Violence of Man

Out of the dark labyrinth into a whole new situation, where man's worst side can leave lasting impressions on foreign eyes

 

Lycia has no idea where this fool is taking her, so far, they’ve been wondering through their filthy streets. He tells her to keep the uncomfortable hood on and to keep her head down as they walk through the shadows like some low-lifes. They avoid the main roads and often travel! Through the gaps between buildings which disgusts her greatly. These beings leave bins of their waste outside the buildings they inhabit and let the fill up and overflow. It’s here though, she actually gets to see the creature he calls a ‘Rat’, it’s a disgusting looking thing covered in dirty looking fur with a long meaty tail. She could see why these creatures are considered vermin by the locals here. “Then again, maybe they wouldn’t have so much if they didn’t leave their filth in the open!” She thinks to herself as one of the creatures jumps from a pile of waste startling her.

               

               Aside from his instructions to follow him and to take cover whenever someone passes by, Richard, a name she barely remembers, is more silent than he’d been before. She wasn’t going to pry as to why this is, it’s a rather nice change of pace actually. Before he just wouldn’t stop inquiring her on her condition and catching an attitude with her when she made a statement about their situation.  The only real good he has been for her was getting her through their waste canals and unbinding them, but both could’ve just been a stroke of luck rather than his work.

               

               Now he’s dragging her along in hopes to find a being who can help them escape this city who may not even be at the location at all.  Furthermore, how could he know that this person he’s taking her to would even be able or willing to help them? As far as this fool knows, the moment he contacts this person they could easily give those soldiers and agents their location for some sort of reward. Lycia sighs with exaggeration, it fails to get any response out of her guide though. He appears to be too focused on what is going on across the street. Peering over his shoulder, there is a group of these aliens are gathered talking to one another, two of them appeared to be wearing uniforms. They’re talking to another pair of aliens whose skin is very dark, darker than even Richard’s, and they have white looking hair. Their skin seems to be sinking off of their body like they’re weighted sacks. Then she notices that the male is holding its weight up with a cane which means that these two are the elderly of their species. She thinks the fact that their skin hangs from their face disturbing and turns her attention to the other two aliens.

               

               Their uniforms don’t seem all that impressive, but she does recognize the flashing lights on the vehicle one is sitting on. They are the same ones that came for them when they escaped the wreckage. She crouches further beside him to get a better look despite him protesting her to back away. Now closer she sees that they carry small weapons that are holstered onto their hips. Lycia knows that they aren’t any sort of plasma weaponry most other species use, but they were some sort of projectile based weaponry.  “Very primitive.” She thinks to herself. Even the gauss and rail based weaponry the Alyuan military use are aging, only still in use due to their effectiveness of destroying ships in close range combat. Or at least that’s what she remembers her brother telling her.

               

               Still unarmed as she is, she isn’t going to mess with an armed assailant no matter how primitive their weaponry may be. The two older aliens wave to the others and stumble down the road as the other two enter their vehicle. The two sit in their vehicle conversing over something which leads into what looks like laughter. They too eventually speed down the road. Lycia watches as Richard pokes his head around the corner, looking side to side before urging her to follow him.

 

They walk the down the same path the two elderly alien went before veering right down another road. She doesn’t like how his hood tickles her antenna, whenever they brush against the fabric it makes her scalp twitch along with making her want to giggle. Given the situation she’s in she fights back the laughter, but the irritating twitching continues. She glances over at him, he keeps his head down only occasionally looking up.

 

“You’re going to end up hitting something or someone if you don’t pay attention to where you’re going.” She says as he continues the silly act.

 

“Get you head down.” He whispers. Not liking his tone, she was about to say something until she hears laughter.

