Stink Bug – Chapter 38

I sat facing the door, expecting it to open again at any moment. The grey had left rather suddenly. Maybe it would be back.

V’x was still cooing quietly. I twisted to see her sitting outside of the cage. W’x’tl sat inside, silent, her beak tucked under her wing.

“Vix?” I said, straining to see her. She didn’t move. “Vix!” W’x’tl fluttered, emitting a low threatening trill.

I turned myself back straight in the chair. “Dammit,” I muttered. The chair’s wheels were short and just beyond my reach. I leaned to one side and managed to get my fingers to touch the wheel, but couldn’t turn it. I tried the other side but found I couldn’t bend that far, so I went back to the first. I grunted and strained at the wheel, to no avail.

I kicked and the chair began to tip. “Vix!” I cried as the chair teetered. I sat up and the chair fell back onto all its wheels.

“Nate?”

I craned my neck to V’x. “Vix. What’s going on? Help me.”

W’x’tl ruffled her feathers and hissed when V’x hopped up to come to my aid. “Where are they? Where did they go?” V’x asked. She lifted the lock on one of the wheels and guided me toward W’x’tl.

“I don’t know, Vix. They feel bad.” I looked at W’x’tl. Her gaze met mine. “She’s sick, I guess. But they seem to think you can’t go home.”

“Then we are pets,” squawked V’x.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

W’x’tl raised the crest on her head and straightened her neck. A hiss escaped from her beak. V’x chirruped at her, fluttering softly. W’x’tl screeched, lunging at the bars, reaching through at me.

I pulled away, but not far enough. She gripped the arm rest of the chair and wrenched it over. I spilled onto the floor in front of the cage.

W’x’tl’s claws and beak rained down on me. All I could do was cover my face. V’x screeched and fought back at W’x’tl, using her own massive talons to drag me away from W’x’tl’s wrath.

W’x’tl called out in pain when V’x managed to drive the point of her beak into to soft flesh of W’x’tl’s nose. In that moment, V’x pulled me aside and out of reach. I lay gasping  while V’x leapt about in a panic, trilling and calling for help.

“Vix,” I gasped. “Vix. Vix! VIX!”

V’x froze. “Nate?” She sat down beside me. “You are bleeding.”

“You’ve got too be brave Vix. You have to talk to them.”

She laid down beside me. “I will, Nate. Please be well.”

Read Chapter 39.

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