Saved From Extinction

I covered my face with my hands. I would be returning to Matthew, but we wouldn't be able to stay together for long.

"If you return to the islands with us, your twins will probably die. And you might die."

I rubbed my belly and felt the babies moving.

"You have to make a decision right now. The plane leaves in a few hours. What do you want to do?"

I shook my head. "I don't know," I cried. "I don't know."

Wes looked at me. He rubbed the outside of his thumb, his brow furrowed. "Go back to the breeding center, and tell Matthew everything I've told you. In a month, we'll try to get you out again. But I have to warn you, if Matthew doesn't want to leave, you'll have to leave him behind. Meanwhile, we'll work on planting someone on the inside."

I nodded. Of course Matthew would want to leave.

"I can't promise we'll be successful. It might take longer than a month." He looked over his shoulder and got back on the freeway, weaving through traffic. He glanced at me. "But we'll try."

"What about my babies? What will happen to them?"

He was quiet. He kept his hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead at the other cars. "We may be able to find out where they are, and take them from their foster parents to the islands, but it's never been done before. They'll issue an amber alert and the LLF might say it's too risky. There will probably be a lot of media coverage because they're twins. I'm not sure it'll work."

I started crying.

"But I'll do whatever it takes to get them back to you. I can't promise anything, but I'll do whatever I can." He reached over and placed his hand reassuringly on mine.

"Thank you," I whispered and I squeezed his hand, but I didn't let it go. It was comforting to have something more than just a promise to hold on to.

We drove into a residential neighborhood and then east through the mountains. We stopped in the shade of a manzanita tree and sat there for a while.

"You'll have to walk the rest of the way. We don't want their security cameras to see the car that dropped you off. It's just a few hundred feet down this road. When you get to the gate, ring the bell and tell them your name. Someone will come to get you."

I got out of the car. "Thank you, Wes." My eyes filled with tears. "I'll see you again soon."

He nodded. "Be safe."

He sat in the car and watched me walk down the road. As I approached the gate, I looked back and he was still there. I rang the bell.

A voice crackled on the intercom. "Yes? How can we help you?"

"It's Trista," I said softly, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat.

"Who? I'm sorry, we don't accept solicitors."

"It's Trista," I said louder looking up towards the security camera. I heard some commotion in the background.

The gate buzzed open and I looked back at Wes one last time, but he was gone.

Halley ran up the walk and embraced me. "Trista! Oh Trista! Thank goodness you're safe!"

She put a hand on my belly. "And the babies?"

"They're still alive," I said as I collapsed to the ground. The last thing I remember seeing were feet, a lot of human feet running towards me as my head hit the concrete.

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Chapter 6

I woke up in the clinic. I couldn't focus on anything.

"Trista? We need you to help us now. Your babies are coming. Trista?"

I forced my eyes to look at the face hovering above me. "Where's Matthew?" I asked.

No one answered me. "We need you to push, okay? Go ahead and push."

I closed my eyes and my body just took over. I had to get this baby out. I pushed instinctively and felt my vagina stretch, but it didn't hurt. I wasn't in any kind of pain at all.

"The first one is a boy," I heard.

I craned my neck to see my baby. But they quickly took him away.

"Trista, you have to push again. Push, Trista."

I pushed again and felt the other baby come out.

"It's a girl," I heard.

I looked up at the faces. "My babies. I want to see my babies."

"Shhh... Trista. You have to rest now."

"No!" I screamed. "I want to see my babies!" I struggled on the table but they quickly restrained me.

"Trista, you have to calm down. Or you'll die too." I lay back and closed my eyes.

Too. I'll die too. My babies were dead. I started crying. I felt empty. I felt a prick in my arm and soon I felt nothing.

I woke up in a hospital bed, monitors connected to me. I tried to move, but I was still restrained. I turned my head and saw Matthew sitting in a chair beside me.

"Matthew," I whispered. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, collecting in a pool in my ears.

"Shhh, Trista," he wiped away my tears. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"I love you," I cried. "I love you so much."

"You need to rest now," he said. "I have to go."

"No!" I cried. I tried to sit up but I was tied down. "Don't go! Stay. Please."

