The Alien You Know... (Original Story)

CHAPTER 7: OH, I'VE DONE GOOFED!

I open my eyes, and my head feels like it’s gonna explode. I groan and try to move my wing to rub it, but I can’t move. I glance down, and see that a weird metal contraption is around my body, pinning my wings against my sides.

It has a metal bar that runs all around me, and another that goes up from the back, around my neck, holding my head in place. It also has a bar that holds my legs in place.

I sigh, looking at my surroundings. The dimness takes a few moments to adjust to, but there is a foul smell. And once I could see, I wished I was in complete darkness. All around me lie decomposing corpses.

There are at least seven around me, but the one right by my feet, is Daemyn’s body. He has blood on his shirt, but there is a trail of blood coming this way, ending where he is laying. They dragged his body here...

But did they drag him to show me my defeat? Or it is just a vision of my future? After all, if I had listened to Knarf, I may have been able to save him. Plus, I may have actually realized that it was a trap.

No, Bellatryx. You had to try to save him. Grygore knew that though, he saw an opportunity to exploit my compassion. Footsteps approach, and I gasp. I squirm, hoping I can slide out. What will that do for me? I doubt they’ll let me leave...

“Well, you’re awake.” I look up, and Grygore stands over me, his foot on Daemyn’s leg. I growl. “You didn’t have to kill him!”, I yell, and I wince, bracing for whatever Grygore has to say.

He sighs. “But he was a liability. I wasn’t about to leave a loose end.” Hot tears spill down my cheeks, as I try to stand up. As I push my legs up, Grygore kicks me, knocking my feet out from under me, making me land on my side.

“None of that, I don’t really need you. I just know that it’d be more likely that your allies come if they have someone to ransom.” I spit, and he grabs the gun in his holster. I roll backwards.

“Heh, if you’re this skittish, it should be easy to get information about your friends.” He crouches down next to me, and grabs my wing. I feel the wing bone snap, and I scream. He... broke it... but you can’t just betray your friends!

He killed his one bargaining chip. He can do whatever he wants to me, I deserve it. But Ross, he is smart. And Knarf, he can train him to be the one to stop this freak. I’m not important. I’m not crucial to this mission’s success.

Despite the pain from my wing, I laugh. He scoffs. “Why are you laughing?” I smirk. “You can hurt me, but I won’t give them up. You don’t even have a bargaining chip.” He grabs my neck. “You overestimate your pain-tolerance.”

He squeezes my neck, making it hard to breath. I gasp, and he chuckles. “You do realize that I know who you are? And I know your family? Your mother, father, and those two adorable sisters...”

I wheeze, and I try to move my wing to pull his arms off of me. Not my family, you psycho! He laughs. “Perhaps I should pay them a visit?” My eyes widen, and I (to the best of my abilities) shake my head.

He releases his grip, and I gasp. He stands up, smiling. “N-no.”, I say, coughing. He folds his flippers. “Then where are they?” I whimper. He is cunning. Either I give up Knarf and Ross, or I give up my family... what do I do?

“You are taking too long, I think I prefer taking the Myosan scum’s lives.” “NO!!”, I yell, trying to stand up again. “Sorry, but it’s my Musonusi duty to end this race.” I crawl forward, trying to follow after him.

He pulls his gun out, and pushes a switch on it. He smirks, and points it at me. It shoots a blue bolt, and hits my forehead. My vision gets blurry, and everything goes black. No... I can’t. He’s going after my family... and I can’t stop it...

I watch him walk away, and using my feet, try to push my body forward. Why am I not moving?! Am I... paralysed? No! I need to save my family... Tears fall down my face, landing on the dirt floor.

Grygore walks around the corner, and I’m alone. I’m useless. I don’t know why Knarf thought that he should teach anything to me. I just ran out of that stupid cave. This was always going to my fate.

“NO!”, I say, out loud. I let out a yell, and with my good wing, pull myself forward. I can’t stop here! I need to save them. My wing, though my movement is sluggish, propels me forward.

I reach out for one of the stalagmites, tugging myself towards it, but I miscalculate how far I can reach, and collapse short of the stalagmite. I fall on top of my broken wing, only I don’t feel pain.

Must be adrenaline running through my body, making it seem as though I’m fine. I push forward with both feet, and grab a hold of the stalagmite. I get myself to a sitting position. Great, now what?

I mean, I can’t exactly walk anywhere with this contraption on. And I can’t crawl either, both because of my arm and it will take too long to get anywhere. But how do I get out of this thing?

I examine the trap, and can’t find a mechanism that would be logical to assume is the “unlock” switch. I sigh, and look down at my feet. The chains on my legs seem to be easier to work out, and I squirm around, trying to get my wing down there.

I look at it, and spot a red button. No, that can’t be it. That’s way too easy! Only one way to find out, I guess. I stretch my wings downwards, and push the button. It makes a click, and falls off my legs.

Huh, okay. “Way too easy is suspicious, but right now I don’t have time to think. I need to save my family!” I groan, and stand up, and waddle towards the exit of the cave, following the light.

The light gets brighter, and I waddle at a quicker pace. Almost to the entrance, if I get there, it’s just a duhon or so to the west to get to Knarf’s house. If they’ll help me, I can do this the right way.

I step out into the open land, and take a shaky breath. I  glance to my left and right, and walk forward. At this point, it’ll be sundown by the time I get back to Knarf’s base. I walk for what feels like forever, and fall to the ground.

I groan, as the adrenaline has long since worn off, the pain in my wing is screaming in agony. I crawl onwards, as I’m not confident my legs can carry me anymore. I pull at any rock, crevice or bush stem to move forward, dragging my broken arm alongside me.

I can do this. I grunt, my wingtips digging into the dirt, and moving me ever closer to my destination. I can’t be that far away, can I? I have to be close. I take a deep breath. “I must do this...”, I say out loud, which helps, despite me being alone.

    “‘Must do this?’ Sounds familiar.” I freeze, as footsteps approach from behind. I get pulled to my feet, and I see Ross, holding his spear, next to me.

    “Ross--!” He slaps me, almost knocking me over. I gasp, and look at him in shock. “Why’d you do that for?!”, I ask, looking him up and down. He holds out his spear, pointing it at my neck.

“I told you to leave it alone. Told you to wait.”, he says, sighing. I duck my head. “Sorry, I--” “SORRY ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH.” Ross yells, his eyebrows narrowing. “I said that I would not help you if things went bad, so goodbye.”

I gasp. “Wait!” I say, as he walks away. “You didn’t want my help earlier, now you need me, once you realized that I was right?”, Ross says, keeping his back turned from me. “For the record, I couldn’t stand by and let him get hurt.”

Ross scoffs. “And where is he? Surely the mission went poorly if he isn’t with you.” I swallow. “He died.”, I say, looking at the dirt below me. He sighs, and starts to walk away. “That’s a shame, but that death isn’t on my hands, it’s on yours.”

He continues walking, and I follow after him. “Don’t follow me.”, he says, spinning his spear behind his back and above his head, presumably to warn me to stay away. I kneel down on the dirt. “Okay. But I need to tell his mother something...”, I whisper. He marches farther away.

What have I done? And what would have happened if I had listened to Ross? Would Daemyn be okay now? What do I tell his mother? Daemyn at least deserves his mother’s safety, right?