Days had passed since Eris had been taken from Earth by the Predators. In regards to the interactions she had with them, each day played out the same, completely identical to the last. Each cell seemed to have their own routine when it came to interactions with the Predators. Some cells would remain quiet while they came in, always two of them who seemed to be different than the ones from before, obeying whatever command they would throw out in their language. They'd get to go eat a little bit, use the bathroom, and come back. At least, that's what she knew her cell was doing so she only figured that it was what every other cell was doing, too. Even through attempts to talk to the other cells, they never responded back to her.
Other cells would try to fight back, specifically the used-to-be screaming cell which had seemed to die down, only occasionally screaming in the night. When the Predators came to open their cell, they would scatter, the four of them, and try to make it difficult. They once tried to run passed the creatures and leave the room which surprisingly worked. One made their escape while everyone else all looked on. Some of the other girls cheered, which was the first time Eris had heard some of them speak, but she knew well enough to know that the whole ship was a circle and they would only be caught within a matter of moments. The Predators knew that, too, not bothering to chase her. Instead, they waited in the doorway until they heard her footsteps and then surprise stepped right in front of her, grabbing her and taking her with her cellmates to do their daily activities. Eris knew the exact feeling of that girl: Defeat. Whether punishment was ensued, she didn't know, but whatever happened it didn't stop the girls from continuing to strategize. They talked amongst each other, but never spoke to her cell.
The last group of cells were frozen still when the Predators would come in. They were typically all quiet, but once the creatures walked into the room, they would make their way to the farthest point of the opening of their cell and drop down, looping an arm through the bar. The Predators would have to physically come in, easily take their grip on the bars off, and carry them out. They seemed determined to take care of the girls regardless of if they wanted to go or not, never actually hurting them. Those cells always took the longest to come back.
It didn't take them long per cell, averaging around fifteen minutes each. Eris, Cara, and Alegra timed it a couple times by counting to sixty multiple times until they could add it together to see how long they were gone for, which did roughly come to fifteen-twenty minutes depending on the group; the used-to-be screaming group took less time than the crying group which surprised them. No other group seemed to care enough to see what was going on and find out the routine, but these three did. Instead of using tricks to try to get passed them, they just wanted to find out the routine so they could be prepared in what was happening, ready for it all.
Using their counting tactic to also see how often the Predators actually visited them, they concluded it was averaging around every two and a half hours. It was a long time of counting, but they used an entire day just to see. While two of the girls would sit down and talk to each other, the other would count for ten minutes before trading off to let another one count. It was nice knowing the schedule. They noticed that while everyone was sleeping that they came in a lot less, doubling the time before coming in to visit them. It sucked for Eris, though, since she had been up and needing to use the restroom while everyone else was sleeping, having to wait that extra time before she could go. In those cases, it was one of the many reasons she was glad she had the girls in her cell that she did. Any other cell it seemed they would procrastinate going which would cause her to have to wait longer, but her cellmates just owned up to it and went.
When they finally were able to go with the beasts, Eris would find herself trying to talk to them to get any sort of information. No luck. The only one to have ever talked to her was the one who had taken off all of her hair and first layer of skin; she hadn't seen him in days. She didn't know if the others didn't speak or understand her language. Maybe they were ordered not to talk to her? She wasn't sure.
What Eris was sure of though, was that if it weren't for the girls she had in her cell with her, she knew that this whole 'being taken from Earth' thing would be just as mundane as the encounters they had with the Predators. If not this cell, she'd be in a cell full of people who wanted nothing to do with talking or staying calm, which in turn would cause her to panic. She didn't like to be or feel alone, especially in a room full of people. Eris was an emotional copycat, taking whatever emotion the room was portraying and duplicating it. But luckily, she was with these girls.
They had a lot of conversations, some serious and some funny. She learned that Alegra was twenty-four years old from Texas, which she figured from her strong southern accent. She was a clerk at a Target, going to college full time to become a physical therapist. Her fears included that of: owls, lampreys, trypophobia, and not being successful in life. Her likes were: Tropical Skittles, going to the movies by herself, jogging outside in the heat, and hanging out with her family for Friday Night Game Night.
Cara was a more reserved individual from Washington, the youngest in their cell being nineteen years old. She spoke to them just fine, but Eris learned that she was someone who was very much introverted on Earth. She had no real friends, keeping them at a distance, but since being here she decided to open up, knowing that her anxiety factor would be a lot worse if she didn't. Though being an introvert, she was very stubborn and wouldn't do things she didn't want to do. Her fears were: Being in public, crowded places, snakes, and being skinned alive. A very specific trait to tell her and Alegra. Her likes included: playing video games, surfing the web, playing Pokemon Go at night, and red velvet cake.
Eris never did give them her real name, keeping that aspect of her life a secret for now, even though she fully trusted these women. She was worried that once she told them her name, that the brave Pike would no longer exist, the mask being off and the emotional copycat Eris would emerge, knowing fully that she needed Pike to survive this.
