I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.
-[]-[]-[]-
The Thirteenth Time
-[]-[]-[]-
Odu-Bathax stops a few feet away from the four of us and puts his lower pair of arms on his hips while cracking his knuckles with his upper pair of arms. "Well, well, well... What do we have here?"
The four of us back away. I deliberately move so that I'm behind the other man in our group.
Odu-Bathax's head lifts slightly as he makes a deep-chested laugh. "Come now, I want to hear you speak. I want to know how you managed to penetrate this deep into Mount Pillar without anyone noticing."
I nudge the man in front of me. He hisses, "What?"
"Talk to him," I say.
"You're nuts!" he retorts.
One of the women whimpers, "Just do it!"
The man's hands are shaking as he looks at Odu-Bathax. He takes a step forward. "I... uh... we..."
Odu-Bathax's antennae twitch, and he folds both pairs of his arms. "Speak up, and speak quickly. You're trying my patience."
The human standing in front of the Danian wobbles slightly. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't- we didn't mean to come here..." He's breathing quickly, almost hyperventilating.
Odu-Bathax leans forward so his face is level with the human's. "You didn't mean to come here? What is that supposed to mean?"
The man I had prompted to speak to the Danian staggers back, then collapses to the ground. Did he really just faint? ...Actually, I really don't blame him.
Odu-Bathax sighs and straightens up. "Take them to the prisons," he orders the surrounding mandiblores. "We'll deal with this when we have more time."
-[]-[]-[]-
A prison cell in Mount Pillar is simply a hole in a stone wall with stone bars covering the opening. There's no door, the wardens simply manipulate the stone bars away when putting a prisoner in.
It's been a couple hours since I was thrown into one of the empty cells. In that time, Danians have been passing by, escorting more humans to other cells. This must be where they're keeping the humans not already in the know about Perim.
I shudder as I remember what had happened last time. I do not want to go through that again. I hope they don't start infecting the humans in the cells as well.
Another hour passes, and the roundup seems to be finished. The only Danians passing by seem to be on patrol rather than actively searching.
Well, prison, huh? I guess it's better than the other times.
Minutes later, I hear commotion coming from somewhere outside. There are muffled roars and indistinct shouts. A crowd of Danians appear in front of my cell, dragging a-
Holy crap.
The Danians are dragging a larger, tremendously muscular Danian. He's maybe three feet taller than I am. His exoskeleton is dark gray, and his eyes are bright red. He has four massive arms, with biceps the size of watermelons, and two equally massive legs. His blue leather uniform is shredded in places, his arms are bound with chains, and his mouth is covered by a thick gag.
The Danians stop dragging the insect Mr. Universe just outside my cell, and one of them looks into my cell, then turns back and shouts, "It's no use! All the cells are occupied!"
A voice coming from somewhere I can't see shrieks, "Just toss the traitor in that one! I wanted him behind bars ages ago!"
A Danian points at me. "You move, you die."
I sit down. The Danian warden waves his hands over the bars, and they melt away, sinking into the ground. The traitor Danian is pushed inside, and the bars reappear. Then another set of bars form from the walls, forming a cage wall made of stone.
I stare at the traitor Danian as the others hurry away. He struggles with the chains, and it doesn't take long before they simply snap off of his wrists.
The Danian tears out the gag and bellows at the bars, "The hive is corrupt and you know it! You'll see! Soon all of Mount Pillar will crumble because of the avarice of the nobles!" When nobody answers, he slumps against the wall opposite me, still looking through the bars. Then he faces me.
Oh dear God, he's looking at me! He's narrowing his eyes at me! Help!
The Danian leans forward. "Hey, maggot."
I decide that he can call me whatever he wants. "Y-yes?"
He points at himself. "Master." He points at me. "Maggot. Are we clear?"
I nod. "O-okay."
"Master" puts one pair of hands behind his head while the other pair drapes over his lap. "Good."
This does not bode well.
-[]-[]-[]-
"Hey, maggot."
I wake up with a jolt. Had I really fallen asleep?
"Maggot," repeated the Danian who called himself Master.
"What is it?" I ask drowsily. I can't keep my eyes open.
The Danian's antennae twitch. "My pillow isn't thick enough."
I squeeze my eyes shut and open them. "Your what?" I glance at my cellmate.
The Danian's blue outfit is rolled up into something that's trying to be a pillow. The Danian himself is lying next to it. He points at me. "Your clothes. Now."
