Guard (A Sci-Fi Alien Romance) (3 page)

We left the building and marched a block to the law enforcement barracks. It had been the police headquarters up until two years ago; now it was where the Erostrian guards were headquartered. It was also where prisoners were detained before being moved to prison. Not that there was much crime these days: Erostrian prison was said to be unbearable. They didn’t see prison as a way to reform or rehabilitate humans. It was merely another way to keep us under control and ensure we remained obedient. Ex-prisoners were returned to the factory lines once they’d finished their sentences. Hearing their whispered stories was enough to turn everyone but the most deluded into a law abiding citizen. The rate of repeat offending was said to be less than 1%. Nobody knew for sure: there was no newspaper or internet to consult.

I held my breath as the huge, black, forbidding doors to the law enforcement building swung open.

“Take her to the holding cells,” Simo said.

I looked around alarmed as I saw him walk in the opposite direction to the way we were going. The guard who was holding my arm pushed me roughly down the corridor.

“Hurry it up,
Zeepa
bitch.”

I walked ahead of him, gritting my teeth as he pushed me along in front of him. The other guards snickered each time his hand landed between my shoulder blades. It got worse when we went through a secure door into a narrower, quieter corridor. By then, he was slapping my butt every step I took.
Hard
.

“Hey, I know you’re pissed about Pira, but c’mon. If you leave a mark, Kefi’ll have your ass in jail.”

“How long have you been on Earth?” I whispered as softly as I could when we’d started walking again. I tried to look straight ahead – the reinforced metal doors on either side of the corridor were beginning to freak me out.

“Don’t try and befriend me,” he snarled, grabbing my hair and pulling so I was forced to stand on tiptoes. “We have nothing in common. You hear me?”

“Now you see?” the other one said, grabbing my butt and squeezing. “She is a pain in the damn ass.”

I was almost glad when we stopped outside the first open door we came to and they pushed me inside and closed the door behind me.

The cell was sparsely furnished to say the least. A metal bench ran along one wall, covered with a thin-looking mattress. A toilet was plumbed into the opposite wall. The linoleum floor was filthy - I guessed it hadn’t been cleaned since the days when it was a police station. I sat down on the mattress, glad of my thick jeans. I hadn’t even thought to ask the guards how long I’d be here, I’d been so desperate to get away from them. I swung my legs in the air. My body was still buzzing with adrenaline – it seemed ridiculous to be sitting still doing nothing on what was supposed to be the day I escaped. But I didn’t exactly have a choice.

All I’d known was I needed to escape between the moment the medical examiners changed my status in the records, and the point where I was handed over to Kefi. If I’d tried to escape before then, they’d have put a warrant out for my arrest. I’d never have survived in the city. I could have taken a chance and escaped to the wild, but even if I managed to get away I knew that was no life. We’d all heard the stories, especially in the old days, where families had escaped to try and protect their daughters.

It was a no-man’s land. The Erostrians owned all the resources and guarded them fiercely. So it made sense that the only places to live free where the most uninhabitable places on earth. Places where there was no vegetation or shelter or wildlife. Only the most ruthless survived – and those that did sacrificed their sanity to do so, if the stories that buzzed around the factory floor were to be believed.

Those who survived in the city were the ones who fell through the cracks. I’d first heard about the loophole from one of the whores in a bar in the alleys. Initially I hadn’t believed her. But then others told me the same thing. And they were free. It seemed so unlike the Erostrians that it didn’t sound true. But they were arrogant. And most of the women I’d spoken to had managed to get away because their mate had been killed on duty. Otherwise, they were kept under lock and key. There was no automatic arrest warrant for runaway Zeepas precisely because it was so impossible for them to get away.

There was a tiny window of opportunity for escape: after leaving the administration building and before being delivered to the compound. That was it. Otherwise all hope was lost.

“Clementine.”

My eyes burst open at the sound of my name. I looked around, not remembering where I was for the first few seconds. As my eyes focused, I realized there was someone else in the cell with me. Someone huge. I blinked.

“Why did you call me that?”

“Because it’s your name,” Simo said with a note of amusement in his deep voice.

