Alien Breeder's Bond: A Scifi Alien Romance, page 5
His body shook and he grunted.
It was meant to be a laugh but he snatched it at the last moment and suppressed it.
Now I realized why he folded his arms over his chest the entire time I told my story.
He was struggling to keep the laughter inside.
He didn’t believe me.
Neither of them did.
I told them everything, every last detail.
And they didn’t believe me?
Rodriquez leaned over and turned off the recorder.
“I think we’ve heard enough. I’ll keep it as a record for how lame you are, Ducard.”
She shot her partner a look that promised retribution later.
“I told you,” Ducard said. “I didn’t put her up to this. I’ve never met her before.”
I stood up, so quickly I knocked my chair over.
“I came here to tell you about a murder I witnessed,” I said, my voice cold as ice. “It happened in my bedroom. I was about to have sex with a guy from the club when another guy—who looked exactly like him—shot him three times. It looked like some sort of futuristic gun. If you go to my room and check out the holes in his body, maybe you can tell me what sort of weapon it was. I got out of there as quickly as I could and I came right here. And you think I made all this up?”
Rodriquez shot Ducard a look.
The one he returned was sober.
He no longer struggled to keep his mirth in his chest.
It’d dried up completely.
“Calm down,” Rodriquez said. “Nobody’s saying something didn’t happen to you tonight—”
“It sure sounds like you don’t believe what I’m saying,” I spat.
“It’s an… unusual story,” Rodriquez said. “But look, I promise we’ll look into it. Okay?”
Maybe she said that just to humor me but I didn’t care.
The moment they stepped in my bedroom they would see something had happened there.
They would see the body and the blood.
So long as they helped me, I didn’t care they didn’t believe me.
Rodriquez took a notepad from her pocket and read my address back to me.
“Go to my room and you’ll see I’m not lying,” I said.
Rodriquez looked at me and a frown formed on her brow as if she couldn’t believe she was actually doing this.
“We’ll check it out. In the meantime, is there someone you would like us to call? Somewhere you would feel safe?”
“I can wait here. And I need your phone. I want to call my friends and let them know what’s going on—”
A shout erupted from down the hall outside.
“Don’t worry about that,” Officer Ducard said. “Sometimes tempers flare and criminals—”
Bang!
His eyes snapped to Rodriquez’s and something passed between them that I couldn’t read.
“Wait,” I said. “Was that a gunshot?”
“Stay here,” Officer Ducard said.
He unclipped his pistol and placed his hand on it as he approached the door.
He cracked it open and peered outside.
He raised a hand and caught someone racing down the corridor.
“Hey, Johnson. Want to tell me what’s going on out there? Somebody accidentally fire their pistol?”
“There’s nothing accidental about it,” a deep voice responded. “Someone came into the station and drew a weapon.”
Ducard hissed through his teeth.
“They opened fire on us? First they try to defund us, now this… Thanks, Johnson.”
Ducard turned back to his partner.
“Just some loon venting a little anger—”
Bang! Bang!
More shouts from angry throats.
Then a sound I thought I would never hear again.
A high-pitched whining noise like feedback from a speaker.
The blood drained from my face.
“It’s him. It’s the guy from my room. He’s here. He must have followed me.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rodriquez said. “You don’t know that.”
“I recognize the sound of the weapon he used in my room. It sounded just like that buzzing noise.”
Another high-pitched wail, and an officer yelled.
What the hell was going on?
This couldn’t be an isolated event, I thought.
It had something to do with what happened to me earlier.
The twin had come to this police station.
And there could only be one thing he’d come for.
There was only one thing that linked the two places.
Me.
This had to be the worst night of my life.
Rodriquez stood and unclipped the pistol at her hip.
She approached her partner and they spoke in hushed whispers, casting an occasional look in my direction.
Finally, Rodriquez turned to me.
“Take a seat. We might be here for some time.”
“Will you be all right with her?” Ducard said.
“I’ll be fine,” Rodriquez said. “You go check what’s going on out there.”
Ducard drew his pistol and gave Rodriquez a peck on the cheek before peering outside and checking both directions.
He stepped out and Rodriquez took a moment to check out his ass before he disappeared from view.
She remained beside the door, keeping it ajar a couple of inches so she had a good view of what was happening.
“You should sit down,” she repeated. “We might be here a while.”
I tripped on my chair, forgetting I’d accidentally knocked it over earlier.
I righted it and took a seat.
The room swayed, turning on its axis like a ride at the fairground.
This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.
I thought coming to the police station would make be safer.
Instead, I was in the same situation I had been an hour ago when I wandered dazedly through the streets.
