In Search of Home

Chapter 10

"What, really?" 

"Yeah, I'm not lyin'! Fell flat on his face! Never tried not to laugh so hard in my life," Ezekiel guffawed uproariously. 

"Huh?" Viktor asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. There was straw stuck to his face from where he had been sleeping. He had been having the most wonderful dream before he had been rudely awoken by Ezekiel's donkey laugh. What an ass. 

"Kid's awake!" Ezekiel crowed, slapping at Aiko's arm through the bars. She flipped him off. 

"Shut the hell up, you monster. We're sleeping." Aiko grumbled. 

"Not my fault you guys were all asleep when I came back last night. I was telling Pedro that the ringmaster got up and tripped over some other alien's tail. Tail dude got all huffy and stormed out after the ringmaster shouted at him." 

"What's that gotta do with me, man?" Viktor yawned, rubbing at his arms to try and warm them up. He always ran a little cold, and the straw bed certainly didn't help. He managed to get extra straw from Lilac by looking particularly pathetic and shivering violently when she was nearby. The others never let him live it down, but hey, it worked, hadn't it? At least he wasn't sleeping on the floor with a sprinkle of straw. 

"Thought you'd enjoy it," the other man said cheerfully. "Not every day you see that big lard fall on his ass." 

Viktor couldn't help the cheeky grin on his face. Definitely not every day you see that. "Yeah, sounds like it would've been something to see." 

As the months progressed, the planet started going through what must have been its seasons. The sun started to dip lower earlier, which meant longer nights to fight. Cold frost had started to line their bars, and they had struggled to sleep without nearly freezing to death before Lilac had convinced the ringmaster to put heat in the warehouse. Or at least, that was what they had assumed she had done since she had shouted at the ringmaster until she was blue in the face. Lilac and the ringmaster must have been friends to allow her to shout at him so. He had grumbled and ordered heating pads to be placed in their cells. They didn't get very warm, probably being the cheapest they could go, but they could sleep without worrying about their toes falling off. It probably helped the ringmaster's mood that they were much better at fighting the next few days after they had been installed. 

Viktor had grown throughout the months they had been stuck here. His shoes had no longer fit him and had been almost worn down to the seams regardless. He had taken them off and stored them in the back of his cell, unwilling to part with them. They could come in handy. As it was, he was now fighting barefoot. It made for some interesting battles. He was no longer able to easily kick with his foot which had resulted in aiming with his shins or knees. It was tough adjusting, but Viktor managed. 

He had outgrown his clothes a while ago, the rags just barely fitting on him due to the lack of food. Still, they covered him, even if they were ragged, dirty and ill-fitting. 

It had been seven months. Nikolas was still scratching tallies into the wall with the sliver of zipper that remained.

"Do you think that yelling alien is gonna come back? Maybe I'll get to see the ringmaster get yelled at," Viktor asked, getting up to his feet to start his morning exercises. They helped him stretch before a fight as well as keep him warm.

Ezekiel shrugged, already going through the motions of push-ups. Aiko was still lying in her straw bed, eyes stubbornly shut. Pedro was trying to wash his hair in the water trough. Viktor jumped in place but couldn't see Nikolas. Probably still sleeping. "Nah, probably not. Looked real mad." 

"Oh well," Viktor muttered, only pausing in his stretches to look up at the warehouse door as it opened. Lilac walked in, her tail dragging behind her. She was humming a soft tune. The animals in the other cages started to stir at her voice, whining and howling to get their food. Viktor watched as she gathered the dishes. Some of the animals she tended to even let her pat them on the head. He huffed, going back to his exercises.