Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“Do we have to use the sticks?” one of the other prisoners asked, frowning.
“Well, no.” The woman shrugged. “But I’d recommend it. The shake doesn’t taste like anything at all unless you flavor it. It’s like drinking a big glass of cold glue—not very nice.”
“I’ll try it,” Penny said. She knew she ought to refuse the stuff they were offering her, but by that time she was so hungry, she would have eaten or drunk almost anything.
She took the flavor stick the woman was offering and pressed the end of it against her tongue. Wondering if this could possibly work, she thought as hard as she could about a peanut butter-banana malt shake from Bo’s, her favorite ice cream shop back home. Then she dipped the stick into the frosty glass of what appeared to be vanilla milkshake the woman had handed her and stirred it around thoroughly.
The liquid in the glass remained the same color, which gave Penny serious doubts.
There’s no way this is going to work, she thought, as she took an experimental sip. No way it can—
Suddenly the flavors of peanut butter and banana and malt powder swirled across her tongue. The shake didn’t just taste similar to the one from Bo’s—it tasted identical.
“Wow!” Penny looked up at the woman in surprise. “It really worked!” She took another, bigger sip. “It tastes exactly like what I imagined!”
The woman offered her a wan smile.
“Told you. The flavor sticks make all the difference.”
“Let me try one,” Shurla said grudgingly and the other women asked for their shakes as well.
Penny felt guilty—she hoped she hadn’t inadvertently convinced all the other prisoners to drink something that was somehow bad for them. But she’d been so hungry. She just couldn’t resist.
She took another sip of her shake and the familiar flavors conjured up pictures of childhood. Walking to Bo’s on a Summer evening with her mom and dad and her little sister, Jenny… The four of them ordering their favorites and then sitting at one of the picnic tables under the spreading oak trees… Her parents asking about how school was going or planning the next family vacation—the next adventure, as her dad used to say. They hadn’t been rich but they’d had an old RV and every summer her parents would take off work for at least two weeks so they could drive to one of the national parks or…
“Honey, you’re crying. Are you okay?” Shurla was looking at her with concern on her face.
“Oh, uh…” Penny sniffed and wiped at her tears. “Sorry. It’s just that the taste of this, uh, stuff, really brought back some memories. I guess I just miss my planet and my family, that’s all.”
“I miss Hell’s Gate and the Lucky Lounge,” Shurla said and sighed. She lifted her chin. “But don’t get down in the mouth, honey—we’re gonna get out of here—you’ll see.”
“How?” Penny looked around to make sure no one was listening, but the woman who had passed out the protein shakes was gone and the prisoners were alone in the dormitory.
“I don’t know.” Shurla got a stubborn look on her pretty face. “But I know we’ve got to do it. There’s something wrong with this place—something really wrong. I mean, the way all the people are so happy all the time? That’s not natural.”
“No, it’s not,” Penny agreed fervently. “And what do you think happened to the poor girl they dragged out of the exam room? What do you think ‘recycling’ means around here?”
“I don’t know and I don’t want to find out,” Shurla said grimly. “We have to get out as fast as we can, Penny—before the same thing—or something worse happens to us.”
“I’m with you,” Penny murmured. “If we could just get out of this building I think we could find the way to the exit pretty easily. But what about the jungle and all the poisonous plants?”
“If we stay on the road they used to bring us here, we shouldn’t have to touch any of them,” Shurla pointed out. “We just have to hide and wait until they open that energy gate again and then slip out when nobody is looking.”
“Then what?” Penny asked. “Just follow the road?”
“As far as it leads us,” Shurla said, nodding. “And then stow away in one of their ships.” She frowned. “These freaking NeverBreeder bastards must go to Hell’s Gate pretty often. In fact, I’d bet my third titty they’re the reason there’s been so many abductions lately.”
“You’re probably right.” Penny remembered how Kat and Commander Sylvan had suspected the abductions were due to the pirate they’d warned her about—V’rex, the half Kindred/ half Kru’ell One Hybrid. To think she’d been so frightened of him when she saw him in the Lucky Lounge! If only she’d known where the real danger lay…
In a bunch of Oompa-Loompas, she thought and sighed. They certainly didn’t look as menacing as the big Hybrid, but they were apparently much more dangerous. Why, Penny bet if she met V’rex again now, she wouldn’t even bat an eye!