Opening with Ridge, since we don't get enough of him.
The beginning is heavy. High "T" rating for language and darker emotional trauma than I normally write.
Ridge sat in the chair of the separate interrogation room, chest heaving despite the pain he was feeling. His hands were tied behind his back with a thick coarse rope that dug into his wrists. Ridge shot a murderous glare at the Lizard in front of him.
"I don't think you've had enough," she said, trailing a long fingernail down his bare chest. Her venomous yellow eyes bore into his.
Ridge's heart raced, but he remained stone still, shifting his gaze to the wall behind her. He tightened his hands, jaw clenching and unclenching.
"So…" she said, walking in slow circles around him. "I've noticed you seem to be the youngest of the group—the child—you could say."
She watched as his entire body stiffened and his lips curled into a snarl. She'd hit a chord.
"Hm…" she whispered, stopping at his back. "I guess it shouldn't have been too hard to notice; you're so much smaller than the other grown men." She smirked as she watched Ridge stiffen even more, inadvertently squeezing his thighs together. "Practically a child compared to them. Such a high-pitched voice…"
"Shut up!" he growled, glaring into his lap. His breathing grew heavier as the female Lizard's words dug into his brain.
"I can sense it, you know," she said, swinging around face him. "You feel you'll never be as strong as your older counterparts, don't you? You feel that you're underappreciated because of your age, don't you?" Her honeyed voice took on a tone of mock sympathy. "It hurts doesn't it? Always knowing you'll never be as good as anyone else? Always putting up a fake bravado every morning just to get shot down again? Always being treated as the runt of the group, never being taken seriously for anything?"
"I said shut up!" Ridge yelled, his hoarse and raspy voice cracking. His breathing was reaching an out of control level.
"You might as well face yourself now—you're not going to be taken seriously. You'll never fit in with you 'brothers'. Someone who is so much smaller than them would never make it in this war. You will always be left out of the group of friends you see your 'brothers' have. They only befriended you out of sympathy for the child." She could see that every word she said was like a punch in the face to him.
"You've never had any love, and you most likely never will. You will remain the unwanted runt of the group, surely you know this?"
"I said shut up!" he yelled, this time staring her straight in the eyes. His chest was heaving, and she watched as he swallowed more than once and averted his gaze again.
She smirked but continued, pointing out every single flaw she knew would sting him: his voice, his height, his size in general. She knew that psychological torment would always take its toll on the mind.
This was her specialty to make her prisoners feel weak, unwanted, insecure. She could see that it wouldn't take long with this one. "From what I could tell, you weren't even comfortable changing around your own brothers. Even if it was just removing an article of clothing, you would squirm and try to find a way out."
Ridge snarled, pulling forward on his seat. Despite the tightening he could feel in his throat, he raised his voice, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Shut up you little—"
Behind her back, the Lizard pressed a button on her remote control. She watched in passive silence as electricity shot through the young man's body, the yellow shock temporarily lighting up the room. She released her finger, waiting for him to regain consciousness.
Eventually, his broken and heavy breathing permeated the thick air in the room.
The emotional, mental, and physical abuse continued.
##
The door creaked open again, illuminating the darkened room for a moment before it quickly shut again. Scratchy footsteps sounded across the dirt and stone floor before they finally came to a pause in front of the shaking figure strapped to his chair.
Ri'van watched, and waited.
Ridge opened his eyes, red-rimmed and puffy, but didn't say anything. His breathing was shuddery. He sniffed once.
Ri'van's breathing was ringing in his own ears as he sat helplessly in front of the clone, eyeing the wet stains on his face.
"You heard, didn't you?" Ridge lifted his eyes, giving Ri'van a look that sent chills down his spine, before casting his gaze back to his lap.
Ri'van's breath was all that was heard from him.
"I know you did—you were outside the door, weren't you?" Ridge's voice was raspy and harsh. He hiccupped.
Ri'van still remained silent, not having an answer to Ridge's question.
