Saida
The heavy grunt and the shudder as the heavy rig stirred to life, never failed to bring a huge grin to Otter. He sat in the well worn leather of the driver's seat of a massive Mac rig, painted red with the bold white letters spelling 'GEN' on the side. He glanced across the heavy mahogany center piece at his partner for this particular journey. Granville was not entirely a small man. He was short, barely 5"5, with a clean shaven face and strikingly fiery red hair, covered by a blue baseball cap. He was sitting in the passenger's chair, his feet up on the dash in front of him, sipping a can of coke and reading a sports magazine. He spared only a glance at Otter as he gently released the trailer brake on the dash and pressurized the air bags.
"She's heavy today!" Otter exclaimed, noticing the real grunt the rig gave as it slowly crawled into motion.
"You're not wrong there Otto." Granville replied, sipping from his can again, not even watching. "She's supposed to have a special delivery on board today." Otter turned to face Granville, occasionally glancing out the windshield in front of him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I heard Nancy talking on the phone yesterday. She said something about a top priority job today. Apparently were carrying something important, probably from the government." Otter stared, his brows furrowing as he thought. Nancy was the companies major secretary. She organized the jobs and the priorities they had and when and where they were going.
"What could the government possibly want moved that's this heavy? It has to be at least 45 ton!" Otter stated, noticing the bulge at the bottom of the 16 wheels on the trailer.
"Oh well Otto. It's none of our business and were getting paid top dollar to haul ass, so let's haul ass." Otter nodded in agreement and within minutes, they were out of the yard and down the heavy duty roads.
It was a relatively long journey, at least 15 hours driving. Otter yawned, realizing the trees and the reflectors on the road were beginning to blur. He glanced behind him at Granville whom had been sleeping for a good 6 hours now, and prodded him in the lower ribs.
"Idontwannagedupmama..." Granville moaned, rolling onto his side on the bunk positioned behind the cab. Otter frowned and poked him again, this time harder. Granville moaned loudly as he stirred, and woke slowly, sitting up.
"Your turn." Otter said simply and slowed and finally, stopped the truck on the side of the road, his hazard lights flickering against the nearby trees. It was a dark night tonight, a little cloud cover and no moon. Otter slipped into the passenger's seat and watched as the shorter Granville adjusted the drivers' seat to his size, and then began to inch the truck into momentum.
"She really is packing the weight." Otter mumbled, starring at the road ahead. Slowly it began to come at the truck, a little faster as they picked up speed.
"I noticed. Where are we, anyway?" Granville asked, yawning as he did so.
"Just out of Tekarakata." Otter replied. Granville nodded and took a long swig from the coffee thermostat they had brought.
"Be another 8 hours, I warrant. 2 before we reach the next town." Otter nodded his agreement with Granville's words and watched the road for a few more minutes, the momentum making him drowsy. His vision blurred again and his eyes drooped. He yawned this time at length and climbed into the still warm bunk and lay down to rest.
"Wake me when we get close." He stated, and drifted off to sleep.
Granville snickered to himself at Otter's arrogance but ignored it nonetheless and focused on the road. A moment passed and he took another swig of the thermostat. He switched the radio on quietly, but only static reached his ears. He knew that would happen though, having left range, a few hours ago. Instead he slipped a Bob Dylan cassette into the system and listened to his song, 'joker man'.
The 'GEN' Mac truck began to pick up speed fast now as they broke the crest of a hill and the weight pushed the truck forward fast. Granville knew, as any experienced truck driver knew, that it was dangerous if he didn't slow the trailer down, otherwise it could jackknife or worse, roll. He eased the trailer brake lever, just a little, slowing the momentum of the back and eased the pressure, slowing the rig back to the limit. He yawned, still finding it a little hard to wake and took another long swig of coffee, belching loudly to himself afterwards. He spared only a moments glance behind him to Otter, who was dead to the world, his body heavily fatigued, and sleeping it off.
