Happy Almost Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! Happy normal day to those who don't!
Thank you so much for the kind PMs I've been getting from some of you! It makes me happy to know that you are enjoying this so far. Please, comment and let me know what you think because feedback is just about everything to me!
Heavy eyes began to open, scanning the room with blurred vision before her sights cleared up; sitting up, Eris knew that she had slept hard. It was weird for her when she realized that this was the best sleep that she had had in months. Never in a million years would she imagine that sleeping on this metal floor would have been better than sleeping on the grass outside or even a cot in a shelter. She was also surprised that she had gotten any sleep on this ship at all. Normally, people don't fall asleep unless they know they are safe, since anything can happen when you're knocked out. But here she was, sleeping like she had never slept before. Maybe it was because she knew at this point nothing worse could happen to her, she was already taken by a foreign race and locked up in a cage heading to god knows where; this was the hardest she would have it and if not, her friends in the cell would wake her up before anything bad could happen. Looking over at her friends who were talking to each other on the other side of the cell, she brought both of her fists to her eyes to rub them.
"How long was I out for?" She brought her still sleepy eyes to the girls before scanning the room, letting her eyes fall on the cell where the girl was murdered. The poor girl thought that she could sleep and nothing worse could happen to her, it was awful what had happened. What once contained four girls now only had two.
"Not too long, I'd say about a couple hours or so." Alegra brought her arm in front of her to look at an imaginary watch.
"Having no real sense of time is annoying." Cara laughed at Alegra's actions before resting up against the bars.
"You got that right. Has it been a minute or an hour? We will never fricken know." Alegra brought her hand down back to her lap before standing up to make her way to sit next to Eris. "You might be used to it though, right? Since you were homeless and all."
Knowing she didn't mean any offense, Eris thought about how she had no real sense of time when she was on Earth. The key difference, though, was she could gauge what the time was by where the sun was. Sure, in the summer the sun really never went down, but she at least had an idea of what time it was. "I guess you could say that."
"I hate not knowing how long we have been here." Eris and Alegra looked over at Cara as she began to make her way over to sit next to them, sandwiching Alegra in the middle.
"You better get used to it, I have a feelin' they don't have clocks on Predatoria." The two girls on the outside looked in at Alegra as she spoke.
"Predatoria?" Eris could feel the corner of her mouth lift in a smile. First Alegra called the creatures 'Predators', then she called this place the 'Intergalactic Slave Trade', and now she was calling the planet they were probably going to 'Predatoria'. Eris couldn't help but admire her creative mind. If they were back on Earth, she was sure that Alegra would love a conversation with Crazy Suzy, and Eris would love to sit in and listen.
"Well where else would the Predators take us? Vermont?" Alegra shot a blue-eyed look over at Eris.
"Vermont?" Eris immediately asked right after Alegra had finished her sentence. She wasn't wrong, but she was comedically unsure where Vermont had come into the picture. "I just figured you'd call it 'Lechuga Cabesa-land' or something." Her half smile turned into a full grin.
"Could you imagine if after all this time, they really were bringing us to Vermont?" Cara piped up, looking at the two other girls next to her.
"I would eat all of the maple candy with absolutely no regrets!" Alegra slouched a little, placing her hands on her stomach while imagining being filled to the top in maple candies.
"Oh yeah, well hey there humans, this is Vermont. Why don't we all go outside and tap a tree for syrup?" Cara spoke, pretending to be a Predator with a robotic voice.
"And here, take this bouquet of Red Clovers!" Eris Added, "Oh look, a Hermit Thrush just flew by!"
"WHY DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT VERMONT?!" Alegra began to laugh at Eris' useless Vermont information.
"Back in the day when I was in elementary school, we all had to do a state project. We all picked a state out of a hat and I got Vermont. I never thought I'd ever use the information learned, but here I am throwing out some facts." She laughed as well, never thinking she would use the information she learned in elementary school about a state she had never been to in in an alien spaceship surrounded by captured humans.
"What else do you know about Vermont?" Cara asked.
"You know that singer JoJo?"
"The one who sang the 'Get Out' song?"
"Yep, she was born in Vermont."
"WHY DO YOU KNOW THAT SHE WAS BORN IN VERMONT?" Alegra started to laugh again. "I highly doubt you learned that in elementary school. Was she even famous then?" Her tone calmed down, but the laughter stayed up.
