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Since the destruction of HIVE Academy, XL Terrestrial had been in hiding for what felt like forever. He didn’t really understand what happened back then. A new student joined and he was actually starting to take a liking towards him. Stone seems like a cool person, and XL could actually see him as a friend. It was a fresh scene, especially since XL had a knack for silently teasing Stone about him and Jinx here and there. He could actually see himself befriending Stone.
What happened next caught the other students by surprise. They weren’t sure what was happening at that time, but pieces of rubble were falling all over. XL Terrestrial could make out a few figures who managed to escape, not unscathed, but alive. He could also see a few hooded figures get crushed under the falling rubble.
Debating between trying to save them and trying to save himself, he chose the latter. Not because he didn’t care, but he didn’t want to die either. Also, because someone pulled him along by his arm. He didn’t have the time to remember who it was, but he could see Private HIVE clearly when they were out of the building.
He was then left alone after that incident. Private HIVE leaving to head off somewhere. He said something before leaving, but XL couldn’t make out what it was. Deciding that it was too dangerous to be sitting out in the open, he ran off, not seeing or hearing Private calling out to him.
He wasn’t sure where he was headed, but anywhere he can hide is safer than sitting out in the open. He didn’t want to be captured back to where he was when he first landed. Some men in suits practically dragged him across the ground after administering something inside him. It took him a while to fight back, but whatever they did to him made him tired.
XXX
He remembered waking up to a room, he remembered not being able to move. His arms trembled from the pain of having several different kinds of wires inserted into him. He remembered struggling, only for his wrists and his ankles to bruise. He eventually stopped fighting, but he could always remember the feeling of helplessness he felt.
XL wasn’t sure how long he was in that weird place, but he remembered how he wished they would just kill him. Just end his life, end his suffering.
XL Terrestrial escaped the horrendous place after being cooped up in there for three years. He didn’t know it had been three years, it felt like an eternity.
He was trying to find an exit, but instead he found a laboratory. Curiosity got he better of him and he wandered around the lab. Some chemicals he recognised, but there were more that were foreign to him. What caught his attention was a suit that was displayed in a cylinder glass case. Reaching over, he touched the glass.
To his surprise it slid open. He could then see the suit more clearly. Taking a look at his own clothes, he decided to take a chance to wear something that doesn’t have holes in it.
Something felt off about the suit, it felt as if it could do something.
Before XL could think more on that, he spotted someone running down the hall.
‘Damn’, he thought before running in the opposite direction.
It wasn’t long before the alarm went off, getting everyone’s attention that he was out and about. XL tried manoeuvring around the halls before he got caught in a dead end. He tried turning back but was cornered by a few men in white coats, while others were wearing something that looked like armour.
He could feel his heart beating at an irregular pace. Placing a hand over his chest, he saw that the men in white coat were running to him as if wanting to stop him.
XL felt disoriented. He was dizzy and he couldn’t understand why. He could see the sky from where he stood.
‘Wait, what…?’ he was confused.
One moment he was cornered in the lab, the other he could see the sky. Looking down, he had his answer. There were more people than before, some of them held what XL could recognise as weapons.
He turned, trying to run. He took a couple of steps before there was the feeling of something stinging his backside. It knocked him off his feet.
He turned back to see them firing their weapons at him.
XL couldn’t understand why. All he wanted to do was get out of there alive.
He was quite emotional, upset that this was happening. So he turned to them and started trying to stomp them. When the men realise what was happening, they all ran. Trying to get away as far as they can.
It went on like this for a couple of minutes. XL Terrestrial was sure he could finally kill them when they got cornered the same way they did to him earlier.
Before that could happen, something hit him directly on his chest and he fell back. He landed on his back, but right now, he was more concerned with the wound on his chest. Whatever hit him must be stronger than him in this size.
When he reached his hand to his chest, he grazed over the arrow, this in turn, made him shrink back to his original size.
‘Huh, so that’s how it works.’ XL thought before taking off, into nearby woods.
XL didn’t dare look back, he just knew there was someone chasing him. They weren’t trying to be subtle either. He could hear them, they weren’t running, which confused him. One look back told him they were flying.
‘Of course, they can fly.’ XL thought.
A green projectile flew past him, grazing the tip of his ear and he almost kneeled over in fear. He didn’t understand what was going on and why these figures were attacking him.
Swiftly, he dodged behind several trees and into a bush. The figure crept around for a while before heading back where they came from.
Form a distance, he could hear them talking.
“I can’t find him anywhere.” The red-haired figure said as she floated above ground.
“Never mind him then, let’s head back, give them the clear.” A figure with black hair replied.
There were five of them, each one of them different from the other. What really caught his eye was the red-haired and how familiar she looked. Something triggered his memory when a similar figure like her attacked his home planet, his parents had forcefully sent him away to protect him, which is how he ended up here.
‘They couldn’t be the same, could they?’ XL tried his hardest not to rush out to demand answers.
The alien then saw the five approach the men who had hurt him. He was quite surprised. His thought wandered as to why they worked together. He was shaking, afraid of what would happen if they had found him. Would they continue experimenting on him?
Not waiting for anything else to happen, XL ran as fast and far away as he could.
It took him two weeks to finally pass out from exhaustion, hunger and just fatigue. He didn’t realise he had been running for so long. Sure, his kind had stamina that could allow them to escape, but even they had a limit.
His vision blurred as he saw someone approach him.
‘Please, don’t hurt me, not again.’ Were his final thoughts before he succumbs to the darkness.
XXX
XL Terrestrial hid in an abandoned building, hugging his knees as he cried. He didn’t want the world to see him like this. He’s never allowed anyone to see him like this before. Stone had walked into him in this position before. He had attempted to comfort him. That memory made XL hurt even more.
Stone was the reason he had lost his home. The reason he felt lost right now. He didn’t want to remember the traitor, but somehow his thoughts kept spiralling back to that person.
It would be some time before anyone heard from XL Terrestrial again.