Don't worry I am still writing. Had to take a mental break but I should be back on the saddle. Here is an unedited little snippet of the next chapter.
Snippet of ch 24:
Kang couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only was he looking at the odd girl from the processing labs he was staring at a huge fucking yautja.
The creature just stared at him with unmistakable disdain while the girl--Ilara or something--was typing on the controls on the other side of the glass dome. Kang could see her mouth moving and watched as she stopped and looked at him every few seconds, but he could hear nothing.
It went like that for a few more seconds occasionally she would turn her head and look up at the monster to her side. Was she talking to that thing?!
Kang closed his eyes and tried to remember what happened. He could remember waking up that morning and hitting the gym before eating breakfast in the canteen on level one and then reporting for duty. Kang frowned, everything had been fine. So why was he…more memories came back to him, but these weren't like the others. These memories were distorted, he could only piece them together. Images of people yelling, the sound of alarms blaring, he was so close. He could feel the memory he needed right there at the edge of his mind and-
"I swear if this doesn't work, I'm just going to start hitting it." The feminine voice broke over the intercom pulling Kang from his thoughts.
Frustrated at being intterupted, Kang opened his mouth to speak, but only a croaking sound came out. He realized his throat was dry. A fiery pain burned through his throat as he tried once again to speak. Instinctively, he reached up to rub at his throat, but was reminded again that his arms and legs were clamped down inside the pod. Angrily, he began to shift.
"Okay, okay, I'm getting you out. Just give me a quick sec," the girl tried to reassure him, but Kang didn't want to listen.
He was sore as hell and more than a little confused. It alarmed him that there was huge black patches in his memories. It freaked him out to know that the last things he could remember was the chaos on the base station and nothing else. But it had to be bad right? If he was in the processing lab looking up at the infamous strange girl and the yautja that should be in a cryo chamber. Just what the fuck happened?
Ahead of him the room began to move and he blinked a few times before realizing it was him moving. The medical pod was coming down from the wall and down to the floor level. A few moments later the pressurized seal of the glass dome released.
"Hi Kang, it's me Izara. Here take my hand." The girl chimed happily in front of him.
Naturally he looked to the silent beast standing off to the side. The hideous monster just watched him with those sunken in eyes glowing evilly. For some reason Kang didn’t want the giant bastard to see him in this moment of weakness. Angrily, he pushed away her helping hands and grabbed the side of the pod with both hands. He would step out on his own. He needed to set the tone with that thing staring at him. He was not weak.
The moment his weight came down on his leg, Kang knew he made a mistake. His legs felt like jelly. His knee buckled immediately and he could feel himself toppling forward.
"I got you," the bright voice called out.
One moment Izara was in front of him watching him with a worried expression and the next she had his arm over her shoulders and was propping him up like a crutch. Both him and the yautja blinked in shock.
She had moved so fast.
"Let me help you, just until you get your strength back," she explained. Her tone which should have been admonishing considering how he ignored her help was surprisingly encouraging. Kang couldn't help but do a double take to the girl practically carrying him to a stool.
Although his arms and legs felt like jelly, Kang could feel the toned strength in her body. The girl felt like solid steel wrapped in cotton. Soft yet completley unyielding. Which was absolutely insane considering the fact that he worked out seven days a week and yet he knew of no one on the base station that felt this damn strong.
After settling onto the stool with a sigh, Kang looked up tiredly at the girl as she turned and walked across the round room to a small kitchenette. Kang blinked in confusion. When the hell did they get a processing room that was round? Looking around the room some more his insides froze when he caught sight of the windows. Though it was dark outside, Kang could clearly see trees through the glass.
Alarmed, he looked to the yautja who stared back at him with what Kang could swear was vicious amusement in his eyes. Desperatly, he tried to speak again, this time producing a coughing-like sound that made his throat burn ten times worse.
"Don’t try and talk yet," Izara urged at him from over her shoulder. She was standing at the kitchenette mixing something into a plastic mug. Once done she brought it over and held it to his lips. "Here drink," she directed tilting the cup into his mouth.
Kang had no strength to fight her despite the panic in his mind. He drank the thick, salty liquid even though it tasted like shit.
"That's it," she soothed. "Drink all of this and you should be able to speak again."
Kang nodded, and let her feed him the terrible liquid. He stared at her as he drank and noticed for the first time the revealing outfit she was wearing. The black briefs and matching tank top left most of her exposed. He could hardly stop himself from tracing her smooth skin with his eyes. When he woke up inside the medical pod it took him a moment to see through the glass into the dark room, but he could remember now. She had been sleeping in one of the beds.
"What's…going…on?" he managed to rasp
"Here, drink some more. Take it slow," she instructed, before standing up straight and looking to the yautja. Kang watched her share a look with the creature before looking back at him with a hesitant smile. "Let's see where to begin," she laughed nervously. "So much as happened that I don't even no where to start. Do you remember the latcher attack?"
Like a magic spell the words brought back a flood of memories that made him wince. He had been running with…with people. Kang frowned. No not just people, people that had meant something to him. Slowly, he recalled the faces of his two friends.
