Gamma Stellaris

Chapter 16

        Ngxurj roughly tugged on Leanne's leash as she clung onto a pole in the middle of the room, hoping that she could hang on long enough to tire him out.

        Her stomach was throbbing, partly from being kicked so much but also the exertion of fighting against Ngxurj in that moment was probably aggravating the injury. Her throat ached from the collar being yanked at so much.

         Punte pried at her hands, trying to loosen her grip.

          Finally, he growled as he attached one of his tentacles to her forehead. He sent a pulse through it, not one nearly as powerful as the one that Xkmotg caused, but one still painful enough to make her lose focus and let go of the pole.

        A migraine pounded through her forehead as Ngxurj pulled roughly on the collar, causing her to stagger forward.

          The bell rang loudly with every step she took, which made her want to throw it out a window.

        Nxgurj led her back to the room that was the last place she'd seen Charity before forcing her into a chair. The room was full of aliens and as Leanne went to look around, Ngxurj attached a tentacle to the back of her neck, which made her limbs start to feel heavy. She couldn't seem to convince herself to move no matter how hard she tried.

         The door swung open as a metallic, futuristic guillotine was wheeled into the room. A few moments later, two aliens forced Charity into the room. It'd only been two or three days, but she already looked awful. Two days was enough for Leanne to be able to tell that she was barely being fed, if at all. She also clearly hadn't had a shower.

        Although Charity tried to struggle free, the aliens easily made her kneel down and closed her head into the head hole. Leanne's eyes widened as she struggled to move.

        Where they really going to make her watch that?!

        "You can't do this!" Leanne snapped, struggling harder to gain control back of her own limbs. "You can't-"

         "Shut it." Punte hissed.

         Leanne managed to get herself to lunge forward, trying to get to Charity as quickly as she could. The tentacle disconnected from the back of her neck and she took off quicker. She managed to get to the guillotine and desperately tried to pry Charity free.

        "What are you doing?!" Charity asked, her eyes wild. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

         "I can't just watch you die."

         One of the aliens in the room roughly kicked her in the stomach. She let out a cry as she collapsed to her knees, sure that her stomach was a patchwork of bruises at that point.

         "Stay out of this, you brat!" Ngxurj snapped, he and Punte arriving to the front of the room.

        Punte grabbed a fistful of her hair and started dragging her back toward the seat she had been in. Leanne writhed against his grip, letting out pained gasps and desperate grunts.

         "Leanne, stop making things worse." Charity whispered. "I'll be okay."

         "I won't just-"

          "Shut it, you stupid sozzkty!" Punte hissed, pulling harder on her hair.

        That's what they'd been calling her a lot lately, and Leanne was sure it meant something to the effect of 'pet'.

         Ngxurj gave her one more swift kick to the stomach before helping Punte lift her back into her seat. Punte wrapped two of his tentacles tightly around her, holding her down in the chair.

        "Let go of me or else-" Before Leanne could finish, another tentacle wrapped tightly over her mouth, muffling the rest of her sentence.

        Xkmotg pressed a button and Leanne quickly shut her eyes, at least hoping that Charity wouldn't be in much pain.

        But she was surrounded by nothing by silence.

        She slowly opened her eyes to see Xkmotg chucking the remote across the room and Charity being ushered back out of the room.

       Xkmotg quickly took a breath, trying to compose herself. "The execution will resume on a later date while we figure out these technical issues. You're all dismissed."

        Punte forced Leanne to her feet, pushing her forward as Ngxurj pulled her by the leash. They got back to the room Leanne had been being kept in before tightly tying her wrists around the pole she had been clinging to.

         "How many times have we told you to behave yourself?!" Ngxurj hissed, roughly kicking her across the face.

        "Perhaps this will teach you to follow orders!" Punte growled.