Niall slowly backed away from the enormous grinning face in front of him. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Kiri’s mouth. Despite the on-going night terrors he thought he was done with Kiri for good. Naskia had made sure he was safe and he had gradually been getting better. Now every nightmare, every terrifying moment of tainted sleep was rushing back as Kiri’s visage filled Niall’s entire field of vision. There was no Naskia here to protect him, no final message goodbye, no hope she would run through the door. He was alone with no way out.
“How did you get him?!” Kiri said to Dorok without taking her eyes off Niall.
Dorok stepped forward and hovered above Niall. “The dorm locks aren’t great. It was an easy matter to decrypt it and get in and out without any evidence. I’ve deactivated his tracking chip so he’s yours now.”
Kiri’s eyes lit up and a smile crept across her face realising just how much she wanted this. This was the runt who had destroyed her friendship with Naskia, her best friend, someone who had been with her through thick and thin. This pathetic creature, just longer than her big finger, somehow managed to destroy one of the things dearest to her. And now he was going to pay. Or was he? If he died Naskia would find some way to blame her, even without any sign of her involvement but if she brought Niall home safely Naskia would see that she wasn’t the terrible person she thought. They could try to be friends again. She didn’t know what she wanted more.
“So Naskia tells me you’ve been dreaming about me, you filthy boy.” Kiri said with a wink.
Niall took a step back, slightly rocked by Kiri’s revelation. Naskia had talked to her, she told Kiri about his dreams. Why would she do that?
Kiri moved slightly closer as Niall stepped back. “She says your dreams are the reason we can’t be friends any more. But if you’re not dreaming anymore then there’s no problem is there?”
Niall felt relief for a second knowing he hadn’t been betrayed by Naskia. After everything she’d put him through he didn’t think he could take it. Niall was aware he hadn’t spoken, he could feel himself trembling. He tried to hold himself together; he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
“There was another, a girl.” Dorok said.
Kiri examined the table top but didn’t see anything. “Naskia doesn’t have a female human, just him.”
“There was a girl there. I don’t know where she came from.” Dorok said moving his hand over the top of Niall. “Girl, come out now or I crush your friend.”
Niall looked up and panicked as the massive hand hovered above him. Whatever happened the most important thing was Nonah did not fall into either of their hands. “No Nonah! Stay away, do not come out!”
Niall turned around an examined the expanse of the table. He knew from playing games of hide and seek with Nonah that she was an expert at finding little crevices to hide in and could practically disappear if she wanted to. Niall had no such skill, growing up in the environment definitely had its advantages. Niall waited for a few tense seconds hoping Nonah would be clever and stay hidden but he spotted movement as she hauled herself out of a small gap between two circuit boards.
Dorok watched the little human appear as if from nowhere and walk over to Niall quickly. She wrapped her arms around him and looked up straight into Dorok’s eyes.
“Please don’t hurt Niall. He hasn’t done anything.” Nonah said meekly.
Dorok looked to Kiri. “That’s not my decision to make…”
Kiri grinned, opening her mouth wide and deliberately displaying the back of her mouth to Niall.
Nonah walked in front of Niall and placed herself in between Kiri and Niall. She had seen the terror Kiri evoked in him and she couldn’t let her torment him like that. “Please Miss Kiri, don’t hurt Niall, I’ll do anything you want. I’m a really good pet, I promise.”
Kiri sighed. She had to respect the courage on the little girl. She had revealed herself in order to save Niall and then approached a Titan, thousands of times her weight, to beg for his life. Kiri at least owed her an answer. “Fine, fine. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I just wanted to make you sweat for a little bit.”
Niall perked up slightly hearing Kiri say she wasn’t going to hurt him. It sounded too good to be true coming from the particularly wicked girl.
“The most important thing is I want Naskia back. Killing you two won’t do that, but if I return you then she’ll see I’m not the terrible person she thinks I am. So don’t be worrying yourselves, you’ll be home soon.” Kiri explained.
Nonah bounced up and down. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She ran up and hugged Niall. Niall wasn’t ready to celebrate just yet. Not until he was home but he returned the hug so Nonah wouldn’t be too worried.
“There’s a box on the desk for them. Just don’t tell Naskia where they went. I don’t want her turning up at my door.” Dorok said.
Kiri raised herself up to her full height which was small in comparison to Dorok but still gigantic in comparison to the two Humans. She looked down at Niall and Nonah. “I’m sure we can come up with some story to keep you out of trouble.”
