Oh jeez, I am accidentally delving into a fandom I have been in love with forever, just now making my own fiction about it. Comments are encouraged, especially with this fiction. Though a fan of the movies and comics, I am new to terminology and am trying to the best of my ability. Please, be gentle with me, haha. This fiction actually came about from my writer's block with my other story, so comments are my only source to encourage me to write more of it on my own, for now it is just a writer's block motivator. I would be interested in writing more, but are you interested in reading more?
"My life… Isn't what I want it to be." Eris thought to herself, staring at the sky as the clouds began to build up. It would rain soon and she knew she would have to find some shelter at some point. Letting out a heavy breath she let her mind wonder.
It had been months since she had a roof over her head, ever since she got kicked out of her ex-boyfriend's apartment due to physical altercations. He didn't start off as a bad guy, but over the course of time and stressful situations, his true colors began to shine through.
It was a romantic story to say the least, one that she would never have thought would happen to her. Being around 20 when she met Nolan at a local book and coffeeshop, their chance in meeting was based on pure fate: a blizzard. She had gone there earlier in the day to pick up a brand-new book that she had been waiting all summer for its release. After pushback and pushback, it finally had a solid release date that would came out in the middle of November. Though news weather warnings suggested that she stay indoors, Eris knew she had to have that book and would not wait any longer.
Deciding to brave the storm before it got too bad, she made her way to pick up the book. As she entered the building, she made a B-line to the science fiction section before immediately finding what she was looking for. Right on the 'new book display', she grabbed the book and looked it over in awe. Smiling at its cover while tracing her hand over its hard surface, she couldn't wait to open it up and start reading it.
Bringing it to the counter to ring out, she noticed the clerk talking with other employees with worried eyes. When they caught her own gaze, they informed her that they would not be opening the doors because of how bad the weather had gotten. They were on lockdown. Looking outside, the sheet of snow blaring outside would secure her in. At least she had her own book that could occupy her time until the storm died down.
Sitting on a chair by the fireplace, Eris got comfortable before opening the book she had been waiting for; she had no idea how long it would be so she might as well enjoy herself. As the employees continued their work around her, she figured that she was the only customer in the store.
Continuing further passed chapter one, Eris was about to start the second chapter when the lights began to flicker. Looking up at the ceiling above, she watched until the power refused to kick back on. Taking in a deep breath, she focused her eyes back on her book, but the firelight wasn't enough for her to read without enduring a headache, and this was no time to get a migraine.
Like animals at a watering hole, everyone including the employees in the store, had gravitated to the fireplace. There weren't many people there, maybe 5 or 6, but they all seemed to be employees except for the man who approached her left. Looking at him, she noticed that he had the same book in his hand.
Striking up a conversation, they began to talk about their interest in sci-fi which led to other commonalities until what seemed like minutes past when the power came back on. Checking her watch, they had been stuck in the blizzard without power for a couple of hours, but because of Nolan it went by extremely too fast.
When the lights kicked back on, she could study his features even more. Looking at his strong jawline and every other masculine feature she could see that wasn't covered in clothes, she couldn't believe someone so good looking was talking to her. She wasn't ugly by any means, but with a unique sense of humor, she was known as the weird girl and apparently when you're weird, you're a stigma.
From there, they exchanged numbers and it wasn't long until they found themselves going on date after date before hitting it off and deciding to move in together after months of pure bliss. After years of dating, everything seemed like it was going great and everything falling into place. She could see herself marrying him and having a wonderful life together. He was supportive in every way which meant the world to her. And then she lost her job.
It seemed like just a bump in the road and Nolan didn't mind picking up the extra slack financially. It went on for a month as Eris tried to find a job when she noticed his patience growing thin. He would make backhanded comments to her about being lazy, not knowing that she was seriously avidly trying to find work. After the second month he seemed to become very controlling. "My money my rules" was a phrase he began to say, belittling her at every chance.
From there, it progressively got worse until the day he physically put hands on her. Fighting back, the moment she had a chance she left the apartment. She never thought that she'd be one of those girls in an abusive relationship. But since she was, she knew that she would never be that girl who stayed in one. If he hit her once, he ruined any chance of ever mending that relationship and solidifying their forever fate of being broken up.
