a tail to tell

Shuba

Shuba

I kept thinking the light breezes flowing over me were the currents of water I was so used to. I kept thinking I could hear the rush of it and the shrill pipes of dolphins, but it was really the eiry tapping of feet and the swish of cloth and the squeaking of wheels; and it was all so wrong and all so different. I closed my eyes. This had to be some sort of weird nightmare, this couldn't be happening, not to me! But when I opened them again it was all still there, the pressure of hands holding my arms to the surface under me; a pounding, throbbing feeling in the lower half of my tail that I wished would stop; brief glimpses of eyes and faces and white cloth; and my own rasping breath as I tried to remember to breath threw my mouth instead of trying to suck nonexistent water through my gills. The glaring unnatural light grew and diminished as we passed light after light after light. The air tasted of citrusy smelling chemicals, various perfumes, and blood. The blood was probably mine. But why would that be? Had I hurt myself? Of course I'd hurt myself, I'm always hurting myself, and that was the nasty feeling in my tail. Of course, from when the trap- but how had I gotten in a trap? For a moment I drew a blank, then memories pummled down on me, like a very nasty person might if you ticked them off.
I had been swimming with three of my closest friends: Kanderii, Anou, and Uini. I had set off in pursuit of a taiti, a small silvery fish -I don't know the word for it in this language- and the others had playfully joined me, weaving between rocks, almost catching it, but letting it go so the game could continue.

"Why are we chasing fish like we're little andidi again!?" Uini laughed, and tried to pass me up. I flicked my tail and clamped my back fins closed pressing them against my back, I wanted to stay in front. Ironically, this made me shoot strait past the fish, and -there was a split second where I realized something was very very wrong as the others swerved violently to either side -then I crashed head first into -something. I got a glimpse of some seaweed and a mettle something and then my vision went blurry. A second later I thought something had bitten me- something very large with blunt teeth -and a sharp grinding pain ran threw my tail. I can remember kandarii yelling and then realizing that nothing had bitten me, that I was in a mettle trap, a human trap. The fish swam away looking tired. "well, that was interesting" it would think, "that'll make a good story to tell the group this evening." then it chuckled to itself and swam off.
There was a high pitched buzzing going on at the very edge of hearing- beeeeeep... Beeeeeep... Beeeeeep. And then it would stop for a second, and you would hope it was all done and finished, then- beeeeeeep... Beeeeeeep... Beeeeeeeep.
"Shuba?" some one was lightly shaking me, "Shuba!? Wake up! You can't pass out, stay awake, we're going to get you out! I promise! I-I promise..." she broke into sobs. I forced my eyes back open, I didn't want her to cry.
The three of them tried and tried to wrench the thing open, or to break the hinges, or to open it in any way. One of the bars had imbedded itself in my tail and blood floated out around it, this made me worry of sharks, but it was all I could do just to keep from screaming every time the bar shifted as they tried to get it out. Kanderii had just suggested that someone go the 11 or 12 miles back to the evren and get help, when we heard the sound of a motor boat. We all froze and waited for it to pass, but it didn't. It stopped a few yards away from us and then went silent.
"I hope they're not coming to check their trap." Uini spoke aloud what we were all thinking.
"Perhaps they're just... enjoying the view." anou said trying to be positive, "or ran out of gas."

"Guys... You should probably-" a loud splash cut me off, and a moment later something red and streaky shot threw the water, hitting anou in the arm. she clutched at the cage,and then rolled to the ocean floor. Another dart streaked past uini and she dodged, it barely missing her by a hairs breadth. kanderii just stared.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!" I yelled at the them. kanderii darted behind a rock and then flitted back to help Uini drag anou behind it as well. I glanced at the human, all I saw was a dark blob holding a long stick-looking thing which I immediately identified as a gun... Tranquilizer gun.
"Guys, take anou and get out of here!"
"But-" uini protested
"Get out of here! There's no way to get this cage open. I- I'll be fine," but all I could think was 'please don't leave, please don't leave me here, for the love of all our insanely stupid pranks, and everything else good under the ocean and even above it, please don't leave me here alone.'
"but-" kanderii took a deep breath, "Ok, but were going to get help, we'll find you, I promise." kanderii picked up anou with uini's help and they dashed from behind the rock to a clump of corral a yard or so away. Another dart imbedded itself in the speckled sand they had been at a second before.
I turned back towards the human. he was visibly shaking, which I suppose was why he kept missing.
I shrieked at him angrily, desperately, hoping to distract his attention. It worked. Startled, he jerked his head to face me. I laughed as he clumsily tried to drag himself through the water, and laughing somehow made me feel better, like this was all just some prank I was pulling, like I knew exactly what I was doing, and what would happen, and how it would happen. All of which I didn't know in the least. But then my laugh turned into a sob as the bar shifted in my tail. I looked back to where my friends were. No one was there. Alone. But not alone, there was a human. I remember wondering how well humans felt empathy anyways, and hoped they did. Then something sharp stuck into me and I jerked back from it, tearing it out of my skin and...

When I woke up everything was eye-aching brightness, and stiffness, and blood. I specifically remember the smell of my own blood, because it was different than in water. And I couldn't move. I kept thinking that the air was water and the squeaking wheels were dolphins, and their tapping feet somehow just blended in, but it only lasted a moment. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them again it was all still there. Yes, everything- even hope.