Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
He grabbed Torri firmly by her upper arms and lifted her bodily out of the ship, over Vic’s dead body, before setting her on the floor.
“Let me go! Let me go!”
She tried to struggle, but the sight of Vic lying there, so lifeless and still, brought her grief to the foreground of her mind again. Like a tidal wave, it washed everything else away. Torri sagged in the gray-skinned man’s grip, sobs wracking her.
“I loved him!” she gasped, tears blinding her. “Why didn’t I ever tell him I loved him?”
“Contain yourself—you are overcome with emotion,” the gray-skinned man said coldly.
But Torri couldn’t. She knew she had only known Vic for a little while, but somehow they had formed a connection so strong that the loss of it now felt like a blow she would never recover from. She was wracked with sobs, her heart broken into a million pieces—shattered on the metal floor beside the body of the man she loved.
“Vic,” she sobbed. “Oh God, no…no!”
“Get hold of yourself.” The gray skinned man was dragging her along now, forcing her to stumble after him as his merciless grip on her arm cut off her circulation. “The AllFather will not be pleased if you are unable to provide him the information he desires.”
The AllFather…that name seemed to penetrate the fog of grief that had surrounded her and Torri felt a cold shiver go down her spine. But the next moment, she decided she didn’t care. Even if she was destined to live out her worst nightmares right here and now, what did any of it matter now that Vic was gone? Let the AllFather do his worst—he couldn’t hurt her more than she was already hurting.
Soon enough, they were standing in front of the impossibly tall, dark gray doors with their glowing, neon-green symbols that Torri recognized from her dreams. They opened smoothly and the gray-skinned man dragged her inside.
A feeling of dread descended on her, a horror so dark, that mixed with the grief she already felt, hit Torri like someone had dropped a lead weight on her head. She fell to her knees, sobbing helplessly. She was going to die—she was already dead. At least, she wished she was.
Wherever Vic is, maybe if I die, I can be with him again. I just want to die—I can’t stand any more of this!
“Gods!” the gray-skinned man muttered. Lifting her bodily, he swung her into his arms and ascended the broad steps Torri had seen so often in her dreams. When he reached the top, he put her down in front of the throne with its glowing green runes. Torri promptly fell to her knees again, sobbing—she simply couldn’t stand when she was so overcome by grief and horror.
The AllFather was there, wreathed in smoke and shadows, his eyes glowing a malevolent red, just as they always did in her dreams. But by this time, Torri was past being frightened. Her whole mind was too filled with grief to have any room left for fear.
“What’sss thisss?” the AllFather hissed, sitting forward on his throne. “Finally, the little Earth female who hasss been visiting me in her dreams hasss come at lassst in person?” He stared down at the sobbing Torri. “But what isss wrong with her?”
“She is…overcome,” the gray-skinned man said shortly. “She was with the scout we captured and one of the vat-grown ones killed him.”
The AllFather hissed with displeasure.
“Before I could monitor his thoughtsss and find out why the Kindred are here, in this obssscure arm of the galaxy?”
“Forgive me for not stopping him in time, Father,” the gray-skinned man said stolidly. “You know the vat-grown ones are nearly mindless. The scout was shooting at him, so he stabbed him through the heart.”
Hearing this dispassionate telling of what had become of the man she loved, made Torri sob all over again. Dead—Vic was dead and he was never coming back! She felt like she might drown in her own tears and she didn’t care if she did.
“Take the ssscout for dissection, then—sssee if the Doctor can get anything from his positronic memory banksss.”
“I will see to it,” the gray-skinned man said. “But it will probably be a lengthy process.”
The AllFather hissed angrily again.
“True…true. Since the girl isss the only one left alive, I mussst sssee if I can gather the information from her mind. Ssstand her on her feet—I must tassste her,” he commanded.
The gray-skinned man pulled Torri to her feet and forced her to stand front and center, facing the AllFather as he sat in his shadowy throne. The glowing green eyes drew closer to hers, just as they had in the dream, but this time there was no Vic to pull her out of her nightmare and tell her to take them someplace else. No Vic to escape to Nana’s meadow with. No Vic to hold her tight and tell her everything would be okay…