His Prize

Chapter 1: Captured

Content Warning: The protagonist of this story is a victim of abuse. I do not condone the actions of the antagonist.

I wake up to the roar of engines. The sound is unmistakable. They're coming. Shit.

I jump up from my cardboard bed and duck behind the dumpster. As long as they don't search this alleyway, I should be okay.

Ever since the parbeings took over, they've frequently sent out platoons of violent soldiers to the shacks and ruins where humans live. They take anything of value. They murder for the fun of it. Sometimes, the especially screwed up ones, take humans as personal slaves. It's all to keep us humans in line and under their foot. They target large gatherings of humans to keep us spread out, separated, and weak. When I was twelve, my Mom and Dad were killed during one of these raids.

Since then, I have mostly lived alone, without anywhere to call home. The threat of their soldiers attacking any permanent settlement has kept me moving. Until today, my parbeing-avoidance tactics have been flawless. This doesn't make any sense. Why are they raiding a place with so few humans?

I hug my legs and duck my head behind my knees as I hear them get closer. Please just drive past my alley.

My heart drops as I hear the engines stop. They aren't by the alley entrance, but they're close.

I hear the soldiers shuffling out of their vehicles. The motors in their power-armour hum with each step. As if they weren't strong enough already with their weapons, they also wear suits of robotic armour. It makes them an impossible foe even for the strongest human man, let alone a five-foot eighteen-year-old girl like me.

An explosion rips through the air, followed by gut-wrenching screams. Lots of screams, from lots of people. At least twenty. How did I not notice so many humans living so close to me?

Gunfire erupts alongside the sound of screaming humans running for their lives, followed by menacing robotic footsteps.

"One of them is hiding in here!" a soldier shouts from the entrance of my alley.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

My breathing quickens, and my heartrate practically doubles. I need to calm down and think clearly. I need to fight.

After a short pause, I rise to my feet, hunching my shoulders to keep my head hidden behind the dumpster. This alley only has one exit, and it's currently occupied by at least one soldier.

I can't just run. I need a weapon. I reach down and grab the nearest rock that fits comfortably in my palm. If I can concuss him with this, then maybe I can get enough of a head start to get away.

The motorized footsteps begin approaching, walking down the alley. "Here kitty kitty kitty," he taunts. That piece of shit is enjoying this.

He doesn't appear to know where I am, but he somehow knew I was in here. He must have some kind of scanner.

This situation is still salvageable. I have the element of surprise. I have a chance to get out of this alive. I steady my breathing, ready to strike.

His noisy robotic armour makes him easy to pinpoint by sound alone. I wait until he's just a few feet away.

I pounce from behind the dumpster, smashing the rock into his metal face mask as hard as I can. The noise of the rock hitting his mask rings through the air. But it just bounces off and his stance remains perfect.

What? It didn't even knock him back an inch.

Before I can comprehend what just happened, he slams his palm into my chest, throwing me back onto the ground, winding me.

I'm shocked. His armour is unscratched. He didn't even curl his iron fingers into a fist, yet he knocked me off my feet. I'm screwed.

I scramble to my feet and run towards the end of the alleyway. He chuckles. Of course he finds it funny.

If he was not wearing that armour, my blow would have broken his nose and knocked him out. Parbeings are stronger than humans, but not by much. They're basically perfect humans, physically at least. Beings crafted by combining the genes of the most ideal physical traits. Their perfection makes them distinguishable from humans with just a glance.

"Hey Alex. Get over here. I've got something for you," he calls into his collar radio.

I reach the end of the alley and turn to face my foe once again, but he remains where he is, still blocking my path but not approaching either.

New plan: when he gets close, duck under his arms and make a run for it. Now I just have to wait.

Before a minute has even passed, another armoured soldier appears and joins the first. This just keeps getting worse. How am I supposed to dodge past two of them?

"What do you want now?" the new soldier grumbles. This one must be Alex.

"Look at this cute little human I found. She's feisty. I think she's perfect for you."

I glare at them.

"I don't want a pet human. That's your disgusting fetish, and I'll have no part in it."

"Oh come on Captain," the first soldier whines, "You don't have to fuck her, just train her to be obedient. Surely you can control one measly wild human? You are a captain after all. When you're done, you can just get rid of her, like I do with my humans."

What the fuck? For a brief moment my fear is replaced by anger. Who do they think they are, talking about me like I'm some kind of wild animal? "Get the fuck away from me! You freaks!" I screech.

The first soldier just flashes an evil grin. They don't budge. "Are you just going to let her talk to you like that?" he goads Alex.

There is a brief pause before Alex starts walking towards me. As he approaches, he lifts his arm to grab me.

I duck and try dive under it, but I just slam into his iron-plated arm. I didn't think their suits could move so fast.

Before I can recover, I'm shoved hard against the wall. One iron arm comes crashing into my chest. I wince as my ribs crack from the sudden blow. His other arm presses up against my neck. My feet are off the ground, and I'm at eyelevel with him.

I can't let myself be taken as a slave. I'd rather die here. It would be less painful. At least I'll know I went down fighting, with my dignity intact.

His arm compressing my damaged chest makes it impossible to breathe, let alone speak, silencing the many crude insults flowing through my mind.

I do the next best thing. I spit on the metal mask covering his face.

His eyes are the only thing visible through the mask, and he looks pissed. Good. I smirk.

"You disrespectful bug!" he shouts in my face. Electricity flows through my body before I even notice the taser in his other hand. My muscles contract out of my control and my vision grows blurry.

He releases his iron grip on my body. I slide down the wall, the skin painfully scraping off my shoulder blades as they make contact with the wall.

I can't move my limbs. They won't listen. Everything hurts, but at least I can breathe again. I will not let myself pass out. I desperately hold on to stay awake. I will not make this easy for them.

Author's note:

Thank you RoseKitten03 for encouraging me to write this story.

Thank you RobCabral for creating the cover.

Published: 17 Oct. Edits: 20 Nov; 31 Dec; 24 Feb