For the love of God, I do not own a single thing but my own characters and plot. Everything else is everything else.
Chapter 4: Infection
As we neared the back of the house, I heard the sound of two people arguing, one male and one female, and in an instant I knew what was happening.
"Shit, I need to go handle this. Stay here," I said. I started to run to the door, but was stopped when my left arm was grabbed. I immediately made attempts to get out of his iron grip, but he wouldn't budge. It wasn't painful, just really uncomfortable for me with the amount of times I've been grabbed all of a sudden. "This isn't funny. Let me go."
"What is happening in there?" Xerxes said.
"Nothing I can't handle. Now lemme go, I need to get in there before something bad actually happens." He didn't say anything and didn't let go, only staring at me like he was studying me. "I've dealt with shit like this a million 'n one times, but I need to get in there before it escalates. I'll signal you when it's clear, but you have got to let me go."
He hesitated, but loosened his grip on my arm. "Thank you. Don't worry about me, I've done this kind of thing before." I started sprinting towards the door, hoping that I wasn't too late.
"I believe you," He said.
Damn straight you do, I thought, not making any attempt to keep that to myself. As he mentally chuckled at that, I figured he was okay with this.
I unlocked the door and entered, closing the door the quietly behind me.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Cassandra yelled. I saw her swinging a bat in an attempt at keeping someone away. His hair was messy, his movements were twitchy, and his clothes looked disgusting. He was on something. Well, more like he's been on something.
"I-I just - I just need - I gotta have some more m-money so - so I can get some more ice 'cause I'm going fuckin' mental here!" He said.
"You ain't getting anymore goddamn money you fucking prick! Now get the fuck out of here or you're gonna get fucked up!"
"W-What do ya i-intend on doin'?" He mocked, continuing to get closer and closer to Cassandra. I got myself ready for a fight, and even though my hand was hurt pretty bad, I could still deliver a pretty good haymaker.
"You need to leave, right fucking now," I said.
He stopped where he was and turned around to face me. His face was wrinkled up, and the few teeth I could see were a disgusting shade of yellow. But right as he was opening his mouth to say something, Cassandra came up behind him with the baseball bat and swung, clocking him in the side of the head and knocking him out before he fell to the ground. A sizeable black lump was already forming on his head. I put my wrapped hand back in my pocket.
"Asshole," She said.
"Jesus Christ, you didn't kill him, did you?" I yelled as I went up to check on him.
She scoffed as she went to the kitchen. "He's fine, he's still breathing." I knelt down beside him and saw that he was indeed breathing. I looked up just in time to see her coming back with a bottle of scotch she was trying to open.
"The hell are you doing? You can barely drive sober," I said as I walked up to her and snatched the bottle away. She gave me this look that was a combination confusion and anger.
"Driving? What? Give me the damn bottle, Alex!" She demanded.
"He's here because of you. You take him home. You're lucky I did it last time," I said. I set the bottle down on a nearby table. "Grab his legs."
It was still pouring down rain. Cassandra didn't argue with me, knowing that I wouldn't let up until he was gone. I promised her the bottle would be where I set it when she came back later, though I doubt she would come back immediately. Chances are, she'd head straight to work and wouldn't come back until tomorrow morning-ish, what with it being a Monday. Work wasn't that long, but she liked to unwind a lot with either booze or drugs. Once upon a time, I tried many a time to get her to stop with at least the drugs, but it was impossible. She never harmed me, which still beat Frank by a landslide, but that didn't mean it wasn't a disruption in normal life. Like what happened five minutes ago. I gave up trying to convince her on that months ago.
I opened the back door to her car while fumbling with his upper half, until I managed to drag him in far enough for Cassandra to just fold his legs in. I got out of the car awkwardly, neither of us saying anything to each other as she drove away. I watched her drive down the lane, then waited another minute or so for good measure.
"It's clear, c'mon out!" I yelled. I looked around, expecting to see some black form run out into the open. Instead, I was greeted with a loud tap noise above and behind me. Turning around, I saw the black form with gray lines tapping his foot on the roof, water dripping down his body and onto the porch. I got towards the side of the porch where he jumped down almost inaudibly. He definitely had to teach me how to do that.
"You were right. You had it handled," Xerxes said as we went inside.