She told them about her parents passing away, no siblings, moving to Alaska, and even the whole situation that she had with Nolan. She also let them know that she was homeless before being taken from here, which resulted in the girls joking around with "So that explains what that smell was!" All of them taking a laugh at it, Eris taking no personal offense to it. It was funny of her to think that she felt more loved in this cell then she had with her ex, Nolan.
Even free to roam around in the final months with him, she felt caged. A hostage to his emotions and whatever he wanted to beat her into submission that day. What once was a fiery, lively spirit who knew exactly what she wanted in her life, he had taken that and started to make her question everything. In conversation she would give an answer and he would knock her down a few pegs to tell her that she was wrong when she knew she wasn't, causing her to even question herself. Mentally abusive and physically abusive in the end, being homeless, hell being here was way better than being with him. She might have been stagnant here in this cell, but she had people willing to help her in it. They worked together and planned out what they wanted to do, agreeing on everything. A partnership with these girls that she hadn't felt from her ex in a very long time.
The relationship with Nolan was all a magical happening, but in the end, it was only a façade to get her which almost destroyed her. It took her a few months of being homeless to finally take back what she had unknowingly allowed him to take from her; herself. She was figuring herself out again on her own and each piece she put back together, it was worth the weeks of finding it, biting down to the bone to obtain it. All of the emotional back and forth, it was worth it because she felt the light that had dimmed down, tiny embers left that even he would never be able to put out. She was becoming more sure of herself again. Just like anyone who experiences any sort of trauma, she went through a lot of anxiety that she never had before, but week by week it was going away. Before she was taken from Earth, she was starting to feel more like herself, more like Eris than she had felt in a very long time. Whether it was her persona of 'Pike' or because it was actually her, it was liberating. She was a strong woman and she knew that in the end she would become herself again. Never the same as she was before, but even more knowledgeable and experienced, the anxiety only meant that she was no longer naïve to the world. And now she was here.
Looking around, she lifted herself off of the floor and sat against the cool bars, not being able to sleep. She always thought it was weird how the metal could stay cool even when the place was so hot. One of the benefits of being bald in here was the fact that she wasn't sweating from her neck up. Before being cut off, her hair was a tattered, mangled mess that went to her mid-tit. Before getting on the surgical looking table, her hair barely covered the privates of her breasts. Now she was bald. It wasn't so bad, she could finally lay down and not have to flip her hair behind her first to not roll around on it and pull it out of her scalp.
The room was quiet, silent chests heaving up and down throughout the room. The red light made everything seem so intense but being here for a couple of days it was starting to become normal. Since she and her friends had fallen asleep, she didn't know how long it would be before a Predator would come in and see if any of the groups were awake. Closing her eyes once more, head resting between the space of the two bars, she let a calm breath escape her mouth.
Slight noise started to come from behind her, the screaming cell. It sounded like one of them was getting up to move across the room to lay down or just pace back and forth, something that even Eris did from time to time if the girls were asleep and she was the only one awake. If she had a Fitbit, she'd be rocking in those daily steps.
When the noise continued, not sounding like pacing anymore, Eris opened her eyes. Without looking behind her, she tried to focus on what she was hearing. She couldn't tell what it was until she heard a slight gurgle sound. Turning behind her, she looked at the cell to see one of the girls strangling the other one.
"Hey, Hey! Stop!" Eris flipped over on her knees before standing up, each one of her hands gripping onto the bars, feeling her voice crack having not spoken that loud since she was taken days ago. "Stop her!" All the girls in the room woke from her screaming, looking over at the horrific sight before them. "Help her!" Eris continued to scream as she met the eyes of the other girls in the same cell as the girl being choked out.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Get her off of her!" Alegra screamed, her and Cara joining Eris on the bars, watching the girl's face start to lose color.
"What the fuck are you doing? Don't just stand there, do something!" Cara pitched in as the three girls white knuckled the bars, looking like dogs in a cage barking at a stranger. Their eyes were wide and furious while their feet pumped them slightly up and down as they tried to move the bars to help the dying girl.
Another cell started to join in, yelling at the other two girls for not helping their dying cellmate. Eris looked over at them, nowhere near the stance that her cell was in but she was glad that others were trying to help them in their cause to save this girls life. Bringing her eyes back to the homicidal girl, she noticed her eyes never breaking from the girl she was choking. Even in the dim light, she could see a manic expression on her face. She didn't know what exactly caused her to break, but she definitely snapped.
"You don't have to do this, stop it!" Eris continued to call out along with her friends, not understanding why killing this girl would help her in any way. Looking back down at the white-faced girl, she watched as her arms began to lower from the wrists of the woman choking her, life fading away. It would only be moments now until she would be gone.
