Operation S.A.L.V.A.T.I.O.N.

Chapter 15: Upside Down

A While Ago

The roaring sounds in the trees, then suddenly cuts off.
Lantroupa stares wide-eyed into the large glass structure, wondering what monstrous creature is responsible for that horrible sound.
The guards push her towards the locked door and she plants her feet hard against the smooth steel flooring beneath her, breath hitching and starting to hyperventilate as she helplessly pushes through and gets shoved hard through the doorway.
She tumbles to the ground in a heap of limbs, lying where she falls. She lifts her head painfully, sees the guards lock the door, and walk away through blurry eyes. Her breathing roars in her ears and tears splat the dusty ground beneath her body. She places her trembling hands on the ground beneath her and pushes herself up with agonizing effort, her head turning slowly towards the trees where the roaring had come from
Why had it stopped now?
She tries to stand her whole body complaining. It takes her three tries, but finally, she's on her feet, swaying hard and shaking.
There's a rustling in the leaves and her eyes widen as she stumbles back against the glass walls. As her back connects with the cold, smooth surface, a sharp shock pierces through her body and she cries out, tearing her throat,  and she collapses forward into the dust,  coughing blood to the ground and turning it to crimson mud.
She lays where she fell, trying to get a rational thought through the pain. There's more rustling and she manages to raise her head enough to connect her gaze with the leaves moving above the ground. 
Suddenly, she gets jerked to the side by her middle and the air is torn from her lungs as her limbs shoot out from her body from the momentum with which she is being dragged across the ground. Leaves and branches whip across her back and she smacks into an object at one point--maybe a rock--her ribs instantly flaring up and she doesn't know whether she should scream or cry or do anything. She doesn't even know what is happening. 
It all happens so fast, and then it's over. She lays still again, on her side with her face covered in dust, with no sound to be heard around her. She hears her own breath, feels the ground beneath her, the new pain in her side, the tears from her eyes turning the dust to mud against her skin.
After awhile, she recovers enough to lift her head and look around. She's in the middle of green foliage, with the glass confines of this cage nowhere in sight. Who dragged her here? She doesn't have an answer, but the theories popping up in her head do nothing to comfort her.
There's a slight rustling to her left and she shifts in that direction, jerking onto her other side with difficulty, laying still with her forehead against the ground. She blinks through the tears as she tries to figure out if she's being tricked by her own sight. She narrows her eyes and watches with horrified fascination as a skin-colored tendril slowly snakes across the ground from under the foliage of a leafy bush. It's coming toward her face and she tenses, not knowing what to think, but her instinct is to pull away, to escape. But she's too weak.
The tendril comes closer, pushing a trail through the dust, pushing it aside as it scrapes along, the tapered tip shivering slightly. Lantroupa holds her breath, eyes widening in fear as it reaches her and slowly connects with her skin, sliding across her cheek.
Her breath gasps, then stills as she realizes the touch is soft, almost gentle. She lies still and doesn't make a sound as the tendril continues exploring her face for a couple seconds, then moves to the back of her head, cradling her neck. Lantroupa's eyes close of their own accord and she sighs slightly, the touch welcoming but almost foreign. It's been a long time since a touch of any kind has been caring or gentle towards her.
The tendril slides down to her throat and Lantroupa jumps at the pain it causes. The tendril immediately unravels and slides away so fast she can hardly follow it. Wait, she didn't mean...
...to scare it.
There's more rustling and Lantroupa lifts her eyes, then does a double take. It's not the gentle tendril, but a majestic feline animal pushing its way through the foliage to stand in the dust in front of her. It's black fur glistens with a blue undertone and its two long protruding teeth shine like polished titanium. 
Wait.
Lantroupa can't believe it. She's seen this animal before. In the hanger when she first set foot on this blasted starship as an unwilling captive. This is the same animal she saw fighting for its freedom in the cage, the one she'd connected eyes with just before it was subdued.
Lantroupa realizes these facts as she lifts her gaze to the feline's. Bright copper eyes meet her own, and as she watches, the blue undertone in the animal's fur changes to amethyst purple, shimmering and shifting not unlike her own eyes when she stares into a pool of moonlit water back home.
The thought makes her smile, new tears pricking her eyes, but these are ones of wonder, and maybe even hope.
Does the animal know the color of her eyes and did it consciously change the color of its coat? Or was it a coincidence?
Whatever the reason, it pinged Lantroupa's interest, and she makes an effort to raises herself onto her elbows, dragging lines in the dirt with her limbs at the effort.
The male feline looks like a mix between Earth's panther, and those animals back when the Earth was covered in ice. What were they called again?
Sabertooth panthers? No, tigers. Sabertooth tigers.
Maybe she'll name it. Saber.
Her lips turn up in a slight smirk at the quirkiness of this situation, and the feline cocks its head, seeming to look at her questioningly.
Lantroupa lies back down and carefully stretches her hand out as far as it will comfortably go towards Saber, then lies still.
She watches as he slowly lowers his head and ever so carefully sniffs her fingers. She holds her breath and doesn't move a muscle. Saber stops and turns his head quickly to right, eyes hardening and every muscle in his body tightening, ready to spring. A slow growl roses in his throat: a warning.
Lantroupa's heart starts racing and she wonders what the problem is.
Saber jerks and his mouth opens slightly, edges shivering as they unfold slightly, opening into four distinct petal shapes, though his head still stays the same.
Lantroupa watches in fascination. The tendril that came to visit her first, slips out of Saber's mouth like a long tongue and wraps around her shoulders. It's joined by another one, wrapping around her waist and yet a third tendril, wrapping around her legs.
Again the touch is gentle, but firm, and she doesn't resist as the tendrils draw her in all the way up to the creature's mouth. Like she's its young and it's carrying her around.
Lantroupa hangs her head, the tendrils not hurting her, and though the feeling of hanging from an unknown creature's mouth is certainly weird, she doesn't feel in any danger at the moment. She actually feels safer here than she has anywhere else on this ship.
The feline starts moving, its steps a little heavy, head stiff and dragging her just above the ground.
It's not used to her weight.
Lantroupa closes her eyes as the movements ignite small sparks of pain in her throat and her stiff back and aching ribs. She's been in pain for so long, she doesn't even know what is hurting and what is normal anymore.

...to be continued...

Dear readers,

Sorry for the abrupt cutoff, but I'm already at 1300 words and this chapter would have gone on and on if I hadn't stopped myself lol.
Hope you enjoyed this read!
As always, let me know if you guys have any questions!

Best wishes,
LiethaS