ALIEN ABDUCTION (Captured by Aliens) (9 page)

Ebony
relaxed a little, but continued to watch him closely and hang on his every
word.

Fallon
rested one hand on a tree trunk, still facing away from her.  “I wanted to help
my world.  I wanted it to become a better place for all to live in.  I wanted
to be king for that reason, not for the glory or the gold.  But I was the one
who gave the order--the order to release the virus.  I am the reason why all of--why
all of our women are dead.”

Ebony
could only stare at him.  “No women,” she murmured.  “No children.  You left an
entire planet filled with nothing but men who had no way to reproduce...or even
get laid.” She shook her head.

Fallon
remained silent, staring off into the woods.

“And
yet,” Ebony said, getting to her feet, “and yet, for the life of me, I find it
hard to believe that you are a mass murderer.” She shook her head.  “Arrogant
as you are, you--and the men who follow you--have had plenty of opportunity to
do harm to me and all the other women, but you haven’t.  You’ve at least
halfway taken care of us when you could have just been cruel and brutal.”

He turned
around.  “Go.  Now.  Return to the others.”

“But--Fallon--I—”

“I will
say no more.  Go.”

He stood
as still and unmovable as one of the great trees of the forest, and she knew
she had heard all she was going to hear for now.  She gave him a small nod and
then turned to walk back to the other women.

Her mind
raced, trying to make sense of what he had told her.  It was difficult to
relegate the image she’d conjured of the rebel leader with the reality she
faced in Fallon.  Still, it could not be denied that he and his group had been
responsible for the deaths of countless women.

He was a
criminal.  Handsome and alluring, but still a criminal.

She
looked over at Damon and the others.  They were all wanted men.  They were
despicable and evil, she told herself...but their actions had been decent
towards this collection of helpless, barely dressed women that they controlled. 
Their actions, in spite of their threats, made them seem normal--made them seem
human.

***

At last,
as the shadows began to grow longer, the warrior men and their captive women
came upon the remnants of a small town.  Charred lumber rose crookedly from the
ground like rotted teeth.  Ebony realized that most of the village had been
torched, and she could only wonder why.

Some
buildings still remained amidst the destruction.  A few small, round cottages,
constructed from materials drawn from the surrounding woods, dotted the
hillside.  But they were old and neglected, and many of the thatched roofs had
caved in from disrepair.  Once-blackened earth was now covered with new growth,
fresh weeds, and green grass.  Nature had begun the take-back of the town some
time ago.

“What
happened here?” she said to Fallon, following him to one of the few remaining
cottages that appeared to be intact enough to keep the elements out.

Fallon
looked around once, and then glanced down at her.  “The folk who lived here
sided with the rebels--with us.  They suffered the consequences for their
beliefs.  When the virus consumed the nation, King Kore’s warriors came here
looking for me.  They intended to bring me to trial for my crimes, but the
people of this village refused to give me up.” His face hardened, and his
Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.  “I’m not sure how many died, but many were
lost, and the survivors were driven out of the area--never to be seen again.”

Ebony
looked at his anguished face, and almost felt sorry for him.  “So...you are
responsible for the destruction of this town, too, aren’t you?”

His eyes
seemed glazed as he looked away at something only he could see.  “I accept
responsibility for it.  Go inside, Ebony.”

She
paused for just a moment, trying to study his face; but he only looked at the
ground and stood waiting for her to go in.  Ebony turned away and then walked
into the house. 

There was
only one room, but it was a large one.  Inside were the seven other women and
Fallon’s seven men, along with Damon.  Under Damon’s watchful eye, three of the
other women worked inside the dim and shadowy single room and did their best to
clear the earthen floor of the leaves and sticks and dead underbrush which had
accumulated since the abandonment.  There was a hearth at one end of the room
and shelves along one wall, and the room had broken and overturned furniture
scattered all through it. 

“Are we
making camp here tonight?” Damon asked Fallon.

“I think
it’s safe enough for one night,” Fallon said.  “We’ve done well in keeping
ahead of any trackers.  I think we would have known by now if we were being
followed.”

Damon
looked worried.  “The king might not want them back.  If he doesn’t, where does
that leave us?” he asked, in a quiet voice that Ebony could just barely hear.

She
pretended she couldn’t hear them and made herself useful by righting a table
and chairs and brushing the tabletop clean with her hands.  She felt Fallon’s
gaze glance over her, and saw him look with the corner of her eye.

“If the
king doesn’t want them, then we’ve just procured ourselves some mates.” Fallon
touched Damon’s shoulder.  “Fear not.  All will be well with the plan.  The
next phase will go smoothly if we can all keep the faith.”

