Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
Anna glanced around as she and the five males were herded down a long, dark passageway that led away from the training facility.
The smell of sulfur and the warm steam billowing toward them made her feel like they were approaching the gates of hell.
The tension in the air from the trainers had ratcheted up to a point where she just wanted to scream at them to stop right now, or hit someone, or . . .
Her mouth dried as they turned into a smaller room with a big screen on one rock wall and a dozen chairs. She sat where Kai indicated, and waited as everyone else filed in and Akran took the stage. The lights were dimmed.
“Tomorrow is Tribute Day on Mitan. Our citizens celebrate our colonization of this planet and give thanks for the prosperity of our world.” He glanced down at the lectern as a series of smiling images flashed on the screen behind his head.
“Most of them have no idea that their safety and the continued well-being of all humanoid life forms on this planet are bought for them by a small group of people.” He lifted his gaze. “In this case, the six of you.”
There wasn’t a sound from anyone, although even in the darkness, Anna could see the confusion on her companions’ faces. They’d all been too well trained to speak out.
“Fifty years ago the government began to hear disturbing rumors that whole cities and towns in this remote region were disappearing overnight.
Security personnel sent to investigate never returned.
Eventually, the government sent their best troops and scientists to see what was causing the disruptions.
It emerged that what had been considered a barren planet, ripe for colonization, was in fact home to a native species who were in a hibernation phase many miles underground.
“The heat from the cities and towns and the growth of the current population into this region stirred the original inhabitants from their deep slumber. Fearing they were under attack, the species began exterminating what they considered vermin on the surface of their world.”
Akran carried on reading from what was obviously a prepared script.
“The original species, the Ungrich , have the necessary strength to obliterate us completely. Our armies threatened to use their weaponry to take out the core of the planet and blow it into a million pieces, but it soon became obvious that they didn’t have enough power.
An agreement was finally reached. The Ungrich insisted that they were a peaceful race, and asked only that colonization in this area should stop and that they should be allowed to study our species in more detail.
In return for the Mitan providing specimens for examination they promised not to destroy any more emerging colonies in other areas. ”
“Specimens?” Anna whispered. “Oh, holy fuck, no.”
He continued speaking as if unaware of the dawning horror on his audience’s faces.
“Once a Mitan year, on Tribute Day, we honor that promise.” He shrugged. “We have no choice if we want to survive. And for their part, the Ungrich have kept to themselves and destroyed no more of our colonies.”
Beside her, Trent made a stifled sound, but no one corrected him.
“The Ungrich are not humanoid. Their species has no equivalent in our world. Their appearance is . . . unusual. They exist in an atmosphere that contains less oxygen than our own, which is why we base the training camp here at this altitude, to help you acclimate.” He slowly scanned their faces.
“If you accept what they wish to do to you, don’t struggle, and obey their commands, there is a high possibility that because of your training, you will remain intact and will be delivered back to this facility after approximately a week. ”
“And if we don’t?” Trent spoke up.
“Then you might anger them. They don’t see us as equal to their species, and they don’t reason like we do. If you don’t perform as they expect, they will discard your results and remove you from their experiments.”
“You mean they’ll kill us.”
“Yes.”
Solly, one of the other males, shook his head. “This is fucking insane. So you’re saying that if we do what we’re told, just like you’ve trained us to do, we might survive?”
“Yes.” Akran nodded. “When you emerge from the Ungrich environment, you will be given every tool you need to move on from the experience.”
“And we’re no longer under sentence of death, right?” Anna asked, although she had no idea what she was going to do if she did survive. Staying on Mitan wasn’t high in her future plans, but getting back to a planet no one here believed existed was going to be damned complicated.
“Exactly.” He bowed low to her. “Tonight your nation will honor you with a feast, and tomorrow we will offer you up as Tributes.”
The lights went up and Anna realized she had no inclination to move. How long was it since she’d been allowed to sit on a chair? She was so used to being on the floor that it felt weird. Akran came toward her, her leash swinging in his hand.
“Are you all right, Lee?”
She nodded. When he didn’t move away, she allowed her gaze to meet his and risked a comment.
“I’m not Mitan.”
“So you claim.”
“What if I’m not a suitable sacrifice?”
“We prefer to use the word Tribute.”
“I bet you do.” She took a deep, unsatisfying breath. “This sucks, you know that?”
“I do, Lee. I’ve been in your place.”
She stared at him for a long shocked moment. “And you survived?”
“Yeah.” There was a bleak look in his already hard eyes that made her wary.
“How many survived?”
“That particular year?” His smile held no joy. “Two. Me and Kai.”
“Out of how many?” She barely got the words out of her suddenly tight throat.
“Twelve.” He hesitated and then continued. “But we have refined our training methods since those days, and the success rate is far higher.”
“Oh, goody.”
One of his rare smiles lifted the corners of his mouth. “That’s the spirit, Lee. Now come and enjoy the feast.”
She ate as much as she could, and drank as much kvas beer as she could get down her throat.
If it was her last night, she was damn well going to enjoy it.
Despite them all trying their best to be festive, there was a grim air of desperation and a sense of time slipping away.
Knowing that all the trainers had survived the ordeal made it a little easier, but the ghosts of those who hadn’t—the hundreds of lost Tributes—whispered and cried within the tunnels, their fear and desperation so real Anna could taste it.
“You’re drunk, Lee.”
“So what?” She glanced up at Rehz Akran, who had come to lean against the wall next to her.
“It’s time for bed.”
