So I have nothing of importance to say now. Like no omg! Or wtf? To put up here. And because I credited people last chapter I don't want to this chapter. Bah. Oh yeah check out my Deviantart, in case you don't know my user name is the same as on here. Check out my DA for Salek's picture and my Journal had an entry about this story. OMG! I DIDN'T P[OST THIS! Like wtf? I'm so sorry, if you actually read this then I am.
Chapter Five: How Does Salek Know The Stuff She Does?
Torn had trouble breathing. Every time he tried to breathe in something seemed to block the air. And there was a weight on his burning face. Groggily he lifted a hand up to his face and felt. As his hand moved and felt the fluffy thing on his face it started to purr. It wiggled when he wrapped his hand around it. And when he lifted it off of his face he was staring eye to eye with Salek. She mewled happily at seeing him awake. Torn set her down on the bed and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep. But it seemed Salek didn't like that and she moved to his chest.
He cracked one eye to watch her. In an instant both eyes had flown open and he hissed in pain. Salek tumbled down into his lap and she twisted and turned until she was on all four paws again. Removing his hand from his chest he saw that it had little drops of blood on it and the small holes in his chest were easily seen because of the red drops flowing to the surface. Salek put her small paws on his chest and stretched up and licked his newly acquired wound in apology. When she figured she was finished she jumped off of his lap and onto the ground where she and Torn proceeded to just stair at each other. Not long after he stood up and stretched. Salek made several happy sounding sounds and started to bounce around. He watched her for a few minutes before getting out clean clothes and just as he was about to change his bell rang.
The noise startled Salek and she flew past Torn and under his bed. He ignored the muse and headed to see who it was. He opened the door and a KG was there. And in the KG's arms was a large pile of papers. "Baroness Ashlin said that if you weren't going to show up to work today to bring it to you." He handed the large and heavy pile to Torn before leaving. Torn said nothing. He just let the automatic door shut on it's own and set the pile on the desk. It was still there from the days when Jak and Daxter were fighting to help win the war. Though now it was empty, save for the pile he just put on it, and covered in dust.
With the newly acquired work Torn sat down and went to grab a paper. Though he didn't show it he was slightly shocked to see Salek sitting on the pile of papers. Salek made several sounds and he immediately guessed what she wanted. He got up and made his way to the fridge. He took out breakfast sausage and bacon. He set it on the table with a bowl of water. Looking around he saw Salek still sitting on his pile of papers. Holding up a sasuage he bit into it and held it out like he was offering it to her. Without warning Salek flew from the papers knocking the entire pile down. Torn lunged forwards trying to save the paper pile.
He of course failed but Salek on the other hand was tearing the sausage apart with vigor before jumping onto the table and doing the same to another piece of meat. Sighing heavily he worked at picking all of the papers up and putting them into a neat pile. Lifting the pile he was about to put it on the desk. Startled he nearly dropped the pile. Sitting on the desk, on a paper no less, was Salek. She had an unharmed sausage in her mouth and she was just sitting there. Torn looked at her for a moment before setting the pile back on the corner. The stray papers on the desk were then collected too except for the one she was sitting on. "Come on." He said and she turned her head to look at him. "Move it." His hand swatted at her with no intention to harm. She must have know that because she swatted right back at his hand with her claws put away as normal.
Salek liked this game. He play attacked her, with no claws that is, and she repeated. But because his claws weren't out she wouldn't put hers out either. But Torn stopped playing and tried to get her seat from under her. She was about to call out for him to stop when she remembered the food. She stood and set it on the seat and he made a sound that she didn't understand. Her eyes met his and she knew he didn't understand. With her nose she pushed the sausage to him. The seat was now covered in the food's juices. Torn grabbed the sausage and Salek smiled at him and jumped off of the desk. She made her way back into the eating place. She was thirsty after eating.
