Chapter 23
Hattie
“You hear that?” Belmira asked, distracting Hattie from her hair. Belmira had offered to braid hers up if she did the same, wanting it to be wound into a tight bun so that her hair couldn’t be grabbed when someone came in the door.
It was an easy style to do, something she could have done herself. Hattie suspected she just wanted someone to treat her nicely, to take care of her a bit. A small bit of relief in the midst of this hell she had found herself in.
How long had Belmira been here? What had happened to her in that time?
Hattie had been afraid to ask so, instead, they talked about innocuous things as Belmira braided her hair first.
Belmira told her about her village. About her father and mother. About a guy that she fully intended to marry and give a couple cute, chubby faced babies.
She was harder than Hattie, with a distinct edge that Hattie knew she didn’t possess. But at the end of the day, they both wanted the same thing. A cute guy that they loved, a safe home to cook in and clean, and healthy babies to raise.
Hattie had already trauma bonded to the girls she had been abducted with. She was able to recognize it happening again now. But she didn’t try to fight against it. She eagerly asked questions about Belmira’s life, the guy she liked, her village.
And when it was Hattie’s turn to braid her hair, the conversation similarly switched.
Hattie told her about Tuvo – how he was big and grumpy and kind.
She didn’t mention that he was an alien, but she did say that her friends had all hooked up with his coworkers, so it was like they were one big family themselves.
She told her about being a recipe inventor – which was a funny way to put it, though accurate.
She told her about her own desire for a safe home with cute, chubby faced babies – leaving out the preference for them having three eyes and tails.
The two of them had been discussing preferred baby genders – Belmira wanted strong sons, Hattie wanted at least one of each – when they heard a distant popping. A cracking. It kind of sounded like fireworks.
Which was weird, because why would there be fireworks in the ? That seemed like it would be a fire hazard. A human trafficker’s compound was not a place she’d think would want to launch fireworks either.
But then Belmira, getting to her feet, said, “Those are gunshots,” and the reality of the situation made her blush at her own naivete.
“Gunshots?” She repeated, standing as well.
Belmira was glaring at the door, the small, plexiglass shiv she had made already out of the hem of her pants and back in her hands. Like she might be willing to take on whoever came rushing in that room in the next second.
Which might be a problem.
“Er, Belmira-”
“Sh!” She hissed. “I’m trying to listen. What are they shooting at?”
“It might be… Tuvo?”
It took a second for Belmira to understand what she was saying. She blinked, then her brow furrowed, and then she turned to her.
“Tuvo? Your man?”
Hattie nodded.
“You think that’s him?” She gestured to the door with her plexiglass shiv.
“Pretty sure,” Hattie mumbled, looking at the door herself. Were the gunshots getting closer? It was hard to hear through the metal door.
And then, suddenly, it stopped.
Belmira frowned, reaching out for her shoulder. “I’m sorry. He’s dead.”
“No, he’s not.” Hattie’s voice was completely certain. And, sure enough, the gunfire started up again just a few seconds later.
Belmira shook her head. “If he’s not dead now, he will be.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Hattie opened her mouth, hesitated, then asked, “Belmira, you said your village has electricity, right?”
“Sometimes. When we run the generator. Why?”
“Do you get news there? Like global news?”
Belmira shrugged. “Sometimes. We get most when we sell our stuff in the city. Hear lot of things there. Why?”
“Did you hear about the aliens?”
Belmira’s gaze sharpened. “Hattie… You’re not that Hattie?”
She smiled cautiously. “I… yeah. You heard about me?”
“I heard the names.” She crossed her arms, giving her a dissecting look that made Hattie shift her weight nervously. “You telling me that your man is an alien?”
“Well, he’s a male, not a man. He’s not human. But yeah. Tuvo is one of the aliens. We were on a private jet when our pilot betrayed us and sent us to the ground. We were waiting for rescue when we were found.”
