Go along with it and search for an opportunity to escape, she told herself. There was no sense in fighting right now. It’d probably make things worse for her.
Trying to make herself busy, Alice tidied the already tidy room. She cleaned up the spilled water and carefully picked up the pieces of broken glass, none of which were large enough to use as a weapon, then looked around, annoyed there was nothing left to do.
The sound of approaching footsteps made her scramble toward the bathroom.
Grinding metal sounded before the door opened, and yellow eyes met hers. One of the men from yesterday glared at her. She knew his name was either Gishen or Sal, but he hadn’t been directly addressed, so she wasn’t sure which name belonged to him.
“Helas wants you to bathe. Knock on the door three times when you’re done. You’ll be given food after you’re done with Luka.” He moved to exit, not waiting for her reply, but she stopped him.
“Wait! I, uh…I don’t know how to use it,” she muttered, frustrated she had to ask her jailor for help over something that should be so simple.
She’d searched the small bathroom earlier after relieving herself to see if she could turn on the corner shower, but she hadn’t found any knobs or controls. The toilet had flushed on its own, so she’d swept her hand under the round opening in the ceiling she assumed water would come from. Nothing had happened.
Yellow eyes shot her a cruel, condescending smile. “Stupid human. Did you try standing underneath the faucet? The floor has pressure sensors, and the cleansing unit will activate automatically.”
She ground her teeth together and searched her blank mind for a good retort but found none. “Thank you…is it Gishen or Sal?”
He bristled. He must not like the fact that she knew his name. Good.
“It’s Sal.” He shot her another cold smirk. “But the only name you need to be thinking about today is Luka. He’s been in a particularly violent rage since yesterday. I’m sure he’ll be very excited to meet you.”
Alice felt the blood drain from her face. One look at Sal told her he must’ve seen it too, and she cursed the fact that he knew how his words affected her.
“I’ll be waiting outside. Don’t take long,” he said.
“Well, fuck you too,” Alice mumbled, walking to the bathroom and stripping off her jeans and T-shirt.
Seeing the state of the clothing in her hands, she decided if she survived through the day, she’d attempt to wash her clothes at night. She might be caged like an animal, but she didn’t have to feel or smell like one.
Cautiously, she placed one foot on the floor of the cleansing unit. Thick white foam poured from the faucet, rather than the water she’d expected. Alice swept her hand under the stream of foam and examined the fizzing substance tickling her skin.
“This must be what passes for a shower around here,” she said to herself, noting that the grime covering her hand had vanished wherever the thick froth bubbled.
She stepped into the falling foam, spreading it around so it coated all of her exposed skin. After she was covered, she stepped from underneath the faucet, allowing the fizzy substance to slowly pop and crackle then melt away, leaving her skin clean.
Worst. Shower. Ever.
She did her best to finger-comb her tangled hair, but the drying foam and lack of conditioner made that downright impossible, so she smoothed it as much as she could and then stood frozen, gazing at the cell door. Sal had told her to hurry, but she couldn’t seem to command her feet to move. If she didn’t go, he’d come in. It was inevitable. She might as well meet her fate with her head held high.
Eventually, she found the courage to pound on the door three times then jumped back when it opened.
Sal studied her appearance. “Did you use the toilet?”
Alice grimaced at the personal question. “That’s really none of your business.”
Leaning against the door frame, he shrugged. “Suit yourself. There’s no toilet in his cell.”
She blinked, indignation for Luka roaring through her. “Why… How… Do you expect him to just go on the floor?”
He crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “He spends his evenings in a different cell and is only brought there during the day for testing.”
She said nothing but shot him a withering glare. The distraction to her razor-thin nerves was welcome, outrage preferable to hysteria.
He held her glare for a moment, then stood aside, motioning for her to exit the room ahead of him. He didn’t move out of the doorway, so she slid by, clinging to the wall as she passed the burly alien.
His large palm wrapped around her upper arm while they walked down the hall, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from complaining.
Anxiety started to crawl up her spine. Is this my last day on Earth? A crazed giggle burst from her, and Sal shot her a perplexed look. Of course it isn’t! My last day on Earth was who knows how long ago. This might be my last day on this shitty, damned, godforsaken— Stop. Stop. Calm down. No use falling apart now. Think about something else.
“Do you know what time it is?” she asked, forcing her voice to sound polite.
He glanced sidelong at her with a scowl. “Why?”
“Because I like to know the time.”
He focused ahead of him and was silent for a moment. “You should stop caring about things like that.” His words were cruel, but they lacked venom, as if he were giving her hard advice rather than taunting her. All the same, the little bit of hope for normalcy she’d clung to dissolved.
When they reached the room
