Guard (A Sci-Fi Alien Romance) (2 page)

The medical examiner was waiting me for in a small room at the end of a long corridor. I glanced around as discreetly as I could, noting the large window with relief. Another point in my favor was the room’s placement in the building. It was toward the back. I knew from my months of watching that the building backed onto a dense network of alleyways. Given a head start, it was possible that I’d be able to lose myself in there and avoid detection. But only after I cleared the medical.

I steadied my breathing as much as I could.

“
Zeepa
,” the old medic said. “Take off your clothes and sit on the examination table.”

It took all my mental strength to ignore the insult. I knew that deep down he hadn’t even meant it as a slur. Soon, I
would
be a Zeepa. A human whore to an Erostrian commander.

I glanced around the room in confusion.

“But, why are they still here?” I asked.

The examiner looked up from his clipboard in annoyance. “They’re your guards, child. Now get on the table. We don’t have time for this.”

With mounting terror, I unzipped my jacket as slowly as I was able. Three of the guards had left the room, but the two that had flanked me remained behind. They stood with their backs to the door, staring at me.

“I have to take my clothes off in front of them?” I said, my voice cracking as panic rose within me. If they didn’t leave soon, then all hope was lost for me.

The examiner shrugged and looked at them. “What are your orders, guards?”

The smaller one answered. “We’re to remain here for the examination, Doctor. Our commander’s orders.”

The examiner nodded and looked back at me. “Hurry up.”

I tried to ignore their stares as I pulled my jacket off as slowly as I could and bent to unbutton my jeans. Their eyes were rooted to me. I stood up and my jeans fell down my legs and pooled around my heavy black boots. I heard them gasp as they took in my bare legs and white panties.

“What, you never seen a girl before?” I hissed.

The Doctor tutted. I told myself to calm down. I knew that was a sore point for Erostrians. Hell, it was the reason they’d colonized us. The guards were still staring at me but their faces were screwed up in anger. Something clicked in my brain. I took a step closer to them.

“It’s true, isn’t it? Radiation on your planet killed all of your women, so now you need to come here and take ours. That’s it, isn’t it?”

I was shouting now. I reminded myself that the others could be just outside the room. “But you need to wait your turn, don’t you,” I hissed.

The smaller guard’s face turned as red as his hair. “Silence, Zeepa.”

“Oh come on, how long are you gonna keep obeying the rules? You’ve been dying for a fuck ever since you guys took over. But
noooo
. They ship in new commanders from Eros every day. It’s gonna be years before you get laid, buddy,” I snarled in his face.

The other guard’s face was just as red. They glared down at me in fury, still guarding the door. I glanced behind me. The medical examiner was standing a few paces away, pretending to ignore me while he stared at a chart.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” I insisted, squaring up to this man who was small for his race yet still almost a foot taller than me. Adrenaline and sheer blind fury spurred me on.

He shook his head, mute with rage.

“What would you give to fuck me, right here right now?” I purred, playing with the frayed hem of my sweater.

He turned away and stared at the wall.

“You heard me. Why not?” I whispered, opening my eyes wide.

Slowly, so slowly, I reached my hand up and stroked his strong, muscular chest. The other guard stared on in disbelief.

“You can have a turn too, if you like,” I cooed.

I pushed my hand down the smaller guard’s pants and gasped as my fingers made contact with his penis. I’d heard whispered rumors about them, but I’d never seen an Erostrian’s shaft. How could I have? The only ones who did were the taken and the whores who worked in the underground brothels in the shadier alleyways of the city, out of sight. I almost couldn’t close my fingers around it, it was so thick. I looked up into his face with astonishment. My awe seemed to give him satisfaction. I leaned my body against his.

“What would you like to do to me?” I moaned.

He shifted his huge hand and grabbed impatiently at my torn sweater. I smiled as his other hand gripped my hair tightly, even though I wanted to gag. I took a deep breath to calm myself. It wasn’t like I had to go through with it. I just had to wait for the right mo—

“She’s trying to trick you,” the medic muttered, shocking me out of my thoughts.

Before they could react, I’d pulled away and unsheathed my knife from my bra. I plunged it into the thick muscle of the first guard’s stomach. I hadn’t realized how much strength it would take, especially since I was trying to overpower an Erostrian guard in his prime, not one of the weak bureaucrats I’ll prepared myself to tackle. I pulled the knife out as he doubled over in pain. I plunged at the other guard. But he was much too fast for me. He spun me round and wrapped both his arms tightly around me, disarming me.

He radioed the commander as he held me tight. I watched the other guard on his knees, clutching his bleeding stomach. I didn’t feel guilty for stabbing him. Why should I? If he hadn’t been in the examination room, they would surely have recorded me and I would have been free by now. I struggled against the guard’s strong arms, desperately trying to free myself. There was no point – he was far too strong for me.

The door burst open and the commander marched inside.

“I knew you weren’t to be trusted,” he snarled, his eyes ablaze with anger.

I shrugged. “What do you expect me to do? Submit to a life of servitude and abuse?”

