Backwater Girls from Backwater Worlds

Chapter 03

Rey sat with thirteen other girls all ranging from looking like her twin to a close cousin. They were from all over the world; the noise inside large bus was a cacophony of different languages as many of them struggled to communicate with one another. Rey had barely spoken to anyone since the ordeal had begun. She kept her eyes on the churning angry crowds beyond the darkened windows of the vehicle.

She sighed as the evening light faded. Her last meal had been light as she'd had almost no appetite for the last twenty four hours. They'd asked her what she wanted to eat and Fallinger had urged her to choose whatever she wanted as this might be the last time she'd be able to have food from this planet. Or we could all be blown to hell, she had thought.

She'd picked at the spinach lasagna, and it could have been from the nicest restaurant in the city, but she'd barely tasted it and only ate a few bites before she felt sick. Poe still hadn't been able to call her back, but she'd talked to James a few times. He'd high-tailed it back to her condo like she'd told him to, and the last time she had spoken to him, he'd been watching the news in her living room and eating her leftover chinese. At least her fridge would be clean when she came back.

As the approached the designated meeting spot, the noise quieted. Even Bianca had piped down as the seconds ticked by and they came up to Champ de Mars, the park in front of the tower. It was directly below the massive ship and what little light might have been there normally was completely blotted out by the megalith. Fallinger looked vaguely nervous and she had a feeling it was a foreign concept to him. She didn't hold it against him, though. The situation, as he'd called it, was enough to elicit quite a few unfamiliar feelings in everyone.

She and the others filed off the bus and made their way through the grass to the center of the field. They had another forty-five minutes until the deadline and Rey moved to what she hoped would be the back of the group. She looked around at all the people crowding around the park. Signs in french and english waved around and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed again for her race. First contact with aliens they degenerated into a swarm of indignation. But then Black Mask hadn't needed to be such a douche either, she thought sourly.

It was cold out so she tucked her bag away and buttoned up her trench coat. She had her keys in her hand and eyed the small gifts that Poe had given her before leaving on his last tour: a mini can of mace and a rape whistle.

"If I'm not around, at least you'll have something," he had said. She rubbed her fingers over the can as if she might still feel him there, but he was hundreds of miles from her and she knew she wouldn't hear from him for a while. Rey blinked for a second before pulling her phone out again and stepping a few paces away from the other girls.

She saw Fallinger give her warning look and it took every ounce of willpower not to flip him the bird. Rey turned to face away from him and everyone else but didn't go any further. She saw the flashes of cameras in her periphery but they meant nothing to her as she pressed the necessary buttons and for the first time this whole mess had started, tears pricked her eyes.

She pulled the phone up and began speaking into it. "Hi, this is Rey. I may or may not have been carried off by an alien. If I have . . . Poe, I love you and I'll try my best to return. I . . ."

Rey stopped the recording and saved it. She didn't want to say any more. Adding more about what people should do if she was taken . . . it didn't bear thinking about. She blinked back tears as a hush fell over the crowd and she abruptly turned to look up at the sky.

They were early . . .

A dark shuttle of some kind dropped down from the ship and almost lazily flew down towards the park. It reminded her of a giant black bat. Fitting,she thought, that Black Mask would fly around in a fucking batmobile. And somehow, she knew Black Mask was aboard. He would be there in person to pick the right girl. There was little she could be sure of given the situation, but she knew that he was there.