The Abduction (2 page)

Samantha
peered harder at the few uniformed men moving about at the edges of the disgusting orgy. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about them that wasn’t right. They were all tall and broad shouldered, and they moved fluidly as if they had joints and muscles where they shouldn’t as they walked about predatorily, staring intently at their comrades pounding away at the women on the ground.

A
well-dressed couple appeared at the bottom of the far stairwell, the tears on the woman’s terrified face glowing in the light of the flares. They froze at the sight before them, and the man tried to pull the woman back up the stairs. Before they could turn to go, one of the uniformed men to their right moved incredibly fast across the ten feet between then and snatched the woman away, pulling her toward the middle of the room. Her companion yelled and charged at the uniformed man, who nonchalantly lifted one arm and pointed a weapon—a green dot appearing on the man’s forehead—and fired. A bright bolt of green energy shot out like a bullet with a
crack
, and the charging man’s head jerked backward as a electrical spider web of micro surges enveloped his face and neck before falling like a sack of rocks to the floor.

The
woman screamed, fighting against the restraining grip of her captor. The man jerked her around to face him, and grasped her face in both hands. He leaned down, ignoring the flailing arms and scratching nails of the woman as she struggled, and laid a firm kiss against her lips. Almost immediately she froze, and then melted against his chest, her head tilted upward and mouth opened to receive the next kiss. Within moments the uniformed man had her on the ground; sequined dress hitched up to her breasts and hose ripped off and tossed across the nearest body as she frantically clawed at the front of his pants.

Samantha gasped, and covered her mouth.

Two uniformed men standing near the entry doors to the building looked up, their yellow, catlike eyes glinting gold in the darkness, and stared straight at Samantha. Their eyes narrowed, and then they darted forward.

She backpedaled and pushed the two girls behind her
, pointing toward the stairs. “Run!”

The flight
back up the stairs in the dark was long and terrifying. Samantha felt hot tears slip down her cheeks as she fought to keep her footing on the unfinished stairwell, and ignored the pain in her knee as she slammed against the wall as she fought to find the next door.

Julie
disappeared to her left in a flash of pale green light as she darted through an open door. Carly clamored past, going further up the stairs. Samantha hesitated.

“Sam!”
Carly called back. “They’re already on the second floor!”

Samantha
cringed, looking down toward where Julie had gone, and rushed up the stairs after Carly.  “What about Julie?”

Carly
panted and faltered, slipping down three steps to nearly crash into Samantha. “You can’t help her—”

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs below them, and
despite the gnawing urge to help the terrified girl, fear gripped Samantha’s own chest and she quickened her pace behind Carly before they could see who was behind them.

Once in the hall
of the third floor, they paused, panting, looking around in the dark. The floor was silent, save for the random muted scream coming from somewhere below. Samantha jerked her tablet out of her pocket and held it out in front with a shaky hand, and Carly latched herself onto Samantha’s back as they quickly but cautiously jogged down the dark hall.

“Can you please tell me what the
fuck is going on?” Carly demanded as they rounded the corner toward their rooms. “Did… I mean did you see what those guys…”

Samantha nodded, h
er throat thick. She’s seen.

Samantha nearly tripped on something in the hall, and she shone her
light down only to gasp at several pairs of women and uniformed men coupling on the floor of the hall to their rooms.

Women
moaned in ecstasy, running their hands up and down the men’s backs as they shoved their hips upward in tune to each powerful thrust, as if they couldn’t get enough. The men’s bodies jerked unnaturally fast as they roughly ravished the women below them, their pants halfway down their lean and muscular thighs. They didn’t give the two girls a second glance as they groaned and panted, focused on the females below them.

Carly’s
fingers squeezing into Samantha’s arm snapped her back to reality, and they glanced at each other as Samantha tiptoed forward through the maze of twisting bodies.

“Are you crazy?”
Carly whispered.

“They’re a little busy at the moment,” Samantha reasoned
, waving her to follow. “I’m more worried about the two guys looking for us.”

Samantha paused halfway down the hall as they neared a pair lying right beside one of the green flares, studying the man’s profile.

He was human in form and basic appearance, but up close she could see the fine differences. Gold, cat-like irises peeked now and then from below heavy lids.  What almost looked like stripes ringed his bared thighs, waists, and wrists to fade down fingers ending in thick nails that looked more like short, curved claws. The creature turned his head as they stepped past and growled, flashing sharp fangs as he pumped harder against the short-haired girl below him.

Oh, shit,
Samantha’s head screamed.
They’re not human!

“Come on!” she hissed, and
took off running. She barely heard Carly’s cry as she maneuvered through the writhing forms on the ground.

“Sam, wait!”