But he walked out the door and disappeared.

I closed my eyes and cried. I knew. I could smell her. He was with someone else now.

"Trista?" I heard Halley's soft voice. I didn't want to open my eyes. I couldn't trust her. "Trista, we need to know what happened."

"I don't know," I said.

"Where were you? How did you come back?"

"I was taken to a zoo, in Las Vegas. There were other linderi there and they made us--" I couldn't say it, but I wanted to shock Halley. I wanted to let her know how despicable her supposedly superior species was. "Humans made us fuck each other and they raped me. Every day they raped me."

Halley just closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry. That's why we need to protect you from the outside world. There are some sick people out there."

"But you weren't able to protect me! I was taken away from the man that I love, and now it's too late," I cried. I sobbed uncontrollably. "My babies. My poor babies..."

"I'm so sorry Trista," Halley said and I was surprised to see her crying. "They were beautiful. So beautiful."

My heart shattered inside my chest.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Matthew's new partner."

Halley sighed. "We didn't know if you were coming back. He was so upset. We tried introducing him to eight different females but he didn't want any of them. Finally, we had success with the ninth one."

"What's her name?"

"Kayla."

"Kayla," I repeated. "I want to get out of here," I said.

"You still need to rest. In a few days you'll be back in an observation room."

"Will you let them untie me?"

Halley paused. She studied my face. "Yes," she replied.

A nurse came and undid the restraints. I reached down and felt my flat empty belly. I started crying. I never even got to see them.

"Trista, you need to start masturbating again as soon as possible. Frequent orgasms will help dry up your milk and then we can introduce you to your new partner."

I clenched my jaw, but only nodded.

A few days later, I was in my own room. Milk flowed freely from my breasts and I ached to feed someone my milk. I lay in bed and cried. I hadn't seen Matthew since that first day, and I wanted to see him. To talk to him. I missed him so much.

I couldn't sleep. I wandered aimlessly through the hallways, avoiding the other linderi. I swam in the pool but didn't talk to anyone else. I avoided all eye contact. When another linderi walked by, I looked down at the ground and held my breath so I wouldn't have to sense their pity. I felt sorry for all of them. They were all brainwashed and pathetic. I watched them fuck each other, and I wanted to shake them and scream at them. Tell them the truth. I didn't masturbate at all. I didn't feel the urge anymore. My milk was almost dried up and I knew I would be fertile again soon.

I saw Matthew one day from a distance. He was with his new partner. They were holding hands and she was laughing. I quickly turned around and left. My milk flowed along with my tears as I ran back to my room.

A few weeks later, Halley told me it was time to meet my new partner.

"You and Matthew hit it off right away, but if you don't feel that initial attraction, then he's not the right one for you. So don't feel like you have to accept him because if you don't feel it, he doesn't feel it either."

She brought someone into my room. He was incredibly handsome. I took a big breath and smelled him. He had fathered three children already. He had just ejaculated that morning. We both stood there, smelling each other. I looked at Halley. She was watching us with hope in her eyes. He shook his head and I was grateful. At least I wouldn't be the one to have to reject him.

"I'll see you around Trista," he said as he walked out the door.

I was introduced to other males, but still, nothing. I felt nothing for any of them. I lost count how many males shook their heads and walked out of my room.

I had started masturbating again, but my heart wasn't in it. I used the machines in the spa, and even though I enjoyed my orgasms, it just didn't compare to the orgasms Matthew had given me. My milk had fully dried up by now. When I had my first heat cycle after giving birth, I cried the whole time.

I knew I would have to talk to Matthew, and try to get him to come with me to the islands. Wes had said if he didn't want to come with me, then I would have to leave him behind. I didn't want to leave him, but he seemed happy with her. Perhaps he wasn't in love with me as much as I was in love with him. Perhaps I was just so attached because he had been my first.

But I wanted to give him the option. I waited for him by the pool. I slipped him a note as I walked by, making sure Kayla's eyes were closed.

"Please come see me. We have to talk."

I wasn't sure he'd come, but at least I had tried.

That night, Halley came to see me.

"Trista, I'm worried about you."

"I'm sure I'll find someone."