"I never said I learned that fact in elementary school, she just asked if I knew any other facts about Vermont." Eris couldn't help but stare at Alegra, who was still just laughing away. Quickly peering around the room, she noticed that the other cells were glaring at them. How dare they have fun in this hell.
"She didn't become famous for a while after, right?" Cara asked again.
"I know useless facts about Vermont, not JoJo." A laugh escaped Eris's mouth once more. They had to find something to talk about in the boring cell, and this was the topic it seems they had chosen. Again, Eris knew that if it wasn't for this cell, she would be in far worse shape.
The laugh was short lived when the sound of the door opening from across the room echoed in the metal walls. As Eris looked over at it, she could tell that there was something different about this encounter. A typical Predator visit had only two of the creatures, but this time five of them had stepped in. She recognized the crescent moon one right away, along with the amber-eyed one she hashed it out with earlier, but the other three were a mystery to her. She had probably seen them before, but they all looked the same since she had no real memorable encounter with them.
One by one, the Predators began to open up the cells, escorting the girls out and lining them up at the door. This was something that they hadn't done before. Looking over at Alegra and Cara to see if they had any idea what was happening, Eris became concerned when they had no answers for her. It looked like they were all in this for the first time together.
The order in which they unlocked the cells was different, too. Normally they opened one side all the way down, then started with the back of the other side and made their way back to the front. Not this time. Starting at random cells and making their way throughout the room, Eris watched as they specifically lined up each of the girls the way they wanted instead of just letting them lineup themselves randomly. After all of the other cells were done, they noticed that they had left their cell for last. When the crescent scarred one made his way to the cell, they all watched as he unlocked it, letting the metal door swing open. Standing up, they knew that they had to get in line. When Eris tried to go first, she was stopped. Looking up at the creature blocking her path, her heart began to race a little bit at her sudden stop. With his other hand, the Predator gestured for Cara to get in line first, then Alegra, and lastly Eris.
"Why am I last?" She asked the creature, knowing he could understand her and reply if he chose.
Tichinde looked down at her. He could see the stubble of her hair growing back, leaving her head with a darker complex on the top from when he first removed the hair. "Because you are last." He replied as he gave a nod to the Yautja at the front of the line, signaling that the oomans were all ready to leave, ignoring the girls' glares at him in confusion as the line began to slowly walk out of the room.
This was a moment Tichinde was most excited about. They had finally made it to a neutral Bad Blood clan ship. This ship was filled with other Bad Blooded clans selling goods from whatever trade they dabbled in. Clans from around the universe would gather here to sell or trade, whatever they needed the could probably find here. He was excited to get rid of this lot of oomans, knowing full well he and his crew would take a vacation from it before returning next season to start the process over again.
It had been a while since he had a good hunt and he knew he was ready for one. This business of his kept him well stocked, but it grew tiring to have to babysit the soft little things. Each time he saw them, he knew that there was absolutely no competition between him and them. They were scared, meek little things and he was far superior. Looking down at the saucy ooman, he thanked his luck that at least one of them gave him some entertainment, especially on his last trip of the season which was usually filled with annoyance and aggravation.
Looking over her shoulder, Eris could see the Predator staring down at her. Her stomach turned a little before she brought her sights back to the line. She didn't like thinking about what he was probably thinking about. Was he making fun of her? Mocking her? Planning on cutting her up and eating her tonight? A shiver coursed through her body at the thought. Hopefully, he wasn't thinking about her at all, even though he was looking straight at her.
Focusing on her surroundings, she was familiar with the part of the ship they were on, but it didn't take long for her to notice the familiarity wash away. Peeking her head around the side of the line to see the very front of it, her eyes winced when she saw a brand-new type of light enter the ship through the open door. Clenching them shut for a moment, she began to blink rapidly to try to get used to the light faster to see what was out there.
All of the girls in line had the same reaction to the light, stopping the line and its progress outside. It wasn't long until the Predators began to push each human forward, Eris included, to get them off of their ship. When her eyes were fully adjusted, she felt her entire body sink into the floor at the sight of all of the Predators lingering in whatever sort of place this was. It resembled a market to her, some sort of sick and twisted market with a bunch of foreign things at different weird looking stands.
