Snatched

Karina & Silo

The big blonde alien took the sick girl and left, leaving Karina in the presence of a second alien. For several long moments all she could do was stare, both terrified and anxiously prepared for an attack. Bearded. Heavy eyebrows. Bald with a thick neck. The muscles in his arms were stretching the sleeves of his shirt. She recognised him at once as the man who'd kidnapped her. He, too, stared back at her with the same fearsome yellow eyes as the others, but didn't approach her, quietly turning and leaving through the door.

Usually, she liked being alone but not here. Though she didn't much like that "Juan" and the others, at least they'd given her some measure of safety, illusory though it had been. Now, she was the last lobster in the tank. There was no more hope that someone else might be chosen.

She pushed her back against the wall, her jaw so tight it made the muscles in her neck ache. She didn't need them, she reminded herself. She didn't need anyone. Hadn't she proved to herself over and over again that she could look after herself? She knew how to fight; she had training. These ... aliens might be massive but she wasn't small and she had skill.

Karina stood tall, pushing out her chest as she glared fiercely at the mirror. She tried her best to twist her face into something ugly. The more masculine and ugly she could make herself, the less likely they would try anything. And yet ... hadn't that tactic already failed? They'd kidnapped her anyway. Why had they kidnapped her? She wasn't pretty or important—she'd made sure of it. She'd once thought of slicing up her face to make herself even more hideous but hadn't done it. Now, she was regretting it.

And why didn't you do it? came a dark, nasty voice. Because you secretly want it. Admit it! You whore. You slut.

Karina gritted her teeth as she tried to force the voice back. Why did it always have to sound like her father? Even dead, he hadn't left her alone. She didn't believe in God or the devil but sometimes she wondered about demons. Sometimes she wondered if her father had been one. If her father still was. And she was simply possessed. Not sick, just possessed. No psychologist had rid her of him. No medication could silence him entirely. Always muttering in her ear from beyond the grave.

She looked from the mirror towards the door. It was still shut tightly. The other aliens had practically followed each other in one after the other as they took their victims. But not with her. Why was that? Was it a good thing or a bad thing?

All she needed was a knife. Why hadn't that black woman held onto her damn knife?! Karina should have kept her own knife in the pocket of her pyjamas, not under her pillow. Stupid. Stupid! She hadn't heard him come in, wrapped up in one of her many nightmares. She hadn't even felt it when he'd seized her ankle and dragged her to the end of the bed. Only when it was too late had she woken. Too far away from her pillow—and safety.

She could still feel the horror like an eel squirming in her guts. Those eyes—they'd seemed so bright against her nightlight. And hungry. She'd seen that look before. She'd seen that look all through her childhood. Not again. Never again!

She hadn't moved. She hadn't even screamed. All her training had been for nothing. It was as though she'd been frozen, her body a block of ice. Except for her heart which had pounded like a hammer against an anvil. And she suddenly realised that even if she had kept the knife on her person, she wouldn't have been able to reach for it—much less use it. She'd been a coward. A vulnerable woman. Predictable. Everything she hated.

'Stupid. Stupid. STUPID!' Karina thumped her fist against her temple.

No, not stupid, spoke her father. You wanted it. You've always wanted it.

'Shut up!'

Raking her fingers through her short, bristly hair, she started to pace. She wanted the others back. As annoying as they were, at least their constant nattering buried his voice. It had been a long time since he'd been so loud. She needed her pills but they were way back down on Earth. Shaking and breathless, she sat on the edge of one of the beds, only to leap back up again.