4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Astra

A yelp escapes me as I feel something tug on my hair. I spring to my feet, jumping away from the bars, finding myself face to face with the one thing that's not alien in this nightmare—the black and white muzzle of the giant panda.

Whining, it reaches for me, nuzzling against the bars. It's not aggressive at all, it just seems…lonely? This is not a wild animal, I realize. The damned aliens must have stolen it from a zoo and now, it's missing its keepers.

"There, there," I soothe, cautiously reaching through the bars to scratch behind the panda's ear. I have no idea how to calm a distressed panda, but dogs and cats like their ears scratched, so I go with that. Whining again, the panda leans into my touch.

"Shh, quiet. You don't want them to hear you. Just sit tight and munch on some more bamboo, alright? Everything will be fine. I'll get us out of here. Somehow."

To my surprise, the panda calms down. It curls up by the bars and, after some more petting, it falls asleep.

"Well, look at that!" I murmur to myself. "I'm a fucking panda whisperer. Still think I don't have any applicable skills, Ms. Jansen?" My old school counselor probably wouldn't consider soothing a panda to sleep a useful skill, but I feel accomplished anyway. It empowers me enough to stop sniveling and start figuring out how to escape this hellhole.

Everything around me looks the same as before, with one significant difference. The cell on my left is no longer empty; it now houses a tiger. Or at least, that's what immediately comes to my mind. A panda, a tiger, both rare and somewhat cute. It makes sense for the aliens to have captured them. However, upon closer inspection, I realize that despite the orange and black stripes, the creature in the other cell is definitely not a tiger.

For one, it's wearing pants. As far as I know, Earth tigers don't do that. For another, this creature doesn't have any fur. Aside from a black mop of hair on its head and a short tuft at the end of its tail, it's hairless. The stripes are the coloring of its skin, not its fur.

His fur, I correct myself after scanning the tigerman's pants again. No Ken dolls down there. This alien definitely has a cock. A big and very erect one.

I let out an exasperated huff. This is just fucking great. Another male that's going to jerk off while watching me like the lizardman did. And since this one is right next to me, his jizz will squirt all over my cell. Fucking perfect.

I rub my forehead. The throbbing in my head makes it difficult to focus. I need to escape, to return home. But how?

I'm exhausted and thirsty. I haven't eaten in a while but my hunger disappeared somewhere between my ass being probed and my body being zapped by the fucking shock collar. But water? I'd kill for a few drops.

I can only hope the aliens realize that humans need water. They look humanoid enough, they must eat and drink like humans would. And surely, they're intelligent enough to feed their prisoners. Right?

A soft clank makes me look up. Screams threaten to escape me at the sight of the tigerman crouching by the bars only a few feet away from me.

He looks terrifying, yet strangely humanoid. The red and orange stripes give him a dangerous, predatory appearance, but his eyes, though orange with vertical irises, convey intelligence. His nose is flatter than a human's and his features are sharper, chiseled. His catlike ears twitch under his black hair.

I suck in a deep breath to calm myself. The alien looks scary, but he isn't doing anything inappropriate. In fact, the noise I heard earlier was him pushing a bottle through the bars.

Water.

My throat works at the thought of water, but I don't move. It could be a trick. He could just want to lure me closer so he could grab me and eat me. His teeth certainly look sharp enough to chew raw meat and crush bones. Sure, he wouldn't be able to drag me all the way through the bars, but he could tear my arm off for a snack.

As if sensing my hesitation, the alien retreats to the other side of his cell, as far away from me as the cramped space allows. He sits on the floor, gesturing at the bottle. Chittering noises are coming from the cell behind him, but it's dark again, so I can only guess what horrors are hiding there.

The tigerman seems strong and agile. He could probably leap over the width of the cell in a millisecond if he chose to do so, but I'm too thirsty to care. I snatch the bottle before backpedaling to the sleeping panda, out of the tigerman's reach.

He inclines his head, giving me a toothy grin.

Yep, a lot of sharp teeth. Still, with the day I'm having, it's difficult to be afraid of the only person who's been nice to me. "Thank you," I say after downing a good half of the bottle. "I know you don't understand me, but thank you."

Even though every instinct screams at me to keep the rest of the water, I decide to do the honorable thing and place the bottle by the bars again.

The tigerman tilts his head to the side, watching me curiously before picking himself off the floor. In small, slow steps, he crosses his cell, avoiding any sudden motions as if he doesn't want to scare me. His tail flicks from side to side, wrapping itself around the bars.

I can't help but chuckle at that. It reminds me of the grumpy old tomcat that often visited the trailer park I lived in when I was in elementary school. The cat would pretend to be aloof, yet his tail always betrayed his affection for humans.

The alien smiles, rumbling something in a language I don't understand. His voice is low and growly, but not unpleasant. He looks like he's going to say something else, but then his ears flick toward the cellblock door, seconds before the lights go on and the guards enter.

I send a silent prayer to whoever is listening, hoping that the guards aren't here for me. I don't think I could go through another round of poking and prodding without having a mental breakdown. Not to mention the ass probing. My butt still hurts.

I can't tell whether it's the same two guards as before because they all look the same, but they're escorting one of the lab coat scientists. And, of course, they stop right in front of my cell.

The scientist speaks, pointing at his datapad, then at me. The rising inflection of his voice indicates a question, but how am I supposed to answer? I don't understand a single word!

The guard repeats the same thing, slowly, word by word, as if that will somehow magically make me understand him. When I still don't reply, he raises the collar remote in a threat. His questions turn into commands.

Whimpering in fear, I retreat further into the corner of my cell, wishing I could disappear completely. "I don't understand," I whisper, desperate. "I don't understand!"

The pain hits me again, burning through my muscles. Over my own cries, I can barely hear the tigerman's growls.