Chapter Text
*****
Camberley’s POV
Earth January 2008
“So, this is where people are getting abducted from?” Britt asked as we arrived at the site.
“That’s what they say.” I replied as I got out of the vehicle.
“But there is no proof whatsoever.” Miah spoke up, “And no witnesses.”
“Although there is no real explanation about how everyone who vanished from this area have never been seen again.” I commented as I went down a winding trail away from the deserted parking lot, our car the only one parked in it, like a lone sentry standing guard.
“Should we even be here?” Britt asked nervously as she followed close behind me.
“Nothing has been confirmed.” Miah assured her, bringing up the rear. “For all we know it’s an urban myth! I mean it is a popular make out spot.”
“Then why are we here?” I called back, turning to look at Miah, “Just for shits and giggles?”
“Pretty much.” Miah replied.
“Oh that’s just great.” Britt muttered under her breath, “Someone please put that in my obituary.”
“It won’t be in your obituary, just your missing person’s report.” Miah teased.
“We shouldn’t even be joking about this!” Britt whispered, looking around warily.
“Oh please….what is the worst that can happen?” I challenged with a small laugh. Out of the three of us, Britt was the most cautious and quick to question everything. “I mean it’s not like we are just going to disappear by being here.”
“It’s an abandoned campsite in the middle of nowhere.” Britt protested, “That alone should be a deterrent. Not to mention reports of the strange noises and lights that can be seen at night.”
“Oh boy.” Miah sighed, “We are not going to have the UFO’s conversation again, are we?” she looked exasperatedly at Britt.
“I think UFOS and abductions are more believable than ghosts and big foot!” Britt snapped, looking at me pointedly.
“I find it easier to believe that its a vengeful spirit or maybe even a serial killer than little green men from outer space.” I laughed, shaking my head at Britt.
“It could even be environmental.” Miah broke in, ending our bickering. “Like chemical run off or maybe there’s a natural sinkhole somewhere.”
“Or the long-lost buried bodies of the vengeful spirits.” I teased Britt. “Watch your step!”
“If we abducted and probed, it’s your fault.” Britt huffed, “Just you remember that.”
“Well, if we get abducted by aliens, then, yes you can blame me.” I shot back.
Turns out that those were my last words…… spoken on earth.
*****
Camberley’s POV
Somewhere on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy, date unknown.
I replayed my last day on earth every day since, trying to figure out where I went wrong. What I could have said instead, or what I could have possibly done so wrong that it resulted in this.
I was currently kneeling on the ground and my wrists were shackled and chained to the floor of a spaceship, while my latest alien master argued with my previous master. I could not speak their language, but I knew it was about me. I was always being returned. I was too difficult, I fought against my masters too much, no matter how much they beat me, I would not submit. So, I was being returned. Again. My master wanted his money back, I was a defective product.
The one thing that I had learned was that Terran women, which is what the alien races call humans, human women, where highly sought after for sexual reasons. But due to a convincing lie I blurted out when we were abducted, no one wanted Terran woman as a sex slave anymore and since we were so weak, the only thing that we were good for was being cleaning and maintenance slaves. I was the one that had been sold the most, as I was the fittest out of Britt, Miah and I. Britt and Miah had yet to be sold, and the slaver complained about what a waste we were but he was determined to make a profit off us.
The slaver finally gave my master his money back and he left. I could feel the hatred in the slavers gaze as he glared down at me. I knew what was coming and braced myself for the whipping that I was going to get.
And whipped I did get. He tore open previous wounds and I left a trail of blood as he dragged me by my bound wrists to the cells, where he roughly tossed me in with the rest of the slaves, not even bothering to undo my shackles.
I laid silently in a pool of my blood, trying to breathe through the pain when I heard my name being called.
“Camberley. Oh Camberley.”
Britt. It was Britt, repeatedly calling my name.
“Camberley.” Miah whispered as she crept closer to me, “Why do you fight them so much? Submit and make your life easier.”
“Because this is no life.” I gasped out.
“But you’re alive.” Miah insisted.
“Miah.” I whispered, “This isn’t living.”
