The Nightmare
Chapter 4
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Never!
I threw myself at the rapidly closing trap door. I pressed a might paw in between the door and the edge.
JAKE!
I pulled. The other paw came into the gap as well, to help the first one. I pulled with all my might.
CASSIE!!
I wouldn't let her disappear. Never! Not Cassie. I would never abandon Cassie. I couldn't fail her. I couldn't…
The air. Why did it seem so thick?
Hang on! I called.
Failing her would be failing myself.
I pulled and strained. I knew someone was behind me. I could see them from the corner of my eye, wearing masks.
Irrelevant. Pull! Don't let her disappear. Don't let them get her. Don't fail Cassie, like you failed the others.
I gasped for air. The air was thick, sweet, oily.
Irrelevant!
Nothing mattered. I had failed the others. I would not fail…
I felt my strength slipping away from me. My paws weakened, giving way to the closing door.
My head spun. Reason? Why was I there? What was I doing?
The air. Sweet, oily… nauseating.
Gas.
I felt the dark cloud sweeping over my mind, and a part of me knew what was happening, as I lost consciousness.
I woke up in a room. At first, the light stung my eyes. I felt sick, a result from the gas.
But I fought myself, getting up to my feet and looking around.
I was surrounded by a force field. That much was clear. I touched it with my paw, pressing it for weaknesses.
There were no weaknesses. I had no way to get out.
…was disintegrated. I watched helplessly. NO! No no no no… If I had been human, I'd have sobbed…
Another part of my dream came to me. This room… something familiar.
"Demorph!" a voice ordered. "Demorph now!"
Then I looked outside the shimmering force field.
They were all there. Each surrounded by a force field, locked in a pillar. In a half-circle around my own.
Ax, barely awake, wobbling. His stalk-eyes closed, his main eyes almost closed as well. His hands on the sides of his head. His tail hanging.
Marco, still a gorilla. Lying on the floor, arms and hands protecting his head. Unharmed. But motionless.
Tobias, a hawk again. Sprawled on the ground, helpless. One wing ruffled slightly, but otherwise there was no sign of life in him.
Rachel. Blonde, long hair. But reddened and tangled. Beautiful features, distorted by a mask of pain. Fingers clutching her side, blood still oozing out between them. She lay in a growing puddle of blood.
She wasn't dead. Blood was being pumped out, slowly, and that meant she was just unconscious, but alive. There was hope. Alive. But for how long?
Cassie. My beautiful, brave Cassie. Also alive. Still a wolf, with no signs of harm. She lay on her side, with her face turned away from me, and I couldn't see her eyes. That part of the dream was fresh in memory; her dead eyes.
But I calmed myself instantly. The dead eyes had been human. As long as she was wolf, she was safe, I assured myself.
"We know your secret," the voice from no-where said. "Look around. There's no-where to go. You have been defeated."
I looked behind me. And was shocked at what I saw.
Marco, human. Ax, in his very weird human morph. Tobias, still in his Hork-Bajir morph. Rachel, an elephant, unharmed. Cassie… human. Sitting cross-legged, looking down at her hands in her lap.
One of each was a hologram. They had to be. Did I have a hologramic twin? No, no, I couldn't see one. But maybe I did have one.
"Very well," the voice said. "We have no use for you all anyway, now that we caught you. We only need to spare one of you. Then we will know all we need. The Andalite, maybe. The rest, we can kill. And if you, kitty, don't do as we say, we WILL kill a few of your friends."
I spun around, looking for the source of the voice.
It continued smugly; "So. Who has the morphing cube? Tell us."
No!
"That will do no good," the voice said. "Thought-speak is limited inside the barrier."
Limited? Could thought-speak be limited?
I decided to try. Marco! I called out to the gorilla.
There was no reply. But it didn't make sense. If my thought-speak was limited inside the barrier, how had that strange voice known I had thought-spoken?
Liar! You're lying! It's impossible!
"It doesn't need to make sense," the voice said. "It isn't, after all…"
I roared.
Marco jumped to his feet. He looked around, blindly, seeing nothing. Then he roared as well, pounding his chest with his fists.
