Feral: A Dark Sci-Fi Romance Read online

  I didn’t see any way out of this. I was screwed.

  Crudely, the soldiers pushed me forward into a nearby doorway and I nearly fell into a chair at the center of the room. More soldiers shuffled in. More guns pointed in my direction and I started to feel more nervous by the second. I would be lucky to make it out of here alive. I sat there, trying to do my best to curl up into the smallest ball possible.

  I’d figure my way out of this, sooner or later. Right?

  “Unknown heat signature heading toward Dome Three,” one of the radios squawked. I looked around, noticing that everyone grew more tense with that pronouncement. Something cracked outside, and all the guns moved from me to the entryway of the room.

  I sat in my chair, completely surrounded and more frightened than ever.

  “Secure the dome. Units One and Two deploy to all entrances,” the bearded man commanded.

  What the fuck was happening right now?

  Something roared outside. Angry. Violent.

  My stomach dropped to my toes. Everything inside me told me to run, instinct demanding that I escape. My anxiety at being shipped off to a jail of some kind vanished and suddenly I was infinitely more afraid of losing my life.

  Some of the soldiers ventured out of the room in a triangular formation, leaving a small group in the room with me, surrounding me, but still I didn’t feel safe. I shivered, and the men shuffled tensely around me. They were scared too.

  A gun popped outside. A man shouted a word of warning, only to be quickly cut off by a sickening gurgle sound. I hesitated to think about what that meant.

  That’s when the gunfire really started. And the screaming. I’d never heard anything like it before and I could feel myself beginning to panic quietly inside. Men shrieked, the sound earsplitting and terrifying. Wet tearing sounds echoed in the dome and the soldiers still standing with me began to look more worried by the second.

  Crunch. Rip. More screams.

  I closed my eyes for a second before opening them again. Bile rose in the back of my throat. Images of the mutilated human bodies I’d seen before I came here passed through my mind and I struggled to keep my nausea in check. Oh, my god. Keep it together, Cosima. Think of how you’re going to get out of here.

  “Subject #574 infiltrated Dome Three. Whereabouts of Subject #725 still unknown,” a terrified voice yelled over the radio before the sound clipped off with a shout.

  Scratching. Shredding. Screaming. Agony.

  The sounds of a man dying a horrific death echoed around us and I wanted to throw up.

  This was turning into way more than I bargained for.

  My terror rose in my chest, my heart pounding out of control. I found it hard to breathe as whatever creature was out there came closer, the sound of bare feet slapping against the tile, and I froze. A massive figure appeared the doorway. In the shadow, his skin appeared blood red. Bulging muscles twitched, larger than any I’d ever seen. He had to be at least eight feet tall. Red, glowing eyes stared into the room, like the ones I’d seen outside, and one of the soldiers took a step back in fear. It definitely wasn’t a fucking bear.

  It was a beast.

  No one said a thing. The radios were mute. In that silence, I felt only terror.

  Like a cornered animal that knew it was about to die. I needed to run. I needed to hide.

  The figure’s chest rose and fell, its breathing loud and terrifying.

  The lights flickered, and his eyes found mine. And I finally got a good look at him.

  The creature looked human, with a few traits that suggested some sort of unknown genetic engineering. Larger eyes, a more pronounced nose, ears that were angled slightly differently than mine were just some of the things I noticed. Maybe they were experimenting with the senses or enhancing them to some degree for military reasons.

  There was little doubt in my mind that this was the Alienus Bestia that the scientific paper had alluded to. I trembled with fear. This was the creature created by science. A genetically engineered super soldier. I couldn’t help but notice he was completely naked too.

  Standing before me, about eight feet tall and maybe three hundred fifty pounds of pure, unadulterated muscle, he was death personified.

  My mouth opened in a silent scream. My hope fled at that exact same moment.