              

               She notices another group of aliens walking out of a building, they’re all smiling, talking about something called “Sea Fair”.  They all cluster together so close barely leaving any room for movement. She continues staring at them until her head is forced down. The urge to shout at him is overwhelming but he orders her to be quiet in a commanding tone. Lycia couldn’t believe the audacity of this alien, not only is he dragging her around the most horrid areas of their city, but now he’s trying to command her actions and words.  She then feels something brush her shoulder which is followed by an apology.  The group of aliens had walked by them, and one of the females must have bumped against her and apologized realizing her mistake.  It’s somewhat comforting that these aliens know a mistake when they made one because once she reports what they’ve done to her they will all feel the same regret.

 

“Come on we’re going inside.” Her chaperon holds open the door where the other aliens had just exited.

 

“This the place?” He just bobs his head up and down, unsure if that meant yes or no she hesitates. Richard responds by violently pointing her to go inside, she’s not fond of how aggressive he’s becoming, but does as she is told.  She makes it evident she was upset by stepping on his foot on the way in. A muffled groan follows her inside which brings a small grin to her face. As soon as she enters the second door a wave of aroma floods her senses, which are a combination of good and bad. The good came from a room behind a counter that people are carrying food to and from, the bad was the lingering smell of something foul. One was familiar to her and was clearly the smell of alcohol, the aliens who linger at the counter is where the scent is the strongest. The other is a grimy scent that was primarily centers to the fall corner of the building, it’s there were she sees these aliens holding smoldering stubs exhaling the smoke from it. Unsure if it is for medical purposes or for another reason she figures the benefits must’ve outweighed the risk of tar they are surely building up in their bodies. Regardless of its purpose Lycia knows that the smell disgusts her, and stuck to her skin. Peeking out of the hood she seesRichard making quick sweeps with his eyes scanning the building for something.

 

“Do y’all need help finding a seat?” a voice punches through the rambling of the other aliens. Startled she feels a chill go through her spine and she notices that Richard had stiffened too. In front of them was a short pale alien, like Santiago, except this one was female with bright yellow hair in an odd pink skirt. Observing the aliens body features, the appeared very similar to her own, so if the males look like the dolt with her then this must be the female of the species.

 

“Uh… actually I’m looking for a friend, he goes by B, like the bug. I know he came here at around eightish with a young lady named uh…Alexandria.” Richard responds now having his head raised to look at this alien, he’s clearly nervous and isn’t concealing it well.

 

“You alright Sug, you look a bit sweaty.”

 

“What? Uh…nah, I’m alright. And it ain’t sweat someone here just thought it’d be a funny idea about pushing me into the lake, see.” He presents his waterlogged clothing to her.

 

“Oh, well alright then. And I’m not sure, we got a lot of fellas coming in and out with ladies. By the way you look familiar have I seen you before?” Lycia hearts start to beat faster. She knows that if he’s identified then she’ll have to make a break for it. As she slowly starts to back away Richard wrap his arm around her shoulders.

 

“You’re probably mistaking me for my buddy who came here. Yeah people say that we look alike, but with that accent of his, people can tell us apart real easy. She even mistook us once ain’t that right?” Lycia feels like tossing him for laying his hands on her, but in a building as full as this one, she plays along.

 

“Yes, they’re very indistinguishable.”

 

“Wait accent, do you mean that adorable British fella that came in here earlier! Oh, Sugar I tell you what, I’ve never seen a man like him before, but I sure wish they all could be like him.”

 

“Yeah, that’s what a lot of women say after meeting him. Do you know if he’s still here?”

 

“Sorry honey, but that handsome fellow left a couple hours ago, with a few more women that he came in with.”

 

“Of course, he did. *sigh* Do you have a phone I might be able to use?”

 

“I’ll have to talk to my boss, we don’t usually let folks use the phones. Why don’t y’all take a seat over there while you wait.” The alien gestures them to follow her. She leads them to some seats against the wall which would have been fine, except it’s far from any exit. This makes her very uncomfortable, and Richard must have been too because once they got to the booth he spoke up.

 

“I’m sorry but where’s the ladies room? My friend here actually cut her arm and needs to wash it out.”

 

“I’m sorry to here that, c’mere honey I’ll lead you to where the bathroom is.”

