Alliance Hunter
Chapter 21

“Wake up Gwen!” An unknown voice echoed through my mind.

I opened my eyes suddenly alert to my situation. I saw a man leaning over me the front of my jumpsuit open. I felt rough hand on my breast pulling at my nipple. Rage mixed with fear filled me. I was being raped. My immediate reaction after feeling a slight resistance on my arm was to lash out. I bought my fist up and stuck out hearing the crack of bone. I wasn’t sure if it was my hand or the face that I’d hit. I did feel a jar of pain as my fist smashed into the stranger’s face. He staggered back reeling clearly in agony. I sat up realising I had been shackled to a gurney. One of the shackles had snapped and the part of it was still attached to my wrist. I jerked up angrily putting all my fear and rage into getting free. The stranger was still staggering back his hand on his jaw the other scrabbling for something belted to his waist. The other shackle broke and I scrambled off the gurney my intent to do my molester some serious damage. Finally he touched a box on his belt and I felt an intense surge of pain like a thousand needles piercing my neck and sending shivers down my body. I fell to my knees in pain. Using the gurney to get up I stumbled to my feet.

“Get down bitch!” The man tried to yell blood spraying from his lips. He pressed the box again.

I felt a surge of electricity burn through my body from my neck blowing away all coherent thought. I staggered for a moment and straightened up still advancing towards the man my intention clear.

“No!” the voice in my head roared. “Don’t do it!”

The voice was probably my conscience calling. I ignored it as the man, fear etched on face as he tried to dart past me. I had backed him into a corner with no visible way to escape. I made a clumsy swing at him but he slipped under it. I turned to follow the world going into slow motion. I saw him fall backwards his feet slipping on something wet on the floor. I heard a sickening crunch as his head hit the floor. He lay there his eyes wide open fear on his face and blood pooling from the back of his head mixing with a yellowish fluid. Tentatively I knelt down and checked for a pulse. There was none the man was dead. Suddenly my strength failed and I puked.

I crawled over to the nearest wall and using it for support I climbed up it. Whatever made my adrenaline surge was over and felt a weak as a newborn. It was then that I noticed the lower half of my jumpsuit was soaked. With a sickening realisation I knew I’d wet myself. Ignoring the degradation I felt, I focused on my surroundings. I was in a square pale blue tiled room. The wall tiles continued onto the floor. Whereas the wall was relatively clean the floor was stained. And by that I don’t mean by my involuntary expulsion of urine. Some of the dirt in grouting looked old and rust stained. I was willing to bet the rust stains were old blood. Getting a clearer picture in my mind I noticed other features. There was a single strip light above my head and two exits. One I guessed was the way out the other possibly storage or something like that. The only other thing of note in the room was the stained gurney I had been lying on. On the floor beside the gurney was my discarded bra. I could see that the only thing that had stopped my attacker for raping me properly was that the shackles had prevented him from removing my jumpsuit altogether. A fact I was thankful of. Although I guess that he would have found away around that. My mind shuddered at the thought.

Another thing I was aware of I had no boots. I searched around the gurney finding nothing and the dead man’s boots were too large to be of any practical use for me.

“You killed him?” A voice echoed through my mind.

The stark realisation hit me the voice in my head wasn’t a figment of my imagination. It was a Keeper or something that could pass as one.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“You killed a human,” the voice countered.

It wasn’t either of the only two Keepers I knew. “Where are Mouse and Digger?” I hoped this was Keeper and the assumption was that I was talking to a Keeper.

“Gone to talk to the First One.”

I took a deep breath remembering what Digger had said. “Who are you?” I repeated my demand.

“Scout. I was told to call myself that.”

That I did understand I had heard the Keepers’ own language. There was no way I could duplicate the sounds they made. So Scout was a Keeper. It seemed odd that all the Keepers I had spoken to so far had been female. Well I assumed they were female after all Mouse told me they had copied my form. It was useless to speculate on anything here. I had to get out of here, wherever here was.

“You killed!” Scout accused.

Anger surged and I snapped. “Well Scout if you think I’d lay there and let myself get raped then you are sadly mistaken.”

“You killed him!”

“No,” I growled growing tired of her constant repetition. “He killed himself. Now go away if you have nothing constructive to say to help me. I’ve got to get out of here and find my team.” I refused to think them dead. Thinking that way would lead me into the depths of despair.

“I can’t I must watch over you.”

I gave an exasperated snort. “Just stay out of my way!” I said like I was talking to a person beside me and not in my head.