Samantha skidded to a halt in a clearing at the end of the hall, looking back for Carly. She saw the other girl coming, picking her way slowly around the forms with a squeamish look on her face. Tears reflected the emerald glow.

“Sam
antha,” Carly’s voice was thick with horror. “Please don’t leave me.”

Samantha held out a hand. “Come on!”

Carly took another step closer, and then was jerked backward off her feet.

Samantha cried out as an arm wrapped around
Carly’s shoulders and pushed her up against the wall. Carly screamed as the uniformed man leaned forward, pulling at her pants with his free hand and leaning toward her. He leaned in for a kiss, but Carly turned her head and kicked out, catching him between the legs. The man grunted and staggered, but his hold never wavered. Carly clawed as his hand, and then struck out toward his face. Her nails met skin, raking across his eye, and the man let out a guttural yowl and flinched away, dropping his hand.

Carly
spun around, eyes wild, as she sprinted for Samantha.

Samantha
turned to go as Carly neared, her hand outstretched to pull her along.

A sharp crack split the air.
Hot electricity crackled through the air tingling Samantha’s arm and side as Carly’s fingers brushed Samantha’s on her way to the ground. Carly jerked twice, her body convulsing as the tiny electrical sparks ran across her face to fade into darkness, and then went still.

Samantha ran.
She ran blindly through the dark, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Her legs burned, and her lungs ached as a scream built in her throat as she heard her pursuer’s heavy boots closing in behind her.

Up ahead
loomed the door to the stairwell. If only she could make it back to the stairs then she could at least have a chance of escaping…

A
second pair of gold eyes stepped into the hall in front of her, and Samantha’s legs gave out as she tried to suddenly slow and turn. Strong arms grabbed the front of her shirt and jerked her to the side of the hall and against a warm, solid wall of a body. In the dark she saw the black shadow of her original pursuer rush past, gold eyes glaring at her as he overshot and skidded across the floor.

The one who had shot
Carly spun around and growled at the newcomer, hissing angrily. Samantha cringed against the wall, trying to melt into the drywall. The newcomer shifted his weight, his legs pressing up against Samantha and pushing her behind him. Terrified, she didn’t argue, and flattened herself between the warm body in front and the cool plaster against her back, spreading her arms out against the wall to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Her fingers felt the edge of a doorframe, and she held her breath as the two creatures growled and hissed at each other.
They began to circle; the newcomer turning his back toward her and pushing the other man further down the hall. The eyes of the first man narrowed and dropped, and then rushed forward.

Samantha slid across the wall and pushed the door open just as the two creatures collided
together into the wall. She rolled onto her side inside the hotel room, and twisted to kick the door shut. Something heavy stopped it from closing completely, and she screamed and rammed her shoulder into it, turning the lock to secure it shut.

Gasping, she scrambled back as she listened to the sounds of struggling and
guttural roaring on the other side of the door. She felt around in the darkness and managed to make her way to the room’s small, single window. She clawed at the blackout drape, shoving them aside. Yellow and gold light spilled in from the tall casino next door, and she frantically searched the frame for the latch. She finally found the lock and popped it open, and slid the glass up. She scrambled on top of the shaky dinette table and began pulling herself up and out of the window.

“Help!”
she screamed out the open window. “Someone help me!”

The door behind her shuddered under a massive weight. Samantha yipped and nearly lost her grip on the
windowpane. The wall shook again, and a hanging picture fell, the glass shattering. Samantha clawed at the window ledge, wiggling through to her waist just as the doorframe burst open.

A wave of relief rushed over her as gravity took hold and she began to
fall down out of the window toward the bright city lights below. Damn the fact she was three stories up; she’d rather have a few broken ribs or an arm than face whatever demons had taken over their shitty Vegas hotel.

A hand caugh
t her ankle, and jerked her upwards, hard.

Samantha screamed.

Warmth, centered on her middle and slowly spreading across her chest, neck and arms slowly brought Samantha closer to the surface of the darkness that held her in a soft, comforting embrace.

She swallowed, eyes closed, not wanting to leave the enveloping sense of peace that
swathed every part of her being and seeped into every muscle so that she felt relaxed and at ease in a way she had never experienced before.

Her
mind began to stir as the warmth moved across her face and neck, her thoughts rising through the oblivion of contented silence like bubbles in golden honey, struggling to make sense and form reason.

No. This feels too good… too right.

The warmth became wet, swiping across her being and bringing feeling back into her skin so that she was aware of her body once again; the air against her neck and breasts, the soft silver comforter wrapped around her legs and back...

Samantha gasped and shifted, her shoulders pressing into the mattress and grounding her sense of space and reality. She fought against the urge to slip back into the comforting
warmth, and forced her heavy eyelids to open.

