Caged With The Alien Warrior

01.

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Aanya

I'd never been quiet. Mom said I came out of the womb loud– red and splotchy and loud. An angry little scrunched face with a tuft of spiky black hair. Perhaps that's what made 317 days alone so unbearable.

I closed my eyes and readied myself.

Who knew what they'd try today. Scars littered my body from their exploratory surgeries. Their invasive exams. The whirring of the blade started. I winced and closed my eyes, even though I knew what was coming– the pain I'd known for 317 days.

The whirring stopped.

My eyes flew open.

A bloody hand slapped against the glass in front of my face. A bloody human hand, not the clawed scaly ones I'd grown so accustomed to.

What?

With a whoosh, my plastic coffin opened.

Bright lights flooded my senses. I cringed away from the light. What was going on?

Slowly, I sat up.

The lab was all harsh lines, white and steel. I'd never seen it before. The plastic coffin always appeared in my cell; I climbed in and couldn't see anything. I could feel, though. I could always feel.

The lizardmen didn't operate on me themselves, and I never saw them looming over me. They used robots, disembodied metal arms wielding sharp scalpels and lasers, and who knows what. All I knew was that they hurt. They hurt until I would pass out from the pain.

It was cleaner than clean in here. It reminded me of the coroner's office, so much so that the burning in my chest when I had to identify my parents came roaring back. I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't like remembering them like that, their bodies mangled from the crash. I wanted to remember salty summers at the beach and cozy winters on the couch.

A loud groan drew me out of my thoughts.

The human, the girl, faced away from me, hands clutching a metal table. Her skin was sickly pale in contrast to her inky dark hair.

Who is she? Why'd she free me? Her knees buckled, arms gripping the table, the only thing keeping her up. What was wrong with her?

She turned and rested her back against the table. I got my answer. Her swollen, pregnant stomach heaved as she took deep breaths.

"Help me, please, help me." She groaned again as another contraction hit her.

I stared at her, eyes wide.

"Wh-what's going on?" My voice was hoarse from disuse.

"What do you think is going on? This baby's coming out, whether I'm ready or not," she gritted out through clenched teeth.

I climbed out of the tube, stumbled over to her, and helped her onto the table.

"What do I do?" My gaze darted to the door. "Where are they?"

The lizardmen used to shock me with cattle-prod-like sticks when I didn't get into the tube-like plastic coffin. I was sure they wouldn't appreciate whatever we were doing now.

"Catch the baby when they pop out of me, easy." She threw her head back and groaned as yet another contraction hit, coming closer together. "They're busy with a little fire I set," she added, panting.