“I’d like
some fresh meat,” one of the men spoke up.  “Can we build a fire in the
hearth?”

“That’s a
good idea.  I’ve grown weary of the jerk,” said Fallon.  “Ryan--you, Dev,
Jerel, and Brenzir go out on the hunt.  You two--Percy and Vin--” he motioned
to two others--“get firewood for a meal and for the night.  Kye, you stay here
to guard the women.”

The men
nodded, and those who’d been set a new task left the house.  The fortunate Kye
sat down on the floor very near the women, with his silver pistol at his hip.

Ebony
debated on whether she should sit with the other women or not.  On one hand,
her place was with them.  On the other, her curiosity screamed at her not to
bow down and accept her fate.  She wanted to demand that Fallon, or Damon, or
someone, give her the information that she craved!

She
simply could not give up the fight.

Fallon
and Damon sat down in the chairs that Ebony had righted and placed around the
table.  Damon removed a deck of brightly colored cards from his pocket and
began shuffling them.  The two remaining men stepped outside the hut on either
side of the door--keeping watch, she presumed.  That left one chair empty and
available.

Ebony
promptly sat down in it and watched Damon deal numbered cards between him and
Fallon.  Fallon picked up his hand he’d been dealt, and gave Ebony a look.

“You’re
mighty presumptuous to take a seat beside us, little one.”

“I’m not
a child,” she said.  “I do have a mind of my own.”

“And what
of the captor/captive situation?  You shouldn’t want to be this close to us,”
Damon said, stacking his cards and eyeing her.

She
shrugged.  “You haven’t beaten any of us yet.  And I’m tired of sitting on the
floor.”

Fallon
raised an eyebrow.  “What makes you think we would beat you?”

Ebony
propped her chin on her hand and her elbow on the table.  “I just figured that
since you kept threatening me with consequences if I ran away again, it’d be
something like that.”

He looked
affronted.  “I’ve never beat a woman in my life,” Fallon said.

“Then why
did your people kill all the women?  Why do you feel wronged by the king?  It
was the king’s decision, was it not?” she asked, watching him steadily and
hoping she hadn’t pushed too far.  She easily remembered the struggles she’d
been taught in history about tyrannical kings and rebel nations.  America, for
one.

A nerve
ticked in his jaw.  Damon stopped shuffling his cards and regarded her with a
dumbfounded expression.  Behind her, the whispering of the other women suddenly
fell silent from the impact of her question.  Even though she’d asked him
quietly, her daring had alarmed everyone in the room. 

But she
had to know his reasons.  This was too important to ignore if she was to
discover his motives--the motives of the rebels.

“It is
not for the likes of you to question my liege’s wisdom,” Damon snarled.

Fallon
held up a hand, cutting Damon off from berating her, but he stared coldly at
Ebony.  “You are too bold and your tongue is unbound.  Go and sit with the
other women before you test the limits of my patience any further.”

Ebony’s
chair scraped the wooden floor as she stood up.  “Yes,
sir
.  I am your
prisoner, after all,” she murmured, and moved away from the table to sit with
the other women.  She’d tried to probe him, but he had no reason to answer any
questions from her.  She was being an idiot to keep pushing him when there was
no telling what he would, or could do to her--if he really wanted to--no matter
how decently he’d treated her up until now. 

CHAPTER NINE

Ebony
sighed and sat down amongst the women.  Hugging her knees against her chest,
she rested her forehead on them.

“Why’d
you do that?” Rebecca whispered, sidling close.  “Are you trying to get us all
killed or something?”

“Yeah,
well, go ahead and say it.  I’m a moron.  The truth is, I’ve never been very
good at subtlety.  I’ve got a knack for getting into trouble and sticking my
foot in my mouth.”

Jane
looked up at her.  “Maybe if you were more of a girly girl, and had a better
head on your shoulders, you would just take Fallon or Damon to bed and get what
you want out of them.”

“King
Kore Anadaru has been willing to tell me all manner of tales once he’s gotten
his rocks off,” Suzanne added, apparently trying to be helpful.

“Okay,
that’s nothing we don’t already know,” Ebony said.  “But you’re certainly
right.”

“Men
generally don’t like it known, but they’re pretty easy to manipulate once their
dicks are in love with the pussy,” added Jane. 

“Well,
you’re right about that.” Ebony lifted her head.  “I just hadn’t wanted to take
it that far.  I’m tired of using my body as a tool to get what I want or to
keep out of trouble.”

