The Protectors; Book 3

Awake

Dex's POV:

    The moment we got message that Fox was alive from New Keekos we flew over. I don't think any of us stopped to think about if it was a trap. Thank the gods it wasn't. Speaking of the gods, I've been sitting next to Foxete's bedside since we landed. Jake took Ru and Damien to get supplies and distract them from the whole situation. Illoha is talking to her dad, bargaining for Fox's life most likely.

    Fox grumbles in her sleep. She looks so frail. Almost childlike. Her normally sharp features seem soft and gentle as she lays in the hospital bed. The doctor told us that she broke her leg, but fortunately, she set it correctly so there is no long lasting damage so far. She has a broken ankle, a dislocated hip and shoulder, 3 broken ribs, a concussion, more bruising than the doctor has ever seen, and she had internal, and external, bleeding from where she was shot. How she's alive confuses the hell out of me.

She should be asleep for a few more days.

"Hello?" A feeble voice asks.

Of course not. Why would Foxete sleep?

The heart monitor next to her bed begins to go faster as she doesn't recognize her surroundings.

"Hello?!" She tries to raise her voice, but all that comes out is a gravely tone.
"Fox?" I approach the bedside. She flinches.
For a moment, she looks as though she's making sure I'm real.
"Dex?" She asks, her eyes full of tears.
"Hey Fox." I smile and help her sit up.

She looks me in the face before smiling and crying, throwing her arms around me.
"Oh thank god! I really did escape! It's not a sick dream!" She sobs into my shoulder.

They broke her.

She sits there sobbing into my shoulder. I hold her close to me. Shes so light. I can feel myself tearing up.
"You're safe." I whisper to her, "I've got you now. We've got you Foxete."

"You're home."

Illoha's POV:

    5 months. 5 months I haven't seen my girlfriend and I wasn't allowed to see her in the hospital. My father tried to 'reassure me' that she wouldn't wake up, but behold, I've been in his office for an hour and news came to us that she's awake.

I left immediately.

I will see her.

Dex's POV:

Fox had about 4 sentences that made sense. After those 4 she seemed to be completely out of it. Almost like a switch flipped in her. She wouldn't respond to anyone. A minute after this, Illoha and Kreko came into the room. Fox barely acknowledged her. The best she could do was a small smile in her direction before a look of fear imprinted on her face. The doctors made us all leave, Illoha and I fought the whole time. There was no way I would allow those doctors to preform tests on her.

"No! I want to be in the room! I'm not letting her out of my sight until she's back to normal!" I snap as the guards attempt to drag me away. I'm much stronger and bigger than them, so it's not hard to fight.
"You aren't allowed to, Mr. Reynolds." The nurse sighs, "Take him."
I barge back into the room to see Foxete with a syringe in her hands crying and screaming in a language I don't understand.

"¡Quedarse atrás! ¡Alejarse de mí!" She screams.
"Please, Captain Vixeon! We don't understand you!" The nurse pleads. Guards fill the room. She looks terrified.
"¿Quién eres? ¿Quién es el Capitán Vixeon?" She screams.
Illoha barges through next to me, "Don't get closer! She's scared. The language she's speaking is Spanish. It's from Earth."
The nurses back up and Foxete's breath slows a bit. Her eyes are locked on Illoha.

What the hell is happening?

Illoha's POV:

The little Fox told me about her past allowed me to understand that;

1. She was of Cuban and Irish descent (types of humans?), so she grew up speaking 'Spanish' and English. I'm not sure why the Humans needed multiple languages to one species. One seems efficient enough.

2. She is still fluent in Spanish despite her adopted family not knowing it.

3. She never uses it unless she needs to.

So why is she using it now? I don't understand what she's saying.

"Some one get a translator." A guard yelled.
"No need. Get Foxy." Dex shakes his head, "On second thought, Bonnie is less scary and knows just as many languages."

Bonnie walks in and Foxete seems to calm down a bit.

"Fox?" Bonnie asks.
"Who is that." She whispers, "Who are these people Bonnie? How are you... sentient..?"
"What do you mean? Who are you?" Dex asks her.

"I think my name is Rebecca..." she looks at her hands, "But I feel distant to that name. Like it's not my name."

How did her memory regress?

I approach her, "Rebecca was your old name. You don't go by that anymore."
She looks at me timidly, "My name is Fox?"
"Foxete Vixeon." Dex joins my side.
"Why is Bonnie talking like a person? He's supposed to be an inanimate robot!" She looks scared of him.
"That's a long story." He chuckles.
She doesn't seem satisfied.
"And who are you?" She asks.
"Illoha. Your girlfriend." I whisper.
Her eyes go wide and she steps away from me.
"What?!" She gasps.
I dismiss the nurses before the internalized homophobia begins. She was from the 80's after all. Her family was big on... not gay things...
"I'm Dex, your friend." Dex sticks out his hand.
"You're tall. Why do you look like a goat?" She suppresses a laugh.
"What the hell is a goat?" He looks at me.
I smile.
"Wait. How old are you? How old am I?" She asks.
"What's your last memory?" Dex asks.

She doesn't respond. She looks like she's thinking hard.

"Dying?"

(1000 words)