At first nothing made sense. She lazily glanced around the room
, trying to gauge her surroundings. The sparse and modern furnishings were masculine and decorated in monochrome grays, whites and blacks. The large platform bed on which she laid sat in the middle of the room, bookended by matching side tables. A black armchair sat to the side of a low dresser, just to the right of the single window.

Samantha’s eyes widened. Nothing looked familiar. This wasn’t her room.

The wet warmth that had woken her brushed against her cheek, and Samantha gasped and jerked sideways on the bed. She twisted her head around to see a uniformed man sitting on the bed beside her.

No
, she reminded herself,
not a man…

The creature sat frozen, the washcloth poised in the air above Samantha’s head. He gazed down at her
with gold eyes steady and calculating.

When he didn’t move, Samantha scooted backward and slid off the bed to put the mattress between them. She stood and backed against the wall near the open window, steadying herself against the
wall when her weak legs nearly gave out.

Why do I feel so…

The thoughts froze in Samantha’s head and sent chills running down her spine. She looked down, and for the first time realized that she was naked. Her face burned in embarrassment, which quickly grew into horror.

Oh, God… We didn’t…

Memories flashed before her eyes; images of people rolling about in the halls on the ground in the throws of passion between fallen bodies. Golden eyes appearing out the darkness to jerk her away…

Her legs
collapsed out and she slipped to the cool metal floor tiles. Immediately the man was in front of her, a clawed hand reaching out. Samantha jerked her arm away, huddling against the wall.

“Get away from me.” Sam
antha’s words were weak and dry.

The man hesitated, his eyes quickly roaming over her body as if to assess
her condition. Then to Samantha’s relief he took a step back.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and tried her best to cover her round breasts from view. The cool air wafting in from the window chilled her skin, and she began to shiver.

The golden eyes blinked, and then the man reached behind and pulled the silver coverlet off the bed and held it out. Samantha winced, and when he didn’t move closer, gingerly snatched the blanket away and wrapped herself from neck to toe. She glared back at him, wary.

“What do you want with me?” she whispered. She waited for an answer, but received nothing. Suddenly the fear from her flight before faded to anger
as she remembered Carly falling. “What do you want?”

The cat-eyed stranger—
alien
was the first word that came to mind—just continued to stare, stepping far enough back to sit on the edge of the bed.

With some distance between them, and at a seemingly current moment of peace, Samantha took the time to study her attacker
as she struggled to calm her beating heart.

H
e appeared young, anywhere from late teens to early twenties, and his tan face was angled with a straight jaw and wide, straight nose. Dark brown stripes cut across his checks and continued down his neck. Thick lashes and heavy lids outlined gold eyes with cat-like pupils. Short, reddish hair spiked off a deep widow’s peak and looked more like fur—
or a mane,
she thought. The black, button-up uniform covered him from the neck down to knee-high black boots.

He’s not at all what I expected an alien to look like,
she mused, her nerves slowly settling at his silence.
Aside from the cat-like features and strange coloring, he looks incredibly human.

S
udden image flashes of bare skin and coarse fur made Samantha shake her head to clear away unwanted thoughts. Her throat constricted, and she swallowed as she unconsciously tightened between her legs and warmth built in her stomach, her body responding to a memory her mind was slow to recover.

The man
on the bed shifted and leaned forward, nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air. He obviously liked what he smelled because he slid down onto all fours and crawled toward Samantha like a predatory cat. His muscular shoulders stretched at his uniform, and he moved with a fluid grace that should not have been possible.

Samantha shuddered and shook her head,
weakly pulling the blanket tighter around her. “No,” she whispered.

She wanted to stand and run
. To claw at him and put red slashes across that beautifully sharp and sculpted face. To scream…

Yet her body
didn’t respond, and her heart raced when her hands refused to lift in defense. She could only close her eyes and whimper.

His han
ds brushed against her jaw line. His touch was warm and unexpectedly soft despite the curved claws. He leaned close until he was only inches from her lips, and his warm, mint-laced breath seemed to fill her head and crack her body’s reserves, and she felt herself heat up in response, and a thick wetness dripped down her inner thigh.

The man made a deep sound in his throat, something between a moan and a
rumble, and pressed his chest against her shoulder, burying his face in her neck. A layer of soft hair covering his cheek tickled her skin, and the smell of kitten fur mingled with overpowering mint. His lips trembled against her neck before mouth locked onto the suddenly feverish skin of her collarbone, and his rough, hot tongue licked long, wet circles in a slow, unsteady rhythm.

She tried to lift her arms to push him away, but her limbs refused to
cooperate. Her breath hitched in her throat as he pulled the blanket away and used one arm hooked behind her lower back to lay her gently on the floor and the other to push her legs apart.