Cassie, the human one, lifted her head from her hands. Ax's Andalite eyes tried to focus. Elephant Rachel trumpeted angrily. Tobias, in his Hork-Bajir morph, slashed through the air with a blade.
"You can see out. They can't. Not for now, at least."
Let me out! I ordered.
The force field disappeared obediently. Something was wrong. The Yeerks - they had to be the ones behind this - would never let me out like that. But I wasn't about to complain.
So I didn't worry about it. I had more important things to worry about.
"It's time to decide, kitty," the voice said. "Tick tock. Look up into the ceiling."
I did. And there, which I know hadn't been there before, was a dracon canon, set to low power and ready to fire.
"That's the sight of death," said the voice happily. "Tell me who has the morphing cube. Or one of your friends gets burned."
I had no choice. I had no choice!
But I couldn't tell them. Cassie had the morphing cube. She knew where it was. What would they do to her if they knew?
"Very well," the voice said when I remained silent. "Watch carefully."
The dracon canon aimed. I followed it with my eyes, dreadfully. Who had the voice picked?
It pointed at Rachel the elephant.
Oh, no…
The elephant trumpeted defiantly.
The dracon beam fired.
And there was nothing left of the elephant.
Oh,no…
I stood there, shaking. My tail held low, my head hanging. Then I glanced at the other Rachel. She hadn't moved. Still lying, face pale and twisted, hands clutching her side. But the blood had stopped running out.
She was dead. In whatever way, if one of them had been the real Rachel, she was dead. And it was my fault.
The voice continued. "Now, will you tell me? Or will more have to die?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't. They could not have the morphing cube. They could not have any one of us. They could not have Cassie.
But, instead, they'd kill every one of us.
Chapter 5
The dracon canon above my head moved again. It pointed. It fired.
Ax, in human morph, was burned to coal in less than a second.
I assured myself that it hadn't been the real Ax. Why would Ax have morphed a human? He'd never have morphed a human if he was in trouble. He's always complaining about how humans have no natural weapons.
But then again, if he hadn't morphed a human, how would the Yeerks have known how his human morph looked?
"And still, the cat says nothing…" the voice sighed.
The dracon canon moved.
Stop it! I cried.
"Will you tell me who has the morphing cube?"
Don't kill them!
"Tell me where the morphing cube is!"
I don't know!
"Then maybe this will refresh your memory!"
The dracon canon moved. Aimed. Fired. And I refused to look as my best friend sizzled away into nothingness, screaming.
Marco. The human Marco.
Had to be a hologram. Why would he have demophed? Then again… how would they have known how to make the hologram if he hadn't demorphed?
Elephant Rachel. Human Ax. Human Marco.
All gone.
Left was me. Both of Cassie. Both of Tobias. Andalite Ax. Gorilla Marco. And the dead, human form of my beautiful cousin.
I began moaning, my mind twisted with a pain I couldn't feel but knew was there.
"This silence needs to be broken," the voice said. "By dracon… or by words? Tick tock, tiger. Tick tock."
Five seconds which felt like an eternity. Then the dracon canon moved again.
No! NO! NOO!
"Tell me about the morphing cube! Where is it? WHO has it?!"
No!
"I think we'll shoot the Hork-Bajir…"
The dracon canon was aimed at Tobias in Hork-Bajir morph. Tobias was disintegrated. I watched helplessly.
NO! No no no no…
If I had been human, I'd have sobbed.
But I did bury my face in my hands, tears streaming.
Huh?
I took another look at myself. Four paws. No hands. But I was sure… no. impossible. I couldn't have buried my face in my hands when I had no hands. And I couldn't have cried. Tigers don't cry.
"Your mind is playing you tricks," the voice said. "And I will repeat my question. WHO has the morphing cube?"
I was almost ready to tell him. I couldn't let them die. I couldn't let them all die. Or could I? For I couldn't tell the Yeerks about the morphing cube. I couldn't tell them who had it. Who knew where it was. Not at any price.
Not at any price.
Not at…
"Very well," came the dark mutter. "But I'm running out of people to shoot. "
The dracon canon stopped at Cassie. My heart skipped a beat.