"...Thank you," I said slowly. It's been a long time since I heard any compliment directed at me. He didn't say anything, but I think he understood how that small thing meant to me. I went to my room, Xerxes following behind, and proceeded to collapse onto my bed, not caring that I was soaking wet. I nearly got under the covers with how cold I felt.
"Holy crap, haven't been this ready to sleep in a while." I nearly gave in to the sleep, but I had things to do, so I forced my eyes open and sat up. Xerxes, on the other hand, was busy looking around the room. Aside from the bed, there was a dresser with a small T.V. I managed to save up for recently, a VHS player beside it, a closet, and a large bookshelf packed to the brim with VHS tapes, notebooks, large textbooks, and a few smaller books here and there. There was also the black backpack beside the door, containing some but not all of my folders and notebooks for my classes.
The notebooks on the shelf were filled with my notes of instructions and guides on human biology and health, things that I found useful when I was forced to stop the bleeding myself. It also contained information and notes on tactics to stem blood flow, prevent poisoning, or at least death by poisoning, how to set and treat broken and dislocated limbs… everything I needed to survive my personal hell years ago. I don't, or didn't at least, need them anymore, but why get rid of them? It's useful information.
The textbooks I had stolen from the school. They were certainly high school textbooks though, so they were mostly just introductions to stuff. I hardly looked at them now, but they were good time killers back then, and I did learn a decent amount of stuff from them.
I wonder if Xerxes would want to read them, that stuff might be interesting to him. Wait, can he read English? Can he even see like us?
"Yes, I can see well enough. Yes, I can read your language, perks of the link. And yes, I would appreciate it if I could read them. These are things I need to learn if I ever fail at keeping you safe," Xerxes said.
"Well… don't fail," I joked, and then added, "And can you please teach me how to avoid broadcasting my thoughts out to you?"
"Yeah," He said, and sat down beside me. "Okay, imagine a sort of… casing or shield around your mind. Think of anything at all, and while doing this, concentrate on making your mind feel surrounded and secure. That is about all there is too it. You will know when you have it."
I concentrated on this feeling, doing what felt right and trying to imagine my mind as being impenetrable. Can you hear me? I thought. Nothing. "Did you hear me?" I said. He looked at me like
"You already did it? Most species can not do things like that on their first go. You likely have much more power than I originally thought," He said.
"Most species? You make it sound like… You don't mean species from here, do you?" I said. He shook his head. I stood up. "Holy shit then, I have a million questions, but they can wait. Thanks for teaching me. I'm gonna go wash up and leave soon. I'll probably be gone for a little bit, but like I said, you can stay here if you want. Do whatever you want, and I trust you won't destroy the place."
"You are correct to assume that." I grabbed some new clothes from the dresser and another jacket from the closet, this one being white with an intricate design of something on the front in black. I had no idea what it was, but it looked awesome in my opinion. It was a bit thicker, but it really didn't matter. I went to the bathroom which was right beside the door to my room, seeing Xerxes grab one of my notebooks off of the shelf as I closed the door behind me.
I set the clothes on top of the towels and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a million bucks; my eyes had heavy gray bags under them, I was dripping wet from the rain, and my jacket was torn from the attack and burned from whatever the hell happened earlier. A weird black resin, similar to the stuff on the cabin walls, was under my jacket and encompassing the burn on my shoulder. I unzipped the jacket and saw wrapping around my chest, covering the slash mark I got earlier and going around my body a few times. It was black in color, like the resin, though it was much thinner than the stuff on my shoulder. I tried getting my fingers under it so I could take it off, but found that it wouldn't let go. I tugged harder and harder, but nothing happened. This was some good stuff, but it needed to go. What if this shit was turning me into an alien or something?
Getting on top of the toilet, I reached for the top of the cabinet above said toilet and started grabbing for a handle, until I finally caught it. Bringing it over so that I could see it, I was greeted with the sight of one of my hidden pocket knifes throughout the house. I jumped off the toilet and flicked the knife out, revealing the five inch long blade that was serrated halfway down the blade form the handle. I brought it up to and carefully pressed it against my chest, going up and down carefully with the blade. It seemed to be doing something, but not much, so I started pressing harder and using the serrated part, until it started ripping and giving me enough to room to tear it off. I started unwrapping the remaining part off of my chest, and when it finally came off, I couldn't help but be shocked at what I saw.