“P-please…” She managed, her voice barely above a whisper.

The man’s hands stopped at his waistband and his head jerked up, eyes searching her face. A single tear dripped down Samantha’s cheek, and his eyes widened as the first sign of emotion became clear on his face:

Confusion.

Samantha held her breath as she waited on her back. Another tear followed the first as she stared up at him. “Please… don’t.”

Quicker than she could blink, the man was off of her and standing on the other side
of the bed, his eyes narrowed and brow furrowed. He stared at her a moment, and then began to pace uncomfortably back and forth across the small space of the room.

Control returned to Samantha’s hands and feet
once he was out of close range, and she scrambled back to her corner of the room and huddled under the blanket. She swallowed and fought against her body’s urge to fly across the room and tackle the man to rip his shirt off.

What’s wrong with me?

She paused, staring
as the very upset alien growled to himself as he paced uneasily around the room.

It seems he’s wondering the same thing,
she realized after a moment.

She remembered how the girls on the night of the invasion had simply given u
p—or rather thrown themselves—to the uniformed men at a simple touch, and reasoned that the aliens were probably were not used to getting turned down.

The panic that had been growing in her stomach settled, enough so that she stopped trembling and could breathe again to observe the pacing alien. Standing,
she realized he was smaller than the aliens she’d seen the night before; though he stood close to six feet tall and probably weighed just under two hundred pounds. Long legs moved solidly beneath the slim-fitting uniform, and the clasps on the front of his shirt stretched taught across his broad chest. His wide shoulders hunched forward as he moved about like a caged—

“Tiger,” she whispered.

The man stopped. Looked over at her with a blank face.

Samantha’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t realized she’d spoke out loud. She sat, frozen, staring back into the golden orbs regarding her. Then her stomach betrayed her and growled, loud and angry. She hunch
ed over, willing it to shut up.

The
alien blinked, and then turned on his heel and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Samantha blinked, stunned by the sudden silence. Then she shook her head and snapped out of it, and quickly st
ood and glanced around the room. She didn’t see her clothes, and for all she knew he had torn them to shreds, so she dove into the nearest dresser to see what she could find. One thing was for sure: she wasn’t about to sit around and find out whatever plans he had for her. She was getting the hell out of here. She pulled open the drawers to find underwear, socks, and belts, and thankfully, finally a silk-like bathrobe.

She
yanked out the robe and shucked it on, belted the tie around her waist and turned toward the window as the door opened suddenly, her captor back with a covered tray in his hands.

He stared at her from the doorway, his eyes
radiating disapproval and mouth set in a tight line. A low growl emanated from his chest, growing in crescendo until Samantha stepped back from the window and crouched back into her corner.

S
eemingly satisfied with her position, the man kicked the door shut with one foot, not bothering to lock it, and set the tray down on the floor of in front of Samantha. He lifted the cover off and stepped back.

Her stomach lurched; screaming as if it hadn’t tasted food in weeks. Her mouth watered, and her hands involuntarily shook in anticipation. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the sight of food had been set in front of her.

How long have I been out?

Samantha’s eyes
roamed at the unfamiliar fare, seeing what looked like a plate of fish and noodles and a bowl of square, purple fruit. Something red and spongy sat on top of a pile of what looked like seaweed, and she decided that she wasn’t
that
hungry to eat something resembling a giant eyeball. She glanced at the alien, who had taken up a seat on the edge of the bed to watch. She stared at him for a moment, trying to decipher his intentions, and satisfied he wasn’t going to approach, leaned forward and nearly attacked the food.

The food was unexpectedly bland, and Samantha was disappointed in the bowl of seeded fruit that tasted like hard sweet potatoes; though sh
e cleared away half the tray before she slowed.

Samantha
glanced back at the man on the bed. He sat, eyes wide and staring, with him mouth turned upwards ever-so-slightly at the corners. Amused. She snorted at him and snatched up the last square of fruit and a glass bottle of water before settling in the corner against the wall, pulling the robe tight around her legs.

The man hadn’t moved save turn his head to wat
ch her, and Samantha flicked a flat fruit seed at him, emboldened by her satiated tummy. His brushed at his face in annoyance to rid itself of the seed, but he otherwise stayed still.

Samantha glowered at him.
Fine by me.

They sat for what felt like an hour, both staring, with Samantha’s occasional sip of
water the only sound to break the silence. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore.

“
What do you want with me?”

No answer.

“Where am I?” She waited, her anger rising once again. “Where is everyone else?”

The cat eyes regarded her coolly.

“Do you even understand what I’m saying?” Samantha said, her voice thick with anger and frustration. She stood and the bottle fell forgotten from her fingers, the glass clinking against the metal floor panels. She balled her hands into fists by her side. “What do you want?”