After leaving the apartment with whatever clothes she had on her body, she knew she had nowhere to go. Her parents were both deceased from a car crash many years back, she had no siblings, and she had just moved to Alaska when she had met Nolan so she really didn't have any friends and all of her savings was used for renting the apartment and her couple months of being jobless. After the first month, she tried to stay sufficient and not ask him for things, using her own savings to pay her part.
Everyone else she could possibly know that might be able to help her were from work, but they were only acquaintances who she hadn't talked to since she lost her job. They weren't even an option to talk to.
She couldn't understand how she had not seen that side of him before. Years of what seemed like perfection was thrown out the window and she couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing. If she had never lost her job, would everything still be wonderful? Or, was this a blessing in disguise of who she would have married if things went south later on?
That was a question she thought about less and less each day. Feeling the rain begin to trickle on her face, she closed her eyes and welcomed it. She was happy that the winter months had passed and it was summer, and this one was hot. She still had plans on finding a job, but that dream seemed to move further and further away.
"Hey Pike, gonna try to getta room tonight?" A voice called from above her. Looking up, she noticed that it was good ole Jimmy looking down at her, smiling with his mostly toothless smile.
Pike was a name she gave herself while she was on the street. She didn't want anyone to know her real one since this wasn't the real Eris. When choosing, she knew she had to pick something unique and Pike seemed to be fitting since the next time a man decided to put his hands on her, she'd cut off his head and place it on a pike displayed for all to see. After Nolan, she wasn't going to allow any sort of abuse to come to her again.
"Nah, it's been pretty hot outside that there is no need to take up a room." Eris sat up and crossed her legs as Jimmy backed up and sat down next to her.
"Yeah, only a competition when ya in the winter months." She learned to never sit too close to Jimmy, always getting sprayed by his saliva in the past. He was a kind soul, one of the first people she had ever talked to while being homeless.
"That's true, and I only needed to compete during the tail end of winter. No telling what this winter will bring if I don't get a job." She frowned at the fact of being homeless for that long. She wanted to work, but with her lack of clothes and place to live and shower, a lot of places wouldn't give her the time of day.
"That's why ya wait for ya dividend." A dividend was an allowance of many everyone in the state of Alaska was allotted if they had lived there for at least two years. They usually were in the amount of a thousand dollars that she definitely planned on saving. The dividends used to be a lot more, but since it was capped she'd only get a grand. But hey, a free grand was a free grand, she wasn't complaining like she used to when she had a home and place to live. Taking it for granted one year, definitely not taking it for granted this year.
"That's true. I'll have to go to the bank soon to see if I can get issued a card or something. That's cash I don't want to be carrying around out here."
"Well where're they gonna send it? That tree ova there?" Jimmy pointed to the tree behind her with his crooked hand as he began to laugh at his own joke. "And whatsa difference between losin' cash and losin' a card? Both'll get you fucked either way."
Eris couldn't help but laugh, too. Jimmy may have been out of the game of life for a while, but he was still oh so smooth of a talker, and he made a point. "Yeah, well at least I can keep a certain amount in my checking to prohibit from too much of a small shopping spree one might endure."
"That'll do it." He gave a brisk nod as he began to stand up, casting a shadow over the sitting Eris.
"You heading to South tonight?" Eris stood as well, knowing that the rain was about to pick up and soak her. The light drizzle going on was nice and not enough to dampen her clothes too much, but the clouds in the distance promised that the drizzle would soon escalate into a downpour.
"Nah, I'mma go to Cedar's and see if I can't gather some funds ova there." He turned his back to her as he looked into the sky and predicted the same thing that Eris had thought about.
"Alright, well good luck Jimmy! I hope you get a good amount." She smiled her full smile at his back as he continued to walk on.
"You as well, Pike. Stay dry!" He was sincere as he brought his hand up and waved while he continued to walk away.
And there she was again, alone in the hot summer rain.
Setting her sights on the direction South was in, she began to walk towards the street until her feet finally hit the pavement of the sidewalk. Hearing the subtle splashes her feet made each time they hit a puddle, Eris began to shutter when she felt a small amount of water begin to make its way in her shoes. She looked down at her beaten up black shoes, a frown forming on her face. The shoes she had on had held up for so long, but with the weather changes, she knew they wouldn't make it to winter. When she got her dividend, she would have to go buy a pair of new shows.