Once she finished drinking she looked up and saw Torn was there. He reached down to her and she hopped up and her claws slightly dug into his new fur. Quickly she made it to his shoulder and sat. Torn rubbed his arm's fur where she had climbed up. Looking around Salek put her front paws onto his head's fur and looked around. She liked the view from up here. "I Like up here Torn." She said and moved from his head back to his shoulder and she rubbed up against his cheek. "I like you Torn." After a few moments she stopped rubbing and jumped up onto his head.
But Torn didn't want her up there. He wasn't like the other man with the green and yellow head fur. Torn took her off of his head and put her back to his shoulder. Now had it been the other man she would have jumped back up onto his head, but this was Torn so she stayed where he put her. Though she moved to the other shoulder to look around. Torn was walking to the door, was he going to bring her back to the bad man from the other day?
No, he didn't get the box. He exited the place with her on his shoulder so this must be different. Salek moved back to his left shoulder and sat there. There were large metal buildings all around and soon the ground disappeared from under Torn and it was replaced with wood. Wood that made sounds like it was going to splinter. And under that wood was water. "I don't like it hear." Salek cried. Torn reached up and pet her head. He spoke his weird words and it sounded like he was trying to comfort her. Salek could hear what he said but it made no sense to her. Where was his purr? But she did calm down.
When he removed his hand from her head she looked around again. Torn had stopped. He was looking around for something, but what? He spotted a floating metal thing and headed towards it. She gripped his shoulder fur when he jumped up onto it. She gladly allowed Torn to mover her. She was now on the seat right in front of him. He said something then they were moving and she was flying back. She hit Torn and there, in the warm spot, she curled up and hid her head.
Every once in a while she would peak. They were going so fast. Maybe next time she would try to watch. Fist she'd have to figure out how to hold on without flying like she had this time. She was hiding her head when the stopped so when Torn started to pet her she uncurled and looked up at him as she purred. Torn put her on his shoulder once more and they headed into a familiar place. It was where she had been named.
They enter the place and she jumps down from Torn's shoulder. Her tail is between her legs, she's afraid. She doesn't know why but she is. Walking around slowly she saw a large metal box. Curious she made her way towards it, but then a scent caught her attention. Instinct took over and she went and crawled under it. Torn was calling for her now but she couldn't stop, not now. Torn was getting slightly worried when Salek didn't return. He called for her again and just as Kiera was about to say something they hear a ruckus from below her tool cabinet. Out from under it ran a Muricide. A Muricide is smaller than a rat and larger than a mouse. It's distinctive red yellow and black bands shows that it is poisenous and the rattle on the tail give off it's presence. Though these animals weren't uncommon outside of the city there shouldn't be any inside of it.
Torn took out his gun and was just about to shoot it when Salek shot out from under the same cabinet. He couldn't risk hitting her but the Muricide... Torn used his second hand to steady the gun. His single hand holding it was starting to shake. Fear, it was something he hadn't felt he and Ashlin had been together. Not since the day he proposed to her and was shot down had he felt fear this strong. And this time it was fear for the safety of a muse. His finger twitched towards the trigger but at the last second he lowered the gun.
Salek was moving faster after the Muricide. She was catching up to the creature, tor realized she was chasing it. And it was actually running from her. Only inches from it Salek jumped and she landed on the rodent. And like with her sausages she bit into it's jugular, though sausages don't have jugulars, and her front claws dug into it's furless colored arms while her back ones kicked wildly at it's stomach. "I'm going to be sick" Kiera said as they watched a foot of Salek's go into the cut up stomach and pull out organs. Torn too felt slightly nauseated at the sight of his sweet little pet mutilating the other animal. Kiera left and went for fresh air.
Torn watched in stunned silence as Salek kept kicking and pulling things from the Muricide. When Salek finished killing the other animal Torn joined Kiera. "Do you have a garbage bag?" He asked emotionless. His mind was so much further away than cleaning up the remains of a dead animal though. It was only when Kiera shoved the bag into his arms did he come back to reality. "Thanks. I'll be back sometime this afternoon to pick her up." She didn't way anything but she waited outside while he cleaned up the body and- pieces- of the Muricide. Though he left the warm and rapidly cooling liquid that had once provided life for this animal on the floor. He had nothing to clean it up with.