Predators of all sizes and colors roamed about, making her stomach clench even more than she thought it could. How was it that there were so many of them? While on the ship, she was surrounded by humans and regularly saw a couple Predators here and there but the humans outnumbered the beasts. Now, she was surrounded by Predators every which way she looked. Behind her, Predators. To her left, Predators. To her right, Predators. In front of her, oh hey look, how shocking, Predators! Not only was she surrounded by them, they were all looking at her like she was a piece of meat. She had felt imprisoned by these creatures, but this was the first time she really felt like she was just a piece of meat to them. It had never really occurred to her that this was an actual race of beings, but seeing this population she knew there had to be more out there and that thought alone killed all hope for her. Hope to go home, though she already knew that was out of the picture unless she convinced one of them to take her back, like a 90-day return policy. Hope to live. Hope to ever feel joy again. All of it.
Looking around the weird alien market, Eris ran into the back of Alegra when she hadn't noticed that the line had stopped moving. Peeking her head once more to the front of the line, she watched as a Predator stopped the line and began to usher the first girl into the door that blocked the rest of the women. "Crap, sorry" Eris spoke as Alegra looked behind her to see what was happening. "Do you think it's a new ship or what?" She was confused on where the girl had gone.
"I don't know, it could be or we're all about to die." Alegra whispered, her accent still strong under the hushed tones.
"You're really calm if we're all about to die." Eris studied her friend's facial expression. She seemed stone cold, even though the market ship was hot as can be. It's exactly how she felt when she was first brought into the ship only days ago. "Maybe it's Vermont." She tried to lighten the mood, seeing Alegra's posture relax a little.
"Thanks, I needed that." She took in a deep breath, "I think I am more shocked than scared right now. There are so many of them that I am surprised my legs let me get this far." Her blue eyes looked at Eris with sadness in them.
"It's going to be-" Eris tried to comfort her friend before the Amber-eyed Predator interrupted. Looking up at him, she shot him a surprised glare.
"Quiet." Tracker spoke as he looked at the troublemaker below him. She had caused him nothing but inconvenience their whole time together that now she was about to be sold off, he wanted her to be quiet. She was almost gone and he couldn't be happier. She would fetch the clan a great price and that is all she was good for. She would soon be someone else's problem, to hunt and kill or keep as a pet companion; he didn't care which.
"Only speaking up as we're getting rid of them?" Tichinde spoke as he made his way from checking on the front of the line to the back to make sure everyone was accounted for, which was surprisingly in his favor. Typically, one or more oomans would try to run off, sneak off, or something of the sort, but this batch had really been easy. Even with the whole incident of one female attacking another female, this trip was a breeze.
"My patience is running thin with this one." Tracker kept his challenging eyes on the ooman below. Even though he knew that she didn't know she was challenging him, he kept his gaze. A challenge was a challenge and he wasn't about to get in the habit of backing down from an ooman just because they didn't know what they were doing. He would keep his stare and keep his dominance, if anyone was breaking contact, it would be her.
"Just a little bit more time and she'll be out of your hands." Tichinde placed a hand on his comrade's shoulder. Tracker was still getting used to the trade and was a valuable Yautja to have on his team.
Letting go of his shoulder, Tichinde made his way back to the front of the line and through the door where he had just placed the first female. It was time for him to get rid of his lot and he couldn't be more thrilled about it. Taking the female's arm, he gently placed her for all of the gathered Yautja to see. She tried to run off as soon as he took his hand off of her, but he easily brought her back and forcibly made her stand still until she got the picture that she wasn't about to go anywhere.
Looking out into the room that was slowly filling with Yautja, Tichinde waited a moment before he would speak. He had been in this rooms hundreds if not thousands of times. He had seen countless Yautja battle on the raised, circular platform in the middle of the room for his product. It was one of his favorite things to watch: Jehdin, Jehdin.
"Meek, emotional, submissive. Anything but a challenge this one. Whatever you want of her, she'll do out of fear, as you can see from her display moments ago. A fair trade for her would be a T'gou U'linja, made from whatever material." He spoke as more Yautja began to walk in, seeing what this clan had to offer. "Any takers?"
When he had finished speaking, he watched as a Yautja made his way into the center of the ring that the crowd surrounded. Standing there and waiting for a challenger to challenge him for this ooman, he was awarded the rights to the female when no one stepped up to fight for her to be their property. Handing the Net Gun over to one of Tichinde's men, he smiled as this game was just starting. He loved starting out with the ones he knew wouldn't fetch him or his clan a good price first before getting to the nitty gritty. As the females would come out, the challenges would increase for their right to trade for them. Nodding his head at one of his clan members to continue on, he brought another ooman out to repeat the process.