Feeling every ache and pain I shuffled to the side door hoping it wasn’t the exit. The door slid open under my fumbling fingers to reveal a small washroom with a chipped sink and shower. Above the sink was a dirty mirror. Automatically I was drawn to it. The reflection showed my face to be a mass of cuts and bruises. It looked like that they hadn’t bothered to at least clean up my wounds. A trickle of water dripped out of the faucet when I turned it on. I used the water to wash the puke out of my mouth and tried to clean the worst dirt off my face. What made things worse was the metal collar around my neck with a large box on its side. I knew what it was. A shock collar illegal in both the Confederacy and the Empire. I cringed a bit as I pulled it down a little seeing my neck blistered. I’d have to shut off the pain there. Runa taught me a few techniques. I’d tried to do that with the rest of my injured body and failed miserably. Finding no solace in the washroom I examined the other door my chances of getting out falling by the second. The second door was only accessible by typing in a code on the keypad. I turned my attention to the body of the floor. I searched the body for anything useful. I found the key to the shackles. I used the key to remove them from my wrists. Which explained how he had removed my bra. I couldn’t find any logic in him locking me in them again with out undressing me completely. I looked at the shackles and then the remains on the gurney wondering how the hell I had broken them. I turned back to the body and using what was left of my strength I dragged the body into the washroom, propping it against the wall in the shower. I glanced again at the mirror trying to find a way of getting the collar off my neck.

“I need to get this off?” I said to my reflection not thinking I’d get an answer.

“Blood,” Scout said. I thought she had gone.

“Blood?” I asked her incredulously. “What blood?”

“Not blood exactly the helpers in your blood.”

I couldn’t see how much help the nanobots would be. They were supposed to fix injuries. Unlocking an electronic lock was something I’d thought they wouldn’t be capable of. All things considered I had to try it. “Ok what do I do?”

“Wipe some of your blood on the receiver around your neck.”

That made less sense but the Keeper must have had a reason to say it. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. There was a cut on my forehead that had scabbed up. Gritting my teeth at the grossness of the situation I picked at the scab until it bled. I felt the blood trickle onto my finger then wiped it on the box. Nothing happened at first but as I watched the blood seemed to absorb itself into the metal. Had I not seen it I would have not believed it. The blood soaked into the box like it was tissue paper leaving a reddish dust on the surface of the box. I heard a click and the collar loosened on my neck. Tentatively I removed it seeing a band of blistered skin underneath. I touched the blistered skin tenderly expecting pain but felt nothing. I took a deep breath of relief as I dropped the collar into the sink.

“Will this work on the coded door?” I asked Scout my words echoing loud in my mind.

“Certainly mother,” she replied instantly.

I involuntarily looked at my reflection in the mirror. “Mother?” I ventured hesitantly.

“Sorry,” Scout hastily replied. “Poor choice of words. It will work.”

I pursed my lips and gritted my teeth not looking forward to what I would find beyond the door. I took a step feeling my strength returning. By the time I reached the door there was no sign of weakness in my gait. I still felt pain in a number of locations around my body. But other that it felt more in charge of my movements. Despite that I was more than keenly aware of the dampness between my legs. First chance I got I silently vowed to myself, I was going to find myself a dry set of clothes.

The door opened just as I reached it I reacted instantly. I grabbed the orange jumpsuited woman and rammed her hard against the wall beside the door. She dropped the items she had been carrying her face contorted in terror. I hated what I’d just done. As I scrutinised the face in front of me I froze haunted by an image from the past. I chill burned through me.

“Monica?” It was Monica. Thinner and more careworn than I had last seen her, her long hair a mess. Her face was burned into my soul along with those that had died because of Vanessa’s treachery. I’d convinced myself she was dead but to see her here alive was more that I could cope with. Tears trickled down my face not out sadness. Just the joy of seeing she was alive. I had given up hope. I released her and stepped back. “Monica,” I said again.

Monica was shaking in fear. I couldn’t blame her for that. “Who are you?” she asked her eyes pleading for mercy. There was a distinct tremble in her voice.

“It’s Gwen,” I said.

She just stood there staring and shaking in fear. “Gwen?” she whispered like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Gwen Hunter,” I told her.

Suddenly she leapt forward surprising me. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me deeply. She rested her head on my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “I dreamed of this moment for such a long time.” She broke her hold and tenderly touched my face. “You are real?”

I brought myself back to the present. I had my team to find. “Monica do you know if any others were brought in?”

Monica started at me blankly. “Who?”

“Two T’Arni, three Valkyrie and an Ezaran?” I guess I’d have to class Jervic as a T’Arni. Despite the distance that had grown between us I wanted to see his face again.

“No,” she said and swallowed hard touching my face as if to reassure her she wasn’t imagining me.

“You sure?”

“The Director would have said,” Monica said and shuddered.

“Director?”

“The one who runs this hell.” Monica suddenly started her eyes flicking to each part of the room. “There should be a guard here?” The relief in her face at seeing me turned to terror.