Looking up ahead, she continued to watch the clouds, noticing that there were definite dark spots heading towards her. Heavy rain indeed. Looking back at her feet, she knew her shoes would never be able to withstand whatever puddle those clouds would create, so she made the executive decision to make her way down an alley to hid between the buildings until whatever was to pour down would pass. As she crept her way behind a couple of buildings, she let her body slump down under a balcony; at least that would cover her a little bit from above while the building to her side shielded her from sideways rain.
Being alone wasn't always fun, but they definitely had their perks. As she sat on the wet, cold ground beneath her, she looked into the amazing sky above. Though it was raining and the heavy clouds had caught up to her, it wasn't dark outside. The sun was able to shine through certain parts of the clouds, making the weather the biggest oxymoron at the moment; sunny but raining. Either way, it was beautiful.
A half hour went by before the rain started to really pour down, even the somewhat shelter she had found was starting to prove useless in the rain. Picking herself back up, Eris began to walk back into the rain to see if she could find somewhere else to take cover. Continuing down the alley and making a few turns, the rain pouring down made it hard for her to see, the light from the sun had succumbed to the clouds, providing no light for her to make her way.
About to give up and just sit down and wait it out instead of risking injury, Eris was about to stop until she heard a scream coming from what seemed like mere feet in front of her. Stopping in her tracks, she began to squint her eyes to see if she could see something. Looking closer into the rain, she was caught off guard by a bright red jacket flying towards her. Taking a quick step to the side, she managed to dodge the object.
Approaching the bright red jacket in the rain proved a more difficult task than she could have imagined. Leaning over it, she let her hand extend out of her wet jacket to touch it, shocked when she noticed that a person occupied the jacket. It didn't make sense to her; a person being thrown who knew how far towards her and landing this far away from where she was standing.
Bringing her face closer to the person to see if they were okay, she froze when she came to the upper half of the body. There was no head attached. Panic began to build in her throat as she whipped her head around to see if whoever did this was about to close in on her and repeat the process. As soon as her gaze turned to look behind her, the rain seemed to have stopped hitting her. It was as if she turned and was looking right at a wall. Peering her eyes upwards, she noticed a giant being standing over her.
Frozen.
She could feel her eyes grow wide as she began to back slowly away from the beast, feeling the rain hit her face once more as the figure disappeared in the sheet of rain between the two. It was then she saw a red glare begin to bounce off of the raindrops. Letting her eyes guide her to where the red lights were going, she noticed three little dots form on her chest. The moment her eyes left the dots, she scurried to her feet and began to run. Within an instant of her getting up, she heard a loud blast echo behind her, only imagining that that would be her if she were to have stayed.
Sprinting left and right through the alleyways, Eris couldn't calculate where she was trying to go, but anywhere away from that killer was the best. Taking a moment to look behind her to see if it was following, she hit smack dab into an object in front of her. Catching herself before fully hitting the ground, she looked up to see what she had run into. It was the killer.
"Get away from me!" She began to scream while getting herself back up before taking off towards the opposite direction of where she was initially going, finding her way back into the alley. As she made the twists and turns, she was caught off guard once more as she felt something slip over her face, tightening up until she felt her feet lift off of the ground.
Bringing her hands onto the wire holding her up, she felt herself losing air as the wire began to cut deeper in her skin from the weight of her body dangling beneath it. When her feet felt ground once more, she tried to get whatever was on her face off but couldn't. As her body began to shut down from the lack of air, she began to thrash on whatever she was lifted onto. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the creature coming towards her.
It stopped at her struggling body, gently kneeling down and shielding her from the rain once more. With blurry vision, she had no idea what it even was and she had a feeling that if the wire continued in its placement on her that she never would know what had killed her.
Gurgles began to escape Eris' throat as she felt her final moments encroaching onto her. It was then she saw the creature bring its hand to her face, stroking it gently with her having no energy to protest. Bringing its hand to the top of her face where the wire was snug, she involuntarily took in a deep breath as she felt the wire loosen and fall off of her face. Coughs and gasps filled the air, as she struggled to get onto her hands and knees, watching the blood from the cut under her jaw cover the ground beneath her face. Feeling a hand lift up and around her stomach, she watched as the ground began to drift further from her reach. Continuing to look down, Eris froze again as she felt the creature holding her begin to run, watching the solid ground beneath her turn into even further ground below. It was then she realized that whatever was holding her was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, holding her effortlessly in its grasp.