DON'T!
"Say goodbye to Cassie, tiger."
I was too busy despairing to notice that he used her name. I ran towards her. I had to stop the canon. I had to…
"Pearls mean nothing," a soft sound reached my ears. "Tears of joy… treasure the moments…"
Cassie was singing. At a time like this, she was singing!!
Suddenly, Hork-Bajir appeared. From no-where.
A blade slashed at me. I jumped, slammed the Hork-Bajir with a mighty front paw.
He fell, but as I jumped from him I felt a sudden pain on my shoulder.
I twisted to the side to meet this new attacker, and felt a Hork-Bajir foot-blade slice into the side of my throat. Not too deep. Not immediately deadly. But I would need to demorph very fast. I would need to demorph immediately to live… no.
No time. I had to…
I had to stop the canon.
Hork-Bajir. Blocking my path. I was growing weaker.
Everything happened in slow motion. Things were blurry, forms were unclear,
TSEEEEW!
The dracon canon had fired. The force field disappeared.
CASSIE!
The Hork-Bajir were gone. Or maybe I was to upset to notice them any more.
I rushed up to her. She lay still, not breathing, without visible signs of injury. No bruises. No cuts. No burn marks.
But…
Before me, motionless on the ground… oh, god. Her eyes stared up at me. Her dead, cold eyes. Dead. Cold. Dead!
A moaning escaped my throat. I couldn't look away. I couldn't look at her…
No… a weak whisper.
My sight was foggy, cloudy. I stumbled, trying to breath. Blood ran from the gash in my throat. I knew I had time to demorph. I could demorph.
I could demorph and survive. Survive. Did I want to survive?
"Do you want to know, something, cat?" the voice said. My mind paid no attention to the sound. It was unimportant. "They're all dead, now. I shot the real ones, not the holograms. Except the elephant. The elephant was a hologram. No use shooting a dying enemy."
Irrelevant. I fell, my legs weak. I lay on my side. Nothing mattered. Nothing. I had failed. I had failed badly… all dead.
But the Yeerks had failed, too. They knew nothing. They hadn't won anything.
A bitter-sweet feeling swept over me. I had lost everything. But the Yeerks had gained nothing. No hosts. No information. None of our secrets. No escafil device.
"Tiger, tiger, bleeding slightly…" the voice laughed. "Slightly? No, that's wrong…"
Let him talk. It didn't matter.
I lay there, knowing nothing but my unsteady heartbeat, the blood colouring my chest and front legs a bright red, and my breathing growing heavier, and heavier…
And my grief. A terrible hole in my heart.
My mind darkened. Slipping away, leaving emptiness. Darkening…
"And kitty," the voice said, laughing even louder. Something in the way he spoke woke my slipping mind enough to listen.
"And tiger… I have the morphing cube."
Epilogue
I sat up straight in my bed.
My breath came in short gasps. My heart was racing. My mind was ready for battle. I was ready to morph, if necessary. I would…
Darkness!
But not complete darkness.
I was in my room. In my bed. Safe. Alive. Moonlight came in through my open window. The familiar contours of my furniture surrounded me.
It was just a dream.
All of it. Just a nightmare. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The phone rang. I rushed out of bed to pick it up before it woke anyone.
"Hello?"
"It's me," a voice said. Cassie. I was so glad to hear her voice. So glad that I didn't notice how her voice was trembling.
"Yeah?"
"Jake? You know, the blue box… the little box that's our secret?"
"Yes?"
"It's gone."
I dropped the phone. It just fell out of my hand.
The morphing cube. Gone. How? How how how?
My nightmare? Impossible.
That's when I noticed it.
Something sticky covered my throat and my shirt. Intense pain came from my throat.
I reached up, almost curiously - but tensely - to touch it. A thick, warm liquid instantly covered my fingers. A liquid which shouldn't be there. Which had no reason whatsoever to be there.
Blood.
My blood.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note:
Well, that's it. What happened, really? I don't know. You're supposed to figure it out yourselves. It isn't supposed to make sense. It's supposed to be sad and strange and... well, silly, I'd guess.