 

“That’s ok, I gotta go too actually. If you can just point it out to us that’d be helpful.”

 

“It’s ok I’ll just take ya both back there cause the bosses room is right close to it.” Once again, they get up and walk across the building full of aliens making her even more uncomfortable. Furthermore, it feels as though she’s being stared at and could only hope this hood that he gave her would cloak her from curious eyes. 

 

“Here’s the key honey, you don’t mind waiting do ya Sug? We only got two bathrooms and the other one is occupied. In the meantime, I’mma talk to the boss about you using the phone.” The alien then hands her a piece of metal tied to some twine and walks off into the other room.

 

“Of course, he’s not here because that would be too helpful. Alright go into the bathroom and wait in there until I can call my friend.” She just holds the piece of metal out in front of her remaining silent as he spoke.

 

“Uh… is there a problem?”

 

“Why did she just hand me a piece of metal?”

 

“…You mean the key.”

 

“Is this what you all use for keys on your planet?! How in Alyu’s name does this even work.” Her voice is hushed yet still stern absolutely dumbfounded that a piece of metal could be used to unlock anything. Richard takes the metal from her hand inserting it into a slit on a metal bulge on the door, with flip of his wrist the slit twists followed by a click of something. He gives her a belittling look turning the handle pushing the door open. Doing her best not to make a scene she snatches the primitive key from him closing the door behind her.

 

“Do ya need help figuring out how to lock the door?” His voice comes through the door in a mocking manner.

 

“Will you be quiet?!” Now that she’s out of sight she made no effort to hide her frustration with him. Granted she does need help figuring out how to lock it, but she’ll never give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

         Quickly she notices that this room smells pretty foul as well. This’ made more apparent by the smells these aliens had tried to use to mask the filthier one.  It makes her feel a tad queasy, and recent events didn’t help the slightest. All this excitement has her mind running along filling her with all sorts of nervousness.  She needs something to focus on, or at least distract her from the chaos and hopelessness her life has become. She pulls out her makeshift sack from under the clothing he provided her with, and her face convulses as she catches a good whiff of it. It reeks of the gunk that was in the alien waste tunnel, sighing she endures the smell and rummages through its content.

          Still there’s the handful of food rations she gathered from the pod, as well as the water, some medical supplies, but most importantly the distress transmitter. If any good comes out of today, it’ll have to be that she still has that with her. Although she isn’t exactly sure on how to know if it was sending a signal or not. She just has to hope that it is and that someone will take her off of this heathen ridden planet. Putting the content back she looked at her wrists, she’s grateful that the magnetic supports are still intact. The idea of being stuck on this planet while she slowly weakened into a state of immobility was not one she preferred. She’s actually surprised that those barbarians hadn’t stripped her of them, perhaps they thought they were simply accessories. Whatever the reason she isn’t going to complain, what does bother her is the clamp still on her wrist. The restraint may have been broken, but the lock around her wrist remains. She tries prying it off but finds that it’s pointless, as primitive as it is effective. All she could do now is simply hope that this alien’s ‘friend’ could take it off.

         Looking over to her other wrist she suddenly remembers that it too has a band around it. It was the cloaking band she’d found in the pod; how could she have forgotten she has this! She takes a moment to inspect it all while remembering the events that caused her thoughtlessness, “Yeah that would do it.” She mutters to herself. The band wraps around her wrist much better than the alien band does, and it looks a lot better too. The band is silver with a maroon screen in the center of it that rises up very slightly. There’s a micro-camera on the side of the screen along with different setting on display. Seeing Alyuan words brought some comfort with its familiarity; they’re instructions telling her how to use it.

               Frist, she needs to activate it by pressing the screen followed by informing what gender she is. Next, she has to go through what species she was scanning, nervousness fills her since this species is unknown. Scrolling down some more she sees a label saying unknown. Opening it the screen asks for description of the species. Doing the best that she could she describes these aliens as, flat faced bipedal mammalians. Finally, it requires her to scan of one of these aliens. “I suppose it is time he makes himself useful.” She cracks the door open and peers out to see Richard leaning against the wall head hung down.