A 'woosh' of the door broke the screams of the two cells of girls as Tichinde and Tracker walked into the room. When the women's faces didn't linger on them long, which was unusual, they brought their eyes to the commotion going on in the back. There, they noticed that the three girls who had given them the least amount of trouble during the Coating process were upright and facing the cell across from theirs. When their eyes followed where the oomans were facing, they saw what was causing all of the noise: The cell that had given them the most trouble this whole go-around had a girl assaulting another. "C'jit."
Swiftly running to the cell's bars, Tichinde quickly opened it before grabbing the girl and easily ripping her off of the other one, holding her tightly in his grasp. Tracker knelt down beside the girl who was struggling to breathe, coughs and deep inhales of air filling the room as everyone dropped quiet. The girl in Tichinde's arms continued to struggle, screaming that she wanted to continue what she was doing.
Holding the struggling girl with both hands, Tichinde had never in his line of work seen this. It was normal for the girls to bond together, docile in the situation and if they were to harm anyone it would be themselves. But this, he had never seen. While the girl continued to struggle in his arms, he began to squeeze until her breathing quickened due to panic of not being able to breathe. In moments she was passed out in his arms. The Yautja that had come with him picked up the girl who had been badly wounded.
Walking out of the cell and closing it behind him, the two remaining girls' ch'hkta made him uneasy. He didn't understand how they could panic and pace around the cell but refused to help out a fellow ooman in need. Had he been in the position as them, there wouldn't be a doubt in his mind to help out his fellow Yautja. Jehdin Jehdin was one thing, both parties were aware of the battle to take place, but this attack was clearly during ones' sleep. An assassination. As far as he was concerned, if it weren't for the girls across the cell where the betrayal took place, the girl Tracker was holding would be thei-de. Dead.
Though a Bad Blood, Tichinde didn't abandon all of the Code he had grown up to know. It was etched in their DNA, only one Yautja in history was known to have abandoned it all. Tichinde didn't want to abandon all of the codes, they were useful. It kept a certain structure even in his clan of Bad Bloods, there was still a hierarchy which helped him lead his clan. Without rules, there was chaos. Every Bad Blood had a code they lived by, if you had none then you were lost. The infamous Yautja to have abandoned it all was a poster child for that. Reckless to even himself. The girl in his arms was also a product of that, an u'darahje, abomination to her race. She had no rules, no code to help her through this situation so her mind was free to carry out anything that came to it.
"How bad does it look?" Tichinde asked once the door behind them shut completely, leaving the ooman women silent behind it.
Looking down at the girl, Tracker studied the marks on her neck before looking into her eyes. Fear that would have been there with him holding her was not. She was in a state of shock while she continued to gasp for air. "By the bruising on her neck, I'd say that the tarei'hasan you're carrying broke it." He brought his amber eyes to quickly shoot Tichinde a glance.
"Fixable?" The crescent scarred Yautja recognized the look, meeting his yellow eyes to him. It was custom to never keep eye contact for too long, showing signs of a challenge. Tichinde could stare all he wanted since he was the leader of this clan, it was his job to keep his subordinates in place. If he noticed them looking at him long enough, he could issue a challenge and see if they would take him up on it. So far, no one tried to challenge him or his authority.
"Sei'i." Tracker knew they could fix the wounds that the tarei'hasan, insect, had created. Cowardly woman to have done such a thing to another. If Bad Bloods existed in the human culture, she would definitely be one of them, except she had no honor in her actions. No reasoning other than bad instinct lead her to this result. It furthered her in no way to kill this woman.
"Worth it?"
"H'ko, she's not."
That's all Tichinde needed to hear. It was a good thing that the ooman Tracker was holding couldn't understand the conversation they were having. They were going to put her out of her misery, she wasn't worth saving. Had it been one of the three girls that showed promise they'd put in the effort to save her, but alas she wasn't.
The trade Tichinde and his clan were in provided ooman women to other clans like his. The illegal trafficking of oomans was surprisingly a steady business, which is why they went out of their way to take care of the women they captured. They would make a trip to Earth, study the women who showed promise, capture them, process them, and then meet at a mutual giant ship that was the epicenter of all Bad Bloods alike. The price for the women depended on their personalities.
The oomans that they captured were only as promising as how they reacted in the cells. It was a gamble taking them before tracking them for a while, but with other Yautja hunting the area, they only had a little bit of time to take what they thought would fetch a good price. Once they had them, once they exposed themselves, those oomans were theirs. The 'catch and release' concept did not exist to them. The only reason they had caught the daring human that went through the Coating process was because she had stumbled across them killing an ooman male who had spotted them. Since she was female, they decided to take her, which was unexpectedly not regrettable. If only all mistakes were as captivating as her.
