Chapter 28: Blunt Force Trauma
My mind was so focused on what I needed to do and what I could get someone else to do that I didn’t hear my front door softly click and then open. I don’t remember if Jun Li was trying to talk to me or if I was just too deep into my thoughts, but I didn’t even notice someone coming up behind me and hitting me across the back of my head with something hard.
I do remember the darkness though.
Walking up, I found myself once again strapped to a flat object, completely naked. "Ugh," I groaned as my head started to pound. "Jun Li, make a note that the earrings don’t protect against blunt force trauma."
"Who is Jun Li?" hissed a voice from somewhere in the room. At first, I thought that it might have been a lizard, but then I realized that it was speaking English.
"What?" I asked, the world still spinning around me. Given the pain and how nauseous I was, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a concussion. "What is going on?" I asked dazed. There was movement off to my side and I saw a thin man coming out of the darkness only to stop right beside my bed.
"It’s okay, Mei Xing, I’m just going to get you to sleep a little bit longer. When you wake up again you are going to be safe and sound in your new home," came a familiar voice as my eyes started to blur and I fell asleep again.
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"Wakey, wakey," came a voice out of the darkness. I groaned not ready yet to wake up. I was having the weirdest dream about a spaceship that could talk and giant lizards that liked to dissect me.
"Mei Xing!" hissed a voice in my ear. "Mei Xing!" it came again, this time more insistent. "You need to wake up! I have a lock on you, but the runner can’t get to you! You are too deep inside the woods!"
I moaned as I tried to roll over. It wasn’t the most pleasant dream, but I still felt far from ready to wake up.
"Ah, I see you are up," came a voice beside my head. It didn’t sound like the one that was hissing at me, but it still seemed familiar.
"Who?" I groaned, barely able to get the word out, my mouth so dry that my tongue felt huge and clumsy within its confines.
"Sorry about that," came the voice again. I could feel fingers drifting over my bare arms. But the fingers were not as rough or as sharp as the lizards. Where was I? "I think I gave you too strong of a dose. I mean, I really wasn’t expecting you back. I hoped, I prayed, but I really didn’t expect it. Do you know what I mean?"
"No," I said coming to even more. "I can’t say that I do." My mouth was still dry and I tried to produce more saliva, but that wasn’t happening.
There was a sigh beside my head, the air from the voice’s breath tickling across my cheeks. Turning my head, I looked at the man. "Human?" I asked confused.
"You are back on Earth," came the hushed voice from my ear. "Your neighbor broke into your house and kidnapped you within minutes of you being back at your condo." Jun Li... I remember Jun Li.
"Jun Li," I muttered, trying to get my thoughts in order. Then there was a slap across my face and I could feel my bottom lip splitting from the force.
"You don’t talk about other men around me," hissed the voice beside me. I turned my head to look at my neighbor. "You know I don’t like it when you talk about other men around me."
I narrowed my eyes at the man beside me. "I don’t even know your fucking name," I growled, not liking the fact that I managed to get kidnapped within months after being freed from the species that abducted me. If this was my life, I was going to have to prepare better for it.
Once again, my neighbor slapped me across the face causing my lip to bleed even more. I could feel the blood dripping along the side of my jaw, down my neck to pool on my collarbone, right above my choker.
At least I still had that on. I twisted my wrists under my restraints and felt the bracelets move. Well, my weapons were still on my body, now just to figure out how to get at them.
"I’ve lived next to you for years, and never once did you ask me my name!" he screamed at me, spit flying out of his mouth and landing on my face. I turned my head to the side to get as far out of the way of the unexpected shower as I could.
"Don’t turn away from me!" he screamed even louder, his emotions completely going haywire. I took in a deep breath before turning my face back to him. "Much better," he said in a calmer voice. "You really need to stop making me so upset."
"I need to stop making you upset?" I repeated in disbelief.
"Mei Xing, stop making the crazy person angry. If this is what humans are like, no wonder you don’t want to stay on Earth even after everything," grumbled Jun Li in my ear and I could help the smile that appeared on my face. At least I wasn’t alone.
"Yes, you need to stop making me upset. Don’t you know that this is all your fault? Every kill was because of you!" scream my neighbor, once again causing spit to go flying.
"You have done this multiple times?" I asked surprised. And I really was surprised. He didn’t seem to have the calm control needed to pull off multiple kills.
"Yes, in fact, that was how we first met! But you don’t remember me at all!" he screamed even louder before taking a step towards me. That was the first time I saw the knife in his hand.
"I really can’t say that I do," I replied in agreement.
This time, my neighbor took a step away from me and forced himself to sit in a chair beside my bed. He stared at the knife in his hand as he used the tip to clean dirt out from under his fingernails. "It was my first kill, 7 years ago," he said, not looking at me.
"The police didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground, and you were called in to help identify the girl. That was when I saw you. That was when I knew that you were mine!"