  Guns popped off all around me. I watched with horror as not a single bullet punctured the creature’s skin, simply bouncing off onto the floor around him. The weapons the soldiers had were useless against him. One of his hands snaked back and covered the back of his neck. I would have thought it strange had I not been so focused on my own terrible fate.

  I had a feeling I was about to die.

  He sniffed the air, ignoring the pops of the guns and the still screaming soldiers in the room, only focusing on me. The lights flickered again, and he growled, smelling the aromas on the air once again.

  He was detecting my scent. I had no doubt.

  His face flicked toward me once more, focusing on me, and I whined with horror. Then he roared and burst forward, straight in my direction, only to run into one of the men guarding me.

  He attacked the bearded man first, tearing his head off in a single, brutal motion. I watched in horror, unable to process what I had just seen. The man didn’t even have time to scream, but I did. My ears burned from the shrillness of my voice and my lungs burned.

  Nothing overpowered the force of my fear in that moment.

  Blood flowed in rivulets, stark against the white of the floor tile. One by one, the beast murdered the men around me, until it was only me a short time later. And only him. I couldn’t stop screaming and his terrifying, eager grin made my blood run ice cold. It had taken him far too little time to destroy the twenty men who had been on guard. He’d destroyed an entire unit of men and his breathing hadn’t even quickened.

  Fuck.

  The lights flickered on once more. He stared at me, his expression raw, visceral, and ravenous. A predator about to strike, and I was his prey. Adrenaline pumped through me and I shook from the danger. There was nowhere to run. I couldn’t even hope to escape.

  His cock jutted straight toward me, a hard, huge club straining to get closer to me, to spear me in two. I struggled against my rope bonds, but I couldn’t escape as he bounded toward me, his movements more like a large cat than a man. I didn’t know if he wanted to kill me or rape me, but I didn’t want to stay and find out. I needed to run. Escape. Anything to avoid his attentions.

  I prayed to every god I had ever heard of then.

  He roared with what I could vaguely understand as excitement. Shit. I had to run, and I had to run right the fuck now.

  I shot up out of the chair and tried to get away, but the beast caught me by the shoulders and slammed me back down to the floor. I yelled as pain tore through me, my wrists still tied behind my back by the rope. Then, my shoulders wrenched painfully as he flipped me on my stomach and slashed at my clothes. I cried out with horror and with agony as I heard the telltale ripping sound of my jacket tearing in two.

  “No, don’t! Help! Someone. Please. Anyone!” I screamed, desperate for rescue by anyone, anything. I begged and pleaded, but there was no one there to hear me.

  He growled in frustration at my bound wrists and grasped the rope, tearing it in a demonstration of strength and power that left me in a panic. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. My shoulders screamed in pain and within moments, he focused on my thin t-shirt and my pants, tearing my clothing apart with ease.

  I tried to push up and fight back, but my hands slipped on the slick floor and I fell, knocking my chin on the floor. I choked on the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I must have bitten my tongue. Struggling beneath him, I fought as he ripped my clothing off, piece by piece until I was left entirely naked beneath him.

  He grunted with anger, clearly annoyed at my attempts to resist.

  I kicked. I struggled. I slipped on the wet, blood-coated floor and I screamed for help, but I knew no one was
coming. He gripped my hips, forcing me upward and spreading my legs, and I shrieked in horror. His fingers gripped into my flesh, hard, unyielding and I cried out in pain, his claws digging into my skin.

  Horrified, I knew I didn’t have the strength to escape. He was too strong, too powerful, and too focused on rutting me like an animal.

  The hot, slick head of his massive cock nudged against my entrance.

  I squeezed my eyes shut in terror. This wasn’t happening.

  Someone growled behind us, a terrifying rumbling that made my breath catch in my throat. My terror increased a hundred-fold.

  There was another one. Another fucking alien creature come to destroy me.

  The other one roared behind us and the creature holding me down froze. Then he laughed. He fucking laughed, before releasing me and rising to his feet.

