"So you'll find out why it's called that?" Kayla asked as Palla clipped a leash onto Oshorndota's collar. He was out of his mind with anticipation. It was slightly embarrassing. Every trip she went on Palla brought Shorndota along on.
"Yeah. I'll try." She looked pleased. "Don't get into trouble." Palla warned, not knowing it was herself who was about to be added to a Most Wanted list. Palla spend the next couple hours being dragged around by Oshorndota. Who was overwhelmed by grilled food smells. More than a couple people asked her if they ever fed him. Jokingly, at least she hoped. Most of them offered him a hamburger, which he wolfed down in a heartbeat. Other than that it was fun. People seemed not to notice who I was. As if they didn't care.
It was eight, about an hour before they were supposed to leave, when Oshorndota suddenly caught sight of a rabbit. An ordinary rabbit. You know, the kind you see dead on the side of the road or have served to you in fancy restaurants. Before she could do anything Palla was being dragged with all the 6 month-old strength Oshorndota could muster. Through low, scratchy brush and then along an animal path beaten through the forest.
Stupid rabbit, Palla thought as her hip bounced off the third tree. Or maybe it was the same tree and the stupid rabbit was going in circles. And the stupid dog was running circles chasing it.
After what seemed like hours and more than a couple words her father would have given her a look for, he stopped. Palla looked around and groaned. Oshorndota had apparently completely lost the trial completely and was exhausted, stretching lazily on the grass he looked for all the world as if he where about to sleep. She ground her teeth together and roughly dragged him back the way she guessed they came from. "You know you could get up," Palla leaned on the leash, "it would make this a lot easier."
It was only a few minutes later when she heard voices. Oshorndota made a move as if to jerk away and Palla wrapped it around her hand tighter, pulling him to her thigh. What was difficult became damn near impossible as Oshorndota relaxed every muscle and practically collapsed on the leaf-strewn ground. "You retard!" She hissed. The group of people talked loudly in the next clearing. "Soon as I ask them how to get back you are in trouble. Serious trouble." She emphasized, tugging on the leash. No movement. Swearing, she dropped the leash and continued forward.
Palla stopped to push some brush away. The minute or so it took her brain to register the scene was what saved her. Two tall creatures stood at the back of the clearing thirty feet in front of her. Dark green and brown and huge. They were the size of a horse! A horse covered in knives the length of an arm. Although a horse was probably not the right animal to compare them with. Palla instantly dropped to the ground. Palla distractedly realized Oshorndota had crept next to her, exhaustion and rabbit forgotten. The talking continued, Palla, hesitant to stand and see better, twisted her neck to look.
The six or seven people seemed completely at ease. Most were standing a few were on the assorted rock or tree. They were discussing something, but Palla couldn't slow her heart long enough to hear them. She crouched in the shrubs just watching, hyperventilating as quietly as possible.
Ten feet in front of Palla there was a slight noise and the faint sound of a breaking twig. Probably a squirrel or another damn rabbit. Palla stopped breathing and stared at the monsters. 'Please, don't hear, don't look'. She prayed. No one was listening. Both noiselessly turned their snake-like heads and studiedly the area. Necks moving back and forth like a cobra.
Palla thought she was being silent as possible. Quickly, she realized how wrong she was. You have no idea what the average human is capable of when faced with something like that. Palla didn't at the time, but she had the feeling she was going to learn in a few moments.
Moving effortlessly they stepped forward, then lifted their heads and sucked in breathe loudly. Smelling. Smelling for a terrified sixteen-year old girl and her dog-companion. They stretched their necks toward Palla and she nearly got up to run. If she'd missed the movement, Palla was sure she would have. It was slight, a flash of color among dull greens and browns. But enough to take to distract her. The bladed-monster saw it too and reached into the brush and roughly pulled Bethany out.
