Chapter Text
I was asleep when they found him. Asleep when they brought him to Erid.
I started the day like any other day. Wake up, shower, coffee, and sit down on the couch in the front room of the beautiful, spacious house the Eridians made for me. I pondered, let my thoughts wander, then planned my next lesson for school. I had a routine that made things easier and familiar. Today was a rest day. Usually Rocky would come by with Adrian and their three little pebbles. Jade, Earth, and Grace. They named their firstborn after me! When I found out and first met my best friend's children, my eyes were like waterfalls. I could not stop those tears of joy. It was my favorite part of the day to be an uncle and spend time with my favorite people. Well, I should say Eridians.
People. I miss them, but I hate my last memory of them. I hate the fact that the last touch of a human was pinning me down to the ground and injecting me with whatever it was that made me go into a coma. I hug myself as tightly as I can, pull my knees up to my chest, and lean against the soft, pillowy couch. I love it here. It is like a paradise. Almost everything I could want, but it’s lonely on rest days away from the pebbles I teach. Away from Rocky, my best friend in all the universe. It’s just me and my thoughts. Sometimes I’ll play chess with Armando to pass time. He’s surprisingly good at chess, which keeps me entertained.
But today everything changes. I am not the only human on Erid.
By mid-morning, Rocky was banging on my door, almost knocking it down in the process. He was talking at a very high pitch and jumping and moving all over the place, telling me they had found another human. I barely even had time to gather my thoughts and let it sink in that they had found somebody else when Rocky started bolting away from me. I ran as fast as I could, which is not as fast on a planet with more gravity than what I’m used to. I had to keep up, I had to see. A human? It’s not possible. Was it?
We ran past the ocean and rocks and into the twists and turns of the laboratory, till we got to the room where the human was in. It’s been a while since I have been here. The Eridians had made this place first for me when I had first arrived here so that they could treat me. I was severely malnourished and had developed scurvy, only surviving off of tuameba for the last two years it took to get to Erid.
I was huffing, sweaty, and panicked by the time we stopped. Sweat dripped down my back, sending a shudder up my spine. There were many Eridians gathered around something. Many scurrying in and out of the glass xenonite room.
“Human through there,” Rocky stated. Moving his body in the direction of the room.
Human a few steps away. But something’s wrong.
“Rocky, why so many Eridians around them? Is something wrong? “ I tried to hide the panic, but it’s useless. Rocky can hear my heart rate accelerating.
“Grace go see.” Rocky sounded sadder with a sting of sorrow in his song. What?! Why did he mean to sound like that?
“Rocky, you’re scaring me.” I panicked. I want to see this human, but I can’t move. Why can’t I take a step?? There is an actual human. Rocky told me that, but why am I so scared? I was just complaining about being lonely, and now, of course, I’m being a coward. Cause that’s what I am at my core, a coward who runs away. I don’t know if I can do this. But there’s a human! I can’t think. The noises of all the Eridians scream in my head, the clanking of xenonite on metal echoing with each pitter patter. I can’t breathe properly. I believe I’ve forgotten how. God, it’s so freaking hot in here. Sweat layering on my skin makes me feel like I’m suffocating. I should not have worn my cardigan today. The noises swirl like a hurricane in my skull. The coffee I drank this morning threatens to come right up and out of my mouth. I don’t know if I can do this. I can’t seem to—
“GRACE!” Rocky shouts, bringing me back to the real world. “Will go with Grace. You don’t go alone. I be with you.” He then tugs on my cardigan for me to follow him. “Grace is safe statement. No need to panic. Panic attack bad bad bad. You are safe, remember. Safe here and safe with Rocky.” He chimes at the end. I can’t help but smile. I’m glad to have him and so happy to have a friend like him. I close my eyes, captivated by the darkness. It’s calming. Focus. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus. The warmth of Rocky is near. He is safe, I am safe.
Right. It's just another human, right? Can’t be that bad? I go towards the room the human is in.
My god.
There’s blood everywhere on them. Covered head to toe in red as if someone bathed in it. But that’s not the worst part. My eyes wander searching their entire body. Their patchy old clothes are torn and stained. Any glimpse of skin is either blistered, torn, or tainted with blood. Pale yellow bulging blisters around their right and left eye. Their skin above the left eye seems to have opened up in a grotesque way, and new mutated muscle or whatever it is seeping through. It seems to have spread all over the left side of their face. Red, meaty, bulging, and rigid. And their... their left cheek, if you can even call it that. It’s almost opened up. There are large, yellow-stained pointed teeth. Actual teeth coming out in different directions, darker, almost black at the root of each one. A top set and a bottom set. My eyes go to their left arm. Or what’s left of one. What bothers me most is that the end of their arm looks torn. Torn in the mid-section of their bicep, jagged, messed-up edges as if someone took a dull pocket knife and tried to cut cardboard with it. Muscles hanging in thick and thin strips. The bone seems to be hiding in the mess of it all. Are they even human?
I wasn’t ready, and all the contacts in my stomach escape me. It burns going up my throat and leaves an acidic taste with a sting of coffee in my mouth. I spit, trying to get the rest of it out. Eridians around screech with panic, asking if I’m okay.
“Yes yes yes, I’m fine, just human reaction when seeing something so gory like that.” I try to explain. I try to close my eyes or look away, but I can’t. My throat burns, and my stomach tightens. What happened to them? Their dark hair, still slowly dripping with blood. Is it blood? Maybe it’s not, I need to get a sample to know for sure.
I take a deep breath in, not realizing I had been holding my breath. The oxygen feels foreign, I almost choke, coughing and trying to rid my throat of the deep, thick iron essence seeping all around me. Oh fudge, that is definitely blood.
“BAD BAD BAD,” An Eridian shouts as they’re running towards us, panicking. I jump, as do some of the Eridians. They all stop what they’re doing. Rocky shifts to stand in between the human and me. “BAD BAD BAD. HUMAN HAS RADIATION ALL OVER. BAD BAD BAD”
Radiation poisoning, of course, that could explain so much of what I’m seeing, but oh... Oh no. My heart drops, and my throat stings, closing in on me. The world stills, slowing down as I realize Rocky and none of these Eridians are safe.