This was not helping me one bit at all. While the claw marks were just about a distant memory, there were black spiderwebs under my skin emanating from the now finger sized scabs and a red rash surrounding it, or maybe it was the dried blood. It felt tender, and though it hurt to touch, I wanted - needed - this out of my body now! It looked like infection, and it did not need to be under my skin. But before I had a chance to begin clawing the scabs off, Xerxes came in.
"Xerxes, what the hell is happening to me? Did you do this?" I exclaimed, nearly shouting.
"No! Your body is rejecting the life-jelly in the bandages I created," He said. "This has happened to so few species - I should have thought of this." I heard him, but I was so focused on the present problem that it flew over my head. Then, I realized, my shoulder and hand. I brought the knife up to my hand in an attempt to cut the bandage off, but Xerxes grabbed my arm before I could and brought me back to reality.
"Alex, calm down. You were injured and needed help, I did not mean for this to happen," He explained. "You're okay, let me help." Before I even said anything, he grabbed the knife in my hand, and I let him take it. He then grabbed my wrapped hand and used a singular claw to cut it off. As it fell to the ground, it revealed that it too had black spiderwebs under my skin. He removed the chunk of resin off of my shoulder, which showed a similar image. I felt sick at the sight of all of this. The fact that my body was changing colors like this was terrifying, and I felt like I might die if I don't get rid of this now before it gets worse.
"We need to drain your wounds before this progresses into something worse." He pointed to the shower. "Is that what you were going to wash up in?" I nodded. "Let's get in there and I will help you drain the infection." I looked at him warily.
What if he did this on purpose? I thought, but before those thoughts could progress any further, I realized, he could've killed me a million times over by now, and yet he hasn't. And at the same time, though he caused this to happen to my body, he's willing to help rid me of the infection. Alex! Shut the fuck up with the self monologuing and get in the goddamn shower! I told myself. In an instant, I was kicking off my shoes and taking my socks off. "How far will you have to cut?" I asked as I took my money and change out of my pockets, along with a pen and pencil.
"At the most, as deep as the wound was originally," He explained. Far enough, got it.
I was about to take my pants off, but I instantly shut that idea down. Not gonna happen, not with him here. He got in the shower with me following right behind him. I turned the water on to warm and proceeded to turn the dial near the showerhead so that the water came out of the sprayer instead of the showerhead itself. I turned the heat of the water up a little more, then switched the water from the faucet to the sprayer. It spurted cold water at first as I grabbed it, then came out the warm water. I sprayed my face to wake me up, then the dried blood off of my chest, shoulder, and hand. The water didn't hurt when it hit the black spiderwebs, but it made me realize how hot it was around the black. I brought my hand up to my chest, and it was scorching hot. This needed to be done, now.
"Where's the blade?" I said. I saw the blade of his tail come around his hip, giving me his answer. "F-fuck dude. You're serious?" He nodded. "Okay, hold on. Run that under the water and clean it as good as you can." I handed him the sprayer and got out of the shower. I opened the mirror, grabbed the bottle of alcohol and got back in. I took the sprayer from him and tucked it under my left armpit, opened the bottle, and poured its contents on his tail. I then poured it on my chest, which burned worse than normal when it touched the scab. I bit my tongue, however, and proceeded to pour it on my right shoulder and right hand. I put the cap back on and tossed it outside the shower, not caring where it went. "Okay, how're we doing this?"
"We need to drain it from your chest first before this reaches your organs. You have quite a bit of time, but this is more of a danger to you."
"Okay, just… Goddammit I hate this." It wasn't every day that I let myself get cut open, especially after that endless hell years ago. He grabbed the sprayer from me with his right and cupped my face with his left. It was warm, and I leaned into it.
"Alex, you are my friend, and I am yours. Trust me when I say that I will protect you from this." I did. I think I could even trust him with my life, he could just never try this shit again, and I think he knew that. He meant it when he said that he would protect me for as long as he lived, and it was such a terrifyingly beautiful thought that it never truly struck with me until now. He was willing to fight for me, willing to kill his own kind to protect me, and all he truly needed was a friend and an escape, and I would give him both even if it killed me.
I nodded and said, "I trust you with my life, Xerxes." My eyes watered up and my heart hurt at how much I meant that. The only other person who I trusted like that was Tony, and I hope Xerxes knew how significant this was for me.