 

“Hey get over here!” She hushes her voice just enough not trying make a scene.

 

“What do you want? Need help using the toilet as well?” He was mocking her again.

 

“Just get over here I need you!”

 

“That’s what she said.”

 

“What who said?”

 

"Ugh…never mind what is it?”

 

“Just get over here!” He hesitantly looks up towards the room where the pale alien went into before standing up and walking over.

 

“Ok I’m here what do you want?” She reaches out snatching his wrist catching him off guard.

 

“What the hell do-”

 

“Keep your voice down and be quiet! I’m scanning you.” Blue streaks of lights shoots out of the room going up and down his body. Suddenly though he jerks his body back before the scan could be completed. She was going to order him back over, but the female alien had returned.

 

“I’m sorry Sug, but my boss says we can’t let people use our phones.”

 

“Please it’ll be really quick I promise.” While he’s distracted she snatches his wrist again pulling it into the door. Staggering, Richard catches himself on the wall giving an awkward chuckle to the pale alien.

 

“Is everything alright in there?”

 

“Oh yeah, she just needed to see the time on my watch. We got our phones…stolen.” The blue light slips through the crack in the door, she can feel him tense up.

 

“What’s going on in there?” 

 

“Uh… I don’t know what is going on?”

 

“I’m uh…I’m shining a light on my cut. It…it doesn’t actually look that bad.” The scan finishes as she says that and the light blinks off. Calmly he takes his wrist back shutting the door behind him. The two aliens continue rambling of some meaningless events allowing her to check the cloaking band. The screen is now shining a bright blue with the Alyuan word ‘Ready’ in the center. Tapping the screen light spread from her wrist across her body sending a tingling sensation.

               Her hand begins to change, turning a crisp color which crawls its way up her arm, across her chest, and down to her feet.  Standing up she peers into the mirror judging her new appearance; her whole skin is this crisp color. She’s a lighter tone than Richard is, but is darker than the pale alien that he’s talking to. Pulling down the hood she sees her hair has changed as well, now it’s a dark black rather than the dark blue she preferred. It even covers her antennas, which have been replaced with the fleshy nubs. An alien pair of nostrils curve off her new face which she perceives as odd, “Why even have nostrils if they’re this small?” she mutters to herself. Her new eyes perplex her the most however, with how thin they are, even more than any of aliens she’s encountered thus far.  Looking at them she notices that they are a dark brown like Richard’s having a brown ring encompassing a black pupil.

              

               Overall, the look is a major down grade, but it would serve her purposes for now. Outside the door it sounds like he’s still trying to get access to contact their aide, he sounds as if he is begging at this point. With a deep breathe she opens the door to see the two talking. Richard flinches when the door opens grabbing the wall to support his large self. The female alien asks if he was alright, but he remains silent just staring at her. Noticing that the female alien’s confusion growing she intervenes, “Hey she asked you if something was wrong with you.”

 

“…Uh… Sorry I just didn’t realize… you dyed your hair black.”  He’s clearly bewildered by her transformation, the stupid stunned look he’s giving her says it all.

 

“Ok… um, honey why don’t you take your wait by the bar while me and your man try and talk things out.” Richard is still clearly uncomfortable being separated from her, but some space from him wouldn’t hurt.

               To his dismay she walks to where the alien pointed, getting closer the smell of alcohol grows more and more. She really hopes they don’t take too long, she does not want to become intoxicated by alien alcoholic fumes. Sitting on the stool she sees a screen in the corner of the room, on it are aliens dressed in flashy clothing running back and forth bouncing a ball and throwing it at a suspended board with a torn net. “Is this one of the alien’s sports, or is it an event of great significance?” She ponders watching the aliens on the screen go back and forth a small stadium. She couldn’t understand why they don’t just run with it to the board, or why they were throwing it at the board in the first place. Then there’s the deal of the opposing sides, who are they? And why are they constantly relinquishing the ball. Trying to understand the alien sport begins to give her a headache, it just isn’t worth the trouble. The sound of glass shattering behind her snaps her out of it grabbing her attention. A round pale alien whose face is extremely redden had broken his cup and was laughing furiously about it. The thin male alien behind the counter look gives her the impression that he doesn’t find it as funny as the drunk and threatens to call the authorities.

