Re: Intrigue: A New Earth ~ One-on-One Ethereal and xraineyesx [IC]

[xraineyesx]

Anya had not looked behind her and so, she had not seen the approaching horror. What she did see was a special kind of horror: a monster - and it clearly had had its way with the contents of the transport ship - including the people. At first she could only see its eyes, but as it moved forward, she could see its body.

And it was repulsive.

She heard the Mr. Tilton-look-alike speak. The engine wasn't starting? What? Panic set into her chest, like a strong hand was wrapping around her heart and was squeezing... squeezing... squeezing - squeezing until her heart would either burst or implode from the pressure.

"Alfrei!" she called out again, as the beast made itself visible finally. She couldn't speak further; she was frozen in shock. She wanted to help, to run, to ask what she should do, but she couldn't. She could only stand in place, couldn't move any more than a tree could tear its roots up and walk away from where it was planted.

The men were speaking; she did not hear them. In fact, she did nothing until Mr. Tilton grabbed her arm and started dragging her.

"Hey!" she called, "Let go of me. What are you doing?" She struggled for a moment, trying to get away, but, realizing her efforts would not succeed, she searched frantically for Alfrei. She found him where she had left him - facing the beast.

"Alfrei!" she called out again. Why was he letting her be taken like this? What if this Tilton guy did let her go? What if he took her away and Alfrei could never find her?

She flailed again, clobbering the man with her elbow in the mouth. And he swore, she presumed, in their strange language, before wrapping both of his arms around her and tossing her over his shoulder. She kicked and beat on his back, but he didn't pay any attention to her.

"What are you doing?!" she cried again.

"Helping you."

"How?" she screamed before looking up from the ground to see another mind-blowing horror add to her panic.

That... thing, that monster, was chasing Alfrei away from the plane. And now she could see the... pack? She didn't know what else to call them. But she could see them now, still not upon them but coming fast. They didn't have much time

She glanced back at Alfrei and watched the beast leap at him.

"No!" she yelled, being spun around as the Tilton man entered the transport.

And then she was shoved into the transport and dumped in a seat.

"Sit down. Be quiet."

She stood up immediately, too paranoid to sit and be quiet.

"But what about Alfrei?" she said, shoving the man as he flipped switches and geared the transport up, the roar of the engines almost deafening. "And what if there are more of those things..."

She stopped abruptly, not even able to breathe. There was a noise, like the call of an animal. And it was, she thought, coming from inside the transport.

"Oh God," she breathed, repeating herself over and over. "Oh God, oh God, oh God."

[Ethereal]

"Close the hatch! Get us airborne now!" Alfrei yelled.

As soon as he got over the initial shock of having survived against one of those creatures, the man pushed his bloodied self up and rushed towards the transport ship's cockpit. Anya was there. She had a panicked look and her fear is getting the best of her.

The one lethal thing with fear is that it strikes suddenly, especially in situations such as this. Alfrei knew that there was only one thing a person can do to keep on functioning; do not succumb to your fear.

"Anya! We're going to be alright! I'm here," he said and even though he was soaked in that creature's blood, hugged her in a meager attempt to reassure her. "everything's gonna be okay."

One glimpse down below, from one of the transport ship's small rounded windows, Alfrei saw that they barely escaped death. As the distance between the ship and the creatures widened, Alfrei could only swallow the air in his mouth. There were too many of those things! He could only hope that this would be the first and last time both he and Anya had to cross paths with them. Eaten alive, torn to pieces, slashed to shreds, you name it, those things could probably do it. The thought itself made a cold chill run down his spine.

More importantly, they were safe for now, that was all that mattered. He could see it in the faces of the men with them inside the transport ship - the look of relief in their eyes. But who are these men? Where were they headed? Now is a good time to ask.

"Where are we headed?" Alfrei inquired.

One of the men looked at him and smirked. "Anyroniac Viyz, or Arthurian City in this language."

Alfrei was surprised to learn that he too could speak words he could actually understand. His English accent was somewhat similar to that of a Frenchman which reminded him of someone from their world. The man then stood up and tinkered with what looked like a storage box of some sort. He pressed a combination and a drawer slid out from the transport ship's steel-like wall. He pulled out a clean sheet of cloth, two bottles of neon-blue liquid and handed it over to Alfrei.

Realizing he was still hugging Anya, a pang of embarrassment gnawed at him as he loosened his arms around her to get the cloth and weird looking bottles of liquid substance from the man. Using the cloth to clean himself up as much as he can, Alfrei wondered about the liquid stuff he just had to ask.

"What's this?"

The men laughed like he was an idiot. Irritated, Alfrei decided to let it slide. How the fuck was he supposed to know what was what in this world?! Well, at least he knows what the cloth was for.

"It's clean water. I suppose you know what to do with it?" one of the men answered Alfrei's stupid question followed by his own stupid inquiry.

"Some clean water you have here. It looks like Gatorade to me." Alfrei replied and twisted the bottle cap open. He handed the opened bottle over to Anya and then opened and drank the contents of his own bottle.

"Arthurian City, first time I heard of such a city." Alfrei babbled on. They needed information and talking casually was one of the best ways to get it.

The men looked at each other. It was almost like they thought Alfrei was just lying when he said they were not from this world. After a momentary silence, one of them finally decided to answer.

"The last humane place in this world, that's what Arthurian City is. You'll know more when we get there."

Interesting and confusing at the same time. Last humane place? Was it like Man's Last Stand kind of thing? Alfrei could only wonder. Needless to say, they were headed there and will probably get to know more in due time. For now, they have to trust these men and try not to make enemies out of them, for both his and Anya's sake.

[xraineyesx]

Anya stood, shocked and - well, she was too stunned to move, to think, to speak. She simply stood where she was, unable to do any of these things or anything else for that matter.

She heard people's voices. She heard Alfrei's voice. It didn't register with her what they were talking about, and she couldn't have cared at that moment if she had forced herself to do so.

They had almost died...

They had almost died...

They had almost died...

They had almost died...

They had almost died...

It was the only thing she could thing. It was repeating itself over and over in her head, and she thought of nothing else until the touch of someone else brought her out of her infinite loop.

"Anya! We're going to be alright! I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay."

And then she felt arms wrapped around her. They were sticky with...

"Yuck!" she exclaimed. "You're covered in blood... Oh, Alfrei!" Her eyes shined up at him, glistening with the start of tears, "I thought you were going to die. I thought you WERE dead." She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight as she buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed.

After a moment, she pulled herself together and wiped her eyes off with the back of her hands. "I'm sorry I mess her your shirt up," she sniffed.

And then things moved in slow motion. At least that's what it felt like to her. Alfrei asked where they were headed; he received an answer. She didn't care much. What did it matter? The name meant nothing to her. Alfrei was handed some bottle of something; he asked what it was. He was answered; again, she didn't care.

Alfrei passed her the bottle. "What is this?" she asked.

At least, she thought she did. She asked inside her head, but she hadn't said it out loud and so she received no answer; however, upon watching Alfrei drink his own bottle, she ventured to take a sip out of her own. Water... It was water. Well... It tasted like water, but it didn't look like it. It didn't stop her from drinking it, however, and so she tipped the bottle up and chugged about half of it. It was refreshing to have something to drink, something to do even other than just sit there with her hands folded on her lap.

"Alfrei?" she inquired. "Where are we going?"

She had heard them talking about it, but she hadn't been listening and she assumed that Alfrei knew more than she did; he always knew.

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