He grabbed his tail blade and brought it close to my chest. He took a breath in, and pushed the tip of the blade against my chest gently. It was so sharp that I didn't even feel it until he pushed the blade against my chest even harder. I clenched my teeth and groaned slightly as he dragged it downwards. The flesh was sensitive and hurt as he pushed harder, but I couldn't help but notice that it felt considerably hotter now, and I realized that it was the steaming hot black coming out of me. It was a confusing feeling, it felt hellishly hot and hurt, but at the same time, it felt physically relieving the more of it that came out. He pulled away the blade and I groaned as more of the toxic black burned my skin while it seeped out, the spiderwebs under my skin disappearing almost entirely as more and more came out. I hunched over so that it could fall out of the wound directly and reduce its contact with my skin while Xerxes sprayed it all off my skin as it came out. I squeezed my chest as though I was squeezing a pimple so that the remainder that would not come out on its own could, which he also sprayed. It was the same as he opened my shoulder and hand, and though I did not lie when I said that I trusted him, I could not help the small tears falling down my face as I remembered the familiar pain whom I addressed by first name so long ago.
The shoulder was the worst, due to it being infected the most and the awkwardness it was to drain it, so it had to be cut even deeper than the rest. But once it was all done and over, I was pure and clean of any of the infection. No more spiderwebs, no more toxic sludge. It was interesting to see the black slowly change into a deep red, and as I saw the sludge slowly group up and slide towards the drain, I swear I could have seen it move on its own accord. I turned off the shower, making sure that the tub was clean of the possibly alive sludge, and Xerxes stepped out of the shower.
"Are you okay, Alex?" He asked as he grabbed my left hand and just beside my open shoulder in an attempt to help me out of the shower.
"I don't know," I said weakly. I took a shaky step to the mirror, seeing the short line down my chest and the blood coming out of my openings. I opened said mirror and grabbed a small thing of gauze and almost a bottle of Advil, but I decided that it would likely do nothing about this pain. I closed the mirror, and as I was about to pull the gauze so I could start wrapping up my wounds, my already shaky legs started to give out. Xerxes, being quick, was able to grab me before I fell, and I clutched onto him. He grabbed the gauze.
"Let's go back to your room and you can sit down while I bandage you," He said. I mumbled something along the lines of okay. I leaned against him, my left arm wrapped around the back of his neck, holding onto his left hand, and his right arm wrapped around my side, ending just before my chest wound. We made our way out the bathroom and into my room, Xerxes closing the door behind us. He set me down on the end of my bed where I tried my best to keep myself upright. He extended the gauze and started to wrap it around my chest multiple times until the medium sized cut was hidden away. He cut the strip away and started wrapping my shoulder, going around my body and shoulder and over the other set of gauze. Another strip cut, he finished my hand off with the remainder of the gauze, and I collapsed back on the bed.
"Thnk yu," I mumbled. "I jst neeed 'n hour o sleep, 'n' I'll be bettr." I barely remembered my soaking wet pants, and I slowly crawled out of them and under the covers, not realizing that I had ditched both my pants AND underwear. I was out the second my head hit the pillow.
To say I was ashamed was an understatement.
If Alex didn't take those bandages off sooner and we didn't see the growths, he could have died. It wasn't a typical infection per se, because it wasn't some bacteria, it was much more powerful than that. When I applied the bandage laced with life-jelly back at the cabin, the life-jelly had invaded and attacked his blood, his muscle, and if we were too late, his bones. There was something about Alex that made his blood, his system, incompatible with the life-jelly, and rather than healing him, it was turning his body against him in an attempt to kill him. He managed to fend off the infection long enough for us to discover it thankfully, but his body must've been fighting so hard that when it could finally stop, everything stopped from exhaustion. The damn kid had such a strong will to live that even his body refused to give up. It truly was something amazing, but that didn't excuse the fact that this was my fault one bit.
I couldn't have known that this would have happened, but at the same time, I should have expected it to happen. We had the knowledge that some species could not handle the life-jelly, but they were so few and far between that it seemed so unlikely and irrelevant at the time.
And he was terrified of me! How could I blame him? I just poisoned him and probably made him think that I was trying to kill him! I felt sick to my stomach. He was okay now, but he was going to die at this rate if I didn't stop doing such stupid actions like this.
But I can't blame myself. If I hadn't bandaged him at the time, he would've bled to death. I just need to make sure I don't let things like this go unchecked EVER again. I inwardly sighed. He's okay, what's done is done. I won't let it happen again.