"...What?" I blink and shake my head.
The Danian growls, "I'm adding them to my pillow. Clothes. Off."
He's serious! "That's... no. They're not going to help anyway."
The Danian stares at me. He pushes himself to a sitting position, then stands up. He takes a step towards me.
I press myself against the wall. Something bad's going to happen. If I'm lucky he'll just snap my neck.
The Danian approaches until he's standing over me. He reaches down, grabs my leg and-
"GAAAHHHHH!" He broke my leg! He broke my leg! Just reached down and snapped it with one hand! "AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The Danian straightens up again. "Clothes. Off. Now."
I can barely hear him over my own screams. I bite down hard on my lower lip to keep myself from screaming. My hands shake as I unbutton my shirt. Oh God, my leg!
The Danian snatches my shirt from my hands the moment it comes off. "Those too, maggot," he orders, pointing at my pants.
My hands tremble as I undo my pants button and pull down the zipper. I try to pull them down, but moving my leg even the slightest bit is too much. "I-I can't," I say through my sobs. "It hurts too-"
The Danian reaches down, grabs the legs of my pants and tugs.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH! STOP IT STOP IT PLEASE STOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
-[]-[]-[]-
I haven't had anything to eat or drink for three days. Master keeps all the food and water to himself. He stuffs the food down his throat and taunts me by slowly drinking the water... gives me the empty bowls and laughs...
My throat hurts. My mouth is dry. Swallowing is painful. I have a horrible cough and a headache that flares with each cough. My lips are cracked and bleeding. My legs are inflamed, bones broken. My left arm is also broken. I hurt so much...
"Maggot," a faraway voice says, "I've got some water for you."
I hear a clunk as a bowl hits the ground near my head. I don't reach for it, it's empty anyway.
"Heh," chuckles the faraway voice. "You've wised up, I guess." I feel something touch the top of my head. "...I do have something for you to drink, actually."
...Is he running his fingers through my hair?
Three hands hold my torso. The pain in my limbs flare as my body moves. Now I'm sitting on Master's lap.
"You'll need to work for it, though," the voice says with a laugh. "But first..."
Something grabs my good arm and places it on a smooth surface. My eyes struggle to adjust. My hand is on the Danian's chest. Master moves my arm, and my hand strokes across the muscles of his chest, then down to the muscles of his stomach.
...No...
"Isn't this the best body you've ever touched, maggot?" the Danian hisses.
No no no... I know what he wants me to do.
Master moves my arm lower, between his legs. I feel my fingers brush against something, and I try to pull my hand away, but I'm too weak and he's too strong. The Danian presses my palm against his... his penis... and makes me wrap my fingers around it. My stomach churns and clenches, but there's nothing in it for me to vomit up.
The Danian laughs in my ear. "You know what to do." He slides my hand down to the base of his penis. His voice and body trembles, and he says, "You'll have plenty to drink when you're done..."
I take a deep, painful breath. I open my eyes wide and stare in the direction of "Master's" face. I open my mouth and say two words as loud as I can manage.
"...Screw... you..."
The fuzzy shape of "Master's" head tilts. "Huh?"
I clamp my hand into a fist as tight as I can, fingernails digging into the... thing... in my hand, and twist.
There's a faraway roar, and I feel my body floating in the air. There's pain as I hit the ground. I turn my head and try to focus on the Danian. He's clutching between his legs, rolling on the ground, howling. Is that blood? It is. I don't feel sorry about that at all.
-[]-[]-[]-
I don't know how much time passes. My vision is clearing up, though, and the pain is fading away. Ah, I must be dying...
My cellmate is still writhing on the ground. Maybe only a little time passed. I don't know, and it doesn't matter. It'll all disappear soon...
The bars of the cell disappear, and four Danians walk in. One is holding an executioner's ax. The ax raises up, then drops.
There's a sound of metal hitting flesh, then stone, and "Master's" body twitches as his head rolls away.
One Danian turns to me. He looks like a human with an exoskel... Oh. It's an infected human... "What about this one?" the former human asks.
Another Danian looks at me. "Leave him here, he's not worth the effort and resources to nurse back to health."
...Well screw you too, whoever you are...
The Danians leave. They don't put bars up. It's not like I'm a flight risk...
Breathing hurts... My head is light... Everything's going... going...
Gone...
-[]-[]-[]-
Up next: The One at Fault
-[]-[]-[]-
Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.
If you like the story, please follow and leave a review!