Breeder Read online

  I shuddered at the thought.

  I remembered waking up on the ship and seeing the Trads in their true form for the first time. I’d recognized Rhett straight away—his face more or less unchanged, despite the addition of horns and scales across his cheeks and forehead. It had been like waking up in a nightmare, though, especially when I’d felt something move inside me and had glanced down to see my swollen belly. I’d known what had happened right away—they hadn’t needed to explain anything to me. And around me, as the other women had all woken to the same nightmare, the screaming had started. I hadn’t joined in but had stared numbly around me as the voices pummeled my eardrums. So many women, all shrieking in horror at once. It was a noise that would haunt me for the rest of my life—however long that might be.

  The Trads had sedated us with injections of some kind of drug. They’d had no choice. There was no possibility they’d have been able to move any of us in the state we’d been in. When we’d woken again, we’d found ourselves in the facility, in the part they referred to as the birthing ring.

  The Trads surrounded the bed. My heart was breaking for Zoe, and I knew it would be my time soon.

  “No, please, leave me alone,” she begged as they removed her restraints from the pod she was tied to, but reconnected the liquid metal so her hands were still bound in the same way they were when we were taken out to wash.

  I wanted to shout at them, tell them it was inhumane to expect a woman to give birth while her hands were cuffed, but then they weren’t humane. They were alien and could do whatever the hell they wanted to us.

  Zoe managed to get to her feet, but her back was rounded, hunched over her swollen stomach.

  “Come on,” Rhett said, yanking her forward.

  She took a step but then stopped again. From beneath her dress, a cascade of fluid poured out onto the floor.

  Kaja frowned down at the mess. “Velos!” she exclaimed. “The waters have been tainted. The baby is in distress.”

  Zoe looked up, her eyes wild. “What’s happening?”

  But Kaja didn’t bother to explain. “Get her out of here, and make sure this happens fast. We lose the girl before we lose the child, understood?”

  The Trads nodded and dragged Zoe away.

  “It’ll be okay, Zoe,” I called out to her, feeling desperate. I knew what Kaja’s words meant. They were to kill Zoe, if it meant doing so would save the Trad baby’s life. They’d cut the creature out of her before they let it die.

  The baby’s life, in their minds, was far more important than Zoe’s.

  Kaja stood and pursed her lips at the mess on the floor, and shook her head. “Diarus!” she shouted, calling in one of the slaves who were forced to work here as janitors.

  The alien hurried in through the doorway. “Yes, Kaja?”

  These other aliens fascinated me. Human women clearly weren’t the first alternate race for the Trads to take as prisoner. I wondered where he was from and how long he’d been here.

  His gaze flicked over to me. His eyes were a beautiful amber, framed by thick, dark lashes. There was understanding and a fierce intelligence in those eyes, too, and as our gazes locked, my heart flipped, my breath catching short.

  Almost as quickly, he looked away again, and I was left feeling flushed, my pulse racing.

  He might be treated like a slave here, but that wasn’t who he was inside. Inside, he had fire and steel, and no matter what the Trads had done to him, he hadn’t let that part of himself go. I’d gotten that just from a quick glance.

  “Clean up that damned mess,” Kaja snapped at the other alien.

  Even though he’d broken eye contact with me, I couldn’t stop myself staring at him. He was so different to the Trads—more humanoid in form than they were. His broad shoulders and chest were bare, highlighting the difference in skin tone compared to the Trads. Where their skin held hues of red and orange, his was blue. And his skin was smooth, where much of the Trad skin was raised and ridged in scales. Or at least it should have been smooth. When he turned, I was able to see multiple raised scars running in lines across his back and shoulders. They looked like scars from being whipped multiple times. His ankles and wrists were bound with the same liquid metal constraints as the ones that confined us to our pods.

  He kept his neck bent, his head down, as he retrieved the piece of slimline silver machinery that was used to clean the floors. He didn’t speak to anyone, or even look up and catch the eye of any of the women, either. It seemed it was only me who’d caught his attention, though I didn’t know why.

