In Search of Home

Chapter 62

"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!"

The chant was neverending, reverberating in his ears. The beat of their claws and tails scraping against the wood and metal of the stands went in time with his erratic heartbeat. The lights that shone on him were bright and blinding, always seeming to find his eyes no matter how hard he looked away. They beat on him like a sun, skin already prickling with sweat. 

The pit was different this time. There were no obstacles - no fallen logs, large rocks, sticks, or anything - along the edges or the center. It was just Viktor and the sand. 

He didn't know what his opponent was this time. He knew he had been brought out first. 

"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!" 

The gates shrieking against each other stopped his rhythmic prowling. Stiffly, he turned his body to the other entrance, watching impassively as the ringmaster came stalking in. He only started to feel wary when nothing else came in behind him. 

The ringmaster, without warning, started running at him. He crossed the pit in five long steps. Viktor threw himself out of the way, feeling the alien's claws scrape against his back. He howled in pain, anger, fear. He had never fought an alien before. 

The ringmaster quickly closed in on him. Viktor's small stature and rusty moves were no match for the alien's large, painful claws closing around his midsection. They dug painfully into his sides, easily slicing the skin like he was made of clay. 

His head was about to fall off from his body with the force that the ringmaster shook him with. The alien threw him harshly to the ground. Viktor cried out in pain before he could help himself, scrambling to get back to his feet. The sand underneath him was gone, warped into the cold stone of the warehouse. 

"Kohgrash! Kohgrash! Kohgrash!" 

"Stop," he pleaded, barely audible over the chanting of the crowd - how were they in the warehouse?  - and his own thumping heart. "No more." The ringmaster growled with amusement.

"Kas tih, Kohgrash," he heard Vok'Rul say. The tall alien was standing regally in one of the cells, hands clutching the bars. 

"What?" he wheezed, clutching his ribs with one arm. The ringmaster shifted, and he quickly averted his gaze from his friend and to his enemy. 

The ringmaster grabbed him again, on his shoulders. He was shaking him harshly. His claws were piercing his skin."Kas tih, tas tih!" he shouted in his face, lips twisted into a vicious sneer. The voice that came out of him was Vok'Rul's. 

Viktor's confusion, fear, and pain quickly launched him into the waking world. Vok'Rul's face took up his entire vision. The weak moonlight that streaked through the windows threw shadows across his face, and Viktor, half-asleep and still scared out of his mind, saw the ringmaster instead. 

"No," he whimpered. He struggled to get away from the alien, but his claws were still grasping his shoulders tightly, painfully. "No! Go away!" he screamed when he found his breath. His legs were bound - blankets, when did they get blankets? - but he thrashed as hard as he could. 

He knocked the alien's hands off him, throwing his fist out as hard as he could. It connected. He heard a startled cry of "Kohgrash!" and he couldn't help but feel triumph. 

In the next moment, his triumph was replaced with fear as his head was pinned to the ground by one large hand. Viktor let out a wordless growl, reaching up. He punched the alien's wrist and arm as hard as he could from this awkward angle. It didn't seem to help. 

Something cold pressed against his ear. Loud buzzing filled his head. 

"Kohgrash, please! You're alright! You are not in any danger!" someone - Vok'Rul - cried. His hand was still pressed against his head, effectively pinning him to the ground.