Writing Prompt I: "I saw him. The boy I had to kill" (pt. 3)

The smaller male put his face in mine, his nose nearly touching mine. “Hello, freak. We think you might have something worth something and we want it.”

I frowned, confused by his meaning. “I have no something worth something, sir.” I desperately pressed my communication device and weapon hard enough into my leg to be absorbed by my disguise. The two ruffians could turn me upside down and shake me and they would not find the last of my equipment.

This was not the way an assassin of the Xans was supposed to greet an opposing force, but Earth had caused me trouble after trouble and I just wanted to be alive to go home. If pandering to these two would allow that, so be it. Plus, they were not the ones I was sent to kill. My unit leader liked saying “An assassin who leaves a trail of bodies behind them is no assassin. They are a simple butcher.” It sounds scarier in my language.

“Come on. Give us your wallet.”

“What is my wallet?” I asked.

“What?” The male squinted at me. “You seriously don’t know what a wallet is? Do you know what money is?”

I nodded. “I do. It is currency used to purchase goods and services in an economic system not dictated by bartering or the exchange of goods for goods and services.”

The male frowned and shook his head. “Yeah. Whatever. Hand it over.”

“My hand, sir?” I held out my hand, not sure what he was asking.

“No, give me your money!” He shouted slowly as if I were without logic.

“Oh, my sorries, sir. I have not money.”

“You don’t have any money?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“How?” He stared at me with his mouth hanging open again. If he kept that up, something was going to get in it. Maybe it was his way of catching food. It seemed unlikely with all of the stores I had seen with human food in it, but humans were illogical creatures. “Whatever. Give me your cell.”

This next demand was not familiar to me. I could not possibly give him a cell of tissue, they are too small to extract without special equipment and may be toxic to humans, plus, my disguise made it nearly impossible to reach any of my tissue without removing the entire thing. I was also not large enough to carry a cell for locking a person up in. “I do not know this meaning of cell.”

“Your phone!” He shouted, pulling his communication device from his pocket. Two wires dangled from it, much like the ones I had seen on other humans walking down the street.

“These wires! What are for?” I asked, reaching for them. The male jerked them out of my reach.

“What?” The male stared at me, then looked to the larger male. The larger male shrugged and shook his head before the smaller male turned back to me. “They’re earphones.”

“Earphones?”

“Use them to listen to music.”

“Ah, I enjoy the music. Something called Gaga Deathpunch.”

“Gaga Deathpunch? What?! What is wrong with you?! Are you retarded?”

I gasped. The Agency had a list of words to never use for nearly every planet we visit. That was on the rather short list of words for Earth. “That is disrespectful word for to call persons! Apologize!”

“I’m not apologizing to you, twerp.”

“You are rude!” I tried to leave but the larger male pushed me back against the wall.

“And you’re dumb,” the smaller male said as he hit me in the face with his fist.

My eyes immediately started leaking water no matter how much I tried to keep them from doing it. The larger male hit me in the stomach with his fist and I doubled over, unable to breath. Oodenites can survive with lower concentrations of oxygen that what is on Earth but we still needed it to live. The smaller male hit me again and I fell to the ground.

“Check his pockets,” the smaller male ordered and the larger man complied. He grunted when he did not find anything. The smaller male hooked a finger under the chain holding my transcarrier and both of my hearts stopped briefly. He slowly pulled so my transcarrier was outside of my shirt. He made a strange sound and let the chain drop. “Junk. Nothing.” He swung his leg and his foot connected with my midsection, causing more leaking and less breathing.

I was nearly certain these two human males had just killed me.

I watched them walk away and continued to lay in the refuse in the alley until the light began to dim. It was embarrassingly long before I realized it was the sun setting and not my life leaving me.

I also began to realize that my midsection hurt less than it had and I was breathing easier. I slowly sat up and scrubbed the water from my face with the sleeve of my shirt. I looked down at my human clothes and was dismayed to see how soiled they had become.

Since my disguise manipulator had been calibrated incorrectly, it would not project clothes onto the outside of my disguise and I was left with no option when I arrived than procuring ones from a human store. I had taken a few sets of pants and shirts after nightfall, using the research recordings for reference. I was disappointed to see no capes in the stores I visited. I much wanted to look like the humans with the special abilities, but they must have a special store where they find their clothes.

Now, with my ship in police control, I could not return there for clean garments and must procure more from a store. It would be risky attempting it again. I did not want to get caught by the police.

I struggled to my feet and exited the alley, planning to find a store I could easily enter after closing to obtain new clothes.

            For the first time since I landed on this planet, I felt visible to every human I passed.

To be continued...