Once they were back on the mothership, they would ask a certain price for the women and any takers would battle it out. The winner would pay whatever price it was for that ooman and get to take her to do whatever they wanted. Currency wasn't a deciding factor for the Yautja, but rather what they could offer. Normally, any sort of armor, weapons, metals, ship parts, rare foods, or even missions were requested in return for the oomans. Pretty much whatever the clan needed at the time or wanted as a luxury they would ask for in exchange for the oomans they had taken.
D'lex was a popular, durable metal that they asked for the oomans they found to be promising, along with a Ki'its-pa and Ki'cti-pa made of the rare metal; long lasting weapons were a Yautja's best friend. Promising oomans meant entertainment for some of the Bad Bloods who traveled solo, meaning they would pay that price to have them. The less promising oomans usually didn't earn Tichinde more than an old T'gou U'linja, a net gun to help capture more oomans. Almost a waste. The girl in Tracker's arm would fetch just that, so the loss wasn't much.
Entering a surgical room, slightly different from the one they Coated humans in, Tichinde placed the ill-tempered girl on one of the tables, using the straps in case she woke up. Walking over to Tracker, he looked at the ooman who continued to fight for her life, breathing in what air she could. Under the luminescent light, he could see just how bad her neck was. Bruising from where the thumbs had been pressing against her hyoid, seeing where the bone had broken and the blood had been swelling up in her neck.
Heading over to one of the cabinets on the wall, Tichinde opened up one of the metal doors before grabbing a syringe filled with radiant yellow liquids. The substance would be injected into the woman's neck, letting her feel pain free before drifting off to meet the Gods of her kind. She would be at peace.
With syringe in hand, Tichinde made his way over to the woman in Tracker's hold. Gently grabbing her cheek and turning it towards his comrade's body, she let out a muffled cry of pain. Taking the syringe, not letting the woman see it, he made contact with her skin. Her body jolted at the initial prick, but once the liquid started pouring into her body she calmed down. An instant numbness washed over her. Tichinde and Tracker watched her eyes until they closed. She was gone.
"Take her to the incinerator." Tichinde took the needle out of her neck, watching Tracker leave the room with the lifeless body in hand. His sights then turned to the girl on the table.
Because of her, he now lost two oomans. He and his clan would get nothing. She had wasted their time. Looking down at her, he didn't know whether she was worth the kill or if some Yautja would have any sort of use for her.
On one hand, she could be sold to a solo Bad Blood who really wanted a feisty challenge, an ooman that he couldn't read and was completely unpredictable. Her mind blanking out and her sad, primal, lunatic instincts taking over her. She would be fun for a day, but still wouldn't fetch a good price now that she had shown her true colors. Before doing this, he could have easily gotten a fairly decent trade from her, but now she wasn't worth as much. Even if he didn't tell the other Yautja what had happened, her manic state would say nothing but trouble.
On the other hand, he would get a little bit of satisfactory in killing her. She fucked him over and he was slightly offended by the action.
Her eyes opened.
Looking down at her, he saw the fear begin to flow into her eyes. His mandibles clicked together as he pondered what he wanted to do. He watched her face grow disgusted at his actions, only forcing him to cock his head to the side while continuing his eye contact. Through terror-filled eyes, she never broke her stare. "A Challenge."
Now that she had unknowingly made it clear that she was challenging him, he pondered how he would do it. He could mortally wound her, use a syringe and let her go peacefully, tear her to pieces joint by joint, skin her, rip off her head, unstrap her and let her try to flail around while he easily captured and killed her. The options were honestly endless. No matter what, there was no honor in this pathetic kill. So instead of wasting his efforts, he went back to the cabinet, dropped off his first syringe to grab another syringe, this time one filled with a fuchsia liquid.
Making no effort in hiding it from this ooman like he did the last, he let the syringe dance in front of her face. A lot of protests came from her as she struggled against the straps holding her down. Walking closer to her side, Tichinde grabbed her calf, injecting it in there instead of her neck. Starting at her leg would let the substance travel towards her entire body instead of letting her only feel a little bit of pain and then death if he injected it in at her neck.
Slowly pushing the liquid into her body, he watched her face as she began to scream out in pain. The fuchsia liquid was literally killing everything it came into contact with. Like cauterizing a wound, it burned her insides, stopping any sort of blood flow to the effected parts. Slowly making its way up her body, he watched as the effected skin began to turn black. Her body was on fire from the inside. When it had made it to her torso, her screams became even more audible as her organs began to catch fire, solidifying once the liquid passed through, doing its job. The screams of agony cut off when it hit her heart, her body finally ceased. She was dead. Watching the liquid continue to run through her body until it killed the entire host, he watched her once porcelain face blacken. "Ell-osde'pauk." Tichinde brought the syringe to the sink before thoroughly cleaning it, along with the first one.
"Good choice." Tracker spoke at the doorway, looking over at Tichinde cleaning the tools. "Bring this one to the incinerator too?" He started to unstrap the stiff, burned woman, picking her up. She was as stiff as a board, everything in her body had hardened. A worse effect than normal Rigor Mortis.