The silence in the cell was deafening because no one dared argue with that statement. Yes, it was no way to live that no one wanted to endure, but we also wanted to live, so we endured.
Those who were free to move helped me as much as they were able too, but there was not much that they could do to ease my pain. I spent the night there, unable to get the energy to move, and knowing that I was close to breaking. How much more could I take?
The next morning came and still I laid there, despite Britt and Miah’s pleas for me to get up. As the day progressed, distant voices came closer and I heard the slavers voice.
“That one right there.” Came the voice of the slaver, Trod.
“Is it even alive? It looks dead.” Another voice replied.
Someone came and roughly turned me over and I screamed as my scabbed over wounds ripped open again.
“She’s alive.” The voice answered.
“Bring her.” Trod ordered.
As I was dragged out, my fighting instinct kicked in and I started to struggle, terrified that I was too weak to fight what would happen to me but refusing to give in to them.
“She fights still. That is a good sign.” The alien commented.
“She always fights.” Trod growled.
“Good.” His minion replied, “It will be a good fight then.”
My mind raced as I wondered what he meant, my thought interrupted as I was dragged into a room and dumped on a table. I weakly tried to get up, but they held me down as another alien entered.
“This one is a mess.” The new alien commented.
“We need her back in good health.” Trod replied.
“After this?” I could see him gesturing towards my back out of the corner of my eye.
“Do what you can.” Trod ordered.
“Fine. Then leave her be after. Make sure she has food and water afterwards; she will need it.” The alien, a doctor of sorts I was guessing, replied as he bustled around the room.
“She won’t be my problem much longer. I sold her to the arena.” Trod laughed, seemingly pleased with himself.
The doctor alien sighed and nodded.
“Very well. Leave me and let me work. I will do what I can,” he grumbled.
As the others left and the new alien bustled around the room, he stopped to lean down and talk to me once he realized that I was awake.
“I am going to clean you up and put you back together, but if I were you, I would give up and die now. There arena is no place for a little Terran like you.”
I looked at him pleadingly and he sighed. “I can’t help you. I am sorry child. I really am. The arena is a horrible way to go. I should end you right now, out of pity.”
I felt a flash of fear, but I could also tell that this alien did not want to cross the one who owned me.
As he set about cleaning my shredded back, I did not even try to hold in the screams.
*****
Camberley’s POV
After my treatment, I was dumped back in the cell, where I was able too slowly heal. Whatever he used on my back was a faster working medicine than anything back on earth, but it burned and nothing would ease the burning. Britt and Miah said the wounds were rapidly closing though.
When I told them what I had heard about me being sold to the arena, there were gasps and cries all around. Most of the men that had been captured along with the women around me were sent to the arena they said. I was the first woman to be sent there.
I knew then it was because I fought too much and refused to give up. Britt and Miah sobbed and refused to let me go, both wrapped their arms around me as if they could keep me there with them.
After about five days, they came for me. I knew immediately who they were. Kree’s. A brutal race. It was over for me.
As they peered in the cell, they frowned.
“I thought that you said that you had a slave in this cell that is to go to the arena. These are all womenfolk.” The bigger of the two Kree said.
“I do.” Trod replied, before pointing at me “Her.”
“A woman. In the arena.” The Kree scoffed, “It’s no contest, she won’t survive.”
“She keeps getting returned.” Trod growled. “She fights too much. I want a good price for her, I want to be done with this one.”
“Very well.” The Kree chuckled.
As the cell unlocked and they came for me, Britt and Miah screamed and fought to hold onto me. The second Kree struck them both, before hauling me up and tossing me towards the first Kree.
And I fought. I fought as hard a I could until the Kree struck me as well, slowly rendering me unconscious.
“I thought that the only stipulation is that she be in good health.” I could hear Trod asking as my consciousness started to fade.
“She can fight with a few bruises.” The Kree laughed.
The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness completely was Britt and Miah screaming and crying for me.
When I woke, I was chained to a wall in a cell full of a variety of different species, all men who were also (thankfully) chained to the wall.
And they were all looking at me like I was their last meal, and considering the teeth on some of them, that could be taken quite literally.