Eris tried to keep her head still as the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain began to radiate throughout her whole head. With each jump, she let out a scream of pain at each landing. It seemed like hours of this until she noticed that the ground beneath her was solid metal and instead of the rain falling on her, she heard it hitting the metal roof above. With a drenched and pain filled head, she lifted it the best she could to look at her surroundings. She had no idea where she was.
Red lights were illuminating the metal cage she was in as she heard the door behind her air seal shut with a 'Pshhhhh' sound. When the noise from the door stopped, she felt herself freefall back onto the floor; another painful scream echoed within the walls of whatever she was in. Her face felt like it was on fire. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she brought her hands to her neck where the wire had cut. She could practically smell the blood escaping her face.
She remained on the floor, clutching her face while wondering what the hell was going on. She hadn't even come close to feeling this pain since she left Nolan after he had hit her in the face. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to remember her oath to never let something harm her again. Anyone who dared to harm her she would kill, but whatever this was wasn't the 'anyone' she pictured. Opening her eyes to full focus, she looked around the best she could without moving her head, noticing four black-taloned toes right in front of her.
Bringing her eyes up to study what was in front of her, she noticed metal shin guards with various scratches deep within the material. From there she found a metal plate framing the kneecap with straps that connected behind it, leading up to a bare thigh with what looked like loose fishnet pressed against the skin. Trying to lift her eyes any further caused her pain, but whatever this leg belonged to wasn't something she was excited about seeing.
Feeling a warm hand on the back of her neck, she winced at the pain as she felt her body lift up to come face to face with the creature that the leg belonged to, and she was correct in not looking forward to seeing it. When she brought her eyes to the creature's face, she found herself looking at a mask. It looked like a metallic combination between a sleek motorcycle helmet and a ski mask someone would wear to rob a house. Connecting her eyes to where she assumed their eyes were, she tried her best to stare daggers into them without fright coming off of her. She was certain this is where she was going to die, so she would stay true to herself and not die a frightened coward; no bully would ever take over her again.
The being began to bring its other hand up, lifting up her face to examine the wound, ignoring the gasps of pain. Tilting its head before bringing their hand to a case hanging from its leg, they began to open it up, taking a needle filled with green inside of the syringe. Letting a little bit of the liquid fall out of the needle, Eris began to struggle in its grasp at the sight. Turning their face back to her, they plunged the needle in the wound, ignoring her protests.
Another scream echoed throughout the metal walls as she was once again dropped to the ground. Bringing her hands up, Eris noticed that she couldn't feel the wound anymore, even though she was still subtly bleeding from it. With confused eyes, she brought her sights back to him. "What the hell did you do?!" She was grateful for the pain to be gone, but he was the one who had caused this wound in the first place so a 'thank you' was definitely out of the question. Without the pain crippling her any further, Eris mustered up all of her courage to stand before the giant humanoid.
Monstrous. That was the only word that could come to her thoughts as she found herself crooking her neck upward to look at the tall being standing above her. It's chest heaving up and down as she began to feel the heat coming off of its body which she was feet away from. Trailing her eyes down to study it more, her eyes grew wide as she noticed the rippling muscle and tone its body had. Whatever it was, there was no way she was going to damage it, not the way she was now. It was then her eyes caught its lower half and from then on, she definitely found whatever this was to be a male. Quickly darting her eyes back up to his, she flinched when the creature began to make a sound that almost mimicked laughter.
"What are you?" Eris forced herself to speak once the creature finally stopped making the laughing noise. She didn't even know if it understood her, but she didn't know what else to do. It was like meeting someone who didn't speak the same language as you, you just talk louder and slower because you think that that helps when it frankly does not.
A few more huffs came from the creature followed by muffled echoes. Tilting her head to the side, she clearly didn't know what it meant.