"Or shoot her off into Space, whichever you want to do." Tichinde didn't look at him, continuing his cleaning before placing them on the counter to dry off on top of a sponge textured cloth. He'd put them away later.
"Space it is." Tracker and Tichinde shared a laugh. The stench she would make in the incinerator wasn't worth it. She and her spirit could forever drift off into space, there was no honor in her. They were usually meticulous in not leaving any sort of trace of their existence anywhere, but once the liquid killed the host there was no tracking it. She looked burned. Why a human was in Outer Space could be for many reasons. There were a lot of intelligent species out there and Earth was a common hunting ground for a lot of them. Only if another Yautja came across her body would know what happened, and they were Bad Bloods so they really didn't care.
When Tracker found his way back to Tichinde, they went back to the room where this all had happened. Before everything had gone down, they were only minutes away from gathering them up. They were getting close to the mothership, just one more break for the humans and then it'd be time to line them up and get their trade for them. Stepping inside, the room was quiet as all eyes shifted to them. Starting with the first cell, they repeated their usual process.
"They're back." Cara whispered amongst the quiet room, making her voice barely audible to the other girls in the cell.
"And the other girls aren't." Alegra shifted in the cell, getting as far away from them as she could until her back hit the bars.
"That didn't take long." Eris watched as the first cell was more on edge this time as they went with the Predators. The first cell hadn't been this emotional since the beginning but with everything that had just taken place, she couldn't blame them. Hell, even she was nervous about going with them.
"What do you think they did to them?" Cara brought her knees to her chest.
"Whatcha think they did to 'em?" Alegra's southern accent only really thickened when she was uncomfortable. "They killed'em."
Bringing her hand to her throat, Eris felt the subtle, light scabs on her neck. When she was taken, she had a giant rip in her skin from one side of her jaw to the other. But instead of putting her down, the Predator easily injected something into her which stopped the bleeding and pain. Their technology was far more advanced than that of Humans, hell they even took off the first layer of her skin without killing her and got rid of all of her hair in one fair swoop. So, why get rid of the injured girl? She completely understood killing off the other one, if that is what they did, but why an innocent?
"It's only a matter of time until they kill us, too." The brown eyed girl let her chin rest upon her knees, no tears coming out. Learning about Cara, Eris knew that her anxiety was rising. Making her way over to her, she wrapped her arm around her.
"We haven't done anything wrong," Eris began rubbing her back, Alegra joining on the other side of Cara, "They haven't hurt us so far, so I doubt they'll start now. Something really bad happened and they had to intervene." Taking the rubber ball from her cleavage where it was secretly kept, she rubbed it against her tanned tunic before handing it to Cara.
Taking the ball in her hands, Eris watched as she began to play with it. It seemed to calm her a bit, being able to fidget with something. She was so young. Eris was only six years older than Cara, but those six years had a lot of learning and experience packed within them. She had been in the real world for a while now, everything out of your control, but the girl she was comforting had still lived at home with her parents, not having to face the teeth the world had to offer.
"Have you noticed the little skulls around their necks?" Eris looked at Cara's face, waiting for her to turn and look at her.
"That's not helping." She turned her face to Eris, wondering what the hell she was doing bringing up the skulls.
She scooted closer to Cara, whispering, "Do you think that they thought they were cute, so they slapped them on some string and began wearing it?" Eris let a smile creep across her face as she began to mock her captors.
Alegra burst out laughing, never thinking of that before. "Are you saying that those beasts are fuckin' fashionistas?!" She couldn't control the volume in her voice as it carried through the room, forcing her to cover her mouth while small snorts escaped her.
"Yeah, they walk around each other and give them compliments on their new necklaces." Cara added in, letting a smile stealthily come across her face as they all began to imagine the Predators showing off their new necklaces to each other.
"And when they get a new one and no one compliments it, they go to their rooms, throw themselves on their beds and start sobbin' because it took them forever to find that particular species to turn into jewelry!" Alegra's snorts were more frequent as the other two laughed with her.
"Like a bunch of high school girls." Eris added in, laughing at Alegra's comment while the other cells began to look at them as they were each taken by the Predators in the meantime.
"Does this string match my new skull? I really want it to match!" Cara's head tilted back as she laughed, a snort coming out of her as well, "And they hold up different strings to their friends while they ask!"
"Yeah Steve, that one matches way more than that one!" Alegra chimed in once more, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Steve?!" Eris could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as well as she tried to imagine the Predators having completely human like names. Just imagining one of them named 'Steve' as they walked in to grab another group sent more hilarious tears to her eyes as they peered over at them. "More like Chulonka or something." She whispered to where only Cara and Alegra could hear it.
"Chulonka?!" Alegra didn't control her tone as the Predators looked at them, all of them tearfully laughing uncontrollably.
"Bolong!" Cara couldn't keep herself maintained either.