Famke
laughed bitterly.  “Well, you’ve come to the wrong place, I’m afraid.  Our
bodies are the only coin we have.”

Jane
stared at Ebony.  “I don’t care what you do,” she said.  “Just don’t get us
killed--or worse.”

Ebony
rolled her eyes.  “Use your heads.  There aren’t enough women on this sorry
little planet for the men to just lop our heads off, or even do us any serious
damage.  They need us--and they want us--or else we wouldn’t be here.” She
glanced up furtively at the men to see if they listened, but Damon and Fallon
remained hunkered over the table playing their card game and ignoring their
captives.

“I’m just
trying to figure out what I need to do to survive this the best way I know
how,” Ebony said.

Cassie
snickered.  “Yeah, well, you’re not very good at it, Ebony.”

Ebony
sighed and dropped her forehead back to her knees.  “I know,” she said, her
voice muffled.

“Well,
just leave us out of it,” Jane said, scooting away from her.  “You speak for
yourself alone--not for the rest of us.  We can handle ourselves.” The other
women murmured their agreement and gathered in the far corner around Jane--except
for Cassie, who stayed where she was beside Ebony.

“Well, it
looks like you’ve done a fine job of alienating your fellow women,” said
Cassie, glancing over at them where they whispered in the corner.  “I can’t
help you against those men--you know that.  You’re on your own, Ebony.”

Ebony
raised her head.  “On my own?” she whispered.

Then she
turned and looked straight at Cassie.  “Well, hell, I like that a lot better
than having to worry about saving all of
your
asses.”  She grinned.  “As
of right now, as far as I’m concerned, it’s every girl for herself.”

***

The other
men returned with stacks of wood and started a fire in the hearth on the far
wall.  The room became a little smoky from the poorly working chimney, but one
of the men poked around in the flue for a bit and eventually pulled out an old
bird’s nest.  Then the smoke cleared out and the women quickly gathered around
to soak up the heat.

Soon
after, as darkness fell, the hunters returned with cleaned poultry and leather
pouches full of nuts.  They spitted the birds over the fire, and after a short
while they all enjoyed having fresh meat in their bellies.  They wasn’t enough
for them to feel full, but at least they were no longer starving.

Ebony
truly appreciated having something besides the tough, dry jerky to eat.  She spent
some time cracking nuts and munching on them until the last of her hunger
subsided. 

At last,
the women laid themselves down to one side of the warm hearthfire to sleep.  The
men stretched out and formed a pattern around them.  She could see Damon blocking
the door with his body, while Fallon lay directly across from her near the
hearth.

As the
sounds of wakefulness died away, replaced by quiet snores, Ebony lay on her
back on the hard-packed earthen floor.  Her mind raced, preventing sleep, and
her body ached from the concrete-like floor.

Ebony
hated to admit it, but she just wasn’t cut out for roughing it.  She missed
having simple luxuries and a soft bed to sleep in, even if it meant she’d
eventually have to produce a baby for a pig.  She belonged in a city, not at
wherever the hell these rebels were taking her.

Finally
she heard the tell-tale sound of Fallon’s raucous snoring.  She cracked an eye
open and glanced across the short distance between them.  She could have
reached out and touched him to make him stop snoring, if she’d wanted.

The man
must have sleep apnea or something with the god-awful racket he made.  It
seemed louder and more obnoxious than ever before.  Maybe the smoke from the
fireplace made his sinuses worse.

Ebony sat
up and glared at him, watching the rise and fall of his chest.  She rolled onto
her knees, carefully creeping closer to peer at his sleeping face.  She
squinted at him, trying to see if he was as deeply asleep as he appeared--and
suddenly his eyes popped open.

She
gasped and reared back, but he caught her arm and dragged her down to the floor. 
Ebony scuffled with him, trying to get away without waking up everyone else in
the room, but she had no chance against him.  Fallon subdued her movements
almost instantly, rolling on top of her in front of the smoldering fire.

He dipped
his head down, placing his lips so close to her ear that she could feel the
heat of his breath tickling the shell.  A chill rippled down her backbone.  “Trying
to escape again?” he asked, his warm breath puffing over her sensitive flesh.

A few of
the others stirred in their sleep, but otherwise remained quiet.

Ebony
squirmed, fighting against the chills gripping her nerves in an unbidden, but
delightful, wash of heat.  She craned her head away from his mouth, glaring up
at him.  “No,” she whispered.  “I--I just--“

“You just
what?”

She
turned her head away--the only part of her that she could move while he lay on
top of her.  “I just wanted to go outside.”

