Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (3 page)

No!

My hand trembles as I
bring it as close to my nose as I dare. I gag when the scent of
stale urine slaps my nose. Crude laughter comes from Miss Nasty. I
look around and see pee and poop at the back of the cage I’m in.
The pee has traveled down to where I am. Franticly looking around,
I see that one spot in the cage has an excrement-free
zone.

I wipe my hand along the
wires at the side of the cage trying to get some of the pee off.
When that doesn’t totally work, I wipe my hand on the bottom of my
pants leg. After getting as clean as I can, I ease myself into the
clear spot and blow out a sigh of relief.

If my faithful backpack
had been with me, I would have had a change of clothes and a lot of
extra food. Sorrow for the loss of my best friend floods my chest
and once again I feel like crying. Blinking my eyes, I will the
tears away.

As the stink in the air
envelopes me, I know that Backpack is better off where she is. The
cotton she is made of would have absorbed the bad smells and been
permanently damaged. At least this way, she has a chance of being
found by someone else who will take good care of her.

The woman in the cage next
to me stirs and then moans before she sits up and looks around. She
pushes her messy blonde hair out of her face. I figure my own light
brown strands must look terrible.

“
Where are we?” she asks in
a scratchy voice.

“
In Hell, don’t you
recognize it?” Miss Nasty answers staying true to form.

I frown at the mean woman
and then look at the confused female. “I think we are on a craft of
some sort, but we could just be in a dungeon. Either way, we’re in
deep shit.”

Miss Nasty sighs
long-sufferingly as if she’s surrounded by idiots. “We are on a
spacecraft that left Earth a day ago. You two had the good fortune
to be knocked out all this time.”

My stomach tries to crawl
up my windpipe and then suddenly drops as if weighted down by a
heavy stone. I wish I’d paid more attention to the people telling
their stories about alien sightings.

The woman in the cage next
to mine asks, “How do you know we’re on a spacecraft and that we
left Earth?”

“
Because I was taken from
my bed by an alien and then brought here and thrown into this
stinking cage. Unlike you two, I saw the craft we’re on. It’s just
as dirty on the outside as it is on the inside.” Miss Nasty’s tone
is sharp as though she doesn’t like having to tell us anything. As
though she’s better than us.

I hate people who think
they are better than me. Given the chance, I will definitely out
run her. I smile as I picture her and the aliens eating my
dust.

We all sit in silence for
a long time. Then the female in the cage next to mine asks, “What
do our captors look like?”

Miss Nasty laughs. It’s an
ugly sound. “They’re the ugliest creatures you can imagine. You’ll
see what I mean when they come for us.”

That was not informative
at all. I’d like to know specifics but know that the bitch in the
last cage is not going to relieve our nervous curiosity at
all.

The female in the cage
next to mine asks another question. “What exactly do they look
like?”

Miss Nasty snorts
unpleasantly. “You’ll see.”

Once again the female in
the cage next to mine asks a question. “Would you stop playing with
us and tell us what they look like? It’s cruel to make us
wonder.”

Laughter comes from Miss
Nasty. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Yep, it’s official, Miss
Nasty is purely a bitch through and through.

The female in the cage
next to mine looks at me. Her big brown eyes have flecks of blue in
them. Right now they are filled with fear. “Did you get to see them
at all?”

“
Not well enough to
describe them. I was too busy running for my life.” I shudder as I
remember being chased by the alien. “The one that was after me
didn’t seem to be very tall but it was wide as though it were
strong.” I close my eyes trying to remember more. “I believe its
face was skinny.”

“
That’s more than I know.
The last thing I remember is going to sleep under a tree and then
waking up here.”

The bottom wires of the
cage start to dig into my ass so I shift. Needing a distraction I
say, “That could be a good thing. At least you don’t have to live
with the remembrance of being chased. What’s your name?”

“
Megan Blaker. What’s
yours?”

“
Hallie Mead.”

Megan turns to Miss Nasty.
“What’s your name?”

Miss Nasty rolls her eyes.
“Not that it’s any of your business but since we don’t have
anything else to do but talk and wait, my name is Gayle
Balwin.”

“
It’s nice to meet both of
you,” Megan says politely.

Gayle snorts. “I don’t
think so, idiot. Look around.” Miss Nasty gestures to our
surroundings. “We are not at some kind of party.”

Megan frowns. “You don’t
have to be so ugly, Gayle. We are not animals.”

Once again Miss Nasty
snorts. The sound is not a pretty or comforting one by any means.
“To the aliens we are. Wake up, dumbass. Our lives are over. We
don’t have to be polite anymore. It’s not going to get us out of
this situation.” Gayle tosses her head sending her brown hair
flying.

Megan stiffens. “Maybe not
but you don’t have to be so rude and nasty.”

I silently agree with
Megan. We are in deep shit but that’s no reason to turn on each
other. An eerie quiet settles over us as we each wait to see what
will happen next.

Hours pass by without
anyone coming to check on us. My nerves are stretched taut and feel
as though they could snap at any moment. Why haven’t the aliens
come to look in on us? Do I want them to check on us? Probably not.
A moment later, I realize that I don’t want them to come in here at
all. What if they want to do experiments on us? I shudder at the
thought.

Megan’s stomach rumbles
and mine echoes the sentiment.

Megan turns to Miss Nasty.
“Did they bring you any food yesterday?”