I fought against my shackles, trying to get as far away from the men could, eternally thankful that they were all chained up as well.
I caught the eye of a Terran looking man, and he glanced around the room before addressing me.
“Why are you here?”
“I… I have been sold to the arena.” I whispered.
“A woman? In the arena?” another alien sneered, “You mean you got sold for entertainment.”
“Not a Terran woman.” Another answered, “They are not good for entertaining anymore. They are useless.”
“What a waste then.” The first alien sneered.
“What is the arena?” I questioned, dreading the answer but needing to know.
“It’s were slaves get sent to fight against one other, often to the death. Those who win then fight another and another.” An older looking man spoke up from the corner, he looked like he could be human.
“How… how do you know all this?” I asked him.
He smiled sadly at me, “I am old child. I have served many masters and heard all about the arena, the bets they placed. The fights that they seen. And now I am not much use to them, so I am being sent to the arenas to meet my fate.”
“No.” I whispered. “Not like this.”
The Kree who had bought the slaves from Trod soon came to drag me out of the cell and throw me in front of who could only be the captain of the ship.
“Tell me why I paid so much for a lowly Terran.” He sneered, “A woman no less.”
“She has fight.” The Kree answered him, “According to Trod, she refused to be broken. She fought every master she has had and was always returned.”
“Why didn’t he just kill her then?” The Captain questioned.
“He said it was a waste of units to outright kill her. At least he could get something for the arena.” The Kree replied.
“And tell me Thehn, why did he demand such a high price for a Terran destined for slaughter?” The Captain demanded.
“Because she’s the first Terran female to ever be sent to the arena.” Thehn replied, “He’s already placed bets on how long she will last.”
“From what I hear, there’s already bets being placed on her.” Another Kree spoke up.
“Meaning that she is a most sought-after contender for the arena.” The captain mused, “And if she doesn’t make it there, they will come looking for her.”
“It doesn’t look like she has much fight left in her.” He added.
Lifting my head, I glared at the Captain, I refused to go down without a fight.
“Ahh there it is.” The captain sneered, before he backhanded me across the face. “Chain her in my chambers. This rare precious cargo needs to be guarded at all times.”
And that is where I stayed for days, as they picked up more slave cargo or dropped off slaves at markets, I stayed chained in the captain’s quarters. I was barely fed and the Captain started his day by striking me, but the worst was at night, when the captain took the most perverse pleasure in telling me how many different ways that I could be killed in the arena, and that if I ever escaped, I would be hunted across the galaxy by the Grandmaster.
By the time the cargo ship was stopped and all the prisoners were freed by something called the Nova Corps, I was too scared to fight anymore. All the fight left my body when the Kree Captain would lay in his bed at night and talk about what would happen to me in the arena as he pleasured himself.
They finally broke me.
*****
Camberley’s POV, date unknown
“What did they do to her?”
I was dimly aware of the multitude of voices around me, as I wavered in between wake and blessed sleep. I wanted to sleep but everything burned, starting from my lashes on my back and spreading out from there. I would have scratched my skin off if I were able move my arms.
After they administered some sort of drug to me, it felt like someone squeezed my heart, then a whole new burning feeling started, as it spread slowly from where they injected me, and I felt my body spasm.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What is it? Why isn’t the medicine working?”
“It won’t work….. She’s not Xandarian.”
“What is she? Vanir? Asgardian? Arcruran ?”
“She’s Terran. What do you know about them?”
“Only that what we gave her is killing her. Quick, we need to act fast if we are going to save her.”
“Should we?”
“What is that supposed to mean? We are doctors.”
“Look at the state that she is in…”
“Exactly, she needs out help.”
“Where do we start?”
“We have to stop treatment, give her a drug reversal and start at the very beginning.”
After that, the burning became to much and I finally succumbed to it, feeling grateful as I slipped away somewhere that the pain couldn’t follow me.
*beep, beep, beep*
A steady beeping sound slowly drew me from the darkness that I had retreated too and I groaned as I came too, waiting for the pain to hit….. only there was none.
Opening my eyes, I saw that I was in a hospital room, and I felt a surge of relief. I was home.