As the three girls laughed, Eris hadn't felt this comfortable in a long time. Sure, they were captured, but in this moment, they were just three girls having fun. She knew it wouldn't last so she was going to soak it all up while she could. The future was unknown, but right now was certain and she was having a blast. Plus, mocking their captors made her feel better about it, being able to laugh it off and see them as something else like high school girls instead of ferocious killers, even if it was only for a little while.
"Lechuga!" Alegra created another one.
"That's lettuce in Spanish!" Eris fell to the ground, rolling to her back as she looked up at the ceiling, picturing the Predators with heads of lettuce.
"So? It sounds like something they would be called!" The blue-eyed girl defended her name, giggles nowhere near subsiding.
They laughed for what seemed like forever until they heard their cell unlock. With tear-filled eyes, they all looked over at the door in unison. The two Predators stood outside their open cage and just looked at them, not too certain on what the hell they were doing.
Standing up, they all wiped their tears from their faces as they began to march out of the cell and to the hallway, seeing that every other girl had made it back to their cells safely washed a wave of security over them. The cold metal beneath their feet felt good on their feet as they walked the all-too-familiar steps to their snacking room.
"Lechuga Cabesa." Eris whispered as they entered the room, breaking the tension so they could relax here. The other two girls began to snicker behind her, knowing that she had just called them Lettuce Heads. When they were fully in, they all marched over to the food table, except for Eris.
Staying behind, she wanted answers in what had happened, and since the crescent scarred Predator was there, she was going to try. He was the only one who understood her, but she knew he wouldn't know Spanish since there were no Spanish girls on the ship. Or at least she hoped.
"What happened to that girl." Eris looked way up at the crescent scarred Predator, he had to be over 7 feet tall. His large muscles rippling up his body, showing no signs of weakness in the slightest. His mottled skin was almost a work of art, swirling and fading into different directions, it all worked so beautifully together.
"Thei-de." Tichinde replied in his native tongue, seeing what the bold ooman would do in response.
"Cut the crap, I know you speak English." She spoke before she could think about it. Her hand cupping over her mouth before she slowly let her arms slip back down to her side. She had said it and now she had to own it. This is where Pike came into play.
Tichinde watched the ooman jolt as he let out a laugh, knowing that she could feel it throughout her body. Every time he let out a laugh for the first time around an ooman woman, their reactions were all the same. He understood what she had said, being used to ooman customs and weird speak. It wasn't the first time he was told to 'cut the crap', knowing that it didn't mean to actually cut S'yuit-de.
"Dead." His eyes met hers, watching her face drop in unison with what he had just said.
"Did she kill her?" Eris figured it must have been the case since she looked pretty bad when she left.
"H'ko," He shook his head at her, "We did."
Eris's eyes lit up as she cocked her head to the side in reaction. "Why? Could you not help her?" She looked at the table where the other girls were chatting, not paying her and the Predators any attention. She had just calmed down Cara that these creatures wouldn't harm her, and now he was telling her that he and the beast next to him had killed the innocent woman.
"Could help, didn't." He studied her face, her body, and her actions. Intrigued by this female, he noticed her bold actions and definitely took note of them. She was daring, and he liked it.
"Why didn't you?" She could feel her brow furrow as anger began to build up within her. She felt her heart begin to race, wondering why the hell they didn't help her when they were more than capable of doing so.
"Not worth it-"
"She was a life!" She spoke immediately after he finished his sentence, not giving him a chance to explain even though she knew he wouldn't. Eris tore her eyes from him, looking down at the ground, "All life is worth it, especially the innocent." She kept her head facing down, bringing her eyes to look back at him, fists clenching. Her eyes shifted between both Predators, but ultimately it landed and stayed on the crescent scarred one. Her eyes dropped down a bit to notice the little skulls that she and her friends had previously made fun of, but not a crack of a smile found her face. Knowing that they killed an innocent woman when they could have helped her only showed her that they were in fact killers. The skulls on their necks were little trophies. They were monsters.
"Not hers." Tichinde flinched a bit when she had used the word innocent. One of the rules he was raised on, a code that all Yautja were taught when they were younger and most lived by, was to never bring harm to an innocent. Those who have done no harm should have no harm done to them. With putting the woman down, it also loosely broke another law of theirs, to never kill the pregnant or sick. She was wounded, not by his own hand, but she would be considered sick since she wasn't at one-hundred percent functionality. Even though he was considered a Bad Blood, the rules were forever etched into his head.
Tichinde had never had an ooman strike him like that before, making him flinch at a word before. He wasn't expecting it. He had not seen an ooman woman act like this so early in their time with Yautja. It normally took years before one was as mouthy and bold as she was being. And for one to be able to affect him so much within the first few days of capture, he knew he would fetch quite a price from her, or even keep her for himself if she kept this up.
