Zan and I started running towards the way the bald human took Eladia. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but my legs moved with a mind of their own. I was not sure why I even cared. She got herself into this mess again. Sometimes I believed that humans died young because of their recklessness. I warned her, twice, and she didn’t hear me.

Zan was sniffing the air around us, but when he snorted I quickly had a bad feeling about it. The Android had morphed to a small box that flew in the air, casting light in front of us while scanning the tunnels for more exits. Weirdly, the thing that caught Eladia moved straight to the energy signal we were following before.

The annoying robot didn’t talk anymore, and the only sound we could hear was our steps echoing in the long tunnels. Zan suddenly stopped. I stomped my feet on the ground a moment later, sliding while trying to stop. I never realized that I yelled: “What happened? Why did you stop?”

Zan got scared and Silver morphed back to her android form. “He found the trail leading to her. It’s this way. You don’t have to get impatient,” the robot said to me.

“I’m the one who tries to save your friend, and you tell me not to be impatient? Are you sure you’re saying the right thing, robot?”

Now she got scared. Yes, she should be. Back in my glory days, there was no Esuh that could go against my wills, not even my superiors. I was the one that insisted on visiting Earth to find the relic.

I stopped. What is this memory? The adrenaline jogged another sequence of past memories. I remembered myself leaving with the mothership, heading to Earth, and then...crashing, but nothing else. I had to get inside the cryo pod to survive. But, one hundred years? What in the seven systems had happened?

“Jay? Are you alright? We should keep going,” Silver said, uncertain of my mood. I nodded and ran ahead of them down the way Zan led us to.

The young man was right. Soon, a flashing light at the end of the tunnel appeared, and in the middle of it the same slim figure of the bony man. My blood pumped in my ears, and I couldn’t wait for the other two to come. I charged with all my strength towards him.

He managed to dodge my first hit, a kick on the head. I used my fists and feet in quick succession, but it managed to avoid my every hit just in the right moment to lower my reaction speed. In that way, he hit me twice, one in the chest and one behind my knee. The second injury made it impossible for me to move.

I was in pain, but this was nothing comparing to the suffering I had endured in the past. On the other hand, the creature —this thing didn’t deserve to be called human anymore — snarled at me and got ready to attack when Zan hurtled his pointy stick at him. The creature dodged it at the last minute, only to continue its assault at me.

Zan was now throwing any kind of fists and kicks at him, trying to copy some of my moves, but the only thing that he managed to was to get seriously hurt. In one of his sloppy kicks, that thing dodged and quickly bit the tender part of his inner thigh. The young boy screamed in agony, but the monster didn’t let him go.

I wanted to help, I wanted to get up, but my feet were in pain. Helpless and unable to do anything but sulk, anger boiled in my chest. I screamed: “Hey! Over here! It’s me you want!”

It didn’t work. That thing didn’t understand words. Zan was still screaming, and I…

...I felt a cold feeling running up from my toes.

When it finally covered my whole body, again I didn’t know where the fuck I was. I yawned and got up on my feet. My knee was numb but otherwise usable. The cries of that feral human came from down the tunnel; the robot woman had vanished, and only a flying box remained here, casting light at the gruesome scene.

Just like the last time I fought those sick puppies. The naked human turned and looked at me. He knew I was dangerous, he seemed to recognize I was his enemy. At the same time, I also knew he was dangerous too. He? A man? I was not sure, but his rough characteristics certainly resembled one.

“Who are you?” It didn’t answer. Instead, it growled at me. I laughed a mirthless laugh. This planet was full of strange creatures. “This little man has a girlfriend, a woman around your height? With black hair? Where is she?”

It let the boy free, but the poor thing was unable to move. It turned to face me, but I was not sure whether it would attack me or not. At the same time, I felt tired, like I hadn’t slept in days even though I had just woken up. I scratched the top of my head, searching for that woman. “Hey! Female. What was your name? Eladia! Where are you?”

As soon as my voice echoed down the tunnel, I heard someone coughing two strides towards my left. That one was certainly a woman. “Here you are. What’s going on-”

My sentence got interrupted by the charging attempt of the creature. I dodged with ease and grabbed it from the back of its neck. I clenched my fingers around it and squished until it started to squirm and fight for air. I used my other hand to rub my eyes. Really, they couldn’t kill this thing all by themselves?

Soon it stopped moving, and I released my grip. The woman was now standing still, her mouth capped by her hand. “Oh! Here you are! I missed you Eladia.”

“You...you are a monster.”

A laugh left my throat, a deep, thunderous laugh that filled the whole tunnel. I said I missed her, and she called me a monster. “You’re amusing, little one. I told you before, and I’ll say it to you again; I’m the Prime Officer of Esuh, and one of the First Kinds. Do you really believe I managed to get so high up the ladder by being soft?”

She ran to her friends and tended to the boy’s wounds.

Stupid human. Fuck you. I don’t need you.

I saw some light down the tunnel.

This must be the way out.