Theron Destiny (Brides of Theron) (4 page)

Avery just sat there with her mouth hanging open and staring at the doctor not knowing really what to say. “How is it, I understand you and not the others? How can you speak my language?”

The doctor gave a friendly smile and replied, “I am capable of learning new languages very quickly. So, when our ship came near to your world, the computers on our ship picked up the transmissions coming from some of Earth’s satellites.  From those transmissions, I was able to listen and study your language. It really isn’t too complicated of a language to learn but most of the others on board the ship have not yet had the opportunity to learn the language as I have. That is why you are able to understand me and not the others who brought you here. But soon you will be able to understand all around you after you are purchased at the auction.”

“What do you mean purchased at an auction?” All of the blood had drained from her face when the words sunk in all the way and she realized that she was going to be sold. “Who am I being sold to?” She said franticly while looking the doctor in the face.

“First may I please have your name so that I will know what to call you?” The doctor asked right back. “Then as I attend to your injuries, I will inform you of what is happening to you.”

Not knowing what else to say, she gave one last look around the sterile looking room and said, “My name is Avery Morehouse.”

The doctor gently reached for her face and turned it so that he could examine the injury that Lars had inflicted upon her and said, “Well Avery Morehouse, you are on the Mother ship of the Therons. Those who brought you here are Zeb and Brylon, two of the ship’s most respected and highest ranking commanders. We came across your planet Earth while in search of a race that was compatible to our own. We are seeking females to be able to mate with in order to help our race survive. Our world, Theron, has lost most of its females due to the ongoing war with the Drylons.  Over the years the Drylons have either killed or taken prisoner most of the females of our planet in their attempt to eliminate our race from the universe.” The doctor took some blue liquid from a bottle sitting on the tray and poured it on a yellow cloth then he applied it gently to the side of her face.

“But why did they take me?” Avery questioned the Doctor. Turning her face forward again. Avery saw that the two men, Zeb and Brylon, were still in the room and were conversing with each other. Just when she was about to look back at the doctor, the door to the hospital room slid open. In strode the attacker that she had keyed in the eye in the woods while defending herself. Her heart sank and began to beat wildly when his eyes came to rest upon her. Sitting on the bed, she couldn’t help saying, “Oh my God!” loud enough for the doctor to hear her.

“Is there a problem Avery?” Zane stopped what he was doing to turn and see who had entered the room. “Lars, I will be with you in a few moments. Just take a seat over there on one of the other beds.” But as the doctor was saying this, the man named Lars started to come towards them with an angry look on his face and his fists clenching. Whatever Lars and Zane said to each other after he walked in, she was not able to understand since they had reverted back to their own language.

Lars pushed his way past Zane and was nearly upon Avery when both Zeb and Brylon grabbed hold of his arms and forced him to the ground. There was a lot of shouting and flinging of arms and every now and then the sound of a grunt as Lars was being restrained. After what seemed a lifetime to Avery, the two men were able to get Lars under control and on his feet again.

Arms pinned behind his back, Lars was lead to another part of the room that Avery had not noticed before. It looked like a glass holding cell that would be in a jail but this one contained a bed and the same equipment that was by all the beds in the room she was in.  Zeb and Brylon shoved Lars inside, closed the door behind them, and locked it. Lars then approached the door of the cell and gave it one hard punch.  The sound of a fist hitting the unbreakable glass caused Avery to jump. Lucky for her, the door held.  Realizing he would not be leaving the room any time soon, Lars gave up and turned to sit on the bed provided.

“Well, wasn’t that interesting.” Zane said in his native tongue to no one in particular. “Gods Zeb, what the hell was that all about?”

“To make a long story short, the little female right there managed to get the best of Lars down on the planet. She used some sort of weapon to stab at his eyes.  It looks as if she succeed in doing extensive damage to one of them. Now he has it in for her.”

“Now that’s a problem, isn’t it? How are you going to stop him from bidding on her at the auction?” Zane questioned Zeb.