“Outside?”

“Yeah.  To--you
know--“

“To
relieve yourself?”

She
sighed.  “Yeah.  Can I go now?”

To her
great relief, he raised himself up and shifted off of her.  “Go.  I will follow
you.”

When she
glared at him, he merely returned a cold stare.  “I
will
follow.  I told
you that you will make no further attempt to escape.”

“All
right.”  As slowly and as quietly as she could, Ebony got to her feet and
padded to the door, carefully stepping over the sleepers as she did.  Fallon
followed her closely, and she wondered again at how a man so big could walk so
silently.

She
refused to turn around and look at him, though he remained just a few paces
behind her.  “Would you
please
give me just a
little
privacy?”
she asked, in her most exasperated tone.  “You know very well I can’t run
anywhere out here tonight.”

“Go,
then, and do what you came out here to do.  I will wait.”

“Hmmph.”
Ebony stepped out into the edge of the trees surrounding the house, lifted her
ragged skirts and crouched down, wishing for the millionth time to be back
where modern plumbing was the norm. 

In a
moment she had straightened up again, and tried to smooth her ripped and dirty
clothes as much as she could.  Then a little movement from up above her head
caught her eye, and she turned around to look at it.

Once
again, as before, the three moons were visible.  It was the slow tumbling of
the third moon, the small white one, that had caught her eye.  And then, all
around the sky, she saw again those strange and garish big red and blue stars
that seemed to be scorching holes through the darkness.

Ebony
looked away from that strange and terrifying night sky and hurried back towards
the house--but then she could not see the house--she must have turned the wrong
way--she tried another way, another path, but could see only trees and darkness--and
then she collided with something solid.

“Fallon!”

Ebony
pulled up short as she found herself in his grip once again.  “I told you--I
would not let you try to leave,” he said, in a very low voice.

“Oh, for
pete’s sake, I was not trying to leave!” she cried.  He clapped his hand over
her mouth to silence her, but she simply reached up and pushed his hand away.  “I
just got lost,” she said.  “I haven’t exactly been out here before, you know.  I
usually went on vacation to Disneyland or maybe to Vegas.  Places involving
kidnapping, rape, and starvation weren’t high on my list.”

She
pulled away from him.  To her surprise, he did not grab her again.  Instead, he
put his arms around her shoulders, drew her close, and kissed her gently.

Ebony
could not have been more surprised if he’d pulled out a gun and shot her.  But
she was so relieved at a show of kindness, of comfort, that she found herself
returning his kiss.

But the
moment of tenderness did not last for long.  His entire body seemed to have
turned to iron as he held her, as if all the tension of many long years had
suddenly risen to the surface.  Before Ebony could react, Fallon had pulled her
down to the soft earth and pinned her there with all his weight.

Instantly
she was on her guard again, for the all the good it would do her.  She
struggled a bit, but of course, it did no good.  “Really, we’ve got to stop
meeting like this,” she mumbled, through gritted teeth.  “As much as you might
believe you should have been king, that is no excuse to take me against my
will.”

He
settled more comfortably on top of her body, crushing her into the earth with
his gigantic frame.  “Against your will?”  He almost laughed, but Ebony could
feel how hard and ready he was against her thigh.

“I wasn’t
going anywhere,” she insisted.  She was having a hard time catching a good
breath.  She began panting. 

He raised
himself up a bit and looked down at her heaving chest with a gleam in his eye. 
“I don’t believe you, Ebony.  You’re a liar.  Not to be trusted.  I told you I
would punish you.”

“I wasn’t
trying to escape.  Let me
go
!  You’ll wake everyone up,” she said, with
her teeth clenched.

“Why
would you hover above me inside the house, then?  Do you want my body?” he
asked, and there was a devilish look in his crystal blue eyes.

The light
from the moons made his hair look like burnished silver.  She stared at him,
half afraid of what he was trying to do and half anticipatory.

“I do not
want you!”

“Quiet,”
he murmured, “unless you crave an audience.”  He dipped his head to nibble her
chin.  His hand, once holding her arm, freed her bicep to cup her breast. 

Ebony
sucked in a sharp breath.  “Stop that--or--”

He raised
his head.  “Or--what?  What will you do, Ebony Raines?  You have caused me a
lot of trouble.  I should devise some punishment for you.  But don’t worry--I
will see that it does not give you lasting harm,” he murmured, lazily tracing
his lips along her jaw.

“I’d
rather take the beating,” she whispered furiously, ignoring the way her nipple
puckered under the stroke of his thumb against it.