Left Handed

18

A/N: Trigger warning: this chapter contains gore and death.

Then the screaming started.

There's a difference, you know. Between shouting and screaming. One is what your mom does when you don't clean your room or when she catches you polishing your Academy Award. The other, screaming, is when you are in such intense pain or panic that the body can't help but make as much noise as possible in the hope of attracting other monkeys.

Because there was only one assailant, Frrrzbo, I could follow the fight by sound. I sat on the bed. Opposite the bed was the door. On my right side was the toilet and next to that, in the direction of the door, was the sink. The fight started out with an explosion above the toilet. From there it quickly travelled up the right wall and across the ceiling in the form of gunshots and harsh commands. It stayed on the ceiling for a solid five minutes, then it quickly moved above the door. That's where the shouts turned to screams.

The gun shots became more frantic as the sound moved to the left corner of the cell and then down.  Single shots turned to bursts, turned to sustained fire that cut off abruptly. Then the same sequence started all over from a different angle. And so on. It was the sound of a very one sided battle.

Then the shooting stopped. It wasn't quiet: screams and whimpers still echoed through the hull of the ship. It was eerie. I heard the lock of my cell door being manipulated from the outside. Then the door banged open and Sarah, the interrogator, burst through. She was brandishing a gun. She was a mess. There were cuts and bruises all over her face and body. She was limping but she nevertheless kicked the door shut behind her.

She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up. Her gun, nozzle still warm, pressed against my throat. I tried to pull back but she pressed the gun harder against me and put me in a stranglehold with her other arm.

She said, "Stop squirming, bitch." And I did. Something in her voice had changed compared to the sweet interrogator, the "good cop", of a few hours ago. It was cold and quiet. That's the other thing about screaming and shouting. People only raise their voice when they haven't got a plan.

I pissed myself. I wish I could shrug and laugh and tell you that I didn't mean that literally. It was weird because there was no transition of a full bladder to a jog to the toilet to ripped off jeans buttons. There was fear and then there was a warm, wet sensation in my crotch.

A tiny me in the back of my brain was mortified but the rest of me was busy panicking. What if Bo came too late or didn't find a way to incapacitate the woman before she made her getaway with me? What if he just popped the both of us, head back to his spaceship and be done with me?

Another gunshot rang through the shop, followed by an ear piercing scream. What did Frrrzbo do you them? It didn't sound like anything in films but then again, in films none of the goons have families and whole lives that get snuffed out by a careless protagonist trying to advance the plot.

The door blew off its hinges and flew outward and with it a rush of wind blew in and tousled my hair. It smelled of seawater and blood. All very dramatic. Frrrzbo hovered in between the frames. He had blood on his hand. It drip-dropped on the floor beneath him. Several of his nails were chipped. Ugh. I hoped he could grow them back properly.

"Let her go." The voice did not come from Bo. It came from the PA system. It didn't sound anything like the Bo of my headphones. It was metallic and detached from any humanity that I had placed in him.

I felt the grip on the gun falter.

"I..." she said. Then the pressure increased again. "No. Fuck you. No. You care for this girl. Deactivate. Now."

A low popping sound came from the PA. If it wasn't for the rhythm, I'd never have guessed what it was: laughter. I shivered.

"Let her go for your own life, human," Frrrzbo said. "Tracy's life does not enter into the equation."

That hurt in the deep of my stomach. Abandoned again. I thought Bo was my friend. It looked like he was here to clean up the mess I made and that's all. But why didn't he kill us both?

"So why don't you kill us both?" Sarah asked. God, she was smart.

He laughed again but didn't answer. It made it much worse. He just did not care either way. Maybe his software got infected when he freely roamed the internet. Yeah. That must have been it.

A small round object rolled into the cell and settled between Frrrzbo and us. I looked at it stupidly.

Sarah shoved me out of her way and jumped toward Frrrzbo and the door. Bo became a blur and shoved her back. She bounced off the wall and landed heavily on the floor. Bo came rushing toward me and the flat of his palm turned into a blade aimed at my throat.

It's weird, yeah? When your head gets chopped off you don't die instantly. I have never felt so much pain in my life. The room spun briefly, then there was an explosion. The shockwave pushed my head up against the ceiling where it smashed my face in. My nose broke and I swallowed a tooth that went straight out the gaping hole that was the remainder of my neck.

What a way for my life to end. I felt a tear escape my eye and roll down my cheek. It distracted me from the pain.

Finally, in a flash of blue light, the world went black.