“My last night alive.”
“Not necessarily. You might make it.”
“Wow, you inspire me with such hope. This sucks big time, Akran.”
He shrugged his powerful shoulders. “It is what it is. You can deal with it, or you can die.”
She sighed. “I’m torn between wanting to die just to spite you, and the lure of getting out alive and having the pleasure of kicking you in the nuts and stamping them into the ground while you cry like a little boy.”
He turned in on her, covering her with his large body, blocking her view of everything except him. “If you promise to do everything I told you and come out of this alive, I’ll fucking give you my left nut.”
She leaned back against the wall so that she could stare into his harsh face. “That’s one hell of an incentive.”
To her surprise, he reached forward and gently cupped her chin. “Don’t fucking die on me, Anna Lee.”
Bending his head, he kissed her mouth until she opened to him. With a groan, he picked her up and fitted her mound against the thick swell of his cock.
“Bed.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her back to his quarters. He sat down with her in his lap on the edge of the bed. She immediately stripped his T-shirt over his head, and took off her own.
He smiled up at her and set his teeth on one of her nipple rings, tugging gently. She gasped and bit his throat right over the coiled scars as he rocked against her.
“Undo my belt, take out my cock, and fuck me, Anna Lee,” he murmured. “Fuck me blind.”
Before he could latch on to her nipple ring again, she pushed him backward until he lay on the bed, and worked on his pants to expose his big, stiff cock. He wrapped one hand around his shaft and drew it away from his stomach.
“Fuck me.”
She considered him for a long moment, waiting to see if he’d grab her and order her to comply, but he did nothing but lie quietly and wait.
“And what if I don’t want to?”
“You do. You’ve been dying to ride me and to make me beg. Tonight’s your chance.”
“You have that slightly wrong.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been dying to kill you.”
“So do it. Wrap those hands around my neck while you fuck me and steal my breath.”
There was something poignant in his gray gaze that made her swallow hard. She tried to shake off her sense that they were connected far too intimately now to ever be free of each other.
“I’ve heard some guys get off on that asphyxiation shit.”
“Not me. Palk tried . . .” He stopped speaking and briefly closed his eyes. “Just fuck me, Anna. If this is our last time together, let’s do it right.”
God, it was cold . . .
Anna glanced over at the hollow faces of her fellow trainees and wished she hadn’t drunk so much on the previous night.
Although for the first time Akran had let her take the lead while they fucked, he’d still dictated the pace and frequency of their encounters, and she was sore.
They’d all been checked over by the medical team, given another armful of shots—including some to speed up normal healing—and pumped full of nutritional supplements.
None of which was reassuring her about what was to come.
The fear of not knowing—of not understanding what she had to face—was worse than anything.
The door behind them shut, leaving her staring at a huge, round metal entrance with a fifteen-meter diameter, lodged in the side of the black, mountainous rock.
“This is the portal to the world of the Ungrich . We will be here in a week to await your return.” Akran bowed his head. “May the gods keep you safe.”
The remaining trainers went to stand by the closed door at the back, and only Akran approached the portal.
“Please advance to the metal plate in front of the door.”
He did something to the control panel, and lights flashed around the circumference of the door, followed by the low hum of machinery as the platform began to rise and vibrate.
Anna held her breath as the door started to open, but it revealed nothing—only a gleaming pink, marbled space.
“Step into the room.”
Akran’s voice echoed through the enclosed cave as they all marched forward.
Before Anna could even turn to take a last look behind her, the circular door closed, leaving the six of them alone.
She immediately noticed the increased moisture in the air and breathed more slowly, forcing her body to adapt to the decrease in oxygen, and slowing down her anxiety.
Instead she focused on one of the walls, listening for the arrival of the Ungrich . Was there a light approaching from behind the wall? She squinted as the mottled texture of the surface seemed to undulate and expand.
“Trent, look out—”
The words had barely escaped her lips when the entire wall behind him moved and exploded into a tangled mass of webbing and protuberances.
She tried to scream as something wet wrapped itself around her neck, pulling her back into the heated embrace of an entity that reminded her of nothing more than a pile of living, pulsating intestines.
Everyone was screaming now as they were drawn into the pink, writhing mass.
Another tentacle coiled around Anna’s throat and she fought back her panic.
What had Rehz said? Let them do what they want, don’t fight them, don’t resist?
But God, she felt like she was about to be suffocated in warm guts.
She screamed again as the probe tightened and a sharp pain under her ear brought the coppery tang of her own blood and the sense of something living pushing up inside her skull.
It connected with her mind, and she forced herself to concentrate on the sensation.
“Female?”
She made herself relax into the heated mesh of the Ungrich ’s mind, watched the other men do the same. All except Trent, who was fighting off the attempt of one of the probes to infiltrate his skull.
Anna wanted to call out to him, to remind him not to panic, but even as she tried to yell, another tentacle inserted itself into the cavity of her mouth, stifling all sound. She tried to remember to breathe through her nose, to fricking breathe.
“No!” Trent’s screams deepened, and he ripped at the probes, tearing into the fine webbing of the Ungrich ’s flesh.
Anna could only watch helplessly as more and more probes attached themselves to him, puncturing his skin in many places, filling his nostrils, his ears, his .
. . God, he was disappearing as they writhed over and then within him, under his skin, lifting him higher and higher into the air until—
Anna closed her eyes as Trent’s body seemed to explode, and then found she didn’t have the strength to open them again as the Ungrich swallowed her whole.