Nobody

A Star Trek Fan Fiction

.

Chapter One

.

It started with the rush of sound and the taste of pavement. The smell of garbage wafted into the young man's nose, waking him from what must have been an awful slumber. Unfamiliar sounds pierced his ears which made him groan in protest and attempt to pull his limbs closer to his core. His body hurt. With a flutter of gritty eyelashes, the teen was greeted with the world on its side. Thick shadows of night-time made everything shady and surreal. When was the last time he'd seen the light of day? The shock of realizing he couldn't answer that question made him hyper-aware. His mind began racing to fill in the gaps before this moment – but it couldn't. Bewilderment made him raise his head from the street and assess the foreign environment he suddenly found himself in.

What he discovered was a darkened alleyway leading out into a busy street. The distortion of sounds now seemed to halt as his body adjusted its focus. Crystal clear screaming came from above him, and on a sudden whim, the boy pushed against the concrete beneath him with bruised and calloused hands to find he was bleeding from more than one locale. Sitting up he accessed his face. There was a horrible gash across his eye and his legs felt like the bones within them had splintered into a thousand hot needles. His ribs were bruised or broken, but the pain was within his threshold to bear. With some confusion the teen tried to recall what the hell just happened, but he found he didn't have the slightest clue. Not only that, he had no idea what part of town he was in - if this was a town.

Then in a moment of fearful clarity, the kid realized he didn't even know his own name.

A foreign gasp made the boy look up to find a woman who had just managed to poke her head out of a window. The first thing he noticed was the inhuman face, the second was that she was looked just as bloodied up as he did.

"RUN YOU IDIOT! What the hell are you waiting for!" The voice shrieked in an accent that was unplaceable; her eyes were glassy and a shade of purple the kid had never seen before. There was a mixture of emotions within those large irises that held the boy in thrall until the sound of a weapon discharging made him choke on the breath he was inhaling.

Wounds opened up across the alien's sinuous form as though her tar-black skin was an overripe egg-plant under pressure. Gaping fissures sprayed a shower of dark blood over the window sill in a sickening wave. She dropped limp over the pane, one arm outstretched into the alleyway catching the residual rain leaking from a rusted gutter. The teen stared on in shock for a few moments before the ones responsible for her murder also whipped their heads out to spot him. The boy was caught by their stares like a deer in headlights. They were of the same humanoid build as the woman: extremely tall, dark skinned and silver-haired; their eyes were different though... full of cold, unrelenting malice.

Intent to kill.

Suddenly the kid didn't care that his legs felt like fire, or that he had no idea who or where he was. There was only one option available if he wanted to live, and that was to get as far away from those freaks and as fast as possible.

He vaulted to his feet and started a lopping run for the street. His ribs protested painfully and his head pounded. Instincts seemed to kick in from some recess of his mind, for he found himself weaving to avoid any weapon fire. He didn't even look behind him as he heard the sounds of thick shoes hitting the grating of the fire-escape – then their squealing as they slid down the rusted railings. He didn't dare to look back and see how close death wandered. The boy rounded the corner and was suddenly hit with the unknown.

Flashing lights, billboards, strange sights and even stranger people overwhelmed him with their striking colors and sounds. The majority of the people averaged at about two meters tall, with the same physical attributes as the beings he had just met. As he ran past them, they observed him curiously but made no move to intercept. The boy counted himself lucky that with his lack of height, blending into a crowd wouldn't be that difficult despite being a minority race.

He saw no sign of his pursuers as he kept to the busy streets. With what seemed to him as expert maneuvering, the boy took out everything in his pockets, crammed it down one of his boots, shed his jacket and stole another from an outdoor market. With some cynicism he wondered if the people trying to kill him would catch up to him before the police could. Hell, maybe they were the police on this insane world.

The thought made the deep-seeded panic in his mind start to bloom.

He walked for half an hour before he felt safe enough to rest. His body felt like someone had ran him over with a steamer. The blood on his face was drying into uncomfortable flakes and beginning to peel into his eyes. The teen looked around for anything that resembled a public washroom to clean himself up in, but all the signage was in a different language than his own. Frustration and fear crawled up into his head. What was he supposed to do now? Who the hell was he and why did those men kill that woman? He must have jumped from that building to escape them, probably resulting in hitting his head... but why would he leave that poor woman behind? It didn't seem right…

The teen shook his head, instantly wishing that he hadn't. His head throbbed and to make matters worse his nose started to bleed. To staunch the blood, the kid pulled out the stuff from his boots and looked through what was once his belongings. There was a napkin from a diner - the advertisement of which was written in bad standard. He held it up to his nose as curiosity made him continue his search. There was a pack of cigarettes, a collapsible pen, and a wad of bills - all of which might have been more familiar to a stranger.

As he held up the cigarettes with a bewildered expression, he caught a blessed earful of English coming from the other side of the street and he turned his head to investigate.

The name of the place was unintelligible, but the people outside were so racially diverse that they made a crayon box look monotone. He spotted an Orion male flirting with an Andorian female and watched as some Terrans laughed at his inevitable bad luck.