  I screeched in fear, almost forgetting to breathe.

  I crawled away on my hands and knees, slipping along the pools of blood, until I was able to get to my feet. It was then I realized I still had my boots on. I backed away, watching as two of the beasts squared off.

  Not one, but two of them.

  Fear sliced through me like a knife.

  Two of them. Skin colored like blood. Eight-foot-tall monsters ready to fight to the death over the right to abuse me. Spread my legs, hold me down, and fuck me like an animal. I shivered, trying to stay calm. Think, Cosima. Think. What now?

  I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, feeling lightheaded and more nauseous than ever. Strips of fabric hung off me, my clothing decimated. My naked ass pressed against the tiled wall, but I made no effort to cover myself.

  What did it matter if I was only going to end up dead?

  The two creatures circled around each other, legs tense with power. The one that had attacked me growled dangerously, and the other, who was slightly bigger, snarled back in turn. I swallowed nervously, looking for any way I could escape this, but finding none. The two of them blocked the only entrance to the room. I was trapped. I didn’t know what to do. What could I do?

  Fuck.

  My eyes searched my surroundings, looking for something, anything and that’s when I saw my trusty gun. I dove for it.

  I took back my gun from off the floor near one of the dead soldiers, trying not to gag as I stared at bulging rib bones, cracked in half from the same animal that had tried to hold me down and rape me just moments before. I knew the gun was useless, but it made me feel better. I had to have something to protect myself. I lifted the gun, the sensor on it finding the nearest heat source and aiming automatically for me. My arms shook with fear and revulsion, trying to focus on anything but the massacre surrounding me.

  I curled my finger around the trigger and froze.

  The two alien beasts burst forward, tearing at each other in a fit of snarls. The sounds of their roars echoed, shaking me to the very core. Limbs slashed at each other. One would strike and the other would twist out of the way. A kick would land here and there and the power of it would set the creatures several steps back. Their fingers curled with fury and that’s when I noticed their claws, lengthening several inches as they fought each other. Wild and completely feral, yet still controlled as they sparred over the right to take me as their own.

  My mouth fell open, almost in a sense of awe. They fought and tore at each other, but in a way that reminded me of a well-trained fighter and not a mindless animal. I shifted back and forth on my feet, trying to take in one breath and then another, my lungs filling painfully slowly as my heart pounded loudly in my ears.

  The noise of the fight made it difficult to focus on anything else.

  The frightening brawl continued and as the beasts jumped and tackled each other, the tile cracked beneath them. They threw each other into walls and the thick metal groaned inward. Their sounds of anger rumbled, and I swore the ground shook beneath them. My eyes slid from side to side and I began to move, needing to do something, anything to break free.

  Instinct told me to run, but I tried to stay calm and think intelligently, to move silently toward the door while all attention was directed away from me. I carefully stepped over one mutilated body and then another, trying to ignore the rolling nausea in my belly, but still I continued onward. I focused on the possibility of escape rather than my fear.

  I almost made it to the door before the one that had attacked me first noticed my movements. He lunged at me and the other grabbed his arm, flinging the beast back into the wall. The metal groaned and the sound of the beast’s head hitting the wall was sickening as it echoed around me. For a moment, the creature looked stunned.

  The one who had appeared in the midst of my attack simply stared at me, roared, and met my eyes.

  “Run!” he thundered. I hadn’t even known the alien beasts could speak.

  I wanted to listen and get away, but my feet remained rooted to the spot beneath me.

  “Run, human! Saleos will kill you. You’ll die if he ruts you. He’ll fucking tear you apart,” he roared, his fiery red eyes burning brighter than ever.

  His eyes were glowing and shimmering with what looked like tendrils of flame. His forehead was slick with sweat, his upper lips curling up in a snarl that reminded me of a feral animal. His chest rose and fell, sculpted muscles tensing before me. Behind him, the one he’d referred to as Saleos rose up, almost as if he was in a daze. He blinked once, then twice, before surging back toward my unexpected rescuer.

