The Varkari

Flee

There were a few gasps, including Konderick's as the crowd took in what he had just said. Exer had told me that First Token was the highest bloodline, the absolute best genetics of their entire race. They could pick any female from auction or more than one without paying. They could literally go door to door and breed any human and their Varkari mates had to let them because their genes were superior to any other. This included taking another's mate.

My stomach dropped to my feet and I wanted to vomit, but in the next second the world erupted into absolute chaos.

"No!" Exer launched himself at the Admiral at the same time that Konderick spun me around and shoved me toward the door so hard that I fell onto my knees. "Go!" He shouted, throwing his body in the way of a Lord that tried to grab at me, claws raking across the soft skin of my inner arm.

Scrambling up, I met the molten yellow gaze of the Admiral and heard his deep bellow of fury as I sprinted out the rear exit, dodging one huge Varkari after another. Deep within myself, I felt my instincts screaming that I should stop and submit, throw myself on the ground and make myself small. Hell, I wanted to, but I knew if I did, there would be no turning back.

My flight was enough distraction that a handful of other females felt the same panic of being vulnerable in a room of raging giants and bolted in different directions, their mates tearing after them. There was enough chaos of guards flooding inward and others chasing me out that everyone clashed in a giant mess of claws and hormones and bought me another few seconds to dive between legs and get out onto the street. From there, I immediately hooked a right into an alley and saw a hovercraft slowly starting its elevation off the ground. Lunging forward, I grabbed the handles on the back of the cargo ship and held on as it jerked into motion and hauled me up two stories, freezing air whipping around me.

I had a death grip on those icy handles, or my hands froze to the metal, which saved me as the craft made one sharp arc and dive after another until landing some time later at a warehouse-type operation in a line of other parked crafts. Ripping my skin, I waited just until the driver made it to the building to jog down the ditch, across the road and onto an open field overgrown with untamed weeds, holding one stinging hand to my chest and the other clasped tightly on the bleeding scratches on my arm. Pushing myself as hard as I could, I sprinted away from the male that was no doubt following my scent on the air and the two males that had sheltered me for six months.

I'm not quite sure how long I moved for, but I kept going away from the lights of the city and the search beams weaving above for what felt like hours. Sweating from the run, I knew I would catch a chill if I didn't find somewhere warm to hide from the biting late-fall air. My lungs were scorched from gasping in icy gulps and my skin had a numbness to it that was alarming.

Could I afford to stop and take shelter? Could I afford not to?

I had not actually gotten to eat dinner, which meant I had not eaten since breakfast and that was nearly twenty-four hours ago at that point. Physically, I could feel the fatigue dragging me down to the point where I was too tired to care about the risks of getting caught as long as I got to sleep.

Trudging across the frost-covered field away from the far-off lights of the city, I kept my eyes on my surroundings and strained my ears for any slight whirs of drones. The drones, Konderick told me, were a new tactic in the constant search for wild humans. The heat sensors detected warmth within our temperature range which was cooler than that of the Varkari. Images were sent to the nearest tracker station to be evaluated. If it was a human, a few hunters would be sent out to collect them.

I hadn't heard anything, but I couldn't hope to assume I was safe just yet. I needed somewhere cold to sleep like a cellar or stone building. I saw a farmhouse at the edge of the field, a few coyotes skittering away, still too afraid of humans to hunt me. Nothing but predators out tonight it seemed.

A tiny flash of red caught my attention and I stopped, holding my breath so there was no puff of breath clouding my sight. I waited twelve heartbeats, staring into the dark forest, until at last I saw another unmistakable blink of red light between the trees.

"Shit," I hissed, picking up a shaky jog toward the house. I couldn't stay there, not with the drone so close. I picked my way over a drooping barbed wire fence and skittered through an overgrown backyard. Luckily, there was a neighborhood beyond, but I pulled up short. Between the houses, there were several blinking red lights winking in and out like fireflies.

Behind me, the other drone was twisting through the trees.

One of them was going to spot me any second so I rushed to the back door and found it already open, leaves scattered into the back room. The house had been raided or trashed in the mass panic of humans evacuating. The only two things I stopped for were an old canvas coat and a kitchen knife. Rushing door to door, it was probably the only time anyone felt relief at finding a dusty old basement, but I could have cried with happiness as I rushed down the stairs into the complete darkness. It took a while for my eyes to adjust in the gloom, but when they did, I was able to make out the faint shape of a deep freezer that had been cleared out of all food.

Nevertheless, it was fairly insulated and about my size, a perfect place to sleep while hiding my body heat. I closed the lid all but for the width of the kitchen knife handle. I'm not sure how long I slept for, because it was extremely dark, but my dreams were filled with giant shadowy figures creeping around the basement, yellow eyes gleaming and reflecting, harsh growls trying to get me to react. My body was hot and my skin irritated, itchy almost.

When I woke up and ventured up the stairs, feeling very lightheaded, it was night again and my body felt weak and sore from running without eating. The cupboards had been stripped of everything the previous occupants could take with them, except two cans of green beans and a taco seasoning packet that had already been chewed at by mice.

After wolfing down one can that tasted much too like iron to be enjoyable, I managed to find a canvas tote and stuffed the blanket, my remaining can, an extra pair of clothes, a discarded mason jar that I filled with water pooled in the freezer, and the kitchen knife inside. My luck finally started to turn when I slipped out of the house into the garage and found a bicycle in the corner, covered in cobwebs, but perfectly useable after reinflating one tire.

And that's how I felt myself pedalling down the middle of a dark road in the middle of a freezing cold night, avoiding whatever raccoon or possum ran in front of me and the debris from crashes. I had been hiding in that church so long, I really had not known about the panic. People had fled in masse and the Varkari had intercepted traffic, pulling humans left and right, sorting them, corralling them, disposing of those they deemed dangerous.

I wondered while I furiously pumped my stiff legs up and down since there was not much else to do. I wondered which rumors were true. I wondered if they did send all the men and older women to blood collection centers or if they got a choice. I wondered what they did with the kids.

I rode that bike for about an hour and pushed past my physical limit after that until I nearly fell off into the grass and pried my frozen hands off the handlebars. There was not much water in the mason jar and it had an after taste of freezer burn to it, but it helped. After a brief rest, I began to feel the chill seeping back into the thick coat and started off. Pedal, break, pedal, break. The night wore on forever until my legs became jello and I started looking for a place to rest.

Pulling into a driveway, my exhaustion got the better of me and I wasn't paying attention like I should have. One second I was stumbling toward a porch and the next I was engulfed in heat, one huge arm bent across my chest, claws wrapping around my neck while the other arm forced me to bend at the waist.

His weight was too much and he easily crumpled me to the ground in the fetal position. Since my legs were folded with both my weight and his, I could do nothing while he freed the hand not collaring me and touched the earpiece he must have had.

"Female subdued," he said in Varkari, my implant translating for me. "Fits criteria of runaway."

I struggled and wriggled, panting hard because I was already so tired, but it was like trying to remove a sumo wrestler that had died on top of me and he squeezed his claws painfully tight against the skin of my neck in warning. "Stop," the soldier growled. "Transport will be here shortly. Medical attention and sustenance will be provided. You can relax."

"I will relax when I'm six feet under!" I tried to bash the back of my head into his face, but he dodged.

CRACK.