Thought you might want to find out what was happening with Toré, so I decided to leave you in a little more suspense. Muahaha! I was working through a bit of writer's block for the first half of this chapter, so if it's a little choppy, that could be why.
PixieGirl- I wasn't really going to reveal any more of Caern's past with the exception of what was said in chapter 7. That's a good idea, though. Perhaps I'll do a mini-fic about it. I'll see what I can do.
Thanks to all of my reviewers! Keep 'em a-comin'! On with the chapter!
Torture
Landing on both feet, Caern balanced himself on the slippery rock. Wordlessly, Samus nodded and turned to the next rock. They carefully hopped from rock to rock, making their way to the other end of the room. Upon reaching the door, Samus pulled her gun and opened it.
It was a short hallway, with another door on the other end. The walls were simply bare rock. Wasting no time, Samus continued to the next room, Caern close behind.
This room was fairly nondescript as well, although a good deal larger than the one they were exiting. It seemed to be rather empty, but there were a few large ledges high above their heads.
Because this room was a great deal more open and less protected, the humans proceeded with caution. After taking a few steps, Samus paused.
"Do you hear that?" Samus whispered. Caern looked around with a puzzled look on his face. He shook his head. Samus grimaced, and continued through the room. After a few more steps, she paused again. "Now do you hear it?" Caern listened hard. After a moment, he nodded slowly.
"It's like a buzzing or something…" Caern was trying to locate the direction the sound was coming from. Samus took a few steps farther. Both humans were now standing in the center of the room.
"Look! Up there!" Samus hissed, pointing to one of the ledges far above their heads. Sure enough, there was a large blue blob sitting upon it. There were innumerable small creatures flying around it. Samus clutched her gun tighter. Caern shuddered.
"Let's move on," Caern muttered, not taking his eyes off of the thing. Samus nodded, also still staring at the enormous blob. Slowly, they started to walk towards the door.
Samus, not watching where she was going, tripped over a rock. She fell to the ground, scraping her knees and arms. Even worse, the jolt caused her to fire her gun once, the noise echoing throughout the room.
Cursing, Samus got up and looked back up to the blob. The buzzing noise was getting louder, and the number of creatures flying around it seemed to have tripled in size.
"It's a hive! Let's get out of here!" Samus shouted frantically, realizing that they were in serious trouble. Caern had no trouble obliging, tearing his eyes from the hive to run for the door. The buzzing above them became angrier, and the sound of it was now echoing throughout the whole room, surrounding the humans.
Samus fired her gun and opened the door. Upon reaching it, however, they were met with a surprising sight. On the other side was an equally shocked space pirate holding a large jar full of small insects. Samus, Caern, and the pirate all stared at each other for a moment.
After a second or two, the pirate noticed the swarm of insects flying rapidly in their direction and dropped his jar and ran the other way. The jar shattered on the rocky ground, sending insects crawling around everywhere. Samus and Caern paid no heed to them, and instead followed the pirate for dear life. There was another door not too far ahead that the pirate was now leaving through.
Samus and Caern plowed ahead, the swarm at their backs, always getting closer. Samus had to re-open the door, as it had shut behind the pirate. Samus and Caern gasped at what they found beyond this door.
It was another room full of acid. The islands were bigger in this one, and the acid was more in pools than filling the whole room, but it was still treacherous. The pirate they had met before was flailing around in a larger pool, roaring in pain. The humans quickly entered the room, and Samus managed to close the door behind them without any insects flying through.
"Come on, let's go!" Samus yelled, still running on adrenaline. She was going to leave the pirate behind, having no compassion for their kind.
"But Samus, we can't just leave him!" Caern muttered, almost tearfully. The pirate was screaming in agony now, trying to claw his way out of the acid. Samus looked down at the creature, for the first time seeing it as a living being rather than a cold-hearted killer. She looked into its pleading eyes, its pain-stricken face, its claws, grasping at the side of the pool in torture, trying with all its might to escape the deadly liquid.
Sighing, her eyes filling with tears, Samus reached down and tugged on the creature's arm. "Help me!" She called to Caern. He immediately grabbed the creature's other arm and helped her pull the thing out of the pit.
The look on the pirate's face was beyond description. It was a mix of extreme gratitude and sheer confusion. Why would they bother to help him? The pirate had some rather nasty looking burns on its lower torso and legs, but it looked survivable.
Samus swallowed hard. "We've got to get moving. I've never met a trustworthy pirate." Samus stood up and distanced herself from the creature. "He'll be okay. I'm sure his kind patrols these halls all the time. Another reason we have to get out of here." Caern nodded, standing up. They continued to the next door, carefully avoiding the pools of acid.
Before going through the door, however, Caern glanced back at the pirate. It still had a bewildered look on its face, as if it had no idea why they had helped it. Sighing, Caern turned and followed Samus.