Riv's Sanctuary: A Sci-fi Alien Romance by A.G. Wilde (best books to read TXT) 📕

really be scared of a being like that sending them to eternal damnation?

The zookeeper’s huge nose moved as he opened his mouth and spoke.

“Time to leave, human,” he said.

“Leave? Leave to go where?”

“The exchange. Your time here has expired.”

When her eyes widened, the alien continued. “You’re up for sale.”

Memories of the stench of the market, the leers she’d received, and the promise of bad things happening came right back to her.

Staring up at the zookeeper in shock, Lauren blinked several times.

He was selling her?

“Selling me? Why?”

The zookeeper’s eyes moved over her. There was no care there. “You’re too dangerous to keep.”

This time, her eyes widened by the mere absurdity of what he just said.

She? Dangerous?

Clearly, he was in the wrong terrarium.

2

Behind the devil that God forgot existed came in three thinner beings that looked like Sphynx cats on two legs.

They immediately began spraying the terrarium and wiping down surfaces as if they were trying to remove every trace of her from the room.

Wide-eyed, Lauren watched them, her mouth slightly open before her brain kicked into gear.

“Wait.” She turned to the zookeeper. “Wait. I can’t go back to that market. I can’t be bought by…” She shuddered to think what being might buy her next. She didn’t want to even consider it.

The nightmares were enough.

The zookeeper ignored her, instructing the aliens to lift her mattress and incinerate it.

As the aliens lifted the mattress and took it from the room, Lauren’s heartbeat picked up.

“Wait!” she called out to the aliens but, of course, they weren’t paying her any attention. To them, she was just another being that was the zookeeper’s property.

And she was property. She’d learned to accept that a long time ago. Stating otherwise only caused bad things to happen like the toilet tube suddenly not working, the meal bars coming in tasting like dirt, or excruciating pain that put every cell in her body on fire.

The last form of punishment was a mystery to her. She still didn’t know how he managed it but the zookeeper had some sort of remote where all he had to do was point it her way and press a button and she was in pain.

Didn’t matter how far she ran either. Distance wasn’t a factor. The signal was never interrupted.

She’d found that out the hard way when she’d been left writhing on the ground on one of her escape attempts.

Lauren’s breathing began to go slightly faster as she stared at the zookeeper. Why would he want to sell her now?

From the mumblings she’d heard from his workers at mealtimes, she had been making the zookeeper rich.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you sending me back there? I haven’t done anything even vaguely offensive.”

She couldn’t believe she was arguing to stay in the zoo.

The zookeeper glanced at her and clicked his tongue. “You are a liability. I must rid myself of all traces of you before I am caught with you here.”

She had no idea what that even meant.

“You could always set me free.” She tried her luck. “You do know that’s an option, right?”

She had no idea where she’d go or how she’d survive, but she truly thought anything was better than going back to that market.

She’d been lucky to escape the weirdos at the market once and had ended up at the zoo. She doubted she’d be so lucky a second time.

“Free?” The zookeeper’s laugh sounded like water going down a partially clogged drain. “Freedom comes with a price. If you can pay me for your freedom, you are welcome to go free.”

His gaze held a challenge and Lauren’s lips tightened. He knew damn well she didn’t have any money.

Glancing toward the hole in the wall that he’d walked through, she briefly considered making a run for it. But even if she made it outside the zoo, where would she go? What would she do?

“Don’t even think about it,” the zookeeper said, his cold hand closing around her arm before she could even move out of his reach.

She only had enough time to grab a few of her now-exposed stash of meal bars and stuff them into her pocket as she was pulled out of the room.

The stench of the market was unbearable. It smelled exactly like she remembered it, and this time she knew what the smell was.

It was the smell of unwashed bodies and waste.

With a jolt, the zookeeper set down the box he’d forced her into and hovered close by.

He seemed nervous.

His eyes kept darting around as if he was afraid of getting caught doing something wrong, and that made her wonder what exactly was going on.

The box was closed.

All she could see of the outside was through the little slits cut into the sides of the box, and thank God she wasn’t claustrophobic because she’d be suffocating right about now.

The box was big enough that she could sit upright, cross-legged in it, but with the lid closed it was dark inside.

Taking a deep breath, Lauren tried to calm her beating heart.

Turning around in the box, she tried to catch a view of the other aliens in the area to get an idea of what sort of buyers were scouting for goods today.

The last time she’d been at the market, she’d been in a cage, not a box. It’d been wide open and she’d been able to see them clearly and them her. She didn’t miss their leers or their creepy smiles.

This time, visibility was massively reduced. She couldn’t see the face of anyone close to the box, only those who were a way off.

What she could see clearly were cages with other creatures, some of them looking physically abused, some looking near dead. It didn’t help the uneasy feeling growing in her stomach.

There was movement above her head and the top of the box was suddenly opened.

The stench seemed even stronger now and it had her covering her nose with one hand and shading her eyes with the other from the bright light.

As her gaze