Chapter 4
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Never!
I threw myself at the rapidly closing trap door. I pressed a might paw in between the door and the edge.
JAKE!
I pulled. The other paw came into the gap as well, to help the first one. I pulled with all my might.
CASSIE!!
I wouldn't let her disappear. Never! Not Cassie. I would never abandon Cassie. I couldn't fail her. I couldn't…
The air. Why did it seem so thick?
Hang on! I called.
Failing her would be failing myself.
I pulled and strained. I knew someone was behind me. I could see them from the corner of my eye, wearing masks.
Irrelevant. Pull! Don't let her disappear. Don't let them get her. Don't fail Cassie, like you failed the others.
I gasped for air. The air was thick, sweet, oily.
Irrelevant!
Nothing mattered. I had failed the others. I would not fail…
I felt my strength slipping away from me. My paws weakened, giving way to the closing door.
My head spun. Reason? Why was I there? What was I doing?
The air. Sweet, oily… nauseating.
Gas.
I felt the dark cloud sweeping over my mind, and a part of me knew what was happening, as I lost consciousness.
I woke up in a room. At first, the light stung my eyes. I felt sick, a result from the gas.
But I fought myself, getting up to my feet and looking around.
I was surrounded by a force field. That much was clear. I touched it with my paw, pressing it for weaknesses.
There were no weaknesses. I had no way to get out.
…was disintegrated. I watched helplessly. NO! No no no no… If I had been human, I'd have sobbed…
Another part of my dream came to me. This room… something familiar.
"Demorph!" a voice ordered. "Demorph now!"
Then I looked outside the shimmering force field.
They were all there. Each surrounded by a force field, locked in a pillar. In a half-circle around my own.
Ax, barely awake, wobbling. His stalk-eyes closed, his main eyes almost closed as well. His hands on the sides of his head. His tail hanging.
Marco, still a gorilla. Lying on the floor, arms and hands protecting his head. Unharmed. But motionless.
Tobias, a hawk again. Sprawled on the ground, helpless. One wing ruffled slightly, but otherwise there was no sign of life in him.
Rachel. Blonde, long hair. But reddened and tangled. Beautiful features, distorted by a mask of pain. Fingers clutching her side, blood still oozing out between them. She lay in a growing puddle of blood.
She wasn't dead. Blood was being pumped out, slowly, and that meant she was just unconscious, but alive. There was hope. Alive. But for how long?
Cassie. My beautiful, brave Cassie. Also alive. Still a wolf, with no signs of harm. She lay on her side, with her face turned away from me, and I couldn't see her eyes. That part of the dream was fresh in memory; her dead eyes.
But I calmed myself instantly. The dead eyes had been human. As long as she was wolf, she was safe, I assured myself.
"We know your secret," the voice from no-where said. "Look around. There's no-where to go. You have been defeated."
I looked behind me. And was shocked at what I saw.
Marco, human. Ax, in his very weird human morph. Tobias, still in his Hork-Bajir morph. Rachel, an elephant, unharmed. Cassie… human. Sitting cross-legged, looking down at her hands in her lap.
One of each was a hologram. They had to be. Did I have a hologramic twin? No, no, I couldn't see one. But maybe I did have one.
"Very well," the voice said. "We have no use for you all anyway, now that we caught you. We only need to spare one of you. Then we will know all we need. The Andalite, maybe. The rest, we can kill. And if you, kitty, don't do as we say, we WILL kill a few of your friends."
I spun around, looking for the source of the voice.
It continued smugly; "So. Who has the morphing cube? Tell us."
No!
"That will do no good," the voice said. "Thought-speak is limited inside the barrier."
Limited? Could thought-speak be limited?
I decided to try. Marco! I called out to the gorilla.
There was no reply. But it didn't make sense. If my thought-speak was limited inside the barrier, how had that strange voice known I had thought-spoken?
Liar! You're lying! It's impossible!
"It doesn't need to make sense," the voice said. "It isn't, after all…"
I roared.
Marco jumped to his feet. He looked around, blindly, seeing nothing. Then he roared as well, pounding his chest with his fists.