  “I hope Zoe’s going to be okay,” Dawn said from the bed beside me, drawing my attention away from the alien with the blue skin. “It’s scary enough giving birth when you’re in a regular hospital and you’ve got your husband at your side, and you know you’re going to love and want the baby you’re giving birth to. Doing it like this for the first time must be absolutely terrifying.”

  She widened her eyes as though she’d only just realized what she’d said. This was going to be my first time, too. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t be. I can’t imagine this is going to be much fun for any of us, whether we’ve done it before or not.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “I just can’t stop thinking about my kids, and remembering their births just makes it even harder. They must be so scared without me.”

  She swiped at her face with the back of her hand, and my own eyes pricked with tears at her sorrow.

  I always cried when other people cried. I couldn’t help but feel Dawn’s sadness as my own. Even back at the Vegas casinos when I’d been working as a croupier, it always broke my heart to see someone lose everything. I always wanted to tell them to quit while they were ahead, but that wasn’t part of my job, and I didn’t think the owners of the casino would have been too pleased with me telling people not to gamble. But seeing them win was a brighter point of the job, and I’d shared that joy and happiness with them equally.

  I didn’t think there were many times when I was thankful for my lack of family, but I was now. There was no one, apart from my friends, who would miss me. The people I was closest to were my best friend, Camille, and her sister, Molly, and I knew they’d be missing me. I was thankful I’d never settled down and had children. I couldn’t imagine the sort of anguish Dawn and all the other women who were already mothers were going through, knowing they’d most likely never see their kids again. They couldn’t even comfort themselves with the thought that at least their families were safe. When we’d been taken from Earth, we’d already been hit by a devastating asteroid strike which had left our cities in chaos and had killed God knew how many people. I didn’t know what Earth was like now, almost three months later, but when we’d been taken the place was in chaos, with people without homes or food. The casino I’d been working in at the time of the strike had half collapsed shortly after I’d made it out of there, and I didn’t even want to think about the number of people who must have been trapped and killed in the hotel rooms above. It hadn’t only been Las Vegas that had been affected either. This thing had been worldwide. Now I knew what I did about the Trads, it was clear that this had been an orchestrated attack, and I assumed from the high-tech facility we’d been brought to, which looked as though it had been built purely with us in mind, it was an attack that had been months, if not years, in the making.

  The Trads were cruel and heartless, and I didn’t trust a single one of them.

  Chapter Two

  Just as I’d expected, Zoe didn’t return.

  The atmosphere was subdued in the birthing ring—even more so than normal. With every woman who went into labor and was taken from this place, it was as though each of us were watching our futures roll out, time and time again.

  The alien slave brought our meals around, delivering them to us on trays. He moved between our pods in silence, his head down, not making eye contact with any of the women. They were all as wary of him as he was of them. Wit
h his blue skin, amber eyes, and a crisscross of scars all over his back, he was clearly not human, and right now, anyone who wasn’t human was assumed to be the enemy.

  I had a different feeling about him, however. While I didn’t trust anyone right now, and I highly doubted he was in any position to help, but I wanted to connect with him.

  I swung my legs off the side of the bed and sat up. Self-conscious, I tugged the silky slip of my dress down as much as possible, trying to cover my thighs. There was nothing I could do about the way my bump and breasts were highlighted by the material, however, my nipples now large and prominent. I folded one arm across the top of my bump to try to hide them, and tried not to think about the creature inside me as it shifted in response to the added pressure.

  He approached and my heart beat harder. I did a nervous stretch, subtly trying to loosen my muscles. I stared down at the floor, waiting for him to get closer. He paused at my pod and lifted the tray containing my meal and slipped it onto the surface which made up a table beside my bed.

  I swallowed hard and forced my lips to move. I’d get in trouble just for speaking to one of the other women, and I didn’t want to think about what sort of trouble I’d be in for trying to talk to a slave.

