Cat Eyes: Sirius (Marien's POV only)

Chapter 15: Desolation

I was in the laboratory, a typical workday. Everything seemed so strange, and I felt anguish in my chest. Rosy was smiling at me, and Marcus touched my shoulder, appearing from the side.

"All good?" he asked.

I woke up. I was in the cell of the evolved men. The emptiness and anguish were still in my chest, opening and expanding, preparing a place to stay there permanently. I had fallen asleep in tears at the pain of assimilating reality.

Anthony lied to me all this time. The real objective was to bring me here and follow another strategy to generate a war. I still didn't understand how everything had turned out perfectly for him to get me out of the city at the exact time. It was beyond fiction. It was even more real and painful than I could imagine. I felt devastated.

The two evolved burst into the cell at once, and I couldn't help looking for Sirius, Anthony's living image, but he wasn't there. I regretted it. I didn't know what I'd get if I saw him, get more broken maybe.

"So? Tell us where you got that toxin. As your good friend Sirius told me, it is of natural origin," Orion said in an authoritative tone.

"I'm not going to tell you," I replied with what little strength I had.

"Altair, please," he ordered.

The young man with glowing light blue eyes approached me and took me abruptly by the arms, scaring me.

"No. Anthony!" I asked for help unconsciously, panicked.

Altair let me fall to the ground with a slight laugh.

"Anthony? Couldn't he choose a better name? Ridiculous human names."

I clenched my teeth. I hated myself for being silly, but I felt more offended.

"What about your names?" I criticized them.

Orion smiled.

"We are superior to you, so our names must be allusive to superior things: stars, galaxies, natural phenomena," he said proudly.

"But we humans gave them those names. It is our planet."

A short silence formed.

"Altair."

Altair retook my arms and threw me hard on the bunk mattress. I turned, and he grabbed my neck violently, pressing me against it. I started to kick, but it was useless, he was not using all his strength, but he could still kill me.

Orion snapped his fingers, and Altair released me, walking away. I touched my neck, coughing, struggling to breathe well. I was helpless, and I wanted to cry. It was horrible.

"Please, madam, don't make us do this. Collaborate," Orion insisted.

"Get lost!" I yelled in a broken voice.

I regretted it; Altair lunged toward me, growling wildly. I cringed, expecting some painful bite, but Orion snarled at him, making him stop immediately, and walked away, looking at me with hatred.

I was breathing heavily.

"There's no point in killing me," I muttered angrily, looking back at them. "I wanted to prevent them from using the toxin."

"We'll see."

The two left the cell, and I began to cry bitterly, silencing my sobs against the pillow.

***

Another day passed. They had not returned to my cell.