Ferox (The Roleplay)

Suddenly, you are awake.

You are strapped to a pedestal, lying upon it. Your eyes dart around, and, like a machine, your brain reboots. You note the color of the walls, the vines hanging from the ceiling, the tightness of the chains around your wrists, and the temperature of the room, all within moments.

The memories that you have are faint, but they are there. Regardless, they are not useful right now.

You expect to feel your heart pounding, and your own harsh breathing, but your heart rate is normal, your breathing is casual.

You know that you are special. How you know that is unknown.

There are others. Again, this is a gut feeling. Nothing more. However, you have learned to trust your gut.

Now, to investigate that scuttling noise in the corner..

* * *

Tey pursed her lips. The chains were digging into her wrists, and she twisted her body to get a better view of the room. The walls were white and vines grew through the cracks in the ceiling. Her room was quiet, except for a errant breeze drifting through a darkened doorway. She blew a brown lock of hair out of her face, and desperately wished to tie it all back in a ponytail. The instinct was so sudden that she paused for a moment. There were no memories associated with the compulsion, but she felt it strongly, deep in her core, and while it confused her, it did not frighten her. Her lack of memories did not beckon in the slightest bit of panic, and for that she was grateful.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice dry as salt. She got the impression that she had not spoken in a very long time.

 

A small scuttling noise was in the corner of Koona's room. She heard it come towards where she law and then retreat.

"Such a pretty girl..." a voice muttered. The voice was uncertain, as if the words were ones she was not sure would be understood. The scuttling got faster, and Koona could tell that the being was right behind her, whatever it was.

(Remember, one of the experiments altered the amygdala, which controls fear.)

 

An intake of breath, and the scuttling stopped.
"'Hello,' she says," the voice continued. "Hello. Hello. Hello? Hello!"

A hand reached over on the pedestal, covered in grime. The hand revealed an arm, and then a face. The hand grasped the side of the pedestal, and pulled itself up in one smooth motion. The arm had muscles that rippled underneath the skin. The face, like it's hand, was grimy and covered in filth. The creature crouched over Koona, and she seemed to be wearing some kind of dress, except it was torn in places, and it didn't really seem to serve much purpose anymore. Her hair was matted, and may have been blonde once, but it was hard to tell. Now it was a muddled brown. She had freckles, but again, it was hard to tell. The one thing that wasn't covered in filth was her eyes. Green, bright green, the color of spring. They were alert, and calculating. They darted between the chains on Koona's limbs, and Koona's own face. This creature, whoever she was, was not unintelligent. Unhygenic? Yes. Savage? Probably. But not unintelligent.

"Pretty girl," she cooed. "Very pretty." She cocked her head, almost playfully. "Does the girl have soft flesh?"

She rubbed a finger against Koona's cheek, and nodded emphatically.

"Yes," she answered herself. "Yes, the girl does have very soft flesh."

"Want to be eaten?" she inquired. "Hungry, yes. A long time since we had one, and now we have two!" She nodded her head in delight. "Yes. Two."

 

(No worries!)

The girl frowned.

"The blue one said the same," she muttered. She readjusted her position on the pedestal, and traced a finger along the rusted chains that dug into Koona's wrists. She gently patted the cuts along her wrist. Koona wouldn't be able to remember when they had gotten there, but it was clear that it was from struggling against the chains.


"Ow," the girl said in sympathy. She reached to her side and pulled a crudely made rock hammer from a small pouch under the fabric of her torn dress. She began hitting the chains, perhaps a little too roughly for comfort, but within a couple minutes, the chain around Koona's left hand had snapped, freeing her. The girl mumbled as she hammered, and Koona might notice that she said only a few intelligible words.

"One, two... Hungry.. Others... Hungry, hungry, hungry. Eight?"

 

She freed Koona's left leg, and then she started on the right one.

"Eight of the Others," she said in a half whisper. It might have been silly, but the look on her face was deadly serious. She focused on the chain as she spoke, and her voice was as if referring to a deity. "We had six for so long. Victoria was worried. Victoria felt that there had to be more." She nodded emphatically. "Had to be more." She freed the right leg, and finally started on the right hand. It took a moment, but Koona realized that the girl had freed her various limbs in an order that would make it difficult for Koona to attack. Not impossible, and Koona would have been able to do it if she so desired, but it would be more difficult this way. This girl was cautious with all her actions.

 

The last chain broke, and the girl stepped back hastily.

"The girl is free now," she announced. "Does the girl have a name?"

She stood on two feet that were close together. Her form was more easily visible now, and Koona could see that she was skinny, very skinny. Her ribs shifted in her skin as she watched Koona carefully. She was a runner, not a fighter; her legs were long and muscled, and her body was small.

 

(I know. I had big plans. :'( It was going to be intense. I'm thinking about reviving it and continuing where we left off, but I'm not sure yet. Those things never seem to work.)

The girl glanced up at Koona. Her hair fell in front of her face, and she pushed it out of the way.

"Amelia," she said after a moment. "My mama called me Millie."

She fiddled with a string on her dress for a moment, and then turned on her heel.

"Can Koona run now?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

 

Without another word, she began running. She was running quite slowly, but Koona got the impression that she could run faster if she wanted to; this pace was solely for the benefit of Koona. She began a path of many twists and turns, and even with Koona's level of intelligence, it would be difficult to remember how to get back.

They ran for almost fifteen minutes, with Amelia stopping to check on Koona every five minutes or so. The walls became more and more overgrown, until there scarcely seemed to be any structure at all. Finally, Amelia came upon a curtain or vines, and gently pushed away the foliage to reveal a small colony.

People froze as the curtain lifted and they stared at Koona with an intense curiosity. They all were rather grimy, and they were all very thin, but the similarities ended there. Dark, fair, and lightly tanned skins mixed within the population. Flaming red hairs and white as snow ones.

One small girl came close to Amelia.

"Yum?" the girl asked hopefully. When Amelia shook her head, the girl frowned, and her shoulders slumped dramatically.

 

There was a small shudder that rippled through the crowd, and they soon parted to reveal a woman in a long white dress. Her hair was the color of the sun, and was laced with ivy, and it was pushed back to reveal eyes the color of the fallen leaves. She walked with a certain level of nobility, and her cleanliness and poise was a strange contrast to the filth of those around her. She reminded Koona strongly of a lion, and the young woman regarded her with a deep sense of curiosity, one that Koona felt might reflect her own.

"Hello," she said after a moment. Her voice was low and smooth, and it held no trace of anxiety or apprehension. "I am One. I am the leader of this colony. I trust you found your way alright?"

The crowd around her regarded her with a revenance that Koona first glimpsed when Amelia had been talking about Others in the maze. They were completely hushed in her presence, and they gazed up to her with a mixture of adoration and fear.

And yet, it did seem that this woman had something else to her; she was an enigma. She seemed entirely passive, except for a very strong sense of curiosity. She was difficult for Koona to figure out, and that had been rare so far.

 

(For sure!)