With the remainder of humanity in chains, Shasta keeps her head down and tries to weather the storm. Servicing the filthy needs of a superior alien race, each day passes in a blur, the struggle to survive outweighing everything else.
After ten years...
Clipping the final piece of crystal onto the roof, I sit back to stare at my creation.
Unexpected tears well up in my eyes. I can't believe I made this. It's so beautiful. It's the first thing in years that makes me feel like I'm at home. It's just the bones of a house, I can't make furniture or anything but this is enough.
Moving up to sit on the bed, I can't peel my eyes away from it. Pride courses through me. I made that. I remember painting and drawing as a kid, and the sense of accomplishment I would feel when I created something I thought was beautiful. I feel it now, swelling in my chest.
I'm not sure how long I just sit, perfectly content to stare at it. When the door opens, I spin around, hoping that Fiona is here again. I think she will like it. It's something that feels like earth.
It's Fiona's alien, but she isn't with him. It takes only a second to realize that he doesn't have a tray with him either.
My heartbeat starts to increase on instinct. I've seen the look on his face before and I know it's not good. If he's not here with food, he's got no reason to be here - other than a bad one.
I recognize the anguish etched into his features. It's the same longing and hesitation that the Destroyer had. He knows what he is planning is wrong.
"P-Please," I whisper, sliding back into the bed so that I'm pressed to the wall. Any distance between us is welcome. "You don't have to do this."
I want to remind him of what is at stake here, of who he is really messing with if he does something he shouldn't.
When he speaks, the translator only picks up half of what he says. I know from the bits and pieces that he wants to take me. His voice strikes fear into my heart. It's rough and low like Destroyers but it's missing something, the part that puts me at ease.
We're in a kind of stand-off, frozen watching each other. I'm trapped here and he knows it. I'm at his mercy. He could turn around and walk away right now, but he's still deciding.
When he lunges forward, it looks like he's made up his mind.
I struggle in his grasp, trying to pull myself away from him but it's no use.
"Quiet," he snarls but I won't just let him take me without a fight. I know it's useless but I'm still going to try.
He turns me, moving my body like a weightless doll, holding both of my arms tightly in his hands, shaking me slightly. Looking directly into his eyes, I kick my feet as hard as I can.
His menacing growl is the last thing I remember. The sickening crack of bone echoes in the room but I'm left in pitch black. Everything around me spins. I don't know where I am, if I could just open my eyes.
I feel consciousness spreading through me. It's like a slow moving liquid that starts in my toes and works its way up. Wherever I am, it's cold, dark and hard.
When I'm finally able to peel my eyes open, the nausea that spreads through me forces them closed again. It doesn't matter anyway, there is no light to see anything. Lifting my hands, I'm met with a hard smooth surface barely above my body. Tracing it with my fingertips, I find that it's completely surrounding me.
"Hello?" My voice sounds muffled even to my own ears. Knocking on the barrier, it hardly makes a sound.
Is this a box? A coffin?
I panic, thrashing against the surface. It's not going to break, I'm only wearing myself out and exacerbating the pounding in my head but I can't stop. The fuzzy memory of Fiona's alien grabbing me plays over in my mind. Did he do this?
"Destroyer, where are you?" I beg, knowing with every reasonable part of my brain that he won't hear me.
Time passes as I drift in and out of consciousness. I'm in a vortex, an abyss. There are no sounds, no movements, all the senses are completely dull.
Movement wakes me up. My coffin is moving.
When the top opens, my first instinct is to shrink back away from my capture.
He grabs me, pulling me out of the box and into the dim light of his room. Frantically, I search for Fiona but she's not here. I hate to think about what he's done to her.
I'm alone with him. The thought makes my empty stomach roll. This isn't supposed to be happening, not again. I'm supposed to be safe here.
"Stop," he growls, his grip biting into my arms.
I'm crying. I didn't realize until just now that tears are streaming down my cheeks and dripping onto Destroyer's shirt.
"Stop!" His voice is louder this time. He's getting aggravated by my emotions.
I can't stop. His anger is only making me cry harder.
"You can't do this!" I sob, starting to hyperventilate. "I'm not yours! When he finds out what you've done-"
My threat is stopped short when he throws me, hard, back into the box and slams the lid down. My body aches and my dry throat burns but I'm glad to be back here. At least in the box, I'm not out with him, he's not touching me. I shudder at the thought. Next time he takes off the lid, I'm going to escape.
I don't care if he kills me. I'm not going to let him touch me.
"You do not earn peace, you make it, taking it by force." That's what Destroyer said. I have to take my fate into my own hands.
Closing my eyes, I formulate a plan. I'm smaller than him, fragile and weak by comparison but there is one way that I'm stronger. I can hurt him in one way. When he tries to take what doesn't belong to him - what isn't his for the taking - I know what I have to do.
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