His eyes returned to the road, and he dropped the thermostat as he cursed loudly, jamming the trailer brakes and the prime mover brakes on at the same time. A small herd of cattle were on the road, staring at him, dazed from the spot lights on the truck.
"GEEZUZ!" He roared loudly, realizing he had made a mistake. The trailer, being so heavy and at the speed the truck had been going at, kept pushing, the wheels locked, forcing the prime mover to buckle in on itself and it jackknifed harshly. He sound of heavy metal groaning was not a good sign.
"Holly shit!" Otter roared as he sat up with a fright. There was little either of them could do as they watched the trailer swing around besides them, then in front of them, the horrid stench and scream of rubber against the tar nauseating them both. It happened suddenly, a thundering 'CRACK' and the trailer tore itself, snapping the pin from the turntable and toppled, rolling ferociously across the road.
The cows screamed in the night, running. One of them was pushed down the road as the trailer imitated a baseball bat. Finally the trailer stopped, the Prime mover only feet away, steaming loudly from the tires and the heated engine. The unfortunate cow mowed loudly into the dark night, before standing up painfully slowly in the lights of the high beams and limped badly across the road to join its herd.
Granville and Otter were both physically unharmed. Both were shaken and severely upset at what had happened.
"Where the hell did they come from?!" Granville asked, trying and failing to hide the hysterics in his labored voice.
"What difference does it matter? Look at the trailer!" Otter replied, obviously distressed over the incident. Surely enough, the trailer was on its side, scattered lengthways across the road, creating a block. Both of the men jumped startled though as the trailer suddenly moved, shaking for an instant before settling.
"What the hell was that?!" Granville demanded, turning on Otter as if he had all the answers.
"I don't know... Something could have just fallen or shifted, unbalanced." He suggested, knowing damn well, nothing he mentioned could shake a trailer like that.
"Shit!" Granville cursed, watching as the trailer spasm again, this time a little longer.
"Now what?!" Otter exclaimed, not truly wanting to stick around to see what was in the trailer.
Granville and Otter both cautiously stepped out from the Rig and made their way towards the rolled trailer. Granville and Otter stood a few feet from the back doors, watching as the trailer shook again only for a moment before settling down again, motionless.
"Sounds like there is something in there... Something alive." Otter observed. Sure enough with each of the shakes, there was a shuffling sound, and occasionally, a sound like metal against metal.
"We should leave it... Go get help." Granville said, no longer able to hide the panic in his voice. Otter frowned and shook his head.
"We have to stay. This is our problem." Otter said. His voice was quiet, but it was firm, and final. Granville shook his head, but his feet remained planted in the gravel.
He almost cried as he watched Otter approach the trailer, just as it shook violently again, the shuffling a little louder, and this time, he could of sworn he'd heard a grunt. Otter swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly began to open the back doors. It was hard, as they were partially buckled from the roll. Finally though, his work paid off and the door eased open, squealing in protest them slamming against the side, wide open. Inside was dark.
"Too dark." Otter muttered, stepping back. He turned to Granville a frown on his face. Granville stood his ground, a good 15 feet away, watching the pure blackness behind Otter. Suddenly he gave a yelp, pointing his finger at the trailer. Otto whirled around as he heard a deep resonating snarl and turned to see a pair of bright red lights flicker on. He knew instantly that they were eyes, glaring straight at him. From their size alone, he knew the creature they belonged to was beyond huge.
That night was cold and dark and seemingly silent. It was partially covered in cloud and there was no moon. A scream echoed loudly off the hillside, being cut short suddenly though, as if the man's voice had suddenly been cut off. It was followed, at length, by a terrifying resonating howl, deep and booming, but all in its own, eerie.
There was a loud crack resonating on the still night air. It had sounded like a thunderclap. Cell's huge and unblinking eyes glanced up. The sky had a few clouds, but they were light and nothing even close to a storm. He was only in his larval form, and vulnerable, and anything that seemed to stand out, frightened him at the moment. He returned his gaze to the world around him. He was in a valley of sorts, shrubs everywhere, the grass long and covered in misty dew, soaking him as he crawled through them. His feet were short and stumpy and his body was large and bulky, making progress slow and tiring. He hadn't gone far, his body strange in the night air. He was a giant insect, easily the size of a small horse. He had been under the ground now, in a deep burrow for four years, exacting energy from the Earth's resources.
