A Million Miles Apart
A/N: New chapter up! Sorry for being a little late, but I've had a few things that I had to do beforehand, and I've also needed some time to just relax and have a nice weekend. Like you do. I wanna apologize in advance, since I have a feeling the next few chapters are gonna be a tad rushed. Just a heads up,
ALSO, MY BETA SAYS HELLO ;)
Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 14, The Final Straw
"Donnie, wake up! Wake up! They'll come and let us out soon!" I was shaken out of my sleep to see Jhanna standing beside my bunk with disheveled hair and the eyes of a half-zombie, clutching my shoulder uncomfortably tight and shaking as hard as her freshly awakened muscles would allow. I sat up on the mattress, rubbed my eyes (which were crusty from crying myself to sleep) and stretched out the kinks in my back and my limbs. I took a second to look back and forth between the two of us, noting that even though we had only been in jail for two days, we looked like we had been imprisoned for months.
Jhanna's clothing was tattered, torn, and stained with dirt, sweat and a little blood from yesterday's fight. Her hair was, like I said, a tousled mess, and she was trying to comb through her two ponytails with her fingers and brush her uncooperative bangs out of her face; it didn't make much of a difference. Her face and what was visible of her body were also covered in dirt, scars, and a variety of wounds. But unlike the scar on her face, some of these scars and wounds looked a bit infected. I wasn't looking that much better, either. I too was covered with scars, dirt and a little blood, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that both Jhanna and I needed a shower, at the very least. I also felt slightly feverish, but not to a point where I felt literally sick.
I stretched out my back and groaned in relief at the sound of cracking bones as my body started to adjust to its upright position after lying down for so long.
"Okay, okay! I'm up, I'm up!" I groaned slightly and tilted my head from side to side, cracking my neck. "Huh… how long have I been asleep? What time is it?" Jhanna shrugged and tried to wipe away a bloodstain on her brown vest by spitting in her hand and rubbing her fingers across the spot. The blemish wasn't affected in the slightest.
"I don't really know. I would guess somewhere in between 6 or 7 AM, but like I said, I'm not sure. And I'm pretty sure you've been asleep for at least fifteen hours, if you fell asleep shortly after me, that is." Fifteen hours? Wow, that had to be some kind of record. Then again, I hadn't been sleeping very well the night prior, and considering everything I've been through in the past week, it's really no surprise that it would sap me of my dwindling strength.
"Oh, okay. Um, thanks for waking me up." Jhanna folded her arms over her chest and nodded awkwardly. After what had happened yesterday after we had been dragged back to our cells, there had been this awkward tension between us; mostly because of the information about my life that I had shared with her. And after I had seen a more vulnerable side of her, I had gained a newfound respect for her. She clearly had grown up alone, or had at least been taught to only take care of herself, so it wasn't so surprising that she had been reluctant to help Mona Lisa and those other aliens on D'hoonib. Still, I don't know if that means we're friends or simply allies, like me and Casey are.
Jhanna spit on her hand and tried to clean her face the best she could, but she just ended up smearing the dirt all over her face instead of wiping it away completely.
"So, do you have any ideas on how to get out of here? I mean, I know we haven't been here for too long, but I just thought you might have a small idea on how to escape." I shrugged and adjusted my kneepads and elbow pads before re-wrapping my feet and wrists. I frowned at how dark with filth the off-white wrappings had become.
"Not yet. I've been thinking about talking to that Mona Lisa girl from yesterday and seeing if she knows anything about possible escapes." While it was unlikely she knew anything of value- considering she was still trapped here, herself- it was our best lead for now.
Jhanna nodded slowly and adjusted her vest slightly, re-doing her ponytails. The doors opened and the Triceraton I had come to recognize as Zog came in with serious and grim eyes.
"Get a move on, you two! It's breakfast time, and I will not stick around to babysit two troublemaking teenagers when it's over." We got up from our bunks and were led into the hallway that would take us to the dining area. A ton of other aliens were heading the same way, and in the large crowd, I saw Rynokk glaring daggers at me, hitting his fist into his hand, wordlessly saying that he was gonna beat me up later. I guess he was still angry about me humiliating him in front of all of the inmates yesterday.
I also spotted Mona Lisa in the mix and after I had told Jhanna I would be right back, I ran up to her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked up at me with a small smile and recognition in her eyes. She had tied her messy hair into a low ponytail and now, when she wasn't cowering in fear and suspicion, I could see that she had a muscular body adapted for speed and agility. She was clearly able to fight, even if she wasn't that big.