To Palla's surprise the blades didn't instantly stab into her side, as she assumed they would. Instead, they set her on the dirt in front of a blonde girl. Once Bethany touched the ground, she slowly curled herself into a ball. In the silence Palla could hear Bethany crying softly. The group didn't move and finally the blonde kicked at Bethany and sneered at her companions. "See, this is what happens when you slip-up." She kicked the motionless girl on the ground trying to get her point across. "This is exactly the kind of thing we want to avoid. Sub-visser 34 does not want this to happen!" At the five words she viciously kicked Bethany in the side. Bethany gasped and rolled slightly, straining for breathe. Palla could see her dirt and tear smeared face when she rolled in Palla direction.
Disgusted the girl walked coldly away. She gestured to the two "blades", "Search the area, I want to know if that human was alone."
"Yes," one said in broken english. Oh, God, they speak.
Palla breath quickened as they approached where she hid. They reached a cluster of small trees and rather than walk around it, casually cut them off at the base. Palla stared, no doubt in her mind what they would do to an arm or leg. Mere flesh would slice like butter. Only seven feet away from Palla the girl made an impatient noise in her throat. "Alright, we don't want this to drag on all night, that's enough." The two Blades turned and observed her for a moment before returning. "Do something with this, just get rid of it. Everyone else can leave, meeting's over."
Everyone walked single file down the path, while the Blades turned almost playfully to Bethany. The first lazily stretched it's heavily bladed arm out. Crouching slightly, they lightly leapt toward Bethany. As they landed, foot-blades dug easily into Bethany's soft side, staining the leaf-strewn ground. Arching her upper-back Bethany screamed.
Palla almost screamed too at the deep noises the monsters made. Palla knew instantly they were laughing. Moving almost too fast to be seen, a blade scored along her belly. Bethany moaned weakly, most of her strength already bleed out through her side and seeping into the ground.
"Weak human." A Blade-thing muttered unimpressed, it kicked the unconscious girl, bored. "Yeerks should not be after such a helpless creature." The second lifted his arm and crouched down closer to Bethany's still form. The ten inch wrist-blade tore deep into Bethany's back, tearing through bone, muscle and nerves, killing her instantly. Wordlessly, the first creature grasped her body by the thigh and started through the forest. The second followed and as the left Palla heard the snap as a tree caught Bethany's leg and bent it back, exposing the long leg bone above her knee.
Long after they left, Palla could still hear them moving through the woods, dragging the lifeless body. It was nearly fifteen minutes after she last heard them that Palla dared to stand up. At Palla's movement, Oshorndota sat up and leaned into her. "Oshorn...let's get the hell out of here." Within a second she was up and running, Shorn racing by her side as they tore out of the clearing.
It was a trip she remembered only parts of; falling on slick, moss-covered rocks and plunging into a tree only to find it pricker-laden. It seemed to take much longer to leave the woods than it took entering them, but things were different now. The situation was drastically changed. The two trips were vastly different and couldn't be compared.
When she finally burst from the woods she was partly amazed to find everything blissfully normal and relaxed and relieved it was still there. The gathering was smaller by now. Around her, people joked and ate hamburgers. Someone brushed by her as she approached the bonfire and she drew back from the contact.
Who to tell, she had to tell someone. If another luckless person wandered there she had no doubt what their fate would be. It would have been hers' if she had been any quicker in following Oshorndota. She had to warn them. 'But...' A nagging voice said in her head, what about that teenager. She had looked normal. She had been the worst, had ordered Bethany murdered. Not that Palla was ever very close to Bethany. She was more like a pain-in-the-ass than anything else.
Palla would have never suspected someone could
order someone else to be murdered as coldly as she did. 'It's not right,
it wasn't right.' The voice urged again. 'Something was wrong.' What if
someone else was like that, Palla would never know the difference. Palla
slowed to a halt as another thought occurred to her: 'What if she finds
out I was there?' That did it. "No one.' She thought aggressively, 'Tell
no one.'
Author's Note: This one was a little bit shorter, but it had more things happening. Sorry if you think I got a little carried away with killing Bethany and all. Let me know if something should be fixed, I ran a spell-check on the previous chapters and let's say it was pretty bad. If you have any comments, it sucked/it rocked, write a review. In fact that's all 'ya gotta write, "it sucked" or "it rocked".