SC: Only Human

To Love Makes Us Human

Unknown, Unknown, Unknown

Hours passed in total silence. Occasionally the faint sound of screaming reached the cell; the sound seemed to echo off the walls. Eventually, the lights shone brightly and when it dimmed the silhouette of a man could be seen in the center of the room. The man was breathing rapidly, with much effort. Captain Shen approached the man cautiously and recognized him as the First Sergeant. She crouched next to him and reached out to touch him, but he fidgeted and backed away. The other prisoners called out to him, reassuring him that he was safe. Shen moved closer to the broken man and slowly wrapped her arms around him. He twitched violently, but she continued embracing him. She sang to him a soothing song in Mandarin, like a mother singing her child to sleep. His breathing slowed and he stopped twitching in her arms. He cried, the first time since the death of his family more than twenty years ago.

Time passed slowly and the prisoners had long since lost count of the time. Their captors began to feed them and the condition of Corporal Marvin improved. Private Kenning stopped talking to himself, but instead just didn't talk at all.

"Why the hell won't you talk about what happened when they dragged you away, what did you tell them?" Staff Sergeant Jed asked the First Sergeant who had recently recovered from his torture session.

"None of your business, it's better you don't know," the First Sergeant replied.

The lights shone brightly again, suddenly blinding the prisoners and as quick as lightning three aliens entered and dragged Private Kenning, Corporal Marvin and Staff Sergeant Jed away. Jed screamed and jerked around violently, but his captor picked him up and slammed his body against a wall until he went limp. Hours passed and both the First Sergeant and Captain Shen tried to talk to one another but found it impossible since both knew little of the other's language. So they began to teach each other some words, she would point at an object and he would translate. They made a game of it, anything to pass the time and possibly get their minds off their plight.

Eventually, Jed and Marvin returned, battered but alive. Both Shen and the First Sergeant rushed to help them. Jed refused to accept their help and instead launched a profanity-laced diatribe against Captain Shen. She didn't understand what he was saying however she understood the hostility in his voice so she backed away from him.

The First Sergeant ignored Jed and asked Marvin, "What happened to Private Kenning?"

"He's dead. The Huellok dissected him while he was still alive, they're trying to find our weaknesses. They experimented on us, tossing us into cells, seeing how much heat and cold we can endure. I don't think we're the only ones here, I think I saw the corpses of other people being dissected." Marvin shuddered and rubbed his temple obviously disturbed.

"They know as little about us as we do of them." The First Sergeant replied.

"Thank you for that pearl of wisdom. How long before they know the truth? How long before they learn about the bitch?!" Staff Sergeant Jed bellowed, pointing at Shen. The First Sergeant turned around to face him.

"Shut the hell up. They can hear you." The room filled with light and the First Sergeant ran towards the opening wall. He was seized and so was Captain Shen. Their captors beat them senseless and he awoke to the sound of screaming a short time later. The First Sergeant sat on a chair flanked by two Huellok and directly in front of him, to his horror he saw Captain Shen shackled to the wall. She was naked and bleeding. He stood up but doubled over in pain from a punch out of nowhere to his stomach. He looked up and cringed at the abomination standing before him. He had never seen the Huellok up close and without intense light blurring their features. They looked like nothing from Earth but instead like a demon from hell. It towered over him at more than eight feet. He noticed it had two heads with four eyes each. The heads moved on their own as if they were two different entities. No mouth, but small slits on each head which were its "nose." The Huellok had huge shoulders with natural spikes protruding from it. It had a barrel chest with a massive mouth lined with razor sharp teeth smack in the middle. He squinted and swore he saw more eyes around the mouth and noticed that the creature had two pairs of arms. The first and larger set extending nearly to the floor and at the end had one large blade, their primary weapon. The second set of arms was smaller and wormlike, used primarily for grasping. Its "legs" was one snakelike tendon which seemed too small to support its upper body. The Huellok were encased in a hard outer exoskeleton which appeared brownish-green and clammy. They smelled so bad up close he had to turn away. The third Huellok, the one that hit him slithered closer and began to shriek.