Hey... So I am supposed to be working on 3:05 a.m. An Ice Era Chronicle, but I am kinda stuck on this for some reason. I don't know. I love my steamy post-apocalyptic romance series, but there is just something about this alien story that I feel like working on. Anyway, read if you like. This is chapter 4.
Cheers. ~M~ from C.M. Moore
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*Chapter 4*
Can I call you Kel?
For the second time, Murry awoke to more pain then he'd ever felt in his life. Was that even possible? His skin blazed and he wondered if he was being cooked alive. He told himself not to open his eyes. He couldn't face more torture. His curiosity poked him. Was he still with Keltrix?
When he finally looked around, Murry discovered he was back on a table. His heart began to pound as the icy claws of fear gripped him. No more. Since nothing was in his mouth, he began to beg. Even if no one would understand him, he didn't care. He couldn't stand to get ripped apart again.
"Please," he whimpered. "Please, no more, please. I can't..."
"Calm, Human." Keltrix's blue eye met his. This close, Murry noted his thick black eyelashes. The alien looked like he wore makeup. When Keltrix leaned over him, a soft smooth tentacle stroked up Murry's uninjured arm. There was nothing on the appendage caressing him. No pain. The tentacles had no suction cups like an octopus. These beings were uniquely different than anything Murry had ever seen before. If he weren't so sick, he would ask a million questions. "I'm here. Remember me? Keltrixtionlenz?"
"How can I remember a name like Kel... Keltrix-Kel." Shooting pain up his half-eaten arm stole the rest of Murry's attempts at the pronunciation. When the agony subsided, he stared into the most beautiful sky-blue eyes he'd ever seen. "I'll just call you Kel," he muttered and licked his lips.
"That's fine, Slave."
Slave? Murry opened his mouth to argue that term, but he didn't get the chance. More searing burning shot through his body. He shivered but he was also roasting in a sauna. Sweat broke out on his skin and slicked down his back.
When the door to the room opened, the red-haired alien, JP, walked in and to the table. Fear slammed into Murry a second time. They could hurt him like the hairy monsters. Even though between their legs they were smooth like molded plastic, that didn't mean something more sinister wouldn't happen.
"I can't..." Murry whimpered the rest of his words. "Please don't." His eyes filled with tears. The drops rolled down his cheeks. He didn't want to be entered again.
"He's leaking," Keltrix spoke behind him. "Is that normal?"
"Keltrixtionlenz," JP grumbled as he appeared in Murry's line of sight. The other alien's voice held censure and displeasure. "I told you to leave the alien." JP's head blocked the bright light overhead. "I cannot fix this slave. Let him die in peace."
"I do not accept that." Keltrix snapped. Again, Kel's lips never moved but Murry could hear him. Both aliens he understood even though neither of their lips moved and he didn't speak their funny sounds.
"Why can I understand you?" Murry murmured.
"I forgot how uneducated and simple-minded humans are." JP's nostrils flared. "We should not have kept this one. I can already tell this thing will be nothing but problems."
"The language band is still on you." Keltrix ran a tentacle over the black strap still around Murry's forearm. "Do you want me to take it off?"
"No." Murry shook his head. If he were going to die, at least he would know what they said while it was happening. After he told Kel no, the alien stood. He faced JP as if they squared off ready for a fight.
"This is not going to be a problem. So what if the creature is a little curious? He will not be more trouble than I can handle." Kel flipped his tube hair. "Just help and I will take care of it."
"I cannot. You are not listening to me." JP argued. "The human's infections are too great. The wounds are not clean. You must accept what I am telling you. You would be kinder to kill the slave before this gets worse."
"Why can you not save it?" Kel asked. "You have supplies."
"I do not have the items here. This ship only transports. I have lifesaving items for us."
"Use them."
"They will not work on a human. This thing is not part of us. No part of this creature is our makeup."
"It's okay." More tears spilled out of Murry's eyes. He wasn't afraid to die. The fact that Kel was trying at all was more compassion than he expected from a stranger and an alien.
"I do not want you to die, Slave." Keltrix leaned over him and his head tipped to the side as if surprised that he wanted Murry to live. Both alien heads popped into his line of sight.
"Please stop calling me a slave. Consider that my deathbed wish. My name is Murry."
"Murry." Keltrix hummed his name. Once more his tentacles caressed Murry's naked chest. "You are dying, and in much pain, but you take this moment to tell me your name?" He sounded amused. "Murry is odd, but I like it."