"What do you think is happening to them?" Cara turned her head back to look at both Alegra and Eris.
"We're going to find out soon. The front of the line is disappearing and it is only a matter of time before we're next." Alegra replied back, keeping her eyes forward.
"Do you think it's a procedure like when we got our hair taken off?" Cara faced forward after making eye contact with the Predator behind Eris.
"Maybe. I really don't want to find out and just knowing that I will here soon scares the shit out of me." Alegra admitted.
Taking her hand and extending it forward, Eris began to hold Alegra's from behind her. She hadn't experienced this side of Alegra this whole endeavor, so she could tell that she was really scared. Hell, she was too, but she knew if she started to show that emotion that all hell would break loose for her. She had done good this far, thanks to the two girls in front of her, that she felt it almost natural to stay calm for their sake. "We'll make it through this, guys." Eris watched as Alegra repeated the process to hold Cara's hand from behind with her other hand. "Whatever they put us through, we can do it. We're badasses, remember!" Her voiced raised slightly above a whisper.
Taking her free hand, she brought her digits to her cleavage to retrieve the ball that had kept the girls sane in their times of boredom. Placing it between her and Alegra's hand, she let go when it was fully in the Blue-eyed girls' grasp. When Alegra looked back to give a smile and nod to Eris, she couldn't help but smile back.
Looking forward again, she noticed that it was starting to take longer and longer for each one of the girls to get ushered through the door. She couldn't fathom why it took some longer than the others to be able to enter, and it frankly started to concern her. What could have been a simple thing like when they got their hair taken off was turning into thoughts of torture or something. Crazy Suzy could have probably told her what was going on here. If she ever made it back to Earth, she'd have to take her classes.
As each one of the women made it through the door, it was Cara's time to go through. Eris could feel her heart start to beat rapidly as they were about to take Cara away from her. Breaking out of the small line, Eris moved past Alegra to hug Cara. "You can do this, you'll be okay! We're right behind you." She squeezed tightly before the Predator from behind grabbed her and forced her back into the line where she once was. She watched as Cara turned back with tearful eyes. Eris knew she was saying 'goodbye' with them since she was about to be placed into the unknown. "It'll be okay." She whispered before Cara was completely out of sight, the door closing and separating them.
Eris brought her hand back to hold Alegra's. She tried to steady her breathing as she felt her heart sink. She couldn't believe that it was just the two of them now, and soon she'd be by herself. She held onto the hope that they would be reunited and that she would feel silly for feeling this way in the near future.
What felt like hours had passed until the door opened so that they could take Alegra. Squeezing her hand tightly before flipping her friend around so that she could hug her, too, she could feel Alegra trembling in their embrace. "You got this! If we could make it through that ship, you can make it through Predatoria!" It took the Amber-eyed predator to pull the two apart. "You'll be okay!" Her whisper was no longer as she spoke her words fully to Alegra, who was speechless. Eris could see the absolute terror in her eyes as she, too, was taken through the door.
She was alone. Eris began to tremble as she stood there; no one in front of her and no one behind her. She wondered why she didn't say her goodbyes to them, why did she just say that everything was going to be fine when she had no idea that it was going to be? She shook her head as her eyes made their way to the door that she would be entering in only a matter of moments. Feeling dreadful tears begin to well up in her eyes, she tried to look up to get rid of them, not wanting to start to panic now. For all she knew, everything would be fine. It would be her and the other two embracing in a reunion hug.
The longer she stood outside the door, the more alone she felt. This was the first time she had been alone throughout this journey. She wasn't good when she was by herself. Thoughts of what was about to come started filling her head as her breathing began to increase. She wanted someone to be behind her right now to let her know that it was okay, that everything would be fine, but instead she had an angry Predator behind her. Desperate to feel someone's hand reach out and hold hers, Eris tried her best to summon Pike. She needed to be brave, she needed to survive, she needed to live. Staring at the door in front of her, she began to try to even her breathing, to toughen up before she would go in there. She could feel Pike slowly trying to surface.
The door opened.
Looking up at the Predator that would take her, she started to immediately walk through the door before he could try to pull her through it like he had done to all of the girls prior to her. She was making the choice to go in by herself, that way she wouldn't panic. If she thought and felt like she was in control, it would make whatever was about to happen easier. She wasn't forced through the door, she chose to enter it. Pseudo freedom was the only way she could think of it, but freedom still. A conscious choice to take control back for her by eliminating it from the Predators. This was Pike.