  “What’s your name?” I asked him softly.

  I’d thought I’d heard Kaja call it out, but it might have been a word meaning something different in his language.

  He lifted his golden eyes to me for a fraction of a second, and then snapped them back down to the floor. His lips parted, as though he considered answering me, but instead he pressed them more firmly together.

  “I’m Tara,” I told him. “Tara Chase. I’m from Earth, but then you probably already know that. You’re not from here, are you?”

  I thought he was like us—a captive from a different planet, though I had no idea which one. I wished I’d paid more attention to my best friend, Camille, when she’d spoken about the other planets and alternative races that she’d found so fascinating. She’d have been far better equipped than me in this situation. My life on Earth hadn’t given me any skills that would transfer to being a captive breeder for an alien race. I’d lived a life that had been wild and fun, staying out until the sun came up, and sleeping most of the day. My friends—with the exception of Camille, who I’d known since we were kids—were all people who worked at the casino, too, and we’d finish work and go out partying almost every night. It would be even better if one of us was given a particularly generous tip from a big winner, and then we’d be popping champagne. I’d never understood Camille’s desire to explore space when I was perfectly happy with everything I’d had on Earth.

  I wondered if Camille was somewhere here on Tradrych, too, or had she been far too sensible to jump into bed with some handsome stranger? I hoped she’d managed to escape them. As much as I wished I could see a familiar friendly face, I wouldn’t wish this life on anyone.

  His voice was so quiet, I almost missed it.

  “Diarus.”

  “That’s your name?” I checked. “Diarus?”

  He gave the slightest of nods and then turned away again, busying himself with delivering meals to the other women.

  “Wait!” I hissed. “Do you know what happens to the women after they leave here? Are they still alive?”

  But he’d already put his head down and hurried off to complete his work. I wondered if any of the others had heard me asking him questions, particularly those closest to me, but everyone seemed occupied with picking their way through whichever strange combination of unrecognizable foods we’d been brought this time.

  My gaze fixed onto the scars across his muscular shoulders. I had so many questions. How far had he traveled to get here? Had he been snatched from his home planet, like I had, or had he come from a crashed ship? I wondered what his story was, and if I’d ever find out.

  When he’d finished his job, he left the birthing ring again. Where did he go? Did he take meals to the women who’d left here, too? I was sure he’d know something, and it was more likely that I’d get information from him than one of the Trads. Perhaps it was better that I didn’t know.

  Though I’d only been here a little over a week, I already knew the routine and prepared myself for it. The others did, too, I noticed. Those who were still functioning and in their right minds finished their food and then moved to the ends of the pods, waiting to be taken to the next part of our day.

  Sure enough, the Trads who worked here—Rhetarz and his side kick, Zymunt, entered the room. Close behind them were dark-haired Nadeusz, who was physically the largest of the aliens, and Mikotaj, who had the mohawk and nose piercing. I knew the matron would be somewhere close by as well.

  I longed to ask them if Zoe was all right, and what had happened to her after the birth. I couldn’t imagine they allowed us to keep the creatures—to mother and nurture them. They weren’t even our species, and to us it had only felt like we’d been pregnant a matter of a week. It wasn’t like on Earth where we’d have had time to get used to the idea of carrying a child, and had nine months to bond with it. But there was no point in asking them anything. I knew I’d never get an answer.

  “Up, girlie!” Nadeusz commanded, cracking his whip against the floor. “Need to keep our livestock clean.”

  I shot glares of hatred toward the big, dark-haired Trad, but he barely even noticed my existence. We were nothing to them. Livestock, just as he’d said.

  One by one, the Trads moved around us, removing our restraints from the pods, but reattaching them between our hands and feet so we were unable to run. Not that I thought any of us were much able to run anyway. We all looked as though we were carrying beach balls beneath our clothes, and even if we managed to escape this place, where could we possibly run to? We were on an alien planet surrounded by the enemy. There was nowhere to run.

