Fictional Reality: Side-Story
The Eyes of a Beast
Chapter One – Not Human
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The rain finally began to let up as the sun began to peer through the grey clouds. The land was moist and dampened by the many rainfalls on the farms in Kansas. It was the late afternoon, around four o'clock, as Annie whistled quietly after finishing up some regular farm work and cleaning out the barn. She closed the barn door and turned to head back to the house. She brushed her hands on her pants before glancing off into the peripherals of her vision, off to the left, in the driveway. A feeble-looking being stumbled as he was heading towards her house, holding his chest with one arm while the other swung limply about. It looked like a man, with a torn up t-shirt, baggy cargo pants and walked heavily with bare feet through the thick mud. He had shoulder-length, shaggy black hair and looked very muscular, very strong. Annie stayed frozen in place as she watched the man. His legs both looked broken, but he was still walking.
How is that possible? How is he walking if his legs look so… messed up…?
She thought as she hesitantly took a step forward. The man grunted and groaned as he fell to his knees only a few feet from the front steps. He tried to crawl, but failed to continue moving and fell forward into the mud, passing out. She gasped, assuming the worst. She rushed over to see if the man was alright. She crouched down next to him, gently brushing the hair from his face; the man was clearly exhausted, probably from travelling. His cheeks were flushed of color and he was breathing ragged and heavy. Annie assumed immediately that he must've been travelling for a very long time, considering the nearest town, Hill City, was at least ten miles from her farm and had hopefully survived the worst of what was happening around the world currently. Little did she know that the man was not a man, but a beast; a Saiyan. She only heard about them on the radio and had seen a little of them on the television, but had never seen one in real life, so she didn't truly know what to expect. That was when she had just noticed the tail, long and coated his dark brown fur and mud.
Yep, he's definitely one of those Saiyans that the news kept talking about…
She thought to herself. She then glanced at his legs, noticing his pant legs bending backwards awkwardly, as if he had animal legs. She moved down to his legs and gently pulled one of the pant legs up to see if his legs were okay, gasping at the sight. They were shaped exactly like animal legs; beastly legs. It was a Saiyan; it was a Marapee, but she, again, didn't know that, though.
She stood abruptly, taking a step back. She hesitated on what to do.
Oh, Lord, what do I do? This man needs help, but… he… he's not… human…
She was loyal to God and wanting to be accepting of everyone who happens to live or fall upon Planet Earth, but this was a hard decision. She could either leave the man to die outside her house, or she could save him by bringing him inside and getting him shelter, food, water…
What should I do, God?
Annie contemplated a moment before deciding she'd be good. Even if he was different, alien… not human, that didn't change anything. She wanted to help this poor, starved-looking man. She rushed back over and grabbed him by his arms and used all of her strength from farming and pulled his limp body up the three steps and to the door. She opened the front door and dragged his mud-covered body inside, not caring about getting mud all over her floor and walls.
She propped him up against the couch in the living room and ran to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He breathed heavily as he struggled to come to. She came back around and knelt down next to him. She gently tilted his head back, stroking his cheek and lightly patting it, trying to get to come to. The water trickled down his throat; he choked and coughed, so she pulled back and stayed motionless for a moment as his eyes began to slowly open again.
"Hey… are you okay, there?"
She kept her voice quiet and soft. It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust before they drifted in her direction.
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"Hey, are you okay? Do you need anything? Food, more water…?"
She kept her voice as calm as possible even though she was more nervous than ever. She'd never had a stranger in her home before. The only ones to ever be in her home were her parents and sister before they all passed away and her one friend Melissa; she tragically passed away as well, though. She's lived alone and always has since.
The man's eyes locked on hers and shot wide open. She froze as she couldn't help, but stare. His eyes looked terrifying, but amazing at the same time. They were cat-like; flaming yellowish-gold with hints of grey around the outside. He didn't do anything, but stare for about a solid minute, until finally he began to slowly lift his hand towards her. She swallowed nervously and stood up, quickly backing away to the wall. He froze and then his brow frowned and he growled, realizing at that moment that she wasn't imaginary. He crawled on all fours towards her, snarling, thrashing his tail about, as she backed towards the kitchen and quickly turned to grab the nearest object on the counter. He snarled louder and moved quicker, moving to attack her. She swung her arm around and struck him across the face with a frying pan. He yelped like a dog from the harsh lash to his face and curled up in a crouched position, glaring at her, and caressing the side of his face that was struck. He wrapped his tail around himself protectively and hissed at her through his teeth.