Picking up the open notebook on the bed, I continued reading his notes and diagrams on human health. His handwriting was fast, bordering on a sloppy cursive, but it wasn't unintelligible. Humans were not weak or helpless, but they were certainly not as strong as me or any other one of my kind. They didn't have a natural armor, or even natural defenses. They could perish in a multitude of ways. Before I came into the bathroom after sensing his ever increasing anxiety, I was reading his notes on arteries. There was an entire diagram of the human body, with many arrows and lines going from the body to a set of words naming each major artery. I didn't see the point of these, until I learned that if they get damaged, they can bleed immensely and render someone dead in mere minutes, especially the jugular and femoral arteries. Alex sure did his research on this stuff.
Now I was reading on their respiratory system, which appeared to be similar to ours, but their ways of getting oxygen to their lungs was limited compared to mine. They could only take air in through the mouth or nose, and if the windpipe was closed off in the neck, it would stop airflow and knock them out or even kill them if blocked long enough. My kind had no nose, our 'tongue' was able to serve as that, but we also had the dorsal tubes on our back, which made it impossible for us to simply be choked out, like I did with Alex when we first met.
Heh, I don't know about his kind, but for me, that was one hell of an odd introduction. We've hardly known each other for half a day, and we've gone from being terrified by each others presence to, well, this. Me cutting him open to solve my earlier fuckup. A truly strange friendship. But he trusted me with his life, and I didn't let him down, thankfully. Not yet anyways.
I shook myself out of those thoughts and continued reading. I couldn't help but notice that the pages weren't in the best of condition with slight rips and tears along the edges, and I realized that Alex probably had these for quite a long time. He probably needed them for the life he lived back then. I held back a growl. I'd be damned if something like that happened to him again. Focus on the reading, Xerxes, I told myself.
I finished the notebook off in little time, having gained the knowledge of tourniquets and how to treat a variety of wounds. They were fragile, but at least they had the intelligence to figure out ways to decrease the severity of various wounds. I put it back on the shelf and looked at the VHS tapes, seeing titles like The Evil Dead, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, The Goonies, The Terminator, and E.T. I was about to grab one, but I turned around when I heard Alex start to shift and move. He wasn't awake, not yet, just merely rolling onto his left side and closer to the side of the bed against the wall. He shook slightly, and I remembered from the pair of soaking pants and multiple drops of water on the carpet that he was still soaking wet from the shower, nor was he wearing any of his temperature regulators.
Speaking of which, I had to admit, I liked the way he looked without them. Hell, I liked him period. Ever since the cabin where he cried on my shoulder and told me his story, I just haven't been able to shake this feeling of respect or admiration for him, something. He was a fighter, like me, and I loved that about him. I wouldn't force anything on him, my goal was to protect him for my actions, but if the opportunity arose, I think I'd at least say something. Can't really hold back anything now since we may die tomorrow.
But I let my mind go back to more present things, like Alex freezing. At the very least, we were friends, hive mates, hopefully he would be okay with what I was about to do. I crawled under his covers and pressed my body against his in an attempt to raise his temperature. He was shorter than me by at least a head, and his body was indeed wet and, thought not warm, he wasn't cold either. The infection was searing hot to the touch, due to it taking advantage of his body heat and other resources, so while his body was recuperating, it was likely that he would be unable to retain his body heat very well. Though it was unlikely, it was possible that this effect could be permanent. I wrapped my arm around his side, placing my palm on his chest gently, and stayed like that for quite some time, adjusting when need be.
It was through him talking in his sleep that I learned the extent of horrors that Frank forced on Alex. Cutting, burning, even poison. The acrid smell of his fear was potent, and when he started to shake from terror rather than low body temperature, I made my way into his mind and replaced those memories with the few good ones I could find, wiping any traces of the bad ones that popped up. One that stuck out was from earlier, and it was when I said that I was his friend and that he was mine. It truly warmed my heart, and I realized through a light check on his memories (because even I wasn't stupid enough to breach any and all privacy he had) that he had very few people who ever even paid him any mind, and when they did, it was rarely good, except Tony and, as it appeared, me. A related memory revealed a speculation of his where he figured that I needed a friend and an escape. I never really thought of it like that, but he was right in a way. I needed an escape from the hive, which I was getting and would hopefully secure soon, and having him as a friend felt good, even though he wasn't of the same species. I cared for him enough to keep him alive and okay, and he cared enough about me to be willing to help me escape from my hell. We were friends alright.
