Unknown Society

Intrusive Dreams

Night with a friend felt different to Martinez, not in a good way. She couldn't sleep. She could only feel the tension of her and Shivers being together. She would just stare at him as he slept, and so she'd slowly lose sanity. She was convinced that Shivers was going to wake up and hurt her in some way, or that someone was going to hurt him. Odd. Why would Martinez want to protect Shivers? She had some mercy for him despite her going-on hatred for him. Despite it all, she felt the need to protect him.

Valarie? It's me!

Martinez's head snapped left. What was that? No one was there, yet the voice was very familiar. She turned back around and sighed.

Valarie!

Triggered, she grabs a dagger and points it with her eyes closed. "NO LIVING SOUL CALLS ME THAT!" She shouts. When she opens her eyes, she lowers it. Pixel stood with her paws up, visibly frightened. "Pixel? How are you—"

She hugs her, "I missed you!"

Martinez takes off her mask, hugging her back, "I—I thought you were—"

Pixel lets go, frowning, "Valarie, I wish we could play some more, but," she looks behind her, "I gotta go."

"What?"

Martinez wakes up to Shivers on top of one of the shelves, very, very frightened. Martinez looks around, a dagger in her left paw. "What—happened?" She tosses the dagger aside.

"If you won't kill me, I'll tell you," he stammers a bit, shaking.

Martinez sits down on a stool, her head down.

"I'm pretty sure you were acting out what was happening in your dreams, because you pointed that dagger at me," he began, "Also, I-I heard you say 'pixel'. What was that about?"

Martinez quietly growled, "We do not speak of that name..."

"A name? Who names their kid Pixel?"

"Utter that name and your tongue will be in one of those jars over there," she points to a shelf behind her, full of jars of tongues of former enemies.

"I'll shut up then," he nervously chuckles.

Martinez's head remains low, she sighs.

"Erm—Martinez?"

"What?"

"It looks like we have a visitor...from a distance." Shivers points north.

Martinez lifts her head, visibly annoyed. From a distance, a figure moved slowly and carefully, ensuring that they'd not be seen. Of course, because of their size, they had failed. At this point, Martinez's body was in a state of alert and her claws were out to prove this.

"What do we do?" Shivers whispers.

Martinez immediately puts her paw over his mouth. "Don't move." She instructs.

Shivers does so, darting his eyes towards where the figure stood; they were no longer hiding.

Sauntering over, the figure's eyes stared white at the two, almost as if they were giving off some sort of warning sign. Shivers was terrified, stepping back whereas Martinez stood her ground. The blinding sand made the figure impossible to identify, but as they moved closer, they slowly began to appear familiar to Martinez's eye. Martinez wasn't falling for any more tricks, so she remained where she stood. The Human had a smiling face mask, long, brown hair, a red collar, a brown shirt, black hooves, and a black tail. Their eyes were as white as ever. "Identify yourself, intruder," Martinez growls, bringing out her dagger, "or leave."

They hold up both paws, putting them behind their head, unbuckling their mask, and so it drops. Their face had scars all over it, and their eyes were a blinding white.

All of a sudden, Martinez's head goes back to another memory.

Valarie had just spent her first five years at the orphanage—all the Humans did was abuse and mistreat her, like they did Pixel. Whether it be beating, experimenting, or being just plain mistreated. Although Valarie had bruises all outside and within, she still had a smile on her face, as long as Pixel was there with her.

Valarie was asleep when the door opened; another scientist was tugging around a much larger mutated Human before they threw her into the enclosure. The slam of the door was what woke Valarie. The girl struggled to get the muzzle off of her, shaking and jerking her head violently. It was clear that the scientists had did something to her. Valarie was twelve at the time, and was still afraid. Pixel took a brave an approach, and told the girl, "Hey, it's okay." In a calm tone.

The girl stopped to look at her, tears in her eyes and her face scrunched, "The torture, the abuse, it will never end!" She kept on violently jerking her head again.

Pixel, albeit frightened, grabbed her by the muzzle and gestured to breathe. To Valarie's surprise, she did so. She took a seat, allowing Pixel to take the muzzle off of her. "What's your name?" Asked Pixel.

"Bene."

Valarie walks up to her. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

Bene grumbles quietly, "The scientists did something to my eyes, now I can barely see."

Pixel wraps her arm around her neck, "Well, you're safe here. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Bene scoffs, "Sure. As if your thin body can fend against those barbarians out there." She sighs, "I'm better off gone..."

Valarie hugs Bene's arm. "I think you're awesome."

Bene raised her eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah! I bet you can blast lasers out of your eyes!" Valarie then begins to imitate shooting a gun.

This made Pixel chuckle, but she focused on Bene's insecurities. "She's just a kid. I wouldn't take it to heart."

Bene grinned a bit, "None taken. So, kid, what do you guys do around here?"

Valarie's face lights up like a lantern in the darkness. "We do lots of cool stuff here! Pixel does most of it, though, she makes cool masks like these!" She shows Bene a devilish mask.

Martinez is back in her head, in her opinion at least. "B-Bene?" She stammers. She lowers her weapon.

"I knew an old friend like you would recognize me," she says, "Never expected to bump into you again after all these years." Bene had sounded a lot older and more mature.

Shivers was puzzled. "Wait, you know her?"

"Yeah." Bene interjects, walking up to him. "How do you know this scrawny guy?" She points to him.

Martinez growls quietly. "I found him. I didn't meet him—I stumbled upon him during my exploration."

Bene chuckles, examining Shivers further. "You're a lucky guy, would've been dead if it were up to me," she jokes.

"Believe me, I would've killed him if I had the chance," Martinez laughs.

Shivers didn't find any of this funny, instead, he was more afraid than amused by any of this.

Bene stops her laughing and sighs. "After all these years," she began, "I thought you were dead."

Martinez's muscles began to loosen. "So did I," she glanced at the scars on her forearms.

Shivers interjects, "This is a nice friendship reunion—now that she's here, maybe we can be together? Like a team?" He sounded somewhat passionate about it, too.

Bene and Martinez exchanged looks. "I'm not sure if I can," said Bene, "I prefer to work alone."

"I-I-I mean, it's dangerous nowadays to be alone," Shivers added, "and—"

"If she wants to work alone, allow her," Martinez stops him, then turning to Bene, "Now, where were we?"