Gamma Stellaris

Chapter 19

        Leanne stared dully at the plate of food that sat in front of her, which was just a detached tentacle. She was convinced that they had just started picking apart corpses and feeding her bits and pieces of them.

        "Hurry up and eat." Punte hissed.

         "But-" She started softly.

         Her eyes widened as Ngxurj kicked her in the stomach. Although the kick wasn't nearly hard enough to elicit the reaction, she let out a small sob as tears stung her eyes.

        "Eat." Ngxurj hissed.

          She pinched her nose shut before slowly going to bite into the tentacle. It was a foot from her mouth, but she was still gagging already. She didn't know how she had managed to stay alive eating that slop for days.

         As she inched it toward her mouth, she gagged so roughly that she dropped the tentacle.

        "That was perfectly good food you wasted!" Punte hissed, kicking her in the stomach again.

          She let out a small squeak, afraid to react any more than that.

         "Eat!" Ngxurj hissed, forcing the tentacle back into her hands. 

         Leanne finally managed to bite into it, and immediately regretted it. She dry heaved so hard that her entire body shuddered.

         "Stop being such a baby."

          She begrudgingly sunk her teeth back into the tentacle, bile crawling up her throat.

         She didn't know how she'd do it yet, but she did know that she needed to get out of there somehow.

        By the time she finished eating the tentacle, she'd almost vomited four times. She clenched her hands into fists in her lap as she tried to dispel the horrible taste from her mouth.

         Her shoulders were trembling.

        Ngxurj forced her to her feet, attaching the short red leash to her collar. She was tempted to try again to unlatch the collar, but she tried it enough times to know it wouldn't work.

         She took a deep breath, letting her head drop as she followed him.

          They led her to a large white room and her eyebrows shot up in confusion. Why was she back in the room that Charity's execution was in?

          "What are we doing here?"

          Neither one of them answered her.

          "Hello?! Anyone listening?!"

          Punte kicked her in the stomach, and she had to swallow back vomit. "Do not raise your voice at us, you filthy sozzkty."

        Her knees wobbled unsteadily beneath her, and in the heat of the moment she didn't even realize that she was absolutely terrified. But she did at least know she wasn't used to that feeling. Her palms were sweaty, and her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper. She felt like a cement block had been placed at the base of her stomach.

          Xkmotg glided into the room, grinning when she saw Leanne. "Glad to see you aren't late. We'll be beginning in just a moment."

        "What's going on?" Leanne asked softly, her voice barely audible.

        "I'm surprised your owners haven't filled you in. It's your execution day, sweetheart."

        Leanne's eyes widened, but her voice was stuck in her throat.