HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid Read Online Free Page A

night of the accident. I glanced around and tried to take everything in…the sounds and smells…they were all so familiar, yet I had not been outside since the accident.
    Em seemed as mesmerized as I was and she was staring intently at a rock on the ground. Greenery surrounded us. I ran my fingertips over a tree leaf and leaned over to smell its scent.
    “And to think, this isn’t even the surprise.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Come on, I’ll show you.”
    “But this is so beautiful. I remember these. We had these trees in our front yard when I was a child. From one of them, my father had tied up an old tire and I used it as a swing.”
    I hadn’t looked at Em because I was, for the first time since I was a kid, looking up into the sky and smelling this new world around me. Or so I thought.
    “The trees and grass are real, but we’re in a room, Jade, one that’s made to look like outside.”
    My heart sank, but I managed not to say anything and admire what was real.
    Em stood in front of me and pointed. “There, Jade.”
    The simulated wreckage of the spaceship still buried in the dirt was the first thing that caught my attention and the second thing was him.
    I wanted to run and scream and beg Dr. Stevens to let me out, but Em’s wide eyes were begging me to stay. Curiosity had taken hold of my every movement. After all, Dr. Stevens did say that she wouldn’t put me in any danger. I believed her.
    Em and I both stood as perfectly still as he was and we all stared at each other. Em’s voice was dreamy, lost in lust even when she whispered, “He’s even better than I thought he’d be.”
    “What is he?”
    “One of us.” Em moved forward, pushing me to do the same thing and follow closely behind her.
    The male subject was wearing white sweats like me. He was much taller than I was, maybe by an entire foot, and his hair was dark and touched his shoulders. Like mine, his body was every bit as honed by a scientifically designed exercise regimen.
    His angular, almost odd-looking features were handsome, but the glints of metal were visible over his bare forearms. The same metal that I had down my spine. I was mystified, scared even.
    He was studying us as much as we were studying him. I watched his eyes move from me to Em and that alone shocked me. No one had been able to see Em my entire life, but me.
    He stood near the wreckage of the ship. In this area though, the car wasn’t a crushed tin can of metal—instead, it was intact with the people inside. I knew they were fake, which fell in line with what Em had said about the whole setup being fake.
    “He’s pretty,” Em said, glancing back at me.
    His brown eyes were hollow, the way mine were. An emptiness that seemed almost haunting. “Who are you?” It didn’t even sound like my voice when I asked.
    “Aric.” His voice was strong and direct. He stood with his feet slightly apart, his shoulders back and that metal gleaming from his forearms.
    “Where’d you come from?”
    “I live here.”
    “You live in here?”
    He shook his head and slightly grinned. “I live in the Institute. Do you live here, too?”
    I nodded, my heart beating faster than it ever had.
    “What about you?” He directed his attention to Em.
    “I’m stuck to her.” She glanced back at me. “So I’ve lived here with her for sixteen years.”
    “Do you know why we’re here?” I asked.
    “I do, I do!” Em raised her hand.
    “You know why we’re here?” I hated that she kept things from me.
    “Yep.” She moved closer to Aric, and I followed her. “I read in Professor Ahern’s emails that Aric is an alien subject in the program and he was found at this wreckage,” she pointed toward the model spaceship, “alive.”
    Aric stepped forward and closed the gap a bit more. He squinted his eyes. “You’re the girl, the one who wouldn’t stop screaming.”
    When he said it, I remembered. An instant from childhood that I’d thought was buried, back with all the