mean?”
The second woman shakes her head emphatically and repeats the motions.
“Set?” I try again.
My patience snaps. I throw my hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know!”
The first woman’s shoulders slump. Disappointment is written all over her face.
I sink to the cold floor, wrapping my arms around my knees. But I can’t stop watching her. She leans against her cell wall now, defeated, while the other women murmur among themselves, casting worried glances my way.
“Whatever it is, they know something I don’t,” I whisper to myself. “And whatever it is... it’s not good.”
Three days ago, Slender was taken from the men’s cell and didn’t come back. And a handful of the blonde women were led out too, but a few of them returned, so I don’t think anyone was being executed. They looked unharmed. No, that’s not true. Physically unharmed, but emotionally traumatized.
I promise myself that when they come for me, I’ll try to remain calm, to figure out as much as possible. In the hopes that the more I understand about my situation, the better chance I have of getting home.
As the days wear on, I’m still not entirely convinced this is a spaceship and as stupid as Big is, I am starting to believe this might be just other humans messing with us. I’ve never felt the ship move nor have we seen anything really alien except the few aliens when we arrived. And there are toilets in our cells. How would these kinds of aliens know about human toilets?