A smirk broke out on his face. “It is the fate of you humans. So, yes.”

I struggled hard. “You can’t do this to me.”

“It’s already done.” He turned and bent to look at the injured guard’s injuries. “How amusing that Kefi lands himself with this mate,” he said under his breath. None of the other guards reacted – they were focused on trying to stop the bleeding.

“Why? What’s so damn funny?” I asked, out of breath from struggling. I could feel the guard’s thick fingers digging into my upper arms.

The commander turned back to face me with a look of utter contempt on his face. “All I’ll say is you better hope he rejects you.” He turned back to watch the hopeless attempts to field dress the guard’s wound. “You two – take him back to the barracks. Now.”

The guard holding me released his grip and helped one of the others carry the injured one out. The other guard – the one with the lighter hair, who looked less robotic than the others – walked behind me and held me. I jolted as his hands made contact with my bare skin.

I couldn’t remember a lot of things from my old life. Because there had been no warning of what was to come, we’d had no time to consciously make memories of things that seemed so commonplace then. Like school. Or friends. Or TV. But there was one thing I remembered vividly. One afternoon, maybe six months before the Erostrians, my friends and I had been hanging out after school when someone – I can’t remember who – suggested we go hang out at the salvage yard. We’d broken in through the gate and riffled among the heaps of scrap metal, more out of boredom than any belief that we’d find something valuable. I’d been at the edge of the yard when I tripped and fell against the high wire fence. I’d squealed in surprise when a mild shock bolted through my body. No one had told me the back fence was electrified.

It was like this Erostrian guard’s body had set off the same sensation in me as the fence. I gasped in surprise and looked back at him. But he wasn’t paying attention to me. He was staring at the commander who was trying to radio through to their command center.

“What is it?”

The commander glanced around. “What do you think? I need Control’s guidance about what to do from here but noone’s answering. I don’t know whether to arrest her or have her processed here. If Kefi decides to keep her and there’s a delay…” he trailed off. I was surprised to see what looked like fear on his rugged face.

I could feel the guard’s breath on the back of my neck.

“I suppose the smartest thing to do is to have her processed,” the commander continued, glancing up as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. “And then we’ll get a better look at this disobedient human whore.”

The guard’s grip on my arms tightened. I gasped with the pain.

“Medic. You may continue,” the commander snarled with a sadistic gleam in his eye. “Simo. Bring her to the table.”

The guard behind me walked me slowly to the examination table where the medical examiner was waiting. The commander followed us over, standing feet away from where I stood at the end of the bed.

“Please remove your clothing,” the medic said in a cold voice.

The guard was still holding my arm. The commander’s eyes bored into me. He looked absolutely ecstatic. I looked down. It was bad enough that I was about to be humiliated but this asshole was going to get a kick out of it? I reached down and started to pull up the bottom of my sweater with my free hand. I tried my best to ignore him.

“Faster, whore. If you weren’t such a handful I’d take you for myself.”

I reacted before I could stop myself. “What? A guard commander given a human for mating? Have you Erostrians run out of suitable candidates already?”

The commander’s face lit up in fury. He stepped closer and lifted his hand to strike me. I closed my eyes tight and prepared myself for pain. Nothing happened.

“Don’t, sir,” Simo said in a deep voice. “It’s not worth the trouble. You go. I can handle her.”

The commander looked irritated.

I squeaked in pain as Simo - whom I’d stupidly come to see as an ally - lifted my arm as high up my back as it could go without breaking. “Ow. You’re going to break it,” I screamed.

The commander looked thoughtful. “I hate to miss the show, but this one does make me want to do something I’ll regret. It’s best if someone of lower rank takes care of her. And you’re the best, Simo. I’ll send others.”

He turned and marched out, pausing at the door. “Don’t leave marks.”

I shivered. Simo stepped away from me and stood between me and the door. I watched him resentfully as I tried to massage some feeling back into my arm. It had felt like it was going to tear out of its socket. I asked myself why I thought he was different. Why had I made a hero out of him when I’d been relying on no one but myself for the past two years? He was the enemy. I smiled. He was also the only thing standing between me and freedom once the medical examination was over. I watched the muscles in his huge back flex. It wasn’t going to be easy I knew, especially since I’d tried to get away once. Plus they’d taken my knife. I glanced around the sterile room. There were trays of medical implements but nothing sharp. It was just an exam room after all.

“I’m turning my back so you have some privacy. Don’t try anything stupid,” Simo said.

It was like he’d read my mind.

Pouting, I shuffled out of my clothes and lay on the exam table naked.

“I said sit, child,” the doctor said gruffly.

I sat up. I almost started to feel comfortable as he tested my reflexes - if it wasn’t for the fact that I was naked. Simo remained a couple paces away with his back turned. I heeded his warning and didn’t attempt to do anything. Yet. I remembered the commander’s words with a shiver. It said a lot about Simo that the commander trusted him to guard me alone. And straighten me out.
Without leaving marks.
I clenched my fists. I walked to the window as instructed and stood on the scale. The medic followed me dispassionately and recorded my weight and height on his chart. I was almost at ease when he led me back to the exam table.