 

            Hearing that makes her feel very uneasy, sure she has this new guise, but she has the impression that Richard would reveal her true identity if they are to take him. Which means it once gain falls upon her to resolve things. Making sure Richard is still busy, Lycia assertively saunters over to the drunken alien to force it to behave.

 

“Excuse me, but could you please desist, your causing a scene?!” The alien behind the counter now backs away while the drunk continues laughing. Fueled by annoyance Lycia shoves at its shoulder to get its attention. Eventually the red-faced alien lifts his head and guves her an ugly smile, his teeth look filthy and crooked. “Well hello beautiful, how you doing?” his breathe smells like pure alcohol, she gags from its horrendous stench.

 

“What’s the matter little lady? Let Ole Jeb here make you feel better.” The alien, known as Jeb, reaches over and touches her hand. Snatching it away her face scowls at this disgusting alien, but it must have been too stupid or too drunk to notice because he persists.

 

“Now don’t be like that gorgeous, I can tell you’re very kinky by that cuff on your wrist. Just let me make you feel good for tonight.” Not wanting him to come any closer she shoves him to the floor onto the broken glass. His blood trickles down the arm he landed on with glass shards still embedded in it.

 

           Jeb looks up at her taking her back with the angry beast like frown, “You shouldn’t've done that.” Jeb scrambles up faster than she expects any drunk being could wrapping his hand around throat. She grips his wrist attempting to pry them away with some success. His grasp was no longer around her throat and she has control of his wrist, but he’s still fighting to strangle her. Furthermore, he thrusts his knee into her stomach and hip leaving a stinging pain every hit. She wonders if all of these aliens were just going to sit and watch as she is assaulted.

               

Her answer comes in the form of Richard grabbing Jeb by the shoulders tossing him to the ground, but the drunk wasn’t about to give up and punches Richard between his legs. This clearly hurt him, with aloud pain filled groan coming from it. In response Richard grabs a half empty bottle off the counter smashing it against the bare skin of his head. The contents mixed with Jeb’s blood make a darken fizz that spreads out on the wooden floor. Stunned, the man kneels on his hands and knees bleeding and gasping for air. Fed up with how this world has been treating she unleashes a wounded-up kick across Jeb’s jaw. With that the man slumps to the floor, and the building is engulfed in silence. It isn’t enough, she wants to make him pay for what he’s done to her, but before she could an arm grabs hers. Looking over she sees Richard, but instead of some other insulting look, his appearance is more calming and demanding. Looking at the creature referred to as Jeb she does her best to calm herself down.

 

“What the hell is happening out here?!” The two turn to see a tall dark-skinned alien with a look of awe and frustration.

 

“It’s not their fault boss, these are the folks who wanted to use our phones, but that drunk Jimmy was talking to you about assaulted this young lady here.” The pale alien comes to their defense.

 

“Is that right?”  Richard nods to her question, with that she gestures for them to follow her from the room where she came from. As the do so, she notices Richard walking with a limp, “This better not become an issue.” She thinks to herself.

 

“*sigh* Well s**t, listen my restaurant didn’t get a great score on our most recent inspection, now if you two don’t say anything I’ll let you use our phone alright.”  Richard still hunched over in pain steps forward.

 

“You aren’t afraid someone other than us will say something?”

 

“People can say anything that they want, but it don’t mean as much as things that are filed with the police. Now do we have a deal?”  He looks at Lycia for a moment as though wanting her opinion. Still pretty upset with everything she doesn’t want say anything, but if this friend of his could help her get off of this planet sooner she’ll come to an agreement.

 

“We’ll take your offer.” Lycia concludes.