I sat up and shifted my legs to the ground. He came and sat on the bench beside me. The metal groaned under his weight. He was so close to me that our legs were almost touching. My breath caught in my throat. I realized with embarrassment that I’d been dreaming about him before he walked in. I cleared my throat.

“What are you doing here? Is it time?” I whispered, looking into his amber eyes for answers.

He shook his head. “No, the council is still deliberating.”

I sighed with relief. “Good. I hope they cancel the mating.”

His eyes opened wide in shock. “You don’t know what you’re saying. If Kefi refuses you, they’ll arrest you.”

I shrugged. “Maybe that’d be better than being mated to Kefi.”

He closed his eyes and swallowed. “I’m not sure.”

“What is it about him? When Erostrians speak of him, they do it in whispers. Why?”

He shook his head, eyes still closed. “He’s a very powerful member of the council.”

“Is it true?”

He eyed me warily. “Is what true?”

“You know,” I paused, not sure how to phrase my question.

He stared straight ahead.

“Please get me out of here,” I whispered, grabbing his strong, tanned hand.

He looked at me with such pity that I was sure I was going to burst into tears. No one had looked at me like that for years.

He held my hand tightly and continued to stare straight in front of him, avoiding my eyes. “I’ve been thinking about how to do that,” he said, after a long pause.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You have? But I know exactly how to do it,” I said quickly, shifting my body around on the bench until I was facing him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

I nodded. “If I can get away before…”

He leaned closer, looking at me intently with his bright amber eyes. “Before?”

I tore my eyes away from his handsome face. “How do I know I can trust you? That you won’t use what I say against me?”

He smiled sadly and shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing. You just reminded me of someone then.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

We sat in silence, the tension growing as the seconds ticked past.

“So how do I know?”

“Know what, Clementine?”

“That I can trust you.”

He pursed his lips and shrugged. “You don’t. You can’t.”

I stared into eyes, trying to weigh up the pros and cons of trusting this stranger. Every instinct I had told me I should. But it was my last chance. If I made the wrong choice then I’d be a prisoner forever. I decided to go it alone.

But it seemed like my body was ignoring my brain.

“If I can get away between now and when they deliver me to him, then I’m free,” I blurted. “According to the system I’m mated. There’s no automatic arrest warrant. It’ll have to be done manually by special order. I don’t even know how. That’s a lot of effort for Kefi to go to in order to find me. He’ll probably just take another. Especially if he’s powerful.”

I was almost out of breath when I finished talking. Simo’s face was totally blank. Neutral. Unreadable.

“Well?” I hissed desperately, hoping I hadn’t just betrayed myself.

He turned his head to one side and watched me, deep in thought. As he opened his mouth to speak, the heavy metal door creaked open. It was the guards from earlier, the ones who’d marched me to my cell. The ones who were friends with the guards I attacked.

I swallowed nervously.

“Well?” Simo said, standing up.

I stared into his eyes, beseeching him not to tell them. His face was as blank as ever.

My first night in a police cell was the worst night’s sleep I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t because of the crappy mattress – I was used to living uncomfortably. I’d slept fitfully, knowing that they could come and take me at any time. If I was them, I would have – take me when I least expected it and my guard was down. But they didn’t.

I had no idea what time it was. I guessed from the noises in the corridor outside that it was daytime. Doors screeched open and closed. People stomped past in heavy boots. I tried to focus my tired mind but it was useless. I was dozing off again when the door opened suddenly. I shuffled back against the wall, making myself as small as possible.

“Don’t worry. I’m alone,” Simo whispered, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him.

“Is it time?”

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

I exhaled loudly.

He looked sad. “They’ll come to a decision eventually, Clementine. And when they do…”

We stayed like that for a while – me curled up like a frightened animal on the bench. Him staring down at me with infinite sadness in his eyes.

“Why do you want to help me?” I asked finally, standing up.

He looked away at the wall and swallowed. “How do you know I want to help you? Yesterday afternoon you didn’t believe me.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just.”

“What?” He turned to look at me.

“I don’t know.”

He took a step closer until we were barely six inches apart. Even from that distance I felt like his imposing body was surrounding me, capturing me. He lifted his hand and stroked my face so gently I felt tears prick at my eyes.

“Why couldn’t it have been you?” I sobbed, wondering when exactly my brain had stopped filtering my words.

