Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“Try it and the girl dies,” he said. “And if I have to kill Lorna, I’ll kill your Sylvia too—that’s a promise, Mr. Kross.”
Kross turned and saw that one of the treetures had its long fingers wrapped around the goat-woman’s throat and was choking her.
“Fuck!” he growled. Standing quickly, he put up his hands. “All right—leave her alone!”
He couldn’t stand idly by and watch a woman get hurt or killed. Again, it went against everything in his Kindred heritage and DNA. Also, he feared for Sylvia. He didn’t want to do anything that would get her hurt or punished.
“Very well. Clipcut, loosen your hold on her throat,” the mad scientists instructed.
The tree-man did as he said, though he still kept his long fingers loosely around her neck.
“Good. Now you and Manlow and Pushplant take her out and fuck her,” Barbarous said casually. “For once I think she’ll welcome it.” Then he looked at Kross. “And you—get back into your area. If you try anything like that again, it’s your Sylvia who will be getting fucked by my treetures. Do I make myself clear?”
“Fucking crystal,” Kross growled. He went back to stand by the bed and watched as the wavering red pain walls came back up.
“Good. I’m glad we understand each other. I’ll be speaking to you later after I rework my formula.” He pointed a finger at Kross. “Don’t get too comfortable. I will find a way.”
Kross didn’t know what he was talking about and he didn’t fucking want to know, but he asked anyway.
“Find a way to do what?” he demanded.
But the screen was blank once more and since the three tree-men had already dragged the moaning goat-girl out the door, he was alone with his thoughts.
11
SYLVIE
Sylvie waited, on pins and needles, to see if she was going to be punished for her refusal to give the collection droid what it wanted but nothing else happened for hours.
The women all milled around silently, clearly trying not to think about what Lorna was going through. It was obvious to Sylvie they were completely demoralized. Nobody even seemed to have any hope of escape and Barbarous knew it—he didn’t even bother to make sure the treetures locked the door to their prison.
Sylvie had hope, though. The flight plan Kross had filed for their mission had been for a week because she hadn’t been sure how long it would take her to find the tangeline vine. When the two of them didn’t contact the Mother Ship or return on time, someone was bound to come looking for them. The Kindred took care of their own.
The question was, could she survive here for a week or should she attempt to get out of here now? After all, she had no wish to be gang-raped by the treetures. If she could just get out of the tree trunk prison and find Kross, she was sure the two of them could get back to their long-range shuttle. Then they could send help back for the hapless women Barbarous was holding captive.
She thought about trying to get some of the other women to come with her…but Hersha shut down that idea fast.
“You know, maybe next time they come in, if there’s only one guard—” she began, but stopped abruptly when the goat woman glared at her.
“Shut up with that talk!” she hissed at Sylvie fiercely. “You never can tell when he’s listening!” And she nodded at the blank screen, which just looked like part of the wall when it wasn’t lit up.
“Fine, I just thought—”
“Well, don’t,” Hersha snapped. “That kind of thinking is what gets you punished or even killed.”
“But if we all work together—” Sylvie began.
“You think we didn’t try?” Hersha demanded. “I’ve been here for five fucking years! And so have Lorna and Shredda. But what you don’t know, is that we used to have a fourth—her name was Zeela. She got caught sneaking out one night near the beginning and Barbarous killed her for it.”
“He…he did?” Sylvie’s voice was faint.
Hersha nodded.
“He didn’t just shoot her with a blaster, either. He had the treetures pull her apart—piece by piece. First her arms…then her legs…” She shook her head, looking down at her hands. “By the time they ripped off her head, she was dead. But we still had to watch—he wouldn’t let us look away. There was so much blood…”
Sylvie’s stomach twisted into a fist.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “That must have been…beyond horrible to watch.”
“Better to watch it than to have it happen to you personally,” Hersha said fiercely. “So when I tell you to shut the fuck up, I mean it—shut the fuck up.”
She got off the cot closest to the door where they had been sitting together and moved to the furthest cot, pointedly putting room between herself and Sylvie. As she did, she cast a look at the blank screen, as though someone was watching her. Which, maybe they were. Who knew in this crazy place, Sylvie thought.