  The unnamed beast growled at me once more before turning back toward Saleos, grabbing him by the arm and slamming him back into the wall with a sickening crack. The tile behind his head shattered, revealing thick concrete beneath. Saleos slumped to the floor, oversized black pupils rolling back in his head, the red glow in his eyes dimming as they slid closed.

  He lay on the floor then, peaceful and still. His skin, once blood red began to fade to a more normal tanned tone. I watched in wonder, the scientist within me wanting to know more.

  The remaining alien stood up straight and that’s when I noticed that he was bleeding. Deep scratches across his chest oozed dark, almost black-colored blood. His breath was heavy, but still exceptionally strong.

  He strode over to me and I wilted, rounding my back toward the wall. Fuck.

  I should have listened and run, just like he said. What were the chances he was just going to repeat Saleos’ attack and rape me himself?

  His breath tore in and out of his lips, the struggle to hold back clear on his features.

  Saleos didn’t move.

  “Do you have a name?” I whispered, unable to help myself.

  For a long moment, he didn’t move, simply staring at me with fiery eyes. Judging me. Analyzing me. Standing naked before him in nothing but my boots, I was defenseless.

  “Axel,” he answered, his voice strained and tight. He took a deep breath. “I have to get you out of here,” he stressed, looking back at the still body of his rival. He lunged for me and I had little time to react before he grabbed me around the waist and flung me over his shoulder, my nakedness pressing against his incredibly warm skin. I didn’t even think to fight as he sprinted out of the room, running at inhuman speeds through the hallways and back out into the wilderness. Maybe I was in shock after everything I’d seen.

  The wind whipped my red hair around my face and I clung to him, not wanting to fall or even worse, have him toss me off a cliff or something even more horrible. His skin was blazing hot, almost feverish and I wondered if he was alright. His body moved like a gazelle, like it was made for running and in no time at all, the dome had faded away in the distance. I didn’t need my comm to realize that he had run miles away, deep into Echelon 67 territory and that I’d have a hard time finding my way out. The stars still flickered overhead, and the moon shone with just enough light to illuminate the trees around us. I noticed a free-flowing river beside us and whimpered as he ran through it, continuing up against the flow toward the mountains I knew rose up in the distance. He ran, jumping impossibly high
with me on his shoulder in order to avoid one boulder and then another. He held me firmly to him so that I didn’t bounce, and oddly enough, I felt just a tiny bit safe with him.

  I could have kicked myself for even thinking that. I must be in shock because thoughts like those definitely meant I was insane.

  Finally, he began to slow down, and I noticed the ground beneath us was a bit dryer here, rockier that before. Carefully, he chose his steps wisely, edging closer to a rock outcrop within a small clearing. Then the two of us descended into the entrance of a dark cave. He wound through one passage and then the next, before depositing me down on a thick mattress in a large cavern a short time later.

  I blinked, my eyes struggling to get accustomed to the darkness and it took a solid few minutes for me to make out his form several feet away. I watched as he calmly stoked and lit a small fire, the smoke drifting up above into the night air and disappearing, likely collecting at the ceiling of the cave or slipping between the rocks up into the sky.

  The smell of burning wood was calming in a way.

  For several long minutes, I just sat on the mattress, curling my legs into my chest as I waited for him to do something to me. Only he didn’t. He didn’t even move toward me.

  I slipped closer, anxious to get warm and to see him better.

  The muscles of his back rippled and in the darkness, and it was then I realized that he looked almost human too. He tensed, almost as if he could sense my movements and I chewed at my lip. I paused, watching, only now noticing the fabric pants around his waist. Saleos had been naked, untamed, raw, and wild. Something about Axel was different and I wondered what it was. I had half expected to be on my back with my legs spread wide, his cock spearing into my depths, but he hadn’t done anything like that. Yet.