Extinction by Daleen Viljoen Page A

my
attention and I sharply sucked in my breath as I looked at myself. My hair was
a wild tangled mess and dried blood was caked in the strands. My eyes were wide
and frightened in a deathly pale face. A nasty blue and red bruise stretched
around a deep cut on the left side of my head. A purple bruise covered my
swollen cheek and blue and red fingermarks stretched across my throat. A lump
formed in my throat and I turned my head away from the mirror. For the first
time since last night I let my thoughts involuntarily drift to the horrendous
events of the past hours. The oppressive weight was back, pressing down on my
chest and my breathing sped up. Raw pain burst through me and I couldn’t keep
it together anymore. I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the wild sobbing
coming from deep inside me. My insides were a raw mess of emotions.
    “Chai!” Arianna warned as she leant over the front
seat and studied me. 
    “I know! Chai snapped. He reached for me and pulled
me closer to his chest. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and clung to him,
trying my best not to give in to the hysteria welling up in me. He held me
close to him and I heard his voice echoing inside my head.
    Close your eyes, little one.  Go to sleep.
    I was pulled into the abyss of darkness.

Chapter 6
     
          Blinding light. It was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes – a row of circular lights
above me. My brain couldn’t comprehend where I was. The last thing I
remembered…pain shot through me and I swallowed hard. I remembered being in the
truck with Chai. Did I dream it?  Had it all been a sick dream the Vandelrizi had
conjured up to torture me? I turned my head to a rhythmic beeping noise next to
me. Wires attached me to some kind of machine monitoring my heartbeat. The
beeping sped up. I was lying on a bed surrounded by various machines and
monitors. It wasn’t a big room. The walls as well as the floor were covered
with white shiny metal strips. There were no windows. I tried to sit up and
felt something tugging at my arm. A needle penetrated the skin of my arm. A
narrow tube was attached to the needle and connected to a plastic bag
containing a clear fluid hanging on a stand next to the bed. They were
administering something to me through my veins.
    I clutched the needle and ripped it from my arm, the
translucent liquid spraying over the white sheet covering me. 
    “Slow down!” A woman stood on the other side of the
bed. Her flaming red hair was short and framed her elven face in soft whips. Her
amethyst eyes rested on my face. “You were a bit dehydrated. I’m replacing some
of the lost fluids in your body.” I looked at her suspiciously.  She seemed
harmless, her face had a soft youthfulness to it, thought I suspected she was
older than she looked. She picked up the needle lying on the bed and I looked
at her hands. I shrieked.  Her hands were webbed, like a frog. She wasn’t
human.
    Something stirred in the corner and I noticed Chai stretched
out on a white arm chair. In one move, half asleep, Chai was at my side. He rubbed
a fist over his face to wake himself up.
    “You’re awake,” he said and I scooted over the bed
towards him. If he was here, it meant I wasn’t in Cyrius being tortured by the
Vandelrizi. I was somewhere else. 
    “She’s an …” I mumbled incoherently under my breath.
Was I really going to tell the alien boy that this woman was not human? It
sounded very silly.
    “My name is Sylvain. You’re right, I’m not human. I’m
Diviak,” she explained patiently.  Another alien. How many of them were there?
    “Where am I?” I asked bewildered. The room didn’t
seem like it belonged in a rebel base camp. 
    “You’re in the infirmary. Sylvain is our doctor,”
Chai said and sat down on the bed next to me, taking my hand in his. I liked
the way mine disappeared in his. 
    “Bill will be thrilled that you’re awake. He can’t
wait to meet you,” Sylvain said, her melodic voice reminded