Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
“Aren’t you finished yet?” Colt demanded.
Pressing my lips together tightly, I bit back a sarcastic comment.
The guy had been pacing and grumbling for the past hour while I carefully poked through the wiring to find some sort of clue as to what was connected to the lock.
I didn’t want to do anything stupid that might end up killing power or oxygen to this area or whatever.
I didn’t know if we were still on earth or in freaking outer space, and I didn’t like messing with electronics that could be keeping me alive.
From the way things were laid out, I was pretty sure I found what I was looking for.
A series of much smaller wires seemed to lead towards the opposite wall instead of up and around like the rest. I couldn’t see through all the wires and pulsing blue organic bits, but I was relatively certain I was right.
Maybe. Or I was going to end up killing us both.
Drawing in a slow breath, I carefully cut one wire at a time. When nothing happened, I moved on to the next. And the next. Until I heard the thunk of the locking mechanism as it released and the panel of the door slid open.
“Yes!” Colt hissed, running towards the door and poking his head out. From where I was crouched, it looked like the hallway was empty, so he had his opportunity to run if he wanted. I’d just sit here and play innocent, thanks.
“Come on,” Colt demanded.
My brows drew together tightly, and I shot him a ‘what the hell’ look. “I’m not going with you, remember? You said you wanted me to get you a way out. I did. So off you go.”
He spun around indignantly. “Are you seriously going to just sit around and wait for them to kill you? Are you that much of a coward?”
Putting my hands out, I shrugged innocently. “I’m enlisted, man. I’m just following orders.”
The look on his face cracked me up, and I had to fight hard not to bust out laughing. That would give away his opening. I gestured like a butler towards the door, a smug look on my face. “Sir.”
With a frustrated shriek he muffled with clenched teeth, Colt stomped out of the room on his own. He looked both ways before picking a direction and sneaking off. Good riddance.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a while, waiting for the aliens to figure out what I did, but no one came.
Colt must not have gotten caught yet. Once he was, I knew they’d be coming straight here.
I wasn’t exactly looking forward to that confrontation but going with him seemed even stupider than waiting for them to figure it out.
After about an hour, though, and I still hadn’t been confronted, I considered using the opportunity to get out of here.
At least to go look for Knightley. I still remembered his scream, and I was really worried about him.
He was my friend. He was also an idiot for jumping off the damn wing of a plane but that didn't mean he deserved to die or be experimented on or something.
I took a minute to think through my options, but the worry ate at me and eventually I pushed to my feet and poked my head out in the hallway.
Still no signs of Colt. Which was either a good thing or a very bad thing.
For him, anyway. Still, I didn’t want to follow the same path he did, so I went in the opposite direction, trying to walk as casually as possible.
On the outside, I looked cool as a cucumber, but on the inside, my heart was pounding.
I didn’t let it screw with my expression, though.
It was easier to get away with shit if you looked like you knew what you were doing.
Tip-toeing around was a Hollywood thing and very rarely worked.
I knew that from the shit I got up to as a teen.
The end of the hall split off into a T, silent hallways stretched in both directions without any indication toward where they might lead.
I didn’t have a clue where I was going, nor any idea of what the layout of this place might be like.
I could be walking straight into the guard’s rooms or something.
My gut said to go left, so I went left, moving with purpose down the long hallway.
For a while, everything looked the same.
Long uniform hallways with doors every ten feet or so, all shut tight, every once in a while broken up by another identical hallway.
I wasn’t even sure how to get back to my own room at this point, so I just kept going.
Finally, I managed to make my way to an area that looked different.
And oh shit, did I make a mistake coming out here.
There was no way I’d be able to blend in.
Gone were the humanoid looking aliens and in their place were…
I wasn’t really sure what they were. Half human, half…
octopus? Their top halves looked human, though their coloring was off, with skin tones that ranged from blues and greens to bright pink.
But their bottom halves were tentacles like some kind of human/octopus hybrid.
They all wore vest-like tops, with thick material that looked similar to the space suits the humans from before wore, but nothing on their bottom halves.
Did octopus aliens fuck a bunch of humans to make whatever the hell these guys were?
It’d explain the rumors about anal probing aliens.
Absolutely none of them looked like me, so the likelihood of me being able to walk around was slim to none.
At the other end of the hall, I saw an alien pushing something that looked a lot like a hospital bed. They disappeared through a double door, where I caught a glimpse of more beds. Maybe that was where they were keeping Knightley.
Glancing around, I decided to stick with my original plan. Look like I belong and feign confidence. Straightening my shoulders, I marched down the hall. I got maybe fifty feet before the hallway opened up on the right to reveal stairs leading down to a huge room with glass ceilings and walls.
Weird looking plants covered the space like some kind of arboretum, an actual water feature in the middle with a sculpture of an alien shaking hands with a human.
