Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.Β
Denied - 1. Chapter 1
The wall burst open. I trembled, retreating to my corner.
βHey.β
I huddled into a ball. Men! Where did they come from? Earth was so far away.
βWe found another, Zeke.β One crouched down, creeping closer. Another man came in, and I cringed. They were too close. βWhatβs his file say?β
The new one looked at the square device my captors always carried. βDeprivation for sexual reprogramming.β
βSadistic bastards. How long?β
βSeven years, Captain.β The men both cursed and stared. I wanted them to stop looking at me like that. βHeβs barely eighteen. He was just a kidβstill is.β
βYou speak? Can you understand me?β The one called Captain was so close I could smell him. Spicy, with a whiff of the first scent other than mine I could remember smelling in a long time. I think thatβs why I woke up screaming. Itβd been so long. The aliens had no scent, and they never came into my room.
No touching.
βI wonβt hurt you. Understand?β
I shook my head, sure the green ones were testing me again.
βSure you do. Weβll get you out of here.β Captain reached out slowly.
βNo,β I whimpered. Iβd never be free, could never be among humans again. Theyβd told me, over and over. Even if I wanted toβ
βJust grab him,β Zeke said.
βAfter what theyβve done? No. He has to decide, if he has any chance of recovery.β
Zeke frowned, taking another step down the corridor. βDonβt got all day, Captain. Reinforcements are coming.β
βKeep looking. Iβll stay here.β Alone now, Captain smiled at me, his blue eyes holding a warmth Iβd nearly forgotten.
I gasped. The years, and the punishments, had turned most of my memory into a haze, but I remembered smiles. And hugsβbefore they gave me away. Before Iβd been turned into an experiment.
βYouβre safe.β Captainβs hand ghosted above my arm, so close. So warm. I gasped. The never-ending need, forced down so deep, overflowed. Unable to stop myself, I launched forward, huddling into Captainβs gentle arms.
I shivered, my heart racing. βOut. Please.β If this was another test, Iβd already failed. And I would never be able to walk out of my cell on my own, but maybe, if he took me, I could do it. For just a little while before the aliens stuffed me back in and punished me for this luxury of touch.
Captainβs clothes were smooth, his hands warm. The warmth exacerbated the itching and pain from my suit, but I didnβt care. I tucked my face against him, the only area not covered by the infernal garment the aliens had stuffed me into back on the fateful day.
He stood, and Captain grunted. βYouβre tall, but you donβt weigh a thing.β His voice was rich withβ¦ something. Just hearing Standard was foreign, but I couldnβt tell anything from his voice, other than it was different from when heβd first talked to me. Had I done something wrong?
Of course I had. Iβd touched him. I started to squirm, to get down, to dart back into my cell, but he tightened his arms around me. βStop!β
I froze, shuddering as the thousand pinpricks sent a wave of pain through my body, especially where his arms were banded across my back and under my legs.
βThatβs better. I donβt want to drop you.β Captain was walking away down a featureless corridor, doors like the one to my cell passing at regular intervals. They were open. βJust be patient until we get to my ship and medical can take a look at you.β
More humans?
In moments, weβd left the corridor and the space opened up. It was bigger than anything I could remember being in before, and that scared me. My stomach roiled, and I fought down the urge to vomit. I whimpered, low, broken.
βShh, itβs okay. Almost there.β
Captain didnβt hesitate, walking right toward an openingβ¦ into nothing? I shrieked when the darkness closed over us, the material under my grasping hands hardening as I fought. I hated the darkness, long periods of no light, nothing but the sound of my own breathing. Why was he doing this to me? Was this my punishment?
βHey. Hey! Stop.β
Too late.
I fell and hit the ground, hard, crying out again. I huddled there, unable to even see my hand. My breath sped up, faster and faster. I groped at the floor, looking for the wall, a corner, somewhere I could huddle safely.
βHey.β A light, a beacon practically painful in its intensity compared to the dark, appeared. Captainβs face was in it. βIβm right here. Itβs just a transporter capsule. Weβll be on my ship in a moment.β
I had no idea what he was talking about. Captain sighed. βJust stay still.β He crouched next to me and then did something. Warmth suffused my body, and then the darkness was gone. The white walls were gone.
The room was brightly colored, full of objects I thought I remembered. A bed. A chair. Captain stopped touching me, but he waved his hand toward what I hoped was a bed. βI want you to lie down there. Do you need help?β
I crouched, creeping along the floor with its soft coverings. βNo.β I crawled onto the bed.
Captain did something, and a tone echoed through the room a minute later. He walked over to one wall, and a door slid open. Another human stood there.
βIβm flooded with patients youβve released that need medical care. Why did you call me down here?β
βFrankly, my dear, I donβt give a damn. I have another one for you. I thought it best not to take him to medical, after where heβs been for the last seven years.β
The other humanβs mouth fell open. βSevenβ¦ years?β
Captain nodded, his mouth white. I didnβt like the way his face scrunched up or the way the other one stared at me. I buried my face against the bed.
- 63
- 10
- 7
- 7
- 1
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.Β
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