“Lie back and put your feet in the stirrups.”

My eyes opened wide in fright. “What?”

“You heard me. Please just do as you’re told.”

“But why?”

No one had ever seen me naked until I walked into this room. I could handle that. But now he was going to go further? With a sigh I lay back and put my feet into the cold metal stirrups, trying to ignore the fact that it prevented me from keeping my legs tightly squeezed together like they had been up to then. The medic moved in front of me. I closed my eyes: I didn’t want to see what he was doing. I just wanted this over with.

“Ow,” I screamed as, without warning, something hard and cold pushed inside me. “What the hell?”

I tried to sit up but I couldn’t: the presence of the foreign object made it too painful. I started to hyperventilate, trapped on the table with that thing inside me. “Get it out, please,” I sobbed.

“What’s going on?” Simo demanded, turning around to glare at the medical examiner.

I felt my cheeks redden as his eyes landed on my naked body. There was no sheet or towel for me to hide under. I watched him watching me: he looked utterly transfixed. He wasn’t looking at me in the same way as the other guards had when I took off my jeans. This was something different. My mouth felt dry: I found myself wanting to say something to break the silence even though only seconds had passed.

“It’s a standard part of the procedure, guard,” the medical officer said wearily.

Simo nodded. I could tell he was fighting to take his eyes off my body. And I realized something monstrous: I didn’t feel disgusted by his attention. Quite the opposite. In a way I didn’t want it to stop. I stared at the ceiling, glad of the distraction from this awful exam, if nothing else.

“Who is Kefi?” I found myself asking.

Simo’s back stiffened. “Silence.”

The medic sniggered. “You tell the Zeepa.” I wanted to get as far away from him as I could but I dared not move with that thing inside me, stretched open to the hilt.

“And you, medic,” Simo said coldly. “Hurry and finish your work.”

The medic reddened but didn’t speak again. I breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled the plastic out of me and started jotting notes on his clipboard.

“Get her out of here,” he said, turning away.

“Is it over?”

He nodded, looking as relieved as I felt.

I sat up quickly, feeling slightly lightheaded. When my surroundings stopped wobbling I pulled my clothes on quickly. The medic left the room. Simo was still standing a few feet away from me with his back turned. I stood quietly and stole up behind him. I wasn’t sure how I was going to disarm him and I didn’t have an opportunity to find out. He twisted around before I’d even reached him and grabbed my wrists.

“I told you not to try anything.”

“Of course I’m going to try something. My freedom’s at stake. If I don’t get away today then I’m going to be imprisoned in Kefi’s compound for the rest of my life,” I hissed desperately, searching for the glimmer of understanding I thought I had seen in his eyes earlier.

He shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”

I clenched the muscles in my forearms as tight as I could and tried to break his grip. It was useless. Not only was he much broader than me, he was at least a foot taller too. The top of my head barely reached the top of his chest. There was no way I was going to overpower him. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

“Let me go,” I hissed, dropping to the floor.

He bent over me, still gripping my arms tightly. My breathing quickened as his amber eyes stared into mine. I stopped struggling for a moment. He moved his face closer to mine until I could feel his breath on my face. His lips brushed against mine and I felt another jolt of that electricity-like power I’d felt earlier.

“Not here,” he whispered so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.

He moved away. I looked into his eyes confused. He let go of one of my wrists and held his index finger up to his lips. He shook his head. He grabbed my wrist again before I even fully realized it was free. I had been so transfixed by the beautiful alien in front of me that I’d forgotten to struggle. I’d almost forgotten to fight. I pushed against him with all the strength I possessed.

“Why should I tru—”

He clamped his huge hand over my mouth. “Time to get you back to the barracks.”             

I tried to speak but my words were muffled by his hand. He watched me intently. I rolled my eyes and nodded telling him I wouldn’t say anything. I didn’t know why he was so cagey. He removed his hand slowly.

I frowned and repeated what I’d been trying to say. “We’re not going to Kefi’s?”

He shook his head. “You’re not going directly there. I need to take you back to the barracks while they decide whether you’ll be mated or arrested.”

“So I’m not… I’ve still got time…”

He stared into my eyes and nodded so slightly that I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it. I was still trying to figure that out when the door burst open.

“Sir, the commander sent us,” one of the three new guards said.

Simo’s lips twitched down a fraction right before he turned away from me to face them.

“Excellent. Any update on what they want to do with her?”

The guard who’d spoken shook his head. “No. we’re taking her back to the barracks.”

“I want two of you on either side of her and one in front. I’ll stay behind. She’s tried to escape before,” Simo said authoritatively.

“So we heard, sir. Pira’s a good friend of mine,” the guard said, grabbing my arm with force. “Now he’s in surgery thanks to this.”

One of the others laughed cruelly. “She’ll get what she deserves with Kefi. I’ve heard this is his third Zeepa. He keeps on breaking them and then getting a fresh one. Must be well connected.”

I glanced at Simo. The muscles in his jaw were twitching. He was silent.