In Search of Home

Chapter 6

Pedro woke the others up in the meanwhile. After assuring everyone that he was alright, Viktor asked them if they had to fight anything while he had been out. There were some nods and headshakes. Turns out, Aiko had fought against something much smaller than Oorah and had won easily. The crowd that frequented the ring seemed to enjoy it when humans were fighting, especially since they were a new breed. 

Their conversation was cut short when Lilac entered the room, stretching her arms in the air before swinging down to grab the stack of dishes. She started to pass them out, pausing at Viktor's cell. Her face seemed happier when she noticed his dish was empty, and he watched as her eyes met his. She spoke to him softly, setting down the dishes and reaching a hand to her waist. 

To the remote!

Viktor sucked in a sharp breath, his hands going to his collar frantically. He hadn't even done anything! He took a step backward, standing against the back wall and eyeing her distrustfully. She had stilled when he had moved, slowly reaching past the remote that controlled the collars and grabbing another contraption. He couldn't see what it really was, but it must have been the key to the doors because it clicked open soon after. 

He felt a little ridiculous. Assuming that these aliens were going to shock him when he was injured was a little mean - surely they weren't that cruel. 

Hope filled his chest as she opened the door, but it quickly died as he realized that he'd have no real way out of this place. He was injured and had no idea where the exit was. Unless he could miraculously incapacitate an alien twice his size, he wasn't going anywhere. 

Lilac walked into the cage, grabbed his clean dish, and replaced it with a new one. Viktor was confused. Why had she opened the cage just to do that? She could have easily grabbed it with that pole she used for all the other ones. 

"Kohgrash," she said quietly, stepping closer to him. He shuffled closer to the bars he shared with Pedro, who quickly gripped his shoulders tightly, glaring at Lilac. 

"You better stay away from him! He can't fight again!" he said fiercely, waving an arm through the bars at her. The other humans echoed the same sentiment, loudly yelling and shouting. Lilac seemed to frown, but she stayed where she was, blocking the doorway. 

They quieted after she didn't move for a while, muttering to each other. "What do you think it wants?" asked Aiko. Shrugs and 'I dunno's answered her. Viktor freed himself of Pedro's tight grasp, rubbing his bruised arm pitifully. The older man patted his shoulder in silent apology. 

"I think she might just wanna look at my bandages?" Viktor suggested, the end falling into an uncertain question. 

He barely heard the mutters of 'she?' as he looked at Lilac a bit more observantly. She obviously didn't want to hurt him, since she was still speaking softly to him in that weird language of theirs. She also wasn't going to leave without taking a look, he thought, as she was very solidly standing, half crouched to look at him, right in the middle of the doorway. 

"I'm gonna go over," Viktor said, gritting his teeth to fight off the uneasy feeling he had in his stomach. He wasn't a coward. There were exclamations of discouragement from the others and even Pedro tried to swipe at his hoodie again, but he slinked out of the way easily. 

Lilac perked up. The swish of her tail made Viktor jump in fright, which reminded him a bit too closely of Oorah's tail. She immediately stopped moving her tail in a seemingly conscious effort. She said something, but the only thing he could make out was "Kohgrash," which he guessed was his name, or whatever they were calling him here.

"Is that your name? They say that a lot," Pedro asked, moving around his cell in agitation, keeping his eyes on Lilac. 

Viktor shrugged, looking over at Pedro for a second before keeping his eyes on Lilac, who was slowly inching closer to him. He tensed, squaring his shoulders and bending his knees a bit, ready to start running. Where? He had no clue. But he wouldn't just sit here and get hurt, that's for damn sure. 

"They chanted it when I won," he replied a bit sullenly, not really wanting to be reminded of that night. "So probably."

Lilac was right in front of him, and she slowly reached out to his head. He reared back, opening his mouth slightly in an open-mouthed frown. She dropped her hand, making weird clicking noises before she started reaching toward his leg. He let her unwrap the bandages, only pausing to sit down on the ground. She crouched in response but still towered over him. He tried not to feel intimidated by that. 

His bite looked nasty, but it was obviously healing rather well. The cuts from Oorah's teeth were healed and scabbing over. The skin around it was deep purple and green. He was lucky the beast hadn't snapped his bone in half. 

She grabbed something from a pocket that was not easily visible to his eyes. It was a gray can. He frowned as she opened it, smearing a poultice on her fingers before rubbing it on his bite. 

Viktor screamed at the mind-numbing pain, retracting his leg as quickly as he could. The alien grabbed his ankle before he could, dropping the can to continue rubbing it in. His leg was on fire! Whatever she had smeared on his leg seemed to dig talons in his skin. The hot heat was unbearable. He writhed in the alien's firm grasp, tears burning in his eyes. 

Eventually, the pain faded, but his leg was still abnormally warm. He stilled his struggling, breathing harshly as he watched in surprise as the bruises on his leg faded before his eyes. 

"Wow!" he gasped out, tugging his leg out of Lilac's grasp. He poked the wound experimentally, marveling as it felt as if it was a week-old bruise you would get when banging your leg on the table. The bite marks were still scabbed over and hurt when prodded, but at least his whole leg didn't throb anymore. 

"Jesus, kid, you alright?!" he heard Ezekiel yell. They had yelled and protested loudly when Viktor had started screaming.

"I'm okay. They have this magic ointment, dude. Hurts like a bitch," Viktor confirmed, looking back up at Lilac, who hadn't moved and looked like she wanted to pet Viktor. 

Well, he figured, he was much younger and smaller than the other humans she has access to. Maybe she thinks he's cute? Like a puppy? 

His face screwed up in disgust. He wasn't a damn dog.

Lilac moved forward and gently tugged at his arm. Viktor was reluctant and looked at her pleadingly, but she gave him no choice as she smeared the ointment all around his bicep. 

A groan of badly suppressed pain left his throat, and he gripped Lilac's wrist as hard as he could to combat the pain. It didn't seem to bother her too much, though her tail did start to twitch again. 

The pain faded soon enough, and Viktor fell onto his back with a moan. Lilac spoke his name again, along with a string of other unintelligible words, before she left his cell, collecting his discarded bandages. She left a bowl of mush before collecting the empty ones in the other cages and leaving. 

Viktor lifted his arm up, inspecting his unmarred skin. That magic stuff was amazing. It was too bad it hurt so much.