"Trista, if you don't find someone soon, you'll lose your ability to reproduce." That sounded fine to me. If I couldn't have Matthew, then I would rather be alone.

"Well, I can't force it right? If I don't feel it, then I don't feel it."

"But perhaps you're holding back? Getting kidnapped and losing your babies, you weren't able to complete the entire cycle. You need to force yourself to move on. Or you'll die."

"What do you mean?"

"When linderi lose their ability to reproduce, they die. That's why linderi were headed towards extinction."

I thought about it. Right now, dying seemed like a pretty good option. I didn't want to be with anyone else. I couldn't force myself to fuck someone, simply to live. I had already experienced it and knew how dirty it felt, how bitter the other males tasted.

"Please Trista, will you try? We don't want to lose you."

I knew what she really meant. She didn't want to lose my womb. My genes. My precious linderi eggs. But I just nodded.

She smiled. "Thank you. We'll bring some more males by later today. Some males have just arrived from a breeding center in Australia."

Australia? "Is Keaton one of them?" I asked

"Keaton?" a strange look crossed her face. "Your brother Keaton?"

I felt my heart drop onto the floor. "My brother?"

Halley realized her mistake immediately, but it was too late. "I'm sorry Trista." She sat on my bed. "You should know the whole truth." She motioned for me to sit down next to her, but I didn't want to be anywhere near her. I hated her. I shook my head and backed away from her.

"You and Keaton were twins. Your mother died giving birth to you. We have limited experience dealing with twins, so thought it would be safe for you to grow up together. We didn't think linderi could mate until they were both fully sexually mature. We think you started your heat cycles early because you and Keaton consummated before you were ready. I'm so sorry."

I burst into tears. I felt disgusting and cheap. "Please, get out." I said.

She slowly got up and walked to the door. "I'll bring the males by tomorrow, once you feel better." I collapsed on the bed and sobbed. I hated my life. I wanted to die. I didn't want to see any other males. This was unnatural and so wrong. I belonged with Matthew.

After a few hours, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. "I would like to talk to Halley, please," I said to the unseen humans on the other side. A few minutes later, Halley entered the room.

"I want to see Matthew," I said.

She hesitated. "I'm not sure that's the right thing to do."

"Please," I pleaded. "I think it will help me. I need some closure."

She stood there, watching me, thinking it over. "Okay," she agreed. "But I would like to be here with you when you see him."

"No. I'll meet him in a public place then. By the pool. You can watch us on the security cameras. We'll be surrounded by the others."

She agreed.

An hour later, I was sitting in a lounge chair when I smelled Matthew approaching. My heart skipped a beat.

He sat down on the edge of the seat, as far from me as possible. I looked at him and took a deep breath. I could smell her all over him and I felt like throwing up.

"How are you Trista?" he asked.

"Not good," I replied. "The babies..." I couldn't even say it.

"I know," he said softly. "I saw them. I held them."

I looked up at him, tears brimming over.

"They were beautiful," he said, his voice cracking. "The trauma, everything that happened. They were both stillborn. They looked like they were just sleeping."

I closed my eyes, imagining him holding the babies. I couldn't help thinking of the happy ending that should've been mine, both of us holding our babies together. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I realized what had been taken away from me. From us. "If I don't find another partner, Halley says I'm going to die."

"I know," he said. "Please, try. Just try harder. He doesn't have to be perfect. If there's just something in him that you find appealing in even just a small way, just take him. Accept him."

I stared at him. "Is that what you did?"

He was silent. He didn't have to say anything. I knew the truth.

"How much do you know about what happened to me when I was gone?"

"Not much, but I can only imagine." I saw his jaw tighten.

"They made me do things. And I had to because the babies would've died."

"Please," he stopped me. "I don't want you to have to relive it. Just don't say it."

"I was rescued by this male who smelled different. He told me about these islands. Do you know about them?"

He shook his head.

"Linderi live freely on the islands. They live in families, they raise their own children. They live to be 70 years old. Everything they've taught us here is a lie. Linderi mate for life. They're using our natural instincts to force us to fuck each other. Then they take our babies away. It doesn't have to be like this. We can live together, have more babies together. I love you Matthew. I want to live with you forever. I don't want to mate with someone else. We belong together."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "I can't leave Kayla." He got up and walked away.