Cassie, the human one, lifted her head from her hands. Ax's Andalite eyes tried to focus. Elephant Rachel trumpeted angrily. Tobias, in his Hork-Bajir morph, slashed through the air with a blade.
"You can see out. They can't. Not for now, at least."
Let me out! I ordered.
The force field disappeared obediently. Something was wrong. The Yeerks - they had to be the ones behind this - would never let me out like that. But I wasn't about to complain.
So I didn't worry about it. I had more important things to worry about.
"It's time to decide, kitty," the voice said. "Tick tock. Look up into the ceiling."
I did. And there, which I know hadn't been there before, was a dracon canon, set to low power and ready to fire.
"That's the sight of death," said the voice happily. "Tell me who has the morphing cube. Or one of your friends gets burned."
I had no choice. I had no choice!
But I couldn't tell them. Cassie had the morphing cube. She knew where it was. What would they do to her if they knew?
"Very well," the voice said when I remained silent. "Watch carefully."
The dracon canon aimed. I followed it with my eyes, dreadfully. Who had the voice picked?
It pointed at Rachel the elephant.
Oh, no…
The elephant trumpeted defiantly.
The dracon beam fired.
And there was nothing left of the elephant.
Oh,no…
I stood there, shaking. My tail held low, my head hanging. Then I glanced at the other Rachel. She hadn't moved. Still lying, face pale and twisted, hands clutching her side. But the blood had stopped running out.
She was dead. In whatever way, if one of them had been the real Rachel, she was dead. And it was my fault.
The voice continued. "Now, will you tell me? Or will more have to die?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't. They could not have the morphing cube. They could not have any one of us. They could not have Cassie.
But, instead, they'd kill every one of us.
Chapter 5
The dracon canon above my head moved again. It pointed. It fired.
Ax, in human morph, was burned to coal in less than a second.
I assured myself that it hadn't been the real Ax. Why would Ax have morphed a human? He'd never have morphed a human if he was in trouble. He's always complaining about how humans have no natural weapons.
But then again, if he hadn't morphed a human, how would the Yeerks have known how his human morph looked?
"And still, the cat says nothing…" the voice sighed.
The dracon canon moved.
Stop it! I cried.
"Will you tell me who has the morphing cube?"
Don't kill them!
"Tell me where the morphing cube is!"
I don't know!
"Then maybe this will refresh your memory!"
The dracon canon moved. Aimed. Fired. And I refused to look as my best friend sizzled away into nothingness, screaming.
Marco. The human Marco.
Had to be a hologram. Why would he have demophed? Then again… how would they have known how to make the hologram if he hadn't demorphed?
Elephant Rachel. Human Ax. Human Marco.
All gone.
Left was me. Both of Cassie. Both of Tobias. Andalite Ax. Gorilla Marco. And the dead, human form of my beautiful cousin.
I began moaning, my mind twisted with a pain I couldn't feel but knew was there.
"This silence needs to be broken," the voice said. "By dracon… or by words? Tick tock, tiger. Tick tock."
Five seconds which felt like an eternity. Then the dracon canon moved again.
No! NO! NOO!
"Tell me about the morphing cube! Where is it? WHO has it?!"
No!
"I think we'll shoot the Hork-Bajir…"
The dracon canon was aimed at Tobias in Hork-Bajir morph. Tobias was disintegrated. I watched helplessly.
NO! No no no no…
If I had been human, I'd have sobbed.
But I did bury my face in my hands, tears streaming.
Huh?
I took another look at myself. Four paws. No hands. But I was sure… no. impossible. I couldn't have buried my face in my hands when I had no hands. And I couldn't have cried. Tigers don't cry.
"Your mind is playing you tricks," the voice said. "And I will repeat my question. WHO has the morphing cube?"
I was almost ready to tell him. I couldn't let them die. I couldn't let them all die. Or could I? For I couldn't tell the Yeerks about the morphing cube. I couldn't tell them who had it. Who knew where it was. Not at any price.
Not at any price.
Not at…
"Very well," came the dark mutter. "But I'm running out of people to shoot. "
The dracon canon stopped at Cassie. My heart skipped a beat.