As she walked through the metal door, she turned the same way every other girl had gone and walked straight down a black, metal hallway until she reached one more door that opened as soon as she was mere feet from it. Her eyes grew as she found herself walking towards the Crescent scarred Predator with a crowd of other Predators watching her every move. Taking her eyes from him, she looked down at the creatures below her. When she was in the market only moments ago, there were a ton of Predators walking around, but it was nothing compared to who was in here.
Scanning the room, she noticed a circular platform in the middle of it with electric green splattered all across it. She had no idea what was happening, but her heart sank when she didn't see any of her friends. Continuing to walk towards the familiar beast, her eyes stayed on the creatures below as their yells and groans filled and echoed within the metal walls. "What's going on here?" Eris asked the Predator who she knew would understand her and reply as she stopped right in front of him, folding her arms across her chest. She was uncomfortable to say the least, but at least this position didn't come across as too weak in front of the beasts who looked at her like she was a buffet.
"You'll see soon enough." Tichinde looked down at her before scooting her over a few feet on her own platform where the other females had stood before her.
Looking out into the crowd, Tichinde brought his hands up to silence everyone. "Lastly, we have this female. Strong, stubborn, iron-willed. It is because of this ooman that the other two before her had turned out the way they did. Curiosity is what fuels her. She has asked me several questions since being taken and has pissed off Tracker a time or two." He stopped as he peered over at Tracker while the crowd began to rile up once more. "Asking for D'lex and lots of it for equal trade on this-"
"Pike!" a voice began to scream out from the crowd. "Pike, help me! Please!" Cara began to scream through the crowd as Eris watched a Predator carrying her on his shoulder, heading out of the room.
"Cara!" Eris felt her voice crack as her attention was taken off of the foreign words the Crescent scarred Predator was saying and to her friend being carried out. "Cara hold on!" without even thinking, she began to climb over the metal bar that safely kept her from falling off of it and into the crowd below. Launching herself off of the platform she was on, she felt as her body was caught by the creatures below. "Let go!" She began to kick and try to get out of their grasp to make it to her friend. "I'm coming! Cara! Get the fuck off of me! Let her go! Cara!" Her voice cracked again as she screamed over the loud bellows of the Predators in the crowd.
All fear had left her body the moment she heard her friend calling for her. As she stood on the stage and watched her friend calling out to her, she did what her body felt was natural, and that was helping her friend. "She's just a kid! Let me go to her!" She struggled as she felt her body lift up off of the Predator that she landed on, feeling her body fling into the air for a couple of moments until the Crescent Predator caught her to bring her back on the stage, safely behind the bar she had previously jumped over. "Please, let me go to her! She's innocent!" She still tried to fight her way to her friend.
"Pike!" Cara's voice echoed throughout the room once more before the Predator that held her finally made it out of the room. And just like that, she was gone.
"Fuck!" Eris screamed out, elongating the word to last loudly for a couple of seconds as her hands white knuckled the bar in front of her as the Predator behind her remained holding onto her waist. She didn't know what she was feeling. When she had watched Cara go earlier, there was a possibility that everything was going to be okay. But to see her friend screaming for her to help her broke her heart and only confirmed that it was not going to be fine. Looking up at where Cara left the room with teary eyes, she shot a look back up at the Predator next to her. "Fuck you!" She spat out as she fought back tears of anger. "Fuck you and your entire fucking race! You're all cowards!" She couldn't help her anger anymore. She was like a mama bear and someone had just messed with her cub. Turning to look at the crowd of Predators, she brought up her right hand and began to flip them all off before retuning her sights to the Crescent one. Pike was definitely out.
It took her a moment of staring up at the Predator before her senses kicked back in, the room was louder than ever. Taking her hate filled gaze, she decided to share it with the rest of the room again. They all stared at her and seemed to be watching for what she would do next. Their mandibles flaring with each holler they made her way. She didn't know what they were saying, but she knew what she wanted to say to all of them.
In all of the years Tichinde had been doing this, he had never seen what had just transpired. Looking down at the girl, he couldn't believe that she flung herself into a crowd of Bad Blooded Yautja warriors to try to help her friend. Her chances of making it to her was infinity to none, yet she still took her chances. Listening to the crowd and bringing his eyes back to them, he repeated, "D'lex, and lots of it!" He watched as the crowd practically began to beat each other up just to get on stage. She had made quite the display, and it excited damn near all of the Yautja in the room. If he couldn't physically see it, he could definitely smell it.
