Someone Else (Part 5)

Arisa lifts me up by the neck while giving me the thousand yard stare. I laugh.

“I bet you feel proud of yourself, tricking me like that. You got me I admit it, but what about Valerie? I thought you wanted to show her the outside world?” I ask her, staring back into her eyes.

She tightens her grip, digging her nails deeper into my neck, leaving me gasping for air. My heartbeat quickens. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my previous life, despite my fear that something like this would happen. Maybe my fears of Terry were unfounded, maybe I should have reported him sooner. I wouldn’t be in this situation if I did, or maybe this is just what I deserve. I don’t really know, but I am losing consciousness.

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I see Valerie pulling away from the soldier holding her arm.

“This is your last chance Mr.Clover!” Ms.Oppix warns, pacing along the walkway above. “Depending on your answer, I might just spare you.”

Arisa loosens her grip, allowing me to catch a quick breath. “If you’re still hoping for my answer, that just means that you’re at a loss!”

Ms.Oppix stomps her heel against the metal walkway. “And here I thought humans would have learned from the foolishness of their ancestors, but it seems I was wrong yet again. You're an interesting man, Alan Clover, but just like all my specimens eventually do, you have reached the end of your usefulness.”

Arisa tightens her grip around my neck once again, but it’s tighter than before. I try prying her fingers from around my neck, but they’re fastened like a vice. This is the inherent difference in strength between our species, but realizing that doesn't lessen the feeling of hopelessness. My consciousness is quickly slipping away. Everything is getting hazy, but I somehow feel peaceful. It feels like I’m going into a deep slumber.

…BEEP! RING! RING! RING! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

An alarm rattles my eardrums. The sound is close, yet it doesn’t seem familiar. Arisa releases her vice-like grip from around neck, leaving me to fall to the floor. As I’m coughing and gasping for air, I feel my arm vibrating and it’s then that I realize. What’s making that sound is the watch I use to monitor Valerie.

“Bunny, Help Mister!” Valerie shrieks with tears in her eyes, while a pink mist leaks from her pink stuffed bunny.

The levels for her vitals and emotional state are too unstable. Could this be the awakening Oppix was hoping for?

“What are you fools doing?!” Ms.Oppix shouts at the soldiers staring at Valerie, as the stuffed bunny in her hand starts shaking. “ Arisa, Grab hold of her!”

Arisa gives her a nod before running towards the young girl, all while an immense pressure pushes against me. I can’t move my limbs and I can barely hold my head up. Alarms and sirens start blaring around us, turning this storage room into a disastrous music hall. And with all of these vibrations running up my arm, my wrist is starting to numb. Her numbers have become innumerable.

Pushing past the soldiers standing around her, Arisa reaches out to Valerie. Their eyes meet for a single moment before the stuffed bunny explodes into a black cloud. It's different from the pink mist as it’s much thicker and fills the storage room in an ominous shroud; dark enough to cause the soldiers to lose their nerves.

“Team 2, where are you guys?! I can’t see!”

“Damn it, where did everyone go?!”

“I’m right here, just take my hand!”

“Quick find that little girl!”

HELP MISTER.

“Huh, did someone say something?”

“Did anyone hear that? What was that?”

HELP MISTER!

“AAAAHHH!!”

“What the hell is that?!”

Shots ring out in the darkness, yet none of them seem to be able to identify what’s lurking within it. Whatever it might be, the words it's managing to say are ragged and long-winded. As if speaking is not only a chore, but is something its vocal chords dread doing in the first place.

“Baleful Gale!” shouts Ms.Oppix, right before the shroud of darkness is blown wide open.

Standing up on my two feet, I hear the clamoring of the soldiers shooting into the darkness.

“It’s right there, keep shooting!”

“What is that thing, and where did it come from!?”

“It’s so tall, but it’s still so hard to see!”

“It’s using the mist to hide itself! Keep shooting if you value your life!”

KEEP SHOOTING! SO HARD TO SEE! KEEP SHOOTING!

In the blink of an eye, a metallic claw reaches out from the black cloud and impales one of the soldiers through the chest. Stricken by fear, his comrades watch as he gargles on his own blood, before the claw then swipes him away, ripping him apart. Many of them panic at the sight of his sudden dismemberment, as his blood forms a puddle on the floor.

Staring at what remains of the dark cloud, I try to catch a glimpse of whatever is shrouded within, but I can't. The only thing I can see are its metallic claws as it swipes in and out of the darkness, leaving bloodied limbs flying about in its wake.

HELP MISTER!

That's what Valerie said right when all of this started, is it helping me?

HE’S SO NICE TO ME! I DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE! HELP HIM! HELP HIM!

I feel someone grab on to my hand, and looking down, I realize it’s Valerie. Noticing the scared look in her eyes, I bend down to give her a hug. Knowing she’s now safe, I’m finally able to take a deep breath. Pulling away to look at her face, I notice her teary eyes and her dilated pupils trembling within. Taking a look at my watch, I realize that all of her readings are still innumerable. Is whatever that is part of her awakening too?

“You thought you could pull another fast one while we weren’t looking, huh?” Someone shouts from behind me. While I’m hesitant, I turn around anyway, only to find the two monkey men glaring down at me.

Looking into their eyes, I’m reminded of the sharp pain I felt when one of them hit me in the chest. While it wasn’t as bad as the beatdown Arisa gave me, they were holding back on Oppix’s order. So with everything going on right now, they might just kill me.

“Me, pulling a fast one? You seem to have high expectations of me!” I say to them with a point of my finger. “I plan on scurrying out of here!”

The one with the impaired sight squints while adjusting his glasses. “The fact you can say that with a look of confidence is impressive. Although, it still doesn’t change the circumstances you’re in.”