I sat there and watched him leave. I couldn't even cry. I sat there for a few more hours, numb, and then slowly walked back to my room. I passed a linderi female who smelled different, and yet familiar. She had that same distinct scent as Wes. She was from the islands. I turned to look at her. She looked at me, knowingly.

"Four days," she said and turned the corner.

In four days I would be taken away from Matthew and I would never see him again. I walked into my room and got into the shower. I turned my back on the mirror and cried, trying to muffle my tears from the watching eyes of the humans on the other side.

The next day I decided I couldn't stay in my room anymore, knowing they were all watching me, taking notes, observing every little movement I made. I went to the pool with a book. But I just stared at it, not reading. I knew none of the other linderi would bother me with their mundane chatter if they thought I was engrossed in my book. I read the same word over and over again, not understanding what it meant.

Halley had tried introducing me to the new males from Australia, but I just couldn't feel anything. It was mutual. They didn't feel anything for me either. If the extraction failed, then I didn't know what would happen to me. I would die here. Alone.

"Trista?" I looked up to see Halley standing above me. "You need to come with me."

I got up and slowly followed her. My heart was beating. Did she know? Would I be punished? Or banished from the regular linderi population to live out my days in isolation?

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm taking you to the clinic. We need to run some tests to find out why you're rejecting all the males."

"But it's mutual, Halley. They don't like me either."

"Linderi are highly sensitive to each other's level of attraction, both positive and negative. It's not just your pheromones. If you don't want another breeding partner, then your potential mate can pick up on that, and then they don't feel it either. But we think you're doing it on purpose."

"On purpose? You think I want to die? That I'm on some kind of suicide mission?"

Halley stopped to look at me. "No, I don't think you're consciously doing it on purpose. But a part of you is resisting the other males for some reason, and we need to find out why."

I could tell her exactly why, but I kept my mouth shut. She led me into the clinic where they took some blood and then she took me to another office and introduced me to the human doctor sitting on the other side of a large mahogany desk. He was older and had a kind face. He sort of reminded me of my foster father.

"Trista, this is Dr. Sherman. He's a psychologist and I think he can help you."

I spent the next hour with him as he asked me questions. I told him about what I had to go through in Las Vegas, how disgusting it was when I had to have sex with all those men. How I tried so hard to save my babies, but in the end, I didn't even get to hold them. And then to come home and find out that Matthew was in love with someone else. I sat in his office and cried. But I didn't tell him about Wes. I didn't tell him about the Paisley Islands. I didn't tell him what I really thought of the breeding centers and the brainwashed linderi who lived there.

"Well, Trista, how do you feel? Do you feel better having talked about it?"

I nodded my head.

"I think we should meet once a week, until you're feeling 100% better."

I forced a smile and thanked him. Halley returned to lead me back to my room. "We think you're depressed Trista. Your hormone levels are exactly where they should be, so you are physically ready. If you don't accept another mate by tomorrow, I think we'll have to send you to a rehabilitation center for more counseling. We think your experiences affected you more than we thought."

"Depressed? But I thought depression was a human quality."

"That's what we thought too, but I have to admit Trista. You're stumping all of us. You went through your heat cycles early, you got pregnant with twins. Your foster parents reported that you were smarter than any of the other linderi they raised. I think maybe you're too smart for your own good," she grinned. "You need to let your instincts take over and stop thinking so much about what you want, or what you think is right."

"Can you give me just a few more days?" I asked. "I'll try, I really will."

She nodded. "If we don't see an improvement and if you don't accept a new partner, we're going to have to send you to rehab. The sooner the better."

I nodded and thanked her for caring so much. But I knew she didn't give a shit.

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Chapter 7

Halley entered my room and said she had another male for me to meet. He had just arrived from the Florida center and she emphasized that this might be my last chance. I knew I would have to accept him and just tolerate him for a few more days. After I left, he'd just get paired up with another female right away. It wouldn't be that hard for him to adjust. It was just one more male I would have to fuck. If it meant my freedom, I could do it.