Eris watched as the foreign creatures began to make their way on top of the platform before going apeshit on each other. She watched as two of the Predators began to beat the shit out of each other, learning what and where all of the electric green came from that plastered the floor. When one of them had fallen, the next would come up and challenge.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Why were they all fighting each other? She watched on as her knuckles stayed white in reaction to what she was seeing. She had no clue as to what the hell was going on. "What the hell is going on?!" She decided to ask.
"They are fighting for you." Tichinde looked down at the ooman female before looking back to see who would win this round, knowing that there would be many. It was custom to avail in a fight and pay the price for a trade for an ooman female. If many Yautja wanted to pay what was asked for an ooman, then only the strongest would get what they wanted.
"Why the hell are they fighting for me?" Eris looked at the crowd, now knowing what the hell was going on. But now she wanted to know 'why the hell'. "Is this some sort of Intergalactic Slave Trade?" She couldn't believe Alegra was right in this. Not for the fact that she was stupid, because she wasn't, but for the fact that how the hell was this an Intergalactic Slave Trade?!
"Because of what you just did." Tichinde kept his eyes on the crowd, watching one injured and defeated Yautja get pulled from the stage while another went up. "You could say that." Oomans had interesting ways of putting things.
"How did what I just do rile them up?" She had no clue as to why her display would cause them to want her more. If anything, she figured they would want her less for seeming too unruly.
"We Yautja like a challenge." He brought his eyes down to meet hers. The look in them didn't seem frightened, more curious than anything. She was angry, that was apparent, but he was fascinated at all of her curiousness. "And you are a challenge."
"Yautja?" She knew she bastardized his language but didn't frankly care. "Is that what you call yourselves?"
"You Ooman, we Yautja." He confirmed.
"Predator, Yautja, I don't give a flying fuck. I just want to save my friends." She let go of the bars as she continued to watch the creatures fight in front of her. She felt drained. There was so much going on between being separated from her friends, having giant aliens fight in front of her for her, the yelling in the crowd, and just the down right anger and confusion her entire body was going through. Her adrenaline was wearing off and she didn't like the after effects of it. Taking in a deep breath, she sat down on the small, circular platform that she was on, crisscrossing her legs. Placing her elbows on her thighs, she placed her head in her hands. This was exhausting.
Tichinde felt his eyes drifting more towards her than the fight going on. He was conflicted for the first time in his career of taking these oomans. He had never owned one because they were far too overemotional and complicated for him, but here she was tempting his every fiber. On one hand, if he didn't like her, he could always trade her away. On the other hand, he couldn't bear the thought of missing this opportunity and it turn out that she was an asset to him. He was moments from leaving the Clan ship and taking off on a hunt of his own, it might be nice to have company for it. He looked up to see the last Yautja standing on stage with no one else coming up to challenge him. This was his one and only chance. Looking once more at her, he made his decision.
Jumping down off of the stage where the oomans were kept for showing, Tichinde landed on the ground before making his way up to the stage to face the bloodied Yautja. "Looks like I am your last competitor."
"Competitor?" The bloodied Yautja spoke. "You never even made it through your Chiva, Tichinde."
The Yautja in front of him was referring to his time spent on Ryushi. It was when he was a young Yautja, trying to pass his Chiva to become a blooded warrior. An ooman ended up blowing their ship up, injuring his then clan leader and killing two blooded Yautja. Since all leaders were dead or down for the count, Tichinde stepped up and led the others in battle, which ended in them all dying. Nearly escaping, he was labeled a Bad Blood by Dachande who ended up surviving his thought-to-be-fatal injuries.
"That's a lot of talk for someone with a past like yours." Tichinde replied. The comment the Yautja in front of him would have bothered him had this been years ago, but he had accepted his past and since then have defeated xenomorphs. "See this scar on my head? I kill Bad Bloods all the time, you will be no different."
"I will be no different?" The two Yautja began to walk the outer rim of the circular platform. "You say this to be a match to the death?"
"I'll let you decide that when I'm standing over you, waiting to unleash the final blow or let you walk with your tail tucked between your legs!" Tichinde jumped across the platform to his opponent, landing a quick blow to his head.