The other one laughs. “Look at him shaking! I think he just might pee his pants!”

LOOK AT HIM SHAKING!

Hearing that shrill voice, both of them leap away from the darkness coming towards them. I cover my eyes with my forearm as the darkness surrounds me, not wanting it to get into my eyes, but then everything goes quiet. When lowering my arm, I’m met with a black abyss before me, yet I can feel something staring back at me.

Valerie squeezes my hand, almost as if she’s scared. I grasp her hand, in hopes of giving her comfort. However, I was wrong. When looking down at her, not only can I see her within this dark realm, but there’s a smile on her face.

“Bunny!” She says with glee, while reaching her other hand outwards. Then I see it.

Its figure is slender yet towering like a barren tree in a dying forest, with its long limbs resembling decaying branches that have long since hollowed out. The entirety of what looks to be it’s body is wrapped in a ragged red cloth, with lengthy bits of the same cloth that hang from its back like a series tassels. Each of them fashioned with a blade dangling from the end.

As I’m stepping away from it, Valerie reaches out and caresses what looks to be it’s hand. Which is a silver gauntlet with razor sharp claws that scrape against each other with any slight movement. And when it steps towards us, its claw-like sabatons scrape against the storage room floor.

“You did a great job!” She says with a giggle, still rubbing its claw. All while it makes a sort or purring sound, that is more akin to a creature scratching against the inside of a drain pipe. While it did save me, it’s still unnerving to see her congratulating it as if it were a domesticated house cat.

“Baleful Gale!”

The darkness is blown away, revealing the corroded brass helm hiding what I believe to be its face. It lacks a visor to see through, but despite that, I can still feel its towering gaze.

Averting my gaze, I realize the true horror surrounding me. Dozens of soldiers lie dead on the ground, leaving many mutilated beyond recognition. Those that survived the onslaught are taking measures to revive their fellow comrades, as if clinging to some semblance of hope. Unfortunately, seeing the copious amounts of blood pooling beneath them, it’s a fruitless endeavor.

“Damn you…beast!” Shouts a familiar voice.

When I turn around, I see the monkey man with the glasses leaning over his partner's bloodied corpse. His face now twisted by anger, as he glares at the slender figure looming over him. Until a sudden chuckle breaks the tension.

“How unexpected, I suppose this would be too much for you two. An unexpected outcome indeed…” Ms.Oppix says while looking down at us. Her expression still giving off an air of superiority.

“Professor, What is that monster?! It appeared out of thin air!” The monkey man shouts, his glasses nearly shaken off by his pent up disbelief.

“Bunny isn’t a monster!” Valerie shouts.

Monster! Bunny isn’t a monster!

Oppix laughs at the beast's repeated response, leaving the monkey man to grit his teeth in humiliation.

“Yes of course, calling it a ‘monster’ is uncalled for! It is an insult to its presence.”

“You knew about it?” I ask, glancing at the creature.

She shakes her head. “Not exactly, but I suspected she was capable of something extraordinary! Being that last of her kind and all…”

“You were using her!” I say, clenching her fist.

She laughs. “Well look at you, little detective! Though now that you mention it, seeing how you’re trying to escape, I suppose that’s been your role this entire time.”

“Damn right, and we’re getting out of here!”

“Ooo a new bout of confidence! It makes sense, I mean you did find what you’re looking for.”

My body freezes up. Did she figure out my mission? No, that isn’t possible.

Gulping down the fear caught in my throat, I take a deep breath. “What are you referring to?”

“You’re scared aren’t you?” She asks with a glare, before pushing up her glasses. “Why are you? You’ve found someone else to bail you out…”

I hear a click against the storage room floor. Glancing to my left, I see a poka dot dress rushing past me, their hand outstretched towards Valerie. It’s Arisa.

The creature screams, it’s voice ripping through the air like it’s claws towards Arisa. Catching a glimpse of its silvery claws, a gust wind flutters from her palm, blowing her back. Her heels click against the warehouse floor, while Valerie and I are knocked down on the floor.

“Would everyone quit knocking me around, give me a break here!” I shout, getting up on my feet once again.

“Mister!”

I hear Valerie scream, right before taking a hit to the face. It only staggers me a bit on my feet, as I shake it off. Given how much I’ve been hit already, I braced myself the moment I heard her voice.

“Seems you’ve grown to take a hit!” the monkey man chuckles with a grin, now holding Valerie underneath his arm as she wiggles around and hits him in protest.

“What are you doing you fool!” Oppix shouts, grabbing the railing of the platform above.

I just so happened to be mid-blink during her outburst, so I took it as just that. But having opened my eyes, I now understand why. Like a decrepit tree from a haunted forest, the beast is now standing there behind him. Raising its branch-like arm, as he’s turning around. Inching it’s metallic claw closer to the side of his head, until…

“Dammit! Why are all of you so incompetent?!” Oppix shouts, slamming her fist against the railing.

Incompetent!

My breath gets caught as I stare at the pool of blood beneath what should be the monkey man's body. And I say “what should be” because everything that was once his upper half is now unrecognizable. From what should be his head, which is now a mix of facial features and brain matter, to what should be his torso, which is now a mangled mound of flesh and bone. Anyone would think he was put through some sort of grinder, but no, this is the result of a simple swipe of that thing's claw.

Realizing she’s lying on the floor in the pool of blood, Valerie tries getting up but her hands keep slipping. Dirtying her oversized white shirt further.

Bunny…

The beast says in its labored tone of voice, as it pitches the back of her shirt with its claws. It moves so carefully when it comes to Valerie, but when it comes to its victims it's anything but. Which isn't much of a surprise considering Valerie is the one who summoned it, but how? How was she able to do it? All of this is just too uncanny.