Graphic violence is the core of the trauma that shows how far mankind has fallen in this story. If you read any further, be warned that its quite offensive in nature, and was meant to be. All things written about in this story are things that have actually happened in some way in human history, and this is just meant to highlight how bad things had gotten near the end.
"I was five. The world had gone crazy, and eaters had popped up almost everywhere. My parents were dead. I was alone." Her voice carried everywhere, but it was her tone that struck everyone.
Devoid of everything. No life in it at all. She had begun to relive her nightmare all over again, and there was nothing Talia could do other then direct her to keep talking. This had to be said, or the crew would never trust her, all on the terrified word of a teenager too traumatized to remember that Coral was the one who saved her.
"They found me huddled in a house that had been abandoned. Threw me in the basement and locked the door. They left me there for nearly a week, starving and crying for food. At the end of the week, they threw down a half starved cat, just to see who would win. And who was hungrier." the crowd looked horrified. Her tone was so cold, with no life at all in it. She should not be in a witness chair, or a cell.
Coral should be in therapy.
"I won. I ate that cat when I took a piece of wood and beat it to death. That helped me to survive a week. Then they threw down a dog. That was harder. I was weak from lack of food. I had to kill it and eat it. No fire to cook. No water. Just meat, fat, and blood." Coral lifted her eyes, and another tear leaked out.
"Then they threw down a little girl." A cadet ran from the room. He had to find the bathroom to throw up in.
"I begged them to throw down a cat for us to eat. Even a dog. I would kill the dog to keep her alive. I held her for days, maybe a week in my arms, I think. She cried and cried. She was so weak at the end, and she begged me to help her." Coral closed her eyes. "I did. I hugged her, and bit into her throat as gently as I could. Then I ate her." Her eyes showed the shock she still felt from that moment in her life.
"I ate that little girl!" More tears fell. "They thought they had me then. They came down, and I attacked them. They were prepared for that though. They knocked me down, tied me up, and beat me with sticks and branches till my skin bled." Coral lowered her eyes. "They stripped me off, naked, and dragged a teen boy down the stairs."
A series of nightmarish scenes played out. Told in a simple format, but the impact was felt by all involved.
"They taught me to tie off a limb, so I could eat and keep the body alive for longer. I learned to ignore the screams as i tore into the flesh." She swallowed to wet her throat. "When I didn't obey, I was whipped. When I did, Kim would treat me like a beloved pet. She would run her fingers through my hair to straighten it, and use warm water to wash me. She even licked the blood from my body, like a cat grooming another cat.
"He whipped me when I tried to walk upright, but called me a good doggy when I obeyed and went on all fours. If I tried to speak, I would go without. When i whined like a dog, or purred like a cat, I was rewarded. I forgot how to talk within a year or two.
"When I started to develop breasts, and female fur...." She blushed as she remembered the shame she felt. "He was also growing up. I became his play thing. He would have sex with me while I ate other people. The more they screamed, the more he liked it. I would growl at him, but if I didn't obey, I would get whipped." Murphy looked ready to explode.
"She would clean me with her tongue when he was finished, and yell at him for making me dirty. She despised him, but I was a pet. Not a person. I didn't even have a name.
"Then they threw down another small girl." The hammer hit the table.
"I think we need a recess!" The commander said quickly. Talia stared hard at him.
"She didn't get a recess, and this will be even harder for her to start up again, sir. She needs to finish this. Let out the poison." He sat down heavily, and nodded, though Ayers had already walked a few steps away. "Continue, Coral. Please." Talia's fists were bunched at her side. She wanted to hurt someone, but there was no one nearby who needed that level of punishment.
"She was barely five. In rags. Probably an orphan like me. I wanted them to throw another person down, so I held her to my chest protectively, and hid her in a corner. I growled and barked at them when they tried to approach, so they left me alone with her. I could either die, or eat her. That was my choice.
"She begged me to help her in the end. I cried and cried, and finally said the only word I could remember.
"Name...." She swallowed again. "The girl's name was Coral." Talia frowned, but her answer came not long after. "I bit into her throat, but gagged on her blood. I held her while she died in my arms, and I cried helplessly. All I could see was that young girl I ate years ago.
"Then the door opened. They wanted to have some fun with their pet. I grabbed a piece of wood that had fallen from the floor above and beat him unconscious with it. She cowered until I smacked her on the head and knocked her out too.
