Beau stretched his arms one by one in front of him, psyching himself up in the process.

The entire experience had been so surreal. One minute he was sitting in the wilderness drinking a beer with some old friends, and the next he was butt ass naked with some poor Japanese kid abducted by aliens.

He assumed that when aliens attacked Earth he wouldn’t have been on this end of the scenario.

Being behind enemy lines without any equipment or back up was unnerving at best and FUBAR at worst. But Beau had no intention of going quietly into the night.

He had a plan in mind, but the only thing he was unsure about was how far the kid was willing to go, or even how far he could go.

“Ryo, you do track in school?” he asked

Sugawara looked over, his face stuck in a constant thinking frown.

“Track in school?” came the confused reply. Beau sighed, he’d have to word things a little more clearly to get his point across. The kid was smart, he knew that, but if Beau was going to get the best out of him he’d have to give him the direction and leeway he needed.

“Uhh, do you run? Jump? Play ball?” Beau mimed every action, feeling a little stupid, but they didnt have the luxury of time and

Ryo nodded with an almost arrogant smile.

“I play ball,” he took an imaginary swing with a bat, his aim suspiciously lower than needed to hit the average throw.

“That’s good, your swing any good?”

“The best.” Ryo made a cracking noise with another swing. Beau had to laugh, now he was just posturing.

“Right then, how’s your punch?” Beau put a heavy fist into his palm. It got the message across loud and clear. Ryo paused again, waving his palm up and down

“Punch okay.”

Beau raised his open palm and braced it. If he had been in a fight, all the better.

“Then show me.”

Ryo looked at Beau like he was crazy, before pointing at the fresh shoulder wound.

“Hey, you could swing your arm just fine a moment ago, push through the pain,”

Ryo shook his head, and winced as he threw a punch into Beau’s palm.

It wasn’t bad, but he was holding back, probably from pain.

“Right. You think you're ready to start this?”

Ryo nodded his head.

“Okay then, let’s get that thing down.” Beau pointed at the camera. Ryo stared back with a blank expression.

Beau offered him a leg up.

“Get on my shoulders,” he said, standing right under the black bulbous device.

Ryos shook his head and placed a slightly scratched foot into the soldiers palms, one hand on Beau's shoulder and the other courteously shielding his modesty from the other man’s face.

Ryo was surprisingly agile, not needing too much of hand to balance on his shoulders.

“Can you reach it?” Beau asked.

“Yeah...” Ryo said back. He could get his fingers around the plastic shield, but something was strange. All he saw was black, he couldn't see the camera components inside. Unlike the grates in the floor, there was just enough of a lip between the camera and the ceiling that Suga could get his fingers grip onto.

“On three,” Suga called to the man below. Beau braced the teenager's ankles.

“Ready!”

“One, two, three!” Suga used his strength and weight to pull and much to his surprise, the shield came off with a ‘pop’, like it had been hastily glued in place.

It came crashing down into him with a hefty weight. Suga pushed it off to the side and let it crash to the floor.

The plastic shield bounced and sent the ‘camera’ flying.

It landed with a very wet ‘slop’.

“What the?!”

There were no sparks of electricity, several wires leaking blue liquid dripped from the large gaping ceiling, more blue stuff pooled beneath the globby looking camera.

Beau let Suga down off his shoulder while they inspected the black goop. In the back of his mind he knew he didn’t have time, but the longer they spent in this place, the weirder it got.

“What is it?” Ryo asked.

Beau reached out to touch the black thing.

It was slimy, tough and warm.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

The worst part was that it was familiar...

Beau flipped the gelatinous mass over and reeled back as the black colour began to drain from the goop.

Suga jumped back as Beau began to pace out of shock.

“What?” the kid asked.

Beau stopped and pointed an accusing finger at the gelatinous blob.

“That thing’s not a camera, it's a goddamned eyeball.”

Ryo blinked, several times.

“What?” he asked again.

Beau nearly poked his own damn eye out as he shoved a finger under it.

“It’s. A. God. Damned. EYEBALL.”

Suga sidestepped the larger man to get a closer look, only for a large pupil resting in a pool of blue liquid to be staring back at him.

“We need to go,” Ryo managed to muster, panic replacing the thinking frown.

“Ya think?!” Beau snapped back, regaining his senses. “Get up there, hopefully there’s a way out!”

After another vault up on Beau's shoulders, Suga could reach up into the shaft behind the alien eyeball camera. The light from below them was enough for him to see there was enough room for him. He pulled himself up, brushed the ‘wires’ aside and crawled into the space. It was narrow, but while he could crouch comfortably inside, he figured it might be cramped for Beau.

“Is it big enough?!” the soldier called from down below, “does it go anywhere?!”

Suga looked in front and behind. Both tunnels trailed off into darkness, but at least they didn’t end right there. Maybe there was still some hope of escape.

“Is small, but can move, it goes to dark,” came the answer from the ceiling.

“Great,” Beau replied, but now he had to get up there.

He had assumed that the camera would have had enough wire he could have pulled himself up, but if the eyeball was any indication, the ‘wires’ were probably closer to ‘veins’. And if it couldn’t support the weight of the camera, it definitely wouldn't be able to support him.