Her eyes darted to his hands when they began to move to his face. Taking a step back and mentally preparing herself with whatever was about to happen, she watched while he began to pull out cords from the mask he was wearing. When the puffs of air filtered out of the mask, a mechanical noise filled the silent room, bouncing off of the walls and echoing in her ears. While he steadied the front of the mask in on of his gigantic hands, the other guided it off slowly before exposing its face.
Eris' face dropped. She had no idea what she was looking at and she could feel her entire body collapse, bringing her to sitting on her butt while her legs scooped around her backside, knees facing forward. She didn't believe what she was seeing.
The first thing that she noticed were its amber eyes staring right into her soul. With sunken in sockets, the darkness around them only seemed to brighten its eyes even more. When she was finally able to look away from its eyes, she noticed that its mouth was definitely not human. Four giant tusks, one attached to each upper and lower mandible protruding out of its face and in front of its other teeth; six that she could see, two on top and four below encased by the mandibles. Next, she trailed up to its forehead, which extended way beyond that of a human, with mottled skin mixing between light golds and browns with random markings that she didn't know if they were scars or normal textures. On the side of its face she noticed black cords coming down from it with golden rings in select ones, framing its foreign head. Following the black tresses, she noticed small needle like hairs coming out of the cheeks of its face. Whatever she was looking at was scariest thing she had ever seen.
Placing her face in her hands, Eris began to shake her head back and forth. What situation was she even in? She normally had a plan for different scenarios, but this was definitely something she never anticipated making a plan for. When Crazy Suzy talked about aliens on the streets, she would huff at her and walk away; alien scenarios weren't real scenarios to worry about and now here she was in an alien scenario with no plan. She never thought in her life that she should have taken advice from Crazy Suzy.
Spreading her finger apart, she slowly lifted her head once more and looked at the creature between her digits. "I really don't know what's going on right now and an explanation would be pretty cool." She spoke to him, as if he understood her. The only way to describe what she was feeling was disbelief. All of the fear escaped her body once she saw his face, she had turned into a ghost and now she was only feeling the one emotion. She was confused.
"Ooman," Eris' eyes were once again shot wide open when the creature began to talk. She could hear its guttural noise as she felt she almost heard him say 'human'. "M-di h'dlak." She heard his chuckle once more as she couldn't even begin to imagine what he had just said, plus with the clicks he added in his speech she was just as lost as ever, stunned by its ability to even speak any sort of language with that mouth.
Her astonishment was short lived when she felt her nose begin to twitch. Following that, her eyes began to squint as if she had just eaten something really sour. That smell. Whatever it was, was truly unbearable. It was something she had never even remotely smelled before. Looking up at him, her mouth regrettably gaped open, followed by her hands quickly covering it, as she wondered why the hell he was just now starting to smell so bad. When the creature seemed to flash her, what appeared to be a smile, she slammed back into reality. She was still confused as all get-out, but this was real and now was her time to plan out what she was going to do next.
Looking in both directions, all she could see were metal walls that looped into the black unknown. The red lighting didn't help anything, only made everything more ominous than it needed to be. When she brought her sights back on him, she noticed his head cock to one side as his amber gaze still burned into her skin. She had no idea what he was thinking and wasn't too thrilled on the idea of finding out. Taking her hands from her mouth, she placed them on the ground before quickly getting up from her once crouched position and started to run.
A roar filled the walls behind her before making its way to ring in her ears as she ran, fading into the distance in front of her. As she felt her legs try to move even faster than what they were, she had no idea where she was going except for as far away from that thing as possible. Eyes more focused than they had ever been with her senses heightened due to the adrenaline flowing through her veins, Eris continued to run to try to find any way out of whatever she was in or at least a good hiding spot. When she saw the red light that illuminated the metal walls grow brighter, she felt her spirits lift thinking she was finding a way out. Then in one second, her spirits crumbled back down. Out of breath and out of hope, she placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath as she looked at the creature standing right where she had left him.
"A fucking circle?!" She managed to speak through tired lungs, the creature giving another chuckle as it began to walk towards her. "I ran in a fucking circle." She said quietly to herself this time in disbelief. As he approached her, she felt her body naturally reject him coming any closer as she turned around to run again, this time more so for a hiding spot. When her back was towards him and ten steps later, she found herself moving her legs but no progress was being made. Looking over her shoulder and up as the creature who was holding onto the back of her shirt, Eris let out a defeated sigh as she now tried to aimlessly struggle in its powerful grasp.
