What if we… Lamb trailed off when they saw another flash of light happen, followed by a scream that must have belonged to Cyra or Gypsy.
FUCK! We have to go see if the girls are okay; that scream sounded horrific, Dewayne tried turning around, but the Watchers had already caught on to his and Lamb’s whereabouts.
“Thought you could escape, did you?” One said in a sinister voice as it tightened its grip around Dewayne’s limbs.
Before Dewayne could answer, him and Lamb were shackled with restraints that emitted an electric current and would send a voltaic shock so great through their bodies, they would be dead before their execution if they tried to take them off.
“We’re not stupid, unlike you troublemakers. Your little human friends over there are now going to get an even harsher execution because of this stunt you both tried to pull.”
“Please don’t! They really had nothing to do with this,” Lamb tried to plead but the Watchers had already made up their minds.
“Oh and I nearly forgot!” The Watcher continued, ignoring Lamb, “you fellas get to watch their torture and execution. Nothing you can do about it either,” it let out an evil laugh, “since we make the rules now.”
They were walked back over to where the girls were still standing, surrounded by even more Watchers. Cyra and Gypsy had been given pieces of cloth that they managed to tie up to give the appearance of dresses; still cold but it was better than nothing. The longer they stood there, the temperature around them in the hallway felt like it was dropping.
Lower. Lower. Lower. Teeth chattering and the goosebumps on their limbs had now gotten to the point of being extremely uncomfortable, Gypsy and Cyra were missing home on Earth more than ever. They missed the warm hugs they would get from their moms when they felt sad. The warm feeling of knowing they were loved unconditionally by their families. The moments they would laugh so hard they would accidentally snort, causing them to laugh even harder. The overwhelming welcoming with love and acceptance whenever they entered festival grounds. The wubs and dubs that melted the world around them. They missed being free.
Being abducted into this alien society had never crossed their minds but now it was how they were going to die. Gypsy and Cyra’s minds flashed glimpses of how their lives had been before this whole alien takeover had happened. Carefree and full of life, truly living their best lives, hand-in-hand ready to conquer whatever the world had to throw at them, except this whole situation had come completely out of left field and they were still in shock about how far they had come.
Jeffrey and Lollie didn’t get so lucky but the more they continued to think about the events that had just gone down, the girls realized that it was stupid to feel sorry for themselves. No human had ever gone this far or even come face-to-face with that dumb Council so they should be celebrating their internal accomplishments rather than quivering in fear of how they were going to be executed.
Can you guys ‘hear’ me? Gypsy thought as they started to walk in a line through the hallway again.
Yeah but can these fuckers eaves drop on us this way? Cyra asked as she rolled her eyes toward the Watchers.
We can’t move out of line or really in any direction with these shackles on, Lamb replied meekly.
Yeah, we’ll get executed on the spot basically if we try, Dewayne added.
I know there’s essentially no way for us to escape but did we ever figure out what that glitching light stuff was? Gypsy asked.
No idea, but it hasn’t happened in a little bit now, has it? Dewayne said as he looked around.
Right when he suggested it had possible stopped, the glitching started again, but this time it also created a violent shaking that knocked everyone off their feet, even the Watchers were taken off-guard by it. Looking around, confused out of their minds, they increased their secureness around Dewayne, Lamb, Cyra, and Gypsy. As they continued to walk down the hallway that felt like it was never going to end, the taste of metal filled the girls’ mouths.
Why do I taste metal? Cyra asked, extremely concerned.
Gypsy, do you taste it too? Lamb asked.
Yeah, I feel like I’m chewing pennies or something; it’s really gross, she replied with a disgusted look on her face.
We must be getting close to the execution site then, Dewayne thought with a sigh.
Do you guys taste it or is it just a human thing? Cyra questioned as they continued their way toward the end of the hallway.
Unfortunately it’s just a human thing I read about many lightyears ago when doing research on humans. You guys supposedly taste metal when approaching any place of execution. It’s like your bodies ways of prepping for death in our galaxy. Weird, I know, but at least it’s an indication that we won’t be traveling down this hallway much longer, Dewayne tried to be reassuring, but it was no use.
Great, so we’re just that much closer to our deaths, Gypsy thought sarcastically.
They continued to walk, surrounded by the army of Watchers, until they saw a large passageway that glowed dark grey hues and had a soft gravitational force pulling them ever-so-slightly toward it. The Watchers secured the outer portion as they had before while the ones closest to the group undid the shackles on Dewayne and Lamb while leading the girls to the front.
“Um, what exactly is going on?” Gypsy’s voice cracked.
“This is your final destination,” one Watcher said smugly, “here you will be executed in the most torturous way possible. Since these fellas tried to pull that stunt earlier, they’re going to watch you humans get slowly ripped to shreds first, then they’ll join you, but by then if you haven’t already passed out from the pain or died, you’ll be in a such a state of disorientation, you both will wish you had died back there.”
“Oh, okay,” Gypsy tried to keep her composure but her heart was racing so fast she thought it was going to come out of her chest.
Cyra felt a knot form in her stomach and make its way up to the back of her throat where she then choked down the little bit of vomit that had formed. There really was no way of escaping this hell now and the other side of passageway was tugging at the cloth tied around them, making the scary reality an even worse nightmare.
