Outworldly
Page 6
He looked ahead, a silhouette stood by the other side. It was shaking and grunting around. Where was everyone else? Hans slithered towards the contour. Slowly the shadow cleared and he saw Vinny, only one of her wings remained, sparks flew out of her body, the colour had almost gone from her chest, covered with dirt.
Where are the guys? Was the only thought going in his head-
“Come out Hans!” Vinny screamed, as he almost jumped out in front of her, “Surrender! It’s all done now, Emmanuel and Niko couldn’t do anything. What will you do all alone? They’re dead , Hans. Dead!” she screamed the last word so loud that the whole forest shook.
She had to be bluffing, they were probably hiding, or knocked out cold somewhere. He edged closer and saw she had her foot on someone’s chest as if a goddess killed a monster and she was waiting for everyone to worship her.
He was right next to her now, not daring to make a sound. Lightning erupted and the body below Vinny was embedded in Hans’s mind.
Emmanuel lay down, his horn cut apart and on his chest. Blood was gushing out of him. His neck was slashed and more blood poured out of it. The huge man was so small under her foot.
Lightning struck again— Niko lying behind Vinny, his chest disgustingly pushed inside as if a piston had pushed it in.
It was pouring now, Vinny cursed out loud as her torn side started sparking more. She scowled and winced as she called out for Hans again.
He looked at both of the corpses, the lightning lit everything up each second. The drizzle transformed into a thunderstorm.
Emmanuel would get up, right? So would Niko. They were just sleeping, right? That’s all they were doing. They needed some rest, they had gone through a lot. He decided to do what they came to do, he had to stop Vinny after all. If he couldn’t the two of them would be very disappointed. They would be proud when they woke up.
Vinny wasn’t calling out for him anymore, she kept tinkering with her beacon. Blue lights emitted from it in every direction and it started buzzing, shaking the ground. She kept looking around and wincing with each raindrop that poured on her circuits.
He crept ahead, careful not to disturb the two of them, the beacon just in front of him, Vinny still fiddling with it. He spread around a bit and encircled the beacon, Vinny’s feet almost touching his skin. He tightened and squeezed the beacon lightly, getting ready.
CRASH! Splinters flew everywhere. Vinny screamed as a huge one pierced her metallic chest. Hans rushed away from her, as she roared out his name again. Her left eye got covered with a monocle equipped with lasers, it whirred in and out, as Vinny swooped around, trying to find Hans.
“This is exactly why we destroyed your planet,” she snarled. “You scum just hide around. Little undetectable freaks.”
He tried to slowly creep towards her, but she kept moving, stomping the ground for him. Her monocle didn’t seem to work on Hans, he just had to get close enough to her. He could defeat her, Emmanuel and Niko would be proud when they woke up. He slowly crept towards the Caprian, his breath ragged, his body heavy, blood pumped in his body trying to keep him alive.
She was a few feet away from him, gasping as she stomped the ground, her eyes wide from fear. She was now almost tap-dancing, her wing fluttered as she tried to gain flight. Rain covered her body, her metal glistening.
Only half a foot away now, he stopped. “You don’t know who I am!” she shouted threats, “I’m the sister of the general of the Galactic Caprian Corps. You kill me and our whole army will chase you to the end of the universe!”
Her threats were empty to him now, his brain had stopped working a long time back. He just had one goal: make the both of them proud when they woke up.
He took a breath and swooped himself onto her, she thrashed around and screamed as the sticky alien covered her like quicksand. He slowly engulfed her, muffled screams resonating in the forest. It looked like she was dying in a transparent cocoon. He slowly moved around, pushing Vinny wherever he wanted to. He led her to the centre of the lake, her oxygen almost gone. He opened himself and jumped in the lake, swimming to the shore. For a moment Vinny was suspended in the air, her screams still muffled. Then she dropped, her wing fluttering still. She flailed in the lake, trying to swim up, the metal was too heavy for her. Her damaged side started burning up, her face contorted as she opened her mouth but made no sound as she sunk for one final time.
***
“Wakey wakey,” Hans knelt by Niko. The rain was stopping now gradually and the sun was about to come up soon.
“Niko? Wake up. She’s gone.”
“Niko?”
He patted Emmanuel. “Big dude, wake up. Emmanuel, we won.”
He didn’t understand. It had been a long time since they had been lying down. He patted Niko and his eye caught something by Niko. The tracking frisbee, he realized. He started fiddling with it and in the centre of the screen was a huge red button instead of blips now. It was in an alien script but looked similar to the emergency buttons found on Earth. He pressed it like a child and continued patting Niko.
He turned around to another sound, loud engines blasting silently. A small, black flying ship the size of a car landed near the shattered beacon. A man, looking like Niko came out as a ramp extended from the ship. He had a pink beard and he gazed at the destruction around Hans. The dead aliens and the Caprian’s corpse now floating on the lake. He finally saw Hans, his maniac eyes only visible across his brown body. The man decided to act…
EPILOGUE
Two months had passed since that incident. The man had broken the news to him, helped him get back on his feet. The embassy had put Hans on his feet, gave him therapy, and accommodated him.
“We don’t do this normally, but you were a good friend to Niko,” he had been told.
He had been living like a stray on the airship of the Rangoons for two months, getting therapy every day.
They hadn’t been sleeping, they were dead. Vinny was dead too. Everyone around him was gone, in one day.
He had been given a room today, his new roommates had been notified. He took a breath and stopped in front of the quarters.
Hans knocked on the door of his new apartment, determined to sleep like a log for the first time in weeks.
The End
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About the Author
Jai Yadav is a seventeen-year-old dilettante writer, who debuted his penmanship with Outwordly . He grew up in the suburbs of Haryana, India, toying with games, reading adventurous tales and watching cartoons like any other kid, except he aspired to do more. He spun stories, and soon enough, Outwordly came to be. Now, when not writing, he spends time with his loved ones aside from school. Yadav pursues a career in writing.