There were dozens of aliens in that room, some working and others looking at tablets and talking to each other.
It was like a lobby, but you know, alien.
The view out the window showed we were over a city, not in deep space thankfully, though I couldn’t tell which city exactly.
I was so busy staring, I didn’t notice an alien approaching me until they spoke in their strange language.
I jumped, spinning around to face them. They looked at me expectantly, and I realized another flaw to my plan was that if I belonged out here, I probably would be able to understand what they were saying.
I threw out the first thing I could think of, jerking my thumb over my shoulder.
“Just need to check on a captive. I’ll get back to work in a second. ”
The alien frowned at me, eyebrows drawn together tightly.
He wasn’t huge, like the first alien guy I’d seen.
This one was about my height and built more trim, like a swimmer.
He had long black hair that was tied back in a series of twists and braids, dark eyes that looked almost black, and his plump lips looked exactly like you’d see on a human.
Seeing a human face with blue skin was a little disconcerting, but the tentacles were something else entirely.
Even when he stood still, they seemed to twist and move like they had a mind of their own.
One of them even reached for me, which had me taking a step back on instinct.
That, more than my story, seemed to tip the alien off that I didn’t belong here.
His eyes narrowed and when he spoke again, he sounded suspicious, though I still couldn’t understand him.
Forcing an uneasy smile, I spun around and took off towards where I’d seen those hospital bed things.
I didn’t get far. For a dude who moved around on freaking tentacles, he was crazy fast. A tentacle wrapped around my ankle, and I barely managed to catch myself before I fell on my face.
I scrambled to get away, but he dragged me back and wrapped more tentacles around me until I couldn’t move an inch.
I let Colt’s idiocy infect me. It was the only explanation for what made me stupid enough to try a stunt like this on an actual alien spaceship. If I died, I was totally coming back to haunt him.
It wasn’t long before more aliens came to join the one who grabbed me.
He didn’t release me, even though three guards stood a few feet away.
He didn’t look like he was trying that hard, either, a calm expression on his face as he waited patiently for whatever was going to happen next.
Maybe someone with a vaporizer or… fuck, maybe an anal probe.
I’m gay, but I draw the line at anal probing. I’m not a science experiment.
I figured it was better not to struggle.
It wasn’t like I was getting away anyway.
Maybe if they didn’t see me as a threat, they wouldn’t murder me.
My mom would be so freaking pissed if I turned up dead after all this.
Especially if she found out it was because I was wandering around without permission instead of waiting for more news in my perfectly comfortable room.
Again, I silently cursed Colt for putting the idea in my head.
If I had roomed with anyone else, we’d probably be chatting and hanging out right now.
They say misery loves company, but I think stupid loves company more.
Stupid Colt making me act like a dumbass.
The tentacles wrapped around me tightened ever so slightly, almost like a hug.
I twisted a little to look over my shoulder at the alien holding me.
We were within arm's reach of each other, though with the way he grabbed me, we were perpendicular and he’d have to sit up to actually touch me.
He didn’t, but he was watching me, an expression that almost looked like concern on his face.
These aliens were so freaking weird. At least he didn’t smell like fish like I’d expected.
He actually smelled like something floral.
It wasn’t a scent I recognized, but it was kind of nice.
We were finally joined by the huge alien guy who was there when we were brought aboard and walked us to our rooms. No longer human looking, his skin was a dark shade of green and his tentacles were just as massive as his upper half.
He could probably squeeze the life out of someone without even blinking.
I choked back a whimper, sinking further into myself. Stupid stupid stupid.
The alien holding me spoke first, the strange language they used nothing more than a garble of sounds to me.
I kept my gaze on the floor, silently berating myself for this stupid plan.
They seemed to have a discussion with each other, and their tones didn’t sound angry.
I wanted to be reassured by that, but then again, I was abducted this morning and was currently tied up with freaking tentacles.
No one should blame me for being pessimistic.
“Human,” the huge alien finally spoke. “Stand up.”
The tentacles wrapped around me released me slowly, cautiously, like they were afraid I’d run again. I was an idiot, not suicidal, though, so I kept my head down as I pushed to my feet.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone,” I mumbled.
The alien who’d found me said something as he stood, and the huge one grunted before speaking to me again.
“Where were you going?”
I considered lying, but what was the point? It wasn’t like there was some kind of excuse that would land me in less trouble than I was in now.
“I was looking for my friend. He was hurt when we got here, and they took him away. I wanted to see if he was okay.”
The alien guy was quiet for a while, and when I looked up at him, he looked contemplative. The one who had grabbed me stepped up beside me, saying something else I didn’t understand. I seriously needed a translator because I felt like I was missing half the conversation.
The big guy nodded once before giving his attention back to me. “We will take you to the infirmary. If you cause trouble, you will be brought back to your room.”
Wait. What?