I just watch her and try not to judge. We didn't even have this much a week ago. Blankets and a fire and food? This is fucking luxury. But again, these girls have been in pods and don't know any better.
"What now?" Kira asks. Why is she looking at me? I'm not the leader, Georgie is. But Georgie's off trying to convince the aliens to keep their scary faces away from us, so I guess I'm…Robin to her Batman? Something.
So I take charge. "All right, kids, let's sit in a circle. We're going to do an introduction game like they do at corporate retreats. Any of you work in an office?" When two of the sniffling girls raise their hands, I nod. It's a start. "Then you'll know how this works. We go around the circle, give your name, your age, and what you do for a living. Then you list off three interesting things about yourself. It'll help us get to know each other."
"Where are we?" one weeps.
"We'll get to that," I say. "Soon. Now come on. Let's start with you." I turn to the freckled redhead at my side. She's handling the bizarre situation better than most, which is good. She's staring at me like I'm crazy, but that's okay.
I'm pretty sure I'm crazy at this point, too. Heck, I'm trying to do a meet and greet on a crashed spaceship.
But the girl at my side gives a sniff and scrubs her face, deciding to remain calm. "M-my name's Harlow, and I'm twenty two, and I'm going to college to be a veterinarian." She blinks for a minute, looking lost and forlorn.
"Add some stuff about you."
"I…hate shellfish?"
Close enough. I point at the next girl.
She's the sobber. She weeps and blubbers and her nose runs the entire time. Through a torrent of tears, we get out that she's Ariana, she's born in Jersey, and she's scared. Next to her is Claire, who has big brown eyes and looks frightened. Her voice is barely a whisper, but I don't force her to speak up. Then there's Nora, who looks fierce and pissed off. Marlene, who has a blank expression and a thick French accent, and Stacy, who's weeping but trying really hard not to. I give her props for that. As each person introduces themselves, it becomes obvious that they're all the same age.
Then they get to me. I put a hand to my chest. "I'm Liz Cramer. I'm twenty two, just like you guys. I was a data entry clerk in a small machine stamping office. I grew up in Oklahoma and I like hunting and shooting things with a bow. And three weeks ago, I was kidnapped by aliens."
The girls gasp. Ariana sobs harder.
"Way to ease them into it," Kira mutters.
I ignore her. This'll be like ripping off a Band-Aid. Best to just get it all out there and let them process it. "Sit back, kids, because you are about to hear the shittiest campfire tale ever."
And I start talking.
I tell them about how, three weeks ago, I was taken by Little Green Men during the night. When I woke up, I was in a dark, dirty hold with a bunch of other women clad in nothing but their pajamas. That we were going to be sold off at some sort of interplanetary trade station, like cattle. That the aliens had six women stored in some sort of stasis pods in the hold, and me and my new best friends in the pen were the ‘extras’.
From their gasps, I can tell they're starting to put things together. That's right, they were the real cargo. Me and Kira and the awake girls? Well…"You know, when you go to the grocery store for beer and chips are on sale and the next thing you know, you have a cart full of chips? Just call me Pringles."
No one laughs at my joke. That's okay. I still find it funny. You gotta find humor in something. "Anyhow, it seems our alien buddies got greedy and were scooping up as many human women as they could squeeze into their space ship. There were nine of us originally."
Eyes widen. Ariana starts sobbing again. I wish I had a sock because I'd stuff it in her mouth.
"How do you know?" Nora accuses.
"Know what?"
"That they were going to sell you? Maybe they were taking you somewhere good?"
Right, and I'm Casper the friendly fucking ghost. I point at Kira, who's frowning at me.
"That's Kira. Kira’s the only one of us that has a translator. She was ‘lucky’ enough to be picked up first, so they stapled some device into her ear and now she can understand whatever the aliens say to her. That's how we found out what was going on – that we were going to be sold. With the translator, she was able to understand what the aliens were saying. That's how we knew they weren't taking us to Planet Malibu, where we can all sip margaritas and work on our tans."
"Liz," Kira says softly. Nora flinches.
I know I'm not being understanding. I know, and I'm not sure I care. "Here's the thing. Those aliens stole us from our homes. They tagged us like cattle." I point to the bump in my arm where there's a little metal object that I suspect works just like GPS. "And they're going to take us to a meat market and sell us like prize hogs to the highest bidder. And while some dudes fuck their hogs–"