The Prequel
It wasn’t that Karen Green woke when her body hit the tarmac, but she went from semi-conscious to slightly more aware.
“Dr Azul, I am returning your wife to you.”
“Why would I want the bitch? Put a bullet in her head and get it over with.”
“I would much prefer you push her out an airlock once you clear atmo. In the meantime, to thank you with your assistance with Project TAHITI, I would like to offer you this copy of the Item you were looking for.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a micro SD card. It contains all the information we were able to scan from Loki’s sceptre.”
“Now that I will take. Alexander Pierce, I can’t say it has been a pleasure, but I would be willing to work with you again.”
“I’m glad to hear it Dr Azul.”
Someone grabbed the back of the prisoner jumpsuit she had been stuffed into and dragged her broken body onto the waiting space ship. She was dumped in a room with her clothes and her purse. They left the hand cuffs on her. Her husband came in and undressed and headed to the shower. She considered this.
The cuffs cut into her wrists as she contorted her body pulling her legs through so she was cuffed in front of her body instead of behind it. From there it only took a moment to swap the SIM card in her phone with the microSD Azul had been given. It would only take him two minutes to realize what she had done, but maybe they would toss her things out the airlock with her and he would lose out on whatever he was after. She could only hope.
By the time Azul came out of the shower, the last of whatever he had done to make his skin a light mocha colour had worn off and he was blue all over. He ignored her while he got dressed. She was very still and he didn’t notice the cuffs had changed position.
He kicked her in the stomach almost absentmindedly as he was getting dressed. Once he had his shoes on he grabbed the collar of the jump suit and dragged her out of the room. One of the crew stopped him as he was trying to figure out the door to the air lock.
There was a brief discussion in a language she didn’t understand, then Azul took money from the guy who dragged her away from the door. He bent down and whispered in her ear, “You are going to make some one a nice slave, but if I ever hear your name again, so will Hannah and Sara.” With that, he kicked her again and left to the sound of her owners complaints.
She couldn't understand what he was saying but she took some sips from the water bottle when he offered it to her. He did something so that her handcuffs were also attached to the floor, then he left her there. The jumpsuit was already soaked to the knees where her body was leaking blood and semen and shit from the abortion then gang rape only hours ago. Laying there in a puddle of filth, she finally blacked out again.
——
Karen was vaguely aware of someone cutting the jumpsuit off of her. She woke the rest of the way when she was slapped, hard. Someone, something, was shouting at her in a language she not only didn't know but also didn’t recognize. The … alien, grabbed her arm and pulled her upright. She didn't even bother trying to stand.
He zapped her with a taser stick or cattle prod or something that hurt and shouted some more.
Through a huge amount of effort she was able to stand. Mostly. She still wobbled bit.
The alien that had given her water was arguing with the one with the stick. Eventually, more money changed hands and she was dragged off. She was pushed into cage that was 6x6x3. There was a drain in one corner. They hadn’t bothered taking the cuffs off.
She wasn't sure how long she was in the cage. The lights never dimmed. Periodically, someone would come by and hose her off. There were other cages with animals, random aliens, no one else who looked human. Her body was still bleeding so she mostly just lay near the drain. She was waiting to die. There was no food and whatever they were spraying her with it wasn't water. She was so thirsty.
About the time her heart rate started to get slight erratic, someone came in. He rolled her face down on the floor, put his boot between her shoulder blades and hooked a bag of IV nutrition into one the veins in the back of her leg.
When she woke up, he was gone, the IV bag was gone. She felt a bit better. Some one vaguely humanoid was watching her. “Stand up! If you can stand, I can sell you as a slave. If you can not, I can feed you to the other creatures and save on kibble. Stand up, because I won’t waste a bullet on you before I carve you into chunks for them to eat.”
Karen made it to her feet. The creature nodded and pushed a bowl of kibble through the bars.