NOT HUMAN

Chapter 34 - Afraid of you?

They finally made it to the exterior walls of the old mansion. Blade was the first to move, he strided confidently towards the black doors and griped the knob swinging it open. He did it with a slight edge, a bit of rage boiling up in him now. The sadness, pointless feeling, and empty aching in his chest it was replaced with anger now.

He was angry at the Oculos for taking her, and most of all at himself for losing her. He felt guilty, and 100% responsible.

"Hey," Andy said, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "I know what you're thinking..."

"Yeah?" Blade glared at her. He knew she was only trying to help him, but it only made him irritated. "Just focus on the mission." He scoffed. "I'm fine."

"Alright, if you say so." Andy shrugged.

They all walked the long dark halls of the mansion. It had flickering light bulbs and old paintings hanging on the walls.

"Spooky," Nixon shivered scooting closer to Andy who was admiring an old painting of a bowl of fruit. They passed broken glass shards, and windows full of holes. It looked like something happened here.

Blade remembered how it felt like yesterday, he was here eating dinner with Lily. Then she slept in the room on the third floor. But after that night, later the next day they encountered the Oculos and he nearly died.

But she saved his life.

"So, where is this spaceship?" Andy looked to Blade. He was spacing out for a moment, she wondered if he was thinking of Lily again.

"It's downstairs in the lower part of the mansion."

"Oh, nice," Jax said, sarcastically. "Great, what else is down there?"

"Oh, just a couple of corpses."

"Real funny, you're kidding, right?" He scoffed.

"Only if I was." Blade shrugged. Jax doubted his eyes and said nothing more.

Cherry stayed quiet while Trey helped her walk, as her shoulder still bothered her a lot. It was healing very slowly.

Zane walked alongside Angelica. The girl was afraid of everything, but most of all she was afraid of him.

It bothered him quite a bit.

"Hey, uh...Angel." The nickname slid out of his mouth smoothly, it sounded nice. The poor girl jumped a little from hearing his voice beckon her.

"...Uh..yes, Zane?"

"I just had a quick question." He waited for a response, folding his arms and looking into her eyes.

"Go ahead."

"Well, are you afraid of me?" The question he had been waiting to ask her for a while now. Finally, he did. He noticed her body shaking, and she chewed on her bottom lip. What was wrong with her? She was so scared. But of what? What was her life like before the alien apocalypse?

"Yes," She managed to spit it out. "I'm sorry..." She couldn't hold eye contact any longer. She averted her eyes downwards and stared at the dirt, grass, and few stones.

That's when Zane thought back to the burn on her upper thigh. How did that happen?

Angelica was thinking of how her life began in a very bad environment growing up. She was always treated as trash, a slave girl, and a dog. She never received any kind of love. Well, at least not until she met Lily. That was why it broke her to lose that dear friend. She loved her.

~Flashback~

It was dim. The kitchen was spotless. The marble table in the dining room glistened, the floors glowed, and the dishes were all cleaned thoroughly and put away in the cabinets.