 

“Alright, sir here you go. Janet tell Jimmy that after he’s done cleaning up the mess that man caused to not call the police. We’ll just toss him out back like we do back home.”

 

              The two other aliens walk outside the room leaving the two alone. She isn’t sure on how to process that last comment the dark alien just made, she does however, like the idea of tossing that alien out like garbage. However, the fact that she mentioned she’s done it before makes her think that what just happened to her is common occurrence on this planet. They may be more barbaric that she’d given them credit for, the thought is concerning regarding any future conflict with her and these aliens she might have. Her thoughts are dragged away from her when an obnoxious ringing buzzes its way down her antenna. Looking over Richard has his ear pressed up against the device emitting the noise pausing every other moment before ringing again.  She could see that her alien company growing more and more impatient with every ring that passes by. She too is growing more and more anxious with every passing moment, if this alien Richard knows is unable to assist her then she has very few option left. A voice comes through the device eventually filling her with relief, but the scowl on Richard’s face tells her something isn’t quite right.

 

He pokes at a large button where the device rests holding it the until a dull buzz came from it. He stands there leaning over the desk tapping his finger repeatedly all the while clenching his eyes muttering something to himself. “Alexandria!” She jumps as he exclaims what she presumes is another name. He presses down on a series of smaller button, each making their own annoying sound, until the ringing starts again. After a few buzzes it stops and a muffled voice comes through.

 

“Hey Alexandria, it’s Richard, B’s friend. Is he still with you?” there’s a pause with the muffled voice saying something followed by another pause.

 

“Hey B listen,” The voice interrupts him and is followed by loud laughter that even she can hear, meanwhile Richard is trying to get the voice to focus. “B for God sake listen! I’m… I’m in a bit of trouble.” Richard lowers his voice towards the end with a brief response by the muffle alien known as B.

 

“Big trouble, listen is there anyone who you really trust where we can hide out at. I’m at the restaurant you were just at.” the voice says something that upsets Richard a bit his eyes growing a bit red and watery. “B please I could die if you can’t help. I’m asking you as a friend, please B please help me.” Tears begin to slide down his cheeks leaving a wet trail. There’s a long pause from the voice, but when it speaks again relief takes over Richard’s expression. Thanking the voice repeatedly he stops when it speaks again, “A black Prius got. And again, thank you B, thank you so much.”

 

“My buddy B, knows someone who can help us lay low. He sent us a ride to take us to her, so I’m gonna need my hoodie back.” Placing the device back into its slot, extending his arm for his torn clothing.

 

“Here take it, I have no use for it anymore. Also, it stinks.” She tosses it at him following him out the room noticing him saying something under his breath. Walking out they saw the pale female alien directing the other patrons out of the building, while the dark female and skinny male carry Jeb towards the back of the building. On their way out, the pale female apologizes to them and reminds them to keep quiet about this whole incident. Lucky for her Lycia had no intention of informing their law enforcement, as for the Alyuan’s that was a different story. Richard too apologized for what happened, it was odd considering he was not the aggressor of the conflict. Their species’ culture was strange but seeing how she was about to have a place to stay until she could be retrieved from this isolated primitive planet, she could care less.

Raising his hood, they stepped out into the warm night walking towards the edge of the road. After a few moments of waiting a black vehicle drove up to them, the driver rolled down the vehicles window, “You Richard Bartholomew?”  Richard simple shook his head up and down in response. The driver reached over pressing a switch with made a clicking sound. Opening the door, he gestured her to enter, and though the gesture was one she deserved she felt anxious of entering another one. This was her only way out her situation though, so she entered hesitantly followed by the alien who she was stuck with for the time being.

 

Author's Note

Once again thank you to anyone who's followed my writing, i truly appreciate it. If you see any errors in it don't be shy and let me know. Also any review that is helpful in improving my writing is more than welcomed.

Reviews

[Cadel]

Please tell me you plan to continue this project.

[Ricky]

That's the idea. Thanks by the way