"Yes hers." She brought her face back up to meet his, speaking low after her outburst. "What you did was not fair. If you could have healed her, you should have." Her eyes never broke from his.
In Tichinde and Tracker's eyes, she was challenging him. By keeping eye contact, she was showing that she wanted to fight him, a fight she would easily lose. Jehdin Jehdin, one on one. An act like this would lead her to the ring, all armor off and hand to hand combat with him. Knowing oomans, though, Tichinde knew that she didn't know what her body language was saying to him in his language. She was upset, the fire in her eyes was clear enough to tell.
"Can't go back now." Tichinde ended the conversation, placing a hand on her delicate shoulder before turning her around and giving her a slight nudge to go take care of business before he would return her and the other two back to their cells.
"She challenged you," Tracker looked over at Tichinde as his hand left the ooman female, her gaze settling back on them before she walked towards the women. "Why did you let her?" Tracker had only been known as a Bad Blood for a couple of decades, not quite knowing the ooman customs like his leader Tichinde had. She was making a blatant offer for Jehdin Jehdin, he didn't know why he didn't put her in her place.
"She does not know she challenged me." Tichinde crossed his arms across his chest as he placed his back on the metal door, leaning against it. Since taking in Tracker, he had been confused by a lot of ooman ways. All of them that Tracker had encountered thus far had been passive and submissive, going with the flow as they cried and begged for everything to stop, to take them home. But this one was bold, showing Tracker a brand-new side of oomans that he had never seen before.
"Then what does she mean?" Tracker questioned while watching the ooman women from across the room, who periodically looked back at them.
"To find a reaction, to intimidate, to stay engaged in the conversation." Tichinde's eyes looked in the same spot that Tracker's were.
"Oomans are confusing." The amber-eyed Yautja mimicked his leaders', folding his arms and resting his back against the metal of their ship. It was easier for him to train Hell-Hounds than it was to understand these oomans.
Eris shot her eyes back at the two Predators when she heard the word 'ooman', knowing they were talking about her. Squinting her eyes, she shot them a glare before returning to the food on the table.
"What was that all about?" Alegra looked back with Eris, her eyes darting back forward to look back at the food before her friend did.
"Nothing." Eris looked back at the food, looking at what she wanted next. She wanted to keep the horrific news from the two women next to her, not wanting them to start worrying. If she was honest with herself, she knew that if they started to worry that she would start to worry too. The emotional mimic would come out and she didn't want that, she needed to stay level headed.
Taking a bite out of a purple, squishy looking thing, she set her food down before heading back to the restrooms. Closing the door behind her, she paced back and forth as thoughts began to race through her mind. She hated keeping this from the girls, but she knew she had to. She found herself being their emotional support program, but who would be hers? Though her friends offered her comfort, she knew they would not be able to handle her once she broke down. Depression was one hell of a thing.
Placing both of her hands on her head, she felt the hair on her head start to grow back. The velvet texture of the small hairs only reminding her of whose domain she was in. How could she have talked to the beasts like that? What was it about them that set her off? Better yet, how had Pike come so far to stare face to face with the devil himself? She was still amazed that she had yelled at them and stood her ground. If she was this Pike back on Earth, she didn't see herself being homeless for much longer.
Sitting down and relieving herself, she cleaned up before returning back outside with the two girls who had already done their business when she had been talking to the Predators. Picking up the food she had left on the table, she began to finish it before taking some water and letting it slip down her throat.
With the sound of the door opening, the three girls looked over at the creatures next to it; they knew it was time to go. Heading towards them, Eris again set her eyes on one of them, this time Tracker. His skin was different patterned than the crescent scarred one. His height was also superior than that of his kith and kin. His demeanor, more rugged and uncontrolled than him, too.
"Yeyin," Remembering what Tichinde had just said about the oomans and their behaviors, Tracker couldn't help but flare his mandibles at her as he spoke from deep within his gut, watching her unknowingly challenge him. "Ki'cte." He could at least beat a Hell-Hound, he unfortunately couldn't touch this one. He'd have to learn how to read oomans but throwing away all that he and his species were, the way they worked and perceived things, to make room for ooman culture was going to take some time. If he was able to throw away his code, he'd find a way to work with this, especially since it was his job.
"I don't know what you're saying." She broke eye contact with him as she passed by, following the other beast into the halls, eyes rolling deeply into her skull.
"He says you're brave to stare at him. He also told you that he has had enough of it." Tichinde didn't bother to look at the girl as she followed him.
"Then maybe he should stop staring back at me." Pike was taking more over her than she thought, not being able to stop the sass that she was throwing. She was pissed at them for the life of the innocent woman and that was something that wouldn't go away so quickly.
"Staring means challenge," She was a curious ooman, "If you stare at him, you are asking him to fight with you one on one." He listened intently to see if he could hear her breathing, studying the pattern, wanting to know if that intimidated her knowing that she had been challenging the greater species to a match.