"Just let me go and I won't tell anyone about your circle!" Eris always found her sarcasm come out whenever she was in a stressful situation. Even growing up when her family had family meetings, she found herself laughing during awkward silences. It didn't mean she found the situation funny, but her body didn't know how to react any other way. After her parents died, awkward laughter was replaced with sarcastic remarks, and this situation was no different.
The creature easily carried Eris even though she was struggling. Walking down the dim hallway, he seemed to be in no hurry as he let his free hand trail along the side of the metal wall. Once his hand hit what looked like an outlet on the wall, a piece of the metal flew upward, revealing a room compacted with other women.
As Eris was carried through the door and into the room filled with women, her struggles stopped. "What the…" she tried to wrap her mind around what she was seeing, but nothing made sense. As she looked at the women through terrible lighting, it was apparent that they were all in shock, looking at her with silent tears escaping their eyes and low cries from their mouths. She froze. What the hell was going on here? How long had they been in here? What even was 'here'? She hardly noticed when the creature opened up one of the many woman-filled cages and set her down in one.
When the metal gate closed behind her, she whipped around to look up at him with curious eyes. "What do you want from me?" her brows furrowed as her confusion had come right back. Fear, confusion, disbelief, scared, anxious, nervous, and any other synonyms of; Eris was lost.
"H'dlak." It spoke once more before turning its mottled back and heading out of the room, not before taunting some of the other girls by hissing and rattling their cages.
It responded to her, but did that mean that it knew what she was saying and replying in its own native tongue? She couldn't grasp it as she turned around and looked at her cell.
All four walls were bars, she was in about a ten-foot by ten-foot cage. The ground beneath her was smooth, didn't even appear to be a single scratch on it despite the two other women in her cell trying to find a weakness at the base of the bars that connected into the floor. Looking up, she saw that the bars also connected to the ceiling. Turning around and placing her hands onto the cold steel, she gave it a good tug before bringing her hands back to her sides, "Yep, I'm fucked."
Turning back around, she started to study the two women on their hands and knees on the floor, searching for some sort of miracle weakness to get out. Quickly scanning the room to the other cages, she noticed that she had the most active cell. The others were filled with three to four girls all huddled in the middle of their prison holding each other and crying. She didn't blame them, she wanted to curl up and cry too, but what she wanted even more so than that was to get the hell out of here.
"What's going on?" She walked towards the other two women, crouching down next to them. The first to look at her was a dirty blonde-haired woman with what seemed to be piercing blue eyes, even through the dim light they were creepily shining at her. Her face was freckled and her features smooth as can be. Eris' eyes moved to her big lips when she began to speak.
"Damn predators," She spat out while looking at Eris, making the connection that she was her new cellmate before turning her head back to the base of the bars, "I can't believe they fuckin' got me." Eris was as confused as ever.
"Why do you keep calling them predators?" The brighter blonde-haired girl began to speak, her dark eyes meeting the other girl.
"What the fuck else are we supposed to call them? We're clearly their prey so that would make them a predator." The twang in her voice alerted Eris that she wasn't from here; here being Alaska and not the metal box filled with aliens.
"I guess you're right." They both continued, moving from one bar to the next.
"How long have you been in here?" Eris asked, knowing that the two girls bypassed her question since they didn't know what was going on. The term predator seemed right, though, just like in the Walking Dead how the group of people that Rick Grimes was in called the zombies 'Walkers', it just seemed fitting.
"Me, I'd say 'bout a week." The southern girl spoke while stopping for a moment to sit down and take a break. The heat was incredible, they were all sweating just sitting there.
"Couple days." The other one spoke as she, too, sat down.
"30 Seconds," Eris remarked as she also sat right next to them. "Why aren't you guys like them?" She let her head fling to the side motioning at the other girls who paid them no attention.
"Cryin' ain't gonna get me outta here." Blue Eyes spoke as Eris felt her orbs on her. "Why aren't you cryin'?"
"I feel confused more than any other emotion right now. I'll probably be crying later, but right now I am in complete shock." She spoke truthfully at her situation. She had no time to process tears right now. Bringing her hand to her throat, she felt the dried blood form along in a 'u' shape under her jaw.