  I slipped my feet into the pair of sandals at the end of my pod, provided to protect our feet from the burning-hot ground outside.

  When we were lined up, with the Trads both leading the way and following up behind us, they marched us from the birthing room, down a long white corridor, toward a door that led to the outside world.

  Rhett pushed the door open, and we all squinted at the sudden glare of sunlight. But he didn’t pause to let us get used to the light, and instead we were pushed from behind, keeping us moving.

  The area where we were expected to wash was along the back of the building, and was outside, giving us our only access to fresh air for the day. It was a long metal trough, the metal glinting in the sunlight and warmed under its rays. The water must have been warmed by the sunlight, too, but it was hosed onto us while we soaped down our bodies.

  “Clothes off,” Rhett commanded. “You know the drill.”

  I did, and so did all the other women. Each of us self-conscious and vulnerable, especially because of our newly rounded bodies, we kicked off our sandals and pulled off the slippery fabric of our identical dresses. We placed them on the ground before stepping into the metal trough. A few of the women wept, and those who refused to strip were held down and manhandled by the Trads. We quickly learned it was easier and less invasive if we just took off our clothes ourselves.

  While the Trads prepared to turn on the water, my gaze was drawn to the planet beyond.

  The landscape surrounding the facility was strangely mirroring of the desert around my home city of Las Vegas—the last place I’d seen before I’d been taken. This facility was large, with housing in the form of semi-permanent yurts erected around it, but it didn’t look as though there was much else here. I had the feeling it had been built purely for our arrival, and that before there had been nothing more than red dust and heat. But this kind of structure hadn’t been put up overnight. It would have taken months, or maybe even closer to a year or more to build this size facility. The Trads had prepared for our arrival, and the attack on Earth had been planned a long time ago. I hadn’t yet learned the reason behind the Trads needing human women, but I co
uld make a good guess. So far, the only female Trad I’d seen was older and most likely incapable of carrying babies herself. The Trads obviously needed us as breeders, which meant something had happened to their own females.

  The hoses were turned on, and I stood beneath the flow of the one closest to me, the lukewarm water pummeling my body. It was uncomfortable but also rejuvenating, and I allowed it to wash away the sweat clinging to my skin.

  Heat waves rose from the red earth, and the horizon shimmered. Something caught my eye. I frowned and squinted. Was that a city in the distance? I didn’t know why the sight of it gave me hope, but it did. It wasn’t as though it would be a place I could escape to. I was on a different planet, with no way of getting home. The entire city would be full of Trads, and I certainly couldn’t blend in. The moment any of them saw me, they’d know exactly where I’d come from and would whisk me up and deliver me straight back here. Besides, I couldn’t run anywhere right now. My distended belly made it hard for me to walk, never mind run. I moved at a waddle, my hand pressed to my lower back, trying to suck in what felt like thinner air into my poor compressed lungs. And I wasn’t far away from giving birth. At least here I’d be able to rely on the cleanliness and equipment keeping me alive. I couldn’t imagine giving birth to an alien child out there somewhere, sitting in the dirt, terrified and in pain. And what would I do with the child after it had been born? I felt nothing toward it now other than loathing and resentment. I wanted the Trads to take it away as soon as it was born. I didn’t want to be tasked with trying to take care of it.

  I wondered if I could bring myself to just leave it out in the dirt somewhere, let it die of exposure, but I didn’t think even I could do that. I hated the Trads for everything they’d done to us, and for the death and destruction they’d brought to Earth, but the creature living inside me now hadn’t asked to be born.

  If it’s a male, it’ll grow up to become one of them.

  If I gave birth to a male baby and left it out somewhere to die, wouldn’t I be doing all the future women a favor? But then I’d be sentencing the baby despite it not having committed any crimes yet, merely in expectation of a crime it most likely would commit.