With her head still in her hands Eris looked with wide eyes at what was happening in front of her. What the hell was that Crescent Predator doing? Slowly standing up, she began to hold onto the bars once more as she watched the two battle it out. More and more green blood began to cover the platform with each punch, kick, and scratch that each of them presented to the other.
"What are you doing, fighting for my honor? Get the hell off of that thing!" Eris couldn't even begin to fathom that these creatures were fighting over her, let alone why that particular Predator was fighting for her. This whole thing made absolutely no sense and she wasn't about to get used to it. She stared at them, not being able to take her eyes off of what was happening.
"You hear that, she doesn't even want you." The almost champion spoke to Tichinde as they continued their battle dance with each other.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll be quiet!" Tichinde spoke to the female ooman back on her own platform as he continued to fight the brute in front of him. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he did know that she had no idea what she was talking about. "If she knew what we both had planned for her, she would choose me over you any day." He spoke back to his opponent.
"You know what's good for me? Not being here!" Tichinde heard the ooman shouting back at him, not being able to help but roll his eyes at the distraction she was making back there.
"And what do you know of my plans?" Taking his leg, he quickly jabbed it in Tichinde's side, forcing him to fall to a knee before quickly regaining his balance, backing up to dodge a striking blow.
"You've traded for quite a bit of my ooman women before, in fact you got on last season. Seeing as you don't still have the female, I assume they're all dead." Tichinde forced another fist at the Yautja.
"And you plan on her living for more than a season?" He spit blood out of his mouth before trying to lunge after Tichinde once more.
"I take care of my things." Wiping the blood from his brow that was falling into his eye, Tichinde knew that this idol conversation needed to end.
Continuing to watch the two in front of her, Eris brought her face back to the crowd. She was relieved that they were all ignoring her now and watching the fights. Turning her head around to see if the Amber-eyed predator was still watching her, she saw that he was nowhere to be found. In fact, there was no one watching her at all. Slowly backing away from the stage and into the hallway she had entered in, she began to wonder if she was making the right move. On the one hand, she could stay and get claimed by whoever won the match. On the other hand, she could leave and try to hide somewhere to only eventually be found and be claimed by whoever won the match.
If she stayed, she was only sealing her fate that this would be her life and she would look back on this moment and wonder why she didn't try to do anything that would possibly help her escape. But if she were to go, she could also look back on this moment and wonder why she didn't stay and just accept her fate because when they find her, she could go through some serious punishment. Weighing her options, she figured that both would result in her death in some sort of way, plus the Predators seemed to like the unpredictable fighter, so she found no harm in trying to get out. Turning around, she headed down the black metaled wall to find the door she entered in from, noticing that that too was unarmed, so she boldly walked right through it.
Instant regret.
What she didn't take in account was the fact that on this side of the door were Predators that didn't know why she was here. As she stood there looking at the Predators walking by, she turned around to try to reenter the fight club room. Locked.
Sighing deeply at her choices, Eris turned back around and looked at the whole marketplace with wide eyes, subtly being able to hear the roars from inside the room she was just in. There was nowhere to go from here, so she just began to walk around. She knew if she were to run, she would be an instant target for these creatures to look at, but if she walked around like she belonged here, confidently, and knew what she was doing, they would probably leave her alone. Probably…
As she began her fearful stroll, she tried not to meet the gaze of any of the creatures. She didn't know where she was going, but she was definitely curious about a lot that was happening. In one section she saw the Predators cutting open weird creatures, taking their organs out and seemed to be selling them. Another section had weird materials being sold. In a different section, she saw what seemed to be plants that they were selling. Walking over to that one, she peered at the booth from afar, trying to see what plants they were offering. When her eyes met the Predator that was running the place, she backed up and began to walk the other way, hoping he would leave her alone.
"Ooman." She heard the Predator call from behind her. Stopping in her tracks, she knew if she continued to walk away that she would be followed. Turning around, she looked over at the Predator at the plant booth. Walking back over to him, she was hoping that she seemed less suspicious this way since she knew he was calling for her and that 'ooman' and 'human' were the same thing.
"Yeah, what's up?" She stopped a few feet from the booth, trying her best to not look like she was shaking and hyperventilating.
"Where Yautja?" The way he was talking made Eris realize that this one didn't really know English, which could definitely go in her favor. Had she not just been on a ship for days with these creatures, she knew that this would be a very different situation.