"Deon and Sean," he said remembering now. He had been running with them and fighting off a wave of latchers that had broken through when-
His eyes went wide and they flew to his side. He had been shot by that idiot Deon!
Frantically he looked down at his side. He was shirtless wearing only his pants which were torn perfectly at the knee making them into a pair of shorts. Lifting his arm he examined the puckered scarring of his right flank.
"Sorry," Izara winced. "We didn't have the resources to have the wound grafted. I'm not sure how long we'll be here and I didn't want to waste the cells in storage on cosmetic procedures."
That caught his attention. "Where is here exactly?" His eyes narrowed. "And where is Deon and Sean?"
The girl shifted uncomfortably on her feet and looked away. "Welll," she let the word drag out. "They are…they are-"
"They are dead," the yautja said, cutting her off.
Izara groaned and looked up to the ceiling.
Kang wanted to stand up. The outrage that was running through him made his muscles jump, but they were too weak to respond to his demands. All he could do was look from the emotionless yautja and to the girl avoiding his gaze. Settling his confused gaze on her, knowing he would get a hell of a lot more feedback from her than the fucking creature he demanded answers.
"How did they die? I can remember bits and pieces of them carrying me down the hallway," he began, specifically he remembered that fucking idiot Deon shooting him.
"Let's just say they died of misadventure. But that's not important," Izara tried to deflect cheerfully. She came closer with the mug of strange liquid again, which admittedly did make his throat feel better with every sip. "What's important is getting you better again-"
Weakly Kang held up a hand, cutting her off. "No," he said firmly. "I want to know how they died, exactly." His words were clipped.
He wasn't going to let her sweep this under the rug. Those two had been fine when they were dragging him down the halls of the base and he could even remember bits and pieces of Sean arguing later than that. So what the hell happened? From what he could see of the place it couldn't be a crash landing, the pod looked fine.
Izara stood up straight, taking the mug she had been guiding to his lips away. Something flashed in her eyes and he watched her delicate face harden as she gave him a cold look.
"Like I said those two are dead. I can't see the point of-"
Kang knew he wasn't in any position to be making demands, but he couldn't stop himself. "But they were fine the last time I saw them," he argued.
She stared down at him past her nose with a cold imperious look. Even the yautja stared at her, its small creepy, red eyes staring at her with almost captivated interest.
"Was that before or after you three killed Peter Witten, the executive that was supposed to be on this pod?"
If this would have been any other day Kang would have been able to school his expression. He could have mastered the muscles in his face to make no movement whatsoever, but not today. Today he was exhausted and all his muscles felt weak. He couldn’t stop his eyes from widening in guilt as he remembered Sean's shared conspiratorial look just seconds before he shot the exec in the head and left his body on the ground for the latchers to get.
Izara nodded in satisfaction, as if she had made a guess and he just confirmed it. She leaned down and thrust the mug in his hand and gave him a level look with those deep brown eyes that seemed to glitter from within. It reminded him of the name everyone called her back on base, Defect. Some people said she was an experiment gone wrong, some said she was simply ex-con with a few modifications. The list of theories went on and on. But no one knew for sure. She was just the ditzy girl who specialized in processing the non-humanoid detainees.
She tilted her head and looked at him in such a detached way Kang found himself missing her previous smile. "Let's be clear with one another. Your friends are dead. They tried to kill me and now they are dead. So tell me now if you plan on being an asshole like them. Because I can just throw you into cryosleep and save us all a lot of time."
Her words felt like acid against his pride. If this only could have been any other scenario. But not here wherever the fuck they were. Not here with just the two of them and none of his allies. And definitely not when he felt like pure shit.
Kang shook his head and schooled his features to one of sincerity. "I don't want that," he said softly. "It had been all Sean's idea to get rid of Witten. Before Deon and I knew what the hell was going on, Sean had shot Witten."
It was technically the truth. Sean hadn't discussed his plan to shoot the exec they were supposed to be escorting. Kang just left out the part where he didn't care. Witten was a pompous asshole and there was no way they were going to put up with the piece of entitled shit in an enclosed space for more than an hour.
Straightening back up, Izara gave him a cool look and nodded. "That sounds about right for Sean." She pointed to the mug in his hand. "Drink that and once done you can shower and sleep. I'll get another bed set up for you and print you out some clothes."
It felt like he was moving in a dream. Somehow he found the energy to do the most basic things for himself in the odd new space while some things were thankfully done for him. After his shower and dressing, he realized he was exhausted. Izara led him to his bed before setting a tray of food next to him. He ate in trance-like silence and examined the circular room around him. He could hardly believe this was the pod they had been running to on the base. Just where the hell had they hidden this thing?
But it wasn't the pod and all its amenities that held his attention as he lay back in bed. It was the girl and the beast. Kang watched them even as his eyelids threaten to fall shut. There was something not right how they interacted with one another…not normal. But he was too tired to see what exactly.
Kang closed his eyes in a frown. Tomorrow, he would find out the answers to all his questions. Right now, he just needed to sleep.
Once I am finished I will post it officially. Hang in there with me guys.
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