“Explains it then. Thought you were just unlucky find.”
“Are you saying I’m not?”
Belmira shook her head, arms uncrossing and balancing on her hips instead. “Tres Argolas have already made their feelings known. They don’t like the aliens. Warned us that any women trying to fuck an alien would be made an example. That’s why you’re here. You’re going to be an example.”
Hattie frowned. Rodger had been carrying a card from the Three Rings.
He had sent them to the ground, probably expecting that to kill, if not just seriously injure, them.
Then take up sanctuary with these people?
Or maybe lead them to the plane? They had crashed relatively close to this place, considering how big the was.
“Your man… Sorry, your male,” Belmira interrupted her musing. “You sure that’s him? You sure he can get here?”
Hattie smiled, nodding. “Tuvo is strong. He’s incredible. He’s a soldier. He’ll be alright.”
Belmira’s eyebrow rose as an enormous bang echoed through the hall outside their door. The gunshots were definitely louder, closer, now. It sounded horrible. Traumatic.
But there was no doubt in Hattie’s mind that Tuvo was okay. And, funny enough, the longer the shots rang out, the more desperate they seemed, the more confident she became that he was okay.
Belmira came to stand next to her. Both of them staring at the door. Beyond, someone let out an ear-piercing scream of agony that made her wince. Belmira just cocked that eyebrow again.
“He’s a really nice guy,” Hattie assured her quickly. Not wanting Belmira to take one look at Tuvo and panic.
Belmira smirked, malicious joy in her expression. “If he’s killing these putas, he’s a friend in my thinking.”
Hattie chuckled sheepishly.
The door slamming open made her jump. She was already smiling, expecting Tuvo-
-only to find herself staring at a pale skinned Hispanic man with wild hair, a crazed expression, and sweat pouring down his temple.
And a handgun in his violently shaking fist.
He rushed Hattie, speaking in rapid Portuguese. Hattie screamed, dropping back, not fast enough to avoid having her arm caught. The man jerked her close, shoving the gun into her belly, repeating himself now.
“I-I don’t-”
“He’s telling you to call him off,” Belmira said, stepping back, hand clenched around her plexiglass knife, eyes trained on the gun. “Call him off. You can call him off.”
He kept saying it. Stumbling over the words, his entire body shaking in fear.
Movement past the open door drew Hattie’s eyes. There was nothing there, but just looking over his shoulder was enough to set the man off.
He turned with a scream, shooting wildly into the empty hall. Bullets cracked concrete on the wall across their door. The sharp cracking of the gun made Hattie cry out, slapping her hands over her ears as she fell back.
The painful sound distracted her. She didn’t notice Belmira moving until, screaming, she was jumping on the man. Stabbing him with the plexiglass knife. He tried to fight her, his blood splattering off in arcs each time she jerked the knife free.
With a roar, he shoved her off, turning the gun on her.
Only to gasp, his back suddenly arching, eyes and mouth widening. He choked and blood flecked his lips as the gun tumbled from his suddenly limp hand, clattering to the ground.
His body jerked again, then folded. Dropping forward.
Behind him, almost impossible to see he was so well camouflaged, Tuvo’s long, blood-soaked claws remained in the air, his blue-green eyes flashing with rage.
“Tuvo!” Hattie yelled. She knew she yelled, but her ears were still ringing, she couldn’t hear herself right now.
Or Tuvo, when he rushed to her, his voice distorted in her ears.
“I’m okay,” she promised, speaking in Domtri as she sniffed, tears filling her eyes. Not from fear or the horror of seeing a man clawed to death through the back, but from relief. From the joy of seeing Tuvo here in the dim cell.
He smiled in that soft, understated way of his, taking her face in hand and running his thumbs over her cheeks, brushing away her tears. He seemed to understand that she couldn’t hear well right now because he jerked his head towards the door without another word.
Hattie nodded eagerly before gesturing to Belmira.