“He’s dead,” I said rather bluntly.

Monica clasped my face her trembling hands touching me. “No, no, no!”

I pulled her hands away. “Monica, it will be ok?” I tried to calm her down.

“You don’t understand,” she said tears rimmed her eyes. “Jenny killed a guard. They strung her up in front of us and whipped her to death. We had to stand there, watch and hear her screams. They still echo in my mind. They left her dead body strung up there for four days. They only cut her down because of the smell.” She touched my face again. “You’ll be killed.”

“Monica it will be ok. I’ll get you out.” I made a decision, a stupid pledge but I meant every word of it. “I’ll get you all out!”

Monica just stared at me. Her constant staring made me feel uncomfortable.

“Believe me, I will!” I stated.

Finally she nodded. “I believe you.” She picked up her dropped bundle and handed it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked her.

“Wear these that will make you less noticeable.”

The bundle contained a orange jumpsuit, scratchy underwear and pair of shoes. No good for the jungle but better than nothing. I dressed relieved to be in dry clothing. I was aware the interested looks I was getting from Monica.

“You ok?” I asked her.

“With you here I will be.”

I stepped into a bland concrete corridor the only thing of note was a broad white line down the centre of the floor. The roof of the corridor was vaulted with a few lights leaving patches of dark on the floor. The corridor its self stretched into the distance. I glanced back to the door we had exited from above it was a large painted twenty-seven.

“Which way?” I asked Monica.

“This way, stick to the white line we get punished if we deviate from it.” It sounded like something that had been drilled into her by fear.

Her words led me to ask. “How did you end up here?”

Monica shuddered as if I had struck her.

“Sorry,” I apologised profusely.

“Don’t be you didn’t do this.” She drew a deep breath. “We were supposed to be going home. They lied to us.”

“Who the Valkyrie?” Try as I might I found myself coming to the defence of the Valkyrie.

“No this was after. Some guy from Combined Operations came and spoke to us. We really thought he was being nice and we believed the bastard.”

I had noticed she was saying we. “Alicia, she here with you?”

“She is.” Monica hesitated. “Her mind had gone. She’s a shell of what she was.” I saw fury grow on Monica’s face. “They broke her like they tried to break me. All of us here are broken in some way. We get raped nearly every other day. I’m more luckier than the others. They make use of my medical training not that they care if we die.”

I felt sick to my heart and felt my anger surge. This place had to be stopped. “Who does?” I was thinking of male prisoners. I pictured in my mind male prisoners running loose and the guards standing back and watching.

“Who do you think the guards in this place they’re all animals!”

“They need to pay for this!” I growled. It explained why that guard was doing what he was he was doing. Too late for him to regret it now he was dead. And in my case I now felt justified even if he killed himself.

Monica looked at me sceptically. “Who would do that, who would make them pay?” She sounded hopeless.

“The Valkyrie.” That I knew to be true. Runa and the others would tear this place apart.

Monica sounded even more resigned. “The Valkyrie?” She looked at me sadly. “They would never do that for a bunch of humans?”

I showed her my bracelet. I was glad that the guards hadn’t tried to remove it. The only way it was coming off was to lose my hand. Once was enough. “They would for this!”

Monica looked at the bracelet. “What’s that and why did the guards not confiscate it? They take everything!” she said bitterly.

“It was given to me by the Elder Council on Alfheimir,” I told her it was a lie. Runa had forced this one on me. “The only way this is coming of is if they take my hand off.” That was true.

“They’ll do it anyway,” Monica replied bleakly. “Why would the Valkyrie give you that?” Her expression was puzzled.

“To hunt down Vanessa.” Which was what the first one I had was given to me for.

“I don’t understand. You look like no Valkyrie I’ve ever seen. You are Terran?”

I heard the doubt in her voice.

“I have the blood of a lost clan running through my veins.” I thought of Miri she definitely did look Valkyrie. It was the Elder’s plan to make her blend in to spy on those with Valkyrie blood.

Monica snorted. “Now you are making fun of me. Valkyrie are so straight you could use them to draw a line on paper!”

“Not all of them. I’m friends with Ljufu she definitely isn’t.”

Monica stared at me a new light in her eyes. “Gwen?” she whispered her voice low. “You’re not the same woman I’d first met. I thought you shallow. You’ve grown?”

I disagreed with her statement. “Not in a good way.” I tried to keep that thought to myself but I must have spoken it aloud.

“What do you mean by that?” Monica asked concerned.

“I’ll tell you later,” I told her. “We got to get out of here.” I waved in the direction of the corridor we were following.

Together we hurried down an endless corridor. Each step I took I expected to encounter trouble. Finally after what seemed an age we reached a junction.

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