"I ran from that basement on all fours, into a world I no longer knew. Eventually, I found some clothes, berries to eat, roots, shoots, water from a stream that wasn't polluted, and I even ate grass. I never touched another piece of meat. I found a camp of humans, and learned to speak by imitating them. I imitated how they moved, their smiles, and was eventually found outside their camp. The leader took me as a prize, had sex with me, but it was clean. I got food, and they taught me stuff I needed to learn to survive. Even taught me to read.
"I heard rumors of a ship that was going to the stars, slipped away in the night, and found Beta squad." Talia's knuckles turned white, then back to a darker color. "I found you." Talia cleared her throat.
"Have you bitten anyone since?" She shook her head.
"That's why I was sick. I can't stand the sight of blood, or the taste of raw flesh." Talia turned away for a brief second, then turned back.
"Your name is Coral, but you said the girl's name was Coral." She nodded.
"I don't know my real name, so I took her name so I would always remember her. And the first one I killed. Her face is branded on my eyes. I didn't ask her name, so I took Coral's." Talia took a deep breath, and turned away.
"Commander, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my pilot back to her room so she can get some rest. I don't think its necessary to keep her here while you lay things out for everyone." He nodded.
"Agreed." Then he watched as Talia scooped her up from her seat and carried her out of the room. She was perfectly capable of walking, but as he saw Coral's head lay on Talia's shoulder, he knew she needed that young woman's strength, now more then ever before.
Wilson summed up everyone's thoughts.
"How in the fuck is she still sane? She went through all that, continues to torture herself about what they made her do, and still is our Coral?" He growled. "I need to hurt someone."
"Baby." Coral lifted her eyes and saw the intensity in Talia's. "You will always be my baby."
"But....after all you heard?" Talia helped her to strip off her clothes, and get into clean boxers and a tee, then pulled her down to their cot.
"I knew you were damaged, but didn't know how bad." She growled. "I really want to hurt someone right now, but I need to see you, and hear you breathing. I need to hold you, and know that no one else will ever get near you while I'm here." She butted her head against Coral, then kissed the top of her head.
"Even after all that?"
"You're my family. I started this for my mother, then Shayna, and now you." Coral frowned.
"Who's Shayna?" Talia sighed a bit, which surprised her.
"She's my daughter. There is something you need to know, baby. My grandfather sent men after my mother when she was fourteen. They raped her for a couple of days, and I was the result. It was to teach her a lesson he had learned years earlier." Coral sat up.
"What kind of lesson could he teach with that?" Talia pulled her back down into her arms.
"Mother thought the lesson was that those closest to you could hurt you the worst. When I turned fourteen, my grandfather told my mother to teach me that same lesson. She sent four men to do it, and she participated, to make sure my grandfather would not send men who were even worse. Shayna is the result." She growled. "The lesson was not what my mother thought it was. I killed my grandfather because I knew what the lesson really was." Coral lifted her head only.
"What was the lesson?"
"I teach it to you every day. Remove every threat to your family with utter ruthlessness. He was a threat to my mother. In order to stop him from continuing to hurt her, I killed him. He fully expected my mother to do it fifteen years earlier." Coral snuggled in, and realized that she wasn't the only one with a horror story for a life.
"I see."
"I don't think you do. I am telling you this so you know that you're not alone, and so you know that you are my family now. Shayna, you, then mom." Coral cocked her head.
"I get second place?"
"No. You and Shayna are equal, but I know that Shayna will eventually grow up, and leave me alone. When I bring my family up here, she will be protected, and have a life I was never able to have. From now on, so will you." Coral snuggled in.
"That's a big promise, love. Are you sure its me you want with you?" Talia turned on her side, and kissed her full on the mouth. As she pressed her back into the cot, Coral couldn't suppress the unconscious purr in her throat.
In spite of her horror story, Talia just had that affect on her.
"Lieutenant?' Talia lifted her head from the schematics, saw the bloodied knuckles, and grimaced a bit.
"I hope it was a locker, Murphy."
"A bulkhead, sir. I didn't think anyone else could handle what I was feeling at the time." She grinned a little.
"I understand that, Murphy." She cleared her face of any amusement. "What is it that you need?"
"I would like to accompany the pilot to the planet when she goes. I want to know why two psychos were able to get aboard without being vetted out, and why that kid was able to pass basic." Talia lifted her head again.
"Agreed. The kid will eventually be the norm, but not now. We need people prepared to do what it takes to survive up here. I'll take Wilson's place in the cockpit when we go to the surface. If its who I think it is, they won't live long enough to regret it." He frowned.
"You know who it is?" She nodded.
"I have a pretty good idea of who just might be that incompetent, and who might have been able to worm their way back into the system." She growled under her breath. "And I'm gonna finish what you started."
No comments:
Post a Comment