28. Empty Chains
TWENTY-EIGHT
EMPTY CHAINS
Syasku
I fling Pierce’s body across the room.
Advancing on the soldier, I back him against the door. With small strips of Pierce’s flesh sloshing down his face, I grab the soldier’s head between my hands and twist. Snapping noises fill my ears as I continue twisting until his head is facing the wrong direction. I throw his convulsing body to the floor. It smacks the ground with a thud and ceases to move.
I inhale, sucking the bloody air into my lungs, satisfaction filling me to the brim. Shuddering with pleasure from such a long-awaited kill, my gaze finds Asera. It is almost as good as being inside Vivian, her sheath milking my knot with desperation. Almost.
“Join me,” I offer Asera, who remains at the table, his fists curled before him. He watches my violence with a blank expression. “Join me and I will spare Urssssula. We will be free of this place together.”
“No.”
I lick the blood off my fingers as I move to Pierce’s corpse and look down at him. More blood gushes from his neck to spill across the floor. “Why?”
“Because you will not survive what you are setting out to do. You will not get far, Syasku. I have seen more of this ship than you have. It is a maze of metal and nothing like home. It is dark and bleak and sad.”
I pay him no mind. Snatching the little black device that controls my collar from Pierce’s front pocket, I crush it, my satisfaction exhilarating and delicious. Next I steal Pierce’s door card and break the human’s weapons, leaving them in a pile atop of their bodies, save for a knife.
“You are a coward,” I announce, pushing the knife’s blade under the band around the lower part of my tail. Sawing in hard cleaves, not caring that the blade stabs into my flesh, I work through the leather until I reach the embedded barb ring. With the metal exposed, I slip my fingers around it and yank with both hands.
I grunt with pain as the barbs slip out from my skin. I pull harder until I hear a snap. The metal ring rents in two. After sawing the rest off I am finally free of the horrid restraint. It leaves behind nearly three hand spans of white flesh and shriveled scales dotted by a ring of bleeding wounds where the barbs were.
“I am choosing to keep my promise,” Asera hisses, remaining at the table as I work.
Panting in an elated breath, and with my tail free at last, I coil it under me, working muscles that have remained fixed for far too long. “You will die here. That is what awaits you if you stay.”
Next, I slide the knife under my collar and start sawing anew. But the leather is too thick and my knife is unable to cut it off. Tossing the knife, I leave the collar in place.
“Yessss, I may, but I would have died on Earth just as easily. Here, I am feared and mated. Two things I thought impossible.”
I look at him, understanding dawning on me. “So be it, Asera. I wish you well for as long as you live.”
He turns his face away, and having nothing left to say, I head for the door.
“Take the soldier’s gun,” Asera calls after me.
I pause and look back. “I destroyed it.”
“They will not know that. If you come across more humans, aim the weapon at them. It will make them stop long enough to give you an opening.”
I consider his advice, finding it sound. Returning to the corpses, I grab the broken gun. “Thank you, old friend.”
“Goodbye, older friend.”
When I am done, I return to the door and pull it open. The locking mechanism lifts automatically, and I peer outside. The corridor is empty and the lights are low, casting the hallway in shadows. Pricking my ears for any telltale sounds, all I hear is the airflow from the vents above.
I smell everyone. Ursula, Pierce, Asera, even Vivian, and the male who supplies us, Muffin, as well as a few of the guards. They intermingle as I head left and to the hallway’s end where my cell is located. The door between me and the room does not open as easily as the last.
Lifting Pierce’s card to the door’s panel, I hear a click. Pushing it open, I meet the eyes of the soldier on the other side. I push the door the rest of the way open and shoot forward. His body drops, broken and crushed beneath mine before his next breath.
With Pierce’s card still in my grip, and his blood trickling down my cheeks, I swipe the card to the door to my cell. Adrenaline coursing feverishly through my veins, I rush in when the locking mechanism sounds, eager to see Vivian and make our escape.
“Female—” my voice drops, discovering the room is empty.
No blankets, no bag, no food, and no Vivian. Just a large square space with three metal sides and a wall of reflective glass.
Our nest is gone.
Grabbing the edge of the door, I slam it into the wall, releasing some of my bloodlust as I try to understand why Vivian and our supplies are gone.
Gone.
Be strong.
My face wrenches.
I knew something was wrong the moment I realized Ursula was more interested in her than me. Slamming the door once more, I turn to the dead soldier on the floor outside, realizing I may have killed the only human who might know where Vivian was taken.
Pressure fills my head, venom my fangs. Rage grows in my chest, expanding it. I lash out again, swinging my tail outward, crushing the soldier’s body into a pulp until there is nothing left except a pool of blood. Calming slightly, I return to the corridor where I scented Vivian amongst the others. She is near.
We are on a ship, after all. I just have to find her.