"That's how I was when I first got here, too." Brown Eyes spoke up, finally looking over at her.
"What do you think they want?" Eris didn't know how long they would be willing to talk before wanting to go back to trying to escape, so she was going to get as much information as she possible could.
"Dunno," Blue eyes began, lifting her forearm up to wipe the sweat away from her forehead, "But I don't wanna find out."
"We've been trying to find a way out since I got here." Brown eyes did the same, wiping the sweat from her forehead as well.
"Were there other girls in here or just you two?" She was curious why these girls were together amongst the rest.
"Alegra was in here by herself before I got here." Brown Eyes spoke, now Eris knew that Blue Eyes was known as 'Alegra'.
"They kept gatherin' more girls up but puttin'em in different cells. It was a couple stops before they put Cara in here with me." Alegra spoke as she confirmed that Brown Eyes was also known as 'Cara'.
"Do you think they are sorting us out? We seem to be the only ones not huddled in here." Eris couldn't help but notice. It seemed that all other cells had a theme of crying women in them, except this one. This was where women who were still level headed were. They were finding ways to escape, calm, and not hysterical.
The two girls seemed to stop and look at each other for a moment before simultaneously looking over at Eris. They had not connected that detail yet, but now that she was in there with them and brought it up, it was apparent that it was on their mind.
"Maybe." The southerner brought both of her hands in front of her while playing with her fingernails. "It does seem kind of odd to me. Maybe we'll be killed off for being different or maybe sold for a good price."
"Sold for a good price?" Cara turned her head to Eris before settling her gaze back on Alegra.
"In the intergalactic slave trade or whatever. What else do you think we're in here for?" Alegra made a point, and with everything going on it wasn't too farfetched of an idea. Though, the thought of an alien species collecting humans for a space trade was a scary thought indeed. Expecting the worst was a good idea, then whatever would happen wouldn't be too bad. But what if their worst ideas weren't the worst ideas?
"I don't know." Cara replied while getting back on her hands and knees to try to find a weakness at the base of the bar again.
"So what's your name?" Alegra continued digging through her nails before she looked back up at Eris.
"Pike." Eris replied without missing a beat. Even though she was in a prison with two other strangers, she didn't want to get too personable with them. She wasn't back on her feet and whoever this person was, it still wasn't the true Eris. She had to keep her front a little while longer to try to get her through whatever was happening, a persona that would strengthen her from her typical weaker self. She didn't find herself to be a weak individual, but there was a clear difference between house broken, job having Eris and living on the streets, dumpster diving Pike.
"Like the fish?" Cara spoke up, continuing further down the bars to the corner.
"Or the thing you put heads on." Her reply came with a small laugh. She liked the name Pike and had become accustomed to it. She knew it was weird to other people, but it was part of her and always would be.
Everyone's eyes darted to the door that Eris had just entered moments ago as screaming filled the room. Standing up, Eris grabbed the bars and poked her head as far as she could from between them. The same Predator that had grabbed now had someone else, taunting her and teasing her as he played with her in his grasp.
"Leave her alone!" Eris called out, hearing Cara and Alegra behind her with shushing noises. The Predator's eyes shot over to her, mandibles flaring as he put the other girl down and made his way over to her.
Even though the room was already hot, Eris could feel it get warmer as the Predator made its way to her before he was there standing in front of the cell. His chest heaved up and down ad he let a huff exhale through his mouth.
"Ooman," He spoke that word once more, one that Eris knew was human. Everything else was a blur, but she knew he was speaking directly to her and stating what she was to him.
"Predator." She boldly spoke back as she looked up at him through the bars. She could feel her heart racing, pounding in her chest as she began to contemplate whether she regretted her decision to call him out or not. She wasn't used to dealing with alien creatures, and with dealing with humans she always stood up for the lower man. It was hardwired in her DNA to stand up for people, breaking that habit in front of a new race wasn't going to break that.