"Everything she said was right, you know…" he whispered, his small smile brittle and mirthless. "She's got a point—"
"No," Ri'van interrupted, sitting up on his haunches. "No, she hasn't got a point. That was just something she was trained to do. You can't let what she says—"
"But it's true!" Ridge yelled suddenly, hiccups taking over his breathing. "I'm just a worthless piece of trash that General Jorani picked up because she decided she needed a new member of Crusade Squad! I haven't got any real friends! Nobody respects me for jack shit and it's been going on for my entire life!" His breathing was becoming out of control, his voice growing louder and harsher. "I had no brothers!" he screamed. "I don't even know why I'm a part of this fucking squad in the first place!" A loud sob racked Ridge's body, followed by another, and then another.
Ri'van had never seen a human cry before—at least not to this extent. He watched as the salty tears streamed down the male's face and dripped off of his chin. In his opinion, tears were a bit gross, having water and salt leak straight through your eyes, but Ri'van put his own opinions aside to try and comfort the prisoner. "Your General must have known what they were doing to choose you—and I can assure you that you're not useless." Ri'van wasn't entirely sure who his General was, but he assumed it was the female. "You're lucky to even be in a group of family members who tolerate living with you," he said, leaning forward to get a look at Ridge's eyes.
"I never had any brothers to begin with. You heard her," Ridge said quietly, his loud sobbing having abated. He sniffed and looked up to Ri'van with watery eyes. Tears still streamed in heavy flows.
Ri'van didn't know what to say; the younger Lizardlings never got this upset, and he didn't know any normal words of comfort a human would give to another. Tears meant weakness in the Lizard community. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"How?" Ridge demanded, raising his voice suddenly. "This place was meant to break people! They've already taken me out; it won't be long before they get the rest."
The mind will deteriorate first, and the body will always follow. Holes can be patched, but they cannot be filled. Once the mind is gone, the body will go soon after.
It was something that all Lizards were taught as young children. If you destroy someone's mind, the body will never make it.
Ri'van was determined to keep Ridge's mind from completely cutting off from his body. He knew what would happen after a person gave up: they would stop eating, shut off their emotions, and stop reacting to even pain. They wouldn't fight to keep their loved ones alive, and they certainly wouldn't fight to keep themselves alive.
Until eventually their body deteriorated and went to the same place their mind did.
"I don't know," he said in answer to Ridge's question. "But I know you're all going to make it out of here alive."
Ridge scoffed and leaned back in his chair, tears mingling with the blood on his face and drying there. "Tell me when you come up with an actual plan."
Kanari stared through the trees at the edge of the district, the pale moon casting dancing shadows along the ground. Their group had moved to the forest after a Lizard attack and a discarded bomb going off in the cross-fire.
No one was hurt, thanks to Kanari's sharp shooting.
They had a stone wall to their backs, and had restarted a fire to keep them warm. It crackled and glowed a lively-orange yellow, small embers floating up from the dry wood and spinning through the air before slowly fading out. Kanari carefully scooted forward and spread her palms to the flames, warming her hands before she folded them in her lap.
They still didn't trust her.
Kanari could feel their stares on her as she pulled her knees up to her chin and stared into the fire. She breathed out forcefully through her nose, ignoring the gnawing feeling she'd been having in her stomach for a while now.
She'd been with them for a full day, and she hadn't asked for food.
They never offered.
Just then, Dice shifted up next to her, relaxing himself of the twiggy ground. "Would you…ah…like a ration bar, ma'am?" he asked quietly, holding out the proffered food to her. He still refused to call her by her first name, citing that it would have been rude of him.
Kanari just thought it was because he couldn't roll his R's (she'd heard him before), but left the subject. She held out a palm to the food, and curled her fingers around it. She'd heard what Rex and his men had to say about the ration bar, and they weren't very good comments. "What's it taste like?"
Dice paused for a moment before answering. "Well, they don't actually have a flavor, or a texture…so…"
"No flavor…?" Kanari experimentally bit the bar, then fought the urge to spit it out. "This is disgusting!"
Dice chuckled softly. "Yeah, not my favorite things that we get. The food from the mess isn't any better, either."
"Mess?" Kanari sent him a questioning look.
"The uh…large room where we eat our meals—like a cafeteria," Dice explained, his hands flowing through the air. "Yeah, the food is no good."
Kanari smiled softly at him, and took another bite of the ration bar. She shuddered, forcing herself to swallow it. "Ugh…"
Beside her, Dice laughed. He combed a hand through his short-cropped hair, breathing out softly. "I remember one time, I made a bet with one of my brothers…"
"You did?" Kanari perked up at the thought of a story, noticing that Dice had inadvertently shifted a few centimeters closer. "What happened?"
Dice beamed at the fact that she actually wanted to hear his story. "Well…" he began.
##
Ri'van snuck along the ground, hiding under bushes and low-hanging limbs. He had a plan—he was going to prove it to Ridge—he just didn't know how to implement said plan.
At least I'm not being chased, eh thought thankfully. His family had no problems with letting the youngest and weakest Lizard out at night. He'd made it clear that he preferred to be alone than with his brothers and sisters.
From his position, he could smell a fire, a group of mammals, and something a bit unsavory. Mammalian food was always strange, Ri'van thought, coming in within hearing range. From what he had made up of his plan, he was going to walk straight up to them and ask for help.
Sudden dread clamped around his gut. This plan is horrible! he thought, swallowing around the lump in his throat.
"Yeah, I ended up losing the bet, so I had to eat six ration bars," a male said, his smile spreading across his cheeks.
The female beside him laughed, her head tossing back. It looked a bit painful to Ri'van.
Carefully, he snuck closer to the edge of the bush he was under, heart beating out of control and barely breathing.
Suddenly, the female paused in her laughter and narrowed her eyes at the bushes. The male beside her stopped, looking questioningly at his companion.
"What's wrong?" he asked sending his gaze to the same area she was looking.
Shoot shoot shoot! Ri'van had completely forgotten that his eyes glowed in the dark, and that Verocians—specifically the green eyed ones—had excellent vision in the dark.
"We know you're there, you might as well come out!" she said loudly, aiming her rifle right at his nose.
The others around the fire quickly stood and gathered their rifles in their own hands, aiming on the same general direction. Ri'van knew that if he were to come out right then, he would be shot.
"I'll come out if you promise not to continue pointing those blasters at me," Ri'van said, his voice quavering a bit. "I'd rather not get shot right now, so…"
"I said come out!" the female repeated, her aim locking onto his forehead instead.
Ri'van swallowed, a noise that he was sure was heard by the group of soldiers, and slowly crawled out from under the bushes.
Blue blaster fire hailed around him.
Ri'van dodged them as quickly as he could, but one stray shot managed to hit his tail. "I said don't shoot!" he yelped, gripping the damaged body part in his hands.
"Hold on," the female demanded, putting her hand up to stop the lasers. Ri'van could tell that she wasn't the one to give the commands because of the annoyed look another of the men gave her. "State your business."
"We're killing it," the man who'd given the female the rude look said, re-aiming his blaster. "It's probably a spy." He squeezed the trigger.
The female roughly knocked the blaster's aim away from Ri'van, pulling the weapon out of the male's hands. "Let's wait till we hear what he has to say." She said, holding the blaster away from the man.
At least she can identify me as male, Ri'van thought a bit sarcastically.
"How can you tell that it isn't a spy?" the male said, lunging for the blaster and almost knocking the both of them over.
I didn't think mammals could be so…clumsy, Ri'van thought, beginning to contemplate escaping while he still could.
That would be hard with and injured tail. Running without using it properly was like trying to run without pumping your arms. It was awkward and often time disastrous.
"I didn't think you'd be blind; you are the Sergeant, after all. He doesn't have any weapons." The female gave another yank of her arm and ripped the blaster from the male's grasp. "Go on, talk to us. Why are you here?"
"I know where your friends are," he blurted, not expecting them to believe him.
And sure enough, the entire group fell silent, regarding him carefully. "Where are they?" the sergeant asked, narrowing his eyes almost accusingly.
"Right under the mountain you're kind of standing next to. There are underground passages that go on for miles underneath, and there is one sector that specially houses prisoners of war. I will take you there if you'll believe me."
"Prove it," they male and female said in unison. The female still had her blaster in hand and handed the male's back to him.
Ri'van tossed two items onto the ground: the first being a rusty set of keys used to unlock prisoner chains, doors, and the like.
The second was a dirty lightsaber.
And so, Ri'van *may be helping out the group of clones and Kanari. I have the basic plot of the next chapter down, so expect and update soon.
~AAx
