Nyx (Complete✅)

Chapter 20

Beth awoke to a loud rustling in the tall grass near her sleeping place. She jumped to her feet. Although she had studied extensively, she still hadn't gotten to the part of her training that dealt with living creatures. She had no way of knowing whether or not the wildlife was hostile.

She looked down, searching for something to use as a weapon. Other than tall grass and red soil, there was nothing on the ground and the fungus tree's branches were too soft to be of any use.

She backed slowly away from the rustling grass, her heart pounding in her ears. She tried to calm herself down.

Beth continued to back up and she almost jumped out of her skin when she backed into a tree. The rustling stopped.

She stared into the grass, trying to get a glimpse of whatever it was that was there. She saw black and a hint of what looked to be human flesh.

After she stared for a few more seconds, a figure rose out of the grass, it took her a second to realize that it was the man that she had seen in the clearing before. He was clutching his chest in pain. His clothes were soaked with blood. It looked like he had been attacked by a very large cat.

When she saw his face, she gasped. The man standing in front of her was not human. He looked human at first, but upon closer inspection, she was surprised she had ever thought he was human.

His face was covered in flesh-colored scales. Instead of hair, his head was covered in black moss that vaguely resembled the moss on the heart-limes. His clothes, although similar to human clothes, looked crudely fashioned and they didn't fit right.

The scales on his face gleamed slightly as if made of flesh-colored metal.

He said something in a strange language. He looked fearful but curious at the same time.

"What?" Beth asked, knowing that the strange alien wouldn't understand her.

The whistling noise from before started off in the distance. The alien gasped in fear and dove back into the tall grass.

The haunting noise grew louder, and, just like before, it got closer and closer, louder and louder, until her head hurt with the volume.

The whole world seemed to vibrate with the awful noise. The horrible noise was contrasting the peaceful, golden light leaking through the fungus branches.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her ears. The noise slowly faded away. She gasped in relief.

When she opened her eyes again, Beth was no longer standing by a fungus tree. She was in her room and was surprised to find that she hadn't moved at all.

She started to think that she had imagined it all when she remembered the heart-limes that she had saved. Sure enough, when she felt in her pocket, the fuzzy fruits were still there.

Beth was glad but scared at the same time. She was glad that she wasn't going crazy, but she was scared because it really was happening. She wasn't imagining it. Something really weird was going on.

She looked at the clock and put her hand to her face in surprise. Only half an hour had passed, even though she had been gone much longer. Beth thought by the time she reached the mess hall, all of the food would be put away. Not to mention the fact that Liam wouldn't be there, so she talked herself out of going. Instead, she logged on to her holo-desk to read, but like before, she couldn't bring herself to concentrate on the words.

She grunted in frustration as she logged off, and for the next few minutes, she stared at the black screen. Then she got up and started to pace, wracking her brain for a thing to do. Sh thought about trying to find Liam, but she decided against it. If she found him, she would probably have to explain her absence from dinner. She didn't want Liam to think that she was crazy.

After she paced for a few more minutes, she still hadn't thought of anything, so she got ready for bed early.

When she was in bed, she let her mind wander. Her thoughts swirled around in her head like angry bees. She tried to empty her mind enough to get to sleep, but the harder she tried, the worse it got.

She stopped trying and soon, she drifted off into a restless sleep, filled with dreams of aliens, secret labs, and the awful whistling.

________

Ruth Bridger stood in front of the monitor. She had been watching the subject's room. The girl had been there one moment and gone the next.

Mrs. Bridger checked and re-checked the readings. There was nothing wrong. It wasn't a glitch. The girl really had disappeared.

Ruth put her hand to her head, suddenly dizzy. The girl's disappearance could only mean two things, either she had suddenly died, of she was starting to exhibit strange abilities.

The prospect that the project might have succeeded made Ruth need to sit down.

She thought over the potential abilities. There were two things that Ruth could think of that could make her disappear, teleportation and time travel, or possibly, both.

Her heart started beating faster. If the genetic enhancement worked, then humanity has a chance of survival. They would survive. She let out a giggle. Everything was working out. It was all going to be okay.

It didn't take her long to message the others about the victory. They had all worked so hard, she didn't want the news to go unspoken.

The others seemed just as happy as she had been, she smiled, imagining their reactions had they been in her presence.

For the remainder of the night, she couldn't keep the huge smile off her face.

________

Beth opened her eyes. Her hair was plastered to her face with sweat. She brushed her hair aside.

To her surprise, instead of the perfect, white ceiling of her room, she was looking at the fungus-like branches with the golden light streaming through.

She scrambled to her feet. She was once again in the clearing. The bloodstain was a few feet away, a barely noticeable stain on the red soil.

The alien was nowhere in sight. She relaxed a little.

She decided to look for the alien and set off in the direction that she had walked before.

It wasn't long before she was at the place of her previous encounter. She looked around, there was no one in sight. The tall grass was flat on the ground, it looked like there had been a struggle. She hoped that the alien was okay. She went to the grass where he had been hiding. There was no one there. A trail of crushed grass led away from the area.

Ducking under the low-hanging branches, Beth followed the trail of broken grass. After she had been walking for a few minutes, she began to see bright red stains on the taller grass surrounding the trail of broken grass.

She began to walk faster. The alien was injured, and she was getting worried about the number of red stains on the tall, teal grass. She started running.

After a moment of running, she emerged into a huge clearing. In the middle of the clearing, there was a small cluster of dark brown huts. Further off, she could just make out the sparkling of water.

Beth proceeded cautiously. As she approached, goosebumps began to form on her arms.

Upon arriving at the group of buildings, she saw that they were burnt and many of them were falling apart. They looked to be made of large bundles of dried grass.

She walked through the charred village, peering into the dilapidated buildings in search of the alien.

By the time she reached the end of the cluster, she still hadn't found the alien.

There was only one building that she hadn't checked, it seemed to be in a better state than the others. She walked through the doorway. There was only one small room. There was no source of light, so she couldn't see into the dark room, but she could hear a weak groan followed by a cough coming from a corner of the small room.