"He's over there getting some materials." Eris pointed to the section where random metals were being sold; it was a big enough section where she didn't have to specifically point one of them out. She was happy she had just learned the word 'Yautja' because if not, she wouldn't know how the hell to respond. She felt like she was a lost kid in a store where the employees bend their knees to be on the same level as the child to ask them where her parents were.
"Naxa?" The Predator picked up what looked like a piece of fruit and showed it to her.
"Thigh day?" Eris remembered talking to the Predators earlier on the ship when the girl had died. They had said 'thigh day' referring to Death. She remembered these words because she kept thinking in her head 'thigh day is death day' referring to leg day workouts, which she was happy she did because she just had to use it to see if what he was offering her would cause her death. She was a bit proud of herself, being able to have a conversation with the being in front of her.
The Predator shook his head at her. Walking up to him, Eris gently brought her hand up before taking the fruit from his hands. Claws? "Thank you." She spoke as she looked down at the food in her hand. She wondered if he had just lied to her and this would kill her. Either way, she figured she was going to die in her near future anyway, so she had no qualms with eating the food. Plus, she was on the hungry side. Taking the fruit to her mouth, she took a bite. As the juice from the fruit flowed through her mouth, she brought her eyes back to the Predator who gave it to her. "This is pretty good, thanks again!"
So far, she felt no effects of death upon her, figuring that it would have been instant and not grueling. If she could keep this up, she could live in this marketplace forever. Whenever someone asked where her Predator was, she could just point to a crowd and get free food. Turning around to see what else the marketplace had in store for her, Eris stopped in her tracks, dropping her Naxa on the floor. As she looked up, she saw a very green Crescent Predator in front of her. "You made me drop my Naxa." She knew she bastardized that word, too.
"What are you doing?" Tichinde looked down at her as she picked up the Naxa from the floor. She was calm and seemed very out of place emotionally than what she just was moments ago when she was still in the stadium. After winning the fight, he looked up at her to claim her as his prize and she was nowhere to be found. When he had gone looking for her, he noticed her talking to the Yautja who had given her the fruit.
"I'm eating." Eris took another bite from her Naxa. It had just hit the ground, but again she really wasn't worried about it killing her since she figured, again, that that was happening shortly. "So, you won?"
"Did you give her this?" He looked over at the Yautja with the Naxa. He was missing a few cords from his head, not making direct eye contact with him, and slouching. He was definitely far from a warrior; it made sense that he was a fruit trader since he probably couldn't do anything but scavenge.
"Yes. I asked where her Yautja was and she pointed over to where D'lex is being sold. I figured she was a Blooded Yautja's property, so I was acting accordingly." He spoke with diverted eyes.
"She spoke to you?" Tichinde became even more confused.
"Yes. After she pointed over where the D'lex is, I asked if she wanted some Naxa. She asked me if it would cause her death and I told her no. So, she took it from me."
"Do you speak her language?"
"No, she understood ours, which further led me to believe she is seasoned here."
Tichinde looked at the other Yautja before looking back at the ooman. She had remembered words that he had spoken to her in his language, solidifying his choice in fighting for her.
"So, you won?" Eris repeated herself as she finished the fruit. It was easing her stomach, but she was still nervous as to what was going to happen now that she had been fought for.
"Yes." Tichinde looked down at her, seeing her eyes begin to roam around with that curiosity.
"So, I belong to you?" She knew she would never belong to someone, but in this case, he had full control over her future, so she needed to make a game plan. The Predators liked unpredictable and challenging, but she was uncertain how to be that. Hell, she was unsure how she was so calm right now. She had just watched her friends get taken away, and here she was eating Predator food.
"I paid for you, so you are mine." Grabbing her shoulder, he began to steer her away from the plant booth. As he walked his way through the marketplace, he made it back to where the ships were docked until he found his own craft. "My ship." He spoke to her before typing in numbers on the awu'asa on his arm that linked to the ship. When he closed the piece on his arm after he finished, the door unlocked and began to extend a ramp to enter.
"This is yours?" Eris looked back up at him as she felt the pressure of his hand usher her onto the ship. Even though she was on one and already kind of used to it, this ship was unknown to her, so she literally had to be forced in. "I'll take that as a yes." She spoke again when she heard the door closing behind them, locking them into the ship.
She began to feel her heart race once more at the sound of the door sealing. Last time it happened, it meant that she had just been taken from her planet. Now, it solidified that she was permanently separated from her friends and on her own, one on one with this Predator behind her.