Caught Wild, Hand-reared

Chapter 1: A Premium Selection

The hum of the television was the only thing anchoring Cassy Miller to the world she knew. It was a Tuesday, the kind of quiet evening she had moved to the countryside for. Cassy wasn't just a runner; she was a woman who built her life on self-reliance. She could split wood, track a deer, and navigate the Appalachian brush in a pitch-black storm. She prized her solitude because, in the woods, she was the apex of her own world.
Her two dogs, a pair of lean hounds usually alert to every snapping twig, were sprawled at her feet. Then, the lights began to die. It wasn't a flicker or a blown fuse; the glow simply drained out of the bulbs, leaving the room bathed in a thick, sickly amber dimness that felt heavy against her skin.

Cassy stood, her 5"8 athletic frame tensing instinctively. She moved to the window, her breath hitching as she looked out at the porch. Hovering silently above her roof was a circular shadow that blotted out the stars, a void in the sky that pulsed with a low-frequency vibration she felt in her teeth.

A flash of blinding, violet-white light erupted from the craft, illuminating the yard like high noon for a split second. When her vision cleared, the house was untouched. She looked down at her dogs, expecting them to be barking at the door or whimpering under the table.
Instead, they were perfectly still.

"Hey," she whispered, nudging the eldest with her boot. He didn't stir. She knelt, checking for a pulse, for a breath. They were warm, their hearts beating in a rhythmic, hypnotic slow-motion, but they were trapped in a trance so deep they looked like stone statues.
She looked from the dogs to the silent shadow above the house. The connection clicked-the light, the silence, the sudden "sleep" of her protectors. The realization didn't come as a thought, but as a cold, sharp spike of adrenaline.
Cassy didn't grab a phone or a coat; she knew the terrain better than any GPS. She threw open the back door and bolted, her boots thudding against the damp earth as she vanished into the treeline.

From the belly of the craft, three metallic shapes dropped. They were small, four-legged, and moved with a terrifying, jerky precision. They looked like dogs, but their "skin" was a polished chrome, and their heads were nothing but a cluster of glowing blue sensors. They went into the house for a bit but soon their sensors corrected them. they turned towards her.
They were looking for her..

Cassy sprinted, her heart hammering against her ribs. She was fast-faster than most-but as she scrambled over fallen logs and pushed through thorns, she realized something sickening. The metallic paws behind her-clack-clack-clack-never lost rhythm.
She tripped over a gnarled root, her hands plunging into the cold mud. She rolled over, panting, and found the three drones standing five feet away in a semi-circle. They didn't move to bite. They didn't scan her; they tilted and swiveled with a strange, analytical curiosity. From the way they paused, as if waiting for a command from a distant observer.

Suddenly, a voice emanated from the lead drone. It was a deep, resonant, and disturbingly cheerful rumble.
"Oh, look at that agility! 9 on the reflex scale," the voice said, the tone warm and genuinely admiring. "You're even more vibrant than the catalog suggested."

Cassy scrambled to her feet, backing her spine against a jagged oak. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I am Kaelen," the voice replied with a soft, melodic chuckle. "And you, Cassy Miller, are exactly what I've been looking for."

"What nonsense. Who are you. What is all this?"

"Some anger you got little bird'" Kaelen repeated, sounding playful in his deep rumble, as if he were humoring a clever child. "You're so much more Cass dear. You're Premium Grade. Do you have any idea how many credits I had to move to secure a specimen as you. You've got that wonderful, frantic little heartbeat. It's like a drum solo in my ears."

Cassy lunged to the side, desperate to break for the creek, but the drones shifted with a synchronized, mocking twitch. They didn't just block her; they nudged her back toward the center of the clearing like she was a stray ball.
"Now, now," Kaelen chided, his tone dropping into a sugary, mock-disappointment. "Don't ruin the 'Hide and Seek' phase by getting tired too early. Cassy."

"Let me go", she shouted in a last desperate scream.

"Alright, that's enough for the demo," Kaelen said, his voice dropping into the excited tone of a child finally allowed to open a gift. "I've waited weeks for this shipping window. Collect her."

The drones didn't leap. They simply hissed. A cloud of sweet, heavy blue gas billowed from their chests. As the world turned to grey and Cassy's knees buckled, the last thing she remembered was that playful, gentle laugh-the sound of someone who couldn't wait to get his new trophy home.