Page 13 of Uncovered By the Alien Commander
With a shocked scream, I leap from the chair, my breathing rapid and ragged. “Don’t touch me!” I shriek at Kaanus, brandishing my knife in defense. He rises from his seat, his face contorted in a horrifying fury, as he smashes his cup on the ground with a resounding crash that makes me flinch. Looming over me, his massive strength and height fills me with dread.
“You ungrateful little bitch!” Kaanus roars, taking a menacing step forward. “You threaten me with a knife on my own ship. Me! The one who cared for you all those years ago, the one who fed you, the one who clothed you, who sheltered you. And this is how you repay me!” his scaled hand strikes me across the face, blinding me as the stinging white hot pain forces me to my knees clutching my throbbing cheek.
Tears spill from my eyes as he advances towards me, fists shaking with fury. Trembling and recoiling, I brace myself formore. “You think I went to all this effort so some voiding barbarians can steal you from me!” He sneers in my face, seizing my hair with such force I fear he’ll rip it from my scalp. “You belong to me! Do you understand, you worthless bitch?” Another blow to my head sends me reeling, my vision swimming.
In a blind panic, I lash out with my knife, forcing Kaanus to leap backwards. “Stay back!” I scream between sobs as my face throbs and aches. Circling around him, clutching my knife for delicate, desperate protection. “Come any closer and I swear I’ll voiding kill you.” The words spill forth in a frantic, unthinking torrent.
Backing away toward the door, Kaanus’ expression softens in an instant. “Look Tyrxie, I’m sorry, I got carried away. If you just did as I asked, none of this would have happened,” he offers with an outstretched hand, his voice pleading.
But I remain unconvinced, backing out of the room, I flee down the corridor.
It must have been Kaanus.
Chapter 6
Tyrxie
Close encounter
Nestled back in thesafe shadows buried deep with the gangway near the crew quarters, I awaken with crusted eyes sore and swollen from crying. The memories come flooding back each moment, a dagger in my heart. Kaanus’s attack was not a terrible nightmare, but the brutal, inescapable reality that I cannot deny any longer.
I need to get off this ship.
He was the only one I could trust to protect me from Hyanxa’s wrath and the unwanted advances from males. But now the truth behind his unreadable white eyes is revealed. Kaanus is just like the rest, afflicted with lust he will not control. My mere presence draws out this craziness, which I do not understand.
I need to disappear.
Now I have no one. Both Hyanxa and Captain Kaanus will punish me. If I don’t escape, I fear their rage may lead them to kill me. My hand tests the two throbbing aches in both my cheeks. A sharp pain lances through my mind, my flesh swollen. No doubt, I’m bruised like an old piece of fruit.
I’ll have to leave at the next station. The thought fills me with dread as it will be filled with dangers too, but at least I can hide easier on a large station where no one knows my name or my face. Yes, a few more days hiding from the Captain and Hyanxa, then I’ll grab my few credits, some clothes and make a run for it. It’s the only way I’ll survive in this brutal, uncaring universe.
Maybe they’ll replace me with a droid after all.
“There you are!” An unfamiliar voice booms out, interrupting my thoughts and shattering the comfortable silence, sending a surge of panic coursing through my veins. Peering through the gaps in the grates, I can just make out the tall green-haired Klendathian approaching, his heavy footsteps echoing through the corridor. “You’re a hard one to hunt,” he asserts with a brief laugh, like he isn’t the most frightening thing in the universe.
My heart pounds in my chest almost louder than his thudding steps as my mind races, struggling to think of an escape route from another terrifying male coming for me. “I just want to talk, that’s all,” the brute promises with a tone smooth, but I do not believe him.
No one can be trusted.
I gasp as his massive hands tear away the grate above me with frightening ease. Exposed, I decide to fight, hardening my resolve like arcweave. I’d rather die than let this monster use me. In a swift motion, I brandish my knife, locked into my white knuckled grip. Lurking in the shadows, I remain motionless, ready to strike.
“Easy, now.” A groping, enormous hand reaches towards me. Not daring to breathe with a silent charge, I deliver a sweepingslash, but to my horror, despite my forceful slice, my blade doesn’t penetrate his skin, as though I’ve tried to cut hardened leather. But I don’t waste a moment scrambling beneath the gangways driven by a frantic need to escape, leaving the giant to recoil in shock.
“Little vipertail!” green-hair exclaims before he makes a sucking noise. “Gods, why is everyone on this ship so strange?” The strange, monstrous alien questions.
My blood swooshes in my ears as I clamber away as fast as I can. The hairs on my neck prick up as the sound of his footsteps echoes out after me, growing louder.He’s too fast!But if I can make it to the engine room, the tunnels divert and run deeper, there I can lose him.
“I’ve activated my warvisor. I can see everything you’re doing,” the monster taunts as the terrifying realization that he looms above causes me to hasten. “You look silly. Stop now. I won’t hurt you.”
That’s what they all say.
The green-haired monster yanks the grate overhead off with incredible speed. With no options left, I reach for my pistol with trembling hands. A massive hand yanks me onto the gangway with impossible strength as I draw my gun. My heart thumps in my chest as I grasp at my last desperate chance to escape. But the giant’s hand shoots out so fast it appears a blur, tearing my weapon from my grip.
“You won’t be needing that,” he says, more amused than angry.
I fall to my knees, my head in my hands in total submissive defeat. Disarmed, I am powerless to stop this towering alien. “Are you going to breed me now?” I mumble, my voice heavy with resignation.
I missed my opportunity to turn the gun on myself.