Zeb smiled and said, “Don’t worry about that. Lars will never get his hands on her. I promise that. Are you finished examining her? I would like to escort her to the holding room myself.”

“No, I haven’t examined the injury to her leg yet but it shouldn’t take long. From the looks of it, it appears to be a bad sprain but I will check to make sure that it isn’t broken. Another ten minutes and I will be done.”

Zane returned to Avery and ran a hand held x-ray device over her ankle and waited for the image to appear on his screen.  Speaking the Avery’s language, “It is not broken but the tendons are hyper extended and severely bruised. You are going to have to stay off your foot for a few days or ask for assistance. Other than that, the bruising on the side of your face should subside over time. I am going to give you an injection that will ease some of the pain and will help speed up the healing process.” Zane reached for a rather large syringe, filled it with a clear liquid from smaller bottle and looked Avery in the eyes and said, “This is probably going to sting a bit since the needle on the syringe is designed for Therons.  We are much larger than you, and so is the needle.  I need to inject this into your arm.”

“I never was a big fan of needles and it doesn’t just look like it’s just going to sting, it’s going to hurt.” Avery gave the doctor a weak smile and turned her face away so that the needle would no longer be in her sight.

“Ready?” Zane asked.  Avery closed her eyes and nodded in reply. He grabbed the back fatty part of her arm and quickly pushed the needle into her arm.  In reaction to the injection she scrunched up her face and shallowly sucked in air.

“Breathe Avery, it’s almost over.” Zane squeezed the last of the medication into her arm and withdrew the needle. A small trickle of blood began to run down her arm from where the needle was removed. Zane wrapped a brown bandage around the area and told her to leave it on for a while.

“I am all done Zeb. You can take her now.”

“Thanks Doc.” Zeb replied as he walked to the bed Avery was sitting on and looked down at her.

“He is going to have to carry you out to the holding room.” Zane mentioned to her.

“Ummm, Ok.” Was her only reply.  She nodded in Zeb’s direction to let him know she was ready to leave.

Zeb leaned down and put his arm under her legs and the other supported her back as he lifted her up off the bed. They exited the door they came in through and headed down the corridor again until they came to a black door. The door turned out to be to an elevator that was going to take her to God knows where. She didn’t even feel the elevator move but when the door opened again, another corridor stretched before them.  This time the corridor looked a bit more inviting.

The walls were hunter green in color and had a window here and there that looked out into space. While passing one of the windows, Avery caught a glimpse of Earth and took a deep breath. Zeb stopped walking and looked questionably at her. He followed her eyes and realized what she was looking at. He stopped abruptly, then took a couple of steps closer to the window so that she might have a better view.

“I have only seen my planet in pictures. I never thought I would ever see it with my own eyes.” Avery said astonished at the beautiful view of the blue green planet framed by the window.

Zeb said something to her that she didn’t understand and turned to continue on to their next destination. Further down the corridor they came to a door that was being guarded by two warriors. When one of the warriors recognized their commander approaching with an earth female in his arms, he turned and opened the door to the room that lay behind it.

Inside the room several other earth females sat on long sofas that were placed along the walls. In the middle of the room was a table that had refreshments on it and obviously provided the females’ some comfort.

Zeb carried Avery to the nearest spot on the sofa, gently set her down, turned and left the room with the door sliding shut behind him.

The other women that were in the room sat still and quiet when the door had opened again and remained that way until the alien guy had left. One of the females with auburn colored hair got up and came over to where Avery was and sat down next to her.

“Hi, I’m Gracie.”

“I’m Avery.”

“Well Avery, I hate to say it’s nice to meet you considering the circumstances, but we are from the same planet. Do you have any idea what we are here for?”

“The little bit I was told in the infirmary was that we are going to be put up for some kind of auction.  However, I feel as if I was not told everything. They said someone was going to come and explain everything to us. How long have you been here?”

