Hybrid: The Prologue (Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter Six, Only Temporary

Chapter Six, Only Temporary

I hear the sound of the road. I feel the bitten pain on my neck. It must be Nyx's venom. I smell the metallic scent of the inside of wherever we are. I try to move my hands, which are behind my back. They’re held together in rope. It hurts when I try to move. The grip will only get tighter. I keep struggling anyway. Maybe there’s a way where the ropes break as they tighten and-

“There’s no point in that, Xena.”

I open my eyes slowly. Were in the back of a truck. The seats lined up against the walls, opposite,mine hold Byron, Avalon and Raze. Same position I’m in. Avalon and Byron just keep struggling. Raze is passed out. Where there’s a window to the driver, there’s a seat. Occupied by Nyx. He’s smiling. But it seems like something’s holding him back from smiling the usual way he does. But he’s still smiling.

“Those are wires. They won’t break. They’ll only keep hurting you. Till you loose a hand.”

 Avalon is coldly staring at Nyx. He slowly looks back at her, no longer smiling. The Avalon just bursts.

“Why, Nyxie? ”

Avalon’s eyes are tearing up as she calls the nickname of the loved brother she once knew so well. I’m staring at her. I can see the pain and anger in her eyes right now. I’ve never seen her like this. After a while Nyx looks down. Then he talks in such a serious voice.

“ You’d rather not know.”

Byron was looking at Avalon, then at Nyx. He took a deep breath.

“Why not?”

Nyx looks up at Byron and looks down again.

There was silence in the room. We heard nothing but the chatter of Vox and Mark arguing about their favorite foods and the sound of the dirt against the wheels.

After like five minutes, I decided to break it. My neck was swelling from Nyx’s bite.

“You still owe me from this bite. I think you should just talk.” I look at him hard.

“Why? You hated PARADOX for doing this to us. Now you’re their watchdog!”

Nyx looks up and smiles lightly. Then he stares into midair as if he has an idea, and looks through the window. Mark and Vox are still going on with the fight and making a racket.

Then Nyx takes a key from his pocket and stands from his seat, and starts unlocking our ropes of wire. He opens the back door and pushes Avalon out to the road. Byron takes Raze over his back and jumps. Byron looks around and waits for me, but he get farther because of the moving truck. The sunlight is glaring in my eyes. I don’t jump yet. I look at Nyx, who’s ready to push me out.

“Why?”

He smiles weakly.

“I still owe you from that bite. I bet it hurt.”

He grabs my arm. I move reluctantly but then I just let him. I felt his warm breath on my neck. Then I felt a small prick on my neck. Same place as the old one. The pain stopped hurting. I felt my blood run down my back. My body was pressed against his body. I can feel his heat. My heart is beating so fast. The he pushed back and looked at me while he wiped his bloody mouth. My neck stopped swelling.

“How’d you-?“

He interrupts. He looks me in the eye.

“Even the most poisonous can heal.” Then he turns. “Now I don’t owe you anything. So you’d better go. And run. ”

I look at him. He motions for me to go, as he extends his hand towards the road.

“Thanks.”

I jump out the door. As a roll on the ground, I can hear Nyx shouting that we escaped. I start running for my life. I see Byron carrying Raze over his shoulder, Avalon running towards me in tears. I motion for them to turn around. Reluctantly, they turn around and run for their lives. I do the same. But I look back, while running, and watch as the truck disappears. I turn back around and keep running forward. My heart’s beating even slower. I don’t know how long Nyx is giving us to run, but I’m not putting the extra seconds to waste. I close my normal eyes and open them as the silver eyes of a snow leopard. I run as fast as I can, and a leopard can run freaking fast. I see Avalon look back at me and sadly nod, while running. She takes her wings out and flies like the rare eagle she is. Then I turn to Byron. He seems to get the idea. He’s growing the stripes of the Caspian Tiger on the far part of his face. He’s running fast. Raze is still not awake. We keep on going on the road till we see her mansion. We’re being hunted. I don’t feel safe anymore. In a long time, I felt like Raze’s place was paradise. But it’s still not safe. There’s no such thing as permanent paradise on Earth. Only temporary.