Tonight, he had awoken suddenly and without reasoning, his body primed for his evolution. He had spent the last two hours digging his way back to the surface, and now, he was scrambling through the underbrush for somewhere safe, away from interference.
He stopped again, his head cocked to one side, frozen as a howl screamed across the night air. It sent a chill down his spine instantly and his memory and knowledge banks scrambled, unable to find the creature responsible for the eerie howl. Slowly he resumed moving again, becoming more silent, as he trod, trying to hurry along, away from the brush into a thicker cover so he could evolve without disturbance. It was harder then he thought, being startled by a bird here, or being followed by a curious wolf or fox for a while, unable to determine what this strange insect like creature was doing here.
Finally though he slumped, exhausted from his trek, at the base of a huge oak tree, the shrubs around providing ample cover to prevent him from being seen. He knew he would be vulnerable for the next few moments, as his body converted all his stored energy into a physical being beneath his shelled body. His body seemed to suddenly buckle and he fell to the ground, motionless. His back trembled as something beneath his skin pressed against the hardened surface, trying to break free. It paused for a moment before his spine literately un-zipped itself. There was a bright flickering light that pierced the night sky from Cell's opened shelled back, a strange bright blue light.
Slowly his shell opened further, groaning as it did so, the light forming a figure of a two legged creature with shelled wings and a triceratops like head with a leathery beak. Slowly the light that enveloped the new figure faded, revealing his new leaf green leathery skin with the dark spotted armor on the majority of his body. His eyes were illuminating in the failing light, bright pink with black slit pupils, darting around. His leathery beak inched slowly up at the corners, before his back arched and leaned back stretching, his mouth parting to reveal his four needle-like-fangs glinting in their innocence at never being used.
"Ahhhh..." Cell's new voice was rasped and deep, loudly sighing in pleasure at a successful evolution. His muscles tingled with anticipation and he felt incredible. His body surged with energy and power and his leathery skin was new and shone with health. He glanced behind him at his two mottled shelled wings and at his long tail, giving it a quick flick, causing it to whip around, crashing into a tree, and knocking it clean over. He smirked, eyeing off his long thin and powerful syringe tip. As he stared at it, knowing what it was for, he felt the gurgling rumble of his stomach, signifying his need to feed.
Cracking his neck and stretching his muscles again quickly, he turned to the forest, cantering towards it, sparing only a moment's glance behind him at the shell of his former self.
He was finally free...
Alyx sighed heavily as she locked the doors to her office as she did everyday. She was fatigued and depressed from the full days' work she had finally completed. She shifted the weight from her shoulder bag, smoothed out her dark gray business skirt and white shirt before she made her way towards the elevator opposite her, through the maze of offices and work stations. The office building she worked in was at the heart of Ginko City somewhere on the East Coast of the Spice District.
The elevator hummed as it began its all too familiar descent to the ground floor, 18 floors below. She sighed and closed her eyes, slumping against the back of the elevator, wishing to go she was at home so she could crawl into bed. She hated days like these. She was too exhausted to do anything else but sleep, only to wake up and repeat the process all over again. She didn't feel this was how her life should be, and she wished she was anywhere else.
But she wasn't.
Her eyes opened as the elevator slowed then stopped, its heavy jarrah doors opening to the main foyer, huge and extravagant with its marble pillars and mahogany furniture and red oak reception. She trudged through it all, sparing little notice, her years of working in the building numbing the awe inspiring affects of the majesty of it all.
The streets outside were damp from an afternoon rain and the night air was chilled and cold. It was late, she knew, close to ten as she had been working tryingly on a particular case that needed immediate attention. She sighed again as she began her twenty minute walk to her apartment a good 7 blocks away. She hugged her cotton jacket to her, making a personal note to bring her thicker suede jacket tomorrow.