That relief was short lived when the door opened and a tall, human looking male entered the room, followed by a woman, who looked to be a nurse, but she skin was a stunning shade of pink that Barbie would have envied.
“Ahh you’re awake.” The man said, “I am Doctor Braman Drunn, and you are on the planet Xandar…. Can you tell me your name?”
I was terrified, what were they going to do to me now?
The doctor noticed my distress as the monitor started going off as my heart right increased and I started shaking.
“Shh.” The doctor said, “You need to calm down. You are safe. No one is going to hurt you anymore. You were rescued off a Kree slave ship by the Nova Corps, have you heard of them before?”
I shook my head, my eyes wide as I tried to take slow deep breaths.
“The Nova Corps was the intergalactic military and police force of the Nova Empire.” The alien doctor explained, “The Nova Empire is an interstellar hegemony made up of multiple alien species that maintains a strict but benevolently personified rule over a good portion of the galaxy.”
He sounded like he was quoting from a book, but his eyes were kind and truthful.
“Oh.” I whispered, “By why was I brought here and not taken back to Terra?”
“You were mistaken for a Xandarian when you were rescued, and since you were in such critical condition, you were rushed here and no one realized until we started working on you.” He replied.
I looked at him in confusion, hoping that he would explain.
“The Kree gave you some care and attempted to fix your back…”
At the mention of the Kree I broke out in a cold sweat, while tears formed in my eyes. “It wasn’t the Kree who tried to fix me up.” I whispered, “It was my old slave master, Trod, I have no idea what race they were, I’ve had so many owners that I lost count.”
Doctor Drunn sighed, “Oh child… what did they do to you?” he asked sadly, shaking his head. “Slavery is deplorable. The Nova Corps are doing all they can to abolish it.”
“But that explains the poor treatment of your back.” He went on, “Whatever medicine they used was not meant for Terrans. It caused the wounds to rapidly close on the outside, but did not actually heal them, which resulted in an infection that slowly spread throughout your body.”
“The burning.” I whispered, “That’s why it burned.”
“Yes.” Doctor Drunn replied, “Also you were extremely malnourished, and when we administered medicine to help against the infection, you had such a severe reaction to it that it nearly stopped your heart. Luckily, we were able to realize it was due to your Terran biology and reverse it.”
“So, I am better now?” I asked quietly and Doctor Drunn sighed again, looking down.
“What’s your name?” he said quietly.
“My name is Camberley Wilson.” I told him, “Am I dying?”
“No, Camberley Wilson, you are not dying.” He replied, “But we had to find an alternate means of treating you, meaning that you have a long slow recovery ahead of you. It’s going to take time to undo the damage done to you, but we can fix it.”
“How are you going to fix the damage?” I asked, “It’s not too late?”
“No, it’s not to late.” He stated firmly, “Trust me on this Camberley Wilson.”
“We started by opening the wounds on your back again to properly clean and care for them.” He went on “They have already been stitched closed and you may feel some discomfort when your medication wears off, but it will be nothing like you felt before. We are giving you fluids and want to slowly get you eating solid food again, as too not overload your system. The infection is almost fully gone and there should not be any lasting damage.”
“None?” I asked, “On Earth… Terra… it might not have been the same outcome.”
“Well Camberley Wil-” he stopped as I held up my hand.
“It’s just Camberley please.” I said softly.
“Well Camberley.” He continued, smiling at me, “Xandar is more advanced that Terra, hence how we can help you better than your Terra could.”
“What’s going to happen to me?” I asked quietly, “I mean…. After…”
Doctor Drunn held up is hand, “Please don’t worry about that right now Camberley, you just focusing on resting and healing. That’s the most important thing.”
I nodded and leaned my head back, suddenly exhausted.
“I’ll check in on you later.” He promised as he left the room with the nurse.
“Doctor Drunn, what will happen to her?” I could hear her asking quietly.
“I don’t know, it’s not up to us to decide.” I could hear him reply, “It’s up too..”
I closed my eyes as their voices drifted further away.
“Of course, it wouldn’t be up to me.” I thought to myself as I fell into an exhausted slumber, “I’m the alien this time.”
*****