“Where did my band go?” Poppy rubbed her wrist. It was redin one area, as if she’d been pinched.
“Here, drink this.” Handing Poppy some water, Val gesturedto the room. “All of us are missing our bands. I think they must have been cutoff.”
Val helped her to sit up on what Poppy now realized was acot. She noticed six other women contained with them in what resembled a jailcell. One side of the room consisted of plain metal walls with cots in a rowagainst it, and a toilet. The other was lined with bars that ran the length ofthe room. Past the door to the cell, Poppy saw the standard entry door andmessage panel on the wall. Looking at the women, she tried to figure out howthey’d all gotten there. A few of them were huddled into balls on their cots,moaning and crying. At least she hadn’t reacted that badly to whatever it wasthat Demascus had injected her with.
“Where the fuck are we and what the fuck happened?” Poppyasked, trying to make sense of the scene around her.
Val took the glass back once Poppy had drained the water,and nodded to the other women.
“That is Melanie and she helped me wake up about twentyminutes ago.” Letting out a huff of air, Val seemed as if she were seconds awayfrom crying. “It seems that only two of them were able to avoid Demascusknocking them out.”
Poppy nodded to the women in acknowledgment, figuring thatnow was not the time for handshakes.
“Poppy, while we were unconscious, we were shuttled to SquadronTwo. I think we’re on our way back to Earth.” Barely giving Poppy time to letthat sink in, Val blinked and tears fell down her cheeks.
“Valerie, it’s okay… They’ll come for us.” Moving closer tothe women around the room, she saw most of them were crying or had been, iftheir puffy eyes were anything to go by. “Everyone needs to stay calm. Ourhusbands will come for us.”
When one of the women on the cots cried out, Poppy jumpedand went to see to her. “It’s okay. Your husband won’t let you be taken away.I’m sure they’re searching for us right now.” Brushing the hair back from thewoman’s forehead, she noticed the pretty redhead was sweating. Her cheeks voidof any color, she had taken on almost a gray tone.
“What’s wrong with her? Did the shot do this? Could she behaving an allergic reaction?” Poppy demanded of Val.
“No, Poppy. The shot didn’t do that.” Valerie swallowed hardand motioned at the woman with pity. “She’s losing her baby.” It came out as awhisper, but Poppy heard it clearly.
“What?” Poppy asked softly in horror. What had happenedwhile she’d been knocked out? She winced over the woman crying on the cot andher stomach tried to revolt again. Holding back her nausea, she struggled againto figure out what was happening.
Valerie walked toward the cot and tried to calm down thebride, smoothing her hair back from her damp face.
“The pill…that fucking pill they gave us… The women who werepregnant started bleeding almost immediately after they were brought here,” Valsaid, both anger and sadness making her voice husky.
Melanie was a pretty blonde who was so small a stiff windcould knock her over. She stood with her arms across her chest. “I was thefirst to wake up and it was to those three crying out in their sleep,” shesaid. “I couldn’t help but notice the blood. Their pants are completely soakedthrough. At first I thought maybe they might have been…raped. It wasn’t untilshe started crying for her baby that I realized what was happening.” Swallowinghard, she was unable to keep talking and simply bit her lip.
“These three have been bleeding heavily and holding theirstomachs,” another woman added. “The rest of us just felt sick to our stomachsand hungover. I can only assume it’s because we weren’t pregnant.”
Another woman got up from a cot on the far side of the roomand made her way over to Melanie. Rubbing her shoulder to bring her out of thehaunting memory, she smiled sadly at Poppy and Val. “My name’s Andrea. I didn’tfight when they told me that I was being transferred…I guess I didn’t eventhink to. My groom and I decided to part ways since we didn’t seem compatible.Once I saw the rest of these women carried in unconscious, I realized that noteveryone was leaving on their own.”
She raised her voice so everyone could hear her better. “Weare definitely on a different ship now though. We were all transferred toshuttles and then brought here once that docked. There were four warriors whotook turns carrying you guys in while a smaller guy gave orders.”
After Andrea finished speaking, everyone introducedthemselves and included whether they were happily mated or not. So far Melanieand Brandy were both happily matched; Andrea was attached and then there werethe three women who were on the cots. From what they could gather, the womenwho had taken the “antibiotic” and were pregnant were also happily mated, butother information wasn’t easy to gather. They just kept asking for theirhusbands between bouts of tears.
Witnessing what could have happened to herself, Poppy felther body go numb and cold. Val, who had obviously seen her face, helped herstand and walk to the toilet in the corner of the room. “Go ahead, Poppy.Between the shot and seeing how close we were to this, I got sick too.”
After retching a few times with nothing coming up, Poppyfelt dizzy, but no longer as if her guts would come out of her mouth.
Leaning into Val, she took a look at the other women. “Val,what the fuck are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, Poppy…I don’t know. But I do know that theywill come for us.”
“I know that. I mean, how are we going to help those poorwomen?” Nodding to the women in obvious