The doors on the other end of the corridor open and two soldiers appear. They pause at the sight of me, and using their surprise to my advantage, I spring down the hall straight for them. One yells as they both raise their weapons. Bullets ring as they hit the walls, some pelting me as I close the distance. I tackle the first to the ground, while wrapping my tail around the other.
The other screams as I squeeze him until his body snaps.
“Where is sssshe?” I yell into the soldier’s face beneath me.
White skin and wide, terror-stricken eyes meet mine. “Who? Don’t—don’t kill me?—”
“Where is Vivian?”
“I don’t know?—”
I break his neck and slide off of him. Loosening my fingers, I crack my knuckles, ready for the next. It does not matter to me who these soldiers are. To me, they are all Pierce, and need to die.
I hear the door open again. Another appears, but when he sees me he stumbles back out of the room. Chasing after him, I grab his nape, pull him back into the corridor, twist him, and pin him to the wall. “Where is Vivian?” I roar.
He shouts for help, and annoyed, I slam my fist into his skull before he can shout again.
I hear more soldiers arrive just as a wailing, piercing sound rings in my ears. Around me the dim lights turn red.
The soldiers raise their weapons as I lift Pierce’s broken one, using their hesitancy to clear the distance, barreling into them. Two of them fly back through the door they just emerged from.
“Where is Vivian?” I shout, my voice scaling with the rage that has been festering within me. Pain erupts in my shoulder, and I snap around, seeing more humans turn a corner on the stairs on the other side.
I throw the third soldier at him and shut the door, bracing against it as the opening mechanism clicks in their attempt to enter. Bodies, blood, and flashing red lights surround me. Eyeing the numerous doors up and down the corridor, I have no idea which one to go for.
The pounding worsens on the door.
A chime sounds, catching my attention. It’s coming from at the end of the hallway where I killed the previous soldiers. Two metal doors slide open and disappear into the walls on either side, revealing a single male whose eyes widen, taking in the dead bodies on the floor.
He looks up and our eyes catch.
“Syasku,” Muffin chokes out. “You’re free.” He shuffles back and into the wall.
Still holding the door behind me closed, I turn and slam Pierce’s gun into the panel. Sparks fly as the glass shatters, and I drop the gun, having no more use for it.
Knowing time is limited, I lunge down the corridor and descend upon Muffin. “Where is sssshe?” I snarl, backing him into the corner of the small square room.
He swallows, the ball of his throat moving up and down, the red lights shifting over his frightened features. He raises both hands in a sign of mercy. “She—she was taken to her father.”
Her father…
The alpha.
I snap at him. “Take me to her,” I order, clamping my hand around his neck and holding him in place.
“I—I can’t.”
“You will,” I warn, leaning into his face and breathing over it.
The door with the broken panel bursts open and forced to release Muffin, I turn back around. Soldiers rush into the hallway, this time carrying shields. “Surrender or die!” one of them shouts as they get into position and move toward me as one.
Muffin drops out of sight, hiding from the soldier’s view. Peering around at the small space, there is no other way out except the way I came in.
“Surrender with your hands up!” another shouts.
With no clear escape, I haul Muffin in front of me. Circling my hand back around his neck, I press against the wall, using his body as a shield. Under my palm, Muffin shakes.
“I can take you to her,” he says so low I barely hear him. “Don’t shoot!” he yells to the soldiers as they continue to approach.
“You know where she issss?” I hiss down at Muffin.
He nods. “I-I-I can help you. Just don’t kill me. I don’t like what’s happening here anymore than you do.”
“Help me?” I curl my hand harder around his neck. “How?”
“You’ll have to trust me.”
I sink the tips of my shortened claws into his weathered skin.
“Release him!” someone shouts.
Muffin coughs, frozen except for his shaking. “If you want to see her again, you’ll have to do what I say.”
“You will take me to her?” I rasp. Smelling Vivian on him, I realize he was with her not that long ago. Scales bristling, my claws press deeper.
“I’ll try.” He wheezes his next breath then lifts a hand to indicate another panel beside the door. “Use your tail and press the buttons next to the door. The right one will close it.”
There are dozens of buttons, all of which are numbered or labeled. None are familiar.
Swiping them all at once, there is a short pause as they flash with color. The room rattles and the doors start sliding closed. One of the soldiers dashes forward to stop it, throwing his body in the way, stopping the doors. Two more rush us after. I push Muffin aside as I swipe my tail at them, knocking all three back. They topple, and the doors begin sliding closed again.
Just as it shuts, I spy Ursula behind the soldiers, standing beside Asera. She lifts her hand and points a black device toward me.
My hands reach for my collar, but it is too late.
Electricity surges through me, sending me to the ground, igniting every fiber of my body with intense, excruciating pain. Burning flesh fills my nose as sizzling sounds flood my ears. Muffin’s face is the last thing I see before I feel my eyes igniting and everything goes black.