You guys, I’m not ready to die, she quivered as the Watchers moved toward the passageway to open it.
I don’t think any of us are, Dewayne tried to ease their anxiousness but it wasn’t any use.
Now that we have those damn shackles off maybe we could try to fight back and buy ourselves a little more time? Lamb tried to pitch in positively.
What would be the point? It’s not like we could escape to another galaxy. The fucking Council made sure of that, Gypsy was trying to accept her fate but had this gut feeling that something was off. These Watchers seem very robotic don’t they?
We were saying the same thing earlier, Dewayne replied a tad excitedly.
Before anyone had the chance to respond, the glitch happened again, shaking everything violently again and it lasted more than a few moments. By the time they got to their feet, it started again, the grid exposing itself for longer this time than it had the past few times they were able to see it. The neon hue contrasting against the pitch blackness shone bright. This time something compelled Gypsy to try to touch it. The Watchers were disoriented for once so it was now or never. She tried to run toward it as fast as she could. Hearing a soft buzz the closer she got. The glitch wasn’t fixing itself as fast as it had before so she knew she needed to move now if there was any chance of finding out what it did.
“Dude what are you doing?” Cyra shouted as she followed Gypsy.
“Something’s telling me I need to go to it!”
Lamb and Dewayne followed as closely as they could but the Watchers had managed to get to their feet and were now on a hot pursuit to capture them again. Gypsy was getting closer, with Cyra not too far behind, she reached out her hand to touch the
neon beam that had created a grid pattern. It was soft and her hand went right through it, like it was just a laser beam or something. Cyra reached for Gypsy’s hand before looking back and seeing that the Watchers had almost caught Dewayne and Lamb.
“WATCH OUT!” She shrieked but it was too late. The Watchers had tackled Dewayne and Lamb, dragging them back toward the passageway to their death.
“Don’t worry about us! You guys go and figure that out! I’m sure we’ll be reunited in another life!” Lamb attempted to crack a smile but the fear in his eyes made it not believable.
“In another life!” Dewayne shouted before they were both tossed through to the other side of whatever type of execution awaited them.
Gypsy felt a hot tear start to stream down her cheek, but there was no going back. They had to get through this grid if they had any chance of surviving. Cyra grabbed Gypsy’s hand and the two of them jumped through where the glitch had separated the hallway from the black abyss with the neon grid. Not sure what was waiting for them but the Watchers were closing in and they sure as hell weren’t about to give up now.
Once they jumped through, it felt like they were floating for a moment, then quickly started to fall. They tried to grab onto the neon lines as they fell but it was no use, the grid wasn’t made up of anything hard enough to stop their descent so they reached for each other and held on tight. Whenever they tried to see how much farther they had to fall, the grid only illuminated what was immediately around them, so underneath them was an abyss of nothing.
The Watchers had stopped as soon as they got to the glitch, like they were scared of what was behind it. A few tried to glance over before being scolded by others to stand back. The light that showed where the grid was started to close the farther down the girls fell.
Can you get this? Gypsy thought.
Yeah, Cyra answered telepathically.
How long do you think we’ve been falling?
I honestly have no concept of time at this point, Cyra replied.
Once Cyra finished her thought, she felt a soft jolt bring her upright and stop her fall. Gypsy was suspended in the air next to her and the grid changed from an icy blue to a fiery red in the blink of an eye. They looked at each other in disbelief before they started to free-fall again, but this time with so much force that their stomachs began to drop and they were jolted awake.
Gypsy sat up, drenched in sweat on the air mattress next to Cyra who seemed just as shaken up. Looking at each other in disbelief they unzipped the tent and found their campsite at Lost Lands was how it had been left from the first night. People were galavanting around like nothing had happened music was blasting wubs and dubs out of different speakers as other festival-goers made their way to their friends’ campsites.
“Dude I swear to God we were just abducted by aliens,” Gypsy whispered in disbelief.
“Yeah, I fucking know,” Cyra said back under her breath.
Jeffrey and Lollie were sitting under their canopy laughing about something while Cole and Shai made breakfast. Looking at them and then back at each other, Gypsy and Cyra slowly made their way over to their adjacent canopy.
“You guys okay?” Jeffrey asked in between laughs.
“What? Why?” Gypsy questioned.
“You guys were screaming a lot and we didn’t know if y’all were having sex or a nightmare,” Lollie laughed as she hit her juul.
“Oh yeah, just a weird dream, I guess,” Cyra replied as she still tried to make sense of what had just happened.
“Well, that sucks,” Jeffrey laughed again, “sex would have been way better.”
“You’re telling me,” Gypsy rolled her eyes as she sat down in a chair and took a long swig of water.
“Did we say anything or just scream?” Cyra pressed as she tried to connect the dots.
“No, mostly just screaming here and there but it didn’t sound too torturous until recently; that’s when it really became hard to tell if you guys were screaming in pain or pleasure,” Lollie cracked a smile.
Gypsy and Cyra looked at each other again, then over at Shai and Cole because they were still in disbelief that it was just a dream. The odds of them having the exact same dream seemed a little unbelievable. Cole and Shai looked up from what they were making and made eye contact with the girls when Lollie and Jeffrey weren’t looking, winked at the girls with an evil smirk before going back to what they were doing. They most definitely had not experienced a dream.
Extremity Page 10