The Sacrifice

827 29 6
                                    

'In the darkness, I'll meet my creator.' ~Daughter


****


~Axel~


The moment Adam and I have slipped under the giant door (after carefully avoiding the barely unconscious Laquanian in the storage room with us) we see that everyone has filed out silently from the drain and have begun the usual raiding routine. It's handy that the pet shop owner has closed and locked the door from the inside, because it means that we won't be subject to any 'customers'. Only Laqua would know what would happen to us then...


"Yo." A familiar voice calls, no longer in a whisper. I look up, cracking a lopsided grin when I notice Three O'Seven sitting on the doorknob like he's riding a horse. He holds a thick metal object triumphantly above his head. The key. He must have somehow launched himself across the room onto the door. It would have been a tricky feat, actually. Only a thrill seeker like Three O'Seven would have been brave enough to do such a thing. The doorknob he sits on is high above me, to a point where my best friend looks like he's the size of a human at a Laquanian's scale.


"You did good, man!" I yell back as Three O'Seven prepares to slide off the doorknob. What the hell is he doing...!? Just as he's slipped off the edge and has begun to drop, I throw my arms out, absorbing some of the shock from the fall by catching him in my thin but sturdy arms. I exhale in relief, shoving his larger body off me. Three O'Seven grunts at my act of heroism.


"You didn't have to save me like that. I woulda made the fall."


I roll my eyes mockingly. "You'd break your ankle and I'd have to carry your ass all the way home!"


"I woulda made it, Axel!" Three O'Seven laughs, brushing himself off and flexing his muscles. In reality, I'm sure he would have. A drop like that would definitely cause damage to a Laquanian, but one of the few benefits of being human is that gravity works differently with our smaller, physically lighter bodies. Rather than dropping at 100 kilometers per hour, we tend to almost float a little as we fall. Still, Three O'Seven would have most definitely broken an ankle from that fall.


I watch now as he slips the enormous key under one arm and begins walking in the direction of the raid in process. Neither of us ever holds a decent conversation, really. It's always too busy for things like that. Now, for instance, I watch with Adam breathing down my neck as the process of a regular raid begins. The Director waits patiently but clearly in awe as his own method of raiding a pet shop takes place before him. He's only a speck in the distance from where the two of us stand, but I know he'd be beaming.


The rest of our squad line themselves up in the trademark formation, many hoisting long ropes of wool or fishing line up the sides of the shelves to reach the higher points. Others clamber quickly into the lower shelf levels and begin hacking at the glass boxes encasing the pets. I catch the eyes of a lone and clearly young human who sits with a clueless expression on his face from one of the boxes. He reminds me almost of Colton, but I know it isn't him. His hair is white as snow and eyes dark and mysterious. He'd be a quick seller to the Laquanians, if they still wanted a pet. Unfortunately for the poor boy, he'd be gassed or something if he was left here.


Thoughts muddling my head, I jog over to his shelf. Adam follows closely behind, but breaks away from me to find his own human to rescue. I barely notice him leave, being so quiet. The boy presses his pale palms up against the glass of his cage as I near him, a pleading look plastered across his thin face. I know that look all too well; it's hope. Hope that he might have a chance to be free and not kept caged away all his life. I suppose that that's the way every human feels at the Pet shop during a raid.

My Pet Human {UNDER SERIOUS EDITING}Where stories live. Discover now