"Hey. How's prison life treating you so far?" She asked and her voice was filled with more confidence than yesterday; though she still sounded a bit cautious and scared. Like she was trying not to attract too much attention to herself. I shrugged and tried to smile.
"Well, I guess you could say I'm making quite the reputation for myself around here. Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, though. Look, I need to talk to you- it's important. Think you could sit with me and my friend at breakfast?" She eyed me with even more caution and raised her eyebrow at me. She didn't trust me that much yet, but she nodded and agreed nonetheless. I quickly thanked her and ran back to Jhanna.
"There. I talked to her and she's coming to sit with us. Now all we have to do is ask her the right questions and she might feel like she can tell us what we need to know without any fuss." Jhanna leaned in closer to me and whispered in my ear.
"In that case, I think it's best if you handle the talking and the questions. I'm not very good with words or… people." I agreed. After we had gotten our share of disgusting, smelly and practically inedible goop that the Triceratons called food, the three of us sat down at a table in a corner near the wall so that nobody could hear us.
"Okay, so what is it you wanted to talk about?" Mona asked while reluctantly shoving some of that goop down her throat, gagging and quickly gulping down some water to get rid of the taste. I looked over at Jhanna, who was trying to eat her food without throwing up, poked at my food, and then looked up at Mona Lisa again.
"Well, the thing is, Jhanna and I wanna escape from this place." Mona smiled sardonically at me with a raised eyebrow, resting her head in her hand and her elbow on the table.
"Oh, yeah? Well, so does just about every alien in this prison. Many have tried and failed to escape- and that's usually how they meet their doom." I gulped loudly. Okay, so this was not going to be easy. Point taken. But I had to try, even if there was a big price to pay. I wanted nothing more than to get out of here, find the Fugitoid, get us out of here, and then go back home to Earth again. I leaned closer to her, motioned for her closer as well, and whispered as loud as I dared.
"I know, but we are trying to hatch an escape plan. I was hoping maybe you could give us some info about the best way to try." Mona Lisa, who had scooped some more of the so-called 'food' onto her spoon, gasped loudly. Her jaw dropped and she accidentally flung her food into the back of another alien's head. He started to yell at her in some unknown alien lingo and Mona Lisa smiled sheepishly and apologized in the language as well. It sounded like 'Spatsobu'. She then turned back to me with a mixture of fear, anger and excitement in her face.
"Are you crazy? Didn't you hear what I just said? Do you want to get yourself killed?! If you try to escape and the guards find out about it, it's a one way trip to execution battles!" I had no idea what a 'execution battle' was, but I guess it was their version of the Electric Chair. Jhanna put her own spoon down and joined the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, well, the point is to get out without them noticing. So that's why we're gonna plan it out and not just run straight into it like two knuckleheads. Besides, I am not just gonna stay here and waste my life until the day I'm nothing but a dusty old skeleton. So, are you gonna help us or not?" Mona Lisa chewed on her lip, looked down at her food and then shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to risk losing my life. I only have one and I'm careful with it! I'm sorry, but I really don't want to die." Disappointment washed over me and I lowered my head slightly in shame. I'm such a blithering idiot. How could I be so stupid as to think that I could rely on any of these aliens for help? Most of them must have been here for so much longer than I had and had lived behind these cold, dark walls for years, possibly most of their lifetime. They must've lost hope long ago, especially if what Mona said was true and all those who had tried to escape had lost their lives. So much for that plan. I looked over at Jhanna, who also looked rather crestfallen from Mona's response. We all ate in silence, but the gears in my head were still turning.
"I refuse to give up." I mumbled to myself while eating my food. "I am not going to spend the rest of my life locked behind these walls, and I won't be treated like a punching bag! I'll find a way out of here, somehow. Even if it's the last thing I do." Mona Lisa looked up at me, scoffed and rolled her eyes before swallowing the last of her food and leaving the table.
"Heh. Yeah, good luck with that, pal." She took her plate and spoon and walked over the dish station to leave her dishes. Jhanna looked at me with narrowed eyes and a raised eyebrow, trying to look smug through her disappointment.
"Well, that could've gone better. Nice choice you made, saving a girl who's too afraid and helpless to even try and fight back." I rested my chin on my hand and sighed heavily. I knew Jhanna was only trying to help in her own way, but I really didn't need to hear that right now.
"Urgh, I realize that, Jhanna! I was only trying to do something, anything, to help us get out of here. If you're so smart, why don't you try and think of something?!" I didn't realize that I had snapped at her until she looked away with suppressed anger and sadness in her eyes. Well, this was going great so far, wasn't it? I had to get a grip on my emotions. Jhanna was my only friend in this place; I couldn't make her hate me now too.