“I was brought in here several hours ago. No one else has been brought in until you. There are sixteen of us now counting you. I asked the other girls when they arrived.  It seems that all have been within a few hours of each other.  Emma, over there in the corner with the black hair in a ponytail has been here the longest. That is Laura, who is sitting next to Emma.  She was brought in right before me. Emma isn’t very talkative. She just wants to be left alone but Laura seems to have gotten through to her. Every now and then, I can see them talking to each other.” Gracie took a slow breath. She knew she was nervously talking. “Don’t mind me though.  I start to talk and ramble on when I get nervous.”

Avery sat there looking at Gracie not sure what else to say. It wasn’t as if they were all waiting to be interviewed for the same job.

Gracie was the first to speak again, “Where are you from?”

“The New Orleans area, I grew up on the Westbank side of the river with my two aunts. Where are you from?” Avery questioned the woman back.

“My family was from New York City. I was sent to boarding school away from home.”

Avery was a bit confused at the woman’s statement about her family.

“I don’t want to seem intrusive, but what do you mean your family “was” from New York City?”

Avery watched as the other woman’s face transformed from one of curiosity to one of sadness and pain. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked such a personal question and now felt really awkward for asking it.

“It’s ok Avery. It just still hurts a lot to think about them. My father, mother, older sister and brother were all killed in the 9-11 attacks. My father owned a law firm that had offices in one of the Twin Towers. They were all there when the first plane hit.  Fortunately for me, I was away at school when it happened.”

Avery now really felt bad for asking, “I am so sorry. I should have never asked a question like that.”

Gracie smiled at her new friend, “It’s really okay Avery. It took me a long time to overcome the pain and grief of the attack. As each day and year goes by it does get a little easier. I still have my cousin Michael.  His parents, my Aunt Marion and Uncle Harold, assumed responsibility for me after my parents died. Michael runs the firm now. He is like brother to me and his wife Emily is great. They have three kids that I just adore and believe it or not one more on the way.”

Silence overtook both women after Gracie’s revelation. Avery thought to herself that she could just kick herself in the ass for opening up an old wound for someone she had just met. Her own past history was sad, maybe not when compared to Gracie’s, and even she dreaded talking about it.  Now, she wasn’t even sure about her future.

Breaking the silence again, Gracie offered, “Are you hungry or thirsty? One of those guys brought in some food and drinks a bit ago. Not sure what any of it is but some of it actually tastes pretty good.”

Avery looked over to the table with the food then looked back at Gracie and then down at the glass in her hand.

“What are you drinking?”

“I don’t have a clue but it tastes like Kool-Aid. Want some? I’ll get it for you since I see that you have injured your ankle.”

“Thanks that would be great.”

Avery watched as Gracie went over to the table and poured a glass of the lime green liquid. She also put a few items of food onto a small plate and carried it over to her.

“I figured you might want something to nibble on. No telling how long we may be in here and this little round cookie thing is actually pretty tasty. Here try one.” Gracie held out the plate to Avery and she took one, looked at it then brought it to her mouth and bit off the end.

“Tastes like chocolate flavored vanilla wafers.” Avery commented.

“That’s what I thought too.
If given a choice, I am not one to go without eating for very long. I love food and will try just about anything you put in front of me. I have eaten…” Gracie stopped talking in mid-sentence when the door of the room slid open and a man walked in. She noticed that he didn’t have another female with him.  Avery thought to herself, this must be the one Zane indicated would explain everything to the captured women.

“Females of planet Earth. I am Aten, Theron warrior. I have been sent to inform you of what is about to unfold. All of you have been selected to become mates for the Theron warriors aboard this ship. We made an agreement with your country and arranged it so that we may select and obtain females from your planet to accompany us to our home planet.”

One of the other women said quite loudly, “You have got to be kidding. This has got to be some sort of joke.”

“I assure you that this is not a joke, as you put it. Each of you will be put up for auction and will be sold to the warrior that shows the most interest in you and bids the highest. Once you are in the company of your mate, he will then take you to your new home here on the mother ship and later back to our home planet Theron. Each of you will be escorted to the area where the auction will take place.  You will be guarded at all times by the two warriors that are escorting you. They will remain with you until your mate takes you into his possession. Now, the warriors have gathered and we are ready to begin.”