Niall and Nonah nodded in agreement, just eager to get home. Nonah didn’t think she would ever be so happy to be going back to Naskia again but she really didn’t like these two. At least Naskia was sorry for the bad things she had done. Kiri and Dorok didn’t seem to care.
Dorok smiled at Kiri. “Well now there’s just the small matter of payment.”
Kiri’s face quickly turned stony. “What do you mean payment? You stole Naskia’s Humans and you want to sell them back to her?”
“You said you would do anything to get your hands on Naskia’s Human. Here he is. So I can’t let you take him without paying for him.” Dorok said his grin fading away.
Kiri sighed. “Right, how much do you want for them?”
“I don’t want money…I want something else…” Dorok said allowing his eyes to wander up and down Kiri’s body.
Kiri shuddered instantly realising what Dorok was referring to. “Not a chance Dorok! What is wrong with you?! I’ll go get some money, will 250 do it?”
Dorok started to look annoyed. Niall started to back away taking Nonah with him.
“No Kiri! You know what I want. You said you would do anything to get him and I got him for you. You WILL do anything.” Dorok shouted.
Kiri started to back away towards the door. She was happy to use Niall and Nonah to benefit her but she wasn’t about to put herself in harm’s way for them. Dorok was starting to look very mad and Kiri was no match for him.
“Fine…I’m outta here…” Kiri said walking out the bedroom door.
Dorok bolted after her. Niall and Nonah heard shouting.
“Run!” Niall said to Nonah. They ran to the end of the table and found the chord Nonah had used to get back to the desk. They were about 70 feet up from the floor. The pair shimmied their way down the power chord as quickly as they could. They could hear shouting coming from the other room, the shouting soon escalated into screaming from Kiri and the door opened just as Niall and Nonah reached the floor.
Niall and Nonah hid behind the table leg. Niall peeked out and looked up to see Dorok carrying Kiri through from the living area. He had her arms locked in his and he was holding her back against his chest. Kiri was kicking and shouting but she wasn’t strong enough to hurt him. Dorok threw her down on the bed, he dragged her legs to the floor and pinned her head to the bed. Kiri was screaming in terror.
“I did a service for you. You said you’d pay for it! You can’t just back out!” Dorok yelled at her.
Nonah pointed to an object under the bed. It looked like the two of them could quite easily hide in there. They would wait out Dorok and escape when he eventually left. Niall and Nonah scurried across the floor. Niall looked up the 60 feet length of Kiri’s brown legs. Dorok was hiking up her skirt as she screamed. Niall felt sick watching Dorok. Kiri had been horrible to him, nearly killed him but he couldn’t help but be enraged at what Dorok was about to do. No one deserved that. If he had the power he would have pummelled Dorok into paste.
Niall cleared the canopy of the bed after a few more seconds with Nonah a few feet ahead. Niall looked around examining his surroundings when he spotted something, a long, thin tube. It was about 4 feet long, 9 inches wide and made from a light metal. Niall instantly identified it as a laser cutter. He was familiar with them as Naskia used hers regularly.
“Nonah…hide. I’ll join you in a minute…” Niall said jogging over to the laser cutter. He bent down and lifted it up, clutching it to his chest. It was heavy but not so heavy to make it unwieldy, about 50 kilos; in Earth’s gravity it would have been immovable. It was about 20 metres to Dorok’s foot and Niall carried the laser cutter as fast as he could towards it. Niall was happy the reduced gravity helped his endurance. The noise of Kiri screaming drove him on, no matter what she had done to him in the past he could not allow this to happen to her.
The air crackled and hissed as Niall activated the laser cutter as he approached the massive foot of Dorok, it was much bigger and more imposing than Naskia’s, even without shoes on. The laser was about two feet long and emitted a high pitched whine, everything about it told Niall he should keep a safe distance from it but he hauled it across his shoulder and balanced it precariously. He drew some deep breathes, steadying himself before charging at Dorok’s foot.
Dorok was too busy with Kiri to notice Niall’s approach. Niall looked up at the imposing figure as he thrust his hand under Kiri’s top.
“Eat shit you pervert!” Niall yelled as he plunged the laser cutter into Dorok’s foot.
It took no effort on Niall’s part at all and the laser cut through flesh and bone like it was butter. Niall let go of the laser cutter and it dropped along Dorok’s foot cutting as it went. Dorok screamed in agony as searing pain shot from his foot. The intense heat of the laser burned through his foot and slowly tipped over doing more and more damage. Dorok instantly let go of Kiri and instinctively reached his foot up to him. He screamed again as he pulled the laser cutter out and examined the wound. His socks had melted into the wound and the flesh had been cauterized by the laser.