"Look, I'm sorry, Jhanna. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just..." I sighed and buried my face in my hands. "I just don't know what to do. I have no idea on how we're supposed to escape, let alone find the Professor and save him." Jhanna nodded slowly and shoved some more food into her mouth as she looked around the room, obviously in deep thought. I just rested my chin in my hand and ate the rest of my food rather unenthusiastically.
"Hey, I know! How about if we-?" Jhanna was interrupted when suddenly, out of nowhere, Rynokk showed his ugly, pig-like face and slammed both hands onto the table with a 'bang', catching both of our attention.
"You..." He hissed at me, his eyes filled with anger. He looked ready to strangle me. But at the moment, I was too tired, too down in the dumps and too tangled up in my own emotions and thoughts to really want to confront this guy again. I put the spoon down and looked up at the alien before me with seriously angry eyes that I hoped told him 'I am so not dealing with any of your whining right now, so leave before I knock the fat off you,' but he clearly couldn't take a hint. I stood up, still staring up at him defiantly.
"Look, pal, I am in a super bad mood right now, so if you don't want a leg broken, I suggest that you-" I didn't get much further, because Rynokk shoved me so I stumbled over the bench I was sitting on and hit my head against the wall as I fell backwards.
"You humiliated me in front of everyone in this cellblock; you made me look like a wimp! Now suffer the consequences, freak!" I rubbed my head and felt a small bump starting to form. Jhanna kneeled down beside me and helped me sit up straight on the bench. I glared up at Rynokk, who was clearly trying to anger me further. But I knew I had to stay calm, or Jhanna and I would end up that Arena place, which sounded much worse than anything than we had been through so far. I had to stay calm. Jhanna didn't quite get this, though, since she didn't want to stay quiet.
"Oh, I see how it is. You shy away from bigger and stronger aliens in this place, but you gladly pick on aliens smaller than you! What a tough guy, right? Donnie, don't you agree that there's more courage in an egg than in this guy? At least they're harder to crack!" Rynokk growled at her, raising his hand to smack her, but Jhanna was quicker and managed to dodge his attack before she managed to kick him straight in the face, making him stumble and clutch his nose. Unfortunately, he recovered quickly and tried to hit her again, but Jhanna dodged him again and aimed a punch at his bulging stomach. I flew up from the bench as well and tried to stop Jhanna from fighting him.
"Jhanna, stop it! Stop it right now! You know we'll get into even more trouble if we cause any more trouble around here! Stop!" I wrapped my arms around her waist and tried to pull her off Rynokk, as she was sitting on his shoulders with her legs and her arms around his neck and trying to choke him. But she refused to let go, despite Rynokk trying to shake her off him. And I also noticed that a lot of aliens started to gather around to look at the spectacle.
"What is going on in here?!" Everybody in the room froze and turned to the doors, where Gruel was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. Two other Triceratons had joined him and stood behind him with their weapons at the ready. All the other aliens backed away from us. Jhanna climbed down from Rynokk's shoulders with a less than triumphant look on her face and I let go of her waist, gripping my hands behind my back and trying to look innocent. This wasn't even my fault; I hadn't done anything wrong this time.
Gruel walked up to us and smiled sadistically at us. He clearly enjoyed this to some extent, even if we had- once again- caused trouble in his cellblock. He had a whip in his hand and slapped it lightly against his other hand, trying to look threatening.
"So, you two have caused trouble again? Even when I specifically told you that you would be in great trouble if you did? Naughty, naughty." Rynokk smirked at us like a little kid who was glad to see his victim get into trouble with his parents, but Gruel wasn't mad at just us.
"And you! How many times have I told you to learn your place around here? This is not a party or a school- it's a prison! You forget that I am superior to you, and that you are nothing but insignificant dirt! And as punishment, you will receive whipping." He handed the whip over to one of the other Triceratons that had followed him into the room.
"Give him 300 lashes, and make sure he won't sit for the rest of the month." The Triceraton nodded and led Rynokk out of the room with a rough grip on his arm, and Rynokk bowed his head in anger, shame and slight fear. I almost felt a bit sorry for him, but I quickly forgot him when Gruel looked down at Jhanna and me with stern, angry yet somewhat amused eyes.
"And as for you two little troublemakers: The Arena, now!"
A/N: Dun, dun dun! Now our heroes are in even more trouble than before! How are they gonna escape now?
Okay, that's a wrap! Again, sorry I'm late but I've had a lot of things I've had to do. I will try to update again this weekend, but I'm not promising anything.