“Just a sec, I’ll get the ‘shield’.” The only thing that had any integrity and ‘length’ was the camera shield. At the very least he could try using it to get a step up to reach Ryo.

The thing was light, like hard molded plastic, but it had suffered a scratch or two from the fall. Hopefully it would stand up to his weight.

But Beau didn't get the chance to test it.

The cell doors began to slide open.

Beau reacted quickly, running to the side of the door and slamming his body into the wall, waiting for the guards to make their way inside.

The bugs didn't even bother clearing the room before they waltzed in, giving the old soldier the perfect opportunity to shield bash them in.

He just about threw himself into them, bashing them with his shield.

He knocked one to the floor, stunned, and wasted no time in forcing his fist through the alien's face over and over. He heard a crack, sharp pieces of shell splintered into his skin and clear sticky blood splattered on the floor.

The other panicked and screeched, one set of hands reaching for his taser lance and firing it at Beau, while the second activated a light on his armour.

The lance struck Beau in the arm, shocking his body with electricity.

He let out a roar of pain, the guard below him an even louder shriek, but the human pushed through the discomfort while the guard stood there quivering.

Beau grabbed the lance and ripped it out of the guard's hand, throwing it out of reach as his victim retaliated. Four flailing hands began trying to grab the human, clawing and bruising his skin, but they were no match for the human's strength. Beau grabbed an arm, twisting it to break a wrist, flinching when the limb shattered under the pressure. The bug let out another drowning shriek as clear blood splattered in Beau’s face.

The unarmed guard, lost in the senseless violence, dived for his lance, only to have the second human crash into his back.

Suga heard the alien's shell crack beneath him, felt its body compress as instinct and fight took over. The young man scrambling to his feet, the sheer weight keeping the bug in place, his foot ensuring he never left it.

Suga put his full force into the stomp. The back of the alien's head shattered like an egg, shards of shell shredding Suga’s skin. He screamed, falling over holding his ankle, as though he had stomped on a broken bottle, pieces of glass now embedded in his foot.

Beau’s head whipped around.

“Hold on!” he cried, before ripping out another arm from the guard below him.

The alien garbled a series of clicks, before the blood loss was too great. The body went limp and continued bleeding on the floor.

Beau rushed over to help Suga while the headless guard's body flailed near them, the arms trying to drag the body over to the extended lance.

“You ain’t going nowhere,” Beau snarled as he reached for a leg, twisting and yanking the limb from the torso. Like removing a blockage, a geyser of alien blood poured out the floor. One final gurgled cry signaled its demise.

Suga began muttering curse word after curse word, holding his bleeding foot. Beau acted fast, grabbing a sash off the guard's uniform and tying it around the ankle to stem the flow of blood.

“You really are a tough son of a bitch ain't ya?” Beau commented. “You think you can stand?”

Beau lifted Suga up and helped the boy hop over to the water. “Wash it off and we’ll get the pieces out.”

Thankfully, they weren't too deep, enough to cut and hurt like hell coming out, but no arteries nicked.

“You pull them out, I'll get what we can.”

Beau looked over the alien bodies, grabbing the taser lances as his first move, second was pulling the little bit of fabric of their uniforms. Bandages and loin cloths were in tall order. The one he had ripped the arms off was sporting a small white cape. Tearing it in two would be enough for them. The armour was of no use, none of it would fit them and from what Beau could tell, it was fused with the aliens' shells. The blinking light on the second guard's uniform only served to intensify his anxiety. He tapped it, and much to his surprise, turned it off instantly.

Once Suga had pulled out the last piece, Beau rewrapped the sash around the base of the ankle and foot, stemming the bleeding.

“You think you're strong enough to get back on my shoulders?” Beau asked.

Suga gave a snort and a thumbs up.

“Right, climb up.” Beau turned around to let Suga climb up his back.

Suga’s breathing was heavy, and he used more of his knee to climb, but with Beau steadying him he reached the hole in the ceiling. With a grunt of exertion, Suga pulled himself up, scrambling to lie down in the darkness of the vent.

Beau looked over his options to get himself up. Deciding the cape was the quickest, he tore it in two while tying both ends together and throwing it up to Suga.

“Tie it off and I'll pull myself up! Hurry!”

Suga scrambled, but there were no metal pipes or joins for him to tie it off to. The inside of the vent was…unsettling.

The surface was like warm, leathery skin. He pulled together several of the veiny cables and double knotted to the best of his ability, hoping it would be able to withstand the weight and force of the large man.

The rope went taut and Suga grabbed the end, holding it the best he could while Beau climbed up. The soldier was in the vent in a matter of seconds.

“Gah,” Beau spat as he pulled himself up, “I hate rope climbs…” He turned around and pulled up the end of the rope, to which he had tied both taser lances. He untied the knots and handed Suga his portion of the scarf, along with one of the weapons.

“So,” Beau asked, tying off his new loincloth around his hips. “Left or right?”

Suga looked down the dark and narrow tunnel. Neither side looked inviting.

“I follow you,” he answered.

“Fine by me.”

They made their way forward, blindly into the darkness.

Without the light to see their other senses took over.

The walls of the shaft radiated a living heat, an unnerving noise of the pumping of liquid echoed in the distance.

The whole place made Suga’s hairs stand on end.

They weren't just entering the lion’s den, but crawling down its throat.