She stopped suddenly, the fine hairs rising briskly on the back of her neck. Her senses suddenly alert, she darted her head around, trying to find the unknown reason as to why she was suddenly panicked. Nothing greeted her initially, and there was nobody around watching her, that she could see. But something had caught her attention, frightening some primitive instinct into alerting her. She paused only a moment longer, sparing one last sweep around her surroundings of the city streets, before she finally turned away and began her walk home, a little faster now.
Again she stopped, this time to a sound. A snort.
'It was just the wind' she reasoned with herself, pulling her jacket tighter around her shoulders. She stared around again, the streets, seemingly abandoned. She could see a couple walking further up the street, a few cars silent parked in the street. Almost everything was closed and there weren't many people around. She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat before she broke off again down the road. She froze, feeling the warm flush of air against her back. The snort again, deeper, and closer, and she knew, it wasn't the wind.
She turned slowly around, her vision, suddenly eclipsed by a massive pupil, surfacing on a pool of silver, it stared, the massive eye the size of a saucer narrowing as she stared in sudden terror at the beast the eye belonged to. The eye itself was dark indigo with violet and lavender specks in it and it was focused on her.
Alyx's mouth gaped in horror and she subconsciously stepped back away from the eye, if only to try to grasp more detail of what the eye belonged too. However the eye seemed to widen as she stepped away, almost in fear, and with a blur of black and purple the eye was high in the air, the creature on two massive black hunched furred legs. In that instant, all Alyx saw was the claws. Massive 12 inch onyx claws on 5 toes hooked like talons, digging into the pavement.
It happened suddenly, Alyx screamed as the two massive talon hands found the sides of her head and hoisted her into the air. Her scream was suddenly silenced as two massive talons pierced her temples, diving in further. Her body was suddenly numb and her mind was blank, but she still registered what she saw. Blurs of color, the two indigo eyes glaring at her, the massive snout, the rancid sour smell of rotting flesh, she remembered them, if only for an instant. She seemed oblivious to the fact the tips of two of the creatures claws were inside her head. All she saw was this massive creature, glaring at her, the eyes focused... concentrating.
Alyx suddenly remembered talking to her boss. Conversations suddenly flooded her mind, all these conversations she'd had through out her life. Hundreds of words, none with substance, unable to hear what was being said, yet she was there, talking, hundreds of Alyx's talking and chatting away with emotion to all these different people. All she knew was talking.
Suddenly her mind stopped, numbing again and the creature seemed to look away for a moment, its eyes clenched in agony before they re-opened, focused and full of that intensity that chilled her. Its eyes returned to hers, and the two claws seemed to slowly slip from her skull. The pain was immense, suddenly filling her as she was dropped, crumpling in a heap on the ground. The agony was intense for a few moments, her skull riveting with this maddening pain. She screamed, her hands clutching the sides of her head where the two holes were, spurting blood madly.
Slowly the endorphins kicked in, paralyzing her seemingly, and making her eyes droop. Her face was screwed up in agony, her body in the fetal position as she lay in the streets. The creature stared down at her for a moment, seeming to loom up so high, with the buildings itself.
Slowly a distant echoing voice seemed to echo in her agonizing mind, dull and she couldn't focus on it. It was her voice though, that she heard. Her voice and her Northern accent she heard in her mind. But it wasn't her that spoke.
"My name is Saida." The creature had whispered in her mind. "Goodbye." Alyx didn't have the energy to move as she watched the massive beast's 12 inch clawed hand raise into the air. It's talon still fresh with her blood. The last thing that Alyx Retrain of Ginko City ever saw was the 5, 12 inch long talons as they severed her head, putting her out of her suffering life.
A/N: A little gruesome tale I thought I'd share with everyone. Review and tell me what you think of it. It's not for those who can't handle blood or violence, or language, or sex so please don't tell me you don't like it. But don't get me wrong, it has substance and if you are interested, it has a good plot. It took me a while to think of it and I hope you can appreciate it.
Ryau (pronounced Raw)