Chapter 16: Chapter 15- The Escape

In the dark room, she stood with her face pressed to the glass like surface. There was movement on the other side, unlike anything she had experienced before. Using her claws, she tapped on the surface to draw attention to herself. None of the four humans inside looked her way. They talked between themselves and didn’t take note of her or the small hostile creature from last time. Perhaps due to the amount of humans in there, the creature kept to itself in a quiet corner. It appeared to be licking one of its hind limbs. A leg of some sort, but much like the difference between their tails, the creature was covered in a hair or fur, and hers consisted of two parts, neither having hair. The upper half had a soft pale flesh that suddenly turned to a hard chitin leg that went from just above the knee all the way down to her feet, which though had a hard shell, had a soft pad under her three toes. Two in the front and one in the back of her foot, each of which ended with two small claws, relative to those on her secondary hands.

As the small creature groomed itself, she too took the liberty of dusting off her antenna with her secondary hands. The humans talked on the other side of the glass but she couldn’t quite hear them. This confused her as the last time a human was here, she could hear them, and that small creature. Again on other times, she was unable to hear them. Was this one of those buttons? The same as the one which caused her pain last time? Though she wasn't making any noise, could they hear her now? She was about to tap on the glass, however the humans quickly left the room.

With the door closing, she felt disappointment and let her antenna fall. After a moment, she backed away from the surface and returned to her usual activity of running her hand against the wall. Just into her third round, she felt something odd in the wall. Some sort of vibration. Stopping, she looked at the wall in an attempt to discover its source. Twitching her antenna she could just barely hear a rumbling. Something close to what she remembered as thunder, but quiet and distant. For several moments she stood there in hopes of experiencing it again. However it did not come. Once more disappointed, she continued her activity.

On her seventh circuit of the room, she noticed a small movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking to the glass-like surface, she saw something moving. It was smaller than a human but larger than the human spawn and the hostile creature from before. Abandoning the wall, she moved towards the see through surface. Pressing her face to it like usual, she inspected what she now knew to be a small human. Though she couldn’t see it that clearly, this human was very young. It looked frightened. She tapped on the glass.

The small human fell to the floor and looked at her. The human said something, but she was unable to hear it. Again she tapped on the surface. Slowly the human stood up and approached her. Through her breathing, she saw the surface cloud up as an idea struck her. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled on the surface and a large lingering cloud appeared. Using one of her human hands, she began to write.

Though she didn’t know much, she did know what words and letters were from one of the humans here. Back when she was small, a human in white cloth taught her various things before she was moved into this room. The words, though they looked odd to her, were hopefully written in a way in which the small human could read them.

 

“Can you hear me?” She wrote.

 

The small human looked at the words astonished. She was tempted to tap on the glass to get a response, but decided that patience was in order. As the words were fading, the human finally stood up and shook her head. So it can’t hear her. Taking a moment to think, she decided her next move. Breathing on the surface again, she wrote her next sentence.

 

“Push wall.” She wrote.

 

Though she wrote that, in actuality she meant the buttons on the wall, though she didn’t know the word for it. The small human read it and reread it before once again shaking her head. She frowned. The small human didn’t trust it. Whatever scared her from before was likely part of the problem. What was there to do?

Looking around the room, she spotted the hostile creature. Though it didn’t like her, maybe it would like the small human. After all, the other humans seemed to get along with it. Tapping on the glass, she got the human's attention and used one of her primary human-like hands to point in the corner of the hall. The small human hesitated, but eventually it looked to where she was pointing.

It’s eyes opened wide as it stared at the hostile creature. Slowly it approached it and she hoped that the hostile creature would not harm the small human. If it did, her plans were likely to be over. Twitching her antenna, she watched as the small human picked up the hostile creature and carried it like the human from before. The small human stroked the hostile creature and a small smile appeared on its face.

Once more, she tapped on the glass. The small human looked over, and again she wrote.

 

“Push wall?” She wrote this time.

 

Hesitantly, the small human turned towards the wall and reached for and pushed the biggest the button. With the weight of the collar around her neck, she felt the familiar shocks course through her body. As she screamed out, she wondered if the small human tricked her. Humans very often tricked one another and those outside their species. However when the shock ended, she glanced at the see through surface and saw the concerned face peering in. Was this an accident? Even if it was, with that button, the guards will be coming soon.

Slowly she made her way to her feet and leaned on the glass like surface. Once more, she wrote.

 

“Push wall?”

 

The small human once more turned to the wall and, keeping away from the previous button, pressed another. The light inside the room turned on, not in hers but in the small human room. The small human looked around and saw that her room was still dark. Again she pressed another button. There was an almost inaudible sound that made her antenna twitch.

 

“Did that work?” The small human asked.

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Instead of answering, she once more tapped on the glass. Though as she did though, she was standing absolutely still, not wanting to make the slightest of sounds.

 

“Okay, what about this one?” The small human said, pressing another button.

 

Both to the small human and to her, there was no noticeable change. As the small human was about to press another button, they both heard the sounds of rushing footsteps. She was out of time. The small human looked at the door and then to her. The small human’s back was to the buttons and there were still various buttons that could open her path to freedom. Acting purely on desperation, she opened her mouth and let her secondary jaw impact the glass.

 

“AH!?” The small jumped back.