Kiri used the opportunity to break free from Dorok. She was shaking with terror and tears were streaming down her face. As she pushed herself off the bed she stopped to see what had happened to Dorok, she watched him pull the laser cutter from his foot and cry out in pain. She saw movement on the floor and watched Niall running along the underside of the bed. She couldn’t believe he had risked his own life to save her after what she had done to him.
“Get back here!” Dorok screamed viciously at her.
He pushed himself to his feet and tried to run but his injured foot wouldn’t carry his weight and he quickly collapsed to the floor. Kiri glanced at where Niall was once more but he had disappeared. She quickly turned around and bolted out the door still in tears at the ordeal Dorok had put her through.
Dorok screamed after her as he lay clutching his foot on the floor. His foot was in agony, he felt betrayed by Kiri and someone was going to pay. He needed to heal his foot first. He slowly stood up and limped out of the room to the bathroom where he kept the medkit.
“I’ll be back shortly Humans. And when I am you’re both dead! DEAD!” He yelled.
Niall waited until Dorok had gone before coming out from between a stack of old, broken computer parts.
“Nonah! Nonah!” He called.
He waited for a few seconds before Nonah appeared.
“Are you ok?! What happened!?” Nonah asked looking panicked.
“There’s no time. Find another place to hide. He’ll search under the bed. I’m going to try to get the holoprojector working.” Niall said trying to sound in charge.
Nonah looked around the room. There was nowhere else she could see that would make a better hiding place. “I found a REALLY good spot. It has layers, he won’t find us in there. Please come hide with me.”
Niall shook his head. “I can’t Nonah. He’ll find us, Kiri is gone and he is pissed off beyond all belief. Our only hope is the holoprojector, I have to do this or he will find us eventually. Do you understand?”
“I do…” Nonah said meekly.
“One more thing…” Niall said. “If you get a chance to get away, take it. Don’t wait for me. Get out of here, promise me.”
Nonah dived on Niall and hugged him. “O…k. Thank you Niall…please be safe.”
“I will, now go!” Niall said pushing her away and running towards the chord to climb back up to the table. Once he had got to the table he ran straight to the holoprojector and got to work.
Naskia was lying on her bed in floods of tears. Niall and Nonah were gone, their chips were deactivated. Niall had clearly decided it was too dangerous to stay. He hadn’t been himself even after Nonah seemed to settle. He had been quiet and distant; he was probably planning how to get away in his mind. She could feel her heart physically aching from the pain. Her chest ached from crying so hard, her face hurt from sobbing and she couldn’t stop her mind from going through the same thought process over and over.
“How could I have been so stupid?!” she thought to herself. “I loved him so much and I drove him to hate me. What will they do?! Where will they go, if someone mean finds them if would be awful or if a Shaar gets them?! They’re so vulnerable, too small to survive on their own.”
Naskia continued to cry into her pillow. She had been crying for hours already. She suddenly shot upright as she heard the door chime.
“It could be someone about Niall!” she thought feeling hopeful.
She ran through to the front door as fast as possible and opened it.
She didn’t know what she expected but what she saw was totally unexpected. Kiri, dishevelled and clearly crying as much as Naskia had been.
“Dorok has Niall and the girl!” she blurted as soon as she found her breath.
Naskia’s face contorted into one of horror. “WHAT?!”
“He took them; he wanted to sell them to me.” Kiri sobbed. “I tried to take them back to you but he wanted me to have sex with him in exchange. I refused and he attacked me…he…he…he tried to rape me.”
Naskia was shocked by what Kiri told her. The girl was a mess; she had never seen Kiri like this no matter how bad things ever got for her, she always managed to keep it together.
“Niall saved me…he stabbed Dorok in the foot with a laser cutter. He hurt him pretty bad.” Kiri continued.
“Where is he now?! Where’s Nonah?” Naskia said grabbing Kiri’s hand, her eyes wide with fear.
“In…in Dorok’s room. We need to call the police! We have to help him…” Kiri said.
“No!” Naskia yelled leaving the dorm and dragging Kiri with her. “The police won’t come running to save two Humans! It will be too late; we have to save them ourselves.”
Kiri turned into dead weight. She was terrified. She couldn’t face him again, he was too strong, too powerful and clearly insane.
“I…I…I…can’t Nas. I just can’t! Don’t make me…please!” Kiri begged trembling.
