Memory Transcription Subject: Jonah Ahab, Human Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: 20 October 2136
By now, all panic had already trickled out of me. I had been trapped under the rubble that used to be my family’s apartment complex for hours, screaming, begging for help to arrive. I was starting to accept that nobody was coming to save me, that more likely than not, my whole family was gone, and there was nothing I could do to save even myself. I was on the verge of giving up and letting death take me. It wasn’t like I was able to do much else…
…Then, either far in the distance or obscured by all of the rubble, I heard the barest whisper of a shouted voice call out.
> “We’ve got bodies! I’ve got this one, Viath, over there!”
Oh great… rescue… I wasn’t even sure that I would live long enough to see a medical facility, let alone - …Wait, what sort of a name is “Viath?”
Some of the rubble shifted, blinding me with the morning light as my rescuer started to uncover me. With a large slab of drywall suddenly removed, I saw the face of my rescuer: One of those Arxur that I’ve seen in the news.
…Well, there go my chances. Hopefully I’ll pass out again before I’m ripped to shreds.
The towering behemoth of an alien pulled more debris off of me, which allowed me to see the bodies of my family next to me. Seeing my mother just start to roll onto her side flooded me with so much of the hope I had already lost.
The same relief I felt was obviously not shared with my would-be rescuer, as he darted his vision between her and my father and brother to the other side, seemingly also still alive. I was barely processing anything that was happening at the moment, so I was sorely confused when this gigant leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
> “Forgive me this, it will only be a moment.”
I was made so relaxed to see my family still alive that I was barely even able to register when the Arxur reeled back and spread his jaws open wide. He lunged forth and enveloped my head with his massive maw. As scared as I was, I was near totally sapped of strength, so any struggle I could put up would be as effective as a screen door on a submarine. As he loosened his jaws’ grip to grab further down onto my body, then again, I once again resigned myself to… albeit, not quite the same fate as before, but certainly the parallels were there. From how it looked, if he wanted to, he very well could swallow me whole right here and now. Maybe I’ll pass out or suffocate first before his stomach acids got to me.
Much to my confusion and delirium, that was about where he stopped, now shifting to one side to grab my mother, and to the other to grab my dad and bro. Almost as swiftly as I was horfed down, the Arxur swiveled right around and booked it away from my potential burial site. Seeing as my vision was obscured by teeth and tongue and saliva and darkness, I couldn’t quite see what was going on. All I knew was that this… guy slowed down and, I assume placed my parents down on some sort of surface. He leaned forward and opened his mouth, sliding me out and plopping me onto the bed of an ambulance, beside my family.
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Their eyes were closed, but I could definitely see breathing. Given my battered, mentally-shattered and saliva-covered state, that was all the assurance I needed to close my eyes, all the while medical staff started tending to us.
- - - - -
I don’t know when I woke back up again, but now I was in some form of tent on a gurney. Hooked to an oxygen mask and IV bag, the lucidity I had slaked long ago started flooding back into me. The blast, the pain, the worry, the resignation, the… whatever that was with the Arxur, I started panicking as if I’ve never panicked before. Medical staff were quick to attend to me, one placing a gloved hand on my chest.
> “It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re safe now! Don’t move too much!”
After a while, I calmed down enough to be reasoned with. Now relaxed and awake, they gave me the scoop.
“Well, Jonah, I have to say that, given everything, you’re probably one of the luckiest sons of… lovely ladies on the planet. Not only did you survive the aftermath of that bomb, but so did the others of your family.”
…Oh, f*&k, right! Right!!
> “My… my sister…! She was in Manhattan-!“
>
> “One at a time, Jonah, one at a time…”
I grabbed the back of my head and tried to curl inwards, but found pain shooting through me from my ribs and left leg-
> “Ah, f^%k!”
>
> “Careful, Jonah! You’ve still got a fractured rib and a broken leg!”
>
> “…Is… that it?”
>
> “I mean, given the debris and everything, you’ll probably want to consult an oncologist a few years down the line-“
>
> “Oh god, my… my sister… my home…”
>
> “You’re far from alone, sir. Listen, I’ve got to attend to more of your family, are you good here?”
>
> “…I guess…”
>
> “Well alright then. I’ll get back to you in a bit, I think I heard your mother waking up.”
>
> “Thank you.”
>
> “It’s what I do.”
The doctor just about slunk his way out of the small, curtained cubicle when he was brought face-to-face with a nurse, some tall, imposing figure behind him.
> “Doctor, someone wants to see Jonah-“
>
> “He just woke up, it’ll be a bit before he can see visitors.”
>
> “…This guy saved him.”
>
> “…I’ll just open the… curtain…”
The doctor pulled the curtain back, revealing the nurse and that same Arxur from before, alternating between looking me in the eyes and staring down at the floor in seeming… shame? Embarrassment? Whatever the case, I shakily raised a hand to wave at him, which he warily reciprocated.
I was just barely able to force out a whisper:
> “Thank you.”
In his own low, grumbling, droning tone, he whispered back:
> “My name is Viath. I… wanted to apologize for the… nature of your rescue-“
>
> “I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”
>
> “Hmm.”
>
> Now it might have been the more-than-likely brain trauma, or it could have been the equally-as-likely emotional and psychological traumas, compounded with my fatigued mental state otherwise, but… something about him… how tall, big, and scary he looked, compounded with his… strange display of humility… not to mention the undoubted intimate nature of what was being apologized for… something about it…
…”Piqued” something in me.
Almost as suddenly as he appeared, he started moving away.
> “I’m needed elsewhere-“
>
> “W- wait, before you go… I’ll want to talk with you later. Do you… have some point of contact?”
Taking a bit, seemingly to register my request, Viath opened one of his pockets and pulled out some small version of a tablet… so basically a phone or… well, iPod Touches are antiquated by this point- Whatever the case, he and I looked around and eventually found my phone sitting on a table next to me… Completely unbroken, too! Wow, gotta love Nokia!
Viath grabbed my phone and tapped it to his, a *ding* signifying the successful transfer of information. With a curt nod, he left me there, the doctor quickly closing the curtain and leaving me alone.
As I soon started to drift back to rest, one thought kept rattling around my skull, despite how weird and gross it was and how much I didn’t like it…:
> “That was way hotter than it had any right being!”