The kid rose from the bench and navigated over to the building they were huddled around. Maybe someone there would know what was going on, or maybe someone would recognize him? Hell, he'd just be happy to hear a word of English. From the look of the planet there didn't seem to be that many humans around…

"Hey, kid. Iden-card?"

The voice was deep and laced with a harsh accent. It made the young man turn and get a look at who was addressing him. He looked human enough, though his skin held a subtle hint at his heritage – Klingon.

"I was just mugged… I need to call someone, the authorities or whatever…" The rasp in his voice surprised him, but not as much as the concern that suddenly appeared in the bouncer's eyes; maybe there was more human in this guy than he thought.

The bouncer barked something into the dim-lit pub that the teen couldn't decipher before he gently pushed the boy towards the bar. "Talk to Auri, she'll take care of you till we can get a medic to look at you. DON'T STRAY. I'm watchin' you kid." He made a gesture with two of his fingers that was meant to intimate. The boy merely nodded dumbly, shocked at his luck, and entered the pub.

Like a ghost he threaded through the rainbow of people and sat down at the bar feeling worse by the second. He removed the napkin from his nose and tested to see if it was still bleeding. An older Caitian with her hair done up in a loose bun strolled over from behind the counter and poured the teen a glass of some clear mystery fluid. She was kind of pretty in a earthly way - organized chaos all wrapped up in glossy orange fur.

"Looks like you took a bruising all right. Here's a pain killer, I already called for a doctor so all you have to do is sit tight and tell me your story." She patted the kid on the hand and took out what looked like a wet-nap from her apron pocket. "Mind if I clean you up a little though? I have a feeling there's a pretty face under all that blood, and I don't want my customers getting skiddish at the sight of you."

"Uh… sure." He said lamely before talking a sip of whatever Auri gave him. Turns out it was straight vodka and it took a lot of bravado to swallow it while looking like he wasn't going to puke. Auri grinned and began to scrub at his face rather tenderly.

"Got a name kid?"

His eyes locked on to hers for a split second before he stuttered, "J-John…" It didn't sound right to him; close, but not right. The teen winced as the woman pulled his face into the light. Her sudden roughness made the boy wonder if she picked up on the deceit. Lying to this Caitian didn't feel moral, but if someone wanted to kill him it was best to be careful.

"You visiting Sera with your parents, or are you with the batch of Star-kids that shuttled in a few days back?" The Caitian turned around and rummaged in the cupboard behind her before finding a pack of swabs. The teen wondered what they were doing back there in the first place before she dipped one in his vodka and started to attack the gash over his eye. He winced and pulled away.

"Is… is that even sterile?"

Auri looked to the bloodied swab and then the alcohol. "It is now. Don't be a baby and let me finish. You didn't answer my question, what brings you to this part of town in the dead of night?"

Before the boy could open his mouth, he heard the bouncer growl something over the heads of the pub-crawlers which made Auri freeze. Out of curiosity the teen swiveled on his stool and tried to get a look at the problem, but the lighting in the place as so dark it took him a moment to figure out what was happening. He blanched as he recognized two of the three silver-haired beings talking to the part-Klingon; immediately he twisted to get Auri's attention.

"If they get a hold of me, I think they'll kill me." The words came out in a single breath, killing the semblance of security he had been feeling under Auri's care.

The Caitian stared wide-eyed at the boy in front of her. "You're in trouble with the Executioners?" Her voice was a fragile whisper which made the hair on the back of the teen's neck rise with the tension in the room. She was looking at him as if he was already a dead man. Everyone was suddenly talking in whispers and trying not to make eye contact with those in the entrance hall; the suspense was more than the boy could take and something in his face registered to Auri.

"Go." She hissed, pushing him off the stool from across the counter before shooing him with the bloody wet-nap. "Hide in the woman's bathroom if you dare, there's no back door or windows in that direction… so if they do find you… you're cornered."

'John' was about to ask if he could take the back door instead, but the distinct sound of the Bouncer sailing into the pool table made the boy slink out towards the washrooms. The neon sign beckoned to him and he took a quick look around to familiarize himself in the area in case he needed to double back while chased. Feeling a little more confident, he entered the woman's washroom – glad there didn't seem to be anyone else in there to explain himself to.

Part of him felt like a coward - hiding from the enemy in a bathroom. That part was quickly put on the backburner as shouts came from the other side of the door. From the sounds of things Auri and the other bartenders were trying to get 'The Executioners' to leave with no luck. He heard the familiar sounds of heavy shoes in the corridor, then the subtle squeak of the men's washroom door being opened. The teen knew he didn't have much time – death was going to come for him if he didn't think… and fast.

The garbage can was too small, the stalls were only going to buy him a few seconds, and the small love seat by the sinks didn't provide enough cover. Auri was right about there being no windows… but out of the corner of his eye there came a flash of inspiration. The ceiling was dropped for easy access to plumbing and electrical… and in the case of this windowless lavatory – air circulation.

