Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson
81
Mercy
Once the auction begins,things are a blur. Numbers and stats are flashed on the board. The room is filled with Trads. Some in human form. Others not. The women around me stand in a haze. There are a few that follow Kane’s advice and flaunt their assets, but most can’t even muster the energy. They’re beaten down mentally and physically. That’s one thing the Trads may have not figured out about humans. Although we’re resilient, the abuse can’t go on forever. These women will eventually crack.
I’d hoped the Custo would arrive before it was my turn on the block, but that’s not the case. I try not to worry. Everything’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine.
Or that’s what I tell myself. Kane kept me for last, which is an unspoken compliment to my value. Who wouldn’t want a wanted woman? The Master’s pet? The girl that needs to be broken down.
It’s not until I’m standing on my mark, the other sold girls standing around me, that I realize something’s wrong. My statistics don’t flash on the screen. Instead, a list of charges. Including treason, an intergalactic coup, and murder.
“As you see, our auction is over. Mercy Ladd is not for sale—well, not in the traditional sense. What you’re here for is to purchase a spot to witness her execution, and for the highest bidder? A chance to pull the trigger.”
“What?” I say, noticing the black device in his hands. He presses a button and the spot I’m standing on shifts to a block, rising out of the stage. A magnetic field turns on under my feet, bolting me in place. I feel the current of electricity under my feet, even with the bracelets that make it so I can use my hands, I’m trapped.
I want to search for Alex, but bright lights shine in my face and I can’t see anyone in the audience. The girls around me are useless, they’re all bound at the wrist. Even if I could use my hands, they’ll know something’s not right and if I get out of this now, I’ll just alert them to what’s coming.
Please get here. Please.
If I go out like this, if the video shows this is my fate, no one will fight back ever again.
Kane smiles over at me. “Isn’t she lovely? So full of spirit and that Earth-girl energy! Unfortunately, this is not the kind of woman we want on Tradrych. We don’t want her spawn or her toxic nature infiltrating the planet. So, as much as we hate to lose a fertile body, it’s not worth it. She must be eliminated.” He lifts his hand. “Tickets are one million credits. Transfer them over immediately. If you want to be the executioner, bids start now at fifty million credits.”
What happens next is sheer pandemonium, shouts from the audience, cries from the women. I can’t move an inch without toppling off the edge. Kane walks over, continuing the auction, I flinch when his fingers graze my thigh and cup my butt cheek.
“You’re beautiful, Mercy Ladd, I never thought this was how it would end.” He says to me as the bid amounts rack up on the screen. “If it were up to me, you and I would spend one last night together, getting to do what the Master never could quite manage.” He shakes his head. “Such a pathetic romantic. So caught up in the emotion of it all. Me? I’m just here for the drama and money. You provide both.”
His fingers dip beneath my panties, letting me know he’s willing to violate me in one more fashion, right here on the middle of this stage. As they push deeper, painfully shoving inside, my stomach fills with terror, then dread, then something else entirely. Rage.
I look over where I last saw Alex, hoping he sees what I’m doing, knows that we can’t wait a minute longer. In a fast move, I break the false lock on my wrists and grab his wandering hand by the wrist.
Kane stops his motions, fingers retreating, but it’s too late. I’ve pushed the trigger on the rings. The blades pop out and I slash him down the forearm, and again across the throat. Blood sprays across my chest and stomach. His eyes pop wide and his hands move to catch the blood. The device falls to the floor with a clatter and I bend, trying to reach. I can’t.
I look behind me at the cowering women, most screaming due to the blood. “Help me. Grab that black square. I need it.” I’m panicked. I’d just killed the leader of the organization. As he bleeds out on the floor there are screams around me. Women. Trad. I don’t care.
A figure emerges from the chaos, bends down, and picks up the device. Cassidy looks up at me with troubled eyes, before pressing the button that releases me from the bond.
“Thank you,” I say before kneeling over Kane’s dying body. “My reward in life will be never having to hear your manipulative, slimy, condescending voice ever again.”
Before I stand I feel a hand wrap around my waist; I rear back, prepared to swipe again.
“Mercy!”
Alex’s eyes peer out at me from behind the makeup. “I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry.” He kisses me. “Get the women on the roof. I’ve got it down here.”
“The guys?” I can’t see anything with the lights.
“Go. We’ve got this.”
I turn and face the women, all in various states of shock. Cassidy stands next to Kane, pokes him in the face and I hear her say, “Where is he? Where did you take him? Where is Amias?”
Kane’s eyes are glassy and he doesn’t respond.
“Cassidy!” I cry. She looks up, lost. “I need your help to save these women. Get them to the roof. There’s a ship.”
“What’s the point? I lost Amias.”
I grab her arm. “The point is, you owe me. And all these women in here. You can’t check out yet.” I hold her eye. “We’ll find him. The Custo will help. I promise.”
A sliver of life sparks in her eye. “I knew they’d come.”
“Yeah, me too.” I hand her one of my rings, showing her how to make it work. “Go.”
She doesn’t hesitate, quickly turning back into the badass that had once been my friend.
This world need more than one woman to show them how tough we are, and right now, I’m more than willing to share the spotlight.