Page 21 of Feast

Why was this thing questioning her? Her mouth was locked behind this weird face mask that robbed her of her powers of speech. And with her hands bound behind her back, Ika had no way to communicate at all. Even if she had known what mark the nith was talking about, she would have no way to point it out to the ugly creature.

But as soon as it asked the question, the nith took from its pocket a small square device and pressed a button.

Immediately, the pressure behind Ika’s face mask went away, and she realized that she was now able to move her lips and tongue again.

Was this nith magic?

Ika didn’t know or care. All that mattered was that her voice had been restored, and she was going to put it to good use.

“HELP! HELP M—”

She had tried to scream for help, but as soon as she started to do so, the nith pressed the button on its handheld device again, and once more Ika’s lips and tongue were re-paralyzed, silencing her voice.

The nith leader nodded to the underling who was eagerly standing nearby, black baton in hand. That underling sneered and took a step forward, pressing the baton through the steel mesh of Ika’s cage.

The cold metal tip of the baton press against Ika’s naked rump, and a searing pain crackled through her body. It felt as though she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. Her muscles spasmed and tears of agony spilled from her eyes. She wanted to scream, but the mask forced her to suffer in silence.

After a few seconds of that torture, the pain stopped, and the baton pulled back from the cage. The nith underling who had zapped her cackled and chittered with sadistic glee.

If Ika weren’t trapped in this cage, she would gut that rotting bastard.

Now, however, all she could do was cast a hateful glare through tear-blurred eyes.

The nith leader spoke once more.

“Scream like that again and you’ll get more of the same. Now, I will repeat my question, slowly and clearly this time so that your puny human brain can comprehend it: Where. Is. Your. Mark?”

The nith clicked the button of its handheld control, and Ika felt her voice being restored again.

This time, she resisted the urge to scream.

But she also had no idea how to answer the nith’s question. Mark? What mark was the monster talking about?

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ika stammered.

She was scared that she would get zapped with the wand again, but the leader stayed the underling’s hand.

“Come now, human,” the nith leader said. “Surely you must have escaped from one of our facilities. Szkktt!”

Ika shook her head in confusion.

“Maybe she is from the southern territories,” the nith underling said. “Supposedly the ukkur down there have begun breeding with humans.”

“Sskkkzzztt! Is this true, human? Have you traveled here from the southern territories?”

Ika was about to tell them no, but she caught herself. There was no reason for her to tell these nith the truth. If she told them that she had spent her whole life in this area, then they might find out about Rolf and go looking for him too. Ika didn’t want that to happen, so instead she chose to remain silent.

“Kzzz, the human is being reticent,” the leader said. “Kkkkttzz! See if you can loosen its tongue…”

The underling gave Ika another jolt from the electrified baton. Her body convulsed against its restraints, and white-hot pain exploded behind her eyes. The nith zapped her again and again until Ika thought she would pass out from the agony, but she still refused to speak.

At last, the leader waved at the underling to lay off.

“We waste time,” the leader hissed. “Besides, we do not wish to cook this meat prematurely.”

Both nith cackled disgustingly at this joke that Ika did not understand.

Cook? Meat?