With more vigor than his body felt like churning out, the boy scrambled on top of the counter-top and avoided sinks as he walked across the surface. He then hoisted himself up on the narrow stall walls and in a freak balancing act, managed to remove a tile and shimmy himself into a very narrow and very dusty crawl space. After a little maneuvering he dropped the mineral-fibre tile back into place with some coordinating between his left arm and leg. Claustrophobia was a much better fate than whatever awaited him below.

Just as the tile slide into place, he heard the door open and a tall Seran enter to search the room. The boy held his breath, afraid that the metal framework of the ceiling wouldn't hold up his weight for long. Any creak, any whisper of clothing against plaster, would be the last sound he ever made.

The teen waited for several long minutes before he heard the door swing shut. He hazarded a few gulps of stale air before creeping slowly to the center of the crawl space. The ventlation pipes and heating ducts made a maze of his hiding place, but the boy managed to work with what little room he had. It took a lot of willpower to fight the urge to sneeze at dustballs the size of his fist, and a lot of careful planning not to place all his weight in one locale. After five minutes, in which he only managed to creep a meter through some ill-placed wiring, his ears were met with multiple screams and a large explosion. From inside the ceiling, the kid could easily pin-point where it came from. The tiles that had once hung over the bar were blasted back - nearly into the kid's face. Fire began to lick at everything it could, exploring the crawl space and flooding the area with inconsistent light. The air in the spot he occupied suddenly became very warm and flecks of debris fluttered about the plaster like fireflies.

Shimming like a snake, the young man moved closer to the flames, shielding his face from time to time against the heat. He needed see if there was a way he could escape, and to do that he needed to know if his enemies were still lurking in the pub.

Just as he was about to peer through a convenient hole, the metal lattice supporting the tiles gave way, and the boy plummeted several feet to land on top of a thankfully bare table.

Pain, and lots of it, shot through every fiber of his being. He felt as though every inch of him was black, blue and broken. Groaning he turned over, expecting to find laser rifles trained on his face, but the bar was deserted – with a few exceptions.

There was a dead body with a billiard cue jutting out of it's chest; the horror captured in the man's face made the adolescent look away hurriedly. The direction he turned to revealed another body, this one slumped over the smoldering bar. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized it as Auri. In shock, he limped over to examine her, but found that she was stirring. She was making feeble attempts to not slide to the floor.

"Auri!" He moved to try and assist her, but there was blood pouring down her body and the heat was intense. The fire at her back was burning her flesh, sending the horrible smell of burning fur throughout the room. It set the boy's coat on fire when he summoned up his courage to dragged her to the other side of the counter. When the teen helped her sit back onto on the nearby stools, he noticed that she had been shot in the abdomen with an old fashioned firearm.

"J-John… how did you…? They searched… couldn't find you." Her voice was becoming faint and she was drawing in tiny breaths at what seemed like three puffs a second.

"Calm down… deep breaths. I need to get you to the hospital. Tell me where one is and I'll… I'll hail a cab or something." He bent to pick her up, and managed it with some difficulty. Auri screamed out in pain but became quiet as she adjusted to the kid's arms. Blood was trickling everywhere leaving a spotted trail on the ruined carpet.

"C-cab?" She muttered faintly, choking on the smoke that was wafting from the burning wood and alcohol. "Boy… you need to… t-take me down the block… to a hotel there… doctor… go by the backdoor… this way." She clutched the teen like he was her last link to life before pointing to the door leading into the kitchen. The man didn't argue as he slipped into the back of the bar and tried to find a way out.

After a few minutes of navigating through the miniature kitchen, the teen kicked at the exit leading into the alleyway and started a stunted jog towards a distant building Auri pointed out. Sirens and people shouting came from the parallel street, urging the young man to go faster in his attempt to clear the area. He jumped at every sound he encountered along the way, and nearly dropped Auri as what looked like a cross between a raccoon and a rabbit tripped him.

When he recovered from the loss of balance, the teen looked up to scope out what was a very decrepit building. Half of it was supported by a combination of orange tarp and rusted scaffolding, while the other half was peeling paint and crumbling to the street. A partially lit sign identified it as a Hotel – or to be specific, 'HO' with a few letters missing.

"Auri… is this the place?" The boy panted, adjusting his grip on the Caitian and causing her to whimper in agony. The blood from her stomach was pooling in the spaces between their bodies. It made the kid feel sick.

Auri trembled and opened one of her eyes – a flash of lamplight yellow in the shadows of the alley."Yeah... that it." She closed her eyes again and rested her head against the boy's chest. Her breath was coming in sharp gasps and she could barely whisper instructions. "Go… go to the intercom system…"

Her hands clenched the material that made up the kid's shirt as he moved to cross the street. He dodged the neon lights and fading street lamps, the claws of his burden grazing his skin with every jolt in their path. The security light that hung above the main entrance made the boy feel jittery. He paused as he stared at the digital directory with a dumb expression. "What name am I looking for?"

The Caitian buried her face in his chest and muffled something the adolescent couldn't hear. He shuffled her gently and repeated the question, trying not to sound desperate despite feeling like a large bull's-eye in a spotlight. "The name Auri… I'm going to need it if we're going to live through this."

She winced as she was moved but nodded gravely.

"McCoy… you're looking for McCoy."