Retribution Part One of Three

“When retribution is over what will be left of me?”

“My life, no longer their’s to keep.

“ENOUGH. Focus.”

Footsteps sound in the corridor. The crafts lights flashing red, alarms screaming. His senses dull. His head is unable to focus on one thing, but it has to. The footsteps are closer. He balances against the cool dark grey metal wall. His feet weak, unsteady. He sees the form turn the corner, fully armored carrying a weapon. He expects the creature, but it does not expect him. He grabs the firearm, thrusting his body against the armored Hen’ethen, twisting it’s arm. It’s lurching nuzzles the gun into it’s chest. He pulls the trigger. Yellow plasma splatters behind it all over the wall, leaking down onto his bare arm and tattered clothing from the hole in the creature.

He pries the weapon from the Hen’ethen, rolling it over as it falls to the ground. He heaves the weapon away and tries to balance.

Looking down at the thing crumpled over made him sick with rage. He kicks the things face, stomping, maddened by the sounds of his own screams and the end of the whip. “Stop!” he screams at it, trying to stop it from hurting him, but his pain comes from smashing his heel into the creatures boney face.

            He falls, unbalanced by a kick. His mind orients enough to remember the lights, the sounds. He doesn’t recognize where he is. He looks around the corner, down the corridor and sees nothing. He stops.

            “They can hear me. They always hear me. They now I am out.” He turns, looks at his cell and knows he will be safe there. His feet turn, bloody, back toward the cell. Broken, he stands staring and closes his eyes. He wants everything to go away. Why wont it just go away?

In the darkness, he feels himself feeling the wall. He knows it well. It’s his cell, small but comforting. Then the door opens, blinding light and the pain!

He opens his eyes, turning so quickly away from the cell he falls. He drops the weapon as he scampers on all fours to get up. He never stops running.

He tries to escape the sound blaring in his ears. When he passes the speaker he growls and sees no threat, never slowing. His running is interrupted by his feet sliding underneath him, slick with blood and wobbling with soreness.

“Na’grenth!”

He looks and sees three Hen’ethen running towards him, down an adjacent corridor. He tries to run faster. His heel numb as it slams into the metal ground. He doesn’t slow to the pain. Fear is an anticipation of pain. His mind’s terror is stronger than reality and their noise brings fear. He doesn’t slow down as a turn comes and his body collides with the wall to slow him. He uses it to push from, but only one arm works. The other dangles limply as he runs, the one that hit the wall. With his flailing arm, twisting in attempt to separate itself from the body, he looks behind himself. He sees them closer. He sees a vent hole. It’s skinny, too skinny for him, but they are too fast. He runs to it, turning his body to angle with the vertical slit. He quickly forces his emaciated body through the gap. His hip catches a grove and pain shoots down his leg. Skin curls around the open gash in his side. The blood is warm and he can feel the cut and his foot throbbing to the pumping of his heart as he stops deep in the vent.

His breathing is regulating in smaller and smaller rasps. His size giving him the advantage, but he knows he has to keep moving. He has no plan. He thinks about an escape pod, but doesn’t know if the ship has one. If he can find a pod, how will he outrun a ship? His momentary clarity of mind stole over by improbability and impending failure. His heart starts beating faster and he realizes that the walls are closing in on him. His body tenses and he straightens his fingers until they hurt, clawing at the wall trying to escape, but his mind will always be more powerful. It will crush him. His future is his cell. He is and always will be trapped.

He struggles toward the vents exit. His breathing comes in heavy gasps as he holds his throat. He has to escape the confinement. He moves quickly through the tightness of the vent, emerging on the other side of the entrance. The corridor is deserted and the blaring alarms numbed now to his ears. He walks leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him, using the wall to stabilize himself. His hand smearing the wiped off blood along the wall as well, leaving a trail for his captors. Then, he sees a tall pale yellow creature. He screams at it and charges with teeth bared. The creature takes a step back. It fires, missing the first shot and still stepping back. It fires again the shot grazing his thigh. He stumbles towards the pale creature. His nails outstretched trying to dig at the thing before him, but its massive hand smacks his falling body, sending him against a corner. His back smashes into the wall. He stands and runs around the corner, opening a door at the other side. The creature chases him. It is faster, but will not reach him in time.

He sees three other Hen’ethen surrounding a pillar of white faded blue light, working to sustain the beam. The pulsing of the energy draws him in like a bug. The creatures all run to catch him, but he will not stop. If they will not let him live, he will not let them. He is shot through the side and shoulder, but continues running until his body is encased in the light. He disrupts the beam and particles, shifting the charge and driving the energy to overload, disintegrating him. The quick change in energy and heat erupt the line to the main engines, which cause small explosions that fuel the mass of energy. The ship ignites in a blue flame, quickly extinguished in space.

They are no longer there, just the debris that survived incineration.

He destroyed all evidence of his imprisonment, unknowing it will be needed.