He started to awake, and I quickly escaped his mind before he even knew I was there.
I felt like shit.
For once in quite some time, I had a dream that didn't involve fear, so that was amazing. At the same time, I was starving to death and, judging from how cold my face was, it felt like my room was only forty degrees (Fahrenheit). Everything else was neither cold nor warm, making me feel like a reptile in need of warmth. I could tell Xerxes was behind me and under the covers with me, and normally I may have gotten out immediately or at least said something, especially since I can tell that I'm stark naked, but I honestly could live with embarrassment rather than freezing like this. That infection didn't seem so hot now.
What did get me out of the bed was the fact that Xerxes being up against me and spooning me was starting to make me hard. My heart started beating fast as I realized how much he was turning me on right now, and that we were both so close to each other right now. I shook those thoughts away - I needed to start going anyways, plus I needed to think. I sat up, getting a cold arctic wind in my face.
I shivered while I spoke. "I gotta go. You being up against me like that was uh… sort of turning me on. I need to go get some things anyways, so this works." I hopped over his legs and stood up, hiding my parts from sight. I spotted my soaking wet pants on the floor and grabbed them, being forced to expose myself for a split second until I used the clothing itself to shield me.
"Well, I certainly like what I see," He purred, and my already flushed cheeks got even hotter though not enough to warm me up. I looked at Xerxes awkwardly, and realized he wasn't joking. I said nothing as I slowly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind me.
I'm gay, I won't deny that. I like guys, I'm gay. I'm not a fag or queer, I'm gay, and I'll be damned if you think I am those because lemme tell you, there's a difference. That's not the point. The point is, I was surprised pretty good when he said that, and it felt pretty goddamn strange that I was getting turned on by him and he was hitting on me back there. I wasn't about to lie and say I didn't enjoy that, but that didn't excuse the fact that we literally just met several hours ago, not to mention that he was also a part of another species. It was strange, and I honestly didn't know how to feel about it.
I also really needed to relieve myself now, but didn't want to risk it with him being here.
I entered the bathroom and tossed the wet clothing onto a pile of dirty clothes and towels. The clothes I had brought in here earlier were still here, and I quickly put my underwear on. I looked in the mirror, and saw the bandages wrapped around me in various locations. They certainly still ached, but they were already starting to feel better. I always was a fast healer. I put the rest of my clothes on, as well as my socks, shoes, and jacket. I was still freezing, but it helped.
I went to the kitchen, grabbing a box of leftover pizza from the fridge and setting it down on the bar. There were still five pieces, and by the time I was done, there weren't even any crusts. I washed it down with a Coke, but I was still starving. This endless hunger was aggravating, but that didn't stop me from grabbing an almost full loaf of bread and eating the slices. I was about halfway through it when Xerxes came out.
"Are you okay? I didn't mean to make you leave - I thought you would like what I said," He explained. I ate another piece of bread and talked over the link.
"Were you hitting on me back there?" I asked. He gave me a startled looked, and I quickly reworded what I said. "I mean, what did you mean by what you said?" I grabbed another piece of bread, I was practically inhaling them. I held a piece out to him, which he took, his tongue shooting out and taking a bite. I couldn't help but jump slightly when he did that, though I managed to just barely conceal it.
"You said I turned you on, I was merely reciprocating the feeling. Did I do it wrong?" I shook my head.
"No - wait, reciprocating? Are you saying that I turn you on?" This conversation was a mess. Thank God no-one else was here.
"I am saying that I like you, Alex, a lot. I just don't want to hold back any thoughts like this if we don't make it, is all." I set the down the now empty wrapper, my hunger only barely touched. I ignored it for now, though, returning to actual speaking.
"Why do you like me? What did I do to get you to start thinking like this?" I asked. He pulled a stool out and sat down, which queued me to go around the bar and sit beside him.
"Back at the cabin, you talked about your past, told me about Tony and Frank and all the shit you went through," He started. I blinked at the swear, I think that was the first time he ever said one. "You fought through hell and survived because you were strong, because you never broke. That is why. I say this because I don't want to regret anything if we perish tomorrow." He paused. "I never told you my story. Before I met you, I lived at my hive, the place where my Queen and brothers and sisters are. They were a cruel bunch, I am sure you can see, but they wanted me to be like that as well. I don't know what made me the way I am, but I refused to be like them and kill and maim only for purposes of entertainment. They loved your kind because of how similar you are to us in terms of sentience."