DON'T!
"Say goodbye to Cassie, tiger."
I was too busy despairing to notice that he used her name. I ran towards her. I had to stop the canon. I had to…
"Pearls mean nothing," a soft sound reached my ears. "Tears of joy… treasure the moments…"
Cassie was singing. At a time like this, she was singing!!
Suddenly, Hork-Bajir appeared. From no-where.
A blade slashed at me. I jumped, slammed the Hork-Bajir with a mighty front paw.
He fell, but as I jumped from him I felt a sudden pain on my shoulder.
I twisted to the side to meet this new attacker, and felt a Hork-Bajir foot-blade slice into the side of my throat. Not too deep. Not immediately deadly. But I would need to demorph very fast. I would need to demorph immediately to live… no.
No time. I had to…
I had to stop the canon.
Hork-Bajir. Blocking my path. I was growing weaker.
Everything happened in slow motion. Things were blurry, forms were unclear,
TSEEEEW!
The dracon canon had fired. The force field disappeared.
CASSIE!
The Hork-Bajir were gone. Or maybe I was to upset to notice them any more.
I rushed up to her. She lay still, not breathing, without visible signs of injury. No bruises. No cuts. No burn marks.
But…
Before me, motionless on the ground… oh, god. Her eyes stared up at me. Her dead, cold eyes. Dead. Cold. Dead!
A moaning escaped my throat. I couldn't look away. I couldn't look at her…
No… a weak whisper.
My sight was foggy, cloudy. I stumbled, trying to breath. Blood ran from the gash in my throat. I knew I had time to demorph. I could demorph.
I could demorph and survive. Survive. Did I want to survive?
"Do you want to know, something, cat?" the voice said. My mind paid no attention to the sound. It was unimportant. "They're all dead, now. I shot the real ones, not the holograms. Except the elephant. The elephant was a hologram. No use shooting a dying enemy."
Irrelevant. I fell, my legs weak. I lay on my side. Nothing mattered. Nothing. I had failed. I had failed badly… all dead.
But the Yeerks had failed, too. They knew nothing. They hadn't won anything.
A bitter-sweet feeling swept over me. I had lost everything. But the Yeerks had gained nothing. No hosts. No information. None of our secrets. No escafil device.
"Tiger, tiger, bleeding slightly…" the voice laughed. "Slightly? No, that's wrong…"
Let him talk. It didn't matter.
I lay there, knowing nothing but my unsteady heartbeat, the blood colouring my chest and front legs a bright red, and my breathing growing heavier, and heavier…
And my grief. A terrible hole in my heart.
My mind darkened. Slipping away, leaving emptiness. Darkening…
"And kitty," the voice said, laughing even louder. Something in the way he spoke woke my slipping mind enough to listen.
"And tiger… I have the morphing cube."
Epilogue
I sat up straight in my bed.
My breath came in short gasps. My heart was racing. My mind was ready for battle. I was ready to morph, if necessary. I would…
Darkness!
But not complete darkness.
I was in my room. In my bed. Safe. Alive. Moonlight came in through my open window. The familiar contours of my furniture surrounded me.
It was just a dream.
All of it. Just a nightmare. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The phone rang. I rushed out of bed to pick it up before it woke anyone.
"Hello?"
"It's me," a voice said. Cassie. I was so glad to hear her voice. So glad that I didn't notice how her voice was trembling.
"Yeah?"
"Jake? You know, the blue box… the little box that's our secret?"
"Yes?"
"It's gone."
I dropped the phone. It just fell out of my hand.
The morphing cube. Gone. How? How how how?
My nightmare? Impossible.
That's when I noticed it.
Something sticky covered my throat and my shirt. Intense pain came from my throat.
I reached up, almost curiously - but tensely - to touch it. A thick, warm liquid instantly covered my fingers. A liquid which shouldn't be there. Which had no reason whatsoever to be there.
Blood.
My blood.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note:
Well, that's it. What happened, really? I don't know. You're supposed to figure it out yourselves. It isn't supposed to make sense. It's supposed to be sad and strange and... well, silly, I'd guess.