“I can’t do this without you Kiri! We can do it together but neither one of us is strong enough!” Naskia was screaming at her, pulling her down the hallway. “Niall saved you from him! He could have left you to him and escaped but he risked his life to save you. You owe him!”
Kiri felt her resistance wane. Something was niggling at her, something she wasn’t used to hearing, her conscience. “Ok…ok…I’ll help.”
Naskia started to run down the corridor, still holding Kiri’s hand and Kiri reluctantly matched her pace.
Niall’s hands were sweating, he was leaving drips of moisture on the screen. He tried to wipe his hands on his brow to wipe the sweat away but he found it too was soaked in sweat. The moisture was causing him to make mistakes, mistakes were costing him time and time was a luxury he did not have. Every minute or so he could hear a roar of pain coming from the bathroom as Dorok treated his wounded foot.
He was making progress. Each time he recompiled the program it would come back with less errors. He’d been able to project his image but the movement was delayed and fractured. It only had a range of about three feet, he needed at least six. Controlling the hologram was ungainly, he had no environment to contextualise its surroundings. He had to watch it to see it’s movements to see what it was doing.
Niall heard movement, a thudding sound. He quickly deactivated the hologram and hid behind the projector. Dorok walked right passed it and lay down in the floor in front of the bed.
“Humans! Get out here!” he yelled.
There was no response. He started dragging bits of old computers, circuit boards and screens out from under the bed. Searching quickly amongst the pile he was building. Niall noted with relief he wasn’t opening anything. Nonah would be safe for a while as long as she stayed put. Niall went back to the screen and returned to programming the hologram. He had to get it working before Dorok got to Nonah.
Niall worked for a few more minutes occasionally glancing out to check on Dorok’s progress. He had only searched through about a quarter of the scrap under the bed but he hadn’t even begun to open up the components he had brought out. Niall’s train of thought was suddenly broken by a chime at the door. Dorok looked up towards his bedroom door contemplating answering before turning back to the pile of rubbish.
“Damn…” Thought Niall. “I could have used the extra time.”
Naskia pressed the button on Dorok’s door again but still no answer.
“C’mon open up you pervert.” She muttered to herself.
There was still no response.
“Screw it…” Naskia said.
She knelt down and examined the access panel. It looked identical to every other access panel in every other dorm. She used her elbow to smash the front of the panel cutting herself slightly. She didn’t care; she examined the wires behind the panel and pulled out the power, immediately releasing the door locks. She pushed the door and it opened. She ran in and Kiri followed slowly behind her. Naskia looked around, no sign of Dorok but she could see blood on the floor in places, not enough to be from a crushed Human.
Naskia heard noise coming from the bedroom. She ran through and saw Dorok lying on the floor rooting through piles of scrap.
“Dorok!” she yelled. “Where are they?! What have you done?!”
Dorok slowly limped up to his feet and locked his eyes on to Naskia. There was a fire burning in his eyes. He was totally enraged. Normally it would have terrified Naskia but she was too focused. He hadn’t got them yet, there was still time.
“No! They will pay! They’re as good as dead!” he screamed going back to the pile of scrap on the floor.
Niall watched agog as Naskia ran across the room and grabbed Dorok and tried to throw him to the ground. She shifted him but not enough. He tried to ignore her and press on with his single minded goal of finding the Humans who hurt him but Kiri joined the struggle and the two girls managed to tip him over and pin him.
“No!” Dorok screamed. He struggled and rocked backwards and forwards. Kiri and Naskia were using both their arms in an attempt to pin him but he was too strong. Kiri lost her grip and Dorok’s arm shot up. He hit her hard in the face with the back of his hand and Kiri fell backwards on to the floor clutching her face. Dorok then turned and grabbed Naskia by the throat and threw her off him across the room.
Niall was thrown to the floor as all 700 tonnes of Naskia hit the table. He heard her cry out in pain as her back hit the table leg. Niall wanted to go to her side, to check on her but he didn’t have time. He needed to finish the holographic program, it was his only option.
Naskia got up slightly dazed. Dorok was standing and approaching her looking malevolent. She was braced to take a blow when she heard a high pitched scream. Kiri jumped on Dorok’s back, determined to keep him from Naskia. She pulled at his hair and clawed at his eyes, the best attack she could muster weighing a little over half Dorok’s weight. Dorok screamed in pain and thrashed about violently, he threw his back at the wall dislodging Kiri. She fell to the floor and he kicked her across the face knocking her unconscious.