"No! Bad! Bad man! I tried helping you and this is how you repay me?! You beast…!"
He slowly stood, still hunched over slightly, to his two legs, growling at her and showing off his sharp, vampire-like fangs. He then quickly turned and ran into the living room again, away from her. She assumed that he didn't realize where to leave to get out of the house and just went and hid in the living room. She sighed in relief that nothing too serious happened. After a minute of thinking to herself, she decided to walk around the corner to see where he went. When she looked around, the first thing she saw was those glowing golden-yellow eyes, in the corner of the living, furthest from her. She could hear his growls getting louder as she took two, small steps forward. She stopped and began to back away. He stopped growling and just watched her carefully, weary of her actions. He was still hungry, but something stopped him from attacking her immediately. Maybe it was her gentle features or her crystal blue eyes staring straight into his. It unsettled him.
Annie smiled slightly and turned back to the kitchen. He tilted his head in confusion, slowly crawling out of the corner, wondering what she was doing. He flinched when he heard the dishes click around in the kitchen and then heard beeps to some kind of machine. About a minute later his nose picked up the sweet scent of meat. His eyes widened and his mouth watered as he peered around the corner to see. Annie pulled the left-over steak she had in the fridge out of the microwave and set it on the counter next to her. She grabbed a glass of milk and then went to grab the plate that she'd set down on the counter literally a minute ago but was now gone.
"What the…? Wh-Where did…?"
She glanced to the other side and then turned around to see the man sitting on the floor with his back to her; devouring the steak she just finished reheating.
"Oh…"
She stared dumbfounded, not knowing what to think or really say. She giggled quietly and then spoke to him as he finished, licking his dirty fingers off,
"You couldn't wait one more minute for me to bring that to you?"
He spun around and growled, baring his teeth at her; barbeque sauce smeared over his lips and teeth. She smiled and held out the glass of milk to him. He stared at it and then up at her, confused almost. He was like a dog, and she was trying to show him how to do the most basic humanly things.
Is this actually a Saiyan? I thought that they were supposed to be really, really smart…
She thought, not knowing about the Marapees being an existing thing, before she spoke calmly again,
"Here… Take it…"
She paused and then thought that maybe a demonstration would help.
"You drink it. Here, watch…"
She said as she brought the glass to her mouth, taking a small sip and clearly swallowing it. She held it out to him again, and this time, he hesitantly reached out and took it. He reached a finger in a flinched at the coldness, but still tasted it. He quickly drank it all down. She giggled as he finished and then set the glass down horizontally on the floor. She stepped forward and crouched down, picking the glass up, setting it upright, and then just picking it up and taking to the sink. He watched her actions and movements, curious as to why she was showing him all these things, feeding and helping him. He was a Marapee and even he knew that this was out of the norm. No one had ever offered to help him, teach him, or… anything really. His eyes focused on the back of her head as she stood at the counter doing the dishes; he then slowly stood to his strong, yet weary legs from the floor. His head practically touched the ceiling when he stood up completely straight, and the ceiling was eight feet from the ground. His height gave him a fear advantage among prey; it gave the illusion that he was more intimidating to more powerful prey. Humans weren't powerful, though, so he never had a reason to try and appear intimidating, but with this woman, he almost felt powerless for some, strange reason that his weak mind couldn't comprehend.
Taking heavy steps towards her, she sensed him moving closer to her. She went to grab the frying pan again, but was stopped by him stopping right behind her, grabbing her arm before she could react further. She was immediately frightened not only by the power radiating from his body and the strength she could feel being held back from crushing her arm, but she'd just noticed he had incredibly sharp-looking claws for fingernails. She swallowed nervously and hesitated to turn around. When she slowly turned to look at him, he quickly spun her completely around to face him dead on. They stared for the briefest of seconds when suddenly, his tongue came into contact with her cheek and he ran up the length of the right side of her face with it. She flinched, but stayed frozen in place. He let her go and ran back to the living room. She just stayed frozen.
"What on Earth just happened?"
Maybe that was his way of thanking me.
She couldn't help, but smile, wiping the saliva from her cheek. It made her blush.
Oh, forgive me, Lord… This feels strange… Why do I feel so warm all of a sudden?
