Chapter 98. Meeh'ek
"How many times must I repeat myself? I can't understand a single word you said!" Charles iterated, his voice laced with clear frustration at the humanoid creatures before him.
The three monsters remained unfazed in the face of Charles' angry lashing. They seemed to be unable to comprehend Charles' words either.
"Fuck! Why bother talking to this bunch of idiots? Let's just break out!" Richard wrestled for control over Charles' body as he itched for action.
"Stay calm!" Charles forcefully suppressed the chainsaw that had sprung out of his prosthetic limb. It was painfully clear that this was not the opportune moment for a confrontation.
"Why! Do these things look like they are open to communication? If they hadn't drugged us earlier, we wouldn't even have been captured!"
"They had managed to capture us even with the crew's resistance. Their strength cannot be underestimated. Acting recklessly would cost everyone's lives."
While Charles argued with Richard in his mind, the creatures retreated from the room and closed the iron door behind them.
"Look! All because of you, we lost a good chance to escape!" Richard grumbled incessantly in Charles' mind.
"Shut up! It's my time now!" Charles snapped back in anger. Finally, silence and peace returned to his mind.
Charles let out a sigh and crouched down. He yearned to leave this cell, too, but acting rashly would likely result in disaster.
They only had one chance. If they failed, only death awaited them.
He could not afford to die here.
Initially, Charles was expecting the day to pass uneventfully after the creatures' previous entrance. However, the iron door ominously swung open once more half an hour later.
A creature was pushed into the room. Its appearance was similar to its fellow species, minus the fleshy robe.
Charles rose to his feet and stared at the newcomer. He was puzzled. Why would these creatures send one of their own kind into his cell at such an odd timing?
Soon, an unexpected expression appeared on the creature's face. Although its facial features were distorted, Charles could clearly see the apparent fear on its face.
It's afraid of me? Charles was befuddled.
"Hey, who are you?"
Hearing Charles' question, the humanoid creature flinched and jolted away. It frantically pounded at the iron door with its limb, showing no intention to communicate with Charles at all.
A series of rapid, jumbled noises emerged from its elongated lips, seemingly conversing desperately with its kind outside the door.
Sensing no hostility from the being, Charles approached it.
However, just when he had narrowed the distance between them by half, the monster let out a mournful wail and collapsed to the ground.
By this point, Charles was drowning in confusion. Just who was the prisoner and who was the captor here?
"Perhaps this one is of a different tribe from those outside?" Richard interjected into Charles' thoughts.
Charles didn't dismiss the possibility. After a brief hesitation, he pointed at his chest and slowly articulated, "Charles."
He was trying to communicate. Regardless of the newcomer's species, the enemy of an enemy was a friend. He might be able to gain some intelligence from this creature.
"Charles."
"Charles," Charles reiterated his name three times. His incessant efforts finally solicited a response. The creature stared at him with a vigilant gaze for a few seconds before it raised its twisted and withered limb to pat its own gruesome, flesh-mottled chest.
"%*#;&;#..." Its long lips emitted a series of rapid sounds that the human vocal cords would struggle to replicate.
"Meheck...losh...craig?" Charles tried to mimic the creature's speech, but his pronunciation was way off from the original.
"Bro, just leave the talking to me," Richard said as he seized control of Charles' body.
He moved closer to the being and half squatted. With a friendly smile, he met the trembling humanoid creature eye to eye.
"Friend~ I'm going to call you Meeh'ek, okay? You, Meeh'ek."
"%*" Meeh'ek patted on its chest in response.
"Aye! So smart! Yes, you are Meeh'ek! Do you know what those things outside the door are? Out. Side. Door."
Looking at Richard's finger pointed at the door, Meeh'ek repeated the same series of sounds from before. "%*#;&;#..."
"Seriously, mate? Your name is Meeh'ek, but they are Meeh'eks as well? How convenient for your parents... Speaking of which, do you have parents?"
"Enough, let me handle it," Charles interrupted Richard's digression from the issue at hand. He started probing for answers once more, but regardless of what he asked, the Meeh'ek before him would only respond with the same incomprehensible phrase.
A sudden thought entered Charles' mind. The string of sounds might not be its name at all.
"Bro, this guy is like a dimwit. Could it be the runt of their litter?" Richard commented.
"This method of communication is too inefficient." Charles then used his prosthetic limb to swiftly sketch something on the floor.
His drawing skills finally displayed their usefulness here. In no time, a few stick figures appeared on the floor. Charles first drew two figures representing him and the Meeh'ek. He then drew a square that enclosed them to symbolize their current situation.
Charles then pointed at the stick figures of his crewmates that he had drawn beside the square and enquired the Meeh'ek about their situation.
"%*#;&;#..." The Meeh'ek made the same series of jumbled noises once more and drew a square around each crew mate with its withered limb.
They are not dead. They have been imprisoned, too. The weight on his chest was lifted temporarily.
Just as Charles was about to ask for more details, a long, crimson needle shot out from between the bars and pierced the Meeh'ek.
Its long lips quivered, and its cross-shaped pupils quickly reddened. Accompanied by the sound of cracking bones, its body rapidly ballooned.
Charles took a step back with his brows pressed together. There was something sinister about that long needle.
"%*#;&;#...!!" The Meeh'ek's earlier timid demeanor from earlier had vanished. Its limbs thrashed wildly, and it charged at Charles with a bestial roar.
Bang!
With a swift kick, Charles sent the creature flying toward the wall. However, it seemed impervious to pain. It rose up once more and pounced at Charles.
As Charles dodged the Meeh'ek's attacks, he could see eyes peering through the gaps in the iron door's bars.
Are they treating us like some monkeys putting on a show? Anger surged within Charles.
Just then, Meeh'ek lunged at him again. It seemed to have completely lost the ability to think; he had no reason to hold back either then.
Woosh!
The grappling hook shot out of his prosthetic limb and embedded itself into the Meeh'ek's head. With a fierce tug, the creature was pulled toward Charles.
Bzzzzztttt
The chainsaw spun rapidly as fireworks of flesh and blood splattered across the room. The Meeh'ek's head was cleaved into two halves. Its body went limp and slumped to the ground.
Covered in blood, Charles turned to look at the eyes beyond the door with an icy gaze.
Seeing that one of their own kind had been violently slaughtered, the owner of those eyes showed no emotion. It pulled out a notebook as though recording something.
Once it was done writing, a metal plate slid down to obscure Charles' view of the outside world once again.
"Well, seems like those guys outside aren't keen on engaging with us. By the way, let's just refer to these creatures as Meeh'ek from now on. What do you think?" Richard remarked.
"What do you think they were doing?" Charles' focus was on something else.
"What were they doing? Sending someone to kill us. What else could it be?"
"No, they had all the time on hand to kill us when we were unconscious."
"Then what do you think they were doing?"
"They are conducting an experiment," Charles suggested.
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