Naskia ran at Dorok while he was distracted but he spotted her out of the corner of his eye. Naskia felt sick and in tremendous pain all at once as Dorok punched her in the gut, stopping her dead in her tracks. She cried out in pain as Dorok landed a blow to her face and she collapsed on to the ground beside the pile of scrap. Dorok loomed over her grinning maniacally.
Niall watched in horror, his blood boiling in his veins as Dorok kicked Naskia in the stomach repeatedly, occasionally he stopped kicking her and punched her in the face instead. Naskia cried in pain as each blow landed and with each cry Niall grew angrier and angrier. Blood was streaming from cuts on her cheeks and lips. He forced himself back to his screen. He was going to get revenge and there was only one way.
Dorok was about to put another kick into Naskia’s gut when he spotted movement in the pile of scrap. A tiny, naked Human girl emerged from the scrap and was running as fast as she could towards the underside of the bed, terrified from the violent shaking all around her. Dorok stamped his foot down missing her by inches and knocking Nonah to the floor.
Nonah looked up at Dorok. He was grinning, displaying a set of off-white teeth; he had scratches across his face and looked very pleased with himself and the carnage around him.
“Time to die slut…” he said rubbing in how he had used her earlier.
Nonah raised her hands over her head and screamed a blood curdling scream as Dorok raised his foot over her. She watched his massive muscles tense as he was about to stomp down on top of her. For the second time in a few days Nonah knew she was going to die. Just as Dorok dropped his foot she was bashed from behind by a wall of flesh hitting her, another one came at her from the front and completely encased her protecting her from Dorok’s foot. She felt the world shift as she was quickly moved somewhere else.
“Give her to me!” Dorok screamed at the bloodied Naskia.
Naskia curled into a ball, Nonah locked in the tight grip of her palms pulled into her chest with the rest of Naskia’s body curled round her.
“Give her to me!” Dorok screamed again.
Naskia ignored him.
Dorok kicked her in the stomach violently. Naskia cried in pain again. He began frantically kicking her over and over again, in her stomach, arms, face, any part of her he could, repeating his demands for Naskia to release Nonah. He was hell bent on taking revenge on the Humans for the pain they had caused him. Naskia cried, the pain almost too much to bare. But she couldn’t give in, if she gave in he would kill Nonah. She had to protect Nonah at all costs, it was the only thing that mattered.
Nonah was terrified; she was squeezed from all sides. Her world was rocking all around her. She could hear muffled screams coming from outside the fleshy prison that held her. She knew this wasn’t a prison, it was a shield. Naskia had put herself between her and Dorok and was suffering terribly for it. Nonah curled up into a ball as she was squeezed further. She cried feeling terrible knowing just what Naskia was enduring for her, despite the things Nonah had said to her and the way she acted after their fight. Naskia could have let Nonah die; Dorok killing her would have solved a lot of problems for her. She wouldn’t have to worry about Nonah telling Loona anything ever again.
Dorok relented after kicking Naskia for nearly a minute. He was breathing heavily, exhausted from the exertion. Naskia used the time to try to crawl away from him on her belly. She clenched Nonah in one fist and used the other to pull herself forward. She winced in pain as she felt another blow in her side. She coughed and spluttered, throwing up a mouthful of blood. Her vision was blurring and she felt faint. She didn’t have long left until she passed out. She pulled Nonah in under her belly, keeping her tightly clenched in her fist.
Dorok walked round and stood over Naskia. He spat down at her and put his foot on her face, pressing it into her. Naskia looked up, darkness starting to engulf her and waited for the next blow.
Dorok raised his foot to kick Naskia in the face and into unconsciousness when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Dorok turned around to see Niall looming over him, he was well over a unit tall, a lot bigger and heavier than Dorok.
“I hear you’re a fan of holographics, what do you think of my work?” Niall said.
He punched Dorok square in the face between the eyes and Dorok went down.
Niall dropped to his knees and began pummelling him again and again and again. He was livid, totally out of his mind with rage. Watching what Dorok did to Nonah, Naskia and even Kiri had broken Niall’s usual peaceful disposition and he wanted revenge. Dorok screamed in pain with each blow until he passed from consciousness. Niall continued hitting him over and over. Blood splashed over his holographic form, his fists were awash with a sea of red and Dorok’s face was no longer recognisable.
Niall was suddenly snapped out of his trance by a small voice calling him.
“Niall!” Nonah shouted. “It’s over. Stop. You won.”