Free Mated to the Alien King (Lords of Astria) by Juno Wells Page B

darkness washes away all thought.

Chapter two

    Aaroogh! Aaroogh!
    The alarm cuts through the fog jerking me alert. I sit up and try to orient myself. Yellow lights are flashing in time with the alarm that's so loud it feels like it might split my skull in half.
    "Abby?" I look around trying to find my sister.
    "Missy?" she groans.
    She's lying on the floor struggling to rise. She blinks her eyes several times before raising one hand to her head then the other to block her ears.
    "I know, I've no idea what the hell is going on but that sound needs to stop!"
    Abby gets to her feet and I help steady her. We're in a small, windowless room with no outstanding features. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say it was a broom closet based on size alone. The walls appear to be made of gray steel on which I don't see any seems or rivets. The only feature of any note is a rectangular panel. I walk over and start examining the box.
    "What is that?" Abby asks.
    "I think it's a door control system."
    I wave my hand in front of it but nothing happens. I press my hands against it, still nothing. Frowning I bite my lip. There has to be something I'm missing. I inspect the edges of the thing looking for any clue as to how it works. Doing this my forehead touches the screen and it lights up.
    I jump back to see waves moving across it. It takes me a minute to realize that the waves look like beta brain waves. I didn't study much neurology in school but I did some basic overview courses.
    "Of course!"
    "Of course what?" Missy asks.
    "Those men, they used telepathy. Holy shit..." I trail off as the implications of that hit home.
    "So where are we and what the hell is going on?" she asks.
    I ignore my sister focusing on the problem to hand. I try to project my thought at the box and am rewarded by the waves increasing in size. Chewing on my lip again I push at it the thought to open. The door slides open as the waves increase in size before dropping back to normal.
    "Damn," I exhale.
    "Missy, what's going on?"
    I can hear the fear in her voice. I should probably be afraid too but I'm too caught up in the discovery. They were aliens! They had to be, we don't have technology like this on Earth.
    The alarm sound is even louder now that the door is open. I peer around the edge and see a long, nondescript hallway stretching away to either side with various doors. Each has a panel next to it. I duck back into the room.
    "Abby," I say taking her by her shoulders. "I need you to trust me. I'm pretty sure we've been abducted by aliens. We need to find our way out of here and try to escape. Can you stay close to me?"
    She nods but her lip trembles. I know she's afraid. I understand but I'd be lying if I said I felt the same. I know I need to focus on escaping but I'm honestly more interested in getting a look at their ship's drive than I am in getting away. If Abby wasn't here that would be my focus.
    "I'm scared Missy," she says.
    "I know. Don't worry. We're going to be fine. Let's get out of here."
    I look both ways before stepping out into the hallway. There's no place to hide so I decide to just walk like I belong here. Left seems as good a way as any so we head that way. Fifty feet down the hall something hits whatever we're in, there's an explosion, and then the hallway turns on its side. I fall hard against what was the wall but just became the floor, landing on my shoulder.
    "Ow!" Abby cries out.
    "Damn it," I say scrambling back to my feet as the hallway shifts back to right and the floor is beneath us again. "We're going to have to run. Something bad is happening."
    The floor settles into a vibration that runs up from my feet creating a numbing sensation throughout my body. Abby is fighting back tears. I turn and run trusting her to keep pace with me.
    More explosions cause the hallway to rock back and forth and our forward progress is slow. Finally we come to a cross section. I look either way finding no indicators of which way is out. The alarm