“Has anything like this ever happened before?” I said.
Rodriquez took a moment to answer, her attention taken with something outside.
“No. We’ve had a few crazies but nothing like this.”
Shouts rang down the hall and gunfire exploded, much louder—and much closer—than a moment ago.
“Freeze!” an officer bellowed.
A moment later, they opened fire.
The assailant returned fire, the weapon making that distinctive high-pitched squeal.
It belonged in a science fiction movie, not the real world.
And certainly not my world.
Rodriquez drew her pistol and raised a hand toward me.
She kept her eyes firmly on the hallway outside.
“Stay right here. I’m going to check out what’s going on.”
And leave me alone.
The very last thing I wanted to be right now.
“You can’t stand against the plasma,” I heard myself saying.
Even to my ears, my voice sounded haunted.
“It’s not from here,” I said. “It’s from… somewhere else. An advanced weapons lab maybe? Or the future.”
I was thinking out loud but it seemed to make sense—to me, at least.
Rodriquez no longer sported the smarmy smile she had before.
She no longer thought I’d been put up to this.
She believed me.
And she was afraid.
She drew on her deep wells of courage and exited the interrogation room, shutting the door behind herself.
The shouts grew louder, more voluminous, and were punctuated with further gunshots and returning plasma fire.
I stared at the door, unblinking.
So long as there was return fire, the twin was still alive.
But if he wanted to kill me, why didn’t he do it in my bedroom?
He had plenty of opportunity to do so.
Because he doesn’t want to kill you, a voice in the back of my mind said. He wants to do far worse to you.
Something worse than death?
I couldn’t imagine what it could be.
Or maybe I just didn’t want to.
I considered what to do next.
Run?
Escape the police station?
Was any of this even related to what happened to me earlier?
Had I lost my mind?
Was I going mad?
Was this what it felt like when you finally lost your marbles?
Heavy footsteps trod outside the door and the shadow of a figure appeared in the frosted glass.
The figure turned to face the door.
And then it creaked open.
Vai
I raced through the streets and leaped over parked cars.
A truck honked its horn at me and slammed its brakes as I zipped across the road and took off down a darkened alleyway.
I raced because my fated mate’s life was on the line.
I raced because if Iav reached her first, I would never see her again.
In my ear, Computer gave me the directions I needed to traverse this unknown world and reach the police station first.
“Left,” Computer said. “Scale the wall and walk along it. Drop down on the other side.”
I took an even narrower alleyway and came to a dead-end.
Scale it? How was I supposed to scale it?
I didn’t slow down.
Momentum was going to be my secret weapon.
I jumped, slammed my foot onto one side, thrust off it, and did the same on the other side, and performed the action three more times.
I sped up each time until the movement slammed me into the wall.
I was near the top.
I grasped with my fingertips and latched onto the edge.
I managed to reach it.
But only just.
I hung by a single hand.
I threw up my other hand but couldn’t reach the ledge.
“According to my estimates, your Shadow has already reached the police station,” Computer said.
“And you’re telling me this now?” I said, grunting as I pulled myself up with my single arm.
“According to police scanners, he’s opening fire on the police officers.”
“I thought you were going to help me reach the station faster?”
“I did. But his lead was too big. We saved over two minutes during the chase. Although that lead is already beginning to dwindle. One minute fifty-nine seconds. One minute fifty-eight seconds. One minute—”
“You can cut the countdown,” I snapped.
“Ample research suggests having a countdown increases the chances of successfully achieving a goal,” Computer said defensively.
“There’s even more evidence it annoys the fuck out of me.”
“Your preferences have been noted,” Computer said stiffly.
I tiptoed along a narrow wall no thicker than my thumb.
I held my arms out to either side to better keep my balance.
“Are you deliberately making me take the most difficult route?” I snapped.
“I am taking you the fastest route. It’s not my fault it’s the most difficult.”
I groaned and slipped down the other side.
I found myself in a parking lot rammed with black and white vehicles with lights on their roofs.
“Now which way?” I said.
“We’ve arrived. We’re in the police station’s parking lot. You can find the back entrance over there. According to my reports, many of the cells and interrogation rooms are located at the back of the station. You will most likely find Emma there.”
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
The noises were little more than pops from this distance.
“What’s that?” I said.
“It’s the recoil from a Glock pistol.”
“A Glock?”
“Glock” was the name of fruit back home.
My all-time favorite fruit.
“What’s dessert got to do with anything?” I said.
“Glock is the brand of a popular pistol here on Earth.”
“Oh.”
I approached the door and pulled on it but the lock was engaged.
I peered through the window.
