2132:Phoenix

Chapter 4

Lada and I moved to sit under the glass pane, for no particular reason other than that the wall was cool and the room had started smoldering. It had gotten to the point where we had ditched our skirts. Wearing spandex as always, but it was still weird. Sweat was dripping down my back, even my face had little drops of sweat building on it. The crawling sensation, as a drop raced down my skin was excruciating, and wiping it away only gave temporary relief. Trying to speak was impossible so I stopped. Lada had realized it was pointless a while ago, she was a lot less persistent. I felt that if everything was quiet though reality might sink in and I'd cry; I couldn't waste what little water I had left in my body on tears. The world started to get hazy. I knew I couldn't stand up and looking over at Lada I figured she was thinking the same. I reached over to hold her hand not knowing how much time we had when the metal door shot open and a blue-scaled man and the garnet-scaled man ran through the door and carried us from the heat. The cool air outside the room caused me to shiver violently, but it was better than sweating to death. Lada was squirming in the blue-scaled male's arms, I don't know where she thought she was going if she couldn't get away from them at her best. I guess that's Lada though: fight till you can't. She got one shove in that angered the male that had been so dutifully carrying her.

"Enough," he growled, grabbing one of her hands to keep her semi-still. Lada stopped for a few seconds weighing the merits of continuing when she glanced at me. I shook my head slightly, hoping the male holding me wouldn't notice. If he did he didn't seem to mind. Lada relaxed, laying her head on the male's bicep as she fought the sleep that wanted to claim her. Then the male did something unexpected. He slowly rubbed his hand against Lada's forearm. Was he trying to comfort her? I thought Lada might tense, but she sunk deeper into the male's arms and drifted between awake and sleep. The males split off at a fork and it was my turn to writhe. Why were they separating us? The male looked at me quizzically as he went through a door. I pushed hard against his chest. He wasn't fazed though and simply set me down on a daybed. I went to get up but everything felt heavy, I could barely lift my arm. The male walked over to a small bar area and pulled out an orange drink in a clear 28oz bottle. It looked amazing, but to be honest, anything to ease my dry mouth would have been nice. He moved me to lean against the wall of the bed.

"This stuff is rancid, but you won't need an IV," he said as he brought the drink to my lips. I drank down what little he gave me, and to my surprise it was amazing. Not overly sweet, it tasted like orange and mango. I wanted to chug it, but the male pulled it back with a smile on his face.

"Sips, you don't want to throw it up." Then he placed the bottle to my lips again and I let it soothe my screaming throat.

Halfway through the bottle, the male set it on the table and I almost whimpered for him to give it back. I needed more fluids to be able to moderately function.

"How do you feel?" My eyebrow went up of its own accord. Why did it care? Not that it mattered.

"Where's Lada?" He mimicked my expression adding a head tilt for extra emphasis. He sighed then picked the bottle back up and set it in my hands.

"Resting, but how do you feel, Alexia?" I took another sip of the juice, hoping he just wouldn't care. That didn't seem to be likely so I went with the next best thing.

"Don't call me that."

"You're name," he asked slowly as if he heard wrong.

"That is reserved for my parents." Not entirely a lie. This guy couldn't have been much older than me, he wasn't going to speak to me like some self-righteous adult. I felt a lot better after drinking that juice, maybe it was some alien concoction. He laughed like a semi annoyed, semi impressed person as he ran his hand through his hair, flexing his... very nice muscles. He noticed my stare and smirked before laying his arm over the back of the couch.

"What would you prefer," that lazy smirk still painted on his face. Freak. His smile suddenly dropped as if he heard what I thought. Come to think of it he seemed very attuned to my emotions all day. I pulled my legs closer to me and cradled the bottle of life-saving juice in the middle. Now that I think about it, I probably wasn't about to die, but the headache I had was killer. The heat was just so sickening.

"I'm sorry. Would you prefer Lexi?" He broke my train of thought, but I was glad for it. My brian tended to take those ideas and take them over a cliff, over the sea shelf, over some deep oceanic pit, and chuck them into some undersea vent.

"That's what everyone else calls me." I didn't want to talk to him. Never thought those thoughts would come to mind. Meeting people was so much fun, but he was not a person, and being kidnapped was not fun.

"My name is Calepus," he said with no prodding. "I don't mind my name either." He meant it as a joke and I wanted to take it as a joke. Nothing in my brain was working right today, it hasn't been working since I woke up, and now all this. Usually, I'd just go home and write, but now I can't even do that. I felt my eyes water. Why couldn't I just be at home? What had we done to deserve this?

"You should sleep," he whispered, patting my leg then rising and moving behind another door. I was exhausted from today, mentally at the very least, and sleep sounded better than having a conversation at this point. I set the bottle down on the table and stretched out on the bed. Maybe it was all just some fever dream and I'd wake up to my mom telling me I have the flu. He came back and laid a soft blanket over me and rubbed my shoulder kindly.

"If you need anything my room is over there," he said as he pointed to a door on the other side of the small room. Something in his touch calmed my mind, and I drifted off not long after he dimmed the lights.