Neither man or woman said anything to each other as they went their separate ways. Torn only handed Salek over to Kiera and continued on his way. He didn't go right home as intended, for he had dropped Salek off at Kiera's so he could go home and finish his work without any more accidents. Now he was headed to the Bazaar district. He entered the vets office and didn't even wait to be allowed into the back, he just entered. "Galek." He called and the man's head poked out of an office.
"Oh dear." Galek said. "How did it happen? She was such a fine species too." Torn just gave him a look and handed the bag over to Galek. Together the two went into a room and Galek carefully removed the dead Muricide from the bag and set it on the table. "By Gods," He whispered then began to laugh almost hysterically. "I knew she was a fine species. Such a percise attack. It had to be dead withing minutes."
"Is that normal? For her to do that. She went searching for it and then chased after it as it was fleeing."
"Of course boy." Galek said in a tone that sounded like he was chastising Torn. " Somewhere near half a century ago, before Haven city became so cut off, there had been a Muricide infestation. A man, his home and name unknown, released a few dozen muses in the city. And as the rumor went it was over night that half of the Muricides died while only one or two muses got killed. Then the next night another half and so on until there were next to no muricides left. Only muses. And even today the Muses have this instinct to find and kill them. Though it isn't that prominent in most muses because of weakened genes from being dormant so long." Galek hesitated for a while like he wanted to say something but couldn't decide if he should or not. "Well then off you go." Torn didn't move and Galek sighed heavily as he threw the dead Muricide in a garbage and carefully cleaned his table. "I was talking to this man, he seems like a good owner, and told him about how you had a muse that you wanted to get rid of-"
"No." Torn growled.
"But Torn. He offered a lot of money for her. He said-"
"I'm keeping her, end of story."
This could really help the clinic!" Galek yelled. "He said he'd pay you 200,000 and the clinic would also get 100,000. Please Torn, you didn't even want her!" Torn didn't say anything to Galek, he just kept walking. This was not up for discussion. He had made a promise to her that he intended to keep. Torn was heading home when his thoughts turned to Salek. He wondered what she might be doing.
And Salek happened to be running around the room in circles via the cluttered shelves near the top of the room. Kiera was taking a break from working on the zoomer just to watch the hyper muse go nuts. At first Salek had moved from a single spot in the middle of the floor. She had been just staring at the door for the longest amount of time before Kiera had gotten her to move. Though the muse hadn't understood her words she understood the meaning of them. Kiera must have been telling her something about Torn because she understood his name. It comforted her and then she went back to her normal self. Which happened to include finding a way up to a top shelf a good twenty feet from the ground and proceeded to run and jump from one shelf to another.
This fun didn't last long because Kiera's attention was brought to the door when a kid entered. Salek stopped jumping around and sat down. She didn't know why but she recognized him. His purple head fur wasn't that uncommon as she had seen by now and though not many large humans wore the tattered clothes he did there were smaller humans that did. His red eyes were what stood out the most on but even those weren't uncommon. And it seemed that every human had those large ears so they were normal.
This new human said something to Kiera and she didn't take it too well and started to yell. He had upset her new friend so Salek started to yell at him. He looked to her than tried to grab her but she was way too far up. When he tried to climb up Kiera pulled him down. The human male hit her on the head and she fell to the ground. Again he tried to climb and Salek stayed still. When he was within reaching distance she jumped at him and allowed her claws to dig in before jumping down to Kiera. The male climbed back down and before Salek could get away he grabbed her.