"We call ourselves humans," I interrupted.
"Humans. Anyways, you humans would show pain, sadness, grief, everything. To them, it was pure ecstacy, but to me and just a few others, it was disgusting. The few that have tried doing what I have are gone, dead. I have gotten the farthest of them all to getting away from the hive. Whenever they were not eating or hurting a human, they would be hurting each other, sometimes even killing each other if it got out of hand. I was a larger target there due to me being the way I am and because of the amount of times I stuck my neck out for your kind. I pitied the ones stuck along our walls, either begging for death or release, and since I could not give them one, I had to give them the other. My brothers and sisters never liked that, but no-one hated me for it above all else than our Queen. She would send them all to bring me near death when she was not doing it herself. But they tore apart their little ones! It was gruesome and horrible - and the way they screamed! - all for no purpose other than entertainment and pleasure! It was terrible, and when I woke up from the pain they caused me and a small human hive they captured, I left. I could never go back, not after that. Afterwards, I found you, and here we are.
"I don't want to go back, because if I do, they will not kill me, they will just toy with me and make me suffer until I break or die. I don't want either, and I don't want that to happen to you, which is why we need to leave as soon as possible. I am so sick of death, but I don't want anything to happen to either of us, so I will kill if I have to, but I-" He stopped mid-sentence and looked me weird. He then grabbed me by both of my shoulders, being careful with the bandaged one. "Alex, I need you to promise me that if I am unable to protect you against my kind, you will run and never look back. I don't care if I am still alive or not, if they take me, save yourself - don't risk coming back or trying to help, please, Alex, promise me!" He was terrified, a deep, primal terror that never surfaced unless it was truly a horrible thing. I knew, we were on a first name basis, me and the terror.
"Xerxes, dial it back a bit! Nothing is going to happen! You aren't going back, and we aren't going to die. We're going to leave this town and go somewhere, anywhere! But goddammit, I refuse to let them take you. I've walked through hell before, if I can keep you from it, I will."
"Please, Alex, just promise me."
"No," I said, and that was it. Before he had a chance to say anything else, the phone on the wall rang, making Xerxes jump and knock down his chair with a loud crash!
"Calm down, we're fine. Just the phone," I said. I went over and answered it. "Yello?"
A deep voice came in through the line. "Alex, you and Jackson were supposed to call when you had the car. Where is it?"
"At Jackson's shop, but listen to me. Something happened, Jackson's dead."
"What?"
"Yeah, I got the car, went over there, and when he didn't let me in, I went in myself. There was a shit ton of blood everywhere, and when I went into his office, there was this… thing, I dunno what it was, but it's dead now. It killed Jackson and was fucking eating him. I probably sound crazy as shit right now, but go over there yourself! The car, the bodies, everything should still be there."
I heard other voices in the background, and I assumed that he was relaying what I said to the boss. After a moment, he finally talked. "If we find out this is a joke, well, you know what we'll do."
"Come to my house, kill me and anyone who knew about this, yeah yeah, I know. You'd think that after a while of this you'd start trusting me or something. But go there and see it yourself. I'm not going back, dock my pay, fire me, I really couldn't give any less of a shit. That whole scene was fucked." I heard a sigh on the other side.
"We'll send some people over there later today. Go and rest, Alex, if what you said is somehow true, then you're fine, the boss is willing to give you the all clear. We'll call if anything changes." He sounded as though he was about to hang up, before quickly coming back and saying, "Oh, and your package came in. We dropped it behind the trash in the alley behind the library."
"Thanks. And please, stop calling at thi-" He hung up. "Number… Asswipe." I put the phone back and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I looked at Xerxes. "I won't let them take you, and to enforce that mindset, I need to know where that gun I had when I met you is."
"Back at the cabin. What were you going to do with it at the time anyways?" He asked.
"I was arming up to leave town, just not this soon. Not by a longshot. Can you go get it?" He nodded. "Great. Okay, I should've left like, half an hour ago. Eat whatever, do whatever, I don't care," I said as I went back to my room to grab my backpack. I came back and went towards the front door, before turning around to Xerxes. "And I'll think about the whole 'I like you and you like me' thing. Just… please stay safe."
"Yeah… you too," He reluctantly said, and I was back out and in the rain.
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