Cade paused and laughed. He whipped me a few more times, splashing my blood onto the wall. Like a hunter, he was testing the boundaries and growing more arrogant as things went his way. But the difference between Cade and I was I processed information faster, and I always remembered an enemy’s face.
Finally, he moved back, dropping the whip onto the floor. He picked up his next tool, a bloodied crowbar. He held it up to the light so I wouldn’t miss it. With his other, he grabbed an aluminum can of some unknown substance. With confidence, he taunted me. “You are one fucked up monster.”
I was better than him. I was stronger in body and mind. I wasn’t going to give him the time of day. “I am not as vile as you, Cade Fryer. I’ve read your reports.”
“And what did they say?” He stood tall, proudly waiting for me to list his accomplishments of terror.
“Above all else, the reports say you got caught,” I said. “They said that you were too stupid for your own good, that you had to be locked away for so long due to your absolute incompetence. A true shame.”
Cade turned deep red. He shook and seemed taken aback. He had me completely subdued, so he was supposed to hold all the power. But it didn’t matter how capable he thought he was. Mia was my mate. I would break free and get her off of this ship safely.
“Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll rape the bitch,” he snarled and raised the can high into the air.
I lunged forward, chains holding me back from tearing the flesh from his face with my teeth. “You touch her, and I’ll make sure to take you myself. You maggot, you rat, you festering wound.”
Immediately, he sprayed my face and eyes, leaving me paralyzed and screaming in pain. The chemicals worked on me quick. I fell in a heap and let out a beastly cry, weakened and pathetic.
He tossed the can on the floor. “Roach spray,” he declared. “The best money can buy. Who would have thought it worked on aliens, too?”
It was difficult to speak, but I managed to croak out a question. “You brought a can of roach spray into space?”
He swung the crowbar against my back, and lay, breathless and worried. ”It’s a pretty penny, that bounty,” Cade said. “Now, what I want to know is what you did to put that kind of a reward over your head?”
“They killed our families,” I roared. “They killed all of them!”
Another blow to the back. My flesh turned hot. My defenses were on high, and I wasn’t giving up, no matter the pain. It took me a good minute, but I picked myself back up, inch by inch. I stood on my feet and grinned.
“Calm down,” he muttered. “I’m not going to kill you, yet.”
He turned and sat back against the wall, tossing his weapons to the side for something different. “This bottle,” he said, “is a human killer. Whiskey.”
A joke of some sort, but it didn’t compute. He took a big swig and relaxed, but his eyes made him look completely unhinged. Taking one more drink, he sighed loudly and held out the bottle. “Go on. Take some. It’ll loosen you up.”
“How’d you know about the bounty?” I asked.
Smiling, he pulled the bottle back and shrugged. “Not thirsty? Okay, fine. That’s more for me to enjoy.”
I breathed through the pain, reserving my energy. “I asked you a question.”
He drank until his lips quivered unnaturally. Then, he started to open up. “With a crew like ours, the program was doomed from the start. Anyone with half a brain could understand that,” he said.
I’d poured over the flight logs, seen all I needed to know. None of the convicts were qualified to carry on their race’s legacy. But Cade thought he was different. He had a plan. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t bring me any comfort. “If you knew it was going to fail, why did you sign up?” I asked.
“I was their special recruit,” he said. “I guess I proved to be of some use to them.”
“Who?” I asked.
He laughed. “Seriously? You can’t take a guess?”
“Your planet’s government,” I muttered to myself.
“Government? They started phasing that out a long time ago, when they realized they wouldn’t be able to provide. Climate and shit,” he said with a smirk. “No, I’m talking about the people on top. They tried to find a way out. They started all these programs. There were talks of portals. Men and women built worlds to form new realities. The Internet was utilized, but it led to too much information. Information is chaos. It’s a disease. None of the experiments panned out for the bastards. They couldn’t fix their mistakes, and I was just more proof that their guesses were less than subpar. They told me they’d send my ass away forever. For what I did, they should have
. Humans... anywhere we end up, we’re doomed to fail, just like this mission.”
“Still doesn’t explain how you found out about me,” I said.
“C’mon, alien. This isn’t some grand conspiracy. Everyone has something they’re running way from. I found out about your plight by doing what I do best. Like a predator, I learned from you. Saw you as soon as you came in through the cargo bay. There are cameras all around this place. Helps pass the time.”