Waking up and remembering everything that had happened before losing consciousness had a way of making a person feel good.
I still didn't know where I was, but at least I wasn't in a pod anymore.
I was lying naked on the floor.
But I wasn't even focusing on anything else around me.
My hand traced along my back.
There was a kind of tentacle wrapped around it.
I stood up and turned my back to a glass surface.
I could see it clearly.
And I didn't like it one bit.
It was the same as what I had seen beneath that man's face
the same man that I needed to express my gratitude to for saving my life.
I remembered every single thing, every single smell, word, and thought.
I tried pulling it out, but it didn't even budge one bit.
I could feel it beating inside me. It was creepy, but it wasn't harming me. And if anyone could take it off, it would be one of these guys.
After that thought, I looked a few meters ahead.
There was an orange-haired boy kneeling in front of a man.
He wiped his eyes, then with no effort lifted the man up and started walking.
I approached him as he walked past me.
"Hey… what happened?
Is he going to be okay? I'd like to thank him for…"
The boy looked at me. His eyes felt empty and distant.
"Hey. Don't talk to me."
"Sorry?"
I was quite confused as to why I was being spoken to like that.
The boy sighed.
"I won't repeat myself.
The only reason I don't kill you is because it will piss off the old man."
Then with a flash of orange light he vanished right in front of me.
I stood there naked, a black tentacle making its home in my back, and a collar wrapped tightly around my neck.
I couldn't even lie
I felt like some kind of medieval slave.
I couldn't even process what that young boy had said.
As I walked barefoot, I started to wish I hadn't remembered, because now I knew my mom was really dead.
Just thinking about it made a tear fall down my cheek.
She was the only person I was comfortable dying for. The only person that had put her entire life aside for me.
Was life on Earth better than this?
To be honest, it wasn't.
I would rather be locked up for life inside an alien ship than live back on Earth.
But she made it a million times more livable.
I stopped suddenly. My eyes widening.
I dropped to my knees in the middle of the hallway.
And let out a guttural scream.
As I shed my tears .
the same tears I couldn't shed, when she died I let it all out now.
As I cried, the beast that took her life resurfaced in my mind.
Gently, I stood up.
Ending the tears that had started so suddenly. They stopped just as abruptly.
Followed by anger.
I knew what I must do.
Every single one of them.
I wanted to cut them into pieces. I wanted to kill them slowly. I wanted them to just die.
Almost immediately after I spoke, the tentacle in my back began pulsing. It felt like having a second heartbeat.
Then a rip.
It began tearing through my flesh.
I screamed out, but it didn't stop.
It kept ripping through my flesh. My blood began flowing down my back.
I closed my eyes, hoping it would stop.
But in that darkness, he was coming back.
Whatever it was.
My reflection.
His face looked even more annoyed, more demonic.
"You really thought you could escape, when everything I've tried to do was to help you."
"You ungrateful little bitch."
He reached out to grab me.
Then I woke up.
The pain had become more bearable.
A hand was on my shoulder.
"Don't lose."
I turned my head slowly.
And there he was, the man from earlier.
His body was heavily bandaged, especially his torso.
I would never have guessed the severity of his injuries.
And just behind him was the same orange-haired boy, his hands folded, not even sparing me a glance.
"Mister…"
That was all I could say.
I wanted to thank him, but just as I was about to speak, he smiled.
"It's fine. I know what you want to say, and it isn't necessary."
He then stood up straight, his crutches beside him.
"Follow me."
Then he walked ahead of me.
I felt weak just standing up. Seeing my own blood like that almost made me sick.
But there was no pain. It had simply disappeared.
A bit sore, but nothing more.
We took several strange turns, passed through some unfamiliar areas, before heading down a hidden hallway.
I was getting nervous, but I doubted he wanted to kill me.
Remembering the fight we had — thinking about it now — he was definitely stronger than me.
Even with his injuries, I couldn't beat him.
And then there was him.
Behind me.
The orange-haired boy following slowly.
Like some kind of guard dog.
He might look younger than me, but I was certain he could kill me before I blinked.
Then the man stopped in front of a glass wall.
Inside the glass room were figures that looked like surgeons.
Wearing black instead of the usual white.
Strange medical tools I had never seen before.
The lab, or whatever it was, looked enormous.
It had unfamiliar devices, and robotic-looking beings. It all felt wrong.
The man turned to look at me.
"What you are about to experience might either make you or break you."
"You decide what you want, but I do hope you choose the former."
He nodded slightly.
And in an instant, the orange-haired boy appeared behind me.
With a swift strike, everything went black.
When I woke up again, I was in the lab.
I could tell from the black-clad surgeons and the mechanical equipment around me.
Just as one of them approached me with a needle.
I wasn't planning on struggling.
I sincerely doubted I could defeat any of them.
The closer it got, the more I realized it wasn't human.
It had no face.
No eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
I was getting frightened.
The talking goat was less eerie than this.
I tried moving, and realized my body was strapped to the table.
As it injected something into my neck, I began losing consciousness again.
But just before my eyes closed.
I saw them pull something out of a container.
It was an arm.
I didn't know why I could tell.