Black lines crisscrossed the glass and through the latticework I made out a long hallway packed with uniformed earthlings clutching these “Glocks.”
Their attention was focused on the opposite end of the hallway.
They aimed and opened fire.
Strangely named though they might be, these Glocks were powerful little weapons.
“Can you get this door open?” I said. “I don’t think me smashing it open right now is a good idea. They’ll think I’m part of the attack.”
“Give me a moment.”
After what felt like an eternity, there was an audible “click” as the lock slipped aside.
I shoved the door open and pressed my back to the wall.
I peered at strange white boxes arranged around the inner corners of the room.
They had glass fronts and followed me wherever I moved.
Odd.
I peered around the corner at the uniformed figures holding position and still firing at the blind corner at the opposite end of the hallway.
They had blown so many holes in it that it would give away any moment.
Not that destroying a wall or putting those bullets of theirs into Iav was going to help them.
The Shadow a.k.a. the Aror’m were as hard to kill as we M’rora.
The best method was to escape them.
Often, that was the only real method you had of survival.
Run and hide.
The thought churned me up inside to admit that but I didn’t want to take the risk of losing Emma to this monster.
I peered down the hall at the officers firing at the far end.
My Shadow still wasn’t in sight.
That was a good thing.
It meant I had a little time.
My Shadow might have reached the police station first but he hadn’t entered through the best entrance.
I said in a hushed voice:
“Computer, locate the—”
I paused when I noticed the signs over the three doors closest to me.
INTERROGATION ROOM ONE
INTERROGATION ROOM TWO
INTERROGATION ROOM THREE
“Never mind,” I said.
I glanced at the uniformed figures down the hallway again.
Their attention was taken up with the demon elsewhere in the station.
It meant I had some time.
Not a lot, perhaps. But some.
I took a deep breath and stepped out.
I edged down the corridor.
I heard heavy footsteps approach from behind and hastily ducked into the first interrogation room.
It was empty and there was no sign of Emma anywhere.
I didn’t shut the door behind me but kept it open an inch.
I waited for the marching boots to pass.
Another contingent of officers.
Good luck, I thought. You’re never going to stop him with those peashooters.
But they could slow him down.
I edged along the hall and resumed moving down it.
I peered through the next tiny window in the door and found interrogation room two empty too.
She had to be in the last room.
Of course she was.
I peered through the final window and found this room empty too.
I glanced back down the corridor.
Now the officers openly screamed and bellowed at the blind corner.
My Shadow was coming.
I didn’t have time to waste.
“Computer?” I said. “Locate Emma.”
“You lost her again? Are you sure you want to be with her? A fated mate is meant to be something sacred, not something you lose more often than you find.”
“Can you just locate her, please?” I said, growing tired of Computer’s uppishness.
“According to reports, she is being held in Interrogation Room Three.”
“That’s where I am now! She’s not here. Find her!”
“I have checked every camera in the station. She was escorted into the room forty-eight minutes ago. They show no sign of her leaving. If she is not still in that room, she is nowhere.”
With no other option, I shoved the door open and stepped inside.
“Hello?” I said. “Is anyone there? Emma? Are you—?”
Smack!
Something thick and heavy snapped across the back of my head.
I stumbled forward and fell to my knees.
A figure dumped the chair leg she’d swung at me and bolted for the open doorway.
I flung out an arm and caught hold of her ankle.
I tightened my grip and pulled her toward me.
Emma yelped as she fell face forward to the floor.
I grabbed her other leg with my free hand and yanked her back inside the room.
“Stop struggling,” I said.
Emma punched me in the face and brought her knee up, catching me between the legs.
It made me feel as sick as a dog.
I wrapped my arms around her and pinned her arms to her sides.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “Help! Somebody! I’ve been kidnapped—!”
I wrapped a hand over her mouth.
“Will you be quiet?” I said. “If my Shadow knows I found you, he’s going to tear us both to pieces!”
Emma froze and stared at me, her big eyes peering at me over my hand clasped to her mouth.
“I’m going to take my hand off and I don’t want you to scream, okay?” I said. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
She didn’t say a word and stopped struggling.
I eased my hand off her mouth, ready to press it back over her if necessary.
She stared at me as I did, her breaths rasping in her nostrils.
I swear, if she made one more noise, I would hogtie her and carry her over my shoulder.
But she didn’t make a noise.
Yet.
I eased back and released her limbs.
I got to my feet and moved slowly, my knees still buckling slightly from her solid blow to my groin.
I kept my hands open and empty for her to see I was unarmed.
But of course, I was armed.
I had no intention of going toe-to-toe with Iav when Emma’s life was on the line.
