I know, I know. I'm late. I apoligize. I was too busy being lazy. I'm not too sorry about that. I am sorry about not being able to write action, though. Therefore, this is a horrible chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

I woke up to the sounds of screaming. I heard crying and begging, and for a second I thought I was in another nightmare.

"Let me go! Let me go! You have no right! Who do you think you are? LET ME GO!"

"Please. I'll do anything! Please."

"You stupid, good for nothing bastards! Go back to your own fucking planet!" I groaned.

"Loren, look, he's waking up." I tried to open my eyes, but they didn't seem to cooperate. My head was throbbing. Did I bang my head against a brick wall?

"Yeah? What good will that do? He was safer asleep." My mom's voice sounded bitter. I couldn't blame her. The sounds of despair were deafening. I let out another groan and finally my eyes opened. I tried to sit up. My parents came rushing to my side.

"Tobias, are you okay?" I replied with a soft "ow" and brought my hands up to my head. Why wouldn't the world stay still? Stop spinning!

"Sweetie, don't move too much. You'll hurt your head." Yeah? A little too late for that.

"Someone call the Visser! The child is awake!"

"Where are we?" I mumbled. I doubt my parents heard because they didn't reply. They just gave each other goo goo eyes. Or maybe they were worried glances. "Where are we?" I asked louder.

"Tobias…" My dad hesitated.

"Tobias look-" my mom started. But it was at that moment that my brain caught up with me. The crying. The screaming. I slowly took a look around the cage in the underground cavern I was in. I felt a shudder go through me.

"The Yeerk pool," I whispered. My parents stared at me in shock.

"What did you just say?" my mom asked slowly. I didn't answer. I wasn't paying attention.

I guess I was in shock, too. I'm not sure. I know that for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity everything froze. I froze. I just sat there and stared. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. Because no. No. I was not in the Yeerk pool. I wasn't. I couldn't. It was unthinkable. Unimaginable. Impossible! Yeah, I was captured, and yeah Visser Three had personally visited my home, but I couldn't be there. It couldn't be over. After all this time, it couldn't end like this. It wasn't fair.

((Get the child! I want him infested first. Let his parents understand that there is no way out.))

And finally time sped up. My heart was racing. No! No, no, no, no… I couldn't be infested. Never! They'd get my friends, too. Our secret would be revealed. The Yeerks would capture them, and infest them, and get a hold of the morphing power. They'd learned about the Chee, and the free hork-bajir, and the morphing cube. No! I wouldn't let them! I wouldn't let them! I was shaking. I knew I wanted to start crying and screaming. I was near hysterics. But no. I wouldn't cry. As stupid as it sounded due to my current circumstances, I couldn't let them have that.

A hork-bajir came and kicked the door open. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Walk," he ordered. When I didn't comply he practically dragged me along.

"Let me go!" He didn't even flinch. He probably heard this a hundred times on a daily basis. "No! You can't do this! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Let him go you freak! No!"

"Tobias! Tobias!"

This isn't happening. This is just another nightmare. No. NO! I knew I couldn't let them take me alive. And I knew there was no way to escape this. I couldn't morph. I'd be taken down instantly. But maybe I would manage to get myself killed in the process. Anything would be better than infestation. I struggled, and kicked, and screamed. I was no match for a hork-bajir. Calm down, I ordered myself. Calm down and think.

Wait. The hork-bajir. He had a tight grip on my hand. I grinned as an idea popped into my head and waited until we were closer. Well, I can't morph, but… Just a little more… Perfect.

"No! No! Let him go!"

Suddenly, the hork-bajir stopped a few feet from the pool. His grip slackened as the acquiring trance kicked in. I freed myself from his hold and ran straight for the pool. There was a loud splash as I went in.

((What is he doing? Get him fools! Get him!))

I started shrinking the instant I hit the water. Morph. Morph! TSEEW! TSEEW! The temperature instantly rose. Yeerks around me started wriggling. I tried to cry out in pain, but I was rewarded with a mouthful of water and started to choke. I was being boiled alive!

((No! You worthless imbeciles! Do you have any idea how many Yeerks are in the pool? Get in the water!))

My skin turned dark and six legs burst out of my torso. I shrank. Wings erupted from my back. I needed air! Air! Morph Tobias. Ignore everything else. Morph.

Suddenly, there was a large noise and something was rushing from the surface. My now compound eyes saw a hideous, yellow, worm-like creature coming towards my direction. I recognized it for what it was. Taxxon! I tried to hurry the morph, but it was hard because already the world was one big blur from lack of oxygen. I was still shrinking. Useless! It saw me. It saw me!

I swear I saw it grin.

It raced at me faster than I thought a Taxxon could swim. It would reach me in milliseconds! Up! Up! Swim! The Taxxon missed me by a hair and crashed into the pool wall. Up! Up!

I pressed myself on the edge on the crack of the bottom of the pier where it met with the pool's walls in a right angle. I was too small for the Taxxon to reach me there. My lungs burned.

There was a deafening noise as the Taxxon shot up and onto the surface of the pier. I didn't sigh in relief.

((WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE MORPHED?!))

I pushed myself out of the crack. My blond hair disappeared, and my morph was finally complete. It was the fastest morph I'd ever done. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. My brain fogged up, and I gave in to unconsciousness.