 

Hitting both the wall and buttons on them, there was a mechanical clicking noise. Looking at the previously sealed door, she saw it slowly opening. The small human too saw this. Paling at what it had done, it ran from the room, dropping the hostile creature as she did. With her gamble paying off, she separated herself from the glass like surface and moved towards the door. Not wanting to wait, she squeezed her way through as it was still opening. Falling through into the light, she used her hands to support her. Breathing heavily, she heard the familiar hissing of the hostile creature. Looking its way, she struck out with her tail.

As Etrius moved through the forest, it looked for any tracks of small creatures such as rabbits. Finding one such trail, Etrius followed it with its bow ready. Not but a few minutes later, it saw an average sized rabbit feeding on some sort of root. Etrius took a shot.

Several noises similar to thunder roared out in the halls. With several lights busted and an alarm sounding out loudly, she stuck herself in the dark corner of one of the halls, far above the human’s head. In her jaws was the small black hostile creature she had been previously feeding on. Though at the moment she had stopped chewing as to not reveal herself with the crunching of its bones.

From down below, three humans in bulky attire roamed with long metallic weapons. Those weapons rang out like thunder, but not the same as the thunder that she had previously heard. Suddenly from the door on the other side of the hall as the humans below her, came yelling. Along with the thunder, flashes of light appeared momentarily lighting up the hall. The two sides traded thunder and one of the humans beneath her fell. As the two remaining humans retreated back, five humans in attire that she did not recognize entered.

As the light still flashed, one of the humans spotted her and pointed her out. Three of the five turned their weapons towards her. Before they could let loose thunder, she darted along the ceiling as chunks of stone erupted behind her. Knowing them to be hostile, she dropped down on them. Landing on one’s shoulder she used one of her secondary hands to pierce its skull as her tail separated one's head from their neck. As the two fell, and with her surrounded on all sides, she momentarily dropped her meal and used her secondary jaw to tear out the neck of one closest to the door. Her tail swung and removed the leg from another just below the knee. As they screamed out, she grabbed her meal and bolted through the door.

With four rabbits currently in its bag, Etrius was having a rather successful hunt. None of them were skinned or gutted yet, but that could be done at home. Currently tracking its fifth one, Etrius noticed strange movements in the shadows. The shadows were scuttling in the sunlight towards some location deeper in the woods. Sighing, Etrius exchanged looks with one of the Deacons. It made a movement that one could equate to a human shrug and followed the scuttling shadows with its eyes. Reluctantly Etrius followed.

Thunder rang out and pain gripped her. She fell to the floor as one of her arms was separated from her body. As the blood flowed out, she used the two arms on her left side to pull her out of harm's way. Looking back, she saw one of her arms on the floor though she was unable to tell which one it was as both of the stumps on her right side were equally mangled. Through the pain, she gritted her teeth and pulled herself along the floor.

She wasn’t sure where she was as this place was a maze of halls and dead end rooms. All humans were hostile. Those with the attire that she recognized and those in attire she did not both unleashed thunder on her. Which one caused her injury, she wasn’t sure. Making her way to her feet, she once more ran through the halls. From behind, she heard humans rushing towards her.

Seeing a door, she forced it open, entered and immediately turned to close it. As she was closing it, thunder rang out. The door shut and she fell to the floor. A burning pain spread through her chest. Breathing had become difficult and as she coughed, blood came out. She tried to push herself up, but only one of her arms responded and she wasn't sure which one it was. As every breath came with pain, tears formed in her eyes. She was going to die. She didn’t want to die, but she was going to die. There was banging on the door.

Using her remaining arm, she pulled herself away from the door. Her legs were no longer working. As her breathing became shallow, she was unable to move any further. She didn’t want to die. Between her blood filled breaths, she sobbed. She was cold and growing colder. Her body no longer moved and her fear grew with every second. As her vision became unfocused, she saw movement. Unable to even turn her head, she tried her best to spy what it was. Hiding in the shadows, she spotted what looked to be the small human from before.

That wasn’t the only thing however. The shadows themselves seemed to be growing, moving, crawling. Faces she couldn't describe appeared and drew near. Her breaths were quick, ragged, and wet. Was this what came with death? Faces closing in? In her last moments she thought about the small hostile creature that was her last meal. If only she could be like that. Held in a human's arms, cared for and wanted. The door was flung in and one of the humans yelled. The next thing that she knew, her body was torn apart by the rolling thunder.

Following the shadows, Etrius entered a clearing with its bow at the ready. Though now that it thought about it, the things it was following weren’t physical beings. They did have bodies and physical forms, but outside of special instances, they weren't something that could be interacted with. What was a bow and arrow going to do to something that has no physical form? Though it was caught in this dilemma, Etrius had no choice but to follow through with it as the only other option was hoping that this wasn’t going to destroy everything in the immediate area.

Really hoping that wasn’t the case, Etrius kept following the shadows. However, another unusual thing happened. As Etrius approached what looked to be an unnaturally dark dome in the forest, the shadows shuttered. Stopping, Etrius looked at them. Each shadow dove in on itself. The dome which found itself in a clearing collapsed in on itself and blew away like ash. As it cleared away, Etrius saw a strange sight for the woods. It was what appeared to be a baby wrapped in a blanket.

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