His smile was slight, but it still lit up his whole face. “Clementine Harding. If you’d been delivered to me, you’d still have put up a fight. You’re the most strong-willed woman I’ve ever met.”

I could tell from his eyes that it wasn’t a rebuke.

“Would you like that? If I’d been delivered to you?” I whispered.

He stroked my face again. This time his fingers circled around to my lips. He reached down and tilted up my chin gently so I was staring directly into his warm eyes. They were the same shade as the rest of his species, yet they were vastly different. There was a warmth and depth to them that I’d never seen before in an Erostrian.

“It doesn’t matter now, Clementine. We have bigger problems to solve.”

I rolled my eyes. “Call me Clem, please. The only person who ever cal—” my eyes opened wide. “You mean you’ll help me escape when they move me?”

He shook his head.

I folded my arms, chastising myself mentally for expecting him to help me solve a problem that was mine and mine alone. Seeing my reaction he put an arm on my shoulder. His firm touch sent shooting stars of pleasure through my body, in ways that I’d never felt before.

“That isn’t what I meant. I want to help you, but your plan won’t work.”

“No,” I said quickly. “It has to. That’s the only time I can escape.”

He shook his head firmly. “There’s no way they’ll give you a chance to get away. They’ll be expecting trouble.”

“Why do you call them ‘they’?”

His cheeks reddened. “Now is not the time to analyze my words. Like I say, you can’t escape during the delivery.”

I sat back down. “I guess if it’s prison then I won’t need to escape.”

He knelt before me and took my hands. “Even more reason to escape,” he said fiercely. “Trust me. You don’t want to go to prison.”

I shook my head, staring up at the ceiling. Tears were streaming down my cheeks now. “But it’s my only option. If I don’t get away before they give me to him, then I might as well be in prison.”

He leaned over and stroked my hair. “There is another way. It’ll put both of us in grave danger, but I believe it’s the only way.”

His beautiful face looked blurry through my tears. “Why are you helping me? Why put yourself in danger?”

I couldn’t see his expression but I could hear the hesitation in his voice. “Remember I said you reminded me—”

The door burst open. Two other guards burst in. they stopped abruptly when they saw us. Simo had leapt to his feet as the door opened but they had still seen us too close together.

“What’s this, Simo?” one of them leered. “Can’t wait to get assigned your own human whore?”

I stared ahead, trying to stop myself from glancing at Simo.

“Well?” the other taunted, looking from one of us to the other.

Finally Simo shrugged and glanced back at me coldly. “She tried the same trick with me as she did with Pira.”

One of the guards burst toward me so suddenly that he was almost in my face before Simo grabbed him by the throat.

“Don’t, brother,” Simo said calmly. “It’s not worth the trouble if the commander finds out. She won’t try it again. Believe me.”

The guard who’d tried to attack me seemed mollified – he smoothed out his uniform and stared up and Simo. The other one was less calm. I grew more and more nervous as I watched him watching us.

“Really?” he said at last. “Because I’ve heard you’ve got a bit of a soft spot for human whores.”

The other guard giggled in amusement. A twinge of jealousy shot through me. I glanced at Simo in dismay but he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring with an anger and hatred that I’d never seen before, not even in the darkest days of the takeover.

“Say that again,” Simo said in a low growl.

The other guard stepped closer, squaring up to him. “You think I’m afraid of you?
You
? If it wasn’t for your father—”

Simo stepped closer to him. “Keep talking.”

Just as Simo reached out to grab him, there was a commotion in the corridor outside. Simo stepped back quickly just as the commander stepped into the already crowded cell.

“What’s the delay?” he asked with disbelief. “I ordered you two to fetch her.”

I looked up at him in dismay. “Does this mean—”

“Silence, human,” he hissed, waving his hand dismissively.

“Has there been a decision sir?” Simo asked.

The commander nodded. “Yes, there has. We’re to take her to Kefi’s compound at once.”

My heart thumped so hard I was sure it was going to explode.

“Yes, sir.”

“Come on then, the backup unit is already waiting for us outside.”

Simo glanced back at me and raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Backup unit, sir?”

“Yes Simo. Have you already forgotten what happened in the administration building?”