His amber eyes blinked slowly at her as he reached a hand in to fall onto her neck, applying the smallest amount of pressure. He had dealt with humans a lot in his day, so he knew exactly what kind of pressure he could bestow on her. When her eyes widened but she didn't back away or struggle against him, he cocked his head back once more to look at her. Her eyes were filled with fear, but that wasn't all that was in them. Watching her flicker her eyes back and forth to each one of his, he knew that this human was far different than the ones he had obtained previously.
She felt his black talons prick her skin as she continued to hold onto the bar and look at him. She definitely regretted saying what she did, but there was no backing down from it now. She had challenged him and he was taking her up on it. "Leave her alone." She boldly spoke once more, feeling the hand on her neck tighten even more at her words. She knew that the creature could easily destroy her, but she wondered why he wasn't. First, he had chased her down, caught her with a wire rope that cut into her skin, brought her on whatever they were on, shoved a needle so far up her throat she could feel it tickle the back of her neck, inject something into her that stopped the incredible pain she was in, not chase her when she ran away, gently picked her up by the back of her clothes instead of her skin when she ran into him again, place her in a cell, and now held her throat with a gentle but firm grasp. Why was he being so gentle? What the hell did they do with humans?
Her thoughts were interrupted when another Predator entered the room. The only reason she knew another one had entered was from the blaring roar that shot through her ears and a vibration rattle her body. Feeling the warm hand leave her throat, she grabbed her ears before looking towards the entrance to the room. There another Predator stood, arms pulled behind his body with a slight bend to the knee. Her eyes were brought back to the one in front of her when he, too, let out a scream.
As she watched the two get closer to each other, she heard them talk in their language as their mandibles flared at each other. She had never been so happy to be in a cage in her life, separated from whatever was about to happen. There was a lot of gesturing to the free woman who was huddled in a corner with her head between her knees and gestures in Eris' direction as well.
The one who had grabbed Eris earlier was now tilting his head downward as the other Predator continued its speech with a prideful chest. Eris could only guess that the new Predator had won whatever argument that they were in.
Watching the defeated Predator grab the girl and lock her up, Eris focused back on the one who had put him in his place, daggers being thrown her way with his eyes. She didn't know why he was so mad at her, but that was something she hoped to find out never. Amber Eyes gave her a quick look too before they both left the room.
"Good job." Alegra spoke up from behind her, she had completely forgotten she had other people next to her.
"Well, someone had to stand up to him." Eris truly believed that as she turned her back against the bars, sliding down them gingerly before her butt hit the floor.
"No, someone has to get us out of here, not make waves," Cara uncovered her own ears, "And especially not from someone in my cell." She let out a slight laugh, followed by a snort from Alegra and then one from Eris. They were all in this shithole together, but luckily, they were in the same prison.
They laugh were short lived when the floor beneath them began to rumble. "What's going on?" Eris felt her heart race once more as it felt like an earthquake was happening, looking up to see if the ceiling was going to cave in on her since this one was definitely rocky.
"New destination."
"Where?" Eris held onto the bars, not liking all the shaking that was going on right now.
"We don't know." Cara's voice was low.
A new destination meant that they were flying, confirming what Eris didn't want to believe all along: She was on a spacecraft. Closing her eyes tightly while the shaking progressed along with loud noises before easing off a bit, Eris knew she wasn't ready for whatever was about to happen. Were they going to find more women to pick up or was this their final stop before plummeting into the deep depths of space?
Her eyes opened when she felt a hand touch hers. Looking up, she saw Alegra on one side of her and Cara on the other.
"We'll figure it out." Alegra spoke, her southern accent soothed her a little. They had been in here longer than she had and even though they didn't know much, they still knew more than her. They had gone through these pickups and liftoffs before, which comforted her. If they had lived through the previous ones, she knew she would be able to live though this one. Hell, Eris didn't even like planes so this definitely wasn't her cup of tea. Tightening her grip on both of the girls' hands, she let herself close her eyes once more as she placed her head between the two metal bars, letting the cool metal take over her mind.
"I hope so." She let the words slip out of her mouth when she felt the ground beneath her start to ease up, calming a bit. The loud noise from before began to diminish, letting quieter clinks and clanks fill the tear-filled room. If she had to be in any cell, she was glad it was this one. She wasn't too sure how she would handle herself in any of the other ones. Here, she had two strong women next to her which only pushed her to be strong as well. "And when we do, we'll give them hell."
