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.
Xkmotg chuckled, patting Leanne's cheek. "Aww, too shocked to speak? I was hoping for some inspiring last words, but I suppose that cowardly silence works just as well."
Leanne didn't understand what was going on. She felt paralyzed. She couldn't get her brain and body to work together long enough to help herself.
Ngxurj dragged her forward, and she was too afraid to fight back. Her mind was racing almost as fast as her heart.
That couldn't be it! She still had her entire life ahead of her! It couldn't end with her biggest achievement being that she was on the world leader board for Mario Kart!
Leanne was forced down into a chair and she panted for shallow breaths.
The door swung open and a girl quickly rushed in, but Leanne was surprised to see she was human. But she still wore the same robes as all the aliens, although hers were far more disheveled. "S-Sorry I'm so late."
Xkmotg scowled. "What took you so long?"
"It took me a little longer to get ready than I thought it would."
"Just get ready. We don't have all day and this human is boring me."
The girl nodded, pushing her red hair out of her face as she rushed over to a small closet. "How are we doing it?"
"Lethal injection."
The girl slowly nodded, grabbing a needle and small vial before slowly making her way over to Leanne.
That was enough to make Leanne snap back to her senses as she tried to lunge toward the door. The leash pulled the collar back roughly against her throat and Ngxurj easily held her down in the chair.
She struggled harder as the girl stuck the needle into the vial, filling the syringe with a purple liquid.
The girl grabbed Leanne's arm, going to stick the needle into her arm before pausing. "How do I-"
Xkmotg rolled her eyes. "Stick it in her arm and inject the liquid. You're overthinking this, Hruyyus."
"Oh, yeah. Right. Of course. Silly me, I didn't realize-"
"Stop stalling."
"Right."
Hruyyus stuck the needle into Leanne's arm, positioning her thumb on the plunger.
"Wait! Please don't-" Leanne started frantically, cutting off with a whimper as Punte roughly grabbed her jaw. The tension that had been building in her chest burst as she broke down crying.
"I-I can't do this." Hruyyus whispered, pulling the needle out of Leanne's arm. "I can't-"
"And why not?" Xkmotg asked, her smirk growing.
"I just can't- I..."
"Get her out of my sight."
Two aliens appeared through the doorway and grabbed the girl's wrists.
Leanne desperately wanted to do something to help her, after all that girl had spared her life, but she couldn't get the words to form. She couldn't even contain the tears that were still streaming down her face long enough to take a steady breath.
"You should be celebrating." Xkmotg said, patting Leanne's cheek with a smug smirk. "After all, you've just been spared."
How could Xkmotg just treat this like one big game?! Leanne almost died and the woman standing in front of her was acting like it was nothing more than a game of chess happening in front of her!
Xkmotg let out a small chuckle, not even sparing Leanne a second glance as she left.
She barely had time to process everything that just happened before she was being pulled out of the room again.
Now that her fear was starting to fizzle away, she tried to process what the heck was happening with that girl, Hruyyus. Why was she even on the ship in the first place and how was her deciding if she should execute Leanne or not a loyalty test?
"Listen when I'm talking to you!" Punte hissed, pulling Leanne out of her thoughts.
"Wh-What?"
She got kicked hard in the stomach and she doubled over with a cry. "You good for nothing sozzkty!"
Another kick caught her in the stomach and a sob escaped.