Turning her head back to look at the Predator trailing behind, she noticed that Alegra and Cara had immediately brought their eyes to the ground. No one knew that excessive staring meant a challenge, and now that they knew it, they were trying their best not to look into the Predator's eyes. Eris, on the other hand, stared at him for a moment, now full knowing that it meant a contest.
Her hazel eyes looked deep within his as she continued to walk. A smile crept on her face when she saw him flaring his mandibles. "Thigh Day." She tried her best to speak the words that the crescent scarred one had spoken when describing the woman who had died. Obviously not being able to resemble the clicks in between the syllables, she spoke it the best way she could. So, she looked at him and said 'dead'.
Tichinde clicked his mandibles together at the amusement going on behind him. She was feisty, something he never experienced from their kind before. He never kept an ooman, so he only knew of them to be meek creatures, but this one was showing him what oomans could be. She was afraid, he could smell it, but her mouth was nothing but boldness. "Don't do it, Tracker."
Looking behind, he could see Tracker pissed as all get out. His mandibles were flared while his walk became even more purposeful. Tichinde could tell that he wanted to beat her into submission, to show her who was boss and what was appropriate to say to him. He used to be that way, too. After centuries, Tichinde learned how to center himself, to find his zazin. It was rare for an ooman to anger him, it hadn't happened since his excursion where he was labeled a Bad Blood on Ryushi. Either way, he knew exactly what Tracker was feeling, though since he was on the outside looking in, it was quite comical. He remembered when he couldn't calm himself, it wasn't unlike Yautja kind to rage about. Tracker would learn, and if he didn't and he tried to kill an ooman, he would stop him. Bad Blood or not, this was a business and she would fetch quite a trade.
"What did you say to him?" Eris tested to see what kind of mess she had caught herself in. She could feel the heat off of him, knowing that she struck a nerve. The smell that started to fill the hallway also made her realize that she had done something to piss him off. At the moment, she didn't care. The Predator in front of her seemed to get a laugh out of it, so she figured she was at least safe for now.
"Not to kill you." Tichinde faced back forward, closing in on the prison room.
Looking back once more at him, she brought her sights to the girls who were in turn looking at her. When Alegra mouthed 'calm down', Eris shifted her eyes to the floor before nodding. She could have potentially put them all in danger, and she really needed to calm down. She had no idea her blood was boiling. "Thank you." She spoke to the one in front of her. It was most likely because of him that they weren't slaughtered. He was enjoying the abuse while the other one wanted to cause some abuse to her. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm herself.
Being ushered back into the cage, Eris made sure to give no more eye contact to either of them. She didn't want to cause any more trouble than she already had, and she was surprised at the amount that she had already done.
"What was that about?" Alegra asked when the Predators took the remaining two women from the screaming cell and took them out of the room.
"Honestly," Eris sank down against the bars until her butt hit the floor, "I have no idea. I just felt this rage take over me and I couldn't help but reply back exactly how I wanted."
"You can't do that, this isn't Nolan, they aren't human." Alegra's voice was stern, the first time she had heard it this way. "We could have been hurt or killed because of that."
"I know," Eris looked at Alegra and Cara who were both sitting a couple feet from her. "I won't do it again." She knew she had to get whatever was going on with her under control. Was she finally standing up for herself since Nolan? Because if so, this was not the time or the place for redemption.
"It's okay this time since nothin' happened, but next time we might not be so lucky." Alegra crawled next to her, showing support rather than anger. Cara trailing along.
"It was cool to see that we can strike a nerve, though." Cara surprisingly added in, "Made me feel more than Human for a moment. An equal to them." She smiled at both Alegra and Eris, who both looked at each other with confusion before looking back at her.
"Not gonna' lie, it was." Alegra concurred. "But no more, or at least in moderation." She lightly shoulder checked Eris.
"Thanks guys." Eris felt their acceptance once more, happy that they weren't mad at her for too long. Though she was older than the two of them, they balanced her out. Had they not been there, she would have continued and possibly got herself killed, and that definitely wouldn't help her in any way, shape, or form. "The Lechuga Cabesas can't handle all of this."
They shared another laugh before each of them laid down. Alegra and Cara were still tired from being suddenly woken up with the screaming cell, and Eris was never sleeping anyway so she was even more tired than the two of them. With everything that had just transpired, now that it had calmed down she could feel her body crave sleep.
Resting her head in the crease of her inner elbow, Eris let her suddenly heavy eyes shut. Taking in a few deep breaths, she knew that she would be asleep at any point. A yawn escaped her mouth, solidifying that she was about to pass out. Letting the sound of her friends' breathing and the faint cries and protests of the other cells of women being taken to get food and use the restroom lull her to sleep, it was only mere moments before all of her consciousness faded from her.
A/N: If you want to read more, please leave a comment. This has been a read help with my writer's block xD