“
No. It looks like they
aren’t going to today either.”

I pull a few pecans out of
my pocket. “I have some pecans.”

Megan whips around and
looks at me hopefully. “Can I have a couple?”

“
Yes.” I pass her two and
then look over at Gayle. “Would you like a couple?”

She snorts gruffly. “How
would I crack them? Do you see any rocks in our cages?”

Her sarcasm pisses me off.
“With your teeth, dumbass.” God, had Miss Nasty been hand fed all
her miserable life?

“
I’m not dumb, you idiot. I
just don’t want to crack my teeth. How could I eat the pecans
without my teeth?” Miss Nasty rolls her eyes again.

I’m really starting to
hate her. “Fine, starve.”

Gayle snorts again. “We
are important to the aliens. Surely they will feed us soon. There
is no way they are going to let us die. I’ll wait.”

I shrug and crack a pecan
with my teeth. Megan is already eating one of her pecans. She moans
and gives me the thumbs up sign. I smile and nod at her. These are
truly some of the best pecans I’ve ever had. It looks like Megan
feels the same way.

Hours pass and my eyes
start to droop. I’m determined to stay awake. I want to see these
bastards coming. In my experience surprises are usually not good.
In this stinking craft I’m sure all surprises are bad.

Staying awake is my top
priority. I must succeed.

CHAPTER

4

~ Hallie ~

♥

I startle awake as I fall
over. Pain rips through my head and shoulder as I hit the wire and
the hard floor my cage is sitting on. I rub my head but don’t have
the strength to sit back up. Within minutes I doze off
again.

Pain flaring through my
head, shoulder, and hip causes me to wake up. In the dimly lit
room, I’m not sure if it’s day or night. I sit up and rub my aching
head and shoulder. I wish the cage was tall enough for me to stand
up but it’s not.

The need to pee hits me
hard. I try to ignore it. Looking around my drab environment, I
guess we are in a cargo hold. There are crates to the right of me.
The stink in the room is ever present. With a heavy heart, I wonder
what has happened to the people that once inhabited the cages we
are now forced to stay in. Are they still alive? Do they wish for
death? Are they happy?

My bladder screams for
relief. I squeeze my thighs together in an attempt at stemming the
need to go. It doesn’t work for long. I tap my bare foot on the
cage but that doesn’t distract me for long either. I force myself
to think of other things.

Looking at my feet, I
realize that I don’t have my only pair of shoes. Backpack, is still
holding them for me. Sadness washes over me at the thought of never
being able to see my only friend ever again.

I wallow in pity for quite
some time. Then the need to pee hits harder than ever.
Fuck!

I look over and see that
both of my companions are awake. They are staring at nothing. My
guess is that they are sinking deeper into hunger, exhaustion, and
depression. Much like myself.

Unable to hold out any
longer I lean back, unbutton my pants, and then raise up enough to
slide my pants down over my hips. As I’m inching back to the corner
where past people had relieved themselves both of my unwilling
companions look my way. Heat sears my checks.

Megan looks away. Gayle
doesn’t.

Miss Nasty narrows her
eyes. “You are not about to piss are you? The stink will be a
thousand times worse in here if you do.”

“
I refuse to pee on
myself.” Ignoring her glare, I quickly let the urine flow from me
and onto the dirty floor. To my horror, I feel a splash of wetness
hit my ass. Gross. I lean more forward and push the pee out faster.
I feel like crying but I don’t. On a good note, the stale piss that
hit me didn’t go near my asshole.

I cringe when wetness
touches my bare foot. Fuck!

As quickly as I can, I
pull up my pants, button them, and get back to the safe-zone in my
cage. I shudder as I rake my foot across the wires of the cage
desperately trying to get rid of some of the pee that got on
me.

Miss Nasty glares at me.
“You just made this place stink worse than ever you selfish little
bitch.”

Megan makes a disgusted
sound and I wondered if she is mad at me too. I can’t care what
these two think of me. Dog eat dog world. If I hadn’t done what I
did, I would have pissed in my pants. Either way we would be
smelling my pee. At least this way it won’t be radiating up from my
crotch.

Gayle makes a gagging
sound causing me to feel worse than I already do. Deep down I know
I’ve done the right thing no matter what my companions might
think.

Megan surprises me by
staring at Gayle and making that disgusted sound again. She then
flips her long blonde hair over her shoulder in a haughty manner.
“Stop with the act. I saw you get up hours ago and piss in the
corner of your cage.”

I’m floored by Miss
Nasty’s actions and hypocritical attack on me. I shouldn’t be. This
is a dog eat dog world after all. At least Megan is on my side and
is more than ready to put Miss Nasty in her place.

Gayle glares at Megan but
doesn’t say anything because busted people are normally speechless.
Gayle’s case is no different.

My stomach growls and then
Megan’s echoes it. Soon after Gayle’s growls as well. I pull out a
few pecans and pass two to Megan. She gratefully accepts them and
quickly begins eating hers. I follow suit.

Gayle stares at us licking
her lips. I don’t bother to offer her any food.

Minutes tick by before
Miss Nasty asks, “Can I have a couple of pecans?”

I raise a brow at her.
Really? This bitch has some nerve.

Gayle licks her lips again
and her stomach growls loudly. “I’m sorry I was mean to you. I’m
just not handling this situation well. Will you please give me a
couple of pecans?”