Chapter 28
I cradled Sal to my chest and followed Taz through the crowded parking lot. There were so many turochs. Males sat on the ground, sharpening weapons, working on animal hides, and eating huge chunks of meat with their bare hands.
The camp felt like an entirely different world with small, jarring reminders that this was my world, just changed.
Like the two alien men rifling through a flatbed trailer stacked with boxes and trash bags.
There was a large rope net laying in front of the trailer, and I stared at it as we passed, wondering how they moved it without a truck.
“It’s a harness,” Taz said, slowing when she realized I'd fallen behind. “A bunch of the guys go out about once a month, to get all this big stuff we find on supply runs. It takes six of them to pull it.”
“They pull it?” I gaped. “How strong are they?”
She laughed, “They’re ridiculously strong. I still don’t understand how the sytos thought they could control them forever.”
It had taken nearly a dozen sytos to restrain Tovis and I knew he could have escaped if he hadn’t been worried about me.
“They were really slaves? Why would the sytos even need them if they had all this advanced tech? Shouldn’t they be using robots or something?”
Taz shrugged. “Don’t ask me to explain, I don’t understand anything about how the sytos operate. The only good ones I’ve met are here with us and they started as hostages.”
“Taz!” A woman shouted. “Get over here, they brought mattresses!”
My guide veered off to the side and I spotted the blonde woman I’d seen before standing next to a towering pile of supplies.
“Hope, this is Tovis’ mate, Jessa. Jessa, Hope.” Taz gestured between us and eyed the pile. “Point me at the beds.”
Hope pointed at a large box near the top of the pile.
“There’s two so far, I’m hoping they grabbed more. I told them to bring a bunch of folding chairs, I didn’t even think about foam beds.”
The two women started digging through the mountain of stuff until the huge box fell to the ground between them. I stared at the dusty image text advertising a queen-sized, ten-inch memory foam mattress with ‘cooling technology’.
“If you see something you want, take it,” Hope said over her shoulder.
“I’m good,” I said. “Tovis’ tent isn’t big enough for a bunch of stuff.”
The blonde straightened. “Do you want to live in a tent? Most of the humans have rooms set up inside the stores. Taz likes living rough because she’s crazy, but the rest of us appreciate a solid roof.”
“You don’t want Dargo and I living anywhere near you, we’re too loud,” Taz chuckled.
Hope made a face at her, “Pervert.”
“Happily mated pervert,” Taz corrected. “Very happily mated, it's not my fault you have a boring sex life.”
“It’s not boring!” Hope tossed a packaged tarp at her friend. “We’re just not destroying furniture or turning sparring sessions into live porn.”
“Potato, potahto.”
“How long have you guys known each other?” I asked. Lots of my clients had come in with close friends and you could always spot the people who’d known each other forever.
“Years,” Hope sighed. “So many years of putting up with her insane antics. Did you know she knocked Dargo out and tied him up when they met?” She shook her head. “This one was born for an alien invasion.”
“An alien certainly invaded my-”
“Taz!” Hope cut her off with a laugh.
“You knocked him out?” I gaped at the wiry red head. “Why?”
The woman turned to look at me.
“Where did Tovis find you?” Taz asked.
“Uh,” I shifted uncomfortably. “I worked in a spa, and I hid there when everything went down.”
“You’ve been in one place this whole time? Alone?” Hope asked. “How’d you manage that? We ran out of food in the first week and had to leave to look for supplies and we were hiding in a restaurant.”
Taz gagged dramatically. “I still have nightmares about that bucket.”
“Don’t remind me,” Hope groaned. “I volunteered to scout around just to get some fresh air and not have to listen to you rant for five minutes.”
“Hey!”
“The spa had a whole health supplement side thing,” I said awkwardly as I tried to keep Sal from climbing out of my arms. “I lived on protein bars and smoothie powder.”
“This whole time?” Taz was aghast. “That's it, we’re hitting the fire and getting you some meat.”
“How long have you guys been here?” I asked, my stomach pinched at the offer of meat, but I was too curious about how the other humans had fared to interrupt the conversation.
“At this camp, about six months, but we were with the turochs after the first week. Have you met Amy?” Hope asked.
I shook my head. “Tovis borrowed these clothes from her, though.”
Hope cocked her head to the side. “Amy has been mated the longest, she actually got taken by the sytos at the very beginning of the invasion and met Kes on one of their ships.”
“She was in space?” I clutched Sal tighter. I’d thought being trapped and alone for months had been bad, but actually being taken off Earth sounded so much worse.
“So was Penny,” Taz offered. “She and Adak got snatched on a supply run and had to fight their way back down here.”
“That’s how we got Uriish,” Hope said. “Actually, that’s kind of how we ended up with Gigi, too.”
“The other sytos?”
“Yup,” Taz turned to scan the parking lot. “Gigi!” she bellowed. “Get over here!”
A second later a slim blue form trotted out of the crowd, and I gaped at the syto male. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth, just like a turoch, and a big straw hat. His eyes lit up when he neared us and he grinned.
“He’s...different,” I said weakly. He looked exactly like every other syto I’d seen except from an alternate dimension.
Same face, same structure, but this syto was grinning and his movements were loose and easy instead of tense and regimented.
He was barefoot and had a small knife hanging from his belt and looked healthy in a way I just now realized the Kwin’s guards didn’t.
“Yeah, he’s our little weirdo,” Taz said fondly.
“Hello, female,” Gigi said cheerfully, sticking out a hand. I shook it.
“We brought another syto back with us,” I said dumbly, not sure what I was supposed to say to him.
Gigi’s tentacles curled slightly, one by one. “I met him this morning. Jiith.”
“Yeah, Jiith. He’s not like you.”
He grinned. “Of course not, I’m a different person.”
Hope shot me a sympathetic look when I glanced at her. “We’ve been helping Gigi find himself. The sytos are all genetically engineered for their jobs and sort of brainwashed to see themselves as expendable and interchangeable.”
“It’s a horrible way to live,” Gigi said, still smiling. “I like it better here. Naomi said I can mate a woman if I find one that likes me. Do you know any?”
“Women?” I asked.
“Yes. None of the ones here want me.” He didn’t seem upset by the fact.
“Oh,” I said, weakly. “I don’t know anybody, I’m sorry.”
Gigi shrugged and looked over at Taz. “Did you need something?”
“Yeah, bring Jessa some meat and tell Dargo I need him to haul some stuff to our tent.” Taz shooed him off.
“Is he a slave here?” I asked when the syto happily jogged off to do as she said.
“No,” Hope laughed. “He’s just eager and he gets clingy if you don’t give him enough jobs. He worked pretty much every moment of his life before he ended up with us, I think he feels like he’s stuck on a vacation that won’t end.”
“This is not what I expected,” I admitted. “I spent so long thinking if I walked outside, I'd get hit by a meteor or something and this is all...weirdly normal?”
Taz crossed her arms and looked me dead in the eye.
“I did my job as the welcoming committee, you know we’re not a cult. So now it's time to ask,” she raised a pierced brow. “What are your intentions with Tovis?”