Chapter 1: KAREN
Finding a new job. That was her only priority as she shoved her suitcases into the car, fleeing that bastard's house for the last time. With nowhere to go, Karen drove south through the Australian night, desperate to escape her abusive ex-husband. She wondered how she had been so blind to the monster he truly was. With him finally behind bars, she needed to put as much distance between them as possible. She was still healing; she had just been discharged after three weeks in the hospital recovering from a brutal beating that had nearly claimed her life.
Karen regretted not leaving earlier that morning. If she had been driving under the sun instead of through the dark, maybe that blinding, white light wouldn't have descended upon her. Maybe she wouldn't be here now—shivering on the cold floor of a metal cage.
The conditions were wretched. A crude cup sat in the corner for her needs, and a foul-smelling blanket was the only thing covering her semi-naked body. She sat there in nothing but her underwear, feeling exposed and hunted.
She looked up at the only other woman in the hold. Karen had lost track of time, but she knew she'd been on this godforsaken ship for days. She tracked the time by the movements of the purple-scaled lizard men; they turned off the lights after delivering the third and final meal of the day. She gave the monsters credit for one thing: they knew humans needed to eat, though she suspected they were only fattening them up for something worse.
At first, she had screamed until her throat was raw. But after they shot her in the leg with an electric prod—leaving her unconscious from the agonizing pain—she had learned to stay silent. She hated her helplessness and the guttural, incomprehensible language of her captors.
A week into her captivity, they had brought in two more women. One had been hysterical, screaming inconsolably in a language Karen was sure was Spanish. Karen had tried to calm her, but the woman couldn't hear reason through her terror. Finally, one of the lizards grew tired of the noise. He opened her cage, dragged her out, and executed her with a laser pistol.
Karen had screamed in horror as the woman's blood splattered across her face. Now, a heavy, suffocating silence reigned in the cargo hold.
"Hey," a raspy voice whispered from the next cage. Karen turned to see a dark-haired woman watching her. "Do you have any idea where they're taking us?"
"I'm sorry. I have no idea," Karen replied softly.
"But you've been here a while, right? You were here when I arrived."
"Yes. I was alone for a week or two, I think. Then they brought you and the other woman."
The woman's chocolate-brown eyes filled with tears. "I'm so scared," she whispered, trembling.
"I know. I am too," Karen confessed. "I always thought we weren't alone in the universe, but I never believed this would happen... to any of us."
"I ran away from home to meet my boyfriend," the girl said, her voice shaking. "I saw a tiny red light near my feet and followed it, thinking it was him playing a prank. Then the white light blinded me, and I woke up here."
"Something similar happened to me while I was driving. What's your name? You have an accent."
"Jessica Williams. Everyone calls me Jess. I'm from Texas."
"I'm Karen Hass, from Australia. Everything will be alright, Jess. Just stay calm."
Karen leaned against the bars, trying to be closer to the younger woman. "How old are you, Jess?" She was trying to distract them both from the nightmare.
"Twenty," Jess replied. "I'm a medical student. I want to be a surgeon."
"That's amazing, Jess."
"And you?"
"Twenty-eight. I worked in public relations and communications. I lived—"
Suddenly, the ship groaned. A massive jolt threw them both against the bars. Jess grabbed Karen's hand, her eyes wide with terror. Another tremor shook the floor—the ship was being hit. Red lights began to flash, accompanied by a deafening alarm.
They were under attack.
A lizard guard ran into the hold, shouting into a device in his ear and pointing his weapon wildly. He scrambled toward the cargo door to block it, but he was too slow. A violent explosion rocked the room, and the door burst inward.
Karen pulled Jess as close as she could. The lizard guard was thrown backward by the blast, hitting the wall with a sickening thud.
Ten figures clad in black, leather-like combat suits stormed the room. They were heavily armed and moved with lethal precision. Some pushed deeper into the ship, the sounds of gunfire echoing through the corridors. One of the soldiers stepped directly in front of Karen's cage.
She couldn't see his face behind the dark, polarized visor of his helmet. He growled something low—a sound that made her entire body vibrate with fear. Jess whimpered.
"Shhh!" Karen hissed.
The soldiers positioned themselves before the cages and leveled their weapons. Karen felt her heart stop. She closed her eyes, bracing for the end. Gunfire erupted—loud and rhythmic—but when she opened her eyes, she realized she wasn't dead.
The locks had been shattered.
The soldiers stepped back, and one of them entered her cage. He holstered his weapon and slowly raised his palms in a universal sign of peace.