This time she attacked full force and bit his hand locking her jaws so that he could throw her off. Then she dug her front claws in and pulled while simultaniously kicking her back legs. If Torn had thought she was vicious as she ate or when she had killed the Enemy then comapared to this she was gentaly taking care of an offspring. The boy cried out and tried to shake her off but the only thing he managed to do was help her tear his hand to pieces. Blood was dripping down in non stopping rivers from his hand. Skin and flesh were being torn away with each and ever kick and pull. When she figured he'd had enough she jumped away taking with her the flesh in her mouth from his hand. She landed and dropped it onto the ground. Her defensive position was with her front paws stretched out slightly to the sides, along with her back paws. And her fur was standing on end as she growled at the boy. Then there was her tail that had the fur on it puffed out and whipped violently back and forth. The boy started to move to her right, trying to see if he could get behind her and her head whipped his way. Opening her mouth slightly she hissed in a low tone.
Neither him or her moved for what felt like hours to them both. The only sound that could be heard was her soft growling and a drip, drip, drip, as the blood that soaked her coat dripped onto the ground. Then as soon as the silence started it was over. Kiera had not only came back to consciousness but also regained her motor controls and had managed to retrieve a wrench. She was speaking now and the boy held up his good hand while hid bad one stayed withing sight close to his chest. He backed up slowly. Kiera advanced a step for every two he took. Then he tripped over a can on the ground and took off running out of the place.
Kiera couldn't believe that boy, First to call her a whore and say she isn't fit to own an animal then to try and steal Salek. Not only did he knock her out after that he tried to rationalize and get her to give him Salek. Now she was just glad he was gone. Salek jumped up onto the zoomer and started to lick herself clean. Disgusting! That was blood she was licking. Hurrying up she got a bowl of clean water and tried to clean the Muse. Tried is the key word. When she finally managed to wipe Salek's face off someone entered the building.
Washcloth in one hand wrench in the other she turned to face the intruder. It was another boy. This one was much better dressed and cleaner looking. But oddly enough they both had purple hair. "What can I do for you boy?"
"Hi, my name is Ace. I'm like a really big fan of yours and I was wondering if I could get an autograph." He said. Though his eyes made the lie evident Salek's behavior change made all the more obvious. She was skittish and her fur was back to standing on end. The boy, who called himself Ace, patted his pockets down and he softly cursed. "I can't find the pen. I'm sorry." if it wasn't for how his eyes stayed trained on Salek and showed anger Kiera might have believed that he was only a boy who adored her work on the racing Zoomers.
Eager to get the boy out of her place she headed to find a pen. Salek followed then hopped up onto Kiera's shoulder. She was afraid of this boy. Not sure why but she got this feeling that he was anything but good. There were also images in her mind. Ones that held feelings. Betrayal, fear, and pain. Excruciating pain. He was standing away from her, she was shoulder height now somehow, and she watched him as he said something. She wasn't sure what, she didn't understand and fear took over her body. He had betrayed her. Then there was red light. It moved all around like the yellow light in the sky when it rains, lightening. How did she know that word? It moved around the edge of the circle at her feet, Her feet? No, she had paws. Then the lightening hit it. The color changed and it was blue. Not far away still was the boy. Only now he looked fearful, concerned, perhaps worried. But not for her. Something happened and he was touching stuff on the machine she had no name for. The pain intensified and the now blue lightening hit her over and over. She fell to the ground and curled up. The next time she looked around everything looked different. Who was she? Then the boy grabbed her and stuffed her in something. From there she only knew blackness and again pain. Then wet and slight light. Torn was looking down at her. How did she know this?
That boy that was leaving, she didn't know him. But he knew her the moment he saw her. He had to tell Boss that she was being well protected. Running as fast as his feet could take him he made it to the bosses home. "Boss!" he called out. After a moment he continued. "She's with Jak's girl. I can't get to her alone."
Inside the building a deep voice chuckled. "So she is alive still." He said and Casey cringed back. He had used Avery's nickname at Kiera's garage. "Good work." The Boss said and Casey was shocked that the Boss wasn't angry. "I'll send several boys over with you soon. Retrieve her and get rid of her. For good this time. Throw her to the Metal Heads." He chuckled